Freddy looked sheepish.
"I might have fallen asleep for a minute, but . . ." He trailed off and sighed. "But that's more than enough time."
Dev wasn't mad at him. The girls could wear you out-had worn her out on many occasions-so she knew it was an honest mistake. Now she found herself wishing she'd kept more of an eye on them through the kitchen window when she was making lunch.
"He wasn't doing anything bad," Marji said, defending the old man. "He said he found the pebble and thought we would like it."
"But he gave it to Marji," Ginny said, shifting in her seat so she was closer to the table . . . and the Tater Tots. Two of which she stuffed into her mouth.
"He said it was magic and it was a secret only for us-then he said he had to go."
Dev wanted to ask if he'd done or said anything inappropriate, but she was afraid to scare the girls.
"Well, there are no secrets at our house and you both know this," Dev said, instead. "And you both know that people you don't know can steal you away from your daddy and me. As nice as they seem. As friendly as they are. As many gifts as they try to give you-they are still strangers."
Marji rolled her eyes.
"I wouldn't have gone anywhere with him."
"That's not the point," Dev said, reaching for her own sandwich. "You're supposed to set a good example for Ginny-"
"You seth a bath one," Ginny said, her mouth full of Tater Tots.
"Ginny." Freddy's tone was a warning. Then he turned to his elder daughter: "Marji, you know why your mom and I are upset . . ."
He waited for her answer. Finally, she nodded, still sullen.
"Yeah, I know. Stranger danger."
"If anything happened to either of you, it would be the end of our world," Dev said. "We just want you safe."
She put a hand on Marji's shoulder and felt the tension there.
"Just think about how sad we would be if anything happened to you. Can you do that for me?"
Marji nodded.
"Now let's eat our lunch before the bread turns into a soggy mess," Dev continued, and squeezed Marji's shoulder.
"Okay, Mama."
• • •
Later, Dev had put the red pebble on the stone mantelpiece and promptly forgotten about it. Neither of the girls had ever mentioned it again and she was pretty sure that had been the end of it. But now as she stared into the orange scrying bowl, she saw Marji pick up the stone and put it in her pocket as they closed up the house and left for home.
She watched as they returned to their home in Echo Park and Marji placed the pebble, and some other shells they'd collected at the beach, onto the windowsill above the kitchen sink. With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Dev realized the stone had been there all the time. It had been right in front of her nose and she'd never noticed it.
She looked up from the image in the bowl.
"Wait," she started to say, but then stopped, at a loss for words.
"It was magic and once it was in this house, there was no stopping it," her mother said. "Thomas and I worked the binding spell and the stone stole the spell's power, using that power, which was supposed to protect us, against us."
"No," Dev said, her voice so high that she didn't recognize it as her own.
"Yes," Darrah said. "Marjoram had no idea what she was doing. The Flood used her like they use everyone. You couldn't have known what was going to happen."
Dev realized her sister was right, but she still felt awful. Like she'd failed her mother and sisters, her daughters, Freddy . . .
"I wish I were dead, too," she moaned, and wrapped her arms around herself.
"Don't ever wish that," Delilah said. "We need you."
"I'm such a failure."
Melisande took her eldest daughter in her arms.
"Stay alive, Devandra. You and the girls. Get them from the dreamlands and stop The Flood. Don't let our deaths be in vain."
Dev nodded, relief flooding her heart as she recognized the truth in her mother's words . . . and also understood that her daughters were still among the living.
"I won't, Mama," she said, closing her eyes as tears overflowed them.
• • •
She was back in Eleanora's room. Back in the bungalow on Curran Street where she'd spent so many happy hours with her beloved blood sisters. Freddy was staring down at her and she saw fear in his eyes. He was terrified he was going to lose her like he'd lost the girls. She reached out and took his hand, the first real touch between them since the tragedy . . . since their house had burned to the ground with her mother and sisters inside it-and the girls had disappeared with Thomas, an almost-stranger.