Gram was just releasing Meira as I stepped through into her wiry arms, forcefully pressed to her thin body while she shook and hugged me as if she'd never let me go. I clung to her just as hard, feeling the warmth of Sassafras as he wound himself around our feet.

I was jerked free of Gram's embrace and slammed bodily into Charlotte for half a second before she pushed me away from her and shook me so hard my teeth rattled together.

"Don't ever leave me again!" I had a ...