If it comes on Ivy House’s property, have her text, just in case it has the same spell as the shifter out back.” I pushed away from the window and crouch-crawled to the center of the room. “Come on, let’s get ready to fly in case something kicks off.”
I stood and made my way downstairs, pausing again at the bottom of the stairs. Did we head to the front, or back? Austin would likely approach from the rear through the woods, and if he caught sight of that shifter, he’d give chase. If the entity at the front joined in the battle, we’d need to intercept. If not, and we went to the back to help Austin, we’d leave the front vulnerable.
“Mr. Tom, go get Ulric and Cedric. Have them watch the front in case that prowler heads this way.”
With him dispatched, I made it to the back of the house. Once there, I stripped off my clothes and changed form. Mr. Tom joined me not long after and followed suit.
Minutes ticked by. I felt Jasper invade the airspace, high overhead. The fact that I could sense him in the air made it that much stranger that I couldn’t feel the deer whose hooves were in Ivy House dirt.
“Wee ’aft oo fiiiin du schpell—” I sighed and stopped trying to talk. I was getting better at working around the enlarged teeth and prominent canines in this form, but it was an ongoing struggle. I’d wait to tell Mr. Tom that we needed to find the spell that might allow a creature to walk past magical surveillance undetected.
Although…he had set off my magical tripwire, so there was substance to him. It actually didn’t get past magical surveillance. It was just Ivy House that was blind to it. But why?
“Ook.” Mr. Tom pointed, his long claw tapping the window.
The deer worked around the side of the house as if tracking the flowers. We followed its progress from within the house, moving from window to window, staying well back or within the shadows.
Mr. Tom glanced at his phone, the screen somewhat obscured by his long nails, not lit up. No text message from Niamh. The prowler at the front wasn’t an issue. Not yet.
The deer shifter didn’t eat any more flowers or do much of anything but look. It moved its head like a person might, checking each window, pausing for a long time with its snout slightly raised, looking at the second or third floors. Given my room spanned the back corner of the house, I had a sinking suspicion that it had a special interest in my room.
Edgar’s movements registered. He was creeping along at a snail’s pace, the vampire who’d once been great at stalking prey having lost his edge many, many decades ago. Adrenaline coursed through me. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be the piece that upset this whole night.
Jasper circled the house, far overhead, his eyesight clearly amazing. I hoped that deer’s wasn’t so good, though even if it was, spotting a dark-skinned gargoyle within the dark sky would be a feat. Jasper wouldn’t blow it.
The deer jerked and my heart stopped. Its head swung toward the front of the house. Its body tensed, and then it exploded into movement, bounding away through the trees. Jasper soared in that direction a moment later.
“Oh ’rap,” I said, the breath leaking out of me, my swear muddled.
The deer shifter must’ve seen the prowler at the front. It would have had a clear vantage point from its last location. Given it had run, they probably weren’t on the same team. One threat was bad enough, but two opposing threats? At the same time?
Or maybe it was just a shifter that had lost its way, with a rare magic that hid it from Ivy House, and a burglar that got unlucky with timing? Totally unrelated. Maybe the shifter spooked because it saw someone, not because it saw an enemy that might not know it wasn’t just a deer.
My gut pinched and then swam. Not even wishful thinking helped me swallow that one down. Danger was coming this way, and it was happening when my parents were here.
I jogged to the front of the house, where Ulric and Cedric waited in the sitting room near the window, wanting a look at that prowler, only belatedly registering my dad coming down the stairs. Having emerged from the seldom-used sitting room attached to the dining room, I slid to a stop just before the entryway.