Almost

Chapter 78: Pockets

Katherine was amazed—they really only had two adult and two underaged wizards, but it was difficult for the others to dive the spells around the muggles. And while they might be less hesitant to hit Mark and Shep, no one wanted to hit Viv, Hattie, and Renae. Katherine, though, couldn't focus on them yet. She turned instead to Fred and Roxy. Angelina was running towards them herself.

"Go!" Katherine told them, trying to push them towards their mother as she through her shield in front of them, stretching it to cover a dazed looking Kevin and Bonnie.

"Go on, Roxy," Fred said. "Go with Mom."

"Fred—" Angelina protested, reaching for her son's hand.

"What do you say to us every year on the train platform?"

Angelina looked at her son as she gripped Roxy's arm. "Protect one another."

"Protect one another," he repeated, pulling his wand free. "What's any different about now? We have them way outnumbered—"

"Hey, I'm protecting my sister, too," Roxy chimed in, wrenching her arm from her mother's. "We're family, right? Meant to stick together?"

Katherine looked at Angelina, an odd mixture of terror and pride swelling on her face. And Katherine knew she could get them to leave with her if things got rough.

"Okay, but if you two are going to stay, I need your help," she said, glancing between the two of them and back at Angelina. "I have an escape plan if things get too bad. To get the tempering out. I need you two to come with me and make sure I don't get myself into trouble with it. Can you do that?"

"Where are we going?" Roxy asked.

"I can't tell you that right now," Katherine said, glancing over her shoulder at Ezra and quickly throwing a shield up on is exposed left shoulder. "But it means you have to stay together and close to my side. And on my signal, you come right to me and we leave. No questions asked. Can you do that for me?"

She turned her gaze to Bonnie and Kevin. Bonnie was looking in horror at her still stunned husband, but Kevin was looking at her.

"Are you two okay?" Katherine asked, ignoring his gaze. "Kevin, your eye—"

"It's fine," Kevin said quickly. "I've gotten into worse fights in the pub. But I think they broke Bonnie's ankle."

"Angelina—"

"Come on, love," Angelina said, rising to meet Bonnie and take her hand.

"No," Bonnie sputtered. "No, they'll take my memories—"

Katherine waved her hand and the door to her home in Iowa arrived. "We won't let them touch your memory, Bonnie." She quickly slid off the bracelet her mother-in-law had given her and held it tightly in her hands, unsure exactly how it would work but confident that her magic would be smarter than her.

"Here. Wear this. I've put a ward on it—it will stop them from being able to change your memory even if they try. It won't last forever, but it'll hold for now."

Bonnie took the bracelet gingerly from her, clasping her hands around Katherine's as she did. "I'm so glad my son found you," she said. "Even if I'm sorry you found us in the process."

"Go," Katherine said, shaking her head. "We'll have plenty of time to talk about that." She turned then to Angelina. "Thank you, Ang."

The woman nodded and said, "Come on, Kevin. I want to look at that eye."

"I . . . the spell they want to use on you . . ." Kevin stuttered, his eyes still on Katherine. "They have this—"

"A memory replacement charm?" Katherine said quietly. "I know. Ez and I figured it out from the file."