brody noticed that mina had quit straightening and had begun to shake. he for her and this time she came to him willingly and buried her face in his chest. "it's okay. i'll protect you," he whispered.

mina wished she could believe brody, but he had no idea what she was up against. how could he protect her and her family? mina was still wrapped up in brody's arms when the door opened and sara walked in carrying brown paper grocery bags. she dropped them on the floor when she saw her daughter in the arms of an unknown boy.

mina jumped back guiltily. brody regretfully let her go, bending down to help her mother regain the dropped bags.

"pardon me, mrs. grime." brody deposited the bags onto the kitchen table. he turned, scooped the bag charlie was carrying out of his hands and picked up the cans that had escaped onto the floor, before sara could recover and close her mouth.

"and who are you?" sara asked. mina wished her mother wasn't always so suspicious.

"brody carmichael." he leaned forward and offered sara his hand. "i know mina from school."

sara's eyes widened when she recognized the name.

"oh, that's right. he's the boy who you lent your notes to for class. seriously, brody, you should learn to take your own notes and not live off of the sympathy of others," sara lectured.

brody's eyes widened with shock. he looked over to a white-faced mina before answering. "you are absolutely right, mrs. grime. but you see, if i hadn't asked to borrow your daughter's notes, i would have had no excuse to ask her on a date," he lied.

mina could have died right then and been happy. brody looked over at mina with a crooked smile and raised eyebrow. he was going to ask her about this conversation later. she knew it.

sara, however, wasn't convinced. "and, you're the boy who ran over mina's bike."

"yes, unfortunately that as well. and i really couldn't be more embarrassed. but i was so surprised to see her on my front porch, i wasn't watching where i was driving. i'm trying to make up for it by giving mina rides to and from school."

"oh. oh, i see." sara smiled. "please call me sara. mrs. grime sounds old." she began putting away the groceries. "sorry about the mix-up with the work pamphlets. my boss told me your house and i sent mina to drop it off. we never did figure out where the mix-up in communication was or where it was really supposed to go. but maybe it was fate." when sara left it at that mina wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. she couldn't make eye contact with brody.

brody stayed for a supper of spaghetti and meatballs, which turned into a rather awkward event. he would direct questions toward charlie but when charlie wouldn't answer, brody would speak louder, as if he was deaf.

"he can hear you," mina said, giving her brother a sisterly kick under the table. "he just doesn't talk." charlie tried to hide his smile but couldn't. he had enjoyed tormenting brody.

all through dinner, brody gave mina pointed stares, looking around the kitchen in an effort for her to tell her mom what had happened. but mina kept trying to mouth words like "not yet," or "not now."

but brody apparently wasn't going to let it slide. "do you feel safe here, sara?" mina could have kicked him if she had long enough legs.

"why, yes, of course i do. what would make you say that?" sara asked.

"it's just that you're here all alone in an older section of town, with two kids. i was just wondering if you ever felt like you were endangering them by living here in the international district."

"what kind of question is that?" sara asked heatedly.

brody's jaw tightened in anger. "i'm trying to protect your daughter, but she doesn't seem to think she is in any danger." brody put it all on the table and looked to mina in challenge. mina knew then that if she didn't tell her mother now, brody would.

"mom, you know that family thing that we discovered last week? the one where i would most likely face certain obstacles and you agreed to let me try?" mina tried to hint, she didn't want to alarm her younger brother, or give brody to much information.

"yes?" sara spoke warily, her eyes darting worriedly between brody and charlie.

"well, someone was looking for something that i didn't have. they confronted me outside of a library last week, and two days ago in an alley, and it seems they were here in our house just a few hours ago."

"what?" brody and sara said in unison. brody didn't know that mina had been attacked in an alley.

sara looked at brody. "what? you didn't know?"

"not about all of it. i knew about the library, because i was there, but not about another attack in the alley. it's why i was asking about your safety." brody had started speaking in the vague way mina did, in an effort to protect charlie as well.

"i see." sara sat down calmly at the table and tried to compose herself. charlie watched his mother quietly. sara leaned over and whispered to charlie who brightened at her comment, ran to the freezer and took out a gallon of ice cream and went to his room. when charlie's door was shut and the sound of cartoons could be heard from behind the door, sara turned to look at brody.

he spoke before she could, "are you two in some kind of trouble? are there people after you? what can i do to help you?" brody stood up and paced the kitchen.

sara continued eating her dinner and wiped her mouth daintily with her napkin. "this really is a family matter, brody. but don't worry, we haven't done anything illegal and i won't let anyone harm my daughter ever again. i've moved across country six times to protect mina from what is after her, and i'm prepared to move continents if i have to."

brody froze at her words. "you know what's after her and you haven't gone to the police?" he turned on sara. "if what you're saying is true then the police can find the person. they can stop this man."

"i told you, this is a family matter."

brody looked to mina in a panic. "i won't let you run, not if i can help you. if you will just let me help you."

sara pretended he'd directed his question at her. "can you help us run from a curse?"

"what? i don't understand." brody began, but sara cut him off.

"brody, you've spent two years at the same school as mina, hardly talking to her, never even realizing she is alive. then she goes and does something crazy, against my wishes. she placed her own life in danger to save yours." her face became very still. "now, because of those actions, our whole family has to live with the consequences. you now feel obligated to help her, like she did you. i get that, i really do. but what gives you the right to question our actions and lifestyle?"

silence filled the kitchen. mina held her breath, afraid to move. brody straightened in his seat and swallowed slowly.

sara brushed her hands over her forehead in defeat. "you're enamored, that's it. in another week or so, you will wake up and this will all be a dream. you will forget that mina ever even saved your life. she will go back to being my clumsy, forgotten, outcast teen daughter, and you will go back to ruling the school and dating the head cheerleader."