I was so tempted to stay home and putter in my garden. My plants and I, and the surrounding trees and undergrowth, were deepening a relationship initiated over thirty years ago. This feeling—that we had just started to settle into reminiscing about the past and making plans for the future—was a hard pleasure to set to the side.
The darkly patterned fabric of my dress absorbed and held the summer sun; the heat soothed my crampy belly and warmed my inner thighs. I dropped the empty bowl onto the bed of chamomile for the bees to explore and gave my mind over to a short replay of the times Tanner and I had kissed.
I could do that again.
And again. I scrubbed the heels of both palms down the sides of my belly and pressed into my thighs. The action plumped my breasts, and through half-closed eyes I could imagine my hands were Tanner’s.
Only, his would be broader. And warmer. And he would take his time sliding my dress up my legs.
Arousal kept me hanging on the rise of an inhale and a shudder and a crack from the ground underneath the chair dropped me into fear on the exhale. I looked straight up to see the branches of the crabapple trembling. Tiny, early fruits swayed like baubles on a jeweler’s display, and a voice rose from somewhere beyond the edge of the woods.
Mine.
She was here. And I was alone. I gripped the splintery arms of the old chair and pulled myself out of my heat-soaked slouch, feet on the ground and sun splotches blurring my vision.
MINE.
Whatever Kaz and Tanner had worked into the slabs of rune-carved wood made the wards light up. A curtain of shimmering slivers of green and silver wavered from the ground up to the topmost sections of the fir, oak, and arbutus trees that circled the perimeter of the house.
I straightened my legs, not knowing if I should hightail it inside or holler at whoever was out there.
Two steps later, a new sensation rose up the backs of my knees, an invitation to be lifted up and carried on a broad set of shoulders, high off the ground, and I heard young Calliope giggling, felt rough fur gripped in my hands. I rode the memory through one breath, and another, and steadied my feet when the wards flickered off high alert.
I scrabbled to the porch stairs and into my kitchen without falling or bruising any body parts. I even had the wherewithal to pull my phone off the charging stand before I crumpled to the floor.
“Working from home,” I texted Kerry. “Call or text if you need me.”
“Will do,” she answered. “Dead as doornails here.”
I crawled to the bathroom and changed my soaked pad. My office, with the cozy futon and a stack of old books, was right across the hall. I could nap, or I could do what I told Kerry I was doing and work. I shuffled toward the kitchen instead.
The phone vibrated against my breasts. Tanner.
“Are you okay?” He was huffing.
“I am now,” I answered.
“She was there, wasn’t she?”
Oh, shit.
“Calliope?”
“I’m here.” I paused. “And yes, I think she was here. Someone—something—was here, and when it said ‘mine’ it sounded a lot like the same presence saying ‘mine’ when I was in the tunnel that first time.”
Tanner’s huffing slowed down. “I think she’s found a portal to your property.”
“A portal?” This was news to me. “Can you give me a crash course on portals?”
“An object—often a specific tree or rock or even something manmade—becomes a means of transport between two places, and these places can be near one another, they can be a continent apart. They can even cross dimensions…”
“Tanner. Stop. That’s too much information. Keep the lecture local, and one of these days, I’ll be ready for the global picture. But today is not that day, so…”
“Got it.” I heard him suck in air through his nose and chuff it out through his mouth. “You first heard the voice in the tunnel, at the Pearmains’, and that’s also where we were forced into kissing, so I’m assuming there’s at least one portal in the orchard.”
I pinched my forehead and lowered my chin. “Actually, the first time I heard the voice was here, Thursday morning. But it was laughter, just laughter. She didn’t actually say anything.”
Tanner choked on whatever words were trying to exit his mouth first and took in an audible breath through his nose. And another. “I was at your house Thursday morning, and you didn’t think to tell me you’d heard a voice?”
I was slack-jawed and stuck at Tanner expressing our first kiss was forced, and he was getting hung up on reconstructing a timeline. “At the time, it didn’t seem related to the investigation.”
“Calliope, what if she’s trying to eliminate you on her way to me?”
“Okay, okay. So how do I identify a possible portal on my property?”
“Don’t even think about looking for it until I’m there,” he said. “Calliope? Did you hear me?”
“I take it you know how to drive those things?” He laughed. Finally. Serious Tanner was one step away from Bossy Tanner, and I wasn’t in the mood.
I was getting fed up with his old girlfriend trying to trim my branches.
“Yes, Calliope,” he said. “I know how to drive between portals, though it’s not called driving. Can you keep your curiosity contained until we’re done here and I can join you?”
I nodded, knowing he couldn’t see but willing to be obedient. “I’ve got another project I can work on. I promise I’ll stay out of the woods.”
“I’d feel even better if you’d promise to stay in the house.”
“I promise to stay in the house.”
“And one more thing.
