“Be there in a minute.” Relieved he didn’t witness her performance, Grace turned and surveyed her room. Not really wanting to pack, she stumbled to her closet, tossing clothes here, shoes there, and decided on bathroom necessities. With her suitcase dragging behind her, Grace returned to the family room. Quentin and Laney were both waiting.
Quentin reached for the suitcase. “Ready?”
“I got it.” The obnoxious hum of the suitcase’s wheels followed as she walked to the Jag.
Laney didn’t need to be told which room at Morgan Manor was hers. Every time their family had any gatherings that went too late in the night, she would sleep in the guest room at the very end of the hall from Grace’s. Laney and Quentin passed the doorway of Grace’s bedroom, a suitcase in Laney’s hand, and two boxes in Quentin’s.
Torn between being relieved her mother gave her no grief about moving and not wanting the homey feeling of the manor to be tarnished, Grace sighed and heaved the suitcase on top of the bed and started unpacking. Once she was done, she pulled some comfy pajamas from the dresser and went into her bathroom to get ready for bed. Mentally she gave herself a pep talk as she sat on the edge of the tub. She needed to talk to her mother to find out what else was going on. Why was Laney so ready to go and not surprised by the sudden urgency to get out of her house?
Quickly, Grace brought her hands down, slapping the edge of the tub with a loud whack. “Here goes nothing,” she said aloud as she stood up. Tiptoeing down the stairs, she strained to listen for voices. None upstairs and certainly none downstairs. The house was eerily quiet. She didn’t think that both her mother and Quentin would just go to bed their first night without saying good night. They could be somewhere in the house talking. She crossed her fingers and hoped they were.
Walking on the balls of her feet, she tried to be as quiet as possible. Maybe she’d get lucky and overhear what she wanted to know instead of having to face down her mother for the truth. Her mental switchboard was already running at full capacity and dangerously close to overloading. Tonight was not a good night for a Laney argument.
Grace twisted her fingers tighter, and sidled toward the aroma of coffee wafting from the kitchen. Heels and back against the wall, she leaned her ear closer to the door. She still didn’t hear anything, but she knew someone was in there. Peeling herself off the wall, she walked through the doorway. Laney sat on the far side of the breakfast nook table, Quentin on the side closest to Grace with his left elbow on the table, the right hanging off the back of the chair. Both were quietly watching her. Waiting is more like it, Grace decided.
“Don’t tell me, ‘the band,’” she added air quotes, “told you I was coming.” Grace grabbed a coffee cup from the cupboard, poured herself a cup, and sat at the head of the table closest to her mother and Quentin.
“Don’t mock the band, hater. I knew you were lurking outside the door,” Quentin said with a slight smile.
Grace took a quick sip of coffee. “How’d you know I was standing outside the door?”
“Well, it’s kind of like what I said to you about the band helping me know how you’re feeling. It also helps me sense where you are.”
“It’s a GPS tracker?” she asked as her mother remained quiet, but obviously visually engaged in the conversation.
“Not exactly.”
“Then what, exactly? Stop speaking ‘Quentin’ and just spit it out already.” This beating around the bush thing was going to drive her mental.
“The seneschal band links us together. I sense you, feel you. Your emotions run through my veins … fear, sadness, happiness. The whole gamut.”
Laney still hadn’t said a word and the look on her face confirmed to Grace she wasn’t surprised by anything she heard. Grace’s head swiveled back and forth between the two. “So, what you’re telling me is, not only can I be sensed by the others, but I can also be tracked by you?”
“Basically.”
“Great, my personal paparazzi posse is now complete. Yay, me!” She jerked her chin toward her mother. “And why do you seem like you already know about all of this?”
Laney cleared her throat. “After listening to you and Quentin back