My gaze fell upon my phone, and I wondered if Robbie would return my call if I left a message. I wasn’t working for the I.S. anymore. “I was thinking about my brother.”

“That is so weird,” Jenks said. “One brother. I had twenty-four when I left.”

Focus blurring, I tightened the cap on the polish, thinking that when he had left home, it had been as if they had died. He knew it was a one-way trip to Cincy. He was stronger than I.

“Ow!” I yelped when someone pulled too hard. My hand came up to my head, and I turned, sending them whirling up in silk and dust. The polish was still tacky, and I froze.

“Okay, get out!” Jenks said authoritatively. “All of you. You’re just playing now. Go on. Jeremy, check on your mother. I can finish Ms. Morgan’s hair. Go on!”

The three of them rose up in complaint, and he pointed. Still protesting, they flew backward to the screen, all talking at once, apologizing and pleading, wringing their hands and twisting their pretty little faces into sad expressions that tugged on my heart.

“Out!” Jenks demanded, and one by one they slipped into the garden. Someone giggled, and they were gone. “Sorry, Rache,” he said, flitting behind me. “Hold still.”

“Jenks, it’s fine. I’ll just take it out.”

“Get your hands out of your hair,” he muttered. “Your polish isn’t dry, and you aren’t going out with a half-assed braid. You don’t think I know how to braid hair? Tink’s little red shoes, I’m old enough to be your father.”

He wasn’t, but I set my hand on the table and settled back, feeling soft tugs as he finished what his children had started. A heavy sigh shifted me, and Jenks asked, “Now what?” his tone unusually gruff to cover his embarrassment over messing with my hair. The sound of his wings was pleasant, and I could smell oak leaves and Queen Anne’s lace.

My gaze went to Ivy’s empty space, and the sound of his wings dropped in pitch. “You going to get her out?” he asked softly.

He had reached the ends of my hair, and I slowly leaned forward, pillowing my head on my folded arms. “I’m worried, Jenks.”

Jenks harrumphed. “At least she didn’t leave because you bit Kisten.”

“I suppose,” I said, the warmth of my breath coming back to me from the old wood.

There was a final tug, and Jenks flew to land on the table before me. I sat upright to feel the heavy weight of my braid. His tiny features pinched. “She may not want to leave Piscary.”

My hand rose and fell in a gesture of frustration. “So I’m supposed to leave her there?”