of each house on the street. “Since the guys making deliveries of household goods are up to their eyeballs in requests, the sheriff told me to load up my official vehicle with goods we’d earmarked for the house in exchange for letting said vehicle live with us.”
“It’s a car, not a puppy.” Barb studied the vehicle. “We can haul things in it?”
“Yes. You being the next thing on my hauling list as soon as we unload.” Jana opened the back, pulled out a box, and handed it to Barb, who stood there with her mouth open.
“I’ll take one,” Abigail said, wondering what was wrong with Barb.
“Did he send you to put me in the Me Time cell?” Barb demanded. “What did I do now?”
“Shh,” Jana said when Virgil turned to stare at them, proving just how sharp Wolf ears were when it came to picking up sounds. “No, this is about getting some of the pets adopted. So help me get these boxes in the house and we can be on our way.”
Abigail waited until the three of them carted the last load of boxes into the house and Barb went to fetch her daypack and house keys. Then she asked, “Why are the town leader and the sheriff looking at houses with those men?”
“One of the children is … special … and Joshua Painter says she needs a house that doesn’t have a stain of darkness—which is something specific that Joshua can sense but can’t explain,” Jana replied. “That’s why they’re all out there looking at houses. They looked at houses that had already been cleared out on another street, but none of those places were right.”
Special like Becky Gott? Or special like drawing pictures that showed something that could happen in the future? If she hadn’t seen a picture like that when she’d lived in Prairie Gold, she wouldn’t have sensed that Jana’s hesitation revealed more than the deputy realized. Special could be like finding the mother lode. Or being able to identify that kind of special could be information she could trade if the wrong kind of people came wandering down the street and found her.
“I’m ready,” Barb said, joining them.
They locked the house on their way out, then paused to watch the group conferring on the front yard of one house before moving on to the next.
“Think we’ll have new neighbors?” Abigail asked, trying to sound casual.
“If they choose a house on this street, they won’t be the only new neighbors,” Barb replied. “Some of the terra indigene would move into houses around here to keep watch. They’re kind of intense about protecting—”
“Barb!” Jana said sharply.
For a moment, Barb looked hurt. But Jana looked alarmed at what her housemate was about to reveal, confirming that one of the children was the lucrative kind of special.
“Sorry,” Barb said.
“It’s all right,” Jana said. “I’m just skittish from yesterday.”
What had happened yesterday? Nothing that had made the rounds of gossip.
Jana jingled her keys and looked at Barb. “Let’s get going so I can spend some time with my four-legged ride. See you later, Abby.”
“See you.” Abigail watched Jana and Barb drive off before retreating to her own house.
Kelley wasn’t happy living with her anymore. He had a separate bedroom now and was clearing it out and cleaning it up. But he made no effort to help her with the rest of the house. Which meant he didn’t know what was in the house and what wasn’t—including the things they were supposed to turn in.
And since Kelley wasn’t sharing a bedroom with her, he also didn’t know about the pack she’d hidden in the closet—the emergency pack of essentials she would need if she had to run again.
* * *
* * *
“What I told you about Maddie was said in confidence,” Jana said as she drove the few blocks to the town square. “We can’t talk about her to anyone.”
“But you said there were lots of people in the store when those men arrived with the children,” Barb protested.
“And Mr. Sanguinati stopped the men from saying Maddie was a blood prophet. There’s no reason for anyone to know by what he said unless they’d already met one of the girls.”
Barb stared at her. “Then how did you know what Tolya was talking about?”
“Your brother told me key words the Others use when talking about the girls. Since he was the one who told me, I thought it would be okay to tell you.”
She’d been shaken last night when she’d arrived