“You don’t need your swimsuit,” Falco told Indi for the tenth time, as they all moved their bags into the readied sports cars.

  “I brought one last time,” she countered.

  “I didn’t know you brought it last time or I would have told you to leave it behind then too.” Falco sighed as he placed yet another duffel bag in the forest green four door.

  “We went swimming last time,” Indi replied as she watched him load the bags.

  Beside her mother, Jewel nodded knowingly. “It’s good to be prepared. That’s the scout motto right, dad?”

  Falco frowned. Those were his words his daughter was throwing back at him, even though she’d never been a scout or done much camping of any kind. The kid had her mother’s intelligence, even worse she was far more people savvy and had shown a willingness to be manipulative if it got her what she wanted. Indi wasn’t like that. Were those his own traits then? When they got back from this trip he’d need to figure out a way to teach her to think a little more about others and maybe be a little less materialistic. Although that last one probably applied to both him and Indi if he was being honest, and one should be honest. Maybe he should work on being a better example too.

  He looked at the boot with a frown. It was chock full.

  “What’s in the box, mate?” he asked Wolf. Was it just him or had the man had been quieter than usual lately?

  For a moment Wolf looked like he wasn’t going to answer but once he saw the number of people staring expectantly at him in response to Falco’s question he sighed and relented. Rather than answer he opened the box lid to reveal a bright blue urn.

  “What’s that?’” Cat asked.

  “You’re bringing that with us?” inquired Amanda with a wide-eyed look. Falco couldn’t tell if she was worried or just surprised.

  “Just in case,” Wolf replied. “I’ve been reading a few more books and I think it might be something worth you having a closer look at. It might be useful.“ His gaze slid Lily’s way but he said no more.

  Amanda looked worried.

  “What is it?” Cat repeated?

  Kass, who had been sitting in the driver’s seat with her legs hanging out the door, hopped out and came around to the back to see what all the fuss was about. When she saw what it was they were all looking at, she frowned and remarked, “I’ve seen that before.”

  Amanda turned toward her like lightning. “Where?”

  Kass frowned and shook her head as if trying to remember.

  “One like this?” Wolf inquired.

  Kass nodded and waved her hand in the air in little circles, evidently still not quite able to place where she’d seen it. “There was more than one though...”

  “A red one?” Amanda asked.

  “Or a yellow one?” Wolf asked.

  “All three,” Kass replied. “There were three.”

  “What is it?” Cat asked for the third time.

  Jewel peered around the corner of the car and reached a finger out toward it.

  “DON’T TOUCH IT!” Wolf snapped loud enough that the girl yanked her finger back.

  Falco frowned at him, grabbed Jewel around the waist and pulled her back where she could not reach the urn. “What does it do? Did you figure it out?” he asked.

  Kass was still scratching her head. “If I could just remember where...”

  Amanda and Wolf were looking at her like she held the answer to the universe on the tip of her tongue.

  Cat rolled her eyes and sighed. Trying a different tactic she purred, “I know where you saw it, it was at the facility.”

  But Kass shook her head. “No...”

  “Sure it was, in the dreamworld,” Cat said.

  Amanda frowned and turned toward Cat with a querying look on her face.

  Cat seemed lost in her own thoughts now. “Oh wait, maybe that was just the yellow one.”

  “Wait, you’re being serious?” Amanda said.

  Cat blinked and refocused her eyes. “Sure,” she replied with no pretense or sarcasm.

  “You saw one at the facility? Where we found Lily?” Amanda pressed.

  Cat shook her head. “No, it was in a dream at the facility. I’ll tell you where I saw it if you tell me what it is,” she replied with a sudden grin.

  “Oh! I remember,” Kass exclaimed, stealing Cat’s thunder. “It was in a magazine article about some of the Milton art.”

  “That makes sense,” Arianna replied. “I did say she had three at one point.”

  Amanda looked disappointed. “An old magazine article? Did it say where they were housed or if they were sold or anything?”

  Kass shook her head. “I don’t think it said too much about them. The article’s at my office though if you wanted to take a look?”

  “I know where the yellow one is,” Cat repeated.

  Amanda gave her a suspicious look then she sighed. “Where?”

  Cat gave her own narrow-eyed pointed look in reply.

  Amanda glanced around at the company and extremely attentive children then she replied, “I’ll explain what it is in Witchaven if you tell me where you saw it.”

