Something was definitely wrong. Silas was one of the few who knew what it was.
How many others in town were experiencing the same feelings of unease? Jenna would’ve done her best to block knowledge of her plans from the psychics in town, to mute the energy required to pull it off. How successful had she been? Not entirely, if Helen sensed something off.
Gabi assured him that she was almost finished. Thank goodness. Silas would rather chase a hundred dogs around Mystic Springs three times than babysit. Mia was exhausting. Where did all that energy come from? Was the kid never still?
Apparently not unless she was sleeping.
As he walked the halls and chased the toddler in the main area, Silas tried, again, to catch some hint that Mia had Springer blood. Nothing. He could almost convince himself he’d imagined the mine, that day in Gabi’s shop, or that it had come from Judge, not the kid.
Only Judge didn’t have words, not like that.
When Gabi walked out of the room where she’d been working all afternoon, Silas breathed a sigh of relief. If anyone ever opened a Mystic Springs daycare center, it wouldn’t be him.
Mia ran to her mama, laughing the whole way. The child launched herself, and Gabi caught her.
The love on Gabi’s face, the joy so clear in Mia’s “mama, mama, mama,” damn near made Silas’s heart stop.
No one would hurt those two. And no one would run them out of town unless they wanted to go. Jenna had given him a different task that had set this all in motion, but protecting Gabi and her child had just become his mission.
The tale Jenna spun for him was outlandish. Impossible. But Blake couldn’t deny what his eyes told him. She could make herself look and sound like Gabi. In bed, out of bed, whenever and wherever he wanted. He didn’t tell her that it was dangerous for her to wear that face he both loved and hated for too long. He’d dreamed of killing his ex-wife; she didn’t have much time left.
At this rate he could kill her twice, if he wanted to.
But Jenna wasn’t expendable. Not yet. She had things to teach him, about who he was, about what he could do. Enchanted springs, magical blood, a spell that kept the magic contained. He wouldn’t believe it, he’d say she was crazy, but then she did that thing with her face, and with fire on her palm, and she told him he had more power than he could possibly imagine.
At the current time she was stronger than he was, but he suspected that wouldn’t last long.
His mother must’ve known what he was, what he could be. Why had she left this place? True, it wasn’t much to look at, but why would someone who had power willingly leave it behind? Why hadn’t she told him what he was? He’d ask her, if she wasn’t dead.
No one had questioned her “fall” down the stairs. It was her own fault. She shouldn’t have badgered him over and over about his child. She shouldn’t have called him a fool for letting Gabi get away with a baby who had Bolton blood. At least now he understood what that meant.
As Jenna talked, he realized what she was telling him explained a lot. His lifelong feeling that something was missing, the sensation of being somehow incomplete, the constant craving for something he couldn’t explain even to himself.
He screwed Jenna twice, the last time as afternoon turned to night. She wasn’t his type, not at all. She was too ballsy, too bossy. But she was convenient, and she wore Gabi’s face when he asked her to. What she wouldn’t do was allow him to put his hands on her throat and squeeze.
Just a little.
She showered and redressed, and they made plans for more lessons tomorrow. He wanted her to stay all night, but she refused. Tomorrow, she said. Tomorrow we’ll see what you can do.
Her last word to him was an order to stay inside, not to let anyone see him before he was ready.
Blake Pierce had never taken orders well. He didn’t intend to start now.
Chapter 13
It was past time to clue Clint in about what was going on. Jenna, her plans for the equinox, his suspicions about Mia, Gabi’s ex, all of it. Silas dreaded the conversation, for more than one reason. His instinct was to take Gabi and Mia with him, to load them all into his truck for the second time that day and drive to Clint’s cabin. Not only did he want to make sure they were safe, she’d serve as a buffer against Clint’s inevitable anger. Maybe.
But Gabi didn’t know about Mystic Springs, about spells and witches and Bigfoot shifters. He’d have to tell her sooner or later, if she stayed, but not tonight. He’d come so close to telling it all, but the secrets of this town and the people who lived here were not his to tell. At least, not only his to tell.
