Alice and Maureen materialized, both dressed in their full Familiar regalia (which was basically Valkyrie anime strategic armor). Alice’s light was white, Maureen’s a deep red. Alice crouched and looked at me. I smiled and waved. She then turned to see Dags on the bed and hissed. Immediately, the two of them shifted costumes, swords gone, and moved in to put their hands on their Guardian. I somehow got the impression I’d popped a cork. “Where is the book?” Mom said as she came forward and yanked me out of the way. Rhonda did a similar movement with Jason, who looked as if his entire attention was taken up by what the two women were doing. I swallowed. “I took it out.” “How did you do that?” Rhonda hissed. “I just reached in and grabbed it.” I sighed. “The bullet is in the Grimoire, and I needed to remove the book to open the Grimoire to—” “NO!” GAH . . . ! If there was one thing Rhonda Orly had, it was lungs of steel. I put my hands to my head and whirled on her.
