her lips. “I’ve been letting Haddie explore the property and she told me she saw a fox and something with horns. I know so little about wild animals so . . .”
Camden squinted at the empty blanket for several beats. “Probably a deer. And yes, there are foxes, a black rat snake or two. All harmless.”
“Unless you’re a rat.”
He smiled again. “Exactly. Well, thank you for the lemonade and cookies. Now I know why they were so good. You’re a professional.”
She let out a laugh on a breath. “At the moment I’m just the unemployed owner of what could very well turn out to be a money pit.” She shot him a smile. “By the way, thank you for the safety that new lock will bring. It was kind of you.”
Camden nodded, handing her the folded blade of grass the way Haddie sometimes handed her an empty gum wrapper. Confused, she automatically took it from him. “Call if you need anything,” he said, only turning his head back toward her, showing her his profile, his jaw rigid. And with that, he strode through the weed-ridden gardens toward the front of the house.
Scarlett looked down at the folded piece of grass held between her thumb and index finger. It wasn’t something he was discarding as she’d originally thought. She brought it closer to her face, marveling at the intricacy of the thing he’d created right in front of her without her even knowing. It was a fox, with tiny feet and tiny ears, it’s snout in perfect proportion to the rest of its body. How in the world had he done it? At all, but much less while simultaneously holding a conversation? And it’s a fox. Scarlett gazed at it for another minute, delight spreading through her. “Taluta,” she whispered, recalling the name from the legend he’d shared with her. She looked up just to see him rounding the house and disappearing out of sight.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Haddie dropped a red Skittle on the pine-needle-strewn forest floor, moving slowly and deliberately, creating a trail of colorful breadcrumbs in her wake.
When her mother had mentioned that Templeton the rat was convinced to do things for food, Haddie had suddenly wondered if she could lure the thing in the woods with a sweet treat as well. Maybe this was a way to let it know Haddie wanted to be . . . friends? Was that what she wanted? No . . . not necessarily. She didn’t even understand this thing yet. She just wanted to know what it was. She wanted to understand the creature that had no weight. Curiosity burned brightly inside her, and the flame had only grown bigger since she’d arrived at Lilith House and spotted it. She’d stood at the window in their new attic home the night before and stared out into the dark forest and she swore she could feel the pull of the thing somehow, but different than she’d ever felt a pull before.
She reached inside her pocket where she had a large-sized package of Skittles Mommy had bought her at the gas station on the drive to Lilith House. Haddie had fallen asleep before she could eat them, and now she was glad for it. They were the perfect lure. Everyone liked Skittles.
A cloud went over the sun, darkening the forest, and an iciness traveled over Haddie’s skin. A shadow shifted in her peripheral vision. She was being watched.
Movement in the other direction caught her eye, something swinging from a tree. She turned quickly but there was nothing there. She let out an exhale.
Just the forest’s bad memory.
There and gone before she could fully understand it.
She stepped forward, dropping another Skittle on the ground, turning slightly so she could head back in the direction of her house. She had walked in a wide arc, moving nearer to her home, hoping that when she came out of the forest, she might turn around and see the thing that followed her.
A loud caw rose up, the fluttering of wings spooking Haddie and causing her to jump. Shadows seemed to move and shift all around her as though there was not just one thing tracking her, but a whole forest full of creatures she had no name for. Ones she couldn’t feel. She hurried forward, walking faster now, dropping Skittles haphazardly. She heard the crunch of pine needles behind her as the thing drew closer, and with her heartbeat thumping, Haddie began to run, abandoning the package of Skittles on