“You have a high opinion of me,” Tiago said as he wiped at his eyes. “I appreciate it. Hopefully, one day I can return the favor.”
Nico swatted Tiago’s arm playfully. “Go get some grub. It’s late.”
Tiago leaned down to take Sinthy’s hands in his. “Thank you. You’ll never know how grateful I am to you.”
He turned and headed to the food line. I glanced at Sinthy and saw the blush creeping into her cheeks. The young woman was barely past being a teenager, and sometimes she still acted like it. She was silly and sarcastic but also worldly beyond her years. She could be sweet as well as kind. Once again, I was happy that she’d come into our lives. Not only for her magical prowess but for who she was as a person.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Sinthy asked.
I shook my head. “No reason. Just happy it all worked out.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You aren’t gonna get all sappy on me, are you?”
I chuckled. “Maybe? Would that be so bad?’
Sinthy rolled her eyes and stood. She looked a lot less shaky than when we’d arrived.
“I’m going to go to sleep for about eleven years. Don’t wake me until it’s time for lunch. Deal?”
“Deal,” I said.
She shuffled off, and other than looking weary to the bone, she seemed perfectly fine. She would be tired, but I thought she’d be okay to bring the other packs in. That would relieve a lot of Nico’s stress. Once our close friends and allies were here and safe behind our wards, it would allow him to focus on the main situation.
My phone buzzed with a text from my father.What’s going on at that big building by our cabin? Lots of activity.
I huffed out a breath and tugged Nico aside. “I’m going to head over to my parents’ place real quick. I guess the noise from here woke them. I’m going to update them.”
With a nod, Nico pulled me close and said, “Do you need me to go with you?”
He was remembering the situation with my parents and didn’t want me to deal with something like that again. Admittedly, that hadn’t been great, but I could handle Mom andDad fine. No reason to make things awkward this late at night by taking Nico along.
“I’ll be good,” I said. “Don’t worry. If you’re asleep when I get home, I won’t wake you.”
He kissed me, and I left, leaving the madness behind me. The cabin Nico had offered my parents was closer to the building than I’d realized. No wonder the noise had woken them. From here, I could hear the scraping of cots on the floor, voices, and the cries and screams of children. There’d probably been some sort of loud noise when Tiago’s pack arrived. There was no way that many people appearing out of thin air had been silent. It had probably sounded like thunder or something.
I knocked, and a few seconds later, my dad opened the door.
“Come in,” he said as he tightened his robe.
Mom was sitting at the kitchen table, her hands wrapped around a steaming cup of tea. She smiled at me as Dad closed the door.
“Sorry if the noise woke you up,” I said, gesturing toward the other building.
Dad waved my words away. “We were in bed, but we weren’t asleep.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Eww.”
My mother blushed. “Not like that.”
“No, we were talking,” Dad added. “We’ve watched more news about that attack in Virginia and were discussing how worried we were. I know we’re as safe here as we could be anywhere, but it’s still a bit worrisome.”
I sat down and poured myself a cup of tea. Mom was fidgeting with her cup, and I wondered if there was any way to alleviate their fears. Probably not.
“We’ll be fine. We have Sinthy, Nico, me, and the whole of Nico’s pack. This is the safest place we can be. That’s whatall that noise was. Sinthy teleported another pack here. We’re gonna bring in as many as we can. That’s how safe it is.”
“Part of our worry is mired in guilt,” Dad said, unable to meet my eyes.
“Guilt about what?”
