The moment the cop left, Amanda turned back to her daughter. She took a seat beside her and gently asked, “What do you mean you saw it in his head? You were mindwalking?”

  It was a guess but Amanda had already felt what she’d though was Katrina playing around with mind magic another day.

  Katrina nodded.

  Amanda gave her a moment to elaborate.

  “I just... I went to find Aunt Cat to get some more dreamwalking but she wasn’t at her garage and nobody knew where she was, but I’m pretty good with locator spells now so I used one of those and I found her parked up outside this guy’s house.”

  Katrina went quiet for a few seconds so Amanda prodded gently, “And then what happened?”

  “I asked her what she was doing and she told me that she was getting evidence that he’d killed his kid.”

  “Why would she think he did that?”

  “I don’t know but I know she wasn’t wrong.”

  Amanda’s eye’s narrowed.

  Katrina scrambled to explain. “He beats up his kids... and... and worse...” she trailed off. She pulled her arms in close and shrunk in on herself.

  “What do you mean worse?” Amanda studied her daughter’s face.

  Katrina closed her eyes tight and hugged herself. When she opened them she said, “I saw it in his head and theirs sort of. It’s like...” Katrina struggled for the words.

  Amanda reached out to comfort her. “Like you were there? Like you were them?” She knew what mindwalking could be like, how easy it was to lose oneself in another mind.

  Katrina pulled away. “No... I mean maybe sort of... I didn’t see it so much form their perspective, just their parents fighting. But when I was in his head it’s like I was him, like I was...”

  Amanda wanted nothing more than to hug her daughter but Katrina obviously didn’t want that right now. Perhaps if she kept talking about it or about other things related to it. If she she shared everything that had happened then maybe it would help her feel better.

  Amanda took the questioning a step back, hoping it would reground Katrina a little. “Where did you get the mindwalking?”

  Katrina hesitated and looked so sad and guilty that Amanda felt horrible for asking. But she knew she had to get the whole story out. To make things a little easier she said, “You’re not in trouble. I’m just trying to get an understanding of everything that happened.”

  “It was Ally’s. Lily’s friend. At the sleepover. She told me how to use it and I was being careful I swear.”

  Amanda nodded and held up a hand to slow her down. “Ally? And this guys daughter was there too right? Perri? Nolan Perninski was the guy who barged in and wanted to take her home is that right?”

  Katrina nodded. “Ally said he hurts her... but she didn’t say about the other stuff.”

  “Sexual assault?” Amanda clarified knowing a direct answer was needed but guessing that Katrina was having trouble saying it.

  Katrina nodded. “I didn’t find out about that until that day at his house.”

  “Okay, so you went to get dreamwalking magic and Cat was just sitting outside his house, just watching?”

  Katrina nodded again. “Yeah, and I told her what I knew, and what I’d seen in Perri’s head one day and in Lily’s too.”

  “In Lily’s?”

  “She saw burn marks on Perri’s arms, like from a cigarette.”

  “Okay, so you told Cat all that and then what?”

  “Then I said maybe I could mindwalk him too and get proof that he killed his other daughter, like if I could find a memory of hidden evidence or something.”

  “And you tried that from outside his house?”

  “Well, no. I knew I couldn’t do it from that far away so I pretended like I was lost and needed to borrow a phone.”

  Amanda’s eyes narrowed. “You went inside the house by yourself? And your aunt let you?”

  “She was right outside,” Katrina protested.

  Amanda didn’t push it. She knew Katrina idolised her aunt. “So then what happened?”

  “Well, I tried mindwalking while I was borrowing his phone, just pretending to talk to you.”

  “You did both of those things at the same time?” Amanda had her doubts there. Katrina had proved herself skilled at magic but she was still new to mindwalking and pulling off that sort of magic while having a fake conversation was certainly not novice stuff.

  Katrina shook her head slightly. “Well, I mostly started a fake conversation and then just pretended like I was listening when I did the mindwalking bit.”

  “He stayed nearby?”

  “Mostly, I mean, I think so.”

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Amanda could guess what happened. “He noticed you were mindwalking him.”

  “I don’t know. I think he was suspicious so I asked to use his bathroom. I figured, inside would be close enough and I could focus better. I don’t think he knew what I was doing or noticed I was in his head but I think maybe I spaced out for a bit. And then while I was in the bathroom I found the memory where he killed her. It was an accident sort of but also not really. He tripped her up because she was annoying him, all because she was in the way of the TV for just a second and then he tripped her into the coffee table and she didn’t get up again. Then I got sort of stuck in another memory. I kept living it over and over. I didn’t realise at the time but I remember after.”

  “How did you get out of it?”

  “Cat pulled me out. I called for help mentally I think. Maybe I sent a message right out to the car. And then she came in and got me and we left.”

  “You left?” Amanda queried, sensing that Katrina was leaving some stuff out. “Just like that?”

  “Yeah.” Katrina wouldn’t meet her eyes.

  “And Nolan was still alive? You saw that?”

  Katrina met her gaze but it was hesitant and unsure and her reply more a question than an answer. “Yeah?”

  Amanda raised her eyebrows. Gave her daughter a ‘really?’ look.

  Katrina folded. “Well, I don’t know. I mean when I next came to I was in her car and we were a few streets away. But she wouldn’t have hurt him... not unless it was to protect me... and it wasn’t that long and she wasn’t covered in blood or anything and she didn’t have any weapons.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Katrina nodded furiously. “Not even in the dash and I know cause I went through there looking for her lipstick.”

  “What about elsewhere in the car?”

  Katrina hesitated. Then she reiterated, “She wouldn’t have hurt him unless she had to.”

