Jenna Black - Glimmerglass

“So, are we going to have a lesson?” Keane asked, “or are we going to shoot the shit?”

Turning my back on Finn, I met Keane’s challenging gaze. “Next time, I won’t hesitate,” I promised him.

He nodded his approval. “Glad to hear it. Now move your ass.”

Man, I wished I hadn’t asked for this. Made it hard to complain about it, even if I wanted to. Figuring this was going to be one hell of a long morning, I followed Keane down into the garage.

I was right about it being a long morning. Keane would make the stereotypical drill sergeant seem like a gentle soul. He was arrogant. He was condescending. He was insulting. But damn it, he was good. He showed me all the places on the human body that were most vulnerable to attack, and what parts of my own body made the best weapons. Then he made me use those weapons, and if I didn’t hit hard enough, he made me pay for it.

By lunchtime, I was so exhausted I could barely move, and I ached all over. One problem with hitting hard—it hurts . But there was no way I would admit that to Keane, so I stifled all my complaints. I’d be lucky if I could get out of bed tomorrow once all the bruises and muscle aches really had a chance to set in.

I expected Keane to leave now that our lesson was over, but apparently Finn couldn’t let him out without breaking the extra wards my dad had put on the house after yesterday’s attack. Oh joy, we were stuck with him all day.

Shortly after lunch, the doorbell rang. It was the first time anyone other than Kimber had visited this house since I’d taken up residence. My nerves tingled, and my pulse raced. Did I dare hope this was my mom?

I started toward the spiral staircase, but even though Finn was all the way across the room from me, he made it there first.

“Stay here!” he ordered, and my eyes widened when I saw that he’d drawn a gun. Keane was sitting in the living room, looking bored and put upon. He showed not the slightest interest in Finn’s defensive measures.

The electric sensation of Finn’s magic prickled across my skin, even though I wasn’t wearing the cameo. He was in full bodyguard mode now, ready for anyone, human or Fae. He made his way down the stairs and into the empty garage with predatory grace. I crept down the first couple of steps, ready to bolt if Finn’s defensive preparations turned out to be necessary.

Finn peered through a peephole, and his posture didn’t relax any. “Can I help you?” he asked, without opening the door.

I didn’t have to hear more than “I’m Cathy” before I let out a choked scream and started hurtling down the steps.

“Mom!” I practically fell over myself I was so eager, and my quick descent of the spiral staircase made me dizzy.

“Dana!” I heard my mom shout.

I was flying toward the door, ready to jerk it open and throw myself into my mom’s arms. But there was a wall between me and the door, and its name was Finn.

If he’d been human and I’d barreled into him like that, we probably both would have gone down. But he wasn’t human, and the impact didn’t even seem to rattle him, though I bounced backward and he had to grab me to keep me from falling.

“Let go of me!” I tried to pull free, not with any real expectation that he’d let me go. “That’s my mom!”

“Dana? Dana, are you all right?” My mom was pounding frantically on the door now.

“She’s fine,” Finn said. “Everybody calm down a minute.”

“I don’t know who you are,” my mom shouted, “but if you lay hands on my daughter you’ll wish you were never born!”

Yeah, my mom can spout clichés with the best of them. Usually, I would roll my eyes when she did that, but right now I was too desperate to see her with my own eyes.

“I am your daughter’s bodyguard,” Finn said. I tried one of the kicks Keane had taught me, and my foot made solid contact with Finn’s shin. He winced, but I hadn’t been cold-blooded enough to kick with the kind of force I’d need to really hurt him. He wasn’t the enemy, after all. “And if I open the door for you, it will break some of the protective spells Seamus has put on the house. That would be inadvisable at the moment.”

“You have no right to keep my daughter from me!”

“It is for her own protection. There have been attempts made on her life. I’m sure you’d prefer she be as well defended as possible.”

Oh, yeah. Telling my mom people were trying to kill me was guaranteed to improve her state of mind. Not!

“I’m okay, Mom,” I said before she could throw a fit. “Between Dad’s spells and Finn, I’m as safe as if I were packed in with cotton. Please don’t worry.”

I winced at my mom’s wrenching sob. Usually, her tears don’t have much effect on me anymore, but there was no denying she had a legitimate reason to be upset. Worse, I couldn’t think of anything to say that would make her feel any better. I thought the knowledge that both Queens of Faerie were on my enemies list would drive her completely around the bend.

“Seamus will be home around five,” Finn said. “Come back then and he’ll be able to put the defensive spells back up once he lets you in. Meanwhile, why don’t you go get some rest?”

Mom didn’t answer, just kept sobbing.

“Mom, I’m fine,” I said in my most reassuring voice. “Why don’t you go back to your hotel and call me so we can talk before Dad gets home?”

If we’d been playing out this scene at home, with my mom sitting on a doorstep bawling and otherwise making a public spectacle out of herself, I’d have been so embarrassed I’d want to sink into the floor. But my short stay in Avalon had already changed me. Of all the problems in my life, being embarrassed by my mom ranked somewhere around five million and one.

“Please, Mom,” I continued in the same voice, though I sounded more like I was talking to a frightened child than to my mother. “You’re here, and I’m safe, and I want to talk to you. Please hold it together and call me. So much has happened since I got here…”

I was kind of glad Finn was there, big, solid, and unmoved by my mother’s hysteria. If it had been just me, I’m not sure I could have stopped myself from opening the door and breaking my dad’s spells. Maybe nothing would have come of it and it would be perfectly safe. But I didn’t want to risk both my life and hers testing the idea.

Eventually, she cried herself out. At least for now.

“I’ll wait here until Seamus comes home,” she said between sniffles, and I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. Luckily, she couldn’t see me.

“What would be the point in that?” I asked, hoping she wasn’t completely past seeing logic.

“We can talk here.”

Obviously, more logic was needed. “If we talk here, we’ll both get hoarse from shouting through the door. And we’ll have an audience. Just go back to your hotel and call me. I’ll catch you up on everything that’s been going on.” I crossed my fingers when I said that, because I knew I was going to have to edit some of the details to keep Mom from completely wigging out. “Then you can come back and see me in person when Dad comes home.” And wouldn’t that be the cheerful little family reunion?

“Okay?” I prompted when she didn’t say anything for a while.

She sniffed again. “I just hate letting you out of my sight for even a moment now that I’ve found you.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

There was another agonizingly long pause. Then she heaved an enormous sigh.

“All right. I’ll go back to the hotel. I’ll call you as soon as I get there.”

“I’ll be here,” I reassured her again.

I didn’t have super-hearing, so I couldn’t tell when she finally dragged herself away except by the fact that Finn’s posture relaxed.