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Gwen stepped back, her hands on Maria’s shoulders, and scrutinized her daughter’s face as she held her at arain I don’t care what the problem is, we can talk about it Okay?"

"Okay, Mom" Maria looked at her tennis shoes but kept a hand on her ain, pulling her close, both of the at the same time Gwen buried her face in Maria’s hair They stood that way for several irl’s head and looked over atmy voice to make it past the lump in my throat

"Do you have time to come back to the house?" Gwen asked "We really need to have that talk" There was no anger in her voice now Just oceans of relief

I nodded again Before catching the train, I’d phoned Mab from South Station She told me that Axel had called to say Juliet was still unconscious No call fro out of the little I did have--but with no way to find the Old Ones and no idea where to start looking, there wasn’t much I could do about that

Besides, this was family I’d make time

Maria threw her backpack into her mom’s van and climbed into aat the Henleys’" Gwen glanced at hbors a couple of doors down They have a boy Zack’s age"

During the short drive from the train station to Gwen’s house, the van was quiet Maria stared out her en turned on the radio, listened to two sentences of a news story about the zoain

In the driveway, Maria jumped out with her backpack, slammed the door, and started toward the house

"Maria," Gwen said, "go to the Henleys’ and keep an eye on your brothers"

"But Mom" Maria looked to me for backup Her appeal wasn’t lost on Gwen

And there I was, stuck in a position I never wanted, wedged between ht "I think she should stay, Gwen This conversation concerns her"

Gwen gave each of us a long stare, as if trying to assess how ainst her Not at all! I wanted to shout You’re her mom But until we played this out, ht," she said, but in a voice that suggested we’d be sorry "She e and took the side door into the kitchen Gwen pointed at a chair, and Maria sat in it My sister, ignoring her usual hostess instinct, didn’t even offer a glass of water

She sat at the head of the table and folded her hands, looking like a CEO ready to announce bad news at a shareholders’"So here’s the situation as I see it At this point, I think it’s safe to say that Maria is developing Cerddorion tendencies We have to plan for dealing with that" She turned to al side of things We have soencies ht now, but I’ll call his office and see what they can do I’ll fill Kane in as soon as he’s back" If I ever got hi way off, and after the failure of Roxana’s ritual, I worried that even the h

"If Kane can help, fine That would be our preference But Nick and I agree we also need to have a plan B in place If it looks like the courtsto Canada Nick says he can get a transfer to his firm’s Toronto office"

Maria stood up "But Moirl sat down again She slumped in her chair and stared at the table

I felt the sa way from Boston If they moved, I’d see Gwen and her family et accusto if they uure it out When Maria needed o up there to help her get through the first fewway too fast

"We do have tier"

"Yes But I also said we need to have a plan in place I’ on my door"

Maria scrunched down farther in her chair As the grown-ups talked, she’d made herself so small that she now appeared to be littleabove the table

"Okay, so we’ve covered plans and possible consequences," I said "But we haven’t discussed what’s in store for Maria, what it’s like to become a shapeshifter Can I tell her what to expect?"

Gwen’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded

Maria sat up a little as I spoke "Nothing is going to change right away You’ll keep having drea, like the ones you told et scary?" she asked in a tiny voice