“But, Papa,” one of his younger daughters complained, “he’s only sitting in the car.”

That figured, and I gave Trent a sidelong glance. Check out my property, huh? Make sure everything is safe, eh? What do you want, Trent? I sighed as it struck me that this was the way I’d begun this mess, standing in my kitchen and wondering what Trent wanted.

“Go! All of you!” Jenks said, pointing, and they flowed from the kitchen, a mix of complaints and shouted topping requests. “Asleep when the garden was invaded! You’d all be dead if not for Belle. What have you been doing all week? Watching TV?” Jenks crabbed as the last of them left.

Lucy’s blanket was almost slipping from her, and I wanted to go tuck it back around her. Trent had given her a pacifier, and Lucy was wide-eyed in his arms, quiet but sucking on it with a vengeance, angry almost. It brought a smile to my face.

The sound of Ivy’s boots was loud as she came in, having changed into lots of leather. Hand on her hip and posture screaming sexual domination, she gave Trent the once-over as he sat in her chair. The angry, frustrated baby on his lap seemed to grant him some immunity, and she turned away with only the slightest widening of her pupils. “I’m going out. You going to be okay?” she asked.

Across the kitchen, Trent’s posture seemed to relax, which only tightened mine. He wanted to talk to me alone. Great. We had just spent five hours in a little tin can flying through the air. Couldn’t he have brought it up then?

“Go.” I wiggled my fingers for the pizza coupons stuck to the fridge, and she handed them to me.

“If you’re sure,” she prompted, and my eyes met hers, sending a shock of realization through me. We were home, and though everything had changed, we were still solid. Better, even.

“You really want to stay for pizza?” I asked, and she took a backward step to the hallway, smiling as well to tell me she knew it too.

“No. See you after sunup. Bye, Trent,” she called over her shoulder when she reached the hallway, then louder, “Jenks! Can I talk to you for a moment about our security?”

A knot in me unraveled. We were okay. Grinning at me, Jenks rose up. “Coming, Mother!” he mocked.

Her boots clunked into the sanctuary, and I watched Belle snake down to the floor, sword ready as she braved Jenks’s cat to go outside.

“I’m glad you’re home, Ms. Rachel,” Bis said shyly, taking his shirt off and leaving it on top of the fridge before he jumped to the ceiling and crawled out after Belle. There was a faint scrape of nail on stone, and I figured he’d slithered out through the flue in the back living room instead of using the smaller cat door.

Yes, it was a weird life, but it was mine, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.