Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

snapping more shots ferociously.
    “You even manage to look elegant when you’re sending me away, Hannah,” Jonas said, standing up.
    “I’ve got to go, but I’ll be back later to check on everyone. Anyone want help up to their room before I take off?”
    “Are you sick? You never call me Hannah.” Hannah pushed herself upright and regarded Jonas with a troubled gaze. “Are you all right?”
    Her thick mass of platinum hair fell over her shoulder and pooled in spirals over the back of the couch.
    He looked away from her, refusing to meet her eyes.

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    “Jonas,” Hannah insisted, “we can help you feel better. Just give us a minute.”
    His smile was tired. “Thanks, but I’m not allowing you to expend more energy in my direction. I just have a bad taste in my mouth right now. It isn’t pleasant to find out that, under the right circumstances, you might be willing to kill someone in cold blood.”
    “You’re human, Jonas,” Sarah said gently. “We’re your family. Of course you’d feel protective of us.
    And magic ties us all together with a much stronger bond. We don’t know how it works in extreme circumstances. You didn’t kill him. You did the right thing and you brought Abbey home to us. That’s all that matters.”
    “I was never so glad to see someone in my entire life,” Abbey added. “I feel so bad for Gene’s family.
    They must be so frightened right now. He looked bad.”
    “He would have been dead without you, Abbey,” Jonas confirmed. “If he makes it, he owes it to all of you. I’ve got a lot of work to do tonight, but call me if you remember anything else, Abbey. I’ll check on you later and I’ll step up patrols in this area as well.”
    “Thanks, Jonas,” Sarah said. “We’ll make certain Abbey’s careful.”
    “All of you be careful,” he insisted. “If it is the Russian mafia, they won’t hesitate to kill all of you.”
    “Oh, dear,” Carol said and fanned herself with her hand. “I’ve come at just the right time.”
    “Aunt Carol,” Kate protested, “aren’t you afraid?”
    “I came home hoping to put excitement back in my life,” Carol explained. “I’m still a young enough woman to find a good man. I loved my darling Jefferson, but he’s been gone five years and I’m tired of sitting in that huge southern house all alone, surrounded by my photograph albums and nothing else. I love my job as a Creative Memories consultant, but I want to make my memories, not just advocate to others to preserve theirs.”
    “We’re glad you’ve come, Aunt Carol,” Kate said. “We especially need help planning the weddings.”
    She looked at Sarah. “Or should we say wedding? Sarah and I want to have a double wedding.”
    “What about Abbey?” Joley said mischievously, nudging Abigail with her bare foot. “Maybe we’ll have three brides.”
    “Very funny, Joley. Aunt Carol, take a picture of Joley. You’ll make a fortune on the Internet. Rock star lounging at home in her favorite superstar PJs. You could sell it to the tabloids,” Abigail suggested.
    Joley merely rolled her ankle in small lazy circles. “You’d better spill the beans, Abbey. I’ve got the mother of all headaches and the least you can do is tell us how you sort of are, but maybe not, engaged to a Russian stranger who just happens to be a spy.”
    “He’s not a spy,” Abbey said.
    “How do you know, dear?” Carol asked as she tipped the camera to get a better angle on Joley. “Joley, move your head just a little. I’m picking up a glare.”
    “You can’t be picking up a glare,” Joley protested, turning her head to look behind her. “It’s dark

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    outside.”
    “I’m certainly picking up a light at the window. Oh, it’s gone. It must have been the moon.”
    There was a sudden silence. The seven Drake sisters looked at each other uneasily. Hannah raised her arms and a wind rushed through the house, setting the drapes dancing closed across the windows. Joley sketched a complicated pattern in the air. At once silver symbols leapt to life, sparkling and fading away just as fast.
    “What did you see, Sarah?” Carol asked, her voice losing the teasing notes and becoming serious.
    “Because I didn’t like what I saw.”
    Carol had the gift of “sight” just as Sarah did. She was the eldest of her seven sisters.