Piety nodded numbly and asked, “ Can I see her?”

The doctor while professional allowed compassion to seep into her voice “She is unconscious and we are keeping her like that you can have a few minutes but she has to go to surgery immediately.”

Jack said quietly , “ Take a couple of minutes with her , I will be right here.” he gave Piety a quick pat on her hand that made her look up and lock eyes with him. She felt for a brief second like a pressure on her leg and fur under her hand. a calm and peaceful feel came to her. Jack felt the shift of his wolf pouring out pack energy to Piety letting her know that he was there to protect and for solace. This surprised Jack, his wolf had never reached out to any woman he had been with in any other situation before. He watched Piety get up and give him the briefest of smiles before leaving the waiting area.

Piety followed the doctor and she saw Glenda on the transfer gurney, the IV drip going and her head bandaged. Piety wanted to touch the old woman's cheek and reassure her that she was there , but with purple and reddish bruising on the left side of her face.  she hesitated. Instead Piety took Glenda's hand and said, “Glenda you better get better. I can’t deal with the weirdness alone. I need you lady.” 

“It is about time you know who you are.” Said a voice behind Piety.  Turning Piety saw a woman leaning on her cane, flanked by a younger woman. Piety  saw this was Mrs. Cho. The woman was roughly Piety’s height and her hair while still mostly black had a streak of white at her crown. It was cut in a fashionable wedge that framed her face and her eyes quick and intelligent. H Piety knew this woman as the owner of the Chinese and Korean food buffet that she would order take out from. "There had always been extra egg rolls." Piety mused and she wondered if that had been, just because Aunt Charity had been some mucky muck in a coven. Jack had told her that Cho also owned a laundromat, apartment buildings and other ventures all distributed through the Mexico and Oswego area her family to manage.

“ I didn’t think Glenda was going to be able to have open visitation?” Piety said flatly . noticing a taller younger version of Mrs. Cho  taking a position behind the Korean woman.

“She isn’t, we used a glamour, I had to lay eyes on her in order to call for a meeting. We can not have her position unattended.” The older woman said this as dispassionately as discussing the weather.

Piety’s mouth opened and closed and with some anger she said, “Wow talk about being like a buzzard on a gut truck. Glenda won’t die, she just needs surgery and recovery time.”

Cho brushed the insult aside as inconsequential, “You have your genetics and maybe some talent, but you are no witch. We have something murdering people and a duty to stop it. Glenda cannot do her responsibility , then it must be dealt with. I don't expect an outsider to understand.”

“Well you and Silent Bob can get the fuck out of here.” She saw the reference went over Cho’s head and her companion who looked like a taller thinner version of herself with long dark hair in a ponytail smirked but not quite laugh.

“Such language, maybe your mother was right to turn her back on her heritage. Many cannot discipline their mind to learn the craft to any sort of mastery even if they start young. At your age you might turn a tarot card or see an apparition, but you are not going to be a fully recognized witch to concern yourself in coven matters.” She made a flick of her hand to illustrate just how small of a matter Piety was.

“Well la dee fucking da’ Piety retorted, “Get out! I don’t care about this world of the weird bullshit, but Glenda does. She will get better, and she will then deal with you...you  sawed off old bag. Go on, get out.” and with that retort, the lights blinked and the IV stand quivered and fell. Monitors went off and nurses rushed in.

Cho stood her ground but the younger woman touched her arm, “Come along grandmother there is no sense in upsetting Piety further.”

Piety stood shaking, anger washed over her in waves as she saw the glitter in the old woman’s eyes calculation and mercenary. She suddenly hated the woman for her unabashed dismissal. A nurse gently asked Piety to leave for a while they tidied the room and transferred Glenda to the surgery and then ICU. In a mental fog, she found Jack at her side . 

He said quietly “let’s get out of here for a little bit, the hospital cafeteria is closed but a drive through is open” and he maneuvering her to his truck. It was late and cold with the stars showing. The city of Oswego had a hospital and the light pollution was not so bad. Piety got into the truck and crossed her arms wishing she had worn a coat. Awkward silence settled in the cab as Jack drove then suddenly he said, “I never saw Cho, but I scented that she was there. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Glenda will get better and fuck that old bitch up.”

He laughed and said, “You are so much like Charity, she told you, exactly what she thought too.”

“You knew her?”

“I knew her as a pack member and once was loaned to her to help her figure out where some missing kids went. She needed a nose and some muscle , she was tough, fair and could swear enough make a sailor blush.”

“What happened?”

“Too?” he asked as he drove.

“The kids , what happened to the kids?”

He pulled in the McDonald's and said, “ You want anything?”

“Maybe a coke, I am not hungry.”

He ordered , “ I need an extra-large big mac meal, two quarter pounders with cheese , two apple pies and an extra coke medium.” He got his total and Piety said, “ I told you I wasn’t hungry.”

“I know but werewolves are always hungry it’s our metabolism.”

“I guess I won’t have to worry about you getting fat then.”

“Nope there are no fat werewolves.” He grinned

She took the bags and drink carrier and he pulled into a parking space to eat. He gleefully at the pies first saying, “ Life is uncertain, eat dessert first!”

Piety smiled and asked, “So what happened to the kids.”

His mood turned somber and he sipped his coke, “We found them. It had been not good. Piety had caught on the abnormally high autism rates in upper New York were actually changelings.”

“As in fairy babies swapped for human children?”

“Yes, you know about them?”

“Only from a mythology class in college.”

“We figured it out once I knew what the smell of Fey was. The trick was to find a changeling before it figured out how to smell human.

The queen denied all knowledge of the swaps, even though it’s rumored that they have had no births of their own in 100 years. What children that were young enough to be returned were given back, but roughly 15 had to stay in the fairy lands. They were too old and too magical to go home. It was a sad affair.”

“So, some of the parents never got back their actual kids?” She said it sadly and with disbelief. “The Fairies just get to do that?”

“No, they didn’t. Your aunt took it out of them in pain and blood. Piety it’s why your family has kept the supernatural community in line since before there was a United States of America. Someone has to draw a line in the sand and say that there are consequences.”

Piety looked at him as he tore into the next burger, she couldn’t imagine her aunt who saved spiders to set them free outside, that bottle fed abandoned kittens as a metaphysical sheriff that exacted vengeance on child snatching fairies.

Jack ate the last apple pie and noticed Piety staring at him he said, “ Whaat?”

Piety considered a moment and said , “ I barely know you . Yet you’re here and I was a total shit to you.”

“I’m a cop." he said shrugging, " People are total shits to me all day long.” He said taking a long pull off his coke. He smiled at her and he liked how his eyes crinkled a bit. Just how old was he? She felt very tired and said, “ I want to check in on Glenda again.”

He nodded and they went back to the hospital.  It was going to be a long night.