whispered, shaking my head violently. “You can’t do this to us. Our time isn’t up.”
The image of Owen coming to the safe house and announcing Tristan’s disappearance nearly eight years ago wavered in my mind, and now I felt the loss, the emptiness, the half-existence all over again. My body began to quake. Mom took a step toward me. Sasha growled again, louder this time.
“It’s okay, Sasha. You know my intentions,” Mom said to the Lykora. Sasha snuffed and stepped out of Mom’s way. Mom dropped to her knees next to me. “Alexis, honey, no. Shh. Calm down. That’s not why we’re here.”
She wrapped her arms around me and stroked my hair as I inhaled jagged breaths.
“Then why are you? Why the big ambush?”
Char, now back in the kitchen, chuckled. “Sorry about that. We didn’t mean to make it look like an ambush. Owen was supposed to warn you last night that we were on our way.”
“What’s going on? Are you here for another investigation? More ultimatums to give us?”
“No, honey,” Mom said softly. “We’re here because . . . well, I guess you could say I ran away.”
“More like we escaped,” Char said. “Escaped the crazies.”
“The who?” I asked.
“The crazies. More than half the council have lost their minds. Martin and Solomon are trying to hold everything together, but even Rina’s messed up. We’re hoping Tristan can help us with a plan because the whole council is going down fast and ugly.”
I wiped the tears that had gathered in my eyes. Sasha shrank to her normal, toy-dog size and nudged her nose against my hand. I let her on my lap and dug my fingers into her silky fur.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“When we came here in July,” Mom said, “I told Char about how different I felt after leaving the island, but we’d forgotten about it when we returned. We’d been back a few weeks when I started feeling . . . off again.”
“She was saying and doing things completely unlike her,” Char said. “Martin had often talked about how the Daemoni found ways to mess with people’s minds, and it seems that someone on the island is doing the same. Martin hasn’t left there in weeks, working with Solomon to try to figure it out. It took some doing, but I convinced Sophia to get off the island. She’s finally starting to get back to herself.”
I hugged Mom. “Are you okay now?”
“Yes, I think so. I’m not so sure about Rina, though . . .”
“You think someone’s messing with everyone’s minds? Is that why they’re all crazy?”
Mom shrugged. Char shook her head. “There aren’t any mages powerful enough to affect everyone at once. But someone does seem to be messing with a few of the key people—Sophia, Rina, Julia . . ..”
I snorted. “Julia’s in on it. If she’s acting crazy, she’s just acting.”
Mom opened her mouth to say something, but then she stopped and sniffed the air. “What is that smell?”
My face heated. “Sorry. It smells horrible. It’s an herbal tea I thought I’d—”
“No, I mean it’s familiar.” She sniffed again. Then she noticed the pool of greenish liquid on the floor with shards of my coffee mug in it. She swirled her fingers in the tea and lifted her fingertips to her nose. “I’ve had this before. A long time ago.” She paused, trying to remember, but I knew she was wrong. Mistaking it for something else. If she knew what it really was . . . “Yes. London. I’d visited a witch . . . we’d had tea. This tea. It’s when . . . when I was with Tristan and Lucas, actually.”
If I’d had the tea in my mouth, I would have sprayed it out all over again. “Seriously?”
“Yes. It tasted like gasoline but the witch said it would strengthen me, which I needed, to be able to handle Lucas.”
“Mom . . .” I hesitated, knowing she’d probably freak out that I’d even considered taking a concoction on purpose. But I didn’t have to make a decision.
Char blurted it out for me. “That’s a pregnancy potion, Sophia. No doubt, by the smell of it.”
The realization hit Mom and me at the same time, and we both sprang to our feet.
“Mom, it worked for you. That’s what did it!” My hope soared beyond the ceiling, beyond the trees, all the way to the sky. “If it worked for you . . . maybe . . .”