Keep him close. Protect him.

Jo hadn’t. She hadn’t been there with him.

“You’re all grown up.” MizB’s tears welled. “And so beautiful.”

“I brought her home directly,” Thad said. “Haven’t had much of a chance to talk to her.”

“Please have a seat.” MizB moved to a fancy chair with a stiff back. Thad crossed to the nearby couch, sitting as close to her as possible.

Awkward. Jo traced to the other end of the couch and sank down. She rubbed her nape and glanced at the window. She had the sense of being watched.

Would Thad’s ward keep out Nïx? The Valkyrie might come with a bill for all the sports cars and trees Jo had trashed. Recalling that lightened her mood a touch.

“Oh!” MizB’s eyes had widened. “You disappeared and reappeared. That’s not something you see every day.”

Jo frowned. “You had to have seen him do it.”

“The only thing I saw was him drinking from his arm.”

“Mom!”

Vampire masturbation. And MizB had just laid it out there. What an icebreaker.

Thad’s face grew so crimson he’d probably get thirsty from it. He was such a teenage boy. Despite everything, Jo had to conceal a laugh behind a cough.

His mortified expression faded when he saw her face. He started to grin. “You think that’s funny?”

She coughed again. “It’s not unfunny.”

“I wasn’t supposed to say that?” MizB blinked behind her glasses. “I’m just learning my way around all this.”

Thad said, “It’s fine, Mom.”

MizB turned to her. “Well, tell me everything. Where did you two meet up?”

Thad looked at Jo to field this one. The Eagle Scout would have trouble lying. “Mutual acquaintances.”

“That’s so fortunate! How did you recognize each other?”

“You think I haven’t kept up with my own brother? I can tell you his freaking baseball stats.” Thanks to text-to-speech.

“Of course,” MizB quickly said. “I should’ve expected that.”

Thad leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You really can?”

Jo shrugged. “You can’t steal bases for shit.”

He gave a laughing groan. “Tell me about it. Hey, I bet I don’t suck so bad since I started coming into my powers. But what about you—what do you do?”

Do? Besides slowly dying, desperate to see you every day? And getting my heart broken by Rune? “This and that.”

“Are you married?” MizB asked.

“All by my lonesome.” Jo propped her boots on the coffee table.

The woman wisely said nothing. “You never stayed with Mr. Chase?”

“Who?”

Thad shot Jo a wide-eyed look. So the Eagle Scout had told a lie after all?

Acting all casual, Jo said, “Nah, I do my own thing.”

“We’ve never even met him—he just sent us the deed to his house, writing that he was Thad’s long-lost uncle. It’s all very mysterious.” Her gazed flitted to Thad and back. “Have you unearthed any clues about where you two came from? About your parents?”

“Still sorting them out.” Jo would tell Thad about her new, raw memory in private. And find about this Chase dude. “Our folks are gone though.”

Sadness clouded Thad’s eyes. Had he been holding out hope of meeting the parents? She didn’t like to see him sad. She’d already gotten used to his easy grin, the one that said, All is right in the world.

“Thad’s told me he could live to be very old.” MizB took a tissue from her pocket. “I’m so glad you’re back in his life. It’s such a relief that he won’t be alone after his grandmother and I are gone.”

Jo narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, being alone for years and years is not something I’d wish on anyone.”

“I didn’t know.” Tears welled again. “I had n-no idea.”

Thad rose and dragged a stool over beside her, patting her hand. “Mom, it’s okay.”

Clearly, Jo needed to make a not-so-graceful exit. “Look, I need to split—”

“I-I thought you’d died!” MizB cried. “I didn’t know if you’d returned to take Thad to hell or to the grave. I didn’t know this world existed!”

“I didn’t either!” Jo rose to float/pace. The room’s lights flickered eerily. “I woke up in a body bag! I thought I’d been resurrected. That I was some kind of ghost.” Which, she supposed, was not far from the truth. “Then when I came for Thaddie, you were all get-thee-gone. I’m surprised you didn’t douse me with holy water.”

MizB dabbed at her eyes behind her glasses. “You were just a little girl—I told you that the day you were shot—but I didn’t listen to my own words. I thought you weren’t Jo anymore. I thought you would’ve wanted me to protect him from any threat.”

Damn it, I would’ve.

“I’m the one who found your body behind the library. When I heard the gunshots, I left Thad with a colleague and ran out, but . . . there wasn’t anything left of your . . .” She cleared her throat. “I wasn’t prepared to see your face later that night. And you looked so different.”

MizB had found her? Out of habit, Jo reached for her bullet necklace. Great, she’d left it at Rune’s.