"If we do this, we'll never be safe," Mom said.
"Things will never be the same if we do this." That wasn't exactly a response to what she said, but I had to keep going. "Which is why we have to vote as a family. We all share responsibility for this decision. Once we make it, nobody complains and everyone has to work together. Does anyone want to add anything?"
Silence.
"Everyone for becoming a House, raise your hands."
I held my hand up. Bern, Arabella, Leon, and Grandma.
"Everyone for running away and hiding?"
Mom raised her hand.
I looked at Catalina.
"I'm abstaining," she said.
"You don't get to abstain," Arabella said. "For once in your life, make a decision!"
Catalina took a deep breath. "I vote for the House."
"Fools," my mother said. "I've raised a pack of idiots."
"But we're your idiots, Aunt Penelope," Leon said.
I picked up the paperwork bristling with colored flags indicating signature lines. "I need all of you to sign."
"Wait!" Grandma Frida grabbed her phone. "We must take a picture for posterity."
They crowded into the shot around me. Grandma Frida set the phone on a delay and it snapped an image of all of them around me, the paperwork in front of me, a pen in my hand. Cold froze my stomach.
I loved them so much. I just hoped I made the right call.
The Office of House Records occupied a short tower of black glass on Old Spanish Trail, across the street from the Bureau of Vital Statistics. The asymmetric building leaned back, textured, its profile odd. As Rogan pulled his gunmetal-grey Range Rover into the parking lot, I saw the front of the tower. It was shaped like a feathered quill.
The setting sun played on the dark glass. Only a handful of cars waited in the parking lot.
"Are you sure he will be there?" I asked.
"Yes."
"It's Christmas Day."
Rogan turned to me. "He will be there, because I called and asked."
I gripped the zippered file so hard, my fingers went white. Last chance to back out.
Rogan reached over, his magic curling around me. He took my hand and held it in his. "Do you want me to turn around?"
"No." I swallowed. "Let's do this."
We got out of the car and walked to the door. It slid open with a whisper, and we stepped into a modern lobby. Black granite sheathed the walls, grey granite shone on the floor, and in the center of the lobby, thin lines of gold traced a magic circle. A guard looked at us from behind his desk and bowed his head. Rogan led me past him to the elevators.
The folder seemed so heavy in my hands. All my doubts bubbled up and refused to disappear.
"Am I doing the right thing?"
"You're doing the only thing that makes sense to keep your family safe."
"What if I don't qualify?"
"You stood toe-to-toe with Olivia Charles, a manipulator Prime, and you won." His voice was steady. "You will qualify."
"Thank you for coming with me."
He didn't answer. He'd made it clear in the past that he expected me to walk away from him the moment our family became a House. He didn't think our magic was compatible. If we had children, they might not even be Primes. He viewed this as the beginning of our end, but he came anyway. He was also a complete idiot if he thought I'd let him get away. He was mine. My Connor.
The elevator opened. We stepped into a hallway, with a dozen doors branching off from it, all closed. At the very end of the row of doors, large double doors stood open. We walked toward those doors, then through the doorway, into a huge circular room. Books lined the walls, thousands of books on the curved wooden shelves, three stories high, each floor with its own railed balcony. A grouping of comfortable couches upholstered in dark leather occupied the center of the room. Directly in front of it, between us and the couches, a round counter rose.
An old man sat behind the counter, reading a book. His skin was a warm brown, pointing at a Latin American heritage, his hair was white, and he wore a three-piece grey suit with a tartan bow tie. He raised his head, smiled at us, and hopped off his chair. His eyes, behind large glasses, were very dark, almost black, and shiny like two pieces of obsidian.
"Ms. Baylor," he said, his voice soft and cultured. "Finally."
"I'm sorry to trouble you on a holiday."
He smiled wider, showing white teeth. "Don't mention it. It is, after all, my job. I would've done it anyway. I was in downtown Houston, in the tunnels, when the Old Justice Center fell. I owe you and Mr. Rogan my life."