Auntie Gwen was no surprise. That she was followed by Auntie Bea, Auntie Carmen, and Auntie Trisha was. None of them looked happy. Although, Charlie amended silently, Auntie Carmen never looked happy before ten.

“Charlotte.”

Charlie drained Graham’s mug. “Auntie Bea.”

“We need to talk.”

CHAPTER NINE

SEATED TOGETHER AT ONE END of the big dining room table, the aunties looked like a tribunal. Truth in advertising, Charlie thought. Standing at the other end of the table, not entirely certain why she’d taken up the position, but fully aware that at least some of the aunties’ power could be attributed to force of habit, she gripped the back of a chair hard enough the edges of the wood dug into her palms.

Auntie Bea leaned forward. “You were told not to contact the Courts.”

“How did you . . .” Auntie Gwen’s expression answered before Charlie could finish asking. “Of course. Joe.”

“It was obvious the Courts had found out about the asteroid.” Sitting a little separate from the others, Auntie Gwen’s position seemed somewhere between sympathy and solidarity. “I asked if he knew how. If it helps, he tried to talk around it.”

“But you kept at him.” She didn’t blame Joe.

“The Courts are wreaking havoc, Charlotte.”

“Havoc Lake, north of Thunder Bay?” Charlie forced the fingers of one hand to release the chair and pushed her hair back off her face. “Can’t see them doing much damage . . .”

“Enough.” Auntie Bea’s eyes flashed black. “Did it not occur to you that this reaction might be the very reason the Courts were not to be consulted? Or did you assume that being Wild negates knowledge gained by those three times your age with three times your experience?”

“Negates? There a reason you’re talking like Thor? Specifically, Brannagh’s Thor, because I don’t remember Whedon’s Thor getting to say . . .”

“Charlotte!”

She winced. Magic in a name. “There was a chance the Courts could help.”

“And a certainty they’d react exactly as they did.”

“If you were so certain, maybe you should have mentioned it.”

“If you’d done as you were told,” Auntie Carmen began.

Auntie Bea cut her off. “We don’t have to explain ourselves to you.”

“Oh, yeah, because blind obedience is a terrific reason to not make every possible attempt to stop that asteroid.”

“Regardless of the consequences.”

Charlie slapped both hands down on the table. “The end of the world is a pretty fucking big consequence! If the world ends, I want to know I did everything!” Auntie Carmen and Auntie Trisha inched their chairs out.

Auntie Bea did not. “The family will survive!”

“Mine won’t.” Graham moved to stand by Charlie’s side. “I have family who aren’t Gales. I may not be able to bridge the gap Jonathon Gale drove between us when he murdered my parents, my sisters, and my brothers, but I don’t want my family to die.”