“Okay. Back on topic.” My uncle headed into the kitchen, aiming right for the cabinet over the microwave. “We’re going to need two teams. A small one, to cause a distraction, and another one, a little larger, to get Aiden out.”

“I’m going to turn myself in.” I said it softly, but every head in the room swiveled to stare at me. When my uncle turned, he held the bottle of whiskey my father had confiscated from Nash the month before.

“No, you’re not,” Tod said. “Even if any of us was willing to let that happen, it won’t help your dad. We want to get him out, not leave you behind.”

“I know. This is a trap. I’m going to pretend to fall for it, while the rest of you get my father the hell out of there. You and Sabine can cross my uncle over.” I glanced into the kitchen to find Uncle Brendon pouring whiskey into a short glass of ice. “The two of you should be able to carry him if he can’t walk, and Sabine can get you out if anything goes wrong or Tod can’t cross with you both. Two who can’t cross, two who can.” That was the safest ratio.

“No,” Tod said, and I glanced at him in surprise. He’d never refused to help. “I’m staying with you. Nash can go with them. He can help lift your dad if necessary.”

“But I can cross. My dad, uncle, and Nash can’t. They need you more.”

“He’s right, Kay-bear,” Uncle Brendon said. “No one goes in alone.”

I stood, my irritation mounting. “That doesn’t make any sense. Sabine can’t get you, my dad, and Nash out all at once, especially if my dad’s still unconscious. You need someone else who can cross over!”

“And we have someone.” Luca pulled back the living room curtain to reveal Harmony’s car pulling up to the curb in front of my house. As I watched, relieved, she got out and locked her car, then started up the driveway.

The back door opened, and Nash came in, ignoring Styx when she came to growl at him, again. “I heard a car.”

Harmony knocked three times, then opened the front door, and, I swear, Nash nearly melted with relief. She stopped in the doorway, sliding her phone into her purse, and glanced around at everyone, surprised to be the center of attention before she was even in the house. “Any news about Aiden? And why are you all staring at me?”

“We thought Avari got to you, too.” Nash hugged his mom, then shoved his hands into his pockets, looking both sheepish and relieved at the same time.

Tod ran one hand through his hair, then gave his mother a hug. “Please don’t disappear at the same time someone else goes missing. That’s very misleading.”

She patted his back, then let him go. “I’m fine. I know my way around the Netherworld, sweetie.”

Uncle Brendon shook his head, but he was all smiles. “I tried to tell them....” He opened his arms, and she walked into his embrace. Then they kissed, and Nash groaned while the restof us averted our eyes.

“Dad, gross!” Sophie made a show of covering her eyes, and Luca laughed.

“Okay, so do we have a plan?” Harmony took the glass of whiskey from Brendon, made a face, then dumped it straight down the sink. “And by the way, this is not the time for...this.” She held up the glass for everyone to see—including Brendon, who frowned but didn’t argue.

“The plan—” I said, and people gathered around while I filled Harmony in “—if you’re up for a return trip to the Netherworld this soon, is for you and Sabine to take Uncle Brendon and Nash to get my dad while I distract Avari. By pretending to turn myself in.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “That doesn’t sound even  remotely safe.”

I shrugged. “It’s the Netherworld. ‘Safe’ doesn’t really apply.”

“And how are you planning to keep Avari from keeping you? What good would it do us to rescue your father but lose you in the process?”

“We’re not going to lose her,” Tod said. “I’m going with her.”

“Yes, and neither of you will have any of your undead abilities once you’re there, other than the ability to cross over on your own.”

“That’s all we need,” I insisted. “As soon as we’re sure you guys have my dad, we’ll just come home.”

Harmony’s blond brows rose in skepticism, and her resemblance to her elder son was almost uncanny. “And you really think it’ll be that easy?”

“No. Nothing’s ever easy anymore. Besides, my plan has facets. Components, even.”

“Well then, let’s hear them,” Uncle Brendon said.

“We know better than to expect my dad to be alone, so to buy you time to...kill things, or distract things, or whatever it takes, I’ll keep Avari busy by negotiating my surrender.”

“Negotiating requires give-and-take,” Sabine pointed out. “You really think he’ll be willing to give anything? Isn’t taking everything kind of his thing?”

“He doesn’t have to actually give up anything. I just have to keep him talking, even if all he says is no, over and over. I’m not really surrendering, remember, so it doesn’t matter whether he gives in to my demands.”

“I don’t get it.” Sophie frowned at me in confusion. “Why would he negotiate with you at all? Why not just...take you?”

“He would if he could,” Tod explained. “But Kaylee’s even harder to catch now than when she was alive. To take her soul against her will, he’d have to physically remove it from her resurrected body, which will be hard to do, because she’s not just going to stand there and let him have it. She’s undead and she’s a bean  sidhe. She can cross back into the human world whenever she wants.”