I braced myself and waited for the volley of insults that always followed after the hellos were out of the way. I felt the energy coming off her, the smell of sulfur, and knew where she’d been.

This could get very ugly if I’m not careful. It had been some time since I’d had a meet with mom to have her cast, and with Ryder in the wind, most of her efforts had been on keeping him under some semblance of control even from a distance, although we had no idea if it was working or ...