Ritual Magic

was your father who set that particular restriction, though. Is holding a family council a custom of yours? Will everyone vote on what to do?”
    That made her grin, albeit briefly. “You sound so appalled. No, this will not be an exercise in democracy. Dad always said, ‘You get to be heard. You do not get a vote.’ I guess I haven’t talked about our family council meetings. It’s been years since we did that. They were usually about where we’d go for vacation or if we should put in a pool—that one was a clear example of nondemocracy in action. We had a family council meeting once when Dad had been offered a really good job, but we’d have had to move to L.A. . . .” Her pleasure in the memory faded. “We never had one for something like this.”
    He took her hand again.
    After a moment she said, “Doctors don’t usually hold a conference with better than a half dozen family members.”
    “For that you may thank or blame your grandmother. Madame Yu informed him that he would do so. He’s probably still wondering how he ended up agreeing.”
    They’d reached the conference room, where Todd and Jacob stood watch. Lily’s aunt Mequi was just going in. The older woman stopped to frown at Lily. “I don’t like having these guards everywhere. They’re obtrusive. They don’t help.”
    Rule answered before Lily could. “The guards are my contribution. Do you wish to discuss their presence now, or can it wait until after the family council?”
    Mequi sniffed. “I suppose it can wait, but you need to send them away. It makes everyone very edgy to have them standing around watching like that.” She turned and went into the room.
    Rule was baffled. “The guards are supposed to make them feel safer.”
    Lily squeezed his hand and let go. “They didn’t know they weren’t safe until now. Come on. Let’s go in and get it over with.”

FIVE

    A S soon as they entered, Rule saw that his roster of who would attend had been incomplete. Julia’s two brothers-in-law had been added to the mix: Jim Chung, Mequi’s husband, and Feng Li Zhang, who was married to the pillowy Deborah. That filled every spot at the conference table save for two chairs waiting for him and Lily.
    Most of those present were talking with each other. Edward Yu was not. He sat at one end of the table, as silent and stiffly erect as his mother, who sat at his right. At the other end of the table was the one person who was not a family member, a tall, stoop-shouldered man in rimless glasses: Dr. Babbitt. The psychiatrist’s hair was thick and straight and gray, though his face was unlined. He smelled of baby lotion and hand sanitizer. Rule sat beside him.
    Lily seated herself and immediately leaned across Rule to hold out her hand. “Dr. Babbitt? I’m Lily Yu.”
    He looked surprised but shook her hand. “I’m glad to meet you, Ms. Yu, but very sorry for the circumstances.”
    Lily nodded gravely and released his hand. “This is my fiancé, Rule Turner.”
    “Yes, we met briefly.”
    Lily leaned back and met Rule’s eyes. She gave a tiny shake of her head to tell him she hadn’t found any magic on the man.
    Edward Yu spoke quietly. “We will begin now.” The other conversations drifted to a halt. “Thank you. I have two decisions to make. Please understand that they will be my decisions, but I value your opinions. First I wish to make sure we all have the same information. Lily, is there anything you can tell us?”
    Lily looked down at the notebook she’d set on the table, but she wasn’t consulting her notes; the notebook was closed. She spoke slowly. “Not yet. I mostly have negatives, and they aren’t confirmed.”
    Mequi’s husband frowned. Jim Chung was a solidly built man with a sweet tooth and a fondness for crossword puzzles. He earned a good income as a tax attorney. Lily said that her uncle Jim made up his mind about as fast as glaciers traveled, but once it was made up, he never changed it. “What does that mean, you have negatives?”
    “We’re fairly sure it wasn’t a potion, for one. And no,” she said when her uncle started to speak, “I am not going to go through the list of things we think it wasn’t.”
    Mequi spoke crisply. “You owe us more than that. It is clear that Julia was hurt because she is your mother. What other reason could there be? If we are in danger because of you—”
    Edward’s palm slapped the table hard. “Enough! We are not going to—”
    “She has a point,