wasn’t even any wriggle room for her to slide by. The only place he couldn’t see was the dark spot by the recycle bin. She must be there, right?
He stepped into the puddle of absolute darkness and…
The world pitched and yawed under his feet, the stars spun around his head, and he stumbled back out.
The lights in the neighborhood all flickered back on again, and he was left next to the recycle bin, Glinda’s lead dangling from his hand, with no dog in sight.
“Glinda?” This time there were tears in his voice. Dante and Cully’s dog! First the coven had lost their friends in time, and now Alex had lost their dog! “Glinda?” No reply. No response. And nowhere for the dog to go except for that puddle of absolute darkness that had made the world spin, but that didn’t exist anymore. “Glinda?”
“Alex?” Jordan came trotting up the walkway, his posture all concern. “Alex, what in the—”
“She’s gone!” Alex said, his voice pitching. He held up the little dangling leash clip like it held the secrets of the world. “I… she walked into the dark spot in the shadows, and the leash went slack and she disappeared and—”
“Alex, are you sure she didn’t just slip her collar?”
“Do you see a collar, Jordan?” Alex’s voice cracked, and he looked wildly around. “I don’t see a collar. I see a clip without a dog. She can’t undo the little clippy thingy, Jordan. She doesn’t have opposable thumbs. She doesn’t have snout strength. She’s got a brain the size of a walnut!” His eyes were hot, and he was having a hard time breathing through the sobs threatening to lurch out of his chest. “How did she disappear? I’ll tell you how—she fell through a portal. A fucking portal through time and space. A shadow ate our dog, Jordan! The fuck are we supposed to do when a shadow eats our fucking dog?”
“Hey, hey, hey!” Jordan put both hands on Alex’s shoulder and drew him in, that magnetic presence of his working its magic and calming Alex down to the point where he could think.
“There’s nowhere else for her to go,” he practically whimpered on Jordan’s shoulder.
“I know.”
“The gate is dog proof. Dante and Cully made sure it was dog proof. She couldn’t have gone into the backyard. I mean, I’ll check and everything, but… but look at the gate!”
Neither one of them had to—everybody in the cul-de-sac had double- and triple-checked the damned gate, because Cully loved the damned dog and Dante pretended the damned dog was a pain in his ass, but the truth was he loved the damned dog as much as Cully did. But not quite as much as he loved Cully.
“I’m not doubting you, buddy,” Jordan said gently. “Portal through time and space. We’ve seen… well, not weirder, but we’re sort of prepped for the possibility. Did you check out said portal?” Jordan asked.
“It gave me vertigo,” Alex said, embarrassed and ashamed. He’d had one lousy job to do. Take care of the damned dog. How hard was that?
“How bad?” Jordan asked, completely serious, once again proving that nothing flapped the unflappable.
“I almost puked.”
“That’s pretty bad.” Jordan nodded soberly. “Here, I’m going to go fetch some candles, some thread, some oils. Can you just stay here for a minute alone?”
“Can I? Or am I going to disappear too?” Alex had no idea how freaked out he was until that little bit of bullshit came charging out of his mouth. “Never mind. I’m fine. I’ll be okay. Go. Get the summoning stuff. It’s okay.”
Alex stood there feeling stupid and helpless while Jordan turned around and took off. “Glinda?” he said uselessly into the darkness, not even startling when Josh came out of his house in his bare feet, sweats, and a sweatshirt that was practically unraveling as he walked.
“Dude, we heard you calling for the dog. What happened?”
Alex turned to him helplessly. “A shadow ate the damned dog. She walked into that shadow, right there behind the recycle bin, and disa-fucking-ppeared.”
Josh blinked slowly at the shadow and then at Alex. “Dude, I’m gonna go get you a warmer jacket. Have you even eaten yet?”
“Barty left us some casserole in the oven,” he said weakly.
“Righteous. Give me your key. Me and Kate’ll go get you guys some dinner and some warmer clothes. You’ll figure it out. Don’t worry, man. She’ll turn back up.”
Alex turned a tearful face to the straightest man he’d ever met. “What if I lost the damned