Stane snorted softly. "Yeah, like I'm ever going to work for someone like the Directorate when I've spent half my life hacking places like that."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Riley said, half smiling. "Where are you now? Not going after that consortium or the witch, I hope."
"We're running for the Brindle. It seems the safest place right now given we're not sure if the Aedh are going to come after me again."
"What's the Brindle?"
I blinked. Aunt Riley always seemed to know everything, so it was a surprise that she didn't know about the Brindle. "It's the witch repository, and the most magically protected place in Melbourne."
"Then running there sounds like a good plan," she said. "It's better to leave cleaning up this mess to Rhoan. And maybe Quinn can sort out something to help with the Aedh."
I hoped he could, but I wasn't about to hold my breath waiting. "Look, I'm still worried about Mom. I don't suppose you could go visit her tonight, and keep her company until I can sort out something else?"
"Sure," she said, "but she was pretty strong with her assurances that nothing untoward was about to happen."
"She's lying. She mentioned having accepted this a long time ago. That sounds ominous to me."
"Oh," she said. Then, "Oh!"
Again, alarm rose. "What?"
"Nothing," she said, and this time she was lying. "I'll head over there now."
"Please be careful. I have a really bad feeling about this."
"Just what I need," she muttered. "You and your mother could scare half a lifetime out of a person with your bad feelings."
I smiled, as she'd no doubt intended. "Well, according to Uncle Quinn, you've got plenty of lifetime left in you, so that's not going to be a problem."