“So, to continue my point, my dear brother,” she began again, giving Cush a pointed look, “we definitely have a choice. But we would be making the wrong choice if we didn’t stop here first and tell them what is going on.”

The creaking of the front passenger door broke the sudden silence as Lisa climbed out. “You’re right, we have to do this. If I were in their place and it was either of you missing I would want to know, no matter how impossible it seemed.”

“This is more along the lines of delusional, Mom,” Oakley said.

“Not helping,” Elora sung out through a grim smile.

Cush and Rin both squeezed their tall frames out of the small van door, somehow looking as graceful as ever, and joined the others on the sidewalk. Elora made a conscious effort not to drool as she watched Cush move, though she didn’t attempt to hide the fact that she was indeed watching. And the smirk he shot her testified that he hadn’t missed her attention.

“Are you coming, or are you just going to stand there?” Lisa hollered over her shoulder. Elora hadn’t realized that her mom and Oakley were halfway to the Tate’s front door. Damn hormones, she thought to herself. Shaking off her momentary distraction caused by the elf warrior, she hurried after her mom with Cush and Rin following behind her, no doubt keeping a look out for any potential danger from the dark elves.

The woman who answered Cassie’s front door hardly resembled the one Elora knew as Cassie’s mom. She was thin, even more than she used to be. Her hair hung limp on her head as if all the life had been sucked out of it. Her eyes, once happy and shining with mirth, were now as dull and lifeless as her hair. She looked tired and lost.

“Mrs. Tate,” Elora said her name almost as a question because she was beginning to wonder if this woman before her would even recognize her as Cassie’s best friend. “Can we come in?”

Mrs. Tate gave a brief nod and then stepped back to allow the group to enter. Elora went in first and the others followed as they filed into the living room. She looked around the familiar room, which somehow without Cassie now seemed foreign. Nothing had changed that she could tell, but despite there being no visible change, Cassie’s home was very different than it had been two months ago.

Elora stiffened as Cush stepped up beside her and leaned down so that his mouth was near her ear. “Magic has been worked here; I can feel it.”

Elora’s head snapped up nearly colliding with his face and her eyes widened. “What kind of magic?” she whispered back. Before he could answer her, both their attentions switched to where Sylvia Tate had Lisa’s wrist in her hand and a look on her face worthy of a pissed-off grizzly.

“STOP SAYING THAT!” Sylvia yelled. Elora saw her mom’s face grimace in pain and hurried over to the pair—to dowhat, she had no clue.

“I don’t have a daughter, Lisa!” Sylvia snapped out.

Elora looked over her shoulder at Cush and he mouthed the word ‘magic’ to her. She nearly shouted a big fat duh at him but decided that that would be less than helpful.

“Mrs. Tate, let’s just talk about this for a minute,” Elora said attempting to placate the obviously irate woman. “Can you let go of my mom? I think you’re hurting her.”

Like oxygen being sucked from a fire, her fury died down at Elora’s words and she dropped Lisa’s wrist. She appeared horrified and she looked at her hand as though it were the culprit and acting of its own accord and then back up to Lisa.

“I’m so sorry, Lisa,” she stuttered. “I-I-I don’t kn-n-ow what came over me.”

Lisa smiled her gentle smile and patted Sylvia’s arm. “Maybe work has been a little stressful?” she asked expertly steering away from the topic that had set her off.

Sylvia nodded absently and then motioned to the couch and chairs. “Please, you’re welcome to sit down.”

Elora looked at her mom as they both headed toward the couch. Lisa’s lips were set in a tight line as she shrugged her shoulders, letting Elora know she was just as clueless. Everyone but the two elves sat and the awkward silence that followed made Elora want to growl, which was a disturbing thought because she was usually not so easily ruffled.

“So, how have you been, Mrs. Tate?” Elora finally asked. “Have you had any strange visitors?” Elora grunted when her mom elbowed her. “What? How else are we going to figure anything out?” she whispered to her.

“I’m tired,” Sylvia answered and seemed confused by her own candidness.

“I can relate,” Elora agreed with a small smile.

“I’m sorry, um, not to be rude,” Sylvia told them as she looked over where Cush and Rin stood, looking less than approachable in their warrior get-up. “But why are you in the company of Navy Seal men?”

Elora tried to hold back her laugh but it just wasn’t happening. She threw her head back and just let it roll through her. It might not have really been that funny, but things were starting to get to her, and this was the form in which she was dealing with it.

“Not Navy Seals, Mrs. Tate,” Elora assured her as she wiped the tears from her laughter from her eyes. “They’re friends of Oakley’s.”

Oakley’s head snapped around as he glared at her. Elora’s return glare made it clear he was to play along. “Yeah, they’re friends of mine.” He coughed and turned in his chair so only Elora heard him mutter, “I met them while I was going through my underground fighting phase.”