Without listening to anyone's objections that it was cold, or getting late, or that Katie would need her bath soon, I packed up a jar of strained carrots, found a bottle in the back of the fridge and threw everything into what I thought might be the diaper bag. I had Katie back in her stroller in two minutes flat, still ignoring the now weak protests from her parents.

Katie and I hit the sidewalk at a brisk pace, putting some distance between us and the cold war back at the condo. She sat up in her seat, bundled in her little coat, a knit cap and three blankets, even though it was about fifty-five degrees and sunny. Every so often, Katie would wave at a passerby on the sidewalk, or gurgle something and point. She seemed perfectly happy to let me push her all over McClean and we were a hit with the grandmas feeding pigeons in the park.

Fun as this was, I kept worrying about Uncle Mike, and hoped he was working his way out of the dog house.

Katie and I been gone more than an hour when the sun started to set, so we pulled into Starbucks to warm up. Not knowing whena"or ifa"we'd be having dinner, I bought a snack to tide me over until we were given the green light to come home.

When Katie saw my muffin and coffee, she reached out, fussing some.

"Hungry?" I asked. I hoped that was the right answer. I didn't know how to change a diaper, and it turned out the bag I'd grabbed was Aunt Julie's purse, not the diaper baga"so we were out of luck either way.

Katie continued to make grabby hands until I fished the bottle out of the bag. She went to town on it, smiling at me once and drooling a streak of milk down her chin. The snack didn't keep her happy for long, though. As soon as she drained the bottle, Katie looked around the coffee shop, searching for who knew what. When her eyes landed on me, her lip quivered and she burst into tears. I glanced at my watch: six-thirty. It was later than I thought, maybe even past Katie's bath time.

"Okay, okay," I murmured, hoping she'd calm down. "We'll roll."

Ten minutes later, we made it to the condo. Baby Kate had passed out in her stroller and I was so jetlagged I didn't care if World War III raged inside the Tannen housea"I planned to follow my cousin's lead and sleep until tomorrow. Forgetting I had the key because I'd stolen Julie's purse, I rang the bell.

Mike opened the door. He'd changed into jeans and a t-shirt. To my relief, he was smiling. He peered down at Katie. "You wear her out?"

"No," I said around a yawn. "She wore me out. My body thinks it's after midnight. I need to go to bed, man. Is the coast clear?"

He helped me drag the stroller inside and into the living room. "And then some."

Aunt Julie came padding out of the bedroom, barefoot, wearing yoga pants and a hoodie instead of her uniform. She also had on her new necklace and a smile to match Mike's.

My ears heated up. Oh, yeah, they were definitely done fighting. "I'll, uh, leave you toaumayeah, I'm going to bed."

"Before seven?" Julie asked, looking amused. "Don't you want dinner?"

I backed away so she couldn't hear my stomach growl. I'd raid the fridge later if I had to. "No, I ate at Starbucks."

Then I ran for the spare bedroom.

Chapter Seventeen.

Mom met me at the airport on Tuesday and I'd never been so glad to see her. I walked straight into her open arms and gave her a big hug.

"My goodness," Mom said. "Did it really go that badly?"

"Which part?" I asked, following her out to her van. "The part where Captain Brandt acted like a complete jackass half the time? Or when a three-hundred pound, hind-leg-walking monster cat fell on me? Oh, or was it the part when I had to take Katie on a two hour stroll to give Uncle Mike and Aunt Julie time to fighta"then make up."

Mom stopped walking. Her shoulders shook with laughter. "Oh, honey. That'saI don't even know what to say."

"You're laughing about the Mike thing aren't you?"

At that point Mom cracked up. "I'm certainly not laughing about a three-hundred pound monster landing on you." She climbed into the van. "But good for you for taking care of Katie."

I climbed into the passenger seat and leaned it back as far as it would go. "Once we're home, I'd like to eat an entire pot roast then sleep twelve hours if that's okay with you."

"We're having Shepherd's pie for dinner, but the rest of it sounds just fine." Mom reached over to pat my shoulder. "I'm sorry this was a tough trip. You're home now, though. I'll even spoil you for a day or two."

I closed my eyes as the van started moving. If I wasn't careful, I'd conk out right here. "Are you going to make me go back to school?"

"There's only three weeks left before the holiday break," Mom said. "Your grades have been good and with you leaving right after that, I think I'd rather have you rest up and do your studying at home."

"Good," I mumbled. I wouldn't have to face Sami or Ella yet.

