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“She’s always been strong in math. I don’t understand,” he rumbled, concerned, the strongest part of my team.
I should hang up, but… “They’ll take her off volleyball! And she didn’t mention that she was having trouble.”
“Perhaps a tutor would help.”
“She’d hate that, but yes. An F? At least she has half the quarter to get her grade where it needs to be.”
“Do you think she could get an A at this point?”
“At least a C would be passing, but there’s no reason she can’t talk to her teacher and be able to make up her work. She’s certainly grounded.”
“Absolutely. And maybe do more family activities to help her feel supported.”
I went cold. Ice cold because family activities when her father wasn’t even here?
He continued. “I’m so glad you called, but I have a meeting I need to get back to. I’ll call you again tonight?” He said it like a question.
“If my phone works.”
“All right. I love—”
I hung up before I heard the end. My heart was beating too fast, twisting in my chest like a pretzel and the rest of my body cold and numb. I’d called him without thinking about it, forgotten all about his betrayal, about magic, about everything.
I sank into the nearest chair, which was squishy and long, so I was half-reclined, staring at the gold medallion on the pale ceiling around the chandelier. It hurt so much. I was going to die without him. Why would he hurt me like this? How could he say he loved me so easily?
Time blurred as I sank into the pit of despair until a loud thudding came from the front door. Maybe Scilla had forgotten something. No, that wasn’t the weight of her fist.
I forced myself out of the chair of misery and left the parlor, crossed the marble floor to open the front door. Ray of Sunshine stalked past me, heading for the library.
“It’s nice to see you, too,” I said, following him. Still numb, but seeing him in all his vampire-slayer glory interrupted my misery.
“Where is it?” he demanded, walking into the library and going to the bookshelf.
“What?” I asked, throwing myself onto the gold couch. I could help him better from a position that didn’t require me to stand upright. Maybe I should break into the liquor cabinet. And then I could kiss him again. I sat up straight. Absolutely not.
He searched the shelves and then whirled around to scowl at me. Such an angry scowl. He raised a hand that pulsed with dark energy. The floors creaked loudly. He looked down, then, with a wave of his hand, got rid of the dark negative stuff.
“How do you get rid of the dark force so easily?” I asked while he came to tower over me, glowering. Such a Ray of Sunshine.
“Where’s the book? Hoar’s Grimoire? Scilla said you have it.”
“Oh, it’s in the parlor. But the weird thing is that I left it in the kitchen, and it just appeared in the bottom cabinet of the curio. Maybe there are multiple stupidly shaped alligator-skinned books. That would be an explanation other than ‘magic,’ and I’m trying to find explanations other than ‘magic.’”
He studied me, still glowering above me. Suddenly, I had an idea. I tugged on his hand, the one that used to have the dark cloud of glowering death. “How is your brother at math?”
He blinked at me, the violence and darkness ebbing from his eyes. “What?”
“Donny. Is he any good at math?”
He blinked again, and he looked almost normal. “Yeah. He’s in Calculus, top of his class. Why?” There was a hint of pride to his voice.
“Scilla came over, like you said, because she’s worried about the two of them, about continuing as enemies and it ending up with someone dead, and we all know it would be your brother. But Sage is failing Geometry and needs a tutor, so if we forced them to spend time together doing something productive, maybe they could iron out their differences.”
He blinked at me. So much slow blinking. Finally, he collapsed on the couch next to me, and I realized I was still holding his hand. Awkward. But he probably needed physical contact to give him positive endorphins so he didn’t want to kill things so much.
“You want Donny to tutor Sage in Geometry? Don’t you think they’d kill each other doing that?”
“Not if they’re chaperoned. You or I could watch to make sure they’re getting along, at least until they realize that they aren’t enemies.”
