It was times like this that Mar really, truly hated being a parent.

There was already a fine line between teaching discipline and being a bully, but that line became extremely blurry when the child was her little squirrel. Kris sat at the kitchen table, head down, hands clenched in her lap, no doubt waiting for the yelling and beatings to start — oh, yes, Mar could read that easily enough. Over two years the child had been gone from those people she'd called parents, yet what should have been scars were still raw, open wounds on her spirit and mind both.

Kris was too shy, too quiet, too frightened, too…well…obedient for Mar not to worry. Last year's kidnapping with the Sidhe had heartened Mar some, on hearing how her squirrel had followed Frank and Joe, to the point of nailing one of the Association's Blades with a skillet when he tried to stop her…but there, again, for most of it, Kris had only followed along with what her big brothers were doing.

It was heartening that Kris had recovered enough spirit to stand up to a bully on her own, but that didn't mean discipline could be ignored.

Slowly, never once losing her calm, Mar got the story out of Kris. When the halting, sullen words finally wound down, Mar let the silence settle. Part of her wanted to hug her daughter in pure glee that the little squirrel taken down that big, nasty, bullying rat…but the rest of Mar, sadly, had to be the parent.

"So," Mar said, after the silence had stretched long enough, "you didn't wait for proof. You only reacted to the taunts of a spoiled brat."

At that, Kris's head came up — still sullen, but now glaring. The gleeful part of Mar cheered at that indication that the child's spirit was still capable of defiance; the parent-part merely returned the look calmly.

"Joe's been saying it's Angie," Kris said. "And I believe him. Angie was acting like she'd done it. She was the one who ruined all my books this year and she's been nasty every time I turn around. She —"

"That has nothing to do with this," Mar overrode her daughter, still calm. Mar had to be calm, not accusing. Spirit was good, but it had to be tempered with discipline. "You were in no danger. She was not attacking you. She was only talking. By hitting her, you showed everyone that if they want to get you in trouble, all they need to do is tease you." Mar paused. "You've accomplished nothing but give the bullies more power over you."

"Yes, ma'am," Kris muttered, slumping back in her seat and staring at her hands again.

"Now," Mar said, keeping her sigh strictly internal, "you're grounded for all three days of the suspension. That means you stay here, inside. No seeing Frank and Joe, no phone calls to them, no visitors except for whoever brings you homework."

"But…" Kris looked up again, "what about Tina's Nativity stuff? She's coming over tomorrow and we promised —"

"You should have thought of that before you got into a fight."

"So you're punishing Tina? She won't understand all this. All you're doing is hurting her!"

Now Mar sighed. Kris was right; Tina wouldn't understand, and Mar didn't want to cause more problems for the Collinses. Not to mention that making a child break a true, heart-given promise was even worse than that child fighting. "Fine. I'll allow that exception, for Tina to come over so you can finish that with her. Whether Joe's allowed will be up to his father. But as for Bell Book and Candle —"

"I'm going."

"Kris Yanaba Mountainhawk —"

"It's a case," Kris said, glaring up at Mar. "It's work. It's not just Joe, but Frank, too. And Sharon. So you'd be punishing them, and they didn't do anything. And I promised Mrs. Bell that Frank and Joe would solve it. She's the one being hurt by the stealing, and me and Sharon are doing a ghost hunt, but we're also helping Frank and Joe watch for the thief. I promised Mrs. Bell and I'm not going to break it!"

"Technically," Charlie had been watching from the kitchen doorway, "she wouldn't be at school on a Friday night, anyway, so there wouldn't be any suspension."

"Please stay out of this, Charlie," Mar said. "This doesn't involve you."

"I don't think so, Mama," Charlie said. "Punishing her and Joe by revoking their Christmas gifts to each other and to two other people is not only not fair, but also not in your jurisdiction. Especially when my little sister is showing a remarkable sense of responsibility and bravery by insisting on carrying it through despite the potential threat."

Charlie looked a lot like his father, and times like this, when he sounded so much like David…Mar sighed again. "Go to your room, Kris. The grounding means no TV, and definitely no party at the Mortons. I'll call you when Frank brings your homework. We'll discuss this later."

Without a word, Kris got up and pushed past both Mar and Charlie. A few seconds later, Mar heard the door of Kris's bedroom slam.

"Don't look at me like that, Mama," Charlie said. "I'm a big person now. I have the right to tell my tribal chief that she's wrong."

"Yes, you certainly have that right," Mar said, matching his tone. "But undercutting my authority as her parent is not your right. Tell me such things in private, Charlie, not in front of her. You're an adult, but you're still my son and I'm still her mother. Understood?"

"Oh, I understand," Charlie said. "But you're still wrong. That kid's been getting these horrible gifts, someone does that to her locker, so she's scared to death, and then some spoiled brat who's been tormenting her all year decides to start up. Then my sister has to sit and listen to everyone tell her how wrong she is and gets punished for daring to stand up for herself." Charlie's eyes glittered. "No, Mama. Kris needs someone on her side in all this, someone adult, and if the words just wait 'til you have kids are about to escape your lips, well, you can wait until you're a grandma to tell me I'm wrong."

Mar sighed. "There is a difference between standing up for yourself and assault and battery. If she'd been an adult, she would've been arrested for just that, as the other girl had done nothing but tease her."

"Nothing proven, you mean."

"In court, proof is everything. She is a child, Charlie, a child who has been taught very wrong lessons of how to behave —"

"No," Charlie countered, "she's not a child. I doubt she ever had the chance to be a child. And from what I saw yesterday, I wouldn't call either of those two boys children, either. Not adults, but not children, not in the way the adults keep insisting on treating them."

"The same still applies, my son," Mar said. Still calm. Charlie had always been infuriatingly intelligent and ready for a debate; Frank reminded her of him in so many ways. "Child or adult, she's learned the wrong lessons. Be on her side all you wish, but those wrong lessons have to be unlearned, one way or another."

Now Charlie sighed. "Still, Mama, it won't do you or her any good for it to seem as if every adult is against her, either. You stick with being the strict parent. I'll go up and be the big brother commiserating with her about the stupid adults and ready to take out whoever's hurting his little sister." Charlie glanced at the clock. "And given what's been going on, I think it would also be a good idea if I met Frank at school and gave him a proper military escort home. Just in case."

Mar nodded; she'd been about to suggest that. She hadn't forgotten last year. There was the possibility — very remote, very unlikely — that the Sidhe were involved in this somehow, for revenge. Fenton had already broached that possibility with her, given the Sidhe's well-deserved reputation for toying with human nightmares and the stories going around about Bell Book and Candle being haunted. Still, none of this smacked of their style, and the lockers being steel would foil any Sidhe attempting to get into them.

The simplest explanation: likeliest the correct one. The Joneses might not know specifically about Joe or Frank, but it wouldn't stop them from targeting the brothers, just because Joe and Frank were Kris's friends. Mar remembered her run-ins with her squirrel's original parents too well, especially when the Joneses — and Randall Jones, especially — had started stalking Bay Area Center and terrorizing the other children there.

Not to mention the other reasons…

Mar heard the squeak of the stairs as Charlie went up to talk to Kris, and sighed, then picked up the phone. Time to let folks at Boston Center know what they might be in for.