“I’m fine.”
He looked in the direction Millie had escaped, then in the direction Aunt Tillie had stormed.
“You probably can’t catch Millie,” I offered. “Until we know exactly what she is, we can’t come up with a plan to deal with her. Whatever Aunt Tillie says—and it’s a bunch of nonsense as far as I’m concerned—we can’t trap Millie wherever she was trapped before. That won’t fly this time.”
Evan nodded in agreement. “I’ll talk to Tillie. She needs to calm down first.”
“Thank you.” I accepted his hand when he extended it to help me off the floor. “Find anything today?”
“Not really,” he replied. “I spent a lot of time in the woods.”
The only reason I knew Steve was no longer under the table was because he’d focused his attention on Evan. “And you are?” Steve asked, his eyes roaming Evan from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. It was obvious he’d picked up on the fact that Evan was not some random friend who had dropped by.
My stomach tightened as I considered the ramifications.
“I’m Tillie’s first sidekick,” Evan replied. He didn’t extend his hand toward Steve in greeting. “I have to find her.” His eyes moved back to me. “I’ll be in touch.” With that, he followed Aunt Tillie, leaving me with a mess. A very big mess.
“I need more information about Millie,” Steve said, licking his lips as he glanced around the room. “Maybe a lot of information.”
Internally, I cringed. Outwardly, I smiled. “Of course.” I moved to help Mom with the teapot, careful to collect all the pieces. There was no gluing it back together. Thistle had become adept at repair spells, though. “Whatever you want to know, I’m here to provide.”
“What is Millie?” Steve demanded.
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
WINCHESTER REMAINED AT THE OVERLOOK. Landon was going through withdrawal he missed his dog so much. Much like me, he knew Winchester was safer with Mