Halcyon sighed. “I wish I had an idea. Good Lord, I’m the creative one. I always have ideas. But this time…nothing.”

“I know. But this isn’t exactly a normal situation. I mean, it’s not like we have experience with magical objects or saving the world.”

“Nothing beyond Disney and all those Marvel movies.”

“Somehow, I doubt that applies.”

“Speaking of superheroes, did you call Avery?”

“Oh yeah. As soon as I got done giving my statement. I knew someone would send her that YouTube link. Sure enough, she’d just played it right before I called.”

“What did she say?”

“Plenty. Some of it I didn’t understand but the things I did understand, I probably wouldn’t repeat.”

“That’s my girl. Did you tell her about Preston dropping the charges against her?”

“No. I don’t want to put that out there until I’m sure, and I think I want it in writing. It was hard enough to keep her from coming home to take on Chastity again. If Preston reneges on his promise, I don’t want her to know about it.”

“Yeah, a murder charge would be way harder to defend than an assault. So what are we going to do about the ring?”

Marina shook her head. “I wish I knew.”

Marina sat in the rocking chair on her front porch the next morning with a thermos of coffee. Snooze lay next to her, enjoying the tiny breeze that would probably disappear soon. Her back ached from the fall she’d taken the night before and some of the nicks from the glass smarted a bit, especially those on her rear. But there were no other lasting physical effects.

The emotional effects, however, were huge.

So many things had happened to her over the last several days that sometimes Marina felt as if she had whiplash from it. She’d spent more time reacting than making qualified decisions, and that didn’t sit well with her. Granted, all of this didn’t exactly fit under the banner of rational, so she needed to cut herself somewhat of a break. But she also needed to get things under control. She needed to take some time to think. To process. To consider all the possibilities. All of this drama was clouding her mind, making it harder to concentrate on finding the ring. She needed to clear things out.

Some of the decisions she’d made were rock solid—like leaving Harold. Others might not have happened if she hadn’t been in the thick of a personal crisis. Like quitting her job or going to a party at the LeDoux estate, which was essentially inciting a riot. Granted, that riot would lead to the charges against Avery being dropped but it was still so out of character for her.

So was this really the new Marina? Or was she so emotionally charged that she was doing things she otherwise wouldn’t do?

It was a hard question to answer, especially when she was still in the thick of things. She’d thought about talking it through with Halcyon but she knew her sister. Halcyon’s response to every decision she’d made would be to give her a high five. As far as her sister was concerned, Marina’s newfound attitude was long overdue.