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“Yes we are.” Daria grinned. “My cousin’s lucky to be with a Pteron that looks like you.”

Maddock shook his head. “You’d say that about any Pteron.”

“Like you wouldn’t? If Casey wasn’t related to us you’d be trying to jump her whether she had a boyfriend or not.”

“Ok. But you are related.” There was no reason to continue with that conversation.

“Yes, we are.” He crossed his arms. His angry stance actually put me at ease. At least he wasn’t going there.

Casey clasped her hands together. “Isn’t there some way you could make an exception and let Toby cross?”

“No.” Maddock shook his head. “But you’ll be in good company.”

“Good company? What do you mean by that?” I was busy trying to come up with a solution. I wasn’t okay letting Casey take off into possibly hostile territory without me, but I also understood how important this was. I couldn’t hold her back.

“There’s someone else booked to cross with you today.” Daria smiled.

“Who?” Casey looked to me, but I didn’t have any information to share.

“I’ll let her tell you herself.” Daria glanced at some spot in the distance behind us.

We both turned and watched as a woman walked toward us.

“Mom?” Casey started walking toward the woman, pulling me with her. I was glad she hadn’t dropped my hand. I wanted to be of any help I could.

“Hey, honey.” Casey’s mom had the same smile and dark brown hair as her daughter, but otherwise the two women didn’t look particularly alike. She pulled Casey into a tight hug. During all this Casey still held my hand, so I just stood there awkwardly to one side. Casey had a death grip on me.

“When were you going to tell me all of this?” Casey gestured to her body. That was one way to start the conversation.

“I was trying to protect you.” Her mom pursed her lips, and the look completely matched the expression Casey made when she did that.

Casey’s shoulders slumped. “Not knowing got me in a lot of trouble.”

“Trouble would have found you no matter what.” Her mother gazed out at the expansive lake before returning her eyes to Casey. “I actually believed I could shield you forever. That was my mistake. Putting too much faith in my ability to protect you.”

“It’s not all your fault.” Casey swallowed hard. It felt wrong being part of such a personal conversation, but Casey still held onto my hand for dear life. If she wanted me around, I wasn’t going anywhere.

“And you’re Toby?” Her mom stepped toward me.

I blinked in surprise. “How’d you know my name?”

“I make it my business to know who my daughters are spending their time with.” The line wasn’t an overt threat, but it wasn’t particularly friendly either.

Casey seemed to sense this and squeezed my hand. “Did you know who Vera was with when she was dating Murphy?”

Casey’s mom sighed. “I did everything in my power to stop it.”

“But you let her leave. Didn’t you? You let her leave.” Casey’s face reddened.

Her mom looked out at the lake again. “Everything I’ve done has been for a reason.”

Casey’s face softened. “Has anyone told you anything? Do you know what happened to me?”

Her mother shook her head. “No. I heard you were missing and I dropped everything to find you, but I can tell you have magic in you. You came to the right place.”

“Eric told me to come. He’s Marv’s nephew.”

Mom nodded. “I know. I’ve been keeping tabs the best I can, but things have gotten out of control. I’ll explain everything to you eventually, but for now we have to focus on getting you well.”

“And you have people on the island who can help?” I asked. “Someone trained to do this?”

“I’m not sure if trained is the right word. More like born to do it, but yes. Whatever has happened to Casey, we can fix it.”

Casey let out a deep breath. “They said Toby can’t come with me.”

“He can’t.” Casey’s mother said it so simply. “Only one foreigner can go at once.”

“And I’m a foreigner?” And just like that the soft expression was gone. She was back on alert.

Her mother turned back to us slowly. “As of now, yes.”

“I can’t do this alone.” Casey spoke so quietly, but her words said everything. She wasn’t one to admit she couldn’t do things.

I squeezed her hand. “Yes you can.”

She squeezed back so hard my hand hurt. “I don’t want to.”

“Well, that’s something altogether different. I don’t want you to go without me either.”

Her mother smiled. “There’s something there.” I waited for her to continue. “There’s something real between you.”

“Of course there is.” Casey stared her mother down. I didn’t know much about her relationship with her mother, but I was surprised by the animosity. Was it all stemming from the recent events?

