Mom sat next to me in the dark kitchen and sipped her tea with a slight frown between her eyebrows. I reflexively rubbed the line between my own in sympathy while Sassafras lapped at a cold bowl of cream, amber eyes flickering back and forth from my mother to me.
We'd wrapped up our little tour of North American witchdom with the Hensley family. Rather than go back to Harvard with Varity and the Council members, Mom opted to stay put and share a cup with me while the quiet house settled around us. The kids were still at Harvard with Dad, since it was a school night. I'd intended to visit but wasn't sure I wanted to burden them with the way I was feeling just now, not to mention I'd have to wake them at this late hour. Though I was more and more an absentee Mom than an actual parent these
