“Maybe it’s like the many-worlds theory,” Lee offered. Jen and I gave him blank looks. “In quantum mechanics. It postulates a reality in which every possible quantum outcome is realized. So in theory, there could be an infinite universe containing an infinite number of worlds in which every possible version of God exists.”

Jen held out her hand for a thermos. “This conversation would be a lot better if we were stoned.”

I was still trying to wrap my head around it. “Yeah, but what about this world, Lee?”

He shrugged. “Maybe the Inviolate Wall functions sort of like the box in Schrödinger’s cat.”

Okay, thanks to The Big Bang Theory—the TV show, not the actual scientific theory—at least I’d heard of that one, although I didn’t entirely understand it. “That’s the thing where there’s a cat in a box and you don’t know if it’s alive or dead?”

“Sort of,” Lee said. “Schrödinger conceived it as a thought experiment to illustrate the nature of quantum entanglement, which is a characteristic—” Noting our expressions, he caught himself. “Never mind. The point is that based on an unpredictable variable, the cat has either been poisoned or not. Until an observer opens the box to see if the cat is dead or alive, it exists simultaneously in both states.”

“I bet the cat would beg to disagree,” Jen observed.

“It’s a thought experiment,” Lee said patiently. “It’s not an actual cat. It’s meant to illustrate a theory.”

She smiled at him. “I know. I’m just yanking your chain.”

I gazed up at the night sky again, the snowflakes like stars drifting earthward. “So you’re saying that there are infinite possibilities beyond the Inviolate Wall, but once it’s broken, they collapse into one reality?”

“At least in this world.” Lee shrugged again. “It’s a theory.”

I shivered, feeling the shadow of my nightmare returning to hover over me. Beneath my down coat, my tail gave a nervous twitch. “Let’s not talk about this anymore.”

Jen tilted her thermos to shake the last drops of cocoa into her mouth before hopping out of her swing. “C’mon,” she said in a pragmatic tone. “All this stoner talk is making me hungry. Let’s go get burgers at Bob’s.”

“It’s not stoner talk,” Lee protested. “It’s—” He paused. “You’re yanking my chain again, aren’t you?”

She gave him another sidelong smile. “Maybe.”

I didn’t want to be alone right now, but I didn’t want to intrude, either. “You guys go ahead. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” Jen stuck out one hand, waiting for me to take it. “You’re in a weird mood, and that means you’re not going home alone to put one of those old Billie freaking Holiday CDs on the stereo and mope around your apartment with your freakishly large cat. You’re going to Bob’s with me and Lee for a pitcher of beer and a nice, juicy burger, because we’re your friends and we look out for each other. Okay?”

El Arbol, my roots.

“Okay.” I grabbed Jen’s hand and let her haul me out of the swing. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

      Twenty-five

That was the plan, anyway. Beer and a burger at Bob’s Bar & Grill. We only got a few yards before a figure detached itself from the shadow of an oak tree and leaped to the top of the jungle gym in one inhuman bound, balancing in a crouch.

All three of us let out startled yelps. I kindled a shield without thinking, dropped my thermos, and yanked open my messenger bag, reaching for dauda-dagr in its hidden sheath. Or at least I tried to get a grip on it. Okay, so thick winter gloves, not such a good idea. Atop the jungle gym, the crouching figure grinned, revealing sharp fangs in a luminously pale face framed with glossy black hair.

Jen folded her arms over her chest. “Thanks, Beth. You nearly scared us half to death. What are you doing here?”

“Keeping an eye on my family, just like I promised.” With another spectacular leap, Bethany Cassopolis descended from the jungle gym, the skirts of her Victorian frock coat flaring. “I remember you,” she said to Lee. “You’re the creep who tried to kill me with artificial sunlight.”

“Do you mean the guy who kept you from choking Dad to death?” Jen asked. “Because that’s the way I remember it.”

“Whatever.” Bethany grabbed the lapels of Lee’s camel-hair coat—one of the purchases Jen had talked him into during their fashion makeover shopping spree—in one hand. Despite the fact that he had a good eight inches on her, she hoisted him effortlessly off the ground. At least Lee was tall enough that his toes still touched. “So are you dating my sister or what?”

“I don’t know,” Lee said in strangled voice. “Ask her!”

“Jen?” Bethany glanced at her.

She kept her arms folded. “None of your business.”

“Oh, for God’s sake!” Using my teeth, I stripped the glove off my right hand and got my fingers wrapped around dauda-dagr’s hilt. “Bethany, Jen, chill out. Let’s not go through this all over again.”

With a snarl, Bethany tossed Lee several yards through the air. He landed on his back in the new-fallen snow, the air leaving his lungs in a woofing sound as she whirled on me. “You stay out of this! This is family business.”