Page 2 of Take You Home

“Good to know,” Nostrand says, delicately touching the tip of a blade with his finger. “You know, Alexis, there are plenty of other things I’d like to know about you. About your life here on Earth.”

Alexis tenses. “You can forget it. I’m not saying anything about my friends.”

Nostrand smiles. “I was hoping you’d say that,” he says, and he raises the knife.

Stomach churning, Chester steps away, grabs his cart, and hurriesdown the hallway before the screaming can start. He doesn’t need to watch that.

Besides, his own interrogation rotation is coming up next month. He’ll have a front-row seat to the torture soon enough. Frankly, he’s not looking forward to it.

But he’ll probably black out during the nastiest parts, anyway. Just like he always does.

“Ooh, ooh, ooh!” Desi says excitedly, wobbling precariously on Obie’s knees and grabbing his hands to keep her balance. “And can we go see theocean,Uncle Obie? I’ve never seen the ocean!”

“You’ve never seen theocean?”Obie asks incredulously, shooting a mock glare at Cass and JJ. “What kind of parents are you?”

Cass rolls his eyes. “The kind of parents who areliterallyfugitives, Obie.”

“Pitiful excuse. We’re all fugitives here,” Obie says, gesturing meaningfully around the group. Right now, the six of them‍—Obie, Desi, Desi’s long-suffering fathers, Ez, and Ez’s shiny new ex-hunter girlfriend‍—are gathered around one of the picnic tables at Lakeside, enjoying the mid-July sunshine and feasting on copious amounts of bibimbap and poutine. “You don’t see that stopping us from enjoying the sunshine and supporting our local food trucks.”

“Only because we’re magically disguised with glamour spells,” Ez says, giving him a pointed look. “The type that Cass and JJ can’t maintain as long as I can.”

Obie fights back a wince. Honestly, her description is too charitable‍—ever since Cass and JJ accidentally exchanged pieces of their souls a few months ago, Cass has barely been able to maintain a glamour for more than ten minutes, and JJ hasn’t had much more luckwith Roma’s jury-rigged human-magic version. He forces a smile. “So you can gowiththem to the ocean! Problem solved.”

Gently, JJ plucks Desi off Obie’s legs. She climbs up his torso to settle into her customary position on his shoulders, as is her right. “Also, we’re right by a lake. We have water and sand and everything. It’s basically the same thing, right?”

“You think alakeis the same as theocean?”Ez sputters. “Oceans have surfable waves, JJ! Cruise ships!Jellyfish!”

Desi throws up her arms, cheering. “Jellyfish!”

“And I think you can actually swim in the ocean, too,” Roma adds, tilting her head to one side as she thinks. “Lakeside’s ecosystem is way too delicate for that. But I’ve never been to the ocean, so I’m not really sure.”

“Same,” JJ says.

Ez and Cass both look appalled. “All right,” Cass says, tweaking Desi’s nose. “I see that we’ll have to take a trip to the ocean someday soon‍—for you,andfor JJ and Auntie Roma.”

Roma straightens the slightest bit, beaming, and Obie’s heart twists. He knows that she still doesn’t feel like she really belongs‍—understandable, since she only defected from the Sanctum two weeks ago‍—but they’ve slowly been warming up to her.

Mainly because Ez punches anyone who gives Roma grief. Obie learned long ago that it’s never wise to be on Esmeralda Laguerre’s bad side.

“Sounds like a plan,” JJ says, dutifully passing Desi a wayward french fry when she makes grabby hands at it. “Desi, do you want to go fly your kite?”

Desi’s eyes light up. “Ooh,yes!Auntie Roma, do you know how to fly a kite?”

“I don’t, actually.”

“That’s okay! Me and JJ can teach you, and…”

JJ throws a quick grin at Obie, Cass, and Ez before strolling away. Roma’s smile is more hesitant as she follows him, listening intently to Desi’s ramble about her kite.

Obie keeps his voice low. Roma’s Sanctum-enhanced senses may be deactivated for the next several decades, but JJ’s half-demon soul gives him hearing and vision far beyond a regular human’s. “So Gutierrez still isn’t comfortable with us, huh?”

Ez shoots him a look. “Well, it’s not like we rolled out the welcome wagon for her.”

“To be fair,” Cass says, “she actively betrayed us twice.”

“Not the point, Cass!” Ez lets out a slow breath. “And she does like both of you. She’s just not sure that either of you likes her.”

“It’s not that we don’tlikeher,” Obie stresses, watching Desi press her kite into an increasingly bewildered Roma’s hands. “It’s just that we don’ttrusther. Big difference.”