“I think that’s a marvelous idea,” Aric said, earning an eye-roll from me. “Now when I call for Trouble two things will show up. It’s twice the fun.”
I elbowed his stomach as I watched Sami get comfortable. Aric waited until she was completely settled before turning off the light.
“Can we do a dream thing tonight?” Sami asked, her voice shaky. “Can we go somewhere together like we did when I was little?”
She was terrified of falling asleep and the realization hurt my heart. “Sure,” I said. “Where do you want to go?”
“Let’s go to Disney World,” Aric suggested.
“No,” Sami said. “Let’s go to a made-up place so we know it’s a dream.”
“Like where?” I prodded.
“Can we go to Cinderella’s castle?”
“I guess,” I said. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but if that’s what she wanted she could have it. “Shall we turn Dad into a talking dog or mouse this time?”
“I don’t care which one you pick,” Aric said. “Just don’t put me in froufrou tights and make me dance.”
“Challenge accepted,” I teased.
“That wasn’t a challenge, Zoe. Zoe? Oh, why do I even bother?”
Fourteen
I woke with my face pressed against Aric’s chest, his snores lightly reverberating in my ear, and something solid resting on my back. At first I thought it was Sami – even though she never wanted to get that close while sleeping – but the panting in my ear told me either Aric was gearing up to do something completely inappropriate in his sleep or Trouble was on top of me.
“Get him off,” I groaned, trying to shift the puppy off of me. “He’s killing my back.”
Aric snapped open his eyes and glanced over, smirking when he saw Trouble licking my face. “I think he’s cute.”
“I’m not joking,” I growled. “My back really hurts from sleeping like this all night.”
“Hold on,” Aric said, grabbing the puppy and settling him on his chest. I had no choice but to pull my face away if I didn’t want to get swatted by a happy tail. “Hey, boy! Who’s a good boy?”
I rolled my eyes. “I can see I’ve already been replaced in your affections.”
“Not even close,” Aric said. “You’re such a grump in the morning, though, I think having a happy face when I wake up is going to be fun.”
“Stop making so much noise,” Sami mumbled. “I’m sleeping.”
“Speaking of grumps,” I said, raising an eyebrow and groaning as I rolled over and looked at her. “I’m in pain!”
“So am I because you won’t stop yelling,” Sami shot back.
“Hey! Who let you dance with your father in the castle all night while I got stuck with the weird prince dude? He was wearing tights and kept talking about himself in the third person. It was ridiculous.”
Despite her disdain for mornings, Sami couldn’t help but giggle. “That was fun. I liked your version of the fairy godmother being a cross-dressing dwarf. Where did you get that idea?”
“I saw it at a circus once,” I replied, grunting as I attempted to force myself into a sitting position. “Does no one care about my back?”
“I think you’re getting old,” Aric said. “I would rub your back for you – but I can’t because we have the kid with us and you know how our massages usually go. Can’t you just heal yourself?”
“I could, but then whining wouldn’t be allowed and I’m not sure that’s how I want to spend my day yet,” I replied, causing Aric to bark out a laugh.
“I wish I could heal you,” Sami said, her expression serious. “Why do you think I can’t do it?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “That doesn’t mean you won’t ever be able to do it. I didn’t do it for the first time until I was twenty.”
“Did you know you could do it or did it just happen?”
“It just happened.”
“How?”
“Well … .” I tilted my head to the side as I considered how to answer.
“I was hurt and she healed me,” Aric supplied. “We didn’t know she could heal herself until months later. That was a big relief, though, because we both know your mother is a klutz.”
“That shows what you know,” I grumbled. “I could’ve been a professional athlete if I wanted.”
“Complaining isn’t a sport,” Aric said, shifting his eyes to the door as his father appeared. James looked uncertain but couldn’t help but smile when he saw the family affair. “I was just checking. When Sami wasn’t in her room … .”
“I’m sorry,” I offered. “We should’ve let you know she climbed in here with us last night.”
“It’s fine,” James said. “It looks like you guys had a slumber party.”
“It wasn’t much of a party,” Sami said. “Mom drools and Dad makes barking noises.”
“Yes, and that snoring thing you do is just lovely,” I deadpanned.
Sami was affronted. “I don’t snore!”
“Then you were doing a lovely impression of your father.”
“Hey,” Aric said, feigning offense. “I snore way louder than her.”
Sami giggled as she reached for Trouble. “What are we going to do today?” she asked. “Are we going back to the house?”
“You’re staying here with Heath and your grandmother,” I replied. “The rest of us are going to the house.”
Aric arched an eyebrow. “Are you sure you want to drag Paris through the woods?”
“You’re driving her,” I said. “I need her to see the pentagram, and we didn’t get a chance to look around last night. She might notice something we don’t. We have to be sure.”
“Okay. Let’s get some breakfast first. You’re going to have to heal your back and forego more complaining if you want to take a group trip, though.”
“Ugh. It’s such a tough choice.”
