been destroyed. I arrived at the door, my heart thumping as I knocked and waited.
When Aidan's mom opened the door I wasn't sure what to say to her. She looked up at me and gave me a welcoming smile. Her face was pale as porcelain, with dark circles under her eyes. Her frailness was easy to tell from the way her clothes hung on her spare frame. She'd taken his death hard, as I'd imagine she would.
"Hello, Bryn." She waved me inside with a gentle smile and I moved slowly to the little seating area just inside the door. "Please have a seat and let me get Enya for you." Then she was gone and I had to admit I was grateful for the reprieve.
Until Enya arrived.
The girl had been thin, and dangerously frail in the first place, but now she looked broken. And since Aidan had been her hero I was not surprised.
I rose and she came to me, flinging herself into my arms. My presence seemed to summon her grief to the surface and I fought tears as I held her. I let her cry, rubbing her back slowly and watching her mother behind her, trying to hold onto her own tears.
Enya had insisted on becoming part of our team, insisted on using her heat-generating power to help on our missions in Midgard. She'd proved useful on our last mission and I hadn't had any reason to regret taking her.
Except for the fact that she'd been on the same mission as Aidan when he'd been killed.
At last, her sobs ceased and she pulled away, wiping her eyes and cheeks with her hands. She sat on the sofa and I sank beside her, taking a quick note of her health. She was rail thin again, blue veins scarily dark beneath her thin skin. Her white-blond hair was mussed and I guessed she must have been lying down.
Then she gasped, startling me out of my thoughts. "What the hell happened to your hands?"
"Enya," her mother admonished, but the girl didn't pay any attention. Instead, she stared at me, waiting for an answer, as if I owed her one.
And I probably did.
She cared about me and that's what happens when people care. You end up owing them explanations for behaving recklessly.
I shrugged. "It happened when I was bringing the warriors up from the rift beneath Valhalla. I didn't realize how bad it was at the time."
Enya narrowed her eyes as she stared at me and when she spoke I knew I hadn't succeeded in my attempt. "Really?" she asked, disbelief all over her face.
But when I nodded, she didn't push. At least she knew when to stop beating a lying horse. Her mom stood behind her, with a tray in her hands; tea and cookies by the looks of it. She set the tray on a small table in front of me and for the first time in a while I was ravenous.
When my stomach grumbled, she smiled and Enya even managed a tearful giggle. "I see you aren't taking care of yourself, young lady." Aidan's mom scowled then began to pour my tea and hand it to me. I'd been here enough times that she knew I liked my tea strong with a dash of milk and two sugars. She continued speaking, the smile on her lips melancholy. "Aidan would always complain that you were so busy taking care of everyone else that you always forgot yourself."
Grinning a little, I swallowed my tears. "He may have been right."
Mrs Lee snorted and then Enya leaned forward. "We heard about Joshua. Is he okay?"
I nodded, feeling my stomach tighten. "As far as I know. They said he'll be fine and I have to believe that, I guess."
Her mother nodded. "Honey, all you can do is believe. Don't lose faith in yourself or in the people around you."
I gave her a watery smile. "Now, tell me what you need. Is there anything I can do for you?"
She shook her head and crouched down beside me. "If you want to do something for me then don't let this break you, Bryn. You are so strong, so caring. Keep being the girl you are. Because you have so much on your plate, so much pain to deal with that it's really easy to lose your way." And when I nodded she patted my hand as if that sealed the deal and then she slid onto the sofa beside me.
My cheeks were hot when I cleared