Mom didn’t take issue with his language or his reference to magical abilities, which told me exactly how afraid she really was. “Schwint’s exactly right! You’ve been getting better. You stopped going to the Square. You weren’t as depressed with Schwint in your life. You were coming into the bakery again. As soon as all this started is when the migraines began, dragging you back to that cesspool.”
I opened my mouth to point out the illogic of all that, how it didn’t make sense for the Royals to go to all that trouble just to get control over me, but Dad cut me off. “Actually, that makes sense.” He nodded toward Schwint. “I wish we’d met you a lot sooner and had this conversation. We could have saved Finn a lot of pain.”
Schwint simply nodded, probably uncertain of the correct thing to say.
It seemed Dad needed to believe I was more innocent than I really was. Schwint knew differently. I knew differently.
Mom paced a few more laps, then returned to her seat by Dad. The room fell silent for a while, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
“What if I go down there? I don’t even have to actually go to the Vampire Cathedral. I could just go to Costa Rica.”
Dad flinched at my voice breaking the silence, then narrowed his eyes. “And do what? Play detective? You think they’re not going to know if you’re there? They’ve been able to control your life here using whoever that damned voice is. Imagine what they could do with you there.”
“Maybe that’s it! Maybe I go down there and somehow figure out who the voice is. If I could figure that out, I could cut their tie to me.”
Dad questioned me again. “You said he was gone. Even so, how would you cut the tie? By killing him?”
I hesitated. I really wasn’t the same person I was before. “If I have to.”
Mom stared at me in shock. “There’s proof that they’ve been using the Square to change you. You never would have suggested killing anyone before.”
Schwint’s voice muttered beside me, although still loud enough for everyone to hear. “Even if you did, they’d just find another one to take his place.”
“No!” This time Mom slapped the coffee table with her open palm. “You’re not going down there. You’re not. They’ve done enough damage to you here. No more. There’s no need to discuss it any further. And we are not considering killing anyone!”
The room fell silent again. Her words seemed to echo off the walls. Each of us looked at the other, unsure what to say. Mom’s jaw was set, her shoulders squared. If whoever the voice had been walked through the front door right now, I had no doubt that Mom would have been able to rip him into little bitty pieces, no matter what other powers the voice might have—and no matter her no-killing assertions.
“So, Schwint.” Dad’s friendly voice cut through the tension of the room. “What else can you become besides fat ladies in dresses?”
Thirty-One
FINN DE MORISCO
I’d heardthe pounding on the door, but I’d been dreaming of the back room, so it just blended in with the thump of the music and the slap of skin on skin.
The bedroom door slamming open shot me awake. Beside me, Schwint was startled into consciousness as well. With a yell, he sprang from the bed. Instead of landing on the floor, he hovered in the air, wings beating furiously.
“Oh, for fuck sake!” Caitlin’s voice caused me to look over in time to see her cover her eyes with the crook of her arm. “That’s all this morning needed! Get some fucking pants on!”
Glancing up, I realized Schwint was naked. I couldn’t contain a smirk, knowing my lesbian sister had received quite a large eyeful. Served her right for busting into my bedroom again.
With a flick of Schwint’s hand, the door slammed shut, pushing Caitlin out of the room.
She cursed as she hit the wall. If she left another dent, I was going to leave it this time. “God damn it, Finn! Tell your faggot fairy to lay off the pixie dust, will ya?”
Schwint looked from the door to me. “That was your sister, wasn’t it?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Caitlin?”
“Yep! How’d you know?” I raised my voice to make sure she could hear me in the hallway. “Was it the bitchiness that clued you in or the dyke hair?”
Caitlin flung the door open again. “Shut up, Finn! This is serious!” She let out another yelp and shielded her eyes. “Seriously, dude! Put on some fucking clothes!”
Schwint lowered himself to the bed and slid in beside me, covering with the blankets. “Sorry. I was startled and wasn’t thinking.”
She peeked before fully lowering her arm. She ignored him and glared at me. “We’ve been trying to call you for hours! Why aren’t you answering?”
