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am not leaving you. I will never leave you. I need to find out what he needs, and then
we can go home, okay?”
I clutch at him.
“We’ll go home,” he whispers, kissing my forehead.
“Now, Calliel,” Michael says.
“Okay,” I mumble and let him go. He holds his head up high and squares his
shoulders as he crosses over to Michael. As much as I strain to listen, I can’t hear a
thing beyond the murmur of deep voices. A hand falls on my shoulder and I feel a
breath on my neck. I almost cringe until I realize it’s my mother. She wraps her arm
around my shoulders, and soon we are surrounded by the rest of our family, Nina
leaning against me on my other side, Mary and Christie at my back, Abe standing
next to my mother, a hand on her shoulder.
From what I can see in the dark, Michael does most of the talking, though his
words seem to be few. He does not punctuate anything with movement, keeping his
hands folded behind him as if he stands at parade rest. Cal stands next to him, head
bowed. One might think it was a defeated pose, but I can see that Cal is merely
listening to Michael’s voice.
“This turned out to be a weird night,” Christie mutters.
“I enjoyed myself,” Nina says with a smile. “So many people!”
“Certainly unexpected,” Mary agrees. “Security, huh? At least they look the part.
All that man flesh. Michael, is it? Don’t suppose he’s a queen like Cal?” “He’s not your type,” my mother sighs as Abe snorts. “Trust me.” “You need to be careful of Griggs,” Abe says. “I’ve told you that before, Benji.
But he’s got his eye on you, and he might have….” He trails off, seeming hesitant to
say the rest.
And I realize this is a moment, an opportunity for someone to say aloud what I
had thought and what I am sure the others had thought about my father. I could tell
them all I know, but I don’t, simply because I want to distance the danger from my
family as much as possible. I can’t bear the thought of one of them getting hurt
because of me. Corwin’s death has weighed heavily on my mind, dragging my guilt
to the forefront for all to see, even if they don’t know what they’re looking at. I
would not survive if I caused the death of another person, especially one of the
