It was getting worse. So much worse. Monday afternoon and the bar was completely empty. Not that Mondays were big business days, but I usually had a few regulars. Tweens with no friends other than bar buddies and nowhere to go on a week night.

When three o’clock rolled around and the place was still empty, I wondered if I should just close for the day. It’d save me on electricity.

But that dependable old troll, Ronum, lumbered through the door. The sun’s light seared my eyes for a moment and then eased when it thumped shut behind the tweener. I nearly offered him a free drink out of sheer gratitude but resisted the urge. Momma still had school to pay for.

“Ronum, you’re a life saver.” I grinned and poured him a beer.

He just snorted. “Tell that to my bitch ex-wife.”

“I didn’t know you’d been married.” Honestly, I tried to avoid getting involved in the personal lives of my customers. Tweeners tended to have pretty messed up day-to-day lives. Myself included.

“She’s a real bitch,” he sneered.

“Hey, now.” I glared, offended as a woman and a wolf.

He shrugged. “What do you want from me? She took my bridge in the divorce. I’m lucky I got out of that marriage with the scales on my back.”

Damn. She’d taken his bridge. That was like an ex taking one of my hand-forged blades. Evil.

But I didn’t comment. I didn’t want to engage Ronum and have him spill his life story. So I moved away and left him to his drinking. I knew he’d spend enough to at least keep the lights on so I decided to stay open.

When that time of day came around, I gave Berg a little wave, getting a chin tilt in return. I just had to pick up Bry and drop him at Papa Al’s. Then I could return to work and finish the night. Same frantic pace, different day.

I looked around the school’s front lawn but found it empty. I realized I’d arrived a little early which meant Bry wasn’t waiting for me. I decided to head in and meet my kid at the door, maybe—gag—find out how he was doing by talking to Lotus.

I ducked beneath the door frame and headed through the school toward his classroom, only to run into Lotus first.

And, man, was Midnight Lotus in a tizzy. Even more so than usual, if that was possible. She barely glanced at me before turning her chin up, nose in the air, and stalking away.

“Nice to see you, too,” I drawled and then murmured one last word under my breath. “Bitch.”

I ignored her and twined my way through the halls until I stopped just outside Bry’s classroom. I peeked through the door’s window, scanning the interior.

I spied Summer Dahlia standing in the middle of the room, clapping and yelling for attention from the children. Children who were clustered together and completely ignoring all of her attempts to get them to answer her.

I slipped into the room, ready to at least get my son to pay attention to the teacher. Except, the closer I got to the group of kids, the more I realized something was wrong. They were all speaking… in the same strange language Bry had been using lately.

Dahlia gave me her attention when I approached and she looked up at me, hands spread and a lost expression in her eyes. “I don’t know what to do. None of them are listening and they won’t speak English or Brown-tongue.”

I chuckled, pushing the low sound past my tight throat. “I guess they’re all a bunch of little geniuses, then.” Worry leaked out through my tone but there was nothing to be done. I didn’t know if these kids picked the language up from Bry or if he’d taught it to them. Or even some other source.

Regardless, it bothered me. Especially since the children weren’t even listening to their teacher. It looked like more than just unruly kids, like they actually couldn’t hear her.

Or me.

I knelt next to Bry and gently shook his shoulder. “Hey, kiddo.”

He ignored me, as if he didn’t even recognize I was at his side. He simply kept on chattering to his friends, rapid-fire speech on and on in that weird mystical language.

“Bryony.” I made my tone a hint sharper. “Tempmomma is here. Come on. It’s time to go.” I even let a little of my irritation enter my voice.

I waved a hand in front of his face and he still didn’t seem to see me.

Dahlia raised her hands in a gesture of defeat. “I don’t know what to tell you. They’ve been like this for almost half an hour.”

I pressed my lips together, glaring at Bry. Not at him, but at the situation. This was getting out of hand.

“All right, Bry.” I grabbed him and hauled him into my arms, cradling him against my hip. “Time to go home. Say good-bye to your weird little friends.”

Bryony blinked and then blinked again, the glaze in his eyes drifting away. He stared up at me and smiled widely, pure joy in his expression.

“Hi, Tempmomma. When did you get here?”

I swallowed hard and rubbed his cheek, looking into his eyes. He seemed his normal self again, which was a relief, but it only further cemented the idea that whatever this was involved mind control. Something we hadn’t been able to detect or block just yet.

“I got here just now, sweetheart,” I murmured and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. “Let’s go home.”

I carried Bry out to the car and buckled him like normal. Hell, it was all normal. Him tucked in and secure while I climbed behind the wheel. Him telling me about everything he’d done. Him speaking in English. I wasn’t even sure he was aware he’d been speaking a different language. He seemed to slip in and out without any kind of conscious thought.

Before I pulled out of the lot, I made a quick call to Sam. It rang once and then my mate’s voice filled my ear. “Whatever this is, it’s spreading. It was Bry’s entire class.”

“I still haven’t learned anything useful.” Sam’s voice was dark and grim. “I’ve gone through most of my contacts in the city. I’ll check with some of the other schools in the area—human and tween. See if there have been similar events.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I don’t know if it’s affecting children more strongly than adults or what. But either way, this is super getting on my nerves.

“We’ll figure it out, amica.” I trembled with his endearment. “Soon.”

“Not soon enough.” I felt that truth in my bones.

I ended our call and got my mind back on driving. I was on edge during the entire trip, worry and anxiety scraping sharp nails along my body. I was twitchy and anxious, ready to be at Papa Al’s house already.

I shouted and cursed at any driver who got in my way, which taught Bry a few more choice words I’d rather he didn’t know. But considering who he had for a mother… The kid was doomed to have a foul mouth.

