Linda sighed, rubbing her face in frustration, as Evan decided to keep little Mina busy with a children’s book about a super-friendly dinosaur. In comparison, my childhood had been the stuff of nightmares. The Russian sorcerers, known as Kolduny, didn’t take their kids to the aquarium on the weekend, nor did they read us stories from colorful fairytale books. No, they took us to the graveyard to talk to dead people and made us read obituaries in the evening, to “understand the scale and permanence of death.”
I would’ve loved to have a dad like Mina’s. Evan seemed so kind and sweet, looking at her as if she were the very reason he was alive and breathing. But I had to make do with what I had, and, despite the distance and cultural differences, I did miss my mom and dad a little.
“We were Neutrals back in Baltimore,” Linda replied. “We were taking our time here, thinking that a new home and a new school would help keep Mina’s abilities under the radar for a little while longer.”
“You have to understand, we grew up in covens,” Evan added. “It was cold and impersonal, and, even though we were surrounded by magicals, we were lonely. There was no specific attention or affection given to magical children. There usually isn’t, and we fought hard to change that, but the Baltimore coven wouldn’t budge. We were allowed to leave and buy a house in the city, and we acquired our Neutral status without much of a fuss.”
“But then, Mina was born. We’d had fertility issues,” Linda said. “We didn’t think we could even have children. She was our little miracle.” She sighed, lovingly watching her daughter as she turned a page of her storybook.
I showed them the Ryders Twins’ card. “This was in the lobby with your keys. Who gave it to you?”
Linda reached out to take it. She turned it over, then frowned slightly. “They introduced themselves as Emily and Emmett Ryder. They came over a couple of days ago and said they were from the San Diego Coven. They were in the neighborhood and thought they’d stop by to say hello.”
“What else did they say?” I asked.
“Well, what every other coven magical says. They wanted us to come with them or to at least have Mina attend their magical training classes,” Linda said. “Which is why I was a little surprised to see you guys here, today. I found the coven’s persistence to be rather… odd.”
Astrid shook her head, her gaze fixed on the tablet. “The Ryder twins don’t work for the San Diego Coven. They’re not affiliated with us in any way.”
“Even the logo on the card… it’s wrong. It’s not ours, though it does claim to be ours. Maybe it’s done on purpose, to mess with us? I don’t know,” I added, then looked at Linda again. “You should bring Mina in. You know it’s time. Had it not been for the kindergarten incidents, we would’ve never been alerted in the first place.”
Evan let out a breath. “Maybe it is time, honey.”
“We’re not going to live in the coven!” Linda snapped. “I spent years trying to break free so I could have a simple life. We both did, Evan. We want something different—better—for our little girl.”
“I completely understand that, Mrs. Travis, but these are special circumstances,” Dylan replied, as he came back into the living room, then gave me a brief nod. “The house is clear. What did Santana say about the card?”
“There was one at the Cranstons’ place, too, but they had no idea who put it there. They checked the parents’ memories,” I said. “There was no tampering. Whoever left the card, they did it inconspicuously, either by sneaking in or pretending to be someone else.”
“But the Cranston kid is okay,” Astrid chimed in. “They laid charms and traps around the house and left him to be with his parents. Alton’s going to blow a fuse over this.” She chuckled.
“Yeah, we don’t usually let magical kids stay with their parents,” I muttered, then retrieved the card from Linda to examine it again.
“Do you remember what the Ryder twins looked like?” Astrid asked.
“A lot like each other, for starters. The only difference, apart from the fact that one was a woman and the other a man, was the hair,” Linda recalled. “Emily had short black hair, and Emmett’s was long, down to his shoulders. Both pale-skinned, with brown eyes… Nothing that stood out, really. They looked young, in their early twenties.”
“They were nice and friendly,” Evan replied. “They weren’t pushy or persistent. But they did say it would be safer for Mina if she went to live in the coven. Of course, we said no, not without us, and they said we could go with them, too.”
Dylan groaned, looking out the window. “What is their endgame? I don’t get it.”
My phone beeped. It was a text from Wade, which puzzled me. I read it over and over, five times, then decided to do what he asked. “Dylan, I’ve got a bag of charms in the trunk. Would you mind bringing it in, please? We need to rig the house,” I said.
He seemed confused. “I thought we were taking them all back to the coven with us.”
