Brody’s eyes widened with shock. He looked over to a white-faced Mina before answering. “You are absolutely right, Mrs. Grime. But you see, if I hadn’t asked to borrow your daughter’s notes, I would have had no excuse to ask her on a date,” he lied.
Mina could have died right then and been happy. Brody looked over at Mina with a crooked smile and raised eyebrow. He was going to ask her about this conversation later. She knew it.
Sara, however, wasn’t convinced. “And you’re the boy who ran over Mina’s bike.”
“Yes, unfortunately that as well. And I really couldn’t be more embarrassed. But I was so surprised to see her on my front porch, I wasn’t watching where I was driving. I’m trying to make up for it by giving Mina rides to and from school.”
“Oh. Oh, I see.” Sara smiled. “Please call me Sara. Mrs. Grime sounds old.” She began putting away the groceries. “Sorry about the mix-up with the work pamphlets. My boss told me your house, and I sent Mina to drop it off. We never did figure out where the mix-up in communication was or where it was really supposed to go. But maybe it was fate.” When Sara left it at that, Mina wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. She couldn’t make eye contact with Brody.
Brody stayed for a supper of spaghetti and meatballs, which turned into a rather awkward event. He would direct questions toward Charlie, but when Charlie wouldn’t answer, Brody would speak louder, as if he was deaf.
“He can hear you,” Mina said, giving her brother a sisterly kick under the table. “He just doesn’t talk.”
Charlie tried to hide his smile but couldn’t. Mina knew he had enjoyed tormenting Brody.
All through dinner, Brody gave Mina pointed stares, looking around the kitchen, as if he could get her to tell her mom what had happened by sheer will.
But Mina kept trying to mouth words like "not yet," or "not now."
Brody apparently wasn’t going to let it slide. “Do you feel safe here, Sara?”
Mina could have kicked him if she’d had long enough legs.
“Why, yes, of course I do. What would make you say that?” Sara asked.
“It’s just that you’re here all alone in an older section of town, with two kids. I was just wondering if you ever felt like you were endangering them by living here in the international district.”
“What kind of question is that?” Sara asked heatedly.
Brody’s jaw tightened in anger. “I’m trying to protect your daughter, but she doesn’t seem to think she is in any danger.” Brody put it all on the table and looked to Mina in challenge. Mina knew then that if she didn’t tell her mother now, Brody would.
“Mom, you know that family thing that we discovered last week? The one where I would most likely face certain obstacles and you agreed to let me try?” Mina tried to hint; she didn’t want to alarm her younger brother or give Brody too much information.
“Yes?” Sara spoke warily, her eyes darting worriedly between Brody and Charlie.
“Well, someone was looking for something that I didn’t have. They confronted me outside a library last week and two days ago in an alley. And it seems they were here in our house just a few hours ago.”
“What?” Brody and Sara said in unison. Brody didn’t know that Mina had been attacked in an alley.
Sara looked at Brody. “What? You didn’t know?”
“Not about all of it. I knew about the library, because I was there, but not about another attack in the alley. It’s why I was asking about your safety.” Brody had started speaking in the vague way Mina did, in an effort to protect Charlie as well.
“I see.” Sara sat down calmly at the table and tried to compose herself. Charlie watched his mother quietly. Sara leaned over and whispered to Charlie, who brightened at her comment, ran to the freezer and took out a gallon of ice cream, and went to his room. When Charlie’s door was shut and the sound of cartoons could be heard from behind the door, Sara turned to look at Brody.
He spoke before she could. “Are you two in some kind of trouble? Are there people after you? What can I do to help you?” Brody stood up and paced the kitchen.
Sara continued eating her dinner and wiped her mouth daintily with her napkin. “This really is a family matter, Brody. But don’t worry—we haven’t done anything illegal, and I won’t let anyone harm my daughter ever again. I’ve moved across country six times to protect Mina from what is after her, and I’m prepared to move continents if I have to.”
Brody froze at her words. “You know who’s after her, and you haven’t gone to the police?” He turned on Sara. “If what you’re saying is true, then the police can find the person. They can stop this man.”
“I told you, this is a family matter.”
Brody looked to Mina in a panic. “I won’t let you run, not if I can help you. If you will just let me help you…”
Sara pretended he’d directed his question at her. “Can you help us run from a curse?”