So he’d lied to Gabi and told her he had to check on the dogs at his place. Truth was, he’d talked to Damian by phone several times and all was well on that front. He’d left Gabi at home, doors and windows locked, with instructions to open the door only for him. No one else, just him. They still weren’t sure the man who’d shown up in town was her ex, but why take chances? He’d instructed Judge to be on alert, just in case. The bloodhound had received the message loud and clear.
And then he’d headed to the Maxwell cabin, dreading what was to come.
Marnie had made a few changes in the Maxwell house. There were flowers in the den that had once been entirely masculine and colorful paintings, most of them Cindy’s work, on once-bare walls. The pillows on the couch were decorative, pretty things not to be used. Silas moved one aside when he sat.
He had full Clint’s attention. Did the soon-to-be mayor sense that something was up, or was this visit simply unusual enough to set the man’s teeth on edge? Clint was wound pretty tight.
Might as well get this over with.
“Jenna is back, and she has plans,” Silas said bluntly. “Brigadoon.”
Marnie had been standing just around the corner, apparently. She stepped into the room. “Your ex Jenna?” She asked, eyes on Clint. “Brigadoon, again. I swear, what is it with you people? It was a movie, a musical no less, not a blueprint for some kind of magic spell.” She pursed her lips then said, “Though Gene Kelly is kind of awesome, in an old-timey kind of way.”
Clint stood, kissed his wife briefly, and then asked her to make coffee. She started to argue, but didn’t. It was unlikely either of them would drink coffee this late, but it would be best if Marnie wasn’t a part of this conversation.
When his wife was out of the room Clint asked, in a low, gravelly voice, “How long has she been back?”
“A couple of weeks, maybe longer.”
“And I’m just now hearing about it?”
“It isn’t exactly happy news I was thrilled to share,” Silas snapped, and then he explained that he’d called once and Marnie had told him there was a tight deadline. That wasn’t much of an excuse. He should’ve tried again.
Clint narrowed his eyes, probably having the same thought. “We need to get the Benedicts in on this. Susan, too. Maybe Tag Keen. What about Harry?”
“The Milhouses are with Jenna,” Silas said. If one of them was in on the plan, the others would be, too. That clan stuck together, always. “And Tag is out. He made sure the Non-Springer activities director at The Egg found a better job elsewhere.”
Clint growled low in his throat before continuing. “Did Jenna find Alice’s spell? How the hell did she manage that? People in town have been searching for months without success. Besides, Jenna hasn’t been around for years. How did she even know about it?”
“Apparently she came up with this spell on her own.” Silas leaned forward, lowering his voice. He wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out Marnie was listening. “It’s to take place at the equinox. I don’t know why, but then spells aren’t my thing.” He hesitated, glanced once toward the hallway half expecting to see Clint’s wife there. “There’s more.”
“Of course there is.”
“Gabi’s little girl, Mia. I…” He hesitated. He had nothing but a suspicion, a random, isolated incident that could probably be explained away, somehow. “I think she has Springer blood.”
“She’s too young…”
“I’ve gone over all the arguments,” Silas snapped. “I heard her thoughts, a word, an emotion. It just happened once, and wasn’t my imagination. I’ve tried to convince myself that it was, but I can’t. She’s too young, I get that, but things change. Look at how powerful Felicity and Bria are.”
Clint’s response was a grunt.
“Maybe it’s all connected, somehow,” Silas said. “The tide of power among the young, the fact that Jenna’s so sure she can cast this spell now, people leaving…”
“Anything unusual going on in your world?”
Silas looked back, he searched his memory for some kind of clue among the animals of the region, but there was nothing. “No. Everything is as it’s always been.” Except for Mia, and Judge’s obsession with the kid. “Gabi’s shown no indication that she has magic of any kind,” he continued, “so it has to be the father. A father who might be in town hunting for his ex-wife. If he is, I can guarantee you his intentions are not good.”
“Does Gabi know?” Clint asked.
