“Yes, where?” Terracotta put in, her tone even more suspicious than Ian’s.

Jamie scowled at them. “Liverpool.”

“Liverpool—” Ian’s eyes almost bugged out of his head. “You’re planning to go four hours each way? In a day? Why? Is there a stupendously rare book there that you can only pick up in person?”

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

“Jamie!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Ian,” Jamie snapped. “It’s my mother’s sixtieth birthday tomorrow. She loves art galleries. She’s spending the day at the Tate. She asked me if I’d go. Can we drop it now?”

There was a moment of absolute silence. Mika looked around the table, confused, and saw that even the girls looked shocked.

“Will your brothers be there?” Ian demanded.

“Ian,” Ken warned. At the same time, there was a thump under the table, as if Lucie had given Ian a swift kick.

“She’s their mother, too, so I expect they will be there, yes,” Jamie replied in a clipped tone.

“You’ve lost your fucking mind,” said Ian succinctly.

“Ian.”

Mika attempted a question. “Why shouldn’t he go see his mother on her birthday?”

No one answered her. Mika knew it wasn’t fair to grudge anyone else their secrets, but she felt like she was on the outside again, looking in at something she wasn’t a part of, and she was amazed at how much it hurt.

Ian glowered at Jamie, who simply looked back, unmoved and implacable. Mika was only slightly surprised when Ian looked away first.

“Fine.” Ian crossed his skinny arms over his chest. “If you insist on this foolishness, you should at least take Mika with you.”

“What?” Jamie demanded. “Why?”

“What he said,” Mika agreed. She was quite certain that when she’d wished she weren’t on the outside looking in, she hadn’t meant she wanted to be involved like this.

Ian looked at them like the answer was the obvious. “Mika is excellent company, and she knows a speed spell. Why drive eight hours in one day when you can do it in two?”

“An annoyingly fair point,” Mika admitted. “And I’m much better now, so I should be able to cast spells without needing a sugar rush and an eighteen-hour nap right after.”

“Excellent,” said Ian, looking decidedly perkier. “Jamie?”

Jamie scowled at Ian, his jaw clenching and unclenching like he was irritated with the logic laid before him. Then, almost reluctantly, his eyes moved across the table to Mika. “Would you mind going?”