  That Amanda did believe. The problem was, with Cat, ‘had to’ covered a lot of scenarios.

  “Am I in trouble?” Katrina asked. Then before her mother could answer she added, “Is aunt Cat?”

  “I don’t know,” Amanda replied honestly. It didn’t sound great for Cat.

  Before Amanda could decide what to do, Bobby arrive home with older Lily and poked his head into the kitchen. “Dad’s back,” he said.

  “Your father’s home?” Amanda checked.

  Bobby nodded. “Ship’s in port. They’re still unloading. One of my mates saw.”

  Amanda nodded. Then she realised one of the kids was still missing. To Bobby she said, “Have you seen other Lily?”

  He nodded. “She went home with some of her friends.”

  Amanda frowned. “I’d prefer if they all came here.” There would come a point she knew, when it would be too dangerous to let Lily be alone with others, with those who didn’t know what she was, how much risk there was. Perhaps it was already at that point? And yet, Wolf’s testing had suggested they had a little longer yet. What was a few more days of letting her be a normal kid? Well, today was probably fine at least.

  “Well, I’ll try entice them back here next time,” Bobby replied with a good-natured smile.

  Amanda nodded. “Thank you.” He was a good kid. Always took everything in stride. Truth was she hoped she could solve Lily’s problem before anyone had to deal with it. She knew it wasn’t right to put that sort of expectation on Bobby or any of her other kids but it was better than someone younger and completely unprepared.

  In the meantime it seemed there was a new problem to be dealt with. Cat’s arrest. Sirius being back gave her an easy answer though. He’d have some idea for what to do about Cat. Sirius always had good ideas. Whenever she couldn’t think of something he could usually come up with another option. At the very least, she needed to tell him his sister had been arrested.

  Bobby and older Lily headed upstairs.

  Amanda turned to Katrina, who had been quietly sitting at the table. “Are you alright?” she asked.

  Katrina nodded. She did look a little better. Obviously worried about her aunt though.

  “I’m going to head into town. If any cops come by, don’t let them in. Just pretend to not be home if you can. If anything happens you give me a call. Don’t talk to anybody except your siblings.”

  Katrina nodded.

  “Good girl.”

  In a cell in the back of the local jailhouse, Cat lay on a hard bench, staring up at the plain white ceiling above her. She heard the loud thump thump thump of footsteps making their way along the corridor but she didn’t immediately look up. They weren’t the footsteps of anyone she recognised so it was probably just a cop come to poke the animals in the cages.

  She was right.

  “Hey hey hey, what’s this we have here? A pretty little kitty got caught in a cage?”

  Slowly she slid her eyes his way. Most cops weren’t bad guys, just idiots who thought they made the town better by enforcing stupid arbitrary rules like speeding limits all the while letting pricks like Nolan Perninski get away with murder. But every now and again there was one or two who joined up with the force just so they had an excuse to push people around. True brutes. This guy was one of them. The same guy who’d been about to rough her up when Kass had entered the interrogation room earlier.

  She didn’t give him the dignity of an answer. She just returned her gaze to the ceiling.

  It didn’t put him off at all.

  “Poor kitty all alone now. No friends to play with. No one to believe you. Even your lawyer friend didn’t take your case. Guess she don’t think it winnable either.”

  Cat didn’t reply. She figured he was probably just lying to try and get a rise out of her.

  His tone changed somewhat. Got sweeter and all sickly like. “You know, you come over here and be a good girl maybe I could be your friend.”

  Cat considered it. Considered getting him to drop his trousers and giving him a hard bite where he wouldn’t forget it. She didn’t really want that thing anywhere near her mouth though. But perhaps a hard grope would do the trick. She sat up and took some satisfaction in the sick smile that crossed his face, knowing she’d be wiping that off him in a second.

  She never got her chance though. Another cop joined them.

  “Oi, Alaric, what are you mucking about doing? You’re supposed to be bringing the prisoner to the interrogation room.”

  Alric grumbled something about ‘getting there,’ then he unlocked Cat’s cell.

  Cat stood up, readying herself for whatever was coming.

  Alaric dared not try anything too questionable with his partner watching but he did roughly force Cat’s hands behind her back and into cuffs before giving her a hard push in the direction of the interrogation room.

  For once Cat didn’t fight back. She knew he’d just use it as an excuse to be a little rougher in reply.

  When they reached the interrogation room, a lady in posh office attire was waiting for them. She was tall, blonde, and thin. On her nose perched a pair of dark rimmed glasses.

  “Who are you?” Cat asked as she was shoved roughly in the direction of the suspect chair.

  With barely a glance up from the notes before her, the woman replied in a confident tone and strict tone, “I’m Patricia Golding. I’ll be your lawyer.”

  “Where’s Kass?”

  “Assigned to a different case.”

  Cat scowled. So the cop had been telling the truth.

  The cops left her alone with the lawyer.

  “There is quite a bit of evidence against you,” Patricia told her. “It’s in your best interest in this case to tell me everything and to cooperate with the police as much as possible. If the act was in self defense that’s an angle we can work, or if it was to protect another, the law does have some leeway there.”

  Cat didn’t trust her. She crossed her arms and glared, refusing to answer any questions this new woman asked. Eventually the woman gave up and the cops returned to give it a try with the lawyer still present.

  The cops sat down at the table opposite her. For several hours they grilled her until eventually Cat replied after a yawn, “Fine, I’ll confess.”

  Both cops breathed a sigh of relief. The lawyer, who appeared completely unflappable simply adjusted her glasses and reached for a pen.

  Cat motioned for Alric to lean in close. He did so. She put her lips right up by his ear and whispered, “I confess that you should go fuck yourself.”

  And then she bit him on the earlobe. Hard.