He didn’t have to be more specific than that. Did Gabi know he could talk to animals, that there was magic all around her, that she’d stumbled into a place where she did not belong? “No.” Not yet.
Marnie walked into the room with a tray bearing two steaming coffee cups, cream and sugar, and a small plate of cookies. “I thought about making decaf, but I didn’t. Sounds to me like you two have some work to do. A little caffeine won’t hurt, and neither will the sugar in the cookies.”
She didn’t even pretend that she hadn’t been eavesdropping. After placing the tray on a rustic coffee table, she sat in a chair near Clint’s. “We should meet here. Not knowing who’s involved, meeting in town will be too risky. Tonight or tomorrow? Should be tonight, I guess, because this sounds pretty serious. The Jenna part, not the thing with the baby. I wonder what Mia will be able to do when she’s older?”
Marnie looked squarely at Silas. “Brigadoon, or whatever the hell you call it, scares the stew out of me. That’s first priority. But having Clint’s ex-wife back in town is almost as scary. You have to get rid of her.”
Silas raised his eyebrows.
“That’s not what I mean!” Marnie said. “I wasn’t asking you to kill her, just, you know, run her out of town once and for all. There has to be a way.” With that she stood. “Y’all have phone calls to make. Get busy.”
Gabi paced. In the living room, through the dining room, into the kitchen and out again. Repeat. She could not sit still!
Ten minutes after Silas left, she was wishing she’d insisted on tagging along. Even though it was after Mia’s bedtime, even though he hadn’t asked her to go with him. Their relationship, no matter what it was, was too new for her to need him this way. She’d been determined not to need any man ever again, but then she hadn’t planned on Silas.
It got dark too early this time of year. She preferred summer, when the days were long and the sun shone well into the evening, when there weren’t so many dark shadows in her yard, just beyond the windows. There had been a time when she didn’t mind the dark, when she’d actually enjoyed walks after dinner, no matter how dark it might be. That had been before Blake. Before she’d learned to be suspicious of shadows where anything, anyone, might be hiding.
She didn’t often wish for a phone. Most days, she had no one to call. But at the moment she wished for a phone to call Silas. She wanted to hear his voice, wanted to know what time he’d be home.
Home. In that second, she thought of this house as his home, as well as hers. It wasn’t. It was much too soon to even consider such a thing, and yet, there it was.
Maybe tomorrow she’d walk to the grocery store and buy one of those disposable cells. She could program Silas’s phone number in. Cindy’s, too.
Another sign that she was getting far too comfortable here.
After cleaning the kitchen and checking on Mia and Judge not once but three times, Gabi settled in her chair with a book. Not that she was capable of paying attention to the words on the page, but she made an effort. How long did it take for a man to check on a pack of dogs? She hoped nothing was wrong. Not only for the animals, but because she wanted Silas to return sooner rather than later.
She missed him.
If she was smart she’d get out of town tonight. Silas would be disappointed to come here and find everyone gone, but she’d made it clear from the get-go that she wasn’t permanent. The fact that she felt as if Silas could be more was terrifying.
All she’d have to do was get to Montgomery, maybe Birmingham, and catch a bus headed north. Away from this place, far away from Florida. She was pretty sure she couldn’t take Judge on any bus, so where did that leave her? The bloodhound had been hers for three days, but he was already a part of the family. Leaving Judge behind would be one of the hardest things she’d ever done.
Damn it all, she wasn’t ready to leave Mystic Springs just yet. She’d just found Silas! Not that she had any intention of keeping him; she didn’t have that luxury. But there were nights to be spent in her bed or his, stories to be told, laugher to be shared. Maybe she couldn’t keep him, but that didn’t mean she had to give him up so soon.
The scratching sound at her front window startled Gabi so much she jumped. She set the book aside, giving up on it for now, and knelt on the couch to pull the curtains back a few inches. Nothing.
She heard Judge enter the room. He didn’t bark, but he did make an odd snuffling sound. The noise at the window hadn’t been loud enough to wake him, not from his bed in Mia’s room, but something had the bloodhound on alert.
