They deserved justice.

And if going after Elizabeth Pike was the only way to make that happen—then no matter how scary it was, no matter how dangerous, Verlaine had to try.

Sorry, Nadia typed. I didn’t mean to scare you.

Verlaine’s reply popped up on her phone almost immediately. Hey, if I need to be scared, scare me. We know what we’re getting into now. Right?

Right, Nadia said, hoping it was true. But Elizabeth was so ancient—wielded such unfathomable power—that she might be able to come after them in ways Nadia couldn’t even begin to guess. Their only hope was that she’d underestimate them, and that could only take them so far.

Besides—how could Elizabeth underestimate her? With so few skills, so little knowledge, no mother, no teacher, Nadia couldn’t be any real challenge to Elizabeth, and they both knew it.

Then she heard a high, wavering cry from her little brother’s bedroom.

Cole’s awake, she typed quickly. Gotta go. Then she dropped her phone and hurried to Cole before he could wake her father. Her bare feet padded against the old wooden floors, the one loose board squeaking underneath as she reached her brother’s door. “Hey, buddy. You all right?”

He lay in bed, clutching his covers up to his chin, which was always a sign of bad dreams or at least potential monsters in the closet. “No,” he snuffled.

“It’s okay. I promise.” Nadia came to sit on the side of his bed and ruffled his hair with her fingers. “Was it seeing the ambulance tonight? Nobody got hurt, not really, but I guess that was pretty scary anyway.”

“I don’t know,” Cole said. He looked so small, lying there. These days, when he ran around like crazy and could eat almost half a pizza by himself, Nadia sometimes forgot how little he still was. “But I woke up and I wanted Mommy.”

Then he started to cry again—almost like he was ashamed. A little boy in first grade shouldn’t have been ashamed of still wanting his mom. And Mom should have been here for him.

Nadia’s throat tightened, but she didn’t let herself lose it, too. Instead she whispered, “Scoot over, huh?” When he did, she lay down beside him, atop the covers, but still able to hug him tight.

Cole cuddled next to her, even as he said, “I thought I was too big now.”

She’d told him that during the summer, mostly to try to get him used to sleeping on his own again; Dad had said they had to help Cole start acting like everything was back to normal. He did now, mostly. So she could make an exception. “Not if you have a bad dream. Nobody’s so big that they don’t want a hug after they have a bad dream.”

“Okay.” Cole closed his eyes almost right away; he’d always been quick to soothe, but Nadia knew she’d need to stay until he was fast asleep.

Going after Elizabeth meant risking more than her own safety. More than Verlaine’s, more than Mateo’s. It meant risking Dad, and Cole.