Midnight

"The damn note cards,"Meredith choked out. "The ones done by Obaasan. They’re useless, flawed. Al those bul ets she blessed should have been no good – but maybe she did bless them – as a game. Isobel even came to me and changed al the characters the old lady had done for the jars to hold Shinichi and Misao. She said that Obaasan was almost blind. She left a tear on my car seat. I couldn’t understand why she should be crying."

"I Stillcan’t. She’s the granddaughter – probably the third generation of a monster!"Matt exploded. "Why should she cry? And why do the Post-it Notes work?"

"Because they’re done by Isobel’s mother,"Mrs. Flowers said quietly. "Dear Matt, I truly doubt that the old woman is related to the Saitous at all. As a deity – or even a powerful magic-user named after a deity – and undoubtedly a kitsune herself, she surely just moved in with them and used them. Isobel’s mother and Isobel had no choice but to carry on the charade for fear of what she’d do to them if they didn’t."

"But Mrs. Flowers, when Tyrone and I pul ed that leg bone out of the thicket, didn’t you say that the Saitou women made such excel ent amulets? And didn’t you say that we could get the Saitou women to help translate the words on the clay jars when Alaric sent the pictures of them from that Japanese Island?"

As for my belief in the Saitou women, Well, I’l have to quibble a little here,"Mrs. Flowers said. "I couldn’t know that this Obaasan was evil, and there are Stilltwo of them who are gentle and good, and who have helped us tremendously –

and at great risk to themselves."

Meredith could taste the bitterness of bile in her mouth.

"Isobel could have saved us. She could have said ‘My fake grandmother is real y a demon.’"

"Oh, my dear Meredith, the young are so unforgiving. This Inari was probably instal ed in her house when she was a child. Al she knows at first is that the old woman is a tyrant, with a god’s name. Then perhaps some demonstration of power – what happened to Orime’s husband, I wonder, to make him go back to Japan – if indeed he went there? He may well be dead. And then Isobel is growing up: shy, quiet, introverted – frightened. This is not Japan; there are no other priestesses here to confide in. And you saw the consequences when Isobel reached out to someone outside of the family – to her boyfriend, Jim Bryce."

"And to us – Well, to you and Bonnie,"Matt said to Meredith.

"She sicced Caroline on you."

Scarcely knowing what they were doing, they were talking faster and faster.

"We have to go there right now,"said Meredith. "Shinichi and Misao may be the ones bringing on the Last Midnight, but it’s Inari who gives the orders. And who knows? She may dole out the punishments as well. We don’t know how big her star bal is."

"Or where,"said the old woman.

"Mrs. Flowers,"Matt said hastily, "you’d better stay here with the kids. Ava, here, is reliable, and where’s Jacob Lagherty?"

"Here,"said a boy who looked older than fifteen. He was as tal as Matt was, but gangly.

"Okay. Ava, Jake, you’re in charge under Mrs. Flowers. We’l leave Saber with you too."The dog was a big hit among the kids, on his best behavior, even when the younger ones chewed his tail. "You two just listen to Mrs. Flowers, and – "

"Matt, dear, I won’t be here. But the animals wil surely help to protect them."

Matt stared at her. Meredith knew what he was thinking. Was Mrs. Flowers, so reliable up until now, going somewhere to hide alone? Was she abandoning them?

"And I’l need one of you to drive me to the Saitou house –

quickly! – but the other can stay and protect the children as well."

Meredith was both relieved and worried, and clearly Matt was too.

"Mrs. Flowers, this is going to be a battle. You could get hurt or be taken hostage so easily – "

"Dear Matt, this is my battle. My family has lived in Fel ‘s Church for generations, al the way back to the pioneering times. I believe this is the battle for which I was born.

Certainly the last of my old age."

Meredith stared. In the dim light of the basement, Mrs.

Flowers seemed suddenly different somehow. Her voice was changing. Even her smal body seemed to be changing, steadying, standing tal .

"But how wil you fight?"Matt asked, sounding dazed.

"With this. That nice young man, Sage, left it for me with a note apologizing for using Misao’s star bal . I used to be quite good with these when I was young."From her capacious purse, Mrs. Flowers pul ed out something pale and long and thin as it unwound and Mrs. Flowers whirled it and snapped it with a loud crack at the empty half of the basement. It hit a Ping-Pong bal , curled around it, and brought it back to Mrs. Flowers’s open hand.

A bul whip. Made of some silvery material. Undoubtedly magical. Even Matt looked scared of it.

"Why don’t Ava and Jake teach the children to play Ping-Pong while we’re gone – and we real y must go, my dears.

There’s not a minute to waste. A terrible tragedy is coming, Ma ma says."

Meredith had been watching – feeling as dazed as Matt looked. But now she said, "I have a weapon too."She picked up the stave and said, "I’m fighting, Matt. Ava, the children are yours to care for."

"And mine,"Jacob said, and immediately proved his usefulness by adding, "Isn’t that an axe hanging back there near the furnace?"

Matt ran and snatched it up. Meredith could see from his expression what he was thinking: Yes! One heavy axe, a tiny bit rusty, but Stillplenty sharp enough. Now if the kitsune sent plants or wood against them, he was armed.

Mrs. Flowers was already going up the basement stairs.