Her mother took my free hand. The contact surprised me, but I didn’t pull my hand back. I needed her mom to like me. Whether Casey was annoyed at her or not, she was still her mom, and eventually she’d care about her opinion of me. “She will be in good hands. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“I understand she’s your daughter, and you’d go to great lengths to protect her, but how can you guarantee her safety?”

“I can’t.”

“Meaning?” I tried to keep my cool, but I wasn’t okay with throwing Casey to the lions so to speak.

“I can’t guarantee anything. But then again, can you?” She looked me straight in the eye.

I shook my head. “No. But I’d risk my life to protect her.”

“I’d give my life ten times over for either of my daughters.” There was so much sadness behind the woman’s eyes. I couldn’t imagine how much she’d been through in her life, but at the moment the only thing I could worry about was protecting Casey.

“I need to do this.” Casey didn’t sound particularly confident, but it was better than her saying she couldn’t do it. “I need to find out if something is wrong with me.”

“Yes you do.” Her mother stepped forward and took Casey’s hand. “You can do this, and you’ll be back with Toby before you know it.”

“It’s not that I’m dependent on him.”

Her mother adjusted the strap of the backpack she was wearing. “I understand that, but relying on someone and finding strength in their presence doesn’t make you weak. Bear, Pteron, whatever you are, you still have a human side underneath everything else. And that side of you needs companionship. It needs love.”

I adjusted our hands. “And you’ve got both of those. I won’t go far.” I didn’t want to push her, but I had no choice. I knew that I had to let her go. At least I’d be able to fly to her quickly if necessary, and hopefully I was faster than any of the people who would try to shoot me down.

Casey held on to both my hand and her mother’s as she looked at me. “You don’t have to wait here for me. This might take a while.”

“You know I’m going to wait. I’ve spent too much time searching for you to just let you go. You’re lucky I’m letting you out of my sight at all.”

“How does that make me lucky?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just hope you get back soon.”

“The sooner we leave, the sooner you’ll be with her again.” Her mom gave me a knowing look. Prolonging the inevitable wasn’t going to help anyone. “But I’ll give you two a few minutes alone.”

As soon as her mom walked away, I pulled Casey into a hug. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“That’s not what you were saying a few minutes ago.”

“Because I don’t want either of us sounding weak in front of her. You can do this. The question is whether you want to.”

“No, the question is whether I have to.”

“We can find another way.” There had to be one.

“No. Georgina suggested this indirectly and my mom agrees.”

I rubbed her back gently. “I’ll be right here, waiting.”

“Thank you.”

“Just keep being you, and everything is going to be okay.” I hoped I’d be able to maintain an ounce of that confidence once her boat left the shore.

I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or annoyed that Vera came back for me. Sure it was great to be saved, but now I was responsible for her well-being. I could barely take care of myself thanks to whatever Tiffany had done to me. Shouldn’t it have been wearing off already? Why couldn’t I shift? A small part of me was terrified I’d never be able to shift again, but that couldn’t be possible. Pterons were stronger than witches. There had to be a way to beat it.

As much as I understood why Vera preferred to move as a bear inside the cave, it made things harder. We couldn’t communicate, and I couldn’t understand what in the world she was doing. When she’d shifted back to a human for a few minutes she’d assured me she knew what she was doing, but moving further into the cave went against every ounce of gut instinct I had. Pterons didn’t belong in caves. We belonged in the sky. It felt like we were walking deeper underground, and that was the last thing I wanted to do.

I could trust Vera. At least I assumed I could. Maybe I was so long gone that I was making a mistake with her too. What if she wasn’t who she seemed? Knowing the power a witch could have on me made me feel weak and unbelievably confused. I wasn’t used to feeling either.

Vera turned again, and I reluctantly followed. We’d walked for long enough that turning around no longer seemed like a real option. I’d just have to follow her and see where it got us. The darkness was getting tiring. I wasn’t used to having to find my way without sight. Night vision really came in handy.

“Isn’t this sweet?” I turned around, instinctively blocking Vera when I heard Tiffany’s voice. I was blinded by Tiffany’s light. I blinked a few times to get used to it. The light should have been a nice break from the dark, but it had the opposite effect on me. Seeing her face reminded me of just how much trouble we were in.

