the end of the hall. I looked down at the sink and took several deep breaths around the rock sitting in my chest. I can keep them safe. I can do this. Inhale. Exhale.
But what if I can’t? What if I just don’t have what it takes to protect them? What if we lose someone? Fear bubbled inside me. Inhale. Exhale. I focused on breathing through the tightness in my chest. Focused on how the cold porcelain of the sink cooled my fingers. I focused on the now. I could protect them. I had to believe it in order to get through the next minute.
We just needed to keep everyone together during any fight. Watch each other’s backs. We’re good on our own, but together we were better. We had this. We would get through this and move on with our lives. I nodded to myself and straightened to my full height. I could do this. I’m a fighter. I’m a necro with witch skills. I could protect them. I had this.
I walked out of the bathroom hoping I wasn’t lying to myself.
I was helping Asher rig a harness for Quinn when Brody hauled someone through the front door. Bloody and bruised, the man’s hands were tied behind his back as he was forced through the foyer and down the long hallway.
We watched from our spot on the living room floor as he was all but dragged into the study. Uma soon went through the same doors. Asher and I looked at each other. Obviously, they had caught one of Jadis’ lackeys. There was nothing we could do now but work and keep busy.
The next few hours were a flurry of activity. Barricades were built along the front and back of the house for cover if we needed it.
Dinner passed in tense silence, as most of us simply pushed food around on our plates. I doubt any of us actually ate anything. And we weren’t the only ones. Asher put out a large platter of sandwiches and sides and I doubt more than ten people grabbed anything. Eventually Isaac and I went off to bed.
It was sometime later when something cold touched my arm. The scent of wet dog filled the room. I knew who it was before I even opened my eyes. Hades looked up at me in his dog form and wagged his tail. I clutched my sheet to my naked chest and sent him a look.
I lifted my head as he walked around the bed towards the door. Carefully, I untangled from Isaac and climbed out of bed.
By the time I dressed and stepped into the hall, Hades was in his human form.
I softly closed the door behind me. “Okay, first, if I’m in there with one of the boys, knock.”
He pulled out a small notepad from his back pocket and wrote something down. “Knock. Got it.”
“What are you doing?” I raised an eyebrow.
He put the pad back into his back pocket and met my gaze. “Making notes. Zeke suggested it the other day, so I won’t forget what you want.”
It was kinda sweet.
He tilted his head down the hallway toward the stairs. “Someone wants to talk to you in the family room.”
“Who?”
“Your Reaper grandmother,” he whispered.
My pulse jumped. My many-times great-grandmother? “Really?”
“Yes. She's downstairs now.”
When I didn’t move, he reached out and took my hand, giving me a small tug to get me moving. “Come on.”
My feet seemed to turn to lead as he led me down the hallway and downstairs.
“Go talk to your grandmother while I do a perimeter check.” Hades left me at the front door. He simply let go of my hand and slipped out through the door.
My grandmother was here, and she was a Reaper. I was about to meet my grandmother. I wrung my fingers as I walked down the hall. Who was she? Did I know her? Louis once said Reapers like to keep an eye on their half-bloods. Had she been keeping an eye on me?
I went into the family room not knowing who to expect.
But the woman waiting for me … wasn’t it.
“Mrs. Archer?” I gaped as my art teacher turned away from the dark television. Her image blurred. Her eyes turned green, her hair red. She grew taller and thicker, a different version of the woman appearing. A familiar jaw line, same nose. She looked enough like me that I couldn’t deny the relationship. She looked to be in her late twenties. In truth, she had to