Avery gave her a pointed look.

Marina smiled. “So if I’m smothering you at eighteen, how do you think I feel at forty-eight? This is something I need to do for myself by myself. It’s time I decided how I want things to be instead of just accepting the way they are.”

Avery nodded. “I get it. Just promise me that you’ll be careful, and if there’s ever a serial killer loose or some other horror movie thing going on, you’ll move in with Aunt Halcyon.”

“I promise not to be serial killed.”

“Aunt Halcyon said you already went running into the woods half naked.”

“I prefer half dressed.”

Avery laughed. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too.”

Avery backed out of the driveway and Marina stood there watching until the car went around the corner and out of sight. Then she shuffled back inside and poured a cup of coffee. Halcyon trudged into the kitchen a couple minutes later.

“Is Avery gone already?” she asked as she peered out the window.

“Yeah. She wanted to get back to campus for some event today. I’m not sure that was the truth, but I don’t blame her for wanting to get out of Last Chance. With the way things have gone down, she probably won’t be back unless she’s compelled to return by the court.”

Halcyon gave Marina’s shoulder a squeeze and headed for the coffeepot. “Give her some time. She’s had a lot to process in only a few days. And she’s young.”

“I’m old and I need time to process everything. I can’t even imagine how hard this is for Avery. It’s one thing to be betrayed by your husband. It’s completely another to be betrayed by your father.”

“She’ll figure out how to tuck it away until she’s ready to deal with it. She has college and her new friends to fill her time.”

Marina blew out a breath. Now that the crisis with Avery was handled, at least for the moment, she could no longer ignore the even bigger crisis looming.

“I have to find that ring,” Marina said. “Or none of this is going to matter. All of this angst and sacrificing will have been for nothing. I have to tell you, if the world ends after I kept myself from punching Harold dead in the face, I’m going to be super pissed.”

“Me too. My list is a little longer, but Harold’s right up there on top. So what do you want to do? We could try some pawnshops across the bayou, I suppose.”

“I was thinking about talking to Dottie Prejean first. She’s bound to have some older items and even if she doesn’t have the ring, she might know someone I can ask.”

“And what’s our angle? Because you can hardly waltz into the home of the First Lady of Last Chance and tell her you’re on a magical quest for power.”

“Yeah, that’s where I get stuck on things. We can’t go with the elderly cousin thing because Dottie knows all our relatives. You’re the creative one. Can you come up with a backstory and sell it?”