“Who’s that mommy?” Naia inched closer to the bassinet. A tiny thing lay within, squirming and making annoying sounds.

“That’s your baby brother. You’re a big sister now. Do you know what that means?”

She shook her head. The child caught the movement and then smiled up at her. That smile was a force of nature. It instantly captured her heart.

“It means you need to help him get big and strong like you. You need to protect him and keep him safe.”

“What’s his name?”

“Cole. Do you like it?”

She nodded. “I’m going to be the best big sister.”

* * *

“You leave him alone!” Naia punched the little girl bullying Cole square in the face.

The hit knocked the girl back, and she fell on her ass. “Ow! I was going to give it back.”

Cole looked on, now smug where before his face had been wet with tears. His big sister had come to his defense. The little girl, taller than him by a foot, had been holding his favorite action figure out of his reach.

Naia snatched the action figure out of the girl’s grasp and handed it to Cole. “Come on, Cole. Let’s go play somewhere else.”

* * *

“A witch used to live there,” Davie said, pointing to the condemned four-square home as they all loitered behind a large shrub. With its chipped paint, busted windows shimmering in the moonlight, and overgrown yard, Naia could almost believe it. Almost. She wasn’t that gullible. But in lieu of a witch, there could be squatters. Worse, it could be a drug den filled with crack heads.

Flanked by his minions Jamie and Warren, Davie turned to Cole. “You want to be in our club, you got to stay the whole night in there.”

The only indication that Cole was scared shitless was the tightness in his jaw. Only Naia knew his tell.

To Naia, Davie’s club was nothing more than a bunch of teenage boys pretending to be tough. She would have told them to screw off, but Cole was younger than they were, and he desperately wanted to be their friend. He’d asked for this initiation.

“Come on, Cole,” she said. “We’ll do it together.”

“We don’t allow girls in our club,” Davie reminded her.

“Who cares,” she shot back. “I just want to see the witch. Maybe I can learn a thing or two.”

With Cole now looking a little less intimidated, he shrugged to his potential friends as if to say, “Girls, what can you do?” but she knew he was grateful for the company. Then, side by side, they marched for the witches den.

“What if it’s haunted in there?” Cole asked her when they were far enough away not to be heard. “Malory said it’s haunted.”

She whispered back, “Then I’ll use my voice and make those ghosts haunt Davie for the rest of his life.”

“You can’t do that,” Cole said, but he smiled.

Naia hid her own trepidation as she and Cole pushed open the creaky front door and faced their fears together.

* * *

Oh god, they’re everywhere! Men stumbled through the streets, drawn for some reason to her. Why was she in the middle of the street singing at the top of her lungs like a mad woman? Harsh wind whipped the hem of her nightgown around her legs as she gazed into the confused faces of the men closing in.

One of them reached for her. “So pretty.”

Naia reared back and then raced inside her home, slamming the door closed behind her. The noise woke Cole, who’d been sleeping on the top bunk they both shared in the living room.

Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes. “What’s going on?”

“There are men outside. I think they’re going to try to break in.” She woke her mother next, who ushered them out the back, leaving everything behind.

As they slinked through the neighborhood, Cole kept checking over his shoulder, his expression worried.

“Don’t worry,” she told him solemnly. “I won’t let anyone get you.”

He’d grabbed her hand. “I won’t let anyone get you either.”

* * *

Someone’s in my room!

Naia awoke to the sound of someone crawling through her window. The night was missing the moon, but she managed to spot a shadowed silhouette creeping toward her. She recognized the breadth of those shoulders.

James wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He wanted to control her and make her do terrible things to innocent people.

She gathered a scream in her chest, but before she could let it out, he was on her, covering her mouth with a cloth that smelled awful. Dizziness swam in her head. She scratched and clawed at him, but he wouldn’t let up. He was too strong.

Suddenly his heavy weight was ripped off her. She coughed and wheezed for fresh air. When some of the dizziness abated she could hear wet slapping sounds coming from a darker corner of her room. She lurched for the light switch.

Cole was crouched over James, bashing his meaty fist into the man’s face. Blood splayed across the wall. Already James was unconscious, sound-blocking headphones dangling around his neck. Still Cole didn’t stop. She’d never seen him more enraged.

“Cole,” she said, placing a soft hand on his muscled shoulder. He was growing so strong. Mother would have been proud.

He glanced up at her for a moment, looked back down at James, and then landed one final jaw-breaking punch.

Her little brother was a big badass.

Nothing could get him....

....Nothing could get him....