by Apryl Baker
He ushers us inside, not even bothering to look to see if anyone’s watching. Granted, we are in the middle of nowhere and this is the only house I saw on the way here, but they could still have a police unit watching the house from a distance. Eli needs to be more careful.
When we get inside, it’s like stepping into a fairytale.
The wooden floors are a soft honey color and run the length of the one-story structure. The walls are a muted gray with random pops of color thanks to the vibrant paintings hung around the main area. Shag rugs in both deep reds and pastel blues are scattered throughout. The furniture is delicate and something you’d find in a Tolkien novel. Gauzy fabric serves as curtains and only accent the white furniture in the room. The small TV in the entertainment center honestly seems out of place.
Jordan whistles. “Wow.”
“Every little girl’s dreamhouse come true,” Matt agrees, and I quirk a brow at him. “I have a little sister who’s seven,” he explains. “She’d love this.”
Well, I’m seventeen and I love it, so I can’t say much.
“What’s the first thing you notice?” Eli stands in the middle of the living room, looking toward the archway leading to the kitchen.
“It’s a place where a woman lives?” Jordan lets his gaze sweep the area. “And very colorful.”
“No.” Matt steps away from me, prowling. “Dude, tell me you’re actually using those senses of yours and not goofing off. We’re trying to help clear Ella’s dad here.”
My gaze snaps to Eli, but he’s not looking at me. He’s studying the room with an expression I’ve never seen on him before. He’s focused and almost clinical. He told me his father was an FBI agent, and its only now I can see that some of that rubbed off on him. He’s got the same look Sheriff McReynolds had those first few days he came to question me in the hospital after the hit and run and they’d arrested the men responsible for it. Only Eli’s expression is even more intense than the sheriff’s had been.
“Dude, I’m part demon. I don’t have the same sense of smell you do.”
“What are you and Eli seeing that I’m not?”
“Bleach.” Matt sniffs the air. “It’s faint, but it’s here.” He walks farther into the house, going from room to room. “It’s stronger in the bedroom.”
The bedroom is more of the same pastel colors that decorate the house, the walls a soft blue, and the yellow comforter only highlights it. More gauzy white window curtains and white furniture decorate the rest of the room. Paintings of fantasy-themed forests are hung on the walls. The white carpet looks pristine.
“Are dragons usually neat freaks?”
“No.” Jordan walks over to the dresser and looks at things laid out perfectly on the top. “They’re hoarders. I’m shocked to see everything in its place and perfectly organized.”
“So, what, someone cleaned up?”
“Someone who doesn’t understand dragons cleaned up,” Jordan clarifies, and my gut clenches. It’s sounding more and more like my dad is responsible for this.
Eli’s staring at the mirror, and I go to look, too. She has photos of herself and her friends taped to it, like most of us. At least girls do this. At the top, there seems to be a photo missing. If you didn’t notice the odd pattern she has them arranged in, you’d never catch it.
“There’s a photo missing.” Eli nods, still not saying much of anything, just studying the room. “The bed’s made, too. When did people notice she was missing?”
“She didn’t show up for work, and the school got concerned after two days. They sent someone out to check on her.”
“Her car was in the driveway.”
“It was.” Eli finally speaks. “Jordan, go see if there’s anything weird with the car.”
“Weird how?”
Eli sighs. He has to remember not everyone had an FBI officer for a father. “Elaina is a maybe five-five. See if the driver’s seat matches her height or if someone taller than her was driving it last.”
“Oh, okay. I can do that.” Jordan turns and trots out of the room.
“Where’s her cat?” Matt opens the door on his right, revealing the master bath.
“Her cat?”
“I can smell it, but I can’t find it.”
“Maybe the police took it?”
“No.” He moves through the house, and Eli and I follow him. “The smell is fresh.” The hallway bathroom reveals a litter box that’s been used recently. I guess Matt does have a super sniffer. I never noticed the scent.
