“I’ll find them,” Tod promised his brother. “I’ll bring them back.”

“I’m going with you.”

“No.” Tod turned back to me, and his irises were achingly still. I couldn’t tell if he was hiding something from me or from Nash. “Take Nash and Sabine back to your house, please, and I’ll meet you there. I won’t stay long. I just want to cross over and check around the building, in case Brendon’s hiding her somewhere where I can get to them quickly. Maybe this isn’t as bad as it seems.”

But I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who wished my uncle could have carried both Harmony and the giant hammer.

Nash grabbed his brother’s shoulder and pulled him around. “You’re not going without me. She’s my mother, too.”

“And I would take you, if you could get back on your own. But you can’t, which means I’d have to look out for you while I look for Mom. Stay here. Help Kaylee and Sabine keep an eye on the others. That’s the best way you can help.”

“That’s bullshit!” Nash shouted.

“Shhh.” Sabine took his hand in her half-casted one. “You have to shut up, or we’re going to get caught.” He started to argue, but she clamped one hand over his mouth. “If you promise to shut the hell up, I’ll go with him and help find your mom.”

“No!” He pulled her hand away, and his next words were clearer. “Putting yourself in danger isn’t going to help her.” About a second after he’d said the words, Nash seemed to realize they applied to him, too. “Fine. Point taken. I’ll stay if you stay.” When Sabine nodded, Nash turned back to Tod. “You sure you got this?”

The reaper nodded grimly. “And the longer I wait, the harder they’ll be to find. Assuming they got away.”

Please let them have gotten  away.... “I’ll take Nash and Sabine back, then join you.”

“No,” Tod said. My temper flared, and I started to argue, but he spoke over me. “Please stay here. I may be able to get to my mom and your uncle, but we have no idea where your dad is. And if something happens to you, who’s going to find him?”

“He wasn’t in that basement,” Sabine added. “You got false information.”

“That’s impossible.” I pushed hair back from my face, wishing I had a ponytail holder. “Hellions can’t lie.”

She shrugged, shining her cell phone screen in my face. “Okay then, your hellion was wrong.”

“He’s not my hellion.” Ira would devour my soul just as soon as Avari would if he could get it.

“He’s as much yours as I ever was,” Nash said, eyes flashing in anger. “And he got to first base a hellof a lot faster.” I gaped at him in shock. Tod’s fist was already in motion when Nash backed up, warding off the blow with two open palms. “I’m sorry. That was out of line.”

“Sure as hell was,” Tod growled.

“I take it back. I’m sorry. I’m just...” He blinked and made a visible effort to push back the fear and frustration obviously sharpening his tongue. “This is messed up. Avari has my mom.”

“He has my dad, too. And Sophie’s,” I pointed out. We were all in the same position.

“Shit,” Sabine swore. “Who’s going to tell her?”

“Isn’t scaring the crap out of my cousin kind of your raison d’être?” Look at that. You  can use French outside of French class!

Sabine shrugged. “She’s not horrible all the time. And you gotta respect a girl who travels with a pair of scissors in her purse.”

A designer purse, no doubt. Maybe designer scissors.

I exhaled heavily. Until there was no air left in my body. “She’s my cousin. I’ll tell her.” I owed her that much.

“Okay. I’m going back in,” Tod said, and I pulled him into another hug before he could blink out.

“If you’re not back in half an hour, I’m coming after you,” I whispered into his ear, standing on my toes so I could reach. “There’s no one left here who can stop me.”

He clutched me tighter and nodded. “I’ll be back.” Then he let me go and disappeared.

I took Sabine’s good hand in my left and Nash’s in my right, then blinked all three of us into my backyard, where I was pretty sure we wouldn’t accidentally land on someone. Or in something.

Styx barked her head off when we came in through the back door, and even after she saw me, she kept barking until I picked her up and scruffed her fur. Tensions were high, and she could feel that. Seeing me was no longer enough to assure her that I was okay.

I heard the plastic clatter of the television remote being dropped on the coffee table—a sound I made on a daily basis—then footsteps pounded through the living room and into the kitchen.

“Well?” Em demanded, while Sophie and Luca fell into place behind her. Their eyes were wide. Sophie clutched Luca’s hand. They were all three scared.

“Okay, first of all, when someone walks in through the back door unannounced, don’t assume it’s someone you know.” Sabine marched past me and into the kitchen, where she pulled open the fridge door. “Assume it’s someone—or something—that wants to kill you. And come armed.” She turned to me with her good hand wrapped around the door handle. “Where’s that baseball bat?”