Where is he?
My house pushed aside my question, showed me an image of its structural interior, the essential pieces covered by plasterboard, tongue-and-groove paneling, tile, and maple slats. My house rested on the foundation of the house that was here before it and the one before that. Outbuildings had come and gone, but the original footprint was true to its origins.
My house was casting its vote: No additions. No alterations to the beams that created the A-frame’s sturdy skeleton. No peeling back of its skin, no “freshening” of its exterior.
House approved of bunkbeds and boarders—that was every bit as clear. And House could find no connection to Tanner’s whereabouts. I lifted one foot and bent that leg to rest on the cotton sheet.
A tug kept the toes of my other foot floor-bound for one more piece of information.
Traces of Meribah’s blood mingled with others’ blood in the packed dirt of the root cellar. The same root cellar where cousins had trapped me in a game of hide-and-seek the summer after my mother died.
I did not sleep well. Even with Tanner’s faint scent in my nostrils and the pillow clenched to my chest, I couldn’t shake the last image my house had sent. I reached for my cell phone, swiped through my messages, and called Harper.
“Hey, Mom,” he greeted. “How are you?”
“I’m okay. Just checking in. How’s Leilani?”
“She’s good. We’re both good. Making a plan with James about how to stay normal in abnormal times.”
“Is Malvyn home?”
“Mal’s due back by lunchtime today.”
“Have you talked to your brother?”
“He called me from the ferry last night and filled me in. Pretty intense scene, Mom.”
“Rowan’s witch friend has helped Sallie a lot. You’ll have to come by and meet the cat she left.”
“Yeah, Thatch was telling me about Jasper. Lei-li’s totally jealous.”
Silence.
“I love you, Harper. Maybe we can get everyone together for dinner tonight or tomorrow.”
“Sure, Mom. Love you too.”
I called Thatcher next, even though he was just upstairs.
“Mom? Where are you?”
“My room,” I said. “I talked to Harper.”
Thatch’s voice went to a whisper. “I miss the old days. When it was just us.” I missed them too. “But then I look at Sallie and Christoph, and they need us.”
“Yes, they do.”
“I like having a great-grandfather. And not just because he’s got a ridiculously high credit limit and wants to buy us, like, all the stuff. I hope he stays here a long time.”
“I like him too.” But living with my grandfather while trying—eventually, at some undetermined day in the future—to have a dating life?
“Anything else you want?”
“Just to tell you I love you and I’m proud of you.”
“I love you, Mom. And I’m proud of you too.”
Tomorrow, Monday, I had to go to the office. Showing up for our jobs was a foundation of the new normal I agreed to with my boys. I almost called Kerry then double-checked the time. That both Harper and Thatcher had answered my phone calls before nine in the morning was a miracle.
If I reached far enough and held tight to the bed post, I could coax my laptop off the desk and read through emails in bed. Mission accomplished, I texted Thatcher that if he wanted to win points, he could make a pot of tea and bring me a breakfast tray.
A mother could hope.
After a long string of tear-filled, laughing emojis, he texted, “Sure.”
I smiled, opened my laptop, and went right to work.
Chapter 15
Even though it was Sunday, Alabastair had already written his report from last night’s mission and cc’d me on his email to Maritza. After transporting me and Jasper to my house, he’d returned to the Pearmains’ where he spent two hours interrogating the fairy sisters, Peasgood, and Hyslop. The two young men, who had met the sisters during a break in their druid training, were captured right off the ferry as they arrived on Salt Spring Island, which I already knew.
What they’d left out was the sisters had accompanied their new boyfriends on the same ferry. The fairies were able to cloak their appearance, follow the vehicle as it re-boarded the ferry for Vancouver Island, and ride atop the SUV’s roof all the way to the Flechette estate.
The two were captured on surveillance cameras and made into fountains. They’d seen Peasgood and Hyslop similarly turned into lawn ornaments but missed the action when the hidden folk were hauled off the night of Meribah’s big reveal.
Peasgood and Hyslop were able to add the threats made by Meribah and her crew. The brothers had been given the choices to act as spies and live, answer questions and remain on the estate as statuary, or keep their mouths shut and be killed. Instead of following through, Meribah switched course and tried to use the hidden folks as bargaining chips.
For my sons.
The last note Bas made was in regards to the two sisters. Némophilie and Silène, of Clan La Fleur, wished to make contact with their families. He would await Maritza and Malvyn’s decision.
I hit reply, thanked Bas for keeping me in the loop, and scanned my unopened emails. The instructions for signing into the meeting room for my first virtual class were straightforward, and the day’s topic, timely: The Use of Blood in Spellwork, Level One, Section One.
How could Meribah’s blood have stayed active for decades in the wards ringing my property? I wanted to understand the mechanics of whatever magical chemistry was at work. Also, what it meant for me and the occupants of my house that her blood was in the root cellar. I scribbled a note to ask if there was a way for
