“How ya feelin’, baby boy? Set yerself down and let me give ya some tea. I got that there ginger one ya took a likin’ to, or there’s mint?”

I shook my head at Mama, my eyes going to Vivian’s mint hot cocoa. “I’m fine, Mama. I think I’m finally over the sickness. This is the third day in a row where I woke up feeling good. I’ll just make myself some cocoa like Viv’s having, and maybe some raisin toast with a bit of peanut butter on it.”

“You’ll do no such thing, not when I’m here ta do it fer ya. Set yer ass on down and let yer mama fuss on ya, baby. I missed ya fer damn near a year, thinkin’ ya was dead. I’ve a right ta fuss, surely I do.”

Nana reached over and patted my hand. “Let your mama take care of you, dear. Enjoy being pregnant while you can. You’ll be rushing around taking care of that little one soon enough.”

I shrugged and slid into a seat at the table. “Have you guys seen Brick this morning? I’m guessing he’s with the other guys? He wasn’t in bed when I woke up.”

Mama turned with a happy smile. “Blaze heard from Beepee this mornin’. After all the damn silence from yer fool brother, Blaze woke up to Beepee whisperin’ inta his mind. Cory called all ‘em together for a meetin’ when he heard tell of it. I was invited, but I wanted ta see to my baby. I’ll find out later what I need to know. Brick will fill me in, if’n the others don’t.”

I was just finishing my cocoa and toast when Brick and the other dragons came in and joined us. Brick put his arm around me, stopping to kiss my temple before greeting Mama with a fond smile. He turned back to me then, finally filling me in on what I’d been waiting to hear.

It had been two long months since my brother had joined the Paragons of Purity, and I’d been really worried… especially when he’d failed to check in with us. It was only the fact that Mama’s tracking showed him alive and well that we’d left him there.

“Did your mama tell you that Blaze finally heard from Beepee?” Brick asked me gently. “He’s ascending up through the ranks like expected. He was finally baptized last week, and is currently on track to becoming a Purifier.”

“She mentioned that Blaze had heard from him, but I was waiting for details. What was he before? Do all the levels in the church have weird names? And what exactly is a Purifier?” I realized I was asking too many questions at once, but I was curious.

Brick shuddered. “A Purifier is a hunter, just with a fancier label. Before that, he was just a plain Disciple of Purity. That’s the base level where they weed out the ones that don’t measure up, don’t fit in, or won’t make good little soldiers.”

Sam joined us with his own cup of tea, shaking his head. “It’s just like I read online. Beepee’s being fed all this hogwash about how we dragons are demonic serpents from hell, and that Coryphaeus is the devil himself. Apparently, Cory is here to take over the world and plunge it into eternal flame. When he’s vanquished, all the pure souls will ascend to eternal paradise, and the rest will be left to burn in the inferno of hell with their infernal demon overload. Can you believe that shit?”

I shook my head. “I really can’t. So he’s okay, though? Beepee? What does he have to do to make the next level?”

“It’s already been done. He got online to ‘transfer some funds around’ while he was mind speaking with Blaze. In reality, he opened a backdoor into their servers for me, so that’s going to be fun for me to explore this week. Oh, and he got baptized. That didn’t sound too bad for him, though, unless he was playing it tough.” Sam sounded impressed, which made me all the more curious as to what my crazy brother had been doing out there.

“What did they do to him?” I was afraid to ask, but also afraid not to… either way, I was pretty sure I’d be losing sleep over it.

Blaze came and sat beside Sam, a serious look on his face. “He said he was able to channel unicorn magic to protect his feet when he walked over the hot coals to get to the lake, then he had to walk into the ice-cold water so he could be baptized by one of the Deacons of the Divine.”

“That’s crazy, but yeah… I’m sure that he totally toughened up the soles of his feet for that. He used to do it all the time when we were walking barefoot in the summer and the asphalt was hot enough to melt rubber. Just like you can choose to only extend a single claw, or your wings, unicorns can just toughen the bottoms of their feet. What was with the bank stuff, though? Just an excuse to get into their computer?”

“No.” Sam shook his head. “He told Blaze through their link, and I was able to get online and do the actual account shuffling for him while he gave me that backdoor into their server. Apparently, the cost of being a purifier is one hundred thousand dollars, and he needed me to get that for him. I did the same thing as I did last time—I liberated cash from a crook’s account and put it into the one that Beepee’s using. They bought so much into his backstory that they felt like he was a prime candidate. Your brother’s doing an amazing job, Nate. You should be proud of him.”

“Wow. So, now what?” I was afraid to ask, because it sounded like things would be much more dangerous for my brother now.

Sam looked grim, yet hopeful as he answered, “Now, we wait.”

“Did he at least say that he’d try to get in touch sooner next time?” It had been the waiting and not hearing that had been hardest for Mama and me to bear.

“He said he’d try, but no promises. He waited this time, because he had nothing to report. I explained that you and your family just wanted wellness check-ins once a week, and he agreed to do that,” Blaze assured. “He didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Well, he did,” Mama said, walking over to the table and planting a big ol’ smooch on Blaze’s cheek. “Thank you for tellin’ him that, baby boy. He doesn’t like to be a bother, ya know? Dumb ass.” She grinned. “He doesn’t realize it’s more of a bother when I’m worried sick and keepin’ his pappy up nights with my bitchin’.”

I snorted. “You and me both, Mama, just ask Brick.”

Brick smiled fondly at me. “I refuse to answer that, angel boy.”

Mama hooted out a loud laugh. “Good answer, darlin’! Yer a smart man, Brick.”