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Or do I listen to the voice from deeper inside? The whisper from the place quieter and more sacred than this meadow? The voice that prods at bigger parts of my psyche, chipping away at the support pillars to my devotion for Hecate?
At all the gratitude I still owe her…
I can’t commit to believing either. Not now. Not yet. But I can’t give up. I have to find a clear path. Ihaveto figure this out.
To do that, I have to talk to Hecate.
But doing that feels impossible—even a little terrifying—without Maximus. Whatever has to be uncovered here, whether hilarious or harrowing, we have to do it together.
“Oh, fireballs.”
The interruption wakes up the wildlife, along with Jaden and me. We jerk our stares around toward the blessedly familiar figure picking her every step through the tall grass.
“Damn. I should’ve brought some hand shears. This sage is so luscious,” Kell mutters. Then, not too much louder, “What the hell are you guys up to now?”
“Obviously not as much as you, sister number two,” Jaden replies. “Is that the basic blouse and leggings that Aradia loaned you? And has she seen them with your…creative touches?”
“What?” Kell volleys, brushing both hands along her outfit. “The Wi-Fi’s more temperamental than my aesthetician during a Mars retrograde. I had to amuse myself. There was some fun fabric paint in the sala, and I custom cut some stencils. For your information, Aradia herself found the leather strips for me to braid into—”
She breaks into a harsh choke as I approach with a determined pace.
“Holy shit.” Her wide browns start to water as she pinches the end of her nose. “You took a bath in fear on top of the stress, didn’t you? What’d I miss? Have you two been escaping Sasquatch or something?”
“Pffft.” Jaden huffs. “That asshole only comes south of Seattle if there’s a VIP room at the Kinky Rhino involved.”
She ignores him, thank God, to push on with her interrogation. “So what’s actually going on? K-demon? Talk to me.”
“You first.” But I say it more around her than to her, already trying to stab my stare through the trees and back to the sala’s rear veranda. “Have you seen Maximus?”
“You mean lately? Now that you mention it, no. Not since he grabbed a paw full of scones and told us he was headed to the barn to help Kiama and Liseli.”
“That’s right.” I rush it out with glaring relief. “Thanks. I’ll head there first.”
“And I’m right behind you,” says Jaden.
I feel the knowing glance that Jaden exchanges with Kell before she speaks again.
“I’m in too.” She falls readily in line on the footpath behind me. “You think I’m going to give up on the mystery that easily?”
“It’s not that huge of a deal, Stephanie Plum,” I mutter. “At least not after I find Maximus and we figure this all out.”
“Fine enough, darling,” she quips back. “Just don’t mind my sleuthy instincts for wanting to stick around a wee bit longer.”
Wisely, she doesn’t resurrect the remark once we arrive at the barn and find it empty of all life save the familiars and livestock. There’s not a human to be found, even after we call out for Kiama and Liseli.
When we take the breezeway over to the farmhouse, there’s still no answer for us in two-legged form. Adelfi, a sweet black Labrador that’s more house mascot instead of active familiar anymore, barely lifts her head from the thick rug near the hearth as we walk through.
If only my racing nerves would learn some of Adelfi’s game.
Instead, they pound harder with every passing second. There’s a matching cadence in what’s left of my stomach, which is not happy with me for this. Or, for that matter, any part of the last weird hour.
No.
If I’m being honest with myself…the lasttwenty-fourhours.
Nothing’s been settling right since Maximus walked into the cottage yesterday, looking like aliens had cruised by on the stream.
I almost pray for such an easy explanation now. But if little green space-zoids were going to scuttle to our rescue, it likely would’ve happened by now. There are harder facts to face at this point, like pulling out my phone and punching Max’s number is probably going to yield the same results as my first fifty tries.
