Zoey made a noise telling me exactly how she felt about that. “Uncanny certified, my heinie.”

“Just say ‘ass,’ Zoey. Who says heinie?” I slumped in the seat and watched the buildings go by. “Hell of a flaw in their system, huh?”

“What are we going to do? Are you coming back?”

It was tempting. I wanted to swoop in and take care of Zoey, but… “I think the Tribunal will freak out if I leave town. Especially since I’d have to take Lou, and they’d definitely lose their shit over that.”

Lou snorted before she flipped on her blinker. “Bhatt would nail me to the wall so fast, and Woodbridge would taxidermy my corpse.”

“Why would Lou have to go?”

Oh. Shit. So much had happened on my end, and Zoey didn’t know about any of it. I ran a hand over my face. “Funny story about that.” I tried to tell Zoey succinctly, but I had to pause so she could shout a little, and she had questions, so there was a lot of back-tracking and jumping around. Eventually, though, she got it.

“You could come up here,” I offered.

“The brewery,” Zoey said. “I can’t abandon my baby for so long.”

“Zoey—”

She growled into the phone. “Look, we’ll be careful. I promise, but I’m not letting them disrupt my life again! Not when I just got it the way I want it.” She huffed. “We both know you’re going to be their main target, anyway.”

I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t. Both Eva and Angus had more of a score to settle with me. After all, it was my fault they were in jail. I didn’t love her plan, but I also knew when Zoey was going to dig her heels in, and she had that tone to her voice now. Maybe it was good to keep us separate—better to split their attention than putting both their targets in one place. “Okay, but please—consider taking a vacation. Pack up, take Sid. Distance is a factor, and if you go somewhere that takes a passport, it will be harder for them to follow.”

“I’ll talk to Sid.”

That was the best I was going to get. “Watch your dreams, too, Zo.” That trap spell had been nasty. “Everything else going okay?”

Zoey started filling me in about the brewery. She was still talking as we got back to the house, toed off our shoes, and collapsed onto the couch. Lou handed me a beer. By the time I finally hung up, the beer was empty and I was dazed.

“What a day,” Lou said, handing me another beer. She curled up on the couch, tucking her feet under her. “We’re going to have to sync our schedules. Mama Ami wants us—” She drew her two index fingers together until they were side by side.

“What does that mean, exactly?” I moved my beer back and forth between us. “Like this, or in the same house or what?”