The summer was as relentless as Lindsay when it came to making Noah feel better. He had always loved the sun and now he thought he could hear it burning if he listened long enough. He took a break from building the new back porch, leaving Lindsay to sit in the shade of it, and soaked the distant fire into his skin. Maybe soon he would ask Lindsay for his magic back. Once he was finished repairing the damage he’d done. Once he was ready to be alone again.

“Inside, now.”

Noah was on his feet before he realized it wasn’t his father’s voice. Dane disappeared from the doorway as fast as he’d appeared, leaving Noah and Lindsay to follow. The stairs weren’t in yet, but the risers were in place. Noah stopped at the top to check on Lindsay, who was scrabbling for a handhold.

Lindsay gave a frustrated sigh as Noah helped him up the rest of the way.

“Thanks.” Lindsay didn’t let go, leaving Noah to trail after him down the hall, drawn along like a lost child.

At least this way, he wouldn’t have to work out where they were going. Lindsay seemed to know where they were supposed to be—the other side of the house, the front room. By the time they arrived, it was surprisingly crowded. Then again, Ylli’s wings took up a good deal of space all on their own.

“You’re sure she’s here?” Dane was pointing at a map spread out on the large table in the room. This was forbidden territory, in a way, the place Cyrus spent most of his time.

“That’s a piece of paper,” Cyrus snapped. “When my visions come with a map, I’ll make one for you.”

“Hang on.” Ylli was crouched in front of a computer—there wasn’t a chair in the room that would accommodate those wings. “Here’s a street view. I think this looks like what you were describing, and it’s where Dane said it would be.” He turned the computer so Cyrus could see.

Kristan was in the room, curled up out of the way on a loveseat near the window, looking like a shorn cat and about as happy. Noah didn’t have time to feel anything about her presence before Lindsay tugged him toward the table.

“I see you still plan to be useful,” Cyrus said sourly. His glare was aimed at Lindsay, and Noah bristled with annoyance. He’d had enough of the bullying of old mages back home.

“I belong to Dane,” Lindsay said quietly. His focus seemed to be on Ylli’s computer, not Cyrus’s expression. Noah had to appreciate the way he could deflect the old mage’s irritation without flinching—it took practice. “He called. I came.”

Dane snorted at that and tapped the map. “Those of us who can drive will need to know the way.”

Noah hadn’t been in a car since... He shoved the thought down and tried to make himself stop clinging to Lindsay’s hand, but it was nearly impossible to do both at once when what he wanted to do was run upstairs and hide in bed.

“You will have to be quick.” Cyrus was ignoring Lindsay now, which was probably for the best. “The summer winds are lazy and the future has been too thick for me to see far. She will need you soon. You will not get there in time, but late will have to do.”

“Someone else will drive.” Lindsay’s voice was pitched low for Noah, but the room was small.

“Let me see the map.” Kristan sounded as irritable as Cyrus, and she got Ylli out of the way with a knee to the kidney. He gave her a glare, but didn’t seem distressed. They were both Vivian’s, and Noah didn’t want much to do with either of them if he could help it—he changed his mind when she said, “I’ll drive.”

“I’ll get you there on time,” Dane rumbled. There was no sign of Vivian, Noah realized. She came and went so often, he had no idea how she fit into Cyrus’s plans. Dane handed the map to Lindsay and turned to help Cyrus out of his chair. “Ylli, the van.”

“I’ll bring it around.” Ylli was gone out the other door, his wings rustling.

“There will be a mage coming of age near this city today,” Cyrus explained as Dane helped him up and started wrapping him in a dark cloak in spite of the summer heat. “I have told you that I did not pick this place for the casinos.” That glare was for Dane, who grinned back unrepentantly. “We must find her and keep her safe. Some things cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.”

That, Noah understood. Suddenly, he was itching under his skin with wanting his magic back. His family kept away from the human world and those who originated there, but the moment shifted Noah’s view of them irreparably. He wondered how he would have fared if someone had looked ahead to worry about his future. If someone like Cyrus or Dane had been there. It wasn’t as though his family didn’t have the connections to tell them what might be coming. Lindsay squeezed his hand and, when Noah looked over, Lindsay looked paler than usual.

“I will tell you when we have her,” Cyrus said, leaning on Dane as they headed for the door. “I am trusting the three of you to make sure that as little as possible of this is exposed to the world outside. I have seen moments of what is coming and I fear that our world may spill into the other, that we will be exposed.” He pointed at Lindsay with a long, pale finger. “This is your time to do for others what was done for you. Be grateful it comes while you’re young.”

Then they were gone, and Noah, Lindsay and Kristan were left alone in the silence that followed Cyrus’s declaration.

“Well, if everything’s going to hell, I guess we’re not taking the Cadillac,” Kristan said dryly. “Let’s go, kids.”

“Do you want it now or when we get to—” Lindsay glanced at the map in his hand. He seemed shaken, but the way his jaw had clenched at Cyrus’s words said it had more to do with what Cyrus was saying than with returning Noah’s magic. “Wildwood, apparently. Do you want it now or when we get to Wildwood?”

“Now.” Kristan could wait. Hell, Cyrus could wait. Noah wasn’t going anywhere while Lindsay looked that unsettled. “Ignore the old bitch. He’s a dime a dozen, trust me, I grew up around them.” He took Lindsay’s free hand and tugged gently. “Only way he’s better than the rest is that he cares about all our kind. Doesn’t mean he’s not an old bitch, though.”

The corner of Lindsay’s lips quirked. “It’s not that. I don’t belong to Cyrus, I belong to Dane. Cyrus can’t throw me away, and he has good reason to be angry with me. It’s... I was wondering if it was anything like this when Cyrus sent Dane to find me.”

“Of course not.” Noah gave him a grin, trying to mask his own uncertainty. “We weren’t there. It wasn’t nearly as pretty.” Maybe teasing would work. It did on his sister. Drove his brothers nuts, but he’d settle for Lindsay chasing him out to the car to punch him.

“I’ll give you that.” Lindsay shook his head, smiling a little more, and looked Noah over. “Here, let me...” His eyes lost focus, and Noah could feel the subtle shift as the illusion drew back and was replaced by reality. Really, it wasn’t so much the presence of reality as the absence of Lindsay that made the difference.

“I’ll try not to let you down.” Noah didn’t give much of a damn about the rest right now, but he wasn’t going to make life harder for Lindsay.

“You won’t.” Lindsay gave his hand another squeeze and led him out to meet Kristan by the car.

“You pick the worst times to get frisky with your boyfriends,” Kristan muttered. She was driving an old Volvo, one of the mismatched stable of cars the family kept in the garage.

“I’ll start by not setting her on fire again,” Noah said, holding the back door open for Lindsay. He’d have a heart attack if he had to ride all the way to Wildwood with Kristan at the wheel and Lindsay in the passenger seat. It would be easier if he sat there.

Kristan might have been a pain, but she was a fast driver. Noah turned the radio on to a local station, looking to pick up any signs of a disturbance, trying to distract himself. He cracked his window and lit a cigarette, ignoring how his hands kept shaking.