Vera growled from next to me. It was still hard to believe the large bear beside me was actually a bomb shell brunette. Shifters that changed into actual animal forms were foreign to me. I’d seen them all myself, but I’d never called a single one a friend.

Tiffany fixed her eyes on Vera. “You came back for him, didn’t you? You thought he was worth it?”

Vera growled again. It was about the only noise she could make as a bear. I thought it was appropriate considering the question.

Tiffany laughed. “Protective, huh? Isn’t this funny? A bear protective of a helpless Pteron.”

“I’m not helpless!” I snapped.

“Sure you are. Why else would you be following around a bear?”

“Watch it.”

“Watch what? Where are your wings, Jared? Shouldn’t you have them out? Not that they’d do you any good down here.”

It was my turn to growl.

“Come on. I told you I was going to come back. You could have waited for me.”

“Waited for you? Are you crazy?”

“No.” She smiled. “I just expected a little self-preservation from you. That’s all.”

“I have plenty of self-preservation.” I stepped toward her. Magic or not, I was still stronger than her. The trick would be distracting her long enough to attack.

“Let me guess. You like this bear.”

“Do I seem like the type to go for bears?’ I didn’t glance back at Vera. I wasn’t trying to piss her off, but I needed to let Tiffany know it was still me.

“You seem to go for anything with breasts that can walk.”

“That’s not true.” I took another step. “I never went for you.”

She took in a breath. Nice. It was having the effect I wanted. Her weakness was love, men, and not feeling desired.

“You’d have gone for me if Allie and Hailey hadn’t forbidden it.”

“Oh yeah? You really think so?”

“I know. That night after the fire. You cared.”

“Yeah, I did care.” I remembered that night well. I’d thought Tiffany was a goner. Now I wished she had been. It would have saved us all a hell of a lot of trouble.

“Exactly.” She crossed her arms.

“That doesn’t mean I wanted you.” I leaned toward her. “I generally take what I want. I took Casey, didn’t I?” I knew the last part would set Vera off so the growl it elicited didn’t surprise me. Nor was I surprised by the flash of anger that crossed Tiffany’s face.

“Casey confused you. You didn’t know what she was.”

“But I wanted her. I wanted her the moment I met her. Everything about her appealed to me, called to me, turned me on. None of that’s the same for you.”

“You wanted me the moment you met me too.”

I shook my head. “I thought you were cute. Doable, but not worth the effort. She was worth the effort. And you know what?”

“What?” Tiffany huffed.

She was watching me, and I sensed Vera moving past me on my side.

“I want Vera more than you, more than I would have ever wanted you no matter what you looked like. I’d take a bear over you any day.” I paused before sticking the knife in the wound. “Just like Robert. He took a human over you without thinking, and maybe you didn’t even need to trick him. Maybe he’d have slept with a bear too. Anyone but you.”

“You son of a bitch.” Tiffany held her hand out toward me just as Vera lunged at her.

The sound of breaking glass filled the air as we were plunged back into pitch darkness.

I’d never felt weaker or more useless in my life. Between the spell and my inability to transform, there was nothing I could do.

I heard a snarl before Vera’s bear form smacked into me.

“You think you can get away with this?” Tiffany laughed. “You think you can play with me and not get hurt?”

I mustered every ounce of strength I had. “Go to hell.” I moved toward her, but I was flung back.

“No. I think you will. Actually, you’re already there. All I have to do is make sure you don’t leave.”

My chest clenched at her words.

“You might as well thank me. I could have killed you, but this way you two can play together before you starve to death. Enjoy.”

The whole cave shook as rocks began to fall. I found Vera and tried to follow Tiffany out, but a giant boulder rolled toward us, pinning us against the wall.

“Fuck.” There went that word again. This time I really meant it.

Seeing my mom again was surreal. Very little time had actually passed since I’d last seen her, but in some ways, my whole life had changed. I wasn’t the same girl I was when we’d last spoken, and now I knew she wasn’t the same woman. She watched me the way you’d watch a spreading fire. She was trying to see which way I’d go, and whether I’d combust. Considering my head had been likely taken over by a witch, I didn’t even know the answer to that.