I hoped that wasn't the case, but just in case, I kissed him right back.
“We'll get him back,” Zach whispered to me. “We've lost too much already. I promise we won't lose Zorro, too.”
I nodded and held onto hope. Zorro had done it for Zach and me, multiple times, and I wouldn't dishonor his friendship by giving up before we started.
“Mac and Zelda are on their way,” Fabio said, putting his phone back in his pocket. “Bob and Roger, do you have any personal information on Mae Blockinschlokinberg?”
Roger bounced on his toes and nodded his head. “She filled out paperwork for taxes.”
“Excellent,” Fabio said. “As long as she didn’t forge anything or lie, we can trace her. If she leaves town, we can go after her. Have Simon the skunk hack into the government database and find out everything we can about this ghastly woman.”
“Simon hacks?” Sassy asked, surprised and impressed.
“He does. Don’t tell Zelda. She’ll think I taught him how to do it,” Fabio told her.
“Did you?” Sassy asked.
“Yes,” Fabio admitted. “But that’s neither here nor there. Right now, we have to find some slugs.”
“We’re here,” Zelda said as she and Mac poofed into the applesauce and crumb covered dressing room. “What in the ever-lovin’ hell?”
“I crashed into the wall and the applesauce exploded,” Sassy said, shaking the excess goop off her broom. “Did you know I was the Postmistress?”
“I think everyone knows except you,” Zelda told her as she scanned then sniffed the note I handed her. “Flowers.”
“What?” Zach asked, stressed to his limit. “What flowers?”
“The note has a scent,” she said, sniffing it again and wincing. “Old lady crouch and flowers. They’re near flowers.”
“What part of the forest has flowers in bloom right now?” I asked.
“Wait,” Zelda said, sniffing the note yet again. “Dang it. I can’t quite place the smell.”
“Let me try,” I said, reaching for the note. “I’m a dryad, and I teach botany. I’m pretty good at the nature stuff.”
“You go, Willow! You’ve got this,” Bob said sweetly, echoing my earlier sentiment to him.
Closing my eyes, I raised the note to my nose. “Goddess,” I muttered, then gagged. “Old lady crouch is rank.”
“You got that right,” Zelda agreed. “Can you smell the flowers?”
I nodded slowly and smiled. “Roses. They’re near roses.”
“I’m the only one with roses in Assjacket,” Fabio volunteered.
“Perfect,” Mac said, sounding every bit the sheriff of Assjacket combined with the King of the Shifters. “We’ll divide up and approach Fabio’s house from all sides. Poof in about a mile out and make your way in. I have backup already searching. I’ll redirect to the new location.”
“On it,” Zach said. “Willow and Fabio are with me. We’ll come up in front of the house.”
“Good call,” Zelda said, all business. “Mac and I will take the back side. Willow, how well can you manipulate the trees?”
“Very well,” I said. “How about you?”
“All the fucking trees in the world are my minions,” she said with an eye roll. “Between the two of us and Mac’s unbelievable and seriously sexy affinity with manipulating nature, we should be set if we need the trees.”
“What can Mac do?” I asked, curious.
Mac grinned. “Mac can open the earth and send Demons back to Hell.”
“Sweet Goddess in a tutu,” I said, bowing my head in respect. “Mac’s insane.”
“With a fine ass to boot,” Zelda added, pointing to her mate’s nice rear end.
“And my mate Jeeves is a kangaroo Shifter with a huge package who kicked the Demons back to hell after Mac with the fine ass opened the earth,” Sassy announced with pride.
Mac shook his head and smiled. “I’ll have Jeeves gather the chipmunks and come up on the right,” Mac said, texting his adopted kangaroo son.
“I’ll take care of that and meet up with them,” Sassy said, with her blonde applesauce covered hair blowing around her head like a witchy badass. “Oh, and just so no one gets confused, I’ll be speaking British during the battle. Make sure no one shouts orders in Canadian or I'll fuck everything up.”
“Noted,” Mac said, closing his eyes for a brief moment.
“I’m out.” Sassy took off on her broom like a bat out of hell.
Fabio turned to Bob and Roger. “Find Simon and have him hack all the information he can find on Mae Blockinschlokinberg. We might need it.”
“Simon hacks?” Zelda asked, eyeing her father suspiciously. “Since when?”
“Since Fabio taught him how,” Roger volunteered then covered his mouth with both hands. “I don’t think I was supposed to say that.”
“Umm… nope,” Fabio agreed with an apologetic shrug to his daughter. “If it helps, Simon asked. I was simply being cordial and taught him.”
Zelda narrowed her eyes. “Is it useful right now?” she asked.
“Very,” Mac said with a curt nod. “Also, very illegal. I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear any of this conversation. We’ll talk about it after we apprehend the slugs.”
I still couldn't get over that Mae Blockinschlokinberg and her posse were slug Shifters. On the other hand, it made perfect sense that a slug would have some kind of affiliation with Henrietta Smith. After all, both creatures were bottom-feeding bitches.
“What about the left side of the house?” Zach asked, getting back on topic. “Will that be covered or should we create smaller groups?”
“Shifters,” Mac said, texting the instruction out on his phone. “My brother will pull a crew together and take the left.”
“Are the cats back?” I asked. They were incredible in battle. Any magic thrown at them bounced right off and flew back at the attacker.
“They’re on their way. And I think they found the investor,” Zelda said.
“Doesn’t matter,” Zach told his sister. “Sassy ate the check, so the investor’s money is safe.”
“I’m not touching that,” Zelda muttered.
“Probably smart,” I told her. “She offered to poop it back out, but I don’t think Mae Blockinschlokinberg was too keen on that.”
“Again,” Zelda said with a laugh. “Not touching it.”
“Ready?” Fabio asked, looking at both of his children with pride. “It’s time to salt some slugs.”
“Never been more ready in