I was almost to Papa Al’s when the traffic parted to let an ambulance pass. I had no idea where it was headed, but with everything going on lately, I somehow knew this was related.

I followed the ambulance until it turned into the parking lot of the Temple of Lucia. I cursed under my breath and pulled into the parking lot, pulling into a space and parking my car. I pulled Bry out of the back seat and pushed my way through the crowd gathered around the front entrance. There was already an ambulance parked there along with a couple of police cars. The police pushed everyone back and away from the temple doors. I could only get so close before a cop held up his hand, warding me off.

“Stay back, ma’am. We need some room here.” He just kept repeating that mantra to every person who stepped forward.

I couldn’t do anything but watch. I stood there with the rest of the onlookers as the EMTs brought out a couple of limp figures on stretchers. A man and woman lay on the pristine white surfaces, eyes staring out into nothingness with glazed expressions. That wasn’t all that unexpected. I’d seen the same thing with Mitchell and that woman.

The man only had on a pair of boxers, his shirt unbuttoned. The woman was also only half-dressed, wearing only a bra and panties. Which made it look like they’d gone catatonic right in the middle of having a good time.

“Where were they found?” I looked around at a couple of the people near me, asking the question and hoping someone had the answer.

“I hear they were in one of the preachers’ offices.” A masculine voice came from my right. “There was a big commotion and I think the door was locked. When they got the door open, they found them…” The man blushed and looked away, but I didn’t need to hear any more.

“C’mon, Bry.” I slowly turned and pushed my way back through the crowd. “Let’s get going.”

“Are those people okay?” His little voice was so full of concern and heartache.

“Of course, sweetie.” I lied like all parents of the world, hoping to shield my son from harmful truths. “The doctors are going to take good care of them at the human hospital.”

Fighting free of the parking lot took forever and I didn’t get to Papa Al’s for another thirty minutes when it should have only taken ten. I let Bry run off to play Xbox while I sat down with my father to discuss what I’d seen.

“I’ve been hearing about similar incidents.” More than a hint of his beast’s growl filled his voice. “Look at this.”

He snared the remote and turned on the TV, loading a news program he’d saved on his DVR. We sat and watched, the reporter speaking of more than a dozen similar incidents popping up across the city.

“The most concerning aspect of this string of events,” the on-scene reporter glanced at a folded bit of paper in her hand, “is that all affected individuals have been found in strange and embarrassing positions.” The anchor didn’t even blush as she continued. “One couple was discovered bent over the desk in a local restaurant’s management office while another was found making inappropriate use of a mattress at a nearby furniture store.”

The lead anchor in the studio nodded, continuing where the on-scene reporter left off. “Authorities are warning citizens to stay away from recreational drugs or aphrodisiacs while they investigate the cause of these events. At least one victim was found with what was reported to be Ecstasy on his person at the time he went catatonic. Authorities are testing the pills for evidence that they were laced with an additional substance that could cause such dangerous and unpredictable side effects.”

Papa Al turned off the television and I shook my head. “This isn’t some drug.” I turned my attention to him. “Papa Finn tested everything he could find. There’s nothing in the water—no drugs, no potions. I even grilled Papa Percy.” There was no telling what the king of the pixies could be up to. “And he swears it’s not the pixies having a little fun. Papa Eron said there’s nothing natural that could cause this and he would know.” Father Earth knew what he’d created and what he hadn’t, after all. “Papa Leth just wants me to chop off heads and dispose of the bodies. He said troubles could not exist if the afflicted did not exist.” A violent father after my own heart. “There’s nothing we can pinpoint.”

“We need to figure something out. Soon.” Papa Al growled. “Two more of the local pack have come down with… whatever this is.” He gestured to the TV. “The rest are itching for a fight, eager to find out who is responsible so they can tear into them.”

The idea had saliva pooling in my mouth, my wolf anxious to make someone bleed. “I’ll be alongside them. If we can just find who’s responsible. There are no leads on Lucia herself, and there’s no hint that the religious leaders have a clue about what’s happening.”

And Hell knew I’d wanted to go to town torturing those weirdos for information. My fingers tingled, my love of violence inching forward and joining my wolf’s fury. That part of me came from my mother. The part of me I refused to acknowledge after she’d…

After she’d battled Silaran back into Hell to save me—to save everything.

Instead of thinking about her, letting my mind drift to the last time I’d seen her, I focused on the problem at hand. Specifically, trying to balance everyday life with the plague traveling across the city. The only positive in the whole thing was that the plague wasn’t my fault.

This time.

Thankfully no one discussed the last time I attempted to follow in my mother’s footsteps for a little while. Dancing through London and leaving a trail of bubonic plague-riddled bodies had been fun for a little while. Nothing like the black plague of the 1300s, but nothing was, really.

Shoving memories into the back of my mind, I left Papa Al’s and headed back to the bar to relieve Bergamot. I would have felt bad about leaving him alone for so long, but the place was mostly empty when I arrived. Typical at this point.

The only thing that was atypical was the fact that Jezze still hadn’t shown up for her shift. Being late so often just wasn’t like her, and normally I would have blamed it on her being love struck and in a new relationship. And yet…

Yet this bullshit was spreading across the city.

I called and texted her, trying to get some sort of response, but received nothing. With each swipe across the screen of my phone, my anxiety grew until I finally decided to close early. It wasn’t like there was anyone left in the bar to serve anyway.

I hopped into my car and headed toward her mother’s house. Momma R had been like a mother to me these last couple hundred years and wouldn’t bitch about me showing up in the middle of the night. And with each passing mile, I hoped I wouldn’t discover that Jezze had gotten herself into some kind of trouble.