Boundary Born (Boundary Magic Book 3) - Melissa F. Olson Page 0,49
to the back fence at the edge of my property. Chip and Cody gamely trotted after it, but both of them stopped twenty feet short of the fence. I squinted, trying to figure out what they were doing. They were just standing there, apparently staring at the ball. Maybe a squirrel was distracting them?
I rolled my eyes and started toward Chip and Cody, with Dopey prancing next to me. When I reached the other dogs, I saw that they weren’t just standing there—both of them had their limbs locked in tense body language. They were whining, and the hair on Cody’s neck was standing up a little. “Guys?” I said, and whistled. Both dogs glanced back at me, and then trotted toward me with sudden gratitude, pressing against me. “Was it a bear?” I asked, puzzled by their reaction. In the years I’d been living there, we’d seen a bear near the yard exactly once, but when it happened I couldn’t get them to stop barking. I took a few cautious steps toward the fence. The dogs whined a little, but none of them followed me. I rested my hands on the back fence and looked left and right, scanning for any movement low to the ground. What would unnerve Chip and Cody? I shrugged to myself and turned to walk back to the house.
On the first step, my foot landed on something hard and round. I jumped back, a little spooked, but relaxed when I realized it was just a rock. I bent and picked it up. A purple stone, the size of my palm, in a perfect cylindrical shape. The sides were smooth and shiny, like they’d been polished. Okay, that was weird, but for all I knew it could have been there for ages—I didn’t mow this far back, in the scrubby plants.
The dogs abruptly rushed me, crowding around me with waving tails like I’d just escaped a grizzly attack. “Hey, goofballs,” I said, laughing to myself. We were a long way from the house, and I suddenly remembered Jake’s warning to keep an eye on the dogs. “What am I doing?” I said out loud, feeling like an idiot. There were sick animals in the area; we shouldn’t be playing outside. I took off for the back door at a jog, absently shoving the rock in my pocket on the way.
Chapter 19
I got cleaned up and made dinner for everyone, including live bugs for my three-legged iguana Mushu. While everyone was munching, I picked up the phone and called Jake to check up on the mysterious animal illness.
“Oh, yeah,” he said after I explained why I was calling. “I haven’t heard back from the DNR.” “Have there been any more attacks?”
“Not that I’ve seen, and I’ve been keeping my ear to the ground in the veterinary community. Of course, it’s always possible that someone would go straight to the DNR or not report it at all.”
He didn’t sound too worried. I hesitated, but I had nothing to lose. Jake wouldn’t be annoyed by stupid questions. “Listen, Elise told me about a few recent cases where people went nuts and started foaming at the mouth . . .”
He chuckled, but not unkindly. “Yeah, she called me. I gave her the number for my contact at the DNR, though I honestly doubt the two things are related. There are illnesses that can jump from mammals to humans, but they’re almost all parasitic,” he explained. “Tapeworm, ringworms, that kind of thing. Foaming at the mouth, on the other hand, happens when all the muscles near the mouth contract at once. It can happen to any species that’s prone to seizures. I’m sure it’s just a weird coincidence.”
“Oh, okay.” Jake didn’t sound worried, which made me feel better. And I couldn’t see how seizures could be related to anything Old World. Just to be safe, I texted Lily, who confirmed that she’d never heard of any spells that directly led to foaming at the mouth. I shrugged to myself and went to get ready.
The St. Julien Hotel is probably Boulder’s swankiest lodging. Although it doesn’t have the charm or history of our other grand hotel, the Boulderado, the St. Julien makes up for it in attractiveness and modern amenities. The entire exterior is made up of sand-colored ledgestone, so the building looks like a palace made from stacked rocks. Although I was twenty minutes early, Emil was waiting out front when I pulled up, sitting patiently on the bench encircling