Page 60 of Eye on the Ball

“I … same right back at you,” Tess said.

“Don’t mind him,” Keely said, grabbing Justice’s hand. “He has … issues.”

Justice threw his head back and laughed, and then they moved into Rose’s room, and an older woman who looked like a hippie version of Rose walked gracefully down the hall toward us.

“Mrs. Cardinal,” I said.

“Jack! Lovely to meet you.” She turned to Tess. “And you. You delivered my granddaughter. I can never thank you enough.”

The older witch pulled Tess into a hug, shushing her protests. “I am one of the most powerful witches of my generation, child. Did you think I would let you see inside my future?”

Tess finally relaxed and hugged her back. “So nice to meet you, Mrs. Cardinal. I love your daughter.”

“Call me Sue, dear.”

“Sue? There’s a flower named Sue?”

“It’s a nickname, Jack.” She pulled back to look at Tess. “Rose told me what you asked. We’ll work on it. I promise you we’ll work on it.”

Tess blinked hard, fighting tears. “Thank you. Thank you both.”

“All right. I need to get in there and ward the room, so the magic of the portal doesn’t interfere with any of the hospital equipment.”

She hugged us both and went in to her family.

As we rode down in the elevator, I realized Tess hadn’t said a word since we left Rose’s mom. “Are you okay?”

She just nodded, then shook her head. “I don’t know. I can’t talk about it yet, okay?”

I took her hand. “Tell me when you can.”

“Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“You have interesting friends.”

I laughed. “Oh, Tess. You have no idea.”

32

Tess

Shelley texted me a barrage of exclamation points:

The racing pigs are in town!! Our school bus drove by them. I saw Peter Porker!!! They’re coming to visit us at school!

“Life was easier when I was ten,” I murmured, looking out the window as we drove home from Orlando. “Shelley’s so excited about the racing pigs.”

“It’s nice that she can get excited about racing pigs,” Jack said.

“I know.” Shelley had been through a lot. “Just remembering how much fun it was to be ten, I guess. Life is complicated now.”

He blew out a breath and then was silent for several miles.

“Do you ever think about it?”

I glanced over at him. “Think about what?”