Aidon's free hand moved to the back of Nina's head, his other reaching out toward the screen where Jean-Marc sat frozen. "You two are the ones who made me want to be a father in the first place. You think I'm gonna throw that away? You think I'm gonna love you less because we added to this family?" His voice cracked slightly. "You made me better. You made me want tobebetter."
On the screen, Jean-Marc was watching us with that expression he wore when he was trying not to break. When Nina finally pulled back, I caught him swiping at his eyes with the heelof his palm. He laughed, but it came out raw and rough around the edges. "We love you, too.”
Aidon smiled at him. "The triplets are lucky as hell they get you as siblings. But you were here first. You two? You're the foundation of this family. Everything else builds on that."
Jean-Marc's jaw clenched, and for a second I thought he might lose it completely. But he nodded instead, sharp and quick. "Okay. Okay, yeah."
"After this is over," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, "we're having a real conversation. You, me, Nina, and Aidon. About everything. About how you're both feeling, what you need from us. Deal?"
"Deal." His voice went soft, younger somehow. Vulnerable. "Mom? Be careful tonight."
My heart squeezed. "Always."
"Liar." But he smiled.
The kitchen door swung open, and Nana walked in carrying her shotgun. She set it against the wall and fixed me with those sharp eyes. "Well?" She pulled out a chair. "We're going to sit around having feelings, or are we actually going to plan how to kill these bastards?"
"Both," I said as I took Melaina from Mom. I was infinitely grateful she’d allowed her siblings to have this moment without demanding her snack. "We're talented multitaskers." Aidon's hand found mine, squeezing gently.
"Who's going in?" Nana asked as she kissed Nyssa’s cheek.
"Small and mobile," I explained as I sent a message to Stella, letting her know we were going tonight. “Aidon, Stella, you, and me. Layla, Murtagh, and Tseki will stay with Mom, Nina, and Selene to guard the house. Jean-Marc will get us past their security."
"Is the plan still to destroy it?" Nana asked. "We haven't found primordial fire, yet."
"Then we take it." Aidon's jaw clenched. "At a minimum, we have to get it away from them and keep it somewhere they can't access while we contact Nylah." The Relic Keeper could keep it safe and hidden from detection if we couldn’t destroy the thing.
My phone buzzed, and my best friend’s name flashed across the screen. She must have left her ringer on in case of emergency. "What time are we breaking in? Do we have time to make extra potions? I have an idea I want to run by your mom."
Despite everything, I laughed. "We go in at 11 PM when there is a window in their security system."
The next hours blurred. We said goodbye to Jean-Marc so he could get some sleep. He promised to keep working on the security system. I finished feeding Melaina, and then it was Nyssa’s turn. Nina fell asleep on the island while Mom channeled her anxiety into cooking. Nana cleaned her weapons and helped with the babies.
Aidon and I went over the plan repeatedly, looking for holes, planning contingencies. "What if it's a trap?" I asked as the sky began to lighten.
"That’s why we go in carefully." He pulled me against his chest. "We've survived worse."
"Have we?" I thought about the magical nuclear reaction. "This feels different."
He bounced Melaina and lifted a shoulder. "It is different. This time, we have a lot more at stake. And for once, we're not reacting. We're making our own move."
CHAPTER 10
Breakfast turned into a war council the second Stella walked through my door at eight AM, Clio trailing behind her with enough bags to stock a small arsenal. "I brought reinforcements." Stella dumped her load on the counter with a series of thuds and clinks. "And potion ingredients."
Layla, Murtagh, and Tseki filed in from patrol, bringing the sharp scent of pine and frost. Mythia and Mom continued setting out food, creating a buffet that would make any five-star restaurant pale in comparison. Within minutes, my kitchen was packed with people eating and planning to break into a medical facility.
If you didn’t consider they’d been using it as a front to target supernatural infants, it would seem weird. But there had been at least eighty-three deaths because of them. Probably hundreds more they'd hidden.
Stella pulled a rolled bundle from her largest bag. "You need to see this," she said around a mouthful.
I pushed Nina’s laptop and the few books she’d been using for homework aside. Thankfully, our family tended to stand around the island eating. We rarely used the table for actualmeals. Stella unfurled blueprints across the scarred wood. Real architectural plans, not the sanitized public versions.
"How did you get these?" Mom leaned in, studying the detailed schematics while eating her Eggs Benedict.
"Being a real estate agent has its perks." Stella's grin was bright. "I called in every favor I had with the county planning office. Here's what's interesting. The basement level isn't on the public blueprints."
She tapped a section. "But it exists. I cross-referenced property records from 1982 with the building's original construction permits. Someone added an entire sublevel after initial construction."
