She meant Leo. And aha. This was what she had been wanting to say. “He’s all yours, Katie. Honest to God. All yours.”
Katie’s fangs snapped down. “Remember that. Leo is mine.” Behind me the outer door opened a crack. Katie threw up an arm against the light and I got out of there fast, through the door that Troll had opened. Sadly, that was the high point of my day.
As I swung over the back fence, the Kid and Tia and the children were heading outside to play—which was grown-up talk for getting out of the line of fire. When I entered my house, it was to walk into the middle of a huge fight between Molly and Big Evan. Evan was standing in the middle of the living room, his hands fisted at his sides, the air swirling around him, lifting his red beard, shuffling through his clothes, his magic activated, but contained, for the moment. Molly, less than a third his size, with her weight loss, was standing at the entrance to the kitchen. Her dress hung perfectly still, her hair a spill of rich color, unmoving. Her hands were relaxed and still, her magic tight against her skin, a dark shadow of potential. Of the two, Molly looked far more dangerous.
“—tell me you were on the pill? How could you not, Mol?”
“Because she was afraid the death magics would interfere with the baby’s development, or with the childbirth, or with something else equally horrible. She was afraid of giving birth to a magical monster or killing the child in her womb. Right, Molly?”
My friend gave her head a tiny nod, one I might have missed had I not been living with Mr. Infinitesimal for the last few months.
“She was also afraid of hurting the children, or draining you in your sleep. She was hoping to find a way out of the problem, but when she heard about Shiloh being alive and in danger, she put her troubles behind her and came to New Orleans. It was stupid, and it was bad timing that she got taken before she could get to me for help. It was also stupid that she didn’t tell us about her magic going bad and let us help her find a treatment or cure, but she wasn’t cheating on you. And stupidity isn’t a crime.”
Molly shot me a glare. Big Evan didn’t take his eyes from his wife, but his face turned even redder. “You talked to her about all this and you couldn’t talk to me?”
“She didn’t tell me anything, you idiot.” I could have been a bit more diplomatic, but I was tired, my house was full of angry witches, and I couldn’t just leave them to it and try for a nap. I might wake up with the house on fire. Or dropped on top of one of them, a pair of ruby slippers sticking out. I grinned, imagining the glittery pumps on Big Evan’s humongous feet. From the look on his face, I probably shouldn’t share the vision with him. “I figured it out. Molly loves you guys with all her heart. She wants her magic back. Or a way to control the death magic. And—” I stopped. It was possible that I had a way, if I could get the familiar back from Gee DiMercy. Or if—
Something launched across the kitchen at Molly. Molly whirled and lifted her arm. Evan raised both of his fists. “No!” I shouted. They both stopped. The kitten landed on Molly’s shoulder. And meowed. A lot of things flitted through my mind, like Aggie’s mother’s prophecy and Molly’s desire to be her old self, and lots of old stories about witches and cats. Puzzle pieces settling into place. “When I was a kid, in the children’s home, before I understood English, I was standing somewhere, maybe in a kitchen, watching some girls put a puzzle together.”
Big Evan looked at me as if I were insane. “What?”
“Yeah, I know. Weird, huh? Anyway, I had no idea what a puzzle was.” The kitten on Molly’s shoulder arched her back and walked around to her other shoulder. Molly held perfectly still. Eyes wide, fingers spread. As if she was afraid to even breathe. “I didn’t understand. Not for, like, two days.” I shoved my hands into my jeans pockets, talking, watching Molly and the kitten. It put its cheek to her and purred long and steadily. “But I knew it was important, it had to be because two of the girls I lived with were so totally focused on it, like, the way a mountain lion focuses on prey when she’s hungry and has kits to feed. Anyway, on the end of the second day, they put the last piece together and they got up and left. They left me alone with the puzzle. So I walked over and looked at it.”