  Cat considered it. Finally she answered, “It was in an office in Mercy.”

  “Whose office?”

  “I dunno. Some politician. I remember what the view looks like though.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Amanda nodded thoughtfully.

  Wolf was giving Cat his complete attention. The way he could stand so still reminded Falco of a dog when it spots a rabbit.

  “It was recent?” Amanda asked Cat.

  Cat both shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Can’t be sure though.”

  “Okay, we should get get going. We’ll stop by Kass’s office and get that magazine if that’s alright with you?” Amanda directed her question at Kass, who nodded.

  Cat and Kass shared a look that Amanda didn’t see and Falco didn’t understand. Sirius did though and Falco watched as he stopped to talk to Kass before they all got in the cars. However, Falco was too far away to hear what was said.

  Falco got in the car, grabbing the seat behind Zephyr who glanced back and seemed relieved for some reason. Amanda was in the middle seat with Lily and she played with the seatbelt until she managed to get part of it around both of them.

  Arianna slid in next to her.

  Kass jumped in the driver seat and turned to look at Zephyr. “When Cat’s says ‘decent’ as in ‘we have a decent chance of not meeting a dragon,’ what does she mean? Like..?”

  “Fifty fifty,” Zephyr replied with a shrug, failing miserably at hiding how worried he was.

  “Uh huh.” Kass started the car. She looked worried too.

  Falco wasn’t worried. They had Amanda’s fire power and Kass’s telekinesis in this car, and Cat’s insane driving in the other, plus Indi always shielded when it really mattered. The dragons concerned him less than the mini zombie sitting on the other side of Amanda but he wasn’t going to say that out loud. He did feel bad for the child and he wished her no harm. He hoped they could find a cure but there was also no way he wanted to be this close to her, or even worse have his daughter this close to her. If it had to be one of them he’d prefer it was him.

  He wondered about the urn in the boot. Last time he’d seen it, Wolf had been casting a ritual to try and figure out what it did. Evidently, he’d still been researching it. Did this mean they’d figured out what it was? And what did it have to do with Lily? He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of it in the back. Blood magic was frowned upon and necromancy illegal and wrong for so many reasons. Things were already a little too grey for his liking but if Amanda and Wolf intended to actually do more necromancy...

  He glanced at Lily with the barest and subtlest of glances. Amanda had a knack of picking up on people’s reactions and he didn’t want her to know how worried he was even though he’d probably made it clear when he’d objected to Jewel being in this car.

  What if there really was a way to save the girl? Surely if there was then someone else would have figured it out by now? There were good necromancers out there. The question was how good? The line between fantastical rumour and reality was blurred when you lived in a world where so few people were connected, when jumping large distance was limited to only a few people. And if that urn was an infusement of some kind, well, Falco knew one thing about infusements for sure, and that was that they were always weaker than the witch they were infused from. Rituals were different but they always required blood. He stole a glance at Lily again.

  This time Amanda caught him and she met his eye and they shared a look for a moment. She knew. He was sure of it. She knew blood magic always had a hefty price.

  Zephyr fiddled with the radio all the way to Kass’s office, finally settling on something slightly classical mixed with a rainforest that made Falco glad he’d eventually be switching to the other car. He’d even prefer his wife’s musical selection to this.

  They got not even half way to Marblewood before Falco could take it no more. “What is this?” he asked Zephyr, “a yoga retreat? Put something with more of a beat on.”

  With a chuckle, Amanda directed Lily to lean forward and change the station to a specific frequency.

  The result was a country rock station which Falco deemed acceptable although this music was a bit old for his liking, but at least it had a beat and it was more rock than country.

  No one else objected and so they travelled on mostly in silence except for the rhythmic sounds coming out of the speakers and occasional softly-asked questions from Lily about Witchaven and other places, which Amanda answered as best she could.

  Falco asked if anyone had watched the weekend soccer game but only Kass knew anything detailed about it and that was because she’d read about it when scouring the news, and not because she’d actually watched the game. Arianna had watched it by accident while cooking but knew even less than Kass did.

  A little while later, Zephyr made conversation in response to one of Lily’s questions. The girl asked something about dragons and Zephyr had taken them off on some tangent about some lizard which could regrow its limbs. It was the sort of random fact Indi might’ve come up with only Zephyr didn’t have quite her enthusiasm.

