Beside me, Oliver burst out laughing. He clearly didn’t care if anybody heard.
“Who was that?” Sami demanded, straightening. “That wasn’t Redmond, was it? I still owe him ... although I wouldn’t mind a peek if he’s there.” Sami’s hormones were legendary, as was her seemingly quick bond with the oldest Grimlock child. He’d fed into her crush, puffing out his chest at every turn, and Sami still asked about him weeks after she’d left town with her parents.
“That was Oliver,” Paris replied. “I’m at work.”
“Oh.” Sami’s disappointment was evident. “He’s hot, but not like Redmond hot.”
“Well, I’m sure he’ll be disturbed to hear that.”
“I’m crying,” Oliver agreed. “She’s broken my heart.”
“He doesn’t sound like he’s crying,” Sami said. “Anyway, can you believe that? They’re ruining my party.”
“Well, I’m willing to bet that they’ve agreed to chaperone because they feel it’s the safest thing for you.” Paris used her most practical tone. “Is it really that big a deal? I mean ... can’t you just ignore them?”
“Have you seen them around a bonfire? My mother will eat fifteen s’mores and then my father will make jokes about her sugar buzz. Then they’ll start making out.” Sami slapped her hand to her forehead. “My life is over.”
“It is,” a female voice agreed from behind Sami. “You’re clearly done living. I think you should just quit now and let your father start buying you dolls again. That will make him happy.”
I grinned when Sami’s mother, Zoe Lake-Winters, appeared on the screen. She leaned over her daughter’s shoulder, ignoring the faces Sami made, and smiled at Paris. “What’s up?”
“Hi.” Paris waved at her friend. “I was hoping to talk to you. I planned to call you later, but Heath and I want to go up there in a few weeks for a long weekend. If you don’t want the baby at your house, we can get a hotel. I wanted to check with you first.”
“Of course we want the baby at the house,” Sami shot back. “He’s cute.”
“Don’t be so hasty,” Zoe cautioned, her expression grave. “How many diapers does he go through a day?” she asked. “I mean ... I know he’s your kid and everything, Paris, but I prefer the little ones who can crap in a toilet and don’t need help wiping their bottoms.”
“He’s not even two,” Paris reminded her friend. “He’s still in diapers.”
“Uh-huh. How much is he crying these days?”
Paris rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get a hotel room.”
“Oh, you’re like zero fun,” Zoe groused. “You guys can stay here. The guest room is on the other side of the house. We won’t hear him cry. Sami will, but she thinks babies are cute. This will be a good way for her to realize how much it sucks when they wake you in the middle of the night.”
“Just for that, I’m going to have ten babies,” Sami snapped. “I’m going to make you and Dad watch them. I’m going to drop them off for weekends, just like you do to Grandma and Grandpa with me.”
Zoe’s expression remained impassive. “Good luck finding us if you have ten babies. We’re going to pretend we don’t know you.”
“I just ... hate you so much,” Sami groused, her lower lip jutting out. “I don’t want you to chaperone my bonfire party.”
“Well, it’s already done.” Zoe refused to back down. As far as I could tell, she was never moved by her daughter’s social plight. She found the whining of middle schoolers funny, and I couldn’t really blame her. “We can’t back out now. The other parents will gossip about us.”
Sami’s eyes went wide. “The other parents already gossip about you. They say you’re horny all the time. Do you know how embarrassing that is?”
“For the other parents who are never horny? I’m guessing it’s pretty embarrassing.” Zoe put her hands under Sami’s arms and lifted her from the chair. “Now, if you’re done complaining, I have to talk to Paris.”
“I’m nowhere near done,” Sami spat. “I mean ... nowhere near done. Nobody has felt sorry for me at all.”
“Get used to adult life.” Zoe was firm as she gave Sami a little push. “Go find something to do, play or something. I need to talk to Paris and Izzy.”
Sami was outraged. “I don’t play. I’m a teenager.”
“Well, then shave your pits or upper lip. I don’t care which. Just find something to do.”
Sami’s mouth dropped open. “I can’t believe you just said that!” She made disgruntled noises and stomped her feet as she escaped her mother. After a few seconds, I heard her again, a decent distance from the computer. “I hope you get early onset menopause!”
“Me too,” Zoe fired back. “Then I won’t have to worry about birth control when your father is feeling frisky with the s’mores.” As if remembering she had an audience, she was all smiles when she turned back to the computer. “So what’s up with the revenants?”
The fact that she could rebound that fast after such a tense conversation had me marveling.
“We’re exactly where we were when you guys were here,” Paris replied, sobering. “Nothing has changed. We’re still conducting research to see if we can find a revenant book, something like the Archimage. It’s slow going.”
“And the gates?” Zoe asked. “Have any more popped up?”
I shook my head as I rolled my chair over to join Paris at the computer. “No, but I don’t know how diligently we’ve been looking. After we destroyed the other gates ... well ... it’s been a mess. The Reaper Council is in upheaval. Cormack isn’t certain who he can trust. He’s asked us to be careful and keep the fact that we’re looking for gates to ourselves.”
“I don’t blame him.” Zoe was grim. “I was hoping you’d have more information. We were out of contact a bit when we were in Savannah, so I guess I was just hoping things would’ve miraculously improved for you.”
I held out my hands and shrugged. “Sorry. We’ve got nothing.”
“How was your trip to Savannah?” Paris asked. “All Sami would say was that there were a lot of hot guys, and weird people in robes trying to kill everybody.”
“A cult,” Zoe corrected. “They were in contact with leviathan from another plane. They had a gate, too, but it wasn’t the same sort of gate you guys have been dealing with. I don’t know how they differ ... just that they are different. That doesn’t necessarily mean the two things aren’t connected.”
“Really?” Intrigued, I leaned forward. “What happened to the leviathan?”
“We killed the ones we could and then closed the gate,” Zoe replied. “I didn’t see what else we could do.”
“They’re obviously still out there.” I wanted to know what their interaction with the leviathan meant for us, if anything. “I’ll add that to Cillian’s research list. It might be nothing.”