Protector(26)

The dubious glance she gave him spoke volumes about what she thought of that prospect, but she didn’t contradict him. She didn’t really have the chance, because his mother entered the kitchen, her expression troubled. In one hand, she held a cordless phone.

“Caitlin,” she said. “Your mother would like to talk to you.”

Some of the pretty color drained from Caitlin’s cheeks, but she raised her chin and nodded. “I had a feeling she would.” She extended her hand, and Luz gave her the phone while at the same time shooting Alex a worried glance.

He wasn’t sure what to do — get up from the table and give Caitlin her privacy? Stay where he was and pretend he couldn’t hear every word she was saying? — but she solved that problem by standing up from her chair and moving out of the breakfast nook and past his mother, going to pause in the corridor.

“Hi, Mom.”

A long silence, during which Luz shook her head slightly, which led Alex to believe that Caitlin’s mother, who seemed to be one of the McAllister elders, wasn’t being quite as zen about the revelation of her daughter’s powers as Caitlin had hoped she would be.

“That’s not going to happen,” Caitlin said, her voice firm and carrying clearly enough down the hallway. “I know you’re worried. I’m worried. But I can’t help Roslyn and Danica by hiding in Jerome and letting everyone else do the heavy lifting.”

Another long pause.

“Fine, if Connor and Angela want to bring Marie in on this, there isn’t much I can do about it. That’s their call. But I’m pretty sure she won’t be able to help.”

Alex lifted his eyebrows at his mother, and she shrugged slightly. Even though Caitlin had told him she was going to stay down in Tucson until this thing was settled, some part of him hadn’t believed she’d really stand up to her family and do it.

Which meant it looked like she actually was going to be crashing at his house for a while. That could get…interesting.

“…you know Angela won’t tell me to go back to Jerome. That’s not how she does things. Maybe that makes all you elders crazy, that she’s not laying down the law right and left. But unless she comes down here and point-blank tells me to go home, I’m not changing my mind. It’ll be — well, maybe ‘fine’ isn’t the right word, but they’re all looking after me here. You have nothing to worry about.”

Brave words. Alex hoped they were true. Oh, he and his mother and everyone else in the clan would do whatever it took to solve this problem, not out of any loyalty to Caitlin or the McAllister family as a whole, but because it reflected badly on the de la Pazes to have something this awful happen on their home turf.

“I’m hanging up now, Mom. You do whatever you have to on your end, but I’m staying. My phone’s gone, but I suppose Luz Trujillo gave you a number — right. She’ll be able to get ahold of me.” A click, and Caitlin came back into the kitchen, looking annoyed. Her expression smoothed itself slightly as she handed the phone back to Luz.

“Well, she’s not happy with me, but I don’t think she’s going to send anyone down here to hogtie me and drag me back to Jerome.”

“That is good,” his mother said, her voice grave, although a certain glint in her dark eyes seemed to indicate she was somewhat amused by Caitlin’s declaration of independence. “Then we should be going. Maya takes her dinner early, and my cousin Raisa will be here soon to cook her meal.”

Was it really that late? A glance at the clock on the microwave told him it was a quarter to six. The whole day had practically slipped away, a day in which almost anything could have been happening to Danica and Roslyn. But there wasn’t much they could do about that, except hope that Caitlin’s visions would be of some help now that she wasn’t actively trying to block them.

They all left the kitchen, stopping in to the living room to say their goodbyes to his grandmother. She still sat on the couch with her glass of water, but her eyes were closed, as if she had dozed off after Luz had returned to the kitchen. As soon as they entered the room, however, she blinked, and focused a sharp enough gaze on all of them.

“So you’re back to Tucson now?” she inquired.

“Yes, mamita,” Luz replied. “I believe the Wilcox seer will be coming to speak with you tomorrow.”

Maya nodded, hands twitching at the knitted afghan in her lap. Her expression was weary, but at the same time almost amused. No doubt she never thought she’d see the day when a Wilcox witch would be approaching her openly, particularly for advice. “Well, that should be…interesting.”