The air changed.
It did not come with a sound. It came as a drop in temperature that prickled the hairs on the back of my neck, and then a pressure in the room like the moment before a summer storm. The kettle ticked on the hob. The clock above the door stopped, then started again.
Fall had been lying across the threshold of the back door. He got up and walked very slowly to the far side of the kitchen, and stood with his body between the table and the window. His hackles were up. I had never seen him look like that, except once, in the dark of the Highland night, when a stranger had come up the lane with bad intentions.
I turned around.
There Hades was standing by the back door.
And I saw the color drain from Riley's face at his arrival.
