Just when I thought I might explode from the stress, the silence was broken.

“Trisha,” Dan called.

I shot up off the step and bolted for the kitchen. He didn’t say anything, just kept working on the dishes. Why wasn’t he saying anything?

“Here,” I said after a moment of silence.

“Okay,” Dan said. Really? Just like that? “I can’t go right now, I can’t get away from work. You and Nina should have a great time once you get things settled. Maybe the two of you could spend an extra day going to a play or something.”

“What?” It just came out. Nina could not come. That could be bad on so many levels. “Nina’s coming?”

Dan finished drying his hands and threw his towel down on the counter. “We can’t let you run off to Chicago by yourself, especially if we don’t know this family of yours. You’ve never asked us for anything like this before, so I assume it’s important, that’s the only reason I’m going along with it in the first place. Nina is always talking about going to Chicago to visit her sister but things haven’t really worked out.” He smiled in her direction. “I guess that just changed.”

Nina walked over and gave me a half squeeze. “This will be so much fun, Trish. Summer would have been nicer but this is fine. My sister is stationed just north of Chicago, once we’re done with your family, I’ll finally get to introduce you to mine.” Her smile was so big it almost made my heart crumble.

That was so not going to happen. As soon as I hit Chicago, I was getting the Martans out of there. Nina had brought up my Aunt Wren many times, but I hadn’t met her yet. No doubt Nina was thinking this would be some kind of family bonding thing. Shoot.

“I have to go alone.”

“Not going to happen, Trisha. We are glad to show you how much we love you by doing this, but you aren’t doing it alone.”

My shoulders slumped and I rested my forehead in the palm of my hand. Now what? I absolutely had to go. I was just going to have to try to keep Nina in the dark when I got her there. And keep her from calling her sister. “Fine.”

“When would you like to leave?” Nina asked. “My weekends are pretty free.”

“Actually, I need to go now. Everyone is together this weekend. If I want to meet everyone I need to leave ASAP.” That was true. If I didn’t leave now there was a chance they would all be dead.

Dan and Nina gave each other the look again.

“It is Saturday,” Nina said. She looked at Dan with a hint of pleading.

Dan turned and leaned his hip against the counter, crossing his arms and staring me down. I did my best to keep my face all innocent. Not easy when I was as guilty as sin at the moment.

“Fine,” he finally said. “I’ll see about tickets, you two pack.” Grabbing his briefcase off the floor by the counter, Dan shooed me toward the stairs and pulled his laptop out.

There wasn’t much I needed to pack, just a couple changes of clothes. I grabbed my phone charger and just about threw it in the bag. Habit. Not like I had anything to plug it in to right now.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

My bag zipped easily, not much in it. I’d always been a light traveler, something my days on the road with my mom had taught me. I dragged the bag off my purple comforter and headed for my bedroom door.

Nina was all ready to go. I could see her over the railing, pulling her suitcase out of her room. She looked so happy, like the two of us were going on a fun trip together. No doubt she thought I was having some parentage crisis or something, not that we were going to help a family move before they all got killed. And she thought she was going to get to see her sister.

A pang hit me, square in the gut. What was I getting her into? But I didn’t have a choice. It was this or betray Jaden and his family. I didn’t have time to argue with Dan and try to go by myself. Not like I was ever going to be able to change his mind anyway. In a way, I was doing this for our family. I couldn’t just turn Jaden in without helping his family, but I had to turn him in so I could stay here. And if he were to tell on me if the others captured him without my help, I had no doubt whose family Starren would be after next.

“Plane leaves in two hours and thirty six minutes. We better get a move on it,” Dan yelled up the stairs.

Nina said something to him quietly. I strained to hear. “I know, but thank you. I feel like this could be the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for. A chance to show her how much we care.”

Breakthrough? She had no idea. “Stay in public areas,” Dan answered.

“It’s not like her family is going to murder us, Dan. Do you think she’ll try to stay with them?” Try to stay with my fae family? Not likely. So opposite of the truth. I was doing all this to stay with my human family. Family? That was a weird thought. I peeked over the railing at my foster parents for a second. Yeah, definitely family.

“They won’t be able to murder you for sure if you stick in public areas. Make them meet you.” He reached forward and rubbed her arms. I ducked back behind the stairs even more, afraid one of them would glance up and see me. “And I don’t think she’ll want to stay with them. Even with all the problems we’ve had, I get the feeling she likes it here.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t want to get their names from her and do a little digging before you let us go.”

“I thought about it. But I want her to be able to trust us with anything. I think this is a great step in the right direction. And you’ll have Wren to help you if you need her. We both know what she’s capable of. If you don’t like the family, you won’t have to be around them long.”

I almost snorted, catching myself just in time. She was going to be spending a lot of time with them, cooped up in a mini-van if everything went well.

“If she meets her family and they aren’t what she’s expecting, maybe it will put a stop to all this sneaking around. Best-case scenario they don’t even show up. It’s worth a try. If we don’t get it handled, she’s going to get taken away from us. Or worse, leave and not come back. Get it out of her system, get her home. We can all relax then.”

“I hope you’re right,” Nina murmured.

“I usually am.”

I took that as my cue and jerked on my bag, letting it clump down the stairs after me. Dan was hugging Nina when I made it to the lower level. They were so grossly cute.

“All ready?” Dan asked.

I nodded.

“Good. Load up. I’ll drop you off on the way to work.”

I headed for the garage, threw my bag in the trunk and waited for Nina to do the same. She wiggled hers in next to mine and stepped back, giving me room to shut the trunk. “Thanks, Nina.”

She reached around and gave me a half hug. “Of course, Trish. I hope you’ll explain a little better what’s up while we’re on the way.”

Yeah, I’d figure something out. I could be mostly honest, just not with the why someone was after Jaden thing. I pulled free just as Dan walked out. He locked the house behind him. We all piled into our respective seats and we were off.

Traffic was pretty good for a Saturday morning. We moved along quickly, soon signs for Dulles International Airport were flashing by.

“Here, Honey,” Dan said, passing Nina a couple papers. “I printed off your tickets.”

I stuck my head up between the two front seats, straining against my seatbelt. “How long is the flight?”

Nina flipped the paper over in her hand and squinted at it for a second. “Two hours and seventeen minutes.”

“Two hours?” What time was it now? I leaned to see around Dan’s shoulder. Eight forty five. “When does the flight leave?”

“Ten fifteen,” Dan answered.

Ten fifteen, plus two and a half hours, twelve forty five? What if Jaime was done with dialysis and we weren’t there yet? I took a breath. An hour time difference. That would help. We would be to their house by one or so. It was going to be okay, it’d be fine. Because if it wasn’t…

I couldn’t even complete that thought.