Getting up before she made a fool of herself by crying over something she had no control over, Dante did indeed head to her bed. For tomorrow and the next would be the hardest of anything she’d ever done before.
Chapter 1
There was no hope to salvage anything from the burnt out shell of a house. Someone had set it; Jude was well aware of the smell of gasoline within the place. It sickened her that someone had waited until everyone was busy getting ready for Christmas and the holidays to deliberately set fire to the house.
Jude looked up when her sister Piper said her name. “I’m going to burn this to the ground. Just so when the place is rebuilt, they don’t have to worry about cleaning up the area. Have you found anything yet?” Jude told Piper she’d not found anything at all but a few broken items. “I can smell the gasoline that was used. I’m assuming you already knew.”
“I did. Have you heard anything from the family? I’ve not.” Piper told her just what she knew—the family was staying in the house down the road until they could rebuild. “Do you think they did this on their own? I have to admit, it was very telling when we found the kitchen devoid of anything other than a few cans of dog food. Smells fishy even to me.”
“Why don’t you just say it? It smells like they did this to reap from their insurance policy. The trouble with this is, they might just be able to get themselves a brand new home. Did Mercy tell you they’ve done this before? Maybe I should burn down my house and start over. There wouldn’t be any lingering gas smells either.” They both laughed. “But seriously, what do we know about this family? Other than they’re arsonists.”
“Just what Mercy told us. This is the second time they’ve had their house burn down around them. The last time they were only able to get partial help on the rebuild because a large portion of the house was salvageable. This time, in my opinion, they made sure there was nothing at all left to build from.” Piper looked around when Jude did. “The Christmas thing is still a few days away. Are you leaving early with the rest of the family? I’ve not decided when I’m going. I don’t even know where we’re going to be staying when we get there.”
“I’m not leaving early. I have one more piece to finish, then I’m going to ship it to the show I’m having in January. I know I could carry it. It’s for a charity event I signed up for about six months ago. I’m not in the mood to even go, much less bring an item to auction for people to pay extraordinarily little for. That sounded like I was bitching because I didn’t want to help. But it’s just...I don’t know. I’m not really in the mood for Christmas, I guess you could say. I’m hoping that once we get there, that’ll put me in the spirit.” Jude told Piper she had sounded ungrateful. “I’m not upset, actually. Ungrateful? I guess just a little. I’m not used to having to share my sisters. It’s been just us six for thousands of years. About the party? I guess you could say I’m indifferent to going. I love the holidays when we six get together. This will be the first time in longer than anyone in our town can remember that we’ll not just be the birds celebrating the holiday.”
“We’d have Joel, Miley, and Bryson this year. I don’t mind them being here. However, going someplace that is so strange to us doesn’t make it feel like a fun holiday for me.” She grinned at Piper. “I’m giving Miley the most outrageous gift. I hope she likes it. It’s my old medieval armor that I wore a long time ago. She talks about the one you have in your home all the time.”
“See? That, right there, is what I’m talking about. No one there will have any idea that it’s something you wore, and are giving it to a kid you love like we all do.” Piper picked up a large burnt piece of wood. “This reeks of gas. I think the fire marshal needs to come here and have another look around. I know he was here before, but I’m telling you right now, if his report says anything but arson, I’m going to boil him in his own fat.”
They both turned when a car pulled into the driveway. The emblem on the side proclaimed him to be the same man the two of them had just been talking about—the fire marshall, Aryne Patterson. He nodded to Jude and stared at Piper. Everyone was blown away by their beauty when they saw them for the first time, but Jude thought the man was staring directly at Piper’s hair. To her, it looked like Piper had dipped her head into the setting sun over an open body of water, the colors were so bright with the hues of the late sunlight.
Piper, like her, was a bird. Jude was an eagle. Piper was a phoenix. It was why her hair was so breathtaking. Her hair, like the others, was what her feathers looked like when she shifted to her other half. It was just as bright, if not brighter, when the phoenix came out to play. Clearing her throat before the man got himself in dutch with Piper for staring so long, Jude asked him why he was there.
“Lady Oliver asked me to come by, today if I could, to look the house over before it was taken
