He put a hand over EJ’s face so he couldn’t scream.” Her face crumpled, her tears flowing freely.
My hands fisted. I wanted to hit something, but I had to be calm and controlled. Adult.
Angie said, “I screamed and opened a protection ward over Cassy and Unca Shaddock and me. He . . . he . . . he . . .” Her words stuttered into a sob and she wiped her tear-streaked face before she could continue. “The man said he’d give me EJ if I gave him Cassy. But he was lying. I knew he was lying. He wanted us all.”
Her tears were hot on my skin. I stroked her sweaty hair, not knowing what comfort she needed.
“If I let down my ward, we were all gonna be hurt. I didn’t have enough magic, Ant Jane. I didn’t have enough workings to save us and save EJ and stop the vampire too. I wasn’t good enough. My brother is gone. I messed up, Ant Jane. I messed up bad.”
“Angie,” I whispered, “your dad is right. It wasn’t your fault. It was mine. They fooled us. They got past me.”
“You gotta save my brother. He’s not really a pain.” Angie started hiccupping through her tears. “I really love him. You gonna save him?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m going to save him.” I pushed away from the wall, carrying Angie back to the bed, where I placed her near her baby sister, and made my way to our bedroom. No one followed. I removed my weapons and packed a small gobag with a cell phone, a charger, my medicine bag, two silver stakes, and a thin T-shirt and pants. I pulled off my gold-nugget-and-mountain-lion-claw necklace and added into the mix a talon I hadn’t used recently, one with a tiny bit of dried tissue on the fleshy end. I wrapped the gold chain tightly around the strap of the gobag. Slung it over my shoulder.
Bare-pawed, I went to Alex’s desk. He was in an electronic face-to-face meeting, had three text message threads going, and was on the phone for a conference call. He was busy. I handwrote a note and tucked it into his palm. He opened it, scowled, shook his head no at me. I waved my fingers at him and he scowled some more. He mouthed, I’ll let Eli know.
I nodded and went to the kitchen, where I raided the refrigerator, taking a small raw steak and a high-calorie, high-protein sport shake.
Without telling anyone else what I was doing, I left the house. Ran through the crusty snow, my breath a billowing cloud behind me, my footsteps crunching as I ran. At the pool, I walked along the downed tree, out over the water, and down to the far shore. I set down my bag and grabbed the end of the log. Lifted it with all my half-form strength and stepped back from the water. The log end on the higher shore slipped and splashed down into the water. Eli would be after me fast, probably trying to talk me out of this. He’d have to figure out another way across the creek, which would give me an extra five minutes. By then I’d be gone. I raced upstream, looking for a good rock, small enough to lift, large enough to take mass, clean and free of moss. This time of year, finding bare rock wasn’t hard. I found one, water-shaped into a small rounded boulder, maybe two hundred pounds, balanced on two similar rocks. I shoved it hard, putting my back into it, and it fell, dropping ten feet to rocks below, cracking open to reveal much lighter, rough granite in a paler charcoal color.
Brushing the snow away, I placed the steak on one of the remaining frozen stones. I stripped and laid my clothes on the topmost stone. Sat on the cloth, the cold instantly working its way through to my bare bottom, my paw-feet dangling over the ten-foot drop. I scratched the gold nugget on the rough face of rock, depositing a tiny amount of gold, so I could find it easily again. The nugget I carried worked like a homing beacon to my skinwalker nature, binding the scratch of gold to itself.
I texted Alex four words. I’m ready. Follow me.
Adjusting the strap of the gobag to its smallest size, I hung it on a branch at belly level, close enough to touch, and tucked the necklace into the gobag. I took up the talon as shivers shook