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over her mouth, her vision blurring with tears.
    “Oh my God.” Her mother did the same thing on the screen, clamping her hands over her mouth. “June, baby!”
    June wasn’t the type to burst into tears, but they spilled over and she drew a deep, shaky breath. Sam squeezed her shoulder.
    “Oh, God, it’s so good to see you again.” Her mother was crying too. “Are you all right?”
    June lowered her trembling hands, struggling for words. Her chest tightened and ached on the right side, like it always did when she got stressed out or emotional.
    “I’m okay,” June choked out. “Are you okay, Mom?”
    Her mother’s long, honey blond hair was pulled back, her face clean of makeup. She looked like Jason, with her high cheekbones and pale eyes. Contrarily, everyone else said she looked like an older version of June, but June didn’t see it. Right now, what she saw was the best thing she’d ever seen in her life.
    “I’m fine now.” Her mother wiped her eyes with a tissue. “I watched your press conference today. It was so good to see you up there, to see you alive. You’re so thin, though.”
    June swallowed the lump in her throat. Tears were still falling. “My allergies are making it hard to eat. Where are you? Are you in California?”
    She nodded. “I’ve been talking to the FBI. They said I couldn’t talk to you until you were no longer sequestered. This year has been so awful.” She touched the screen. “My baby. You’re alive.”
    June wiped her eyes. Sam handed her a wad of tissues.
    “Is your brother there with you? He wasn’t at the press conference.”
    June froze, tissues pressed to her face. She hadn’t prepared herself for this moment, hadn’t thought up a story yet. She couldn’t tell her Jason had been kidnapped by vampires. She’d already told the FBI he wasn’t in Chicago, and she’d told the masses he didn’t want to speak at the conference. She was going to get tangled up in her lies and hang herself.
    “He’s not here.” She lowered the tissues, sniffing. “We…um…”
    “The FBI kept them apart.” Sam leaned over in front of the screen. “They’re still questioning him, but they should be releasing him in a few days. All this red tape, it’s ridiculous.” He sat back.
    June swallowed. “Yes, but… He’s fine, Mom. We’re both fine.”
    Her mother broke down, crying into her hands. June cried, too, positively wept, like she hadn’t done in months. Sam slid an arm around her and rubbed her back.
    After a few minutes, they both composed themselves. June’s side hurt worse.
    “I’ve been searching for you since you disappeared,” her mother said. “I even sent Diego to find you last month, but I haven’t heard from him. I can’t get him on his phone. He’s not e-mailing or texting me…”
    June cleared her throat. “The FBI has him.”
    She blinked.
    “He found us,” June said. “But it was dangerous. We couldn’t let him contact you. The FBI is still questioning him and Jason.”
    She heaved a deep sigh. “Oh, thank God.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I was so worried something happened to him. He was my rock through this, you know. I wanted to come to Chicago so many times, but he told me to be reasonable. He kept saying if you were on the run, you’d probably come home, and I needed to be here to help you. I kept praying, hoping… I would have hidden you until the end of time. I kept waiting for you to reach out to me.”
    “I’m sorry.” Fresh tears formed in June’s eyes. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t get out of the city.”
    “Oh, baby, it’s not your fault.” She touched the screen again. “I know you’ve been through hell. I’m just so happy to see your face.”
    “It has. It’s been hell, but I’m here.”
    “Don’t you worry. I’m getting on a plane to Chicago tomorrow.”
    June froze again, widening her eyes.
    “They said you can’t leave there yet,” her mother said. “But they’ve got no restrictions