That was a disappointment. “I was hoping you’d heard the term.”
“I’m not great when it comes to the paranormal history stuff,” she admitted. “I do know somebody who is.”
“Yeah?” I cocked an eyebrow. “Who might that be?”
“A witch. We went to school together. She’s my best friend. She lives in Detroit now, works at some death gate. We’re going to see her in about two weeks. If we can get through this mess, that is. She might be able to come up with some answers. I get that you might not be willing to trust her because you’ve never met her.”
“I ... need to think about it.” I appreciated the offer. I simply wasn’t sure how I felt about chasing the option. “Let’s get through this and then tackle that.”
She nodded in agreement. “I think that’s a good idea.” Straightening, she drew her eyebrows together. “Where did Sami go?”
“I’m over here,” the teenager called, drawing our attention to the tree line on the west side of the house. She was fixated on something she’d found on the ground.
We closed the distance to her, and when I realized what she was looking at, my excitement ratcheted up a notch. “Footprints.”
Zoe nodded, her eyes keen. “At least two sets. There might be more.”
“There’s more,” Sami said. “I think there’s at least three, more likely four.”
I gave her an encouraging smile. “Is that the wolf in you figuring that out?”
Sami shrugged. “I don’t always know why I can do the things I can do ... or how. I just feel it’s more than three.”
“We’ll check it out.” Zoe straightened. “I’m taking the lead, and if I tell you to run, Sami, you’d better listen to me. I don’t want any crap.”
“I’ll agree to your terms if you make Dad stop treating me like a kid.” Sami’s expression turned dark. “I’m a woman and I wanted to be treated like a woman.”
Zoe snorted. “I’ll talk to your father about not treating you like you’re eight. You are not, however, a woman.”
“I am.”
“I’m not going to fight about this.” Zoe’s eyes flashed with impatience. “You do what I say when we get in those woods. Do we have a deal?”
Sami reluctantly nodded. “I’ll do what you say. I won’t like it, though.”
“You also get that from me.”
Seven
“The woods are stupid.”
We’d barely made it beyond the tree line when Sami stepped in something funky — I was leaning toward bear crap — and the afternoon took a turn.
“I kind of like the woods,” I remarked, shooting her a rueful smile as she wiped the sole of her shoe against a fallen tree. “I’ve spent the bulk of my time in the city, so I find the woods a refreshing change of pace.”
Sami shot me a withering look. “That’s easy to say when you don’t have crap on your shoe.”
I risked a glance at Zoe and found her smiling. “You find this amusing?”
Zoe shrugged. “She looks like her father, but acts like me. It’s just the way of the world.” She moved closer so she could study Sami’s shoe. “I’m not all that fond of the woods either, even though we live in the middle of nowhere.”
She was an interesting specimen, an onion really, and I found I wanted to peel back layers at a time to get to know her better. “Why do you live in the middle of nowhere if you hate the woods?”
“Because my husband needs the woods. I’ll find a reason to complain no matter where we land anyway. Sami gets that from me, even though she really loves the woods. We live where we do now because it’s what Aric needs.”
“I do not love the woods.” Sami stomped her foot. “In fact, I’ve been thinking we should move to town.”
Zoe held her gaze. “You don’t believe that.”
“I do so.”
“No you don’t, because you realize that your father designed that house, put in months of his own sweat, and he wants to die in that house. You’re only going to be living with us another four years and then you’ll turn into an infrequent guest for a few years when college hits. After that, you’ll be on your own and then you will have accomplished nothing but depriving your father of his house.”
Sami’s expression grew dark. “I hate to break it to you, but kids today have to move back in with their parents after college because the world is so screwed up. It’s not like ancient times when you and Dad were leaving college and moved into a mansion.”
“Your father and I lived in a tiny apartment for a year while we were building the house and you’re not moving back in with us after college. I hate to break it to you, but you’ll be expected to fend for yourself once you have that diploma in hand.”
Sami’s scowl grew even more pronounced. “You’re mean.”
“And you’ll live. Your father needs that house. Last time I checked, he was pretty lenient with you. You have your own room and he drives you into town three times a day. You also have your dog even though he’s a shoe-eating monster.”
“Dog, huh?” I grinned. “Where is he?” Something occurred to me. “Geez, the vampires didn’t get him, did they?”
Zoe snickered and shook her head. “No. Like I said, Rafael tipped us off. Trouble is with Sami’s grandparents. We figured it was the safest place for him right now.”
Zoe held out her hand to Sami. “He’s fine. In fact, you can FaceTime with your grandparents tonight and see him if you stop complaining about the bear crap.”
Sami heaved a sigh that was so dramatic the Gossip Girl cast would have been jealous. “Fine. There’d better be monsters to kill, though.” She allowed her mother to pull her to her feet. “I want to bash some heads.”
Zoe glanced at me, her smile full of adoration. “She also gets that from me.”
“I
