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seen before. It was more than a little frightening. The windows rattled, and the air tore at my hair. The roar of the wind was deafening, and though he was trying to continue to speak, I couldn’t hear a word. In fact, I had to hold on to the doorframe to keep from getting swept away myself. Miraculously, Ramses stood upright against the onslaught. He was looking more and more like a silk-wrapped mummy, however.
    Mom turned her anger on me suddenly. She seemed frustrated that her magical blast hadn’t been more successful. “You invited him in, didn’t you?”
    Had I? I didn’t think I had, but I couldn’t remember. Either way, I got the distinct impression that had been the wrong thing to do. “Uh, I don’t know. But it’s not like he’s a vampire or anything.”
    Mom grimaced, leaving me confused. I looked at Ramses again with his jet-black hair and pale skin, pushing against the massive windstorm.
    “He’s not, right?”
    Mom either didn’t hear or chose not to answer.
    A vampire?
    That was fiction, wasn’t it?
    And if it wasn’t, was I supposed to take his other claim seriously too? So I was some kind of vampire princess?
    “I can’t believe you invited him inside. Now I’m going to have to pull out all the stops,” Mom said.
    It could get worse? I’d never seen a spell this powerful, much less used as a kind of assault on another human being.
    Who just might be my long-lost dad. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. I mean, shouldn’t I at least get to know the guy before we kicked his ass?
    Mom’s power welled up, searing hot like lava, seething through the air. The air crackled with it.
    “No, wait.” My protest died in the noise of the maelstrom. Something inside me flickered. I felt it flutter and then die, like a candle guttered in the wind.
    Mom shook out her wild curls and raised her hands again to continue the spell. “Seal his eyes and choke his breath, wrap him in the ropes of death.”
    And—pow!—just like that, Ramses flew off the doorstep and into the night. Mom, quite literally, kicked the guy to the curb. My mouth hung open. I’d never seen Mom quite so ninjawitchy.
    In fact, I always figured this kind of violent spell was, you know, black magic, the stuff good witches stayed away from.
    Meanwhile, Ramses lay crumpled there on the neighbor’s boulevard, not moving, completely cocooned in webbing. He looked like a giant cotton ball. Was he okay? I mean, I probably shouldn’t care, but . . .
    As if possessed by a mind of its own, my foot started out the door. Mom grabbed my shoulder, stopping me cold.
    “But he’s hurt,” I protested, my eyes flicking to the mummy-white blob nervously. What if he really was my dad? I tried to shake Mom’s grip, but it tightened like a vise. “He could die!”
    “I should hope so.” Mom’s tone was icy cold. She adjusted her glasses, as though to better inspect her handiwork.
    “What?” I ripped myself out from Mom’s restraining hand. No way did Mom mean that! Screw her, I thought. He didn’t seem all that threatening. Okay, so he wanted to take me away, but did he really deserve to be all gummed up like one of Spider-Man’s villains? I was going to help him.
    Mom reached around me and slammed the door shut with an ominous bang.
    “You have done enough damage, young lady.”
    “But I didn’t invite him in, I swear,” I said, fairly sure it was the truth.
    “You must have.”
    I frowned because Mom seemed so sure I had, and I was more and more convinced I hadn’t. It didn’t really matter. What mattered was that Ramses was okay out there.
    I tried the door, but I knew it was useless. I’d already felt Mom use her magic to turn the lock. “Why won’t you let me help him?”
    “Because it’s not safe,” Mom said simply, firmly. I opened my mouth to protest, but Mom cut me off. “He’s . . . really hard to damage. You’re going to have to trust me on this one.”
    Trust her? Ms. Never-says-a-word? Oh, there was so much