“And somehow I love you anyway,” Aric said, pressing a loud kiss to my mouth. “Everyone up and in the kitchen in thirty minutes. I’m making eggs and bacon.”
I glanced at Sami and found her making a disgusted face. “What?”
“You guys are so gross.”
“Wait until you’re in high school and we chaperone your dances,” I threatened. “We’re going to be doubly gross then. You saw your father dance last night. Imagine how that’s going to look in front of your friends.”
Sami was horrified. “Omigod!”
“THIS PLACE is falling apart,” James said, shaking his head as he walked through the abandoned house’s living room, being careful to give the pentagram a wide berth. “No one is living here, that’s for sure.”
“Have you found out who owns it?”
“They’re pulling land deeds this afternoon, so we’ll know soon,” James replied. “Whoever tried to lure Sami here wasn’t doing it because they wanted to keep her here.”
“That either means they were going to take her somewhere else or … .” I broke off, the “or” too terrible to give voice to.
“Or they were going to try to suck her dry here before killing her,” Aric finished. “I’m going to snap someone’s spine before this is over. If we run into an actual physical being, Zoe, you have to promise to let me kill them.”
“Well, we’ll see what happens in the heat of the moment,” I said. “I might let my hormones go all wonky.”
“Oh, right, PMS is almost upon us,” Aric deadpanned. “Now there’s some horror.”
“You two are just … .” James shook his head, annoyed.
“Adorable,” Paris finished. “I hope Heath and I are like them after we’ve been married that long.”
“Your poor child,” James lamented, clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Okay, how should we do this?”
“I say we look around and see if we can find clues,” I replied.
“Seriously, son, how do you put up with her?”
Aric smirked. “It’s only hard three days a month.”
“Ug
h. Sami is right. You two are gross.” James made a disgusted sound and turned back to the pentagram. “What do we think about this?”
“Take photos of it,” Paris instructed. “I want to see if I can match the specific design on my computer when we get back to the house. “Do you see those corners there? They have a unique hook, and I think that’s deliberate.”
“What do you think it means?”
Paris shrugged. “I don’t know what you want me to tell you, Zoe,” she said. “Anything I offer right now would be conjecture.”
“That’s more than we’ve got,” Aric pointed out. “Lay it on us.”
Paris blew out a sigh. “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said. “I think this pentagram was put in this specific location to trap Sami. I’m pretty sure if she crossed the line she wouldn’t have been able to leave again. The trap is probably still active – and I can feel a little power emanating from it – so no one step in it.”
“I thought that was probably the case,” I said. “I knew better than letting her cross it. That’s why I screamed to wake her.”
“And my dad said your loud voice would bring us to ruin,” Aric said, rubbing his thumb over my cheek as his father shot him a withering look. “We need to look at this practically. I don’t think someone has been living here, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been spending time here.”
“How do you figure?” James asked.
Aric pointed toward the corner of the dining room, barely visible in the gloom. The house didn’t have working electricity. Candles cast limited light when we were here the previous evening but they’d long since burned out.
“What am I looking at?” James asked, narrowing his eyes. “The garbage in the corner?”
“It’s fast food wrappers and bags,” Aric said. “Someone has been in this house long enough to eat.”
“How do you know those bags aren’t old?” I asked.
“Because I can still smell the food on them.”
“He’s right,” James said, wrinkling his nose. “It’s pretty pungent.”
The only thing I could smell was Aric’s sweat. “I’ll take your word for it,” I said. “You guys finish looking around down here. I’m going upstairs.”
“Not by yourself you’re not,” Aric countered.
“Did you not hear how I was an awesome badass last night?” I asked, moving toward the stairs. “I’m pretty sure I can take care of myself.”
“Well, I’ll be watching your back, so that won’t be necessary.”
He’s such a tool sometimes. “I’m the badass!”
“And I’m your husband. If there’s another trap up there and you accidentally step in it someone needs to know right away,” Aric snapped.
That was a good point. “Fine. I’m going first, though. You can watch my back from behind me.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s how watching someone’s back works,” Aric said, although his smile was wolfish as I started climbing the stairs. “This really is your best view, though.”
“You’re gross,” I said, mimicking Sami.
I was cautious when I hit the top of the stairs, furrowing my brow as I tried to peer into the darkness. It was almost completely dark on the second floor.
“I don’t want you walking around without knowing what you’re stepping on,” Aric said. “I think there’s a window over there. Let me go first and I’ll pull the curtains down. That will give us some light at least.”
“Where?”
Aric pointed to my right and I focused my magic on what I hoped was curtains. I shredded them in an instant, allowing bright sunshine from outside to pour through the dusty window. “Who’s the baddest of them all?”
“Who has the biggest ego of them all?”
“That’s not an either-or question,” I said, sticking out my tongue when Aric tugged on a strand of my hair before moving to the narrow walkway.
“This house is old,” Aric said, his gaze bouncing between both sides of the hallway. “I think there are only two rooms up here. Do you have a feeling about which one to go to first?”
