Rhea stood in the living room, looking at the mess of food on the coffee table. She sighed as she walked over to the stairs. She had to get to work. “Levi!”

“Yeah?” Levi appeared in his bedroom doorway, leaning on one crutch, Brian’s head poking out the doorway in curiosity. A tan cat dashed out of his room towards the guest room. Levi twisted to look at it and called out. “Come back Ozy.”

“Make sure you clean up the living room before you go to bed.”

“Okay.” He turned to head back into his room.

“I better see the brace on your arm when I get back home, or so help me I’m going to tape it to you!” Rhea heard the usual teen groan of refusal. “I mean it, Levi.” She walked over to get her purse and keys. “And don’t you dare make Michael clean it up.”

A half-awake Michael asked as he came down the stairs. “What about me?”

“The living room is Levi’s mess to clean up.” Michael yawned, his words coming out garbled, and Rhea laughed. “Try that in English next.”

Michael rubbed at his eyes before stooping to pick up his cat when it bumped up against his leg. “I said okay. Want me to order them dinner?” He started scratching at the cat’s chin.

“If you’re okay with it. Make sure you get enough. Levi has a hollow pit somewhere on his body to fill.”

Michael and the cat startled at the shout from Levi’s room. “I do not!”

Rhea didn’t miss a beat as she yelled back. “Stop eavesdropping; it’s rude! Don’t forget about your doctor’s visit today!”

“Has he always been able to hear that well?”

“Yes.” Rhea reached out to pet the cat behind the ears. “And it was a pain trying to keep him from snooping while me and Andrew talked Christmas. I miss Arnan, he went missing after Andrew passed away. We had to give up finding him when we moved out here.” She moved to dig through her purse. “Anyways, here’s an extra twenty.” Michael started to protest. “Trust me, you’re going to need it. There are three teens up there and two more showing up soon. So if in doubt, order more.”

He took the twenty, and Rhea was almost out the door when she paused and looked at Michael. “Make sure he’s safe. I know he’s mad at you, but he’s not mad enough to not listen if there is trouble. He doesn’t hate you. If he did, he wouldn’t have acknowledged you the whole time you’ve been here.”

Michael nodded as he caught the screen door from swinging shut. Ozy quickly squeezed past Michael to get outside. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. God knows how long I didn’t like him the first few years I met him.” He fought to scratch the burn mark along his jawline. “He’ll be fine.”

Rhea stopped outside the door on the porch and shivered a little. She missed the cold weather. Then, turning, she pointed at the door. “My coat.” Michael grabbed her coat and passed it to her. “I’ll be home late. There was a large order for Halloween. We need to make sure we have enough supplies, and the client is coming in to go over designs.”

“What about Levi’s doctor appointment?”

“Can you take him? We didn’t expect this order to come out of the blue like this.”

“And Brian and Drystan?”

“They wanted to come. Came at eight in the morning and woke Levi up.” She turned to leave. “It’s at two. Just make sure he gets there and doesn’t talk the doctor into getting out of a cane.”

Michael watched as Rhea drove away, and before he walked into the house, he traced something on the door frame. When the door closed, the spot glowed before vanishing.

0

Michael walked through the living room into the kitchen. He snagged the keys on the kitchen table before walking over to a door off the kitchen. Reaching out, he knocked on the partially opened door and looked in. The room had originally been a mudroom that connected to the porch. Rhea’s father had boarded up the old doorway. He converted the space into an office/guest room around the same time Michael and Levi had come into the family. “Cain.”

A low grumble from a pull-out cot had him sighing with an exasperated smile. The cot creaked as Cain rolled, and Michael waited. Cain let out a shout, and his body crashed to the floor. “So.”

Cain looked up with a glare. “Not a word.” This wasn’t the first time Cain had fallen off the cot. The first few nights, he slept on the couch, not wanting to face that surprise every time. Finally, he had to stop because he was too much of a light sleeper, and Rhea was an early riser.

“How many times did you fall out of the bed?” Michael cackled as he ducked out of the way of the pillow.

“You're sleeping on the cot tonight. I get the bed!”

Michael leaned around the door jamb. “I’m too tall for the cot.”

“Fight me.”

“Awe, did Cain get used to someone making sure he didn’t roll out of bed. Should I call them?” He yelped when cold water splashed him in the face. Michael rubbed at his face and gave Cain a large grin.

Cain was still glaring at him. He turned his glare on the bed, “I should burn it.”

“You do that, and mom won’t be happy.” Michael and Cain flinched at the sound of Levi’s voice near them. They looked over to find him leaning on one crutch, watching them. “You wouldn’t want to miss out on brownies.”

Cain sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine.”

Michael let out a snort of laughter, causing Cain to glare at him. “Your sweet tooth will kill you someday.”

“Something has to.”

Levi hummed and squeezed past Michael to make his way over to an old desk.  He leaned over and, balancing on his good leg, yanked a drawer open to pull out his arm brace. “If mom finds out about this place, I’ll know it was one of you.” Michael turned to look at Cain, who had flopped onto the creaky cot.

Cain looked at the cot with a grumble. “I hate this thing.”

Michael stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. Gray eyes quickly focused on Michael when the smell of ozone and campfire reached him. “There are two teen wolves in this house,” Cain rolled his eyes at Michael’s words. “But I need you to stay here and watch the house.”

“What about that tip from Kevin you wanted me to look into?”

“I need someone here.” Michael tapped his fingers against the door. “I put a ward up. But they can only do so much. Ozy is out and about gathering information.”

Cain gave a nod. “So, what am I doing?”

“Watch the house. Someone is bound to do something stupid. Besides, a fox told me that Levi might just be one of many. Young teens like him have been going missing in the last year.”

Cain frowned. He pressed his fingers to his forehead. “I feel like I’ve had this conversation before.”

“No use trying to force it. They’ll come back on their own.”

“I know, but it feels important.”

Michael watched as Cain reached over to his travel bag and pulled a bottle of pain pills out. “It’s been nine years. You’ve managed to gain some things back memory wise.”

Cain rocked his hand back and forth in a so-so motion as he tossed back some pain pills. “Nothing important. Watching the house?”

A frown pulled at Michael’s lips from the apparent topic change. “Yes. If you can catch them, take them to Kevin.” He caught the bored look on Cain’s face. “Do everything to make them talk?” Michael watched as a grin slowly appeared on his face. 

“Gladly.”

With a tilt of his lips, Michael opened the door, the smell of magic disappearing. “Good talk. See you tonight.” He walked into the living room to find three teens waiting for him. “Well, let’s find out if Levi gets the cast off or not.”