“Wade spoke to Alton about this. Turns out our director wasn’t all that miffed about Wade leaving a magical child in his human parents’ care after all. He said we should do the same with all the families on our list. Talk to them, verify the magical abilities, instruct them on emergency scenarios, and charm the hell out of their houses and cars,” I replied.
Astrid smirked. “Laying traps, basically.”
“And using our kids as bait?!” Linda asked, suddenly alarmed.
“Well, you two are here, and you can hold your own, right?” I retorted, raising an eyebrow. I lacked Dylan and Santana’s sympathetic and warm nature. I had my own way of dealing with my role as a protector of the coven and its magicals. I focused on the strategy, with less concern for people’s feelings. That probably made me seem coldhearted, but it also allowed me to get tactical in every situation. It just worked for me. “We don’t know what the Ryder twins’ intentions are, but once we set the charms, we’ll know the instant they come back.”
“Did the Ryder twins seem aggressive or displeased with your decision to keep Mina here?” Astrid asked.
Dylan left and came back with my charm bag, plopping it on the coffee table. The sound of the zipper coming undone drew Mina’s attention for a moment, before she shifted her focus back to the friendly dinosaur story.
“No. They smiled and said they understood,” Linda replied. “They also said they’d talk to the director and make a case for us. We thanked them, then they took off. They left the card in case we changed our minds. That was it.”
Astrid sighed. “I can’t find them in the regional database. There’s another place I can try, but I’ll need Alton’s clearance,” she said, then texted him.
I took several small leather pouches from the bag and handed some to Dylan. “Do the top floor. I’ll do the ground floor. Find corners, nooks, and holes to stick them in, one per room,” I said.
He nodded before vanishing up the stairs. Linda left Evan and Mina in the living room with Astrid, following me around the house as I looked for the right spots to hide my little alarm charms. They were rigged to react to foreign magicals, as I’d prepared two separate batches of charms for this type of situation—one for non-magical households, and one for magical families. The latter, which I was using, were more potent and aimed at magical strangers.
“So, you think we should stay here, then,” Linda said as we stopped in the kitchen.
I opened the counter door beneath the sink and stuffed one of the bags in the corner, behind the garbage bin. I crinkled my nose at the smell, then got up and washed my hands. Technically speaking, I was a bit of a germaphobe.
“For the time being, yes,” I replied, and gave her one of my cards. “This is my personal number. If anything feels even remotely strange, call me. Otherwise, carry on with your lives, but please, for Mina’s sake, bring her to the coven, even if it’s just for school hours. She needs a magical environment to properly develop and to understand the secrecy required to protect herself and her loved ones.”
Linda nodded slowly, tearing up. “I will… I will. I just… I wanted her to have a normal life, even if only for a couple of years.”
“That’s delusional, and you know it. Mina will never have a normal life,” I replied, then felt a little bad when Linda seemed to get even sadder, close to weeping. “And that’s not a bad thing at all,” I added, giving her a half-smile. “A magical environment will nurture her more than a human school. She’ll come out stronger from it. It’s time you accept that, Mrs. Travis.”
“I have no choice,” she said, shrugging.
“Go be with your husband and daughter, Mrs. Travis. Astrid will instruct you on emergency scenarios, while Dylan and I finish warding your house. And thank you for your cooperation.”
She smiled faintly and returned to the living room.
I had a couple of minutes to myself in there, enough to notice the small symbols etched into the corners of the glass windows. Linda was doing her part in keeping little Mina safe, but those were lightweight charms, the kind that kept poltergeists and other angry spirits out. They kept potential monsters away, too, in a similar fashion to ultrasound repellent devices that the humans used to fend off rats. Not always 100 percent successful. Still, had to give Linda props for trying.
They weren’t a stellar magical family, from what I could tell, and from what I’d picked up from Alton’s list and notes this morning. Well, except Mina. Linda and Evan Travis were both Mediocre, according to the info we had on them, which was probably why the Baltimore coven hadn’t been all that strict about them keeping their pledge and had allowed them to go Neutral.
Movement in the backyard caught my eye.
I went outside and found a little boy sitting in the small white gazebo. He was probably around eight years old and… dead. His figure was translucent, as if he were just a mirage, a wisp of a being that had once walked this earth. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, to have died so young, but I wasn’t surprised to see him there.