Now, shaking on the edge of her bed, his father’s file in his lap, he looked up to find her staring at him. There were flecks of gold in her green eyes. Strands of red in her hair. Looking at Jack was like peering through a portal into a world of glittering light and ancient redwoods, a world everyone told you to stop looking for, because you’d never find it. But Raven had.

He let her take his hands and tell him, “It doesn’t have to mean anything. Your dad probably went to talk about his marriage, because he and your mom were having problems. I bet Evelyn started to care about him during that time, and after your mom died, she must’ve reached out—”

“You don’t have to do that.”

Jack’s brow furrowed, her lips curving down. “I’m not doing anything. I’m just telling you what probably happened, because I know where your mind is going. It’s going to the worst possible place.”

“I’m okay, Jack. I promise. I know I spent our last year together scaring the shit out of you and Belle, and I’m so sorry for that. But I’m stronger now. I can handle this.” He scooted away from her the tiniest bit, because she would always try to take care of him if they got too close. She took care of everyone. Except herself. “Why don’t you go over half the files, and I’ll go over the other half. We’ll see if there’s anything suspicious in them. Anything that could explain what happened the other night. All right?”

For the next few hours Raven curled up on one side of Jack’s bed, and she curled up on the other. They pored over their individual files. The shadows shifted, growing longer across the room. Jack’s brothers came home, along with Flynn’s new friend Diego, who was probably more than a friend, but Raven wouldn’t make assumptions until Flynn decided to tell him about it. Raven had known Flynn since he was five, and Connor and Dylan since they were born. He loved those boys with a fierceness that made his stomach ache. When smoke drifted into Jack’s bedroom, he suspected they were building a fire on their own.

“Should we check on them?” he asked, looking up from his father’s file. He’d spent the bulk of his time investigating the other files Jack had copied, but upon finding nothing sinister or mysterious, his attention had returned to his own family’s secrets.

“I’ll go.” Jack glanced at the file in his hands. “Did you find anything interesting?”