by Maeve Hart
“Get rid of him, and we’ll hide,” Lewis said, pulling me to my feet and taking me to the back of the house.
Once we were in the spare bedroom, we crouched down behind the bed and listened while Abbie opened the door.
“I hope she’ll be safe,” I whispered to Lewis.
“I won’t let anything happen to her.”
We heard the detective say, “I’m sorry about how we left things, Abbie. Can we start over?”
“Can we talk about it tomorrow? I’m tired and need to get up early tomorrow for work. Why don’t we meet tomorrow night for a drink?”
“Why don’t I come in for a drink now?” he suggested.
“No, Logan, I’m tired.”
“Why have you changed suddenly?”
He was getting suspicious now.
“What do you mean? I haven’t changed at all.”
“Something’s different about you.”
We heard the door shut. “He’s inside,” I whispered to Lewis, who told me to shush.
“There’s nothing different,” Abbie insisted.
“Yes there is. You’re looking at me strangely.”
The next voice I heard was Abbie’s. “Please go, Logan.”
“He’s in the house,” I whispered again to Lewis who put his hand up to silence me.
My eyes were drawn to my ring. The diamond was glowing. I put my hand out and Lewis was visibly shaken.
When we heard the door shut again, Lewis stood up. “He’s gone.”
I stood up as well. “How do you know?”
He picked up my hand. “That ring.”
I looked down to see the glow had lessened.
“The stone in your ring drove him away.”
“How?” I asked.
“It’s not a diamond, it’s tychrid. It’s one of the most precious substances on earth. It wards off people with evil intent. They can’t come within yards of it.”
While I was processing what he said, Abbie joined us in the room.
“He’s gone. He stepped inside and then he suddenly turned around and left without saying a word. It was the strangest thing.”
I glanced at Lewis. What he said must’ve been true.
“Abbie won’t be safe here,” I said to Lewis.
Lewis nodded and faced Abbie. “I think you’ll have to come with us until this is all sorted out.”
“I can’t do that. I’ve got work.”
“This is more important, Abbie. This is your life.”
“I just can’t disappear without letting them know. Am I really in danger?”
“Yes,” Lewis and I said at the same time.
Abbie bit her lip. “I’ll send them an email telling them I had to go away quickly.”
I suggested, “Tell them your uncle in England died and you have to fly over for the funeral.”
“I used that excuse last year when we went to that rock festival.”
“Tell them that it was your aunt who died this time.”
“Good idea.”
“After you do that, pack a bag and then we’ll have to be off. We’ll change cars now that Andrews has seen that one in the street. And leave your cell phone here, Abbie, and your laptop.”
Abbie and I headed to the bedroom and Lewis ordered us not to take too long.
“What is it like when you change into a wolf, Destiny?”
“It’s the strangest feeling. It hurt at first and then I couldn’t control it, but now I can. Anyway, I’ll tell you more later.”
“It sounds exciting.” She leaned in toward me. “And Lewis is hot.”
I whispered back, “He’s Seamus’ brother.” I remembered Abbie had met Seamus before when he came to collect my things from her house.
“Hmmm. Anyway, what shall I take?”
“Just throw some things in. Shoes you can run in,” I said, looking down at the tatty shoes on my feet.
Abbie looked me up and down. “What are you wearing?”
“This is all I could find. I had to leave in a hurry.”
“I’ve got my mother’s clothes here if you want to take some of those?”
“Thanks. I will.”
“Here.” Abbie handed me a small overnight bag that she got from the bottom of her closet.
I headed into the other bedroom where Abbie’s mother stayed when she visited. They weren’t exactly the latest fashions, and they were the clothes of an older person. I grabbed two pairs of sneakers and other clothing and met Abbie back in her bedroom. “We should hurry.”
She zipped up her bag. “All done except for toiletries.”
“Just throw some things in and hurry,” I said.
We both joined Lewis back in the living room to see him on Abbie’s computer.
“There’s nothing here about Jacques being arrested, or anyone else for that matter.”
“That’s a good sign, isn’t it?”
He shut the lid of the laptop. “It could be good, unless he’s fallen into other hands. The police have been known to play both sides.”
“The Light?” I asked.
“The FBI or some kind of task force I was thinking.”
That was something I didn’t want to hear. I was trying to keep my spirits high and remain hopeful.
“He’ll be alright, won’t he?” Abbie asked.
Lewis sprang to his feet. “He survived this long.” He reached out his arms to take our bags from us. Before he opened the front door, he turned around and looked at Abbie. “Have you left your cell phone behind?”
“Yes.” She pointed to it on the side table.
“And you don’t have any other electronic equipment—iPad, iPod, iPhone, or anything else with an ‘i’ in the name?”
“No, I don’t.”
“We’ll be tracked down if you have any of those devices.” He raised an eyebrow as he stared at her.
She shook her head. “Truly, I don’t.”
Soon we were on the road again.
“Where are we going this time?” I asked.
“The first thing we need to do is get a new car.”