“I’m not a Magic 8 Ball.”
“You are magic, though.”
“Ugh. Just go to the right.”
Aric gripped my hand as we moved in that direction, glancing down as the floor creaked beneath our combined weight. “I’m not sure how safe this is.”
“I’ll heal you if we fall.”
“That’s not going to help if I break my neck.”
“You’re very glass-half-empty today.”
“I’m sorry,” Aric said, offering me an apologetic smile. “I’m just tired. Between entertaining Sami in the dream last night and the overcrowded bed my sleep wasn’t exactly restful.”
“You did a lot of dancing,” I said, bobbing my head. “You were a good sport about it, too.”
“I just wanted her to laugh.”
Aric reached out to grab the door handle, but I stilled him with a hand on his arm. “Let’s not touch anything we don’t have to, huh?”
Aric nodded and allowed me to blow open the door with my mind, smirking when he saw my smug smile. “You’re getting pretty good at that.”
“I just wish it wasn’t necessary.”
Aric squeezed my hand. “It’s going to be okay, Zoe. I have faith, and I want you to do the same.”
“Oh, I have faith,” I said, studying the threshold before crossing into the room. “I have faith I’m going to do real damage to the person behind this.”
“You’ll have to get in line.”
The room we found ourselves in was a long-forgotten bedroom. An ancient metal bed frame was in the middle of the room, but it looked weak enough that I was convinced it would fall to pieces if anyone accidentally sneezed. Other than the bed, the only thing of interest was a book on the floor.
“What do you think?” I asked, moving closer. “Do you think it’s evil?”
“I think we’ve dealt with magical books before and I’m not thrilled this thing is just sitting out in the middle of the room. It’s almost as if someone is daring us to take it.”
I released his hand and knelt, extending my fingers as I tried to get a reading on the book. It didn’t feel malevolent. Finally I took a leap of faith and wrapped my fingers around the leather tome.
“You’re not possessed, are you?” Aric studied my face for signs of a negative reaction.
I shook my head and flipped open the book, squinting at the dusty pages. “It looks like a story book.”
“What kind of stories?”
I shrugged. “Like a family memoir type thing,” I said, turning the page. “It’s almost like diary entries, but from different people.”
“Well, let’s not study it here,” Aric said. “We’ll take it home and study it there. Although … I don’t want it in the house. We’ll keep it outside.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“Let’s check the other room and get out of here,” Aric said. “This place is creepy. Whoever was here before … I don’t think they’re coming back. They won’t risk us discovering them here.”
“Maybe I should torch the house?”
“I’d rather not risk a forest fire,” Aric said. “I’m not ruling it out, but leave it for now. It might serve a purpose down the road.”
“Like?”
Aric shrugged. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “My gut tells me we should leave it standing for now, though. We’ll take the book home and let everyone go through it there.”
“I hate to say it … and I know you’re probably going to put up a fight … but I think we should put up the security fence around the yard when we get back.”
Aric sucked in a breath as he shifted his eyes to me. “I hate it, too, but I was going to suggest the same thing. Just until this is over. I promised a long time ago that I wouldn’t lock you away again.”
“You’re not locking me away,” I said. “Heck, you’re not locking Sami away. You’re loc
king out the rest of the world. Right now, that’s a good thing.”
Aric cupped my chin and gave me a soft kiss. He seemed relieved. “Let’s finish up here and get home. For some reason I’m not keen on being away from Sami too long.”
For the first time since her tween hormones reared their ugly heads, I was in total agreement. “Let’s pick up ice cream as a treat before heading home.”
“And people say I’m the softy.”
“I’m not a softy. I just happen to like ice cream.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Aric said. “You’re just as much as a marshmallow as I am.”
“I’m pretty sure that was a crack about my thighs.”
Aric made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. “You’re so much work.”
“And worth every minute of it, right?”
“Every second … forever.”
Fifteen
“What’s with the ugly book?”
Helen made a face as she carried a bowl of pasta salad to the picnic table on the back patio. She and Heath were busy in our absence, Heath entertaining Sami and Trouble while Helen cleaned my kitchen (apparently it was downright filthy) and cooked. I love the woman, but she’s still a pain.
“We found it at the house,” I said, watching Paris study the first page. “It’s like a weird family diary.”
“I think it’s one of those books families put together and pass down from generation to generation,” Paris said. “It’s not exactly easy to read because it’s so dusty, though. I don’t suppose you have any magic to eradicate dust, do you?” Paris looked to me hopefully.
“If I did the house would always be clean.”
“You could also do that with a dust rag and broom,” Helen said, her eyes sparkling.
“Dad says he doesn’t care if Mom cleans because he married her for her looks,” Sami said, tossing a tennis ball so Trouble could chase it. Aric and James were out checking the security fence and Sami hadn’t noticed them yet.
“Your father thinks he’s a comedian,” Helen said. “He’s only funny fifty percent of the time.”
Dying Covenant: The Complete Series Page 13
