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.I never have been.”“That’s for sure.” Dad eased into a chair by the fire.“Weak link?” I said.They both winced.“We never called you that,” Mom said.“Not to my face.Did you know I could hear you through the vents?”From the stunned looks on their faces, I guessed that Elena, my old bedroom’s new occupant, would have no such ability.Probably within twenty-four hours.“You tried to cut me out of the family from the day Christina was born,” I said.“You weren’t sure if I counted.If the magical protection was there.I took you at your word.Thought I didn’t count.But you were wrong.There is a bond protecting us and I can feel it, magic or no magic.”“You can?” Mom went a little pale.“Yes, I can.It’s what sickened the family when you tried to break it.”Mom sat down next to her husband.“I’m sorry, Cassandra.I’ve said it a hundred times and will say it a hundred more if I have to, but I can’t change what I’ve done.”No, she couldn’t, and since I’d already forgiven her, I decided that maybe I should let go of the anger.Or work toward that point.“Do you disapprove of Matthew?” I asked.Mom and Dad glanced at each other.Something unspoken passed between them, but they only shrugged.“It is a little sudden,” Dad said.“How long of an engagement period do you plan?” Mom asked.“Maybe a year from now, to give you a chance to get to know one another.A nice fall wedding next year?”“I, um… we haven’t discussed it.” I didn’t like the idea of a long engagement, though I couldn’t fault her logic.Why was I in such a hurry to get married, anyway? Unless I was more like my mother than I thought and I longed for a magical pregnancy so I could feel the power flowing through me.But I’d never experienced it in the first place, so how could I miss it?The doorbell rang and I leaped to my feet.“That will be Matthew.” I hurried away, wanting to get to him before my brothers and sisters could bombard him with questions or insults.Dinner turned out well, despite everything.Perhaps Matthew had a calming influence on everyone or perhaps my announcement about Evan had shocked them into quiescence, but the evening passed with little more than polite congratulations and small talk.Shortly after dinner, I pulled Nicolas aside for a private word.I had a favor to ask of him, one I still didn’t feel comfortable asking my father.I knew the sheriff didn’t want me actively involved in the investigation of Sarah Roberts’s murder, especially not if I involved my family, but if I had to spend one more day asking inane questions of people who had no connection to the Robertses, I thought I would go insane.“What’s up?” Nicolas asked.“The fire chief’s report said he couldn’t find any normal means for starting that fire,” I said.“So I heard.Loudly.They blame me.”“I know.”“I haven’t gone into town since Thursday.Then, they were just hurling unfounded accusations at me, but I heard it was getting worse and I didn’t want to end up hurting anyone.”“I think it’s more or less under control now, but it’s pretty unstable.” It was probably best that he stay away, which made what I had to ask him that much more difficult.“The thing is, I was wondering if you could look at the house and give me your own report about what happened.Maybe you could figure out what kind of magic was used, or how it was done.”“I could.” He hesitated.“I’d better do it late at night, though.And there’s no guarantee I’ll find anything.”“I understand.So, can you do it tonight?”Before he had a chance to answer, someone rang the doorbell.Frowning, my father went to discover the identity of our unexpected guest.When he reached the door, he let out an audible groan.“I was expecting this,” Dad muttered as he opened the door.“Mr.Scot,” came a vaguely familiar tenor with a very pleasant timbre.“I realize we haven’t been introduced, but your reputation precedes you, and I was hoping we might have a word.”“Your reputation precedes you, too, Mr.DuPris, and you have to know that I’m not in favor of joining your cult of personality.”“I realize that,” Alexander said.“But I thought that perhaps today, we could set aside our differences to talk about something more important.”“I can’t think what you might have to say that would interest me.” My father was acting more hostile than he needed to, but I recognized the effort as part of resisting Alexander’s charismatic charm.“It involves your daughter Cassie,” Alexander said.I straightened.Dad’s head swung around to gaze at me, his eyes attempting to penetrate my mind, but it wouldn’t have helped if he could.I had no idea what Alexander meant.Matthew, who could read my mind, looked just as baffled.“Come in.” Dad stood stiffly as he stepped aside for Alexander to enter.His gaze swept the room and he said, sharply, “Kids, off to the play room.Cassie, you stay.”“What about me?” Nicolas asked.Dad hesitated.“All right, you stay, too.”“And me?” Juliana asked.She didn’t appreciate being in that awkward middle stage where she wasn’t a child or an adult, but in this case, I hoped she wouldn’t be allowed to stay.Whatever Alexander had to say, I wasn’t sure I wanted Nicolas to hear, either.“Go,” Dad said to her.Amidst a cacophony of grumbling, Juliana and Isaac herded the rest of the kids out of the room, leaving behind the legal adults.Alexander took a seat in one of the vacated chairs and waited for the noise to die down before speaking.“I understand your community has had a long-standing problem with a particularly reclusive family of practitioners who have been known, from time to time, to engage in kidnapping and murder to achieve their ends.”Understanding dawned, and I started to open my mouth to speak but Alexander hushed me with a gesture.“Are you talking about the Travises?” Dad asked.“They were causing trouble a while back, but we put an end to that years ago.”Alexander shook his head.“From the intelligence I’ve been able to gather, they’ve continued in their illegal and immoral activities.They usually select victims from outside the community, but recently they decided to cast a spell requiring an enormous amount of power.Their intent was to banish me and my people from the area and, given that there are at least a dozen of us around and that none of us are particularly weak, this should give you an idea how much raw energy they needed.Gathering that kind of blood magic from outside the area takes time, and the local population has a much greater concentration of magical potential.”Dad’s face paled somewhat.“I personally spoke to Eugene about an opposition, but it never occurred to me that they’d try to put together the magic for a banishment.” His face went even whiter as he glanced at me.“What does this have to do with Cassie?”Alexander looked mildly surprised, though I didn’t think the expression was particularly honest.“Didn’t she tell you? They tried to take her for the ritual.”“They what?” Dad roared to his feet in such a fury that sparks flew from his eyes.He turned to me.“When did this happen? Why didn’t you say something?”I spluttered
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