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Once again, I left Ty behind sleeping in my bed only this time he looked a lot less lonely than he had the first time I’d left him there.

I went back downstairs and sat down in the chair on Quinton’s left.

No one looked up at me. They were all engrossed in the paper held carefully in their hands.

“Where’s Dash at?” I asked in a soft voice, not wanting to disturb them.

“Living room,” Quinton said. He didn’t even glance my way.

I picked up my donut and took a bite. It was yummy. I wondered if I should even be in here with them. Maybe they’d want me to go to the living room with Dash so I didn’t bother them? I watched Quinton read while I ate my donut and didn’t think he’d like it much if I got up and walked away. I thought about the twins missing spending time with me and I didn’t think they’d like it if I got up and walked away to go sit in the living room with Dash, either. Even if I wasn’t doing anything to aid them, I thought they would like me to stay.

“This guy is nuts,” Addison muttered under his breath.

The donut I was almost done eating suddenly didn’t taste as good as it had mere moments before. I sat what little I had left of it down on top of the napkin on the table. I pushed it away from me. What I had eaten churned in my stomach, threatening to come back up.

They’d seen Vivian and what she’d been capable of. Now they were getting a glimpse of my biological father and the first thing one of them said was that they thought he was nuts.

Hedidsound a little nuts in the letters. He could be even more of a looney toon in person, who knew. I wanted the chance to find out, and if he was I didn’t think it would bother me a whole lot.

Quinton looked up from the piece of paper held aloft in his hands. His eyes roamed over the twins before sliding my way.

“I don’t think he’s nuts,” Quinton said. “If someone stole my little girl, there isn’t anything in the whole world I wouldn’t do to get her back. Absolutely nothing. It’s obvious he loved you and likely still does. Love can make a person capable of doing anything at times.”

I noticed he’d said little girl and had excluded mentioning the boys. There was something seriously wrong with these people.

“What if you had a boy?” I asked before I could stop myself. This wasn’t a question I necessarily wanted an answer to.

“What?” he asked, sounding confused.

“What if you had a little boy,” I repeated. “Would you do anything to get him back?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He asked, still sounding confused.

“Of course he would, Ariel.” Abel said. “Why would you even ask him that?”

I sat back in my chair and wrapped my arms around my middle. They weren’t getting it. Maybe they didn’t see how differently they spoke about males and females? To me it was obvious.

“I would look for my children no matter the gender if someone took them from me.” Quinton explained in a gentle voice. “But I hope I have all girls and not boys.”

Quinton was nuts. Girls were horrible.

“I don’t,” Dash said, and I looked up to find him standing with his shoulder leaned against the doorway. “I don’t like the way girls with magic are treated. And I like it even less when they are born into a family of witches and they don’t have magic.”

Quinton sat his letter down on the table and folded his arms aggressively over his chest. His eyes narrowed on Dash as his face morphed into an unfriendly snarl.

“I’d never treat any of my children like they weren’t equal whether they were born with magic or not. And you damn well know it. Don’t try to put thoughts like that into her head.”

Dash held his hands up in front of him in surrender. “I would never dream of it,” he said in a soft voice.

I shook my head. How had we gotten here? It was my fault for asking that stupid question.

“I don’t want kids,” I told them honestly. “Not ever.”

“Neither do I,” Dash agreed quickly.

“You’re young,” Quinton said dismissively. “You have lots of time to change your mind. For now, lets focus on finding your dad.”

“How can you not want kids?” Addison asked in disbelief. “Everyone wants to have a family and people around them to love. Kids are awesome.”