  Amanda, Arianna, and Zephyr chatted for a bit then, mostly about reptiles, and Falco couldn’t help eventually joining in with questions of his own. Kass remained silent, and focused on driving.

  They followed Cat, who was getting directions from Indi, and who was keeping her speed somewhat reasonable for once.

  Conversation was just getting into full swing when they pulled up at Indi’s parent’s house. The house was two and a bit stories tall with the third floor being more of a crawlspace than anything one could stand up in. A single circular window right near the top on the side of the house was the only way you even knew there was a third floor. The style was modest but elegant with a subdued regality and folkish trimming. It sat at the edge of suburbia, nestled between houses of a similar stature. A mixed forest, known as the Bramblewood expanded out from the rear of the house.

  As they pulled up, a figure emerged from the house and onto the shaded front porch. Falco recognised Indi’s mum. She was red-headed, the bright coppery sort. It looked natural and he’d never seen any regrowth but it was such a perfect and vibrant colour that Falco was never sure if it was dye of not. Her hair cut was just shy of shoulder length in a silky bob not dissimilar to Indi’s.

  The woman watched them for awhile before stepping down off the porch into full sun. Charlotte didn’t often come out in the daylight but, much like her daughter, the woman was immensely social and liked to greet her guests. She’d probably put on expensive sunscreen this morning just for the purpose of saying hello.

  Indi was already leaping out of the other car and moving to wrap her mum in a hug.

  “Does Indi have a sister?” Zephyr asked as he watched the reunion with a frown.

  Falco chuckled. “That’s her mum.” He could understand why Zephyr asked the question though. Vampires aged incredibly slowly, and even for a vampire, Charlotte was fit. The woman had been a professional dancer for many years, possibly still was, although Falco never asked. The type of dancing the woman had done was not the type appropriate for conversation with one’s mother-in-law.

  “That’s Indi’s mum?!”

  “Yeah, I know right.” Falco grinned at Zephyr who had turned around to check Falco wasn’t messing with him.

  “Damn...” was all Zephyr said in reply as he watched Charlotte and Indi break apart again.

  Their tones also drew disapproving looks from both Kass and Amanda. Falco ignored those but said less than he would have had they not been there. Girls didn’t understand that men were not blind to beauty and that it was not wrong to appreciate it as long as one did so from a distance, with the exception of one’s own wife of course. It was something that annoyed Falco about Sirius. The man had it completely backwards. It was obvious that Sirius disapproved of Falco’s occasional appreciative glances at attractive strangers and yet he was the one kissing another woman. To be fair, Falco hadn’t always been the good guy. He had been married after all back when he’d first met Indi. That had been different though, and under different circumstances, and he’d been quick about making his choice. Sirius, on the other hand, seemed intent on causing everyone suffering. It was tragic to watch, although Falco would have been lying if he didn’t admit at least a little bit that it was also mildly entertaining. Maybe that was where his daughter got her love for drama from?

  Amanda got out of the car to go and say hello. Falco supposed he should to. He needed to switch cars anyway. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go and say hello. It’s just that Indi’s mum was a little disarming and he had to remember not to stare at her chest. The woman had a penchant for well-fitted and slightly low-cut clothing. Falco wished Indi would wear clothing more like that. Sometimes she did but never outside of the house. He supposed it did require the use of more sunscreen.

  “Falco! How good to see you! You’re looking well. Been working out I see.” Charlotte flashed him a stunning smile. She looked very much like a copper-haired version of Indi, except her violet eyes weren’t hidden behind glasses. Falco focused on her face and then tried to think of ugly people and ugly things as she wrapped him up in a friendly hug.

  “It’s good to see you too, Charlotte,” he replied as they broke apart.

  Charlotte turned to her granddaughter next.

  “And Jewel! You’ve grown so much!”

  They chatted for a little bit and Indi’s father eventually wandered out to join them. He squinted against the sun and frowned as if he’d forgotten such a thing existed. He was shorter than his wife and almost as pale. He was a studious sort of man and not opposed to people at all, it was just that sometimes he forgot they existed, especially when he got caught up in his research.

  Eventually they said goodbye, leaving Jesse and Jewel with Indi’s parents. And then they were off, all ten of them heading toward the Dragon Mountains, never for a second thinking that less than that would be returning.