I didn’t ask anything else, and fifteen minutes later, we stopped in a suburban street. Lewis went inside a house and came back out less than a minute later.
He opened the car door and spoke to us. “Let’s go.” Once he closed the door, he headed up the street.
Abbie and I both got out of the car and had no idea where we were going. We each took out our bag and followed Lewis.
“Get in,” he ordered when he unlocked another car.
I could tell Abbie liked his forceful approach.
“Are we going back to the same house?” I asked.
“Yes. There’s no reason why we can’t. Put your seatbelts on.”
I was pleased that we were going somewhere and Abbie was with me.
On the drive back to the house, I stared at my ring with the tychrid stone. It was certainly a useful object to have.
CHAPTER 20
We were still at the safe house two days later and there’d been no word from Jacques. I’d had nothing to do in all that time but exchange details of recent events with Abbie. I’d found out more about the detective while she’d found out more about the pack and my grandmother.
We’d just sat down for breakfast when Abbie asked, “Is your grandmother in danger?”
“From what?”
“If Logan was after Jacques, what about your grandmother? She poisoned Donald and killed Jacques’ shifter grandfather.”
I looked at Lewis who was sitting next to Abbie. “What do you think?”
“I’m not letting you go to your grandmother’s place alone.”
He’d predicted that I wanted to check on her. “You can’t come with us, Lewis. You know what she did to the Alpha.”
“You’re a shifter too, Destiny, don’t forget that,” Lewis said.
“Yes, but Destiny’s grandmother doesn’t know that,” Abbie said. “Is that right?” Abbie looked at me.
I no
dded.
“You better hope she doesn’t find out,” Lewis added.
“How do we know whether she’s safe? If the raid was anything to do with The Light they could be after Granny.”
“Don’t worry about her. From what I’ve heard about her, it sounds like she can look after herself,” Lewis said.
“She’s still my grandmother.”
“You can’t save the whole world, Destiny.”
“I’m not trying to do that. She’s my grandmother, and she’s an old lady.”
Lewis chuckled, and that made me upset. I knew my grandmother had done some bad things, but she had killed the Alpha because she believed he’d destroyed her whole family. Jacques said it wasn’t true, but Granny believed it. She took her revenge, just like she was also taking her revenge on Donald when she thought he’d stolen some of the Alpha’s remains. I’d done my best to bury the guilt I felt for disturbing those remains. Donald would’ve died anyway, I reminded myself.
Lewis stared at me and raised an eyebrow. “Are you so determined to go there that you’d steal the car again?”
I nodded.
“Okay, I’ll drive you there, and this time I’ll stay in the car. Just make sure to keep safe.”
“I’ll stay with her.” Abbie turned to me. “Will that be okay?”
“Yes. We’ll just say we’ve stopped by to…”
“To what?” Abbie asked, her eyes wide.
“I’m thinking.”
“Don’t you ever just stop by to visit?” Lewis asked.
I shook my head. “No. Not really. Well, sometimes, I guess.”
“Take her something,” Abbie suggested.
“She likes caramels—the soft caramels covered in chocolate. I could say I was at the markets and saw them and thought of her.”
Abbie nodded, smoothing down her hair. “Good idea, but where would we get them from?”
Lewis said, “We can stop somewhere along the way.”
I nodded. “Okay. That’ll have to do because I can’t think of anything else.”
AS WE DROVE to Granny’s house I recalled the last time I was there. I was asking her about the man I’d seen when I’d been hiding in her house.
“You must be devastated, Destiny.”
I turned to face Abbie, who was in the backseat with me while Lewis did the driving. “About what?”
“About everything that happened on your wedding day.”
“I’ve been too worried about Jacques to think about it.” Sure I was upset how my wedding day turned out, but there were more important things going on.
“I would be devastated if that had happened to me.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t invite you. It was all last minute and we’re going to have another wedding later. That one was just a last-minute wedding that Jacques wanted for some reason. He must’ve known something was about to happen. We’re having a big wedding for my friends and family later on and everyone would think that was the real wedding.” I was rambling and was sure I was making little sense.
“Well that makes me feel a little better about things,” Abbie said.
Lewis stopped the car at a small general store and left us in the car while he went to see what kind of candies he could find.
“Is he involved with anyone?” Abbie asked, staring after him.
“Lewis?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head. “No. I knew you liked him and I think the feeling is returned.”
“You think so?”
I nodded. “He’s much nicer than his brother. Seamus gives me the creeps.” I didn’t want to go down the track of telling her about that time Seamus attacked me.
When I looked up again at Abbie, I could see she was deep in thought.
“Here he comes,” she said.
Lewis hurried out of the store clutching a brown paper bag, looking pleased with himself.
“He’s got them,” Abbie said, smiling.
“It looks like it.”
He got into the car and passed me the bag. I looked inside to see chocolate covered candies. “Are these caramels?”
“Yes, but they might not be soft.”
“Doesn’t matter; she’ll like them anyway,” I said.