“Poor thing. It has to be hungry. Here, kitty, kitty,” I call, looking for the cat. “Are you hungry?” Heading to the kitchen, I start opening cabinets until I find the cat food. She’s poured it out into a container to keep it fresh. I shake the container, hoping the cat will hear it and come running. No such luck.
“Why don’t you guys go outside? The cat’s probably scared with so many strangers in and out of the house recently.”
“You’re probably right about that.” Eli squeezes my shoulder. “Shout if you need help.”
“With a cat?”
“You never know.” He winks, and some of the humor is back in his eyes, but not much. I’m not sure if I like serious Eli better or not. He’s kinda scary.
“Go on, let me try to find the cat.” Even if I can’t get it to come out, I will put out food for it. There’s not even a water bowl set out. Maybe whoever was here cleaned that up too? I find a silver bowl in the dishwasher, and instead of filling it with water from the tap, I get a bottle of water out of the fridge. Not sure if giving kitty cold water is good or not, but I don’t want to give it tap water either, so I’m going to hope it’s fine.
“Here, kitty, kitty. Are you hungry, baby?” I shake the cat food container again and take a small bowl out of the dish drainer to put some of the food in. I saw some wet food as well, and if I can’t find the cat, I’ll put some of that out too. I don’t want it to be hungry.
Where could the cat be? I finish putting out the food and start looking for it. There are any number of places it can hide, but the house isn’t huge either. I start in the living room, looking under furniture and behind the entertainment center, calling for the cat in each room I search. It’s not until I get back into the kitchen that I notice the cat door that goes out to the garage. And there’s blood on it.
Oh, no. What if the poor thing is hurt? I open the door and flip on the light. There in the corner, the poor cat is huddled. She’s a big fluffy black and white cat who looks more like a Persian than a normal cat. She’s not big either; it’s just her fur makes her look that way. Her blue eyes are full of pain, and she hunches in on herself when I come closer.
“It’s okay, pretty girl. I’m not going to hurt you.” I take a minute to gently stroke her fur, just to get her comfortable with me. “There’s such a sweet girl.” I pull her tag toward me, and the name Patches is on the front. “Patches, that’s a good name.” When she starts to purr, I look her over and notice she’s got a nasty gash on her side that looks way too deep. She’s also got blood on her ears, but I don’t think it’s hers.
“Okay, I’m going to pick you up now, Patches. I know it’s going to hurt, but you have to eat, sweetheart.” She lets out the most pitiful meow when I lift her, and she feels like she weighs nothing. She’s probably been here for days with no food. She might have gotten water out of the toilets, but she’s had no food for sure. Very carefully, I walk through to the kitchen and set her down in front of her food and water.
The poor thing slurps down water like there’s no tomorrow, and as much as I hate to do it, I take the water away. I don’t want her to get sick. She doesn’t care and turns to her food. Thankfully, I did decide to put out the wet food because that’s her second line of attack. She’s starving.
We need to get her to the vet ASAP to make sure she’s not set up an infection and get that wound stitched up.
“Okay, little girl. I’m going to go outside and get my friends. They’re not going to�
��” Before I can finish the sentence, I hear the police sirens.
Oh, crap.
Chapter Fifteen
Eli
Ella is going to murder me.
Deputy Kyle Whip rolled up on us while we were breaking into the car. He did not look happy. He’s one of Ethan’s wolves and reminds me some dangerous pirate. It’s the beard that is shaven so close to his face, it looks painted on, and the dark brown eyes flashing with anger.
“Eli, you I am not surprised to see, but you two!” He points at Jordan and Matt. “How did he talk you into this? An arrest can keep you from playing football, and I know for a fact, Matt, you need the scholarship. What is your mother going to say when she works three jobs to keep you fed and all your football gear and activities paid for?”
Matt hangs his head. Kyle’s pulling out the guilt trip big time.
“Get your butts in the car while I call this in, and then I’m taking the three of you down to the station.” He points his finger toward his cruiser.