Gabi sat on the couch and patted the cushion beside her. Her insistence that the new dog stay off the furniture hadn’t lasted long at all. Judge jumped up, and as she had, he peered at the window.
“Nothing there, boy,” Gabi said as she scratched behind Judge’s ear. She was glad to have his company. He continued to stare at the window, and finally gave one sharp, alarming bark. She pulled the curtain back again, to reveal a familiar pale face peering in.
She instinctively fell back and screamed. Judge barked as he lunged toward the window. Blake grinned, winked, blew her a kiss, and ran, disappearing into the darkness.
Chapter 14
The area around Clint’s front porch was cluttered with cars that had pulled into the yard, once his small parking area was full. A handful of pickup trucks and a couple of compact cars, the one and only Mystic Springs police car, and one motorcycle. The living room was just as crowded. The Benedicts, the Franklins, Susan, and of course the Maxwells. Even that odd Lovell guy was on hand. The motorcycle was his.
Marnie had made coffee and tea and had scrounged up more cookies, as if this were an impromptu social gathering rather than what it truly was.
A war council.
In the past a few of those present had expressed a desire to be done with the rest of the world and embrace what had once only been the possibility of Brigadoon. The reality of isolation was different from a vague concept, for him and for others. If the time ever came, Springers should be given the opportunity to choose. Stay or go? Isolate or take their chances in the real world?
Silas had been a loner for so long, it was a shock to realize that if it came down to it he’d give up his gift to live in the real world with Gabi. He’d still have his love for animals. He’d still be capable of training them, it would just take a bit more work on his part.
As he explained what he knew, and how, the expressions of those around him changed. They’d been curious to be called here, now they were angry, afraid, confused. Sometimes all three at once. In the end, anger won out. How dare Jenna and the Milhouses choose for the entire town?
And then the anger turned on him, as he’d assumed it would before the night was over. It was only fair.
Ivy glared at him and asked, “How long have you known about this?”
He wouldn’t lie. Any lie would be too easy to disprove, if not tonig
ht then tomorrow, or the next day. The facts were not on his side. “A couple of weeks.”
The ensuing assault of chattering voices was enough to make any man, loner or not, want to flee.
“I admit it,” he said, interrupting the chatter, “at first I saw the appeal in the plan, as many of you have in the past.” Might as well tell it all. At this point, what more did he have to lose? Everyone was already pissed. “Jenna asked me to get Gabi Lawson out of town. She wants all the Non-Springers gone before she casts the spell.”
“Hey!” Marnie said, her indignation clear. She and Cindy Benedict, the two Non-Springers in the room, shared a censuring glance.
“You two are safe, since you’re carrying Springer babies. The few others… most are already gone. A couple of others soon will be.”
“I get it,” Nelson Lovell said in a low voice that still managed to grab everyone’s attention. In the months the newly-discovered Bigfoot shifter had been in and out of Mystic Springs, he’d given up the phony British accent and cut his hair. His clothes were more casual than they’d been in the early days. He still wasn’t one of them, but he was getting there. Or trying to. “You were hot for this Jenna’s plan until you fucked the hairdresser and changed your mind.”
Silas sprung. He couldn’t help it. His fist connected with Lovell’s jaw twice, before someone pulled him off. Clint, judging by the force that was used to get the job done.
Lovell didn’t respond in kind. He didn’t stand or swing out or even look angry. He remained amazingly calm as he rubbed his jaw and said, “Maybe it’s more than that, given your response.”
“It doesn’t matter why Silas changed his mind,” Clint said as he released his hold. “He came to us so maybe we can take care of things before they go too far. We’ll deal with the why later.”
“Oh, I think we all know the why,” Lovell responded.
Eve and Travis tried to lead the discussion, offering ways to stop Jenna, trying to figure out who else they could trust, beyond those in this room. More often than not they ended up with three or four people talking at once.
Beauty and the Beastmaster (Mystic Springs Book 3) Page 13
