“Surprise!” she screams.
Like some birthday nightmare come to life, silver and blue balloons and confetti fall from the air. Mack’s parents, Nick and Sebastian, flip on the lights and jump from the kitchen, waving their hands.
When I see Aunt Zinnia appear behind them, wearing the apron with the cats, her frizzy blonde hair haloing her head, stupid tears spring to my eyes. Aunt Vi waits a little ways behind her sister, wringing her hands. She stands ramrod straight, her mouth a stern line, refusing to move, as if Fae magic lurks in the opulent modern steel countertops and appliances.
Maybe it does.
Mack throws her arms around me. “Happy birthday, Beezy!”
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My heart swells. We haven’t seen each other in a month. We tried Facetiming, but the internet in our area crapped out recently.
“How’s the academy?” Mack asks as she guides me from the kitchen to the dining room.
“Colorful,” I say, sweeping my gaze over the elaborate setup piled over the long mahogany table. “Everything smells like flowers, the birds are really loud, and I’m still getting used to actual sunlight.”
“You’re so lucky.” She sighs, as if getting an extra week of getting her ass kicked is her idea of heaven. “I would die to train with Eclipsa. I can’t wait until you meet up with Reina this year.”
“Our turn!” Mack’s dads rush over, and before I can escape, I’m locked into a group hug.
“Okay, okay,” Mack says, swatting at both men. “Personal space, remember?”
Her dads back off, and it’s Zinnia and Vi’s turn. I hug them both, surprised and a little overwhelmed that they would venture into the Untouched Zone for me.
Just getting Vi here was a miracle in and of itself. I can’t imagine the effort it took to convince her, plus managing the travel visas and then talking Vi into using a portal.
I owe Mack’s dads big time.
Zinnia pinches my cheeks. “Sweet girl, we’re so proud of you. Now, look what I found you.”
She holds up an opened, near-empty bag of Zapps sweet southern heat barbeque chips.
Vi rolls her eyes. “The old cow ate nearly the entire bag.”
“You can’t just have one chip, Vi!” Zinnia protests. “Those things are like crack in a bag.”
Before the two can get into an all-out brawl in front of Mack’s dads, I take the present Vi is holding. “What’s this?”
“I thought, since we can’t be at the academy to protect you . . .”
“She got you a knife,” Zinnia clarifies, clicking her tongue.
My mouth hangs open as I rip off the red wrapping paper to reveal the wood-handled hunting knife inside.
“It’s made with iron,” Vi clarifies, throwing a not-so-subtle glance at Eclipsa, who’s posted up near the french doors leading to the balcony, watching everything with mild curiosity.
Oh, God. This must have cost them a fortune.
Sebastian frowns at the blade while Nick rushes over. “The academy is perfectly safe. We both attended and survived.”
Aunt Vi doesn’t argue, at least, not with words. But her mouth goes hard, and her hands, weathered by years of gardening in the Texas sun, flutter over her chest.
That’s when I notice the four dark red furrows ridging her collarbone. “What is that?”
Vi and Zinnia exchange glances, and then Zinnia says, “There was an attack recently.”
My stomach hollows out. “Darkling?”
Zinnia nods. “They reopened the farmer’s market near Willowbark Lake, and Vi convinced me to help her sell her canned jams and homemade soaps. The darklings . . . there were so many of them.”