Celia was on her front porch as they came up the walkway, James in front and Madelyn in the back. “Everyone’s safe?” she asked, her voice deadly calm in a way that made even James nervous.

“Everyone’s safe,” he said. “And my team is going to go take care of whatever’s there tomorrow. It’s contained, but it’s not something we can handle with just the two of us.

Celia nodded, standing aside so that the group could come into the house. James flexed his hand as he got into the front hallway, trying to work it out just a little, but it was definitely more swollen now than it had been a few minutes ago.

“What happened?” Celia asked, looking at his hand.

“I got knocked off the stage by a flying trombone case,” James said, resisting the urge to put it in his pocket. “And I landed weirdly.”

Celia nodded, then her eyes moved over to her daughter and her friends. She jabbed a finger toward the living room just beyond the stairs.

“You three,” she snapped. “Go sit. I’ll be in in a minute. James, with me.”

He followed her into the kitchen. “Stupid fucking kids,” Celia muttered fiercely as she went into the cabinet beside the fridge.

She took out a first aid kit, let the cabinet door slam shut, then brought it to the kitchen table. “Can you move it?” she asked.

“Is that a NASA first aid kit? Jesus Christ, Cel.”

Celia snorted. “Stop it,” she said, then went to the freezer and pulled out a squashy ice pack. “Use this first. Twenty minutes tops, then I’ll wrap it before you go home.”

“I can-”

“Let me go yell at my kid and her friends, then I’ll wrap it.”

Celia was a nurse, so she wasn’t about to let him just handle it on his own. She handed him the ice pack and James wrapped it around his injured wrist, the relief instant. She wrapped a dish towel around the ice pack and his hand without a word. Then he followed Celia back into the living room, where the kids were all seated rigidly on the couch as Madelyn sat in a chair nearby. As James passed by the staircase, he spotted six-year-old Krissy up at the top, hiding behind the railing. He gave her a little wave and she smiled before skittering off down the hall.

“It’s funny,” Celia said as she came into the room and stood in front of the couch. “I distinctly remember all of you saying you were going to Lacey’s house for a little while. But I must have been wrong. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?”

“We just wanted to see if we could talk to someone,” Penny said softly.

“And did it work?” Celia asked, her voice dangerously quiet.

They all nodded. “Because you have specialized training in this kind of thing?”

“But Uncle James-” Penny protested.

“Has been doing this since before you were born, Pen,” James said. “This is dangerous work, even for experts. You could have been killed.”

“It wasn’t that dangerous,” the boy – Cody – said.

Madelyn was looking intently at them, but clearly she didn’t feel like she could join in the family lecture. “Madelyn,” James said, nodding at her. “You got anything you want to share here? You had to deal with tonight too, feel free to jump in.”

“I almost got killed by something like what you summoned,” she said, pointing at the scar over her eye as her cane leaned against her leg.

“You summoned?” Celia repeated. “This was a summoning? It was bad enough when you were trying to contact ghosts that were already there, you decided to invite one in?”

“You could have died,” James said. “All three of you so easily could have died and no one would have known until tomorrow. When they show up to school, you’re dead backstage, and the spirit – whatever it is – is there, ready to attack your classmates too.”

Penny was crying and James felt a little bad for her, despite his anger. “Thankfully, Mr. Lopez is an open-minded man,” Celia said. “So he didn’t immediately dismiss the idea of ghosts. But guys, you broke into the school and I sure there’s a lot of damage in the auditorium. I know you didn’t mean harm, but you can kiss drama club goodbye.”

All three broke out in sudden begging and arguing as Celia stood in front of them, arms crossed and face set. “It’s not my call,” she said. “You’ll be lucky if that’s all that happens. I’m so, so embarrassed right now. Lacey, your mom’s on her way. Cody, I’m trying to get in touch with yours. Until they get here, I want all three of you to stay in here while I wrap Uncle James’s wrist. That he hurt rescuing you.”

“I’m sorry,” Penny said softly.

James sighed. “Guys, I know this stuff is cool. But it’s dangerous, sometimes in ways you can’t even imagine. My team has years of training and the equipment we need to stay safe and we don’t invite anything in. This was reckless and stupid. And things didn’t get as bad as they could have, but now a whole lot of people’s plans are ruined.”

“Especially Bradley’s,” Madelyn said. “I’m pretty sure he had every minute of tomorrow scheduled.”

James swore softly before remembering the kids were there. “Now that’s my day too.”

He followed Celia back into the kitchen, where she quickly wrapped his wrist in an elastic bandage. “You should still get it checked,” she said.

“I’ll call our team doctor in the morning. Or come visit you at work.”

Celia laughed, then groaned, letting her head hang. “I can’t believe they did that,” she said. 

“We pulled different shit, but we still did stuff like that.”

“Did you ever summon a ghost?”

James scoffed. “Fuck no,” he said. “What the hell were they thinking?”

“She wants to be like you,” Celia said.

And now he felt guilty. “Cel-”

“If you apologize, I’ll kill you.”

Right now, she very well could mean it. So James kept his mouth shut.