As much as I don’t want to out Ella, she can’t stay here by herself. It’s too dangerous.
“We can’t leave Ella behind.”
“The Banks girl is here?” Kyle narrows his eyes. “Why would you bring her here?”
“She has skills that Ethan wanted utilized.” I don’t know if Kyle knows about what she can do or not. “She flipped when I told her we told him to take a hike. Ella wanted to help.”
“So why not call the sheriff instead of breaking in?”
“Because she didn’t want an audience, and if Ethan was involved, that’s exactly what she’d get. Plus, we don’t want to alert the Army to what she can do. If she came down here to help, they’d know something fishy was going on.”
Kyle looks pained. “Where is she?”
“In the house.”
“You broke into the house?” he shouts so loud I’m sure it echoed down the mountain.
“Well, yeah, she needed to do her thing, and I wanted to look around to see if anything was missed.”
“And what gives you the skills to know if something was missed?”
“My dad was one of the best FBI investigative officers in the field. He trained us from the time we were old enough to speak how to look at a crime scene.” For the first time since showing up here, I get rid of the cocky goofball and put all the authority I have into my voice. Dad would be proud.
“And let me guess. You found something?”
“We both did,” Ella says quietly from behind us. Her white tank top is streaked with blood.
I push past Kyle and leap up the steps, looking for a source of the blood. “What happened? Where are you hurt?”
“Not my blood. It belongs to Patches.”
“Patches?”
“The cat.”
I forgot the cat in the wake of the cops showing up. “Is the cat hurt?”
Ella nods. “We need to get her to the vet. She’s got this big gaping wound. At first I thought it was just a bad cut, but it’s huge. She let me look at it after I fed her. There’s also blood on her ear, but I don’t think it’s hers. Given where the wound is on her side, if the blood was hers, it would be on her right ear and not her left. There’s so much, it has to belong to Elaina or maybe her attacker. That would explain all the bleach and the freakishly clean house of a dragon. They needed to clean up the blood.”
Kyle’s expression is grim. They missed the cat. How, I don’t know, but they did.
“Did you even know there was a cat?” Jordan asks snidely.
“We saw the litterbox, but since we didn’t see it in the house, we assumed it was outside.”
“She probably did run outside.” Ella turns and goes back into the house. “I saw the blood on the cat door from the house to the garage, and there’s another one on the garage door. She probably got scared and ran away and then came back later when everyone left. She’s so weak, I doubt she was able to move far or fast, though.”
I squat down next to the cat, who can’t be more than a year old. Her whole body is trembling. “It’s okay, we’re not gonna hurt you.” We always wanted a pet, but we moved so much Mom didn’t think it was fair for them. We disagreed strongly with her and Dad, but there was no arguing with her.
Ella sits down next to me, and we both ignore the deputy who files in behind us, not caring that his stomping is scaring the cat. I’ll ream him out later. Ella looks like she’s hurting right along with the animal. The girl has the biggest heart toward animals I’ve ever seen. I think when it came down to it, she’d pick an animal over a human any day of the week. I need to see if Appalachia offers a pre-vet and vet school. Or maybe I’m being premature here, thinking they’ll want me for their football team. Either way, wherever Ella ends up, that’s where I’ll have to be, even if it means giving up football.
“I need to get you kids down to the station.”
“Patches needs a vet first.” Ella strokes the cat’s head, and she purrs.
“My priority isn’t the cat…”
Ella stands, and even I lean back from the fury in her face. “You mean tell me you’re going to let this animal die because you can’t be bothered to take her to a vet?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”
“Did you or did you not just say she was not your priority? When she has blood on her that doesn’t belong to her? Blood that could belong to the victim or her attacker?”
Kyle’s mouth snaps shut. Go, Ella. I only wish she’d take up for herself like she does for others.
“How about I take Ella and the cat to the vet, and you can meet us there?” I offer. “We’re not going to run. And the vet can collect a blood sample from the cat’s ear while we’re there?”
