by A W Hartoin
“If you’re calling your dad, I already tried,” said Grandad.
“Is he freaked?”
“Didn’t get him. He’s in the field doing some kind of tracking class. I left a message.”
I kept trying Hunt until I got them around noon. Wilson Cleves, the director, talked to me but wouldn’t give up any information about Blankenship’s visitor. He wasn’t happy at all that I knew there was a visitor and was trying to get him to break protocol.
I tried calling various other employees to pump them for info until one o’clock when Mom called and Grandad made me answer.
“I should’ve heard it from you,” Mom said in a huff.
When your mother says that, there’s really no safe reply. “What?”
“Don’t you ‘what’ me,” she said.
“Mom, come on, I’m exhausted.”
“You should—”
We got cut off. I’ve never been so happy for bad cell coverage. Mom called back several times and kept losing me. She was getting more and more irritated and I began to feel guilty. She was upset and I was happy not to have to talk to her. Sometimes I sucked.
“She’s got you feeling bad,” said Grandad, grinning at me.
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“You’re throwing back that hot chocolate like it’s whiskey.”
I’d drained the whole thermos and felt a bit sick. “How does she do this when I’m not even in the same state?”
“Love. It’s a powerful thing,” said Grandad, pulling me close. “You’ll make it up.”
I yawned. “I will. Somehow.”
“Go to sleep now. You’ve had a hard week.”
But it was Grandad who leaned on the window and snoozed. I got out his phone and watched the hospital videos over and over, looking for something I didn’t find. The closer we got to home, the more nervous I felt.
“How long until we get there?” I asked Aaron.
“Two hours.”
Almost there. Two hours wasn’t so long. Chuck could take over and Dad, too, when he found out. A half hour later, Mom called again and the most I caught was that Cleves called her. The man tattled on me. Unbelievable.
“I’m going to think about it later,” I said.
“Huh?” asked Aaron.
“That guy at the hospital. I’m going to think about him later. And maybe I won’t have to think about him at all. Most of my stalkers just go away. Maybe he’ll go away.”
“Yeah.”
“You think?”
Aaron gave me a curiously intense glance from behind smudged glasses before offering me the last sausage roll. I declined and he stuffed it whole into his gullet before saying, “No.”
“Me either.” I scratched Wallace’s snout and looked at the long highway stretching out in front of us. It kept coming and coming, hills and valleys, twists and turns, with no end in sight.
The End
A.W. HARTOIN GREW up in rural Missouri, but her grandmother lived in the Central West End area of St. Louis. The CWE fascinated her with its enormous houses, every one unique. She was sure there was a story behind each ornate door. Going to Grandma’s house was a treat and an adventure. As the only grandchild around for many years, A.W. spent her visits exploring the many rooms with their many secrets. That’s how Mercy Watts and the fairies of Whipplethorn came to be.
As an adult, A.W. Hartoin decided she needed a whole lot more life experience if she was going to write good characters so she joined the Air Force. It was the best education she could’ve hoped for. She met her husband and traveled the world, living in Alaska, Italy, and Germany before settling in Colorado where she now lives with her family, a Great Dane, a skanky cat, and six bad chickens.
ALSO BY A.W. Hartoin*
Young Adult fantasy
Flare-up (An Away From Whipplethorn Short)
A Fairy's Guide To Disaster (Away From Whipplethorn Book One)
Fierce Creatures (Away From Whipplethorn Book Two)
A Monster’s Paradise (Away From Whipplethorn Book Three)
A Wicked Chill (Away From Whipplethorn Book Four)
To the Eternal (Away From Whipplethorn Book Five)
Away From Whipplethorn Box Set (Books 1-3, plus bonus short)
Mercy Watts Mysteries
Novels
A Good Man Gone (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book One)
Diver Down (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Two)
Double Black Diamond (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Three)
Drop Dead Red (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Four)
In the Worst Way (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Five)
The Wife of Riley (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Six)
My Bad Grandad (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Seven)
Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Set (Books 1-3, plus bonus short)
Short stories
Coke with a Twist
Touch and Go
Nowhere Fast
Dry Spell
A Sin and a Shame
Paranormal
It Started with a Whisper (Sons of Witches