I fell asleep before we made it home. Mom shook me awake, professing that carrying two-hundred-ten pounds of teenager into the house was outside her skill set. I stumbled inside behind her, punch drunk, thinking my bed and I were going to have a nice long visit before dinner. Turns out there were other plans.

Before I even cleared the mudroom, Mamie came flying down the hall and threw her arms around my neck.

Pleasantly surprised, I hugged her back. "Sis, aren't you supposed to be school?"

Mamie pulled away and waved me into the kitchen. "I only have one class on Mondays and the lectures are online. It's just calculus. I have a ninety-seven average. The prof won't mind."

It's just calculusa. Grinning in spite of everything, I followed her into the living room and collapsed on the couch. Mamie looked greata"relaxed and confident in a way I'd never seen. Before leaving home, she'd been pretty demanding, but she'd been hard on herself, too. Now, she seemed comfortable in her own skin.

"Hey, the guys send their regards," I told her. "By the way, Johnson apparently worships you now."

"Very funny," Mamie said, but a mischievous gleam shone in her eyes.

"No, I'm serious. We were talking about you and he said not to take the Lord's name in vain. You're a deity."

Mamie snorted. "My reputation must be very exaggerated."

"We'll find out in a month or so." I stretched until six vertebrae popped then sagged into the sofa cushions. "None of your hunches have been wrong yet. That kind of ESP, or whatever, tends to be a god-like attribute."

"I hope I'm right this time," she murmured, staring at her hands. "Because if I'm wrong, and that's the reason Jorge's down in Peru by himself when monsters show upa."

"Jorge can handle things long enough for a team to be redeployed if he needs them," I said. "Besides, the general said we're leaving Australia open, since the eclipse is only partially visible there. If anything, I'm more worried about that."

I told her about the witch covena"leaving out the part about the stolen kids because I didn't want to hurt hera"and how Aunt Julie was working with the CIA. "It all keeps coming back to Australia, and I'm not sure why."

"Speaking of which," Mamie said, "I read up on your missing physicist. My professor knew of hera"she's published some pretty important articles on dark energy."

That perked me up a bit. "Really? So she's not just some random physicist?"

"Well, she's not Stephen Hawking, if that's what you're asking, but Dr. Burton-Hughes is pretty well known in the scientific community. Her theories on dark energy are some of the more challenging and interesting ones out there. She formulated a mathematical model thata""

"Before you get rolling, is this going to make my jetlagged brain hurt?" I asked, raising my hand. "Or is there a way to dumb it down?"

Mamie heaved a put-upon sigh. "You aren't dumb, but you are tired, so I'll humor you. Dr. Burton-Hughes has developed theories, using statistical models from the birth of black holes, to try to prove that dark energy was the catalyst for the Big Bang. No one really knows why the Big Bang happened, but she's been trying to prove that dark energy started it somehow. It's controversial, because most cosmologistsa"and physicistsa"a"believe the entire universe was this hot, dense ball ofasomething, then it exploded. There's nothing to suggest dark energy existed in that state. Or, if it did, it was completely insignificant. So the fact that she's trying to prove dark energy played a part in the Big Bangawell, some people think she's crazy." My sister grinned. "Brilliant, but off her rocker either way."

I rubbed my forehead. So much for dumbing things down for me. "Let me see if I have this right. Most scientists think dark energy came after the Big Bang, but she was trying to prove it existed beforehand, and maybe caused it?"

"In a nutshell," Mamie said. "Oh, and I've done some more research on the San people. Their religion is pretty interesting."

I thought about Twi, and his fear of the dead. "Did you see anything about Gaunab?"

"The god of darkness and death?" Mamie asked.

That would be a yes. "One of the locals we work with mentioned him. Didn't want to talk too loud in case Gaunab heard us."

"Hmmm." Mamie twisted her pigtail around her finger. "I wonder if that's important somehow. Maybe you should ask that Zenka lady about him when you go back. If Gaunab's name came upayou said the Lions killed her husband, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then it would stand to reason the monsters might come after her, too. Don't you think? She's the only logical target out there in my opinion."

"Maybe," I said around a giant yawn.

"You should talk to her." Mamie stood. "Mom said dinner will be ready in an hour. Why don't you take a nap?"

"That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all day." I pushed myself off the couch, groaning. "Don't let me sleep through dinner until breakfast this time, okay? I could eat a full-grown yak."

"Repulsive, but I acknowledge your request." Mamie gave me another quick hug, then shoved me toward the stairs. "We'll talk more later."

Later turned out to be sooner than either of us probably guessed, because I hadn't slept fifteen minutes before the nightmares started.

