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Mum’s in a dress that’s about ten years too young for her, but she’s still got the body for it. Chrissie’s wearing a similar dress that’s about ten years too old for her, but she’s got the style for it. Her husband, Ray, has got one arm around her, and Ceri and Chi are nestled on their laps.
Liam is dressed much the same as Connor was, but with muscles that put even his to shame. He’s sat beside Shane, who’s been his best friend since they were two, and a permanent fixture at family gatherings ever since.
I’ve never met the woman perched next to Shane in person, but I recognise her from Brendan’s drawings: Bren’s fiancée. Leah. She’s dressed like Chrissie always used to dress, like the whole world is her personal runway. White-blonde hair is piled up on her head, showing off her delicate shoulders and the ultra-pale skin of her exposed back.
At the sight of me, the whole room erupts with noise and movement and chaos. I’ve never been hugged by so many people in such a short period of time.
“My baby girl.” Mum pulls me into a tight embrace with her toned arms. “I can’t believe you’re actually here.”
“Want a drink, Sadie?” Liam asks.
I nod, and he walks over to the bar in the corner and fixes me a gin and tonic without having to be told.
Chrissie examines me critically. “Sadie, really. When did you let yourself get so pale?” She waves her hand and, in a moment, I’m as gloriously, artificially tanned as she is. It’s a different, lighter kind of magic than her attempts to make me go unrecognised. More like make-up than a mask. Mercifully, she doesn’t try to magically bleach my hair to match hers and Mum’s.
Leah walks nervously over to us. “Hey. We’ve never met. But I’ve heard a lot about you.”
I give her a big smile. “Likewise. And I trust Bren’s judgement. If he loves you, consider me your sister.”
“I’m just so worried. He’s always seemed so strong, so in control. But the Thornbers struck while he was weak. And now they’ve got his powers in check.”
I put a hand on her arm. “None of them can touch him. Barely any practitioners are a match for my brother.”
Other than Gabriel, but let’s not go there.
“That’s true right now, but they’ll break him down over time. I can’t stand it. I’m not sleeping. We should have been planning the wedding. Instead, we’re fighting for his freedom.”
I look closely at her face. I’d thought her eyes were red from her magic, but they’re actually swollen from tears and exhaustion.
“It’ll be okay, I promise. You’ll be shopping for cakes and flowers in no time.”
Though that’s only true if I agree to take on the case. And even then, the outcome’s far from certain. Somehow, I manage to sound a lot more confident than I feel.
Chrissie calls over to Shane. “Get Leah a drink. Then sit down and chat with her for a bit.”
Shane’s mum is one of the family’s most loyal acolytes, and we’ve all known him so long we treat him like an additional annoying baby brother. He even looks a little bit like Liam, as if they’ve started to meet in the middle after all their years of friendship. The same shaggy black hair. The same pale skin. The same impressive muscles, though Liam’s are that bit more pronounced. The facial features that hover somewhere on the boundary between hitman and model.
Shane gives a mock bow, then drags Leah away.
“That girl. Highly strung’s not in it,” Chrissie says, once our future sister-in-law is out of listening distance.
“But what did she mean about the Thornbers striking when he was weak? And about his powers being kept in check?”
I’d been wondering how the police had managed to arrest him despite all his power, and Leah’s emotional ramblings raise more questions than answers. And now I come to think of it, Mum had said something similar in that initial phone call.
“You better talk to Bren about it. Hear it all first-hand.”
Then she beckons to her husband, who comes over with their twin girls.
“Ray, meet my baby sister, Sadie. And Sadie, these are our little demon princesses.”
I stand on tiptoes to give Ray a kiss on the cheek, then scoop my two-year-old nieces up in my arms. The fact I’ve never seen them, let alone held them, sends a shiver down my spine. It feels so right to be here with my family.
“Drinks are ready,” Liam calls.
We all decamp to the various sofas. I take my place next to my sister and sip my gin. There’s a Bren-shaped hole in the room and a nagging fear at the back of my mind, but other than that, it feels like I’ve never been away.
There are only two things I want at that moment: for that feeling of belonging to last and for the hole to be filled. I stand up and lead Mum and Dad into a quiet corner.
