Sophia’s face scrunched. “I don’t understand why this ‘memory fade’ thing would work on Reg when it clearly doesn’t even work well on simple humans right here in Nowhere.”

Sal and Lina and I exchanged looks. We had agreed not to share with the group their lineage and Lina’s suspicions. There would be too many questions, and we still had too few answers.

“I’m just glad they didn’t force us to forget,” Sydney said. “Not this time, anyway.”

I set Sal’s box back on the table, leaving the lid open to Reg’s smiling face, and retrieved my coffee.

“You can thank Lina for that,” I said. “She has a lot of influence with the Elders.”

Sydney and Sophia gazed at Lina with awe—the same way they’d been gazing at her ever since they learned she was one of the oldest beings walking the planet and that she defied all rules of both human- and vampire-kind. If they thought she was cool before, they now thought she was a literal goddess.

“I don’t know how much influence I have anymore,” Lina demurred. “I merely called in a favor.”

It wasn’t the only favor she’d called in. My eyes traveled over her shoulder and through the front window. Across the street, a construction crew was wrenching down the boards from the theater window and painting a new sign above the marquee: “All Hours Cinema.”

“It actually took all of my powers of persuasion to convince the Elder Seat to skip the fade on you lot,” Lina said. “I’m only sorry I could not do the same for your parents.”

Dex grinned. “I’m pretty sure this latest Jedi mind trick isn’t working on my dad. He keeps talking about ‘smoking’ his enemies. Like, some guy cut him off on the road the other day, and he was all, ‘I will smoke you!’ through his windshield. Plus, I caught him in the barn the other day doing some kind of Krav Maga moves with the broken end of a broom handle.”

Everyone laughed except Poe, who only sighed.

“I wish they had erased my memories. The Reginald-shaped ones.”

I reached over to take Poe’s hand in mine. At least I had been able to say goodbye, and I knew in my gut I would see my brother again when the time was right. But for Poe, Reg’s sudden departure had left only loose ends, the frayed edge of a relationship unfinished. Maybe that meant their story wasn’t quite over yet.

But I didn’t want to give Poe false hope, so I said nothing and only squeezed his hand tight, sharing his pain. Just as I let go, I noticed a flash of movement—barely a shimmer—and felt a small disturbance in the air around us.