I can hear both the caution and the sarcasm in his voice despite all of his best efforts. And we all know my mother can, too. She senses fear as easily as she causes it.
“I’m shocked you used the door,” I say, closing it behind her while she glides into our living room as if she owns the place. Which, given her celestial standing, she might as well.
Logan and I exchange a glance as we trail in behind her. A part of me wonders if I should text Gage for reinforcements, but I figurehe’ll come down sooner or later. Most likely tomorrow morning in hunt of more of those cinnamon rolls, but still.
“Take a seat,” Logan offers.
“I don’t sit,” she says cooly as if we should know better. “Not here at least.” She wrinkles her nose at the sofa as if it were crawling with maggots, and for all I know, it’s crawling with microscopic maggots that only the discerning eyes of a Caelestis can see. “But I do use the door,” she muses as she turns to look at me. “Even the supernatural appreciate civility on occasion.” She sheds an easy grin, standing in our living room like a queen holding court. “Besides, materializing in your bedroom didn’t seem appropriate given your... plans for the evening.” She rakes her eyes up and down Logan’s body because, let’s face it, he’s pretty easy to read, and twice as easy to look at.
“The kids and Gage are upstairs sleeping,” Logan says, positioning himself subtly between my mother and the staircase in a protective gesture that doesn’t go unnoticed by either of us. “So what’s going on, Candace? Why the midnight house call?”
I nod her way. “And what was that argument with Demetri about?” The question has been burning in my mind brighter than that bonfire could ever have hoped to be. Something about their exchange felt different, more personal than their usual celestial power struggles, which is saying something since their usual power struggles have a tendency to upend entire civilizations. And that’s what worries me most.
I can’t help but wonder if this impromptu visit is somehow related.
“It is,” Candace confirms aloud, answering my unspoken thought.
I wince. “Wonderful,” I say under my breath.
It’s so easy to forget she can read my mind when she wants to. Privacy is a courtesy she extends, not a right I possess.
Some women swear that their mothers can read their minds. Mine actually can. It may come with the supernatural territory, but I will never get used to it.
A heavy sigh expels from her in lieu of a preamble. “Demetri has been tampering with things he shouldn’t,” she begins, her expression darkening momentarily before returning to the carefully composed serenity she seems to live in. “He’s been placing observation points in the celestial barriers around Paragon—particularly those surrounding Whitehorse.”
“A what and a who?” I ask, blinking her way. I know it’s late, but I’m pretty sure even if I were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I wouldn’t have understood that gobbledygook that just shot from her mouth.
Logan’s posture stiffens. “Why?”
Of course, he goes in the easy way. But that doesn’t mean we’re letting my mother off easy.
She takes a moment to glower at me for even thinking it. “He’s particularly interested in the children,” she says with a hard edge to her tone. “In Eden and Jaxson’s developing abilities. And, of course, the other boys, too.” She frowns at the mention of them. As much as she loves them, and she does, she is well aware of who their father is—or more to the point, their grandfather. “He’s assessing how much of your power they’ve inherited, Skyla.”
“He’s assessing the kids? With something called observation points in the celestial barriers?” A chill runs through me that has nothing to do with the storm outside. “To what end? And why?”
I get the feeling Logan and I can sing an entire chorus of whys and never get a single straight answer. We’ve never gotten one before, I don’t see why we’d get one now.
“That’s what we argued about.” Candace floats a notch into the air, moving to the window where lightning illuminates her profile in stark, dramatic flashes. “He’s living in a bubble of fear because of your children. And we all know how volatile a fearful Fem can be. Demetri is a danger to us all. He claims it’s a harmless observation, but we both know Demetri doesn’t observe anything without planning to use that knowledge.”
Logan and I exchange another glance. This sounds plausible,exactly the kind of thing Demetri would do, but something doesn’t quite add up.
“So, what do you need from us?” I ask because there’s always something. My mother doesn’t make house calls to deliver information, and definitely not Chinese food. Unfortunately. Although let’s be honest, if she came bearing takeout, it would make things a little easier on all of us all the way around. She’s here because she wants something—dare I say,needssomething.
Candace turns from the window as a slow smile spreads across her face. “I need your help to create an anchor in the past.”
“An anchor?” Logan repeats.
“A fixed point in time,” she explains, “serving as a marker to a predetermined point before the faction war began. It’s essentially a historical reference point, and since the two of you were instrumental in getting that particular ball rolling, I thought you should be the ones to choose which moment to mark.”
“Why exactly do we need this anchor?” I press, not quite ready to agree to anything. And I’m certainly not agreeing to something I don’t understand.
“Think of it as a safety measure,” Candace says smoothly. “A home base of sorts, if we ever needed to reference the time before everything changed—before Celestra was threatened. Trust me, it’s for Jaxson and Eden, and the twins. I need to protect my grandchildren. Come, we need to hurry.” She holds out her hands, beckoning us as if we were toddlers.
The explanation sounds like complete bullshit, but when it comes to my kids’ safety, I can’t risk being wrong.
“And this has to happen right now?” I scoff her way. “During a storm at midnight?”
“Yes, but only because the celestial alignment is perfect tonight,” she counters without missing a beat. “And I promise, no more than an hour will pass in this reality. Gage is more than competent to handle things here. I’m assuming.” She takes a moment to glower at the thought. Yet again, she’s not exactly Gage Oliver’s biggest fan,and mostly that has to do with who his father is. Although on the rare occasion when I’m not his biggest fan, it mostly has to do with who his mother is. Emma Oliver is still the bane of my existence.