Kyle eyes narrow. “Why are you being so accommodating? You’re never this nice when you get caught.”
“That’s because Ella’s here.” Jordan slaps Eli on the back, causing the cat to hiss. “Oh, sorry, kitty. Didn’t mean to scare you.” He puts his fingers down for the cat to sniff, and she curls into Ella, hiding her face.
“Trust me, my mom is going to freak out enough without me trying to break and run for it,” Ella says dryly. “It’s not going to hurt anything to get this pretty girl seen to.”
Kyle sighs like we’ve asked him to run a marathon in less than ten minutes. “Fine, but I’m following you to the vet in the cruiser. And I’m calling your parents and guardians on the way.”
“That’s fine, dude. Gramps won’t care.”
“He might care when you get charged for breaking and entering.”
A grin slides over my face. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
This won’t be the first time Kyle’s tried to make charges stick, and it won’t be the last, but he’s not going to be successful. They mayor enjoys the championship trophy too much, as well as being Gramps’ oldest friend.
“Good luck with that.” I flip him off and help Ella get to her feet, the cat firmly clutched to her. Before I take her outside, I grab the throw off the couch and help her wrap the cat in it. Having Elaina’s scent close might help to calm her down.
I nudge Ella and nod to her leg. “Here, let me have the cat so you can walk on your cane. I can’t give you and the cat a piggyback ride.” I take her gently, and Ella leans on her cane, limping. I didn’t notice if she was limping in front of Kyle, but it can’t hurt anything. When his expression doesn’t change, I hope it means he was too angry to notice if she wasn’t.
The ride to the town vet only takes about twenty minutes, but it feels like a lifetime. I have Ella call Gramps and explain on the way. He assured her he’d call her mother before Kyle can and try to smooth things over. Not sure how he plans on accomplishing that, but with Gramps, you just never know.
Dr. Mindy Jones is one of the few humans in town. She’s also in the know about our way of life. She sorta has to be, though, since she treats shifters in their animal form for various reasons. Shifting usually heals wounds, but it doesn’t heal all wo
unds. When those situations arise, we need a vet who’s not another animal. When hurt, even the most cognizant shifter can be almost feral and will attack another animal, especially one not of their own breed. Humans smell nothing of supernatural elements. They’re just human. Or so Gramps explained to me.
“What do we have here?” Gina, the girl behind the front desk, asks when we come in. “Patches?” Her eyes get big and go straight to me. “Where did you find her?”
“She was at Elaina’s. We found her hurt and rushed her right over.” Ella clucks at the cat, who purrs, but you can see the pain in her face. “She’s got this nasty cut that seems to never stop leaking blood.”
“Oh, my goodness, let me take her right back.” She tries to take the cat from Ella, but she’s not having it. “No, I’ll go with her. She’s scared enough as it is.”
“She knows me, though,” Gina tries again, and I step in front of her.
“Let it go, Gina. Just take Ella back with her.”
Gina purses her lips but nods, and Ella follows her into the back. I take a seat in the waiting room.
“QB-One.”
Mr. Barry Marshall, the owner of the local Subway, is sitting there looking through a newspaper. He’s a big booster for the team. “Hey, Mr. Marshall.”
“Overheard you brought in Elaina’s cat.”
“Yes, sir.”
He nods. “Good man. We ready for the first skirmish against G-Men?”
“We are. The defense has gotten a lot better since last year. They don’t stand a chance. Gary has worked to improve not only his coordination, but overall brute strength. No one’s sacking me this year like they did last year.”
“Cheap punches, that what that horse…” He breaks off and clears his throat at the look a grandma is giving him. “Malarky. That’s what I meant to say.”
“Of course, sir.”
Kyle steps in, followed by Matt and Jordan, who head right for me. “Eli, your grandfather will meet us down at the station.”
“You in trouble, QB-One?”
