“Uhhhh…yep. Across the road. I’m kinda surprised Lolly hasn’t snatched it up already.”
I grabbed my bag and my phone. Lolly Brooks had been in labor the day I met Rowan. No wonder acquiring a neighboring property wasn’t at the top of her to-do list.
“Kerry, I’ll be back. My ex has been…” I stopped to press my fingertips against my eyes. I wasn’t going lose it in front of my assistant. “My ex has not been acting in our sons’ best interests lately. Harper and Thatcher work at Lolly’s and I—”
“You go make sure they’re okay.” Kerry came out from behind her desk, gave me a hug, and steered me out the office door. “Call me. And let me know if there’s anything I can do from here.”
I pointed at my canvas bag. “Get the soil samples in there over to Rowan’s office. I’ll call her from my car and let her to know to expect you.” I gripped the knob and grounded myself in the look of concern in Kerry’s eyes. “And thank you.”
Getting to the southern part of the island meant I’d be driving through cell service dead zones for long stretches. I made myself sit in my car and call Harper and Thatcher, only to reach both their voice mails. Tanner was in—or on his way to—France. Christoph had no cell phone that I was aware of. That left River, Wes, and Kaz. I would start with Wes.
Taking a breath, I patted my chest, looking for the familiar reassurance of the pouch. Only, it wasn’t nestled at my sternum, and there were no leather cords looped around my neck.
Rather than hyperventilate, I walked myself through my morning routine and pinpointed when I might have inadvertently removed the pouch.
I called Wes.
“The boys left about thirty minutes after you,” he said. “Had breakfast first. Christoph and I made sure they had their amulets and the temporary portal stones, the pelotes. We made two for each and strapped them on their arms above the elbow. Either one of them can activate any of the four stones, and it’ll get them to the crabapple, Calliope.”
“Wes, I appreciate knowing about the stones, but I literally just found out the Flechette Group owns two of the properties next to mine and Adelaide has an offer on the orchard near the big farm where my kids work. I have this horrible feeling they’re walking into a trap.”
There, I said it. Voiced my worst fear, that Harper or Thatcher would be kidnapped by Doug or one of the Fae working for Meribah.
“I have to go, Wes. I have to go to the farm and see them for myself.”
“I’m coming too, Calliope. I’ll meet you there.”
The pouch. “Wes, wait. I forgot to check for Tanner’s pouch before I left. Can you go to my bedroom and see if it’s in the pile of clothes on my desk chair?”
I was fairly certain I had pulled it over my head when I took off my sleeping T-shirt. Forehead resting on my arm, I drummed my fingers on my dashboard, counted my breaths, and tried to come up with a safe place to stash the pouch.
“Found it. Right where you said it was. Do you want me to bring it with me?”
“There’s a pile of ribbons on my bureau. Tuck it under there. I know it’s messy but—”
“Done. I’m on my way.” Wes hung up, and I started my car.
Nothing, absolutely nothing compared to the feeling in your gut when you’re in a stupid tiny car, forced to drive slow because of gawking tourists, speed limits, an inbred deer population, and hairpin turns. Gripping the steering wheel, I kept my gaze to the road and hollered behind closed windows for humans and deer to get out of my way.
Harper and Thatch liked to stop at one of two roadside bakeries on the way to the farm. I even knew which treat they would pick up for a long day of harvesting vegetables under the sun: Nanaimo bars. They would stick their desserts in the fridge in the barn and split one bar at each of their two breaks. I knew this because they would still be fighting about who got the bigger half as they walked in the front door after work.
I tore through the open gate at the first bakery, left my car idling, and smacked the screen door open. “Gail, did Harper and Thatcher stop in this morning?”
“No, not that I know of, why?”
“Just…nothing,” I said, flopping my hand in her direction and tearing back to my car. The next section of road was flat and all curves, with family farms and orchards to both sides, which meant I had to be on the lookout for tractors pulling out and sheep and chickens and—
There! Harper’s Jeep, parked in the nearest corner of the small lot fronting the second bakery.
I almost cried with relief. I parked perpendicular to the back of the vehicle and ran to the bakery.
The gangly teen behind the counter was a friend of Thatcher’s, and for the life of me I could not remember his name.
“Hey, was Thatch here?” I asked.
“He was, but he didn’t come in.” The kid lifted his arm and pointed past me, to the big glass window. “I saw him and Harp pull in. Their dad pulled in behind them, kinda like what you did.”
“Then what?” I asked, digging my nails into my palms. Talk faster, talk faster.
He lifted his bony shoulders. “They all got into the Japanese mini-truck their dad was driving and left. I think he was pissed. They almost hit another car on the way out.”
“Do you remember which way they went?”
Tall and skinny leaned his head to the side. “South. And the truck was white, like all of ’em.”
Tears blurred my eyes as I trotted to my car. This could not be happening, not after Christoph promised they would be safe.
Fuck.
Wes pulled in and parked
