CHAPTER 34

“Mom!” I cried as a few shards flew up, making tiny scratches along Mom’s arms. But she didn’t seem to feel them. Torin staggered backward, and in the mirror, the table teetered, nearly falling.

For four hundred years, Torin had aggravated and frustrated Brannicks, but he’d always been a part of our lives. I’d always assumed there was some kind of rule that we couldn’t hurt him. After all, if he could be destroyed, wouldn’t someone have done it by now, to heck with prophecies?

The frame shook, and Torin grimaced. Or at least I thought he did. It was hard to tell what was going on in all those fractured pieces.

Mom stood there, breathing hard, the hammer raised. Blood dripped down her arms, but she didn’t seem to notice it. I waited for the glass to fall out of the frame, for Torin to become nothing more than a handful of shards.

There was no flash of light or smell of smoke. None of the stuff you expect when magic is happening around you. Just a soft “pop!” and suddenly Torin was complete again. The glass wasn’t even scratched, much less cracked.

“That was uncalled for,” he said, straightening his jerkin.

“You lied to me,” Mom growled. “You told me you had seen Finley, and then sent me on a wild goose chase while Izzy nearly got killed.”

Her gaze moved to me, her face full of anger and worry and something else I couldn’t name.

“He was your source?” I asked, pointing at Torin. “You’re always telling me not to trust him, and—”

“With good reason,” Mom said, and now I understood what was in her voice. She was angry not just with Torin, but with herself.

“Izzy needed a chance to spread her wings, Aislinn,” Torin said, giving a bored shrug. “And you needed to get out of her way. She handled herself masterfully tonight. Proved to be a true Brannick.”

Mom watched him for a long time. “She’s always been a true Brannick,” she said at last. Then she strode forward and grabbed the canvas, covering Torin. “We’re done,” she said, more to herself than anyone else. “We should’ve been done with him a long time ago.”

She turned back, and for the first time seemed to notice Dex. “Who is this?”

“I’m Dexter O’Neil, Mrs. Brannick,” Dex said, offering his hand to shake. “And I’m hoping you’ll adopt me.”

Mom looked back and forth between the two of us before muttering, “I need a drink,” and walking out of the room.

In the silence that followed, I raised an eyebrow at Dex. “So…this is my family. Sure you want in?”

Dex looked back and forth between the door and Torin’s mirror. “My Nana was a witch who kept me alive by raising evil ghosts. The bar for family dysfunction has already been set pretty high.”

Half an hour later, we all sat at the kitchen table—me, Dex, Mom, and Maya. I told Mom everything that had happened at the cave. When I got to the part about Maya handing me the knife, she looked up. “Would you have killed her?” she asked. “If it meant destroying the ghost?”

I thought out it, turning my cup of tea around in my hands. “I don’t know,” I finally said. I knew it probably wasn’t the answer Mom wanted, but it was the honest one. “I don’t think so. I think I would’ve tried to find some other way, no matter what.”

To my surprise, Mom smiled and reached out. She didn’t quite tousle my hair—her hand moved too roughly for that—but it was an affectionate gesture nonetheless. “You’re a good kid, Izzy,” she said. “Sometimes that’s what being a Brannick means. It’s not always about storming in and saving the day yourself. It’s about the willingness to do whatever it takes to keep people safe. I still don’t like that Torin lied to me—especially about Finn—but—”

“I don’t like him either,” Dex said, speaking up for the first time since we’d sat down. “Both for lying to you, and just sort of on general principle. For the record.”

The corner of Mom’s mouth lifted in a half smile. “Good to know. So what are we supposed to do with you, Dexter O’Neil?”

Dex leaned back in his chair, trying to affect that super-casual thing he usually did so well. But his hands were shaking and his face looked ravaged. “Well, I may not have superpowers, and it’s true my asthma may get in the way of much monster chasing, but I did used to be dead, and I faced down a terrifying ghost tonight. So, I’d like to…join your gang. Or whatever. There aren’t any initiation rituals involving blood are there?” He shuddered, and Mom cut her eyes at me.

I gave a little shrug.

“You understand why I might be hesitant to let my daughter’s boyfriend move in with us, right?”

“I’m not her boyfriend,” Dex said, his voice completely serious. “I’m just her friend. I swear.” He lifted his hand in what I think was supposed to be a Boy Scout salute, but just ended up looking like a vaguely obscene gesture.

Mom turned back to me. “That true, Iz? This guy is nothing more than a friend?”

I looked at Dex and ignored the twisting in my heart. He was right. So we had liked each other. We could get over that. Especially if it meant Dex could stay with us.

“It is,” I told her.

Sighing, Mom stood up and braced her hands on her lower back. “Well, we’ve solved Ideal’s ghost problem. So where to next?”

Maya leaned back in her seat. “I have at least three file folders for you to look through. Couple of interesting cases just came in over the last few weeks.”

Mom nodded. “Good. And there’s another thing.” She laid both hands on the table, leaning in so that she could meet my eyes. “Yes, the research I’ve been doing is about Finley. I’ve been trying to track the history of the coven Finn was with the night she disappeared, reading up on other vanishings, seeing if there’s anything, any scrap that can help us find her. And I didn’t tell you because I…” She looked down, flexing her fingers. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up if it all came to nothing.”

I reached out and covered her hand with my own. “Mom, knowing is better than not knowing every time, okay?”

After a moment, she squeezed back. “Okay.” Then, slapping her palms on the table, she straightened up. “So we have more monsters to fight, places to go, and your sister to find. We have our work cut out for us.”

Clearing his throat, Dex leaned forward and raised his eyebrows. “And does that ‘we’ include me?”

Mom looked down at me, and I could read the question in her eyes. If I said yes, she’d let Dex come with us. Which would mean traveling with Dex. Living with Dex.

But that would be fine. So we’d kissed a few times. It wasn’t like we’d had some long-lasting relationship or anything. Surely downgrading to “just friends” and, basically, “work partners” would be easy enough. No matter how blue his eyes were.

I gave Mom the tiniest nod, and she returned it.

Putting one hand on Dex’s shoulder, Mom gave him a little shake, making him wince. “Welcome to the Brannick family, Dexter.”