“All of them?” He thought about it for a moment, listening to the traffic, smelling the coffee when someone opened the door of the shop, watching Charlie watch him. He considered what he could do and what Charlie could do. And he considered the aunties. “No. We couldn’t.”

“No,” Charlie repeated, smiling, “we couldn’t. But Auntie Gwen’s reason was simpler than that. She trusts that when it comes down to it, the last note is the key the song is in. She trusts we’ll put family first.” Her smile changed, softened and picked up an edge at the same time. Jack fought the urge to flame in response. “You’d stand beside me against the aunties?”

“Duh.”

“Well, that puts the end of the world into perspective.”

“The world isn’t going to end.”

“It’s not?”

“We’re going to stop the asteroid.” Because they had to stop it.

“We are?”

This new smile, Jack recognized. He wasn’t sure when he’d first started seeing it, but he knew now he was the only one who saw it. “We are.”

Because if the world ended, then Charlie ended—and Jack wasn’t going to let that happen.

CHAPTER SIX

“THEY’RE DEFINITELY HIDING SOMETHING.”

Allie looked up from strapping Evan into his high chair as Auntie Gwen came into the apartment. She didn’t seem angry. That was good. At least Allie thought it was good. She could think of a few reasons why an auntie would be that blasé about being left in the dark and they weren’t good.

“Charlotte not only took out the obvious charms,” Auntie Gwen continued, scooping Edward up as he ran for the door, “she went to the effort of finding and removing the hidden ones. And, as we both know, Charlotte doesn’t do effort. They don’t call it playing music for nothing.”

“If you’re so sure they’re hiding something, why didn’t you ask them what it was?”

Auntie Gwen dropped Edward into the second chair. “You suspected they were hiding something, why didn’t you? Never mind, I’ll tell you; it’ll be both faster and easier. You’re afraid Charlotte won’t tell you. And if she doesn’t, or worse, if she lies to you, that means you’re losing her. That she’s on the last stage of going Wild and she’s becoming like Catherine.”

“Charlie is nothing like my grandmother.”

Evan slapped at her arm. “Mama! Tight!”

“Sorry, baby.” Allie loosened the belt that held him in the chair. “She didn’t come to bed last night.”

“And yet you weren’t alone,” Auntie Gwen pointed out tartly.

“That’s not what I meant. She’s not sleeping.”

“We’ve already established she has something on her mind, something she has chosen to keep to herself. I’m certain Catherine Sees many things she chooses to keep from the family.”

Allie only just kept her reaction from impacting the city as she repeated, “Charlie is nothing like my grandmother.”

“Wild is Wild, Alysha, and Charlotte accepted the responsibility some time ago. As much as she loves you, and she does love you, you need to accept the fact that you’ll never tame her.”