“Penryn? Who are you talking to?” My mother sounds almost frantic now.“Just my own personal demon, Mom. Don’t worry. He’s just a little weakling.”Weak or not, we both know he could have killed me if that’s what he wanted. I won’t give him the satisfaction of knowing I was scared, though.“Oh.” She sounds calm suddenly, as if that explained everything. “Okay. Don’t underestimate them. And don’t make them promises you can’t keep.” I can tell by her fading voice as she says this that she’s reassured and walking away.The baffled look the angel shoots at the door makes me chuckle. He glances my way, giving me a you’re-weirder-than-your-mom look.”

“...."Penryn, who are you talking to?" My mother sounds almost frantic now."Just my own personal demon, Mom.Don't worry.He's just a little weakling."........"Oh." She sounds calm suddenly, as if that explains everything....”

“I heard you talking about the Night Angel,” she said. “Kylar Stern.”“Mmm.”“I want you to know something,” she whispered into his ear, making him shiver. What the hell was she saying? “Kylar’s my brother. He’s coming for me,you dirty fucker, and if I don’t kill you, he will.”

“Stay put,” he said. “I don’t want you setting off any explosives that’ll get us both killed.”“Let me go with you.”“I don’t want you getting hurt, Red.”There was something about the sound of his voice that gave her pause. “Don’t tell me you care.”He ruffled her hair as though she were four instead of twenty-five. “All right, I won’t. Just stay put.”

“How, I asked, could I have gone my whole life not knowing about my mother? How could I have not known what Keith knew when he saw our house? “It’s your mom,” Helder said. “Because it’s Mom.” He sounded firm and knowing and clear. “When a child has an alcoholic father, he sees him drink all day long but he doesn’t have a label, a concept. You just know that at night, when the tires make a certain sound in the driveway and the doors slam a certain way, with a certain sound, you just know you need to hide.”

“Otter says nothing and as I turn to look at him, he’s watching me, that gold-green shining with that regard that always leaves me breathless. I don’t know what he’s thinking right now. I don’t think I want to know. Are you sure? the voice in my head asks. Are you absolutely sure you don’t want to know?]”