I'm trapped in a box so tight I can't move. My arms and legs are drawn up in a fetal position and I pant for air. Light penetrates my eyelids, piercing my skull with pain. The word "womb" comes to mind. Of being trapped, waiting to be freed, to live.

"Now, you know," an ugly voice growls in my ear. "You know."

The lights go out, and for a moment, I have relief. I've been freed from my cage, and my body feels infinite, strong. Then I sense a presence behind me in the dark, one that wants to pull me apart. Its breath rasps, hot on the back of my neck. I start to run from the thing, but it chases me, laughing.

Ahead, Mamie screams and screamsa "Matt!" Mamie cried. "Wake up!"

I flung out an arm and banged my hand into the nightstand. I was curled up tight, just like I was still in that box in my dream. Mamie stood at the foot of my bed, her face whiter than bones bleached by the sun.

I struggled to sit up. My sheets were soaked in sweat and my hair was damp. "What? Was I dreaming again?"

"Again?" Mamie asked, her lower lip trembling. "You mean you've done that before?"

"Done what?"

"Thrashed around, crying out in your sleep. Then you curled up in a ball, and I couldn't wake you up for the longest time."

She blinked fast; tears would follow soon if I didn't do something. And in this situation, lying didn't seem like a bad course of action. "Uh, once or twice. But it's no big deal, okay? I always have trouble coming down after I've been on a mission. Just the adrenaline or something."

Mamie shook her head. "You screamed my name. That's why I came in."

I did? No wonder she was freaking out. Thinking fast, I said, "Are you sure? Because I don't remember anything in the dream that would make me do that."

She gave me a skeptical look, but her shoulders relaxed and color came back into her cheeks. "Umaokay. Mom says dinner will be ready soon. Maybe you should get up."

I nodded and Mamie headed for the door. Before she left, she glanced at me over her shoulder, her eyes full of concern.

I was concerned, too; my dreams had a nasty habit of coming true. Dread sank into my bones, cold and rigid. One day, maybe not long from now, I'd have to fight my way through the darkness to save my sister.

The weeks at home passed quietly. Too quietly. Only Will knew I was back home, and I kept to myself until Brent and Mamie came home after finals, which livened things up. It was good to share the upstairs with them again, even if my brother was the loudest dude on the planet. If he wasn't talking in an outside voice at all times, he had his stereo cranked up full blast. After two days of being subjected to Linkin Park on endless loop, I decided I was a little bit glad Brent couldn't stay home very long. He had to head back to school for football practice the same day I left for Africa.

"I saw highlights of your last game," I told him, to smooth over a complaint I'd made about my bedroom floor vibrating in tempo to his stereo. "Nice tackle in the third quarter, man. Knocking the ball loose like thata"pretty sweet."

Even though Brent was a good inch or two shorter than me now, he felt bigger given the fact he outweighed me by thirty-five pounds, all of it rock-hard muscle. Still, in a straight up fight, I knew I could take him.

I already had.

And that was why praising his football plays seemed awkward, even when I meant it. Our dinner table brawl from last year still hung in the air like a noxious farta"a thing no one wanted to admit to, but instead endured in uncomfortable silence. The thing with Dad, when Brent called me a selfish brat, still rubbed me raw.

After the compliment Brent nodded or, rather, bobbed his head since his neck had all but disappeared in a trunk of muscle. "Best play of my life. That game was amazing."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there," I said. And I was.

He nodded. "Yeah. You had more important things to do."

I listened hard to catch any irony or insult in that statement. All I heard was a touch of jealousy. He was probably still wondering why the knife chose me and not him. Not my problem. "If you call nearly breaking my ribs killing off a few monsters, then maybe. I'm still sorry I wasn't there. And I'm sorry I can't make the Rose Bowl, either, but I'll keep up with the score on my laptop if I can."

"Whatever. I get it." He sniffed, turning his whole body toward the kitchen. "Is thatachicken stew?"

I grinned. There were still a few things we could come together on. "Yeah. I hope Mom made enough for both of us."

We raced each other to the kitchen before he pushed me into the wall in a weak attempt to beat me there, and it felt a little like old times, before the knife, before finding out about Dad.

I'd take whatever uneasy truce I could get.

Chapter Eighteen.

A few days before Christmas, Will and I went out for some last-minute shopping.

"So Mamie keeps going on about this awesome sweater she bought me," I said with trepidation, remembering Brent's warning about his own Mamie sweater experience. His had dogs on the front of it. "I'm kinda afraid to see what it is."