The six of us stayed snuggled in the two beds – Tyson shifted to the side so Mischa could sprawl between us – while I quickly detailed our little side adventure to Faerie land. Mischa never interrupted me, her eyes wide, the green very light today. I decided there was no point reiterating the part when I found Maximus in bed with his new mate. Despite the fact we were all together, I could feel the tension between those two. I was pretty sure the vampire was only pretending to be asleep.

“Where have you been?” I asked Mischa when I finished my explanation.

Her eyes darkened to the murky color of moss, her face transforming from light and open into secrets and heaviness.

“I’ve made some new friends in here, I’d like you to meet them.” She crawled backwards off me, the warm sisterly feeling from before evaporating with her vague explanation. “I can see you’re busy right now, so later …okay?”

She spun and started for the door, only turning back at the last minute. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Jess, I’ve missed you a lot. I’m heading over to see Mom and Jonathon. Come find me when you get up.”

I gave her a nod and she left the room, closing the door behind her. I was sitting in the bed, my thoughts tumultuous. Something big was going on with Mischa. I’d been worried before, but now … now I knew it was bad. I needed to know what had happened with her and Maximus, and where exactly she had been spending her time the last three weeks. Maximus would have figured out that Cardia was his mate the day I disappeared, when he fed on her, so Mischa had been pulling away all of that time. She’d lost her sister and her sort-of-boyfriend in an instant.

I pushed down my worry for the moment. It was good for her to be with our parents. Jonathon was usually very switched on when it came to the moods of his pack members. I hoped he was aware and dealing with Mischa. I snuggled myself back down into the warm space between the two males. The Compasses remained silent, although I could sense some heavy thoughts.

I was still exhausted. I was pretty sure I hadn’t slept that long, and the dreams were not allowing me any solid rest. I really just wanted to sleep soundly for a few hours.

I started tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable, when Jacob reached out and captured my hand. He began to sing, a low soothing melody, and just like that I was unable to hold on to my consciousness. I don’t care what he said, there’s magic in the feys’ singing. This time when I drifted off, the dreams stayed far away.