“Good work,” Abbie said to Lewis.
“Now we’ve got your cover story figured out, we’ll head to this grandmother of yours.”
I gave him the address and he put it into his GPS.
CHAPTER 21
G ranny opened the door. “Destiny, it’s nice to see you and you’ve brought Abbie.”
“Hello. How are you, Mrs. Stephens?” Abbie asked with a smile.
“I’m good thank you, Abbie.”
“And we’ve brought you chocolate caramels,” I said, holding up the bag.
“What a nice surprise. I’ll start my diet tomorrow.” Granny stepped back and we walked inside. She showed us to the living room. “I won’t be a moment. I’ll just put the kettle on and we can have a nice cup of hot tea. Do you like tea, Abbie?”
“Yes please.”
My grandmother disappeared out of the room and Abbie and I looked at each other.
“You’ve never been here before, have you?” I asked.
Abbie shook her head. “I haven’t,” she whispered. “It’s a bit spooky.”
I nodded. I had to agree and she hadn’t even seen inside Granny’s spell room.
“There. While the water boils would you girls like some candy?” She passed us a fancy plate filled with the candy we’d brought her.
“Not for me,” I said. “I’m dieting to fit into my wedding dress.”
“I’ll have a piece, thank you.” Abbie popped the candy into her mouth.
Granny sat down. “What a lovely surprise that you girls have come here to see me.”
“And what’s been happening with you lately, Granny?”
“I had a break-in.”
“What kind of break-in?” I asked.
“Somebody broke in two days ago and stole some of my items from the spell room.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. I asked, “Not the shifter’s remains?”
My grandmother nodded while looking at Abbie.
“Don’t worry about Abbie; she knows you’re a witch.”
“Well, I don’t keep it a secret, but I thought you might, Destiny.”
“Sometimes,” I had to agree.
“I’ve been giving a great deal of thought to how the Alpha’s remains got disturbed that first time and it might not have been Donald. Something didn’t sit right, so I did a divination about that and who broke in two days ago too.”
I kept my face straight. “Do you think you know who it was who broke in two days ago?” It was a weak attempt to keep her mind off the first time the remains were disturbed.
“I wouldn’t mind guessing it was my man friend because he hasn’t been back to visit me since the items went missing.”
“Do you know where to find him?” I asked.
“I can hardly go to his house and accuse him of such a thing, Destiny.”
“Why not?”
“If he did it, he’s not going to admit it so what would be the point?”
“And if he didn’t do it, it would be a strange thing to accuse someone of,” Abbie said, buying into the conversation.
My grandmother smiled at Abbie and her green eyes twinkled. “Exactly.”
“I wonder why he stole it,” I said.
“It would have many uses, Destiny. And I’m sad because I’m never going to get anything like that again. You don’t know any Alpha shifters, do you, Destiny? If you did happen to know an Alpha, I could replenish my jar after I kill him.”
“Stop it, Granny, or you’ll scare Abbie. She’s joking, Abbie.”
“Yes, I know.” Abbie managed a laugh that sounded quite false and wouldn’t have fooled anyone.
I could feel the tension in the room as Granny stared at me.
“Now. When did you say it happened—the robb
ery?” I tried to act naturally and Abbie leaned forward and took two pieces of candy. That in itself was unusual. I could see Abbie was nervous, but Granny might not have noticed.
When my grandmother told me how many nights ago she was robbed, I counted back on my fingers and it was the night Jacques and I had married. The same night the compound was raided.
I did a double take when a cat strolled into the room as if he owned the place.
“What’s this?” I asked my grandmother. Whatever or whoever the cat was, he was a welcome distraction.
She stood up and leaned over, picked the cat up, and promptly sat down with him on her lap. “You mean who’s this.”
“All right. Who’s this?”
“This is Kelly, my new cat.”
“You’ve never had a cat before.”
She stroked the cat and she seemed to be quite at home with him. “One of the ladies from the coven gave him to me. She had to go to the hospital for some tests and she said she was no longer well enough to look after him. Anyway, a witch really should have a familiar and I’ve never had one.”
“And now Kelly’s your familiar?”
Before Granny could answer, Abbie asked, “Does Kelly stand for something?”
“I don’t think so. Nothing grand anyway; it’s just a name.”
“Does the cat talk to you?” Abbie asked.
“In his own way, yes he does.” As Granny continued to stroke the cat, he settled down into her lap and then stared at me with eerie, translucent green eyes.
It was unnerving to have the cat looking at me with the same colored eyes as my grandmother. I wondered if he knew my secrets and would tell my grandmother. No, I was losing my mind. Things like that just didn’t happen.
“He’s a lovely cat. I’ve always wanted a cat or a small dog but my landlord won’t allow it,” Abbie said.
“Then you should buy a place of your own.”
“I wish,” said Abbie.
“What about your boyfriend? Can’t you move in with him or buy a house together? Isn’t that what you young people do? You don’t bother with getting married these days.”
