The Reckoning by Teyla Branton Page A

with his kids and grabbed the bag that I’d packed earlier. My black bodysuit that I sometimes referred to as my catwoman outfit and the similar but heavier metamaterial suit were already inside, along with an extra change of jeans, two more shirts, and an assortment of weapons.
    Maybe it was the emotions brought on by Chris and Stella’s makeout session, or Ritter’s gift of the small knife, but now I tucked in a red dress that was both elegant and impervious to wrinkling. A girl had to hope for some downtime. I tried not to remember that red normally didn’t bring me luck; I liked the color and planned to change that. Pulling on my long leather jacket, I slipped my sai into their special pockets in the lining and strapped my machete around my waist. My nine mil was already in my holster and the backup pistol was in my boot near my ballistic knife.
    I felt fully dressed now and ready to face anything. Well, anything except my brother’s love life and Delia’s snake.
    On the main floor, I found Mari, Jace, Ava, Dimitri, and the kids in the dining area that was separated from the kitchen by a huge granite countertop where our cook Nina laid out breakfast each morning at six. We usually ate together every morning after training, but it was only a social thing and a link with our mortal employees rather than a necessity. Thankfully, the old woman used warmers—probably having learned that people who didn’t need food to survive wouldn’t eat if the meal wasn’t perfect. It was an arrogance I couldn’t see any way around, but Nina had taken it all in stride.
    I poured myself a cup of her rich, gourmet hot chocolate with plenty of fresh whipped cream.
    “Erin!” my twelve-year-old niece, Kathy, waved wildly from one side of the long table that was similar to the one in the conference room, though somewhat narrower. “Come over here. We’re talking to Great-grandma.” To the computer in front of her, she added, “Aunt Erin is here. She’s coming to say hi.”
    Kathy’s brother, Spencer, jumped up from the space next to her. “You can have my seat. I’m finished eating.” More like finished talking, I knew. He grabbed his plate and passed me on his way to put it into the dirty dish bin, grinning with satisfaction. He looked younger than ten, his freckled face still plump with baby fat, though the rest of him was mostly skin and bones. Both children were blond and had their mother’s blue eyes. For a long time, I’d seen Lorrie’s face every time I’d looked at Kathy, but that was happening less and less now that months separated us from her death.
    I sat down by Kathy, only to have my hand licked by Max, the family dog, who really belonged to Jace, but who, for some incomprehensible reason, loved me the most. I wiped my hand on a napkin. I wasn’t a dog person, but Max had once saved my life so I owed him.
    “Hey, Grandma,” I said to her face on the computer. Meredith Martin was almost eighty. Her cropped hair was white and her skin sported a myriad of wrinkles, but she was spry and her eyes bright.
    “Good morning, Erin.” The old woman smiled, and I felt a pang of nostalgia for the days when I had gone to her house just for the fun of talking to her. Before we had to worry about Emporium assassins.
    We exchanged a few pleasantries before I said, as I always did, “So, when are you coming here or going to live with Mom and Dad?” My parents were living under false identities in Oregon after the attempt on their lives, but short of throwing Grandma into a trunk and forcing her to leave Kansas City, there wasn’t anything we could do further to protect her. She liked meeting with her friends and walking down the streets where everyone knew her. She didn’t want to start over. Ava had said to give her time, that family would eventually take precedence. I was trying to be patient.
    “Well,” Grandma said, and I felt a sliver of hope, “I do miss all of you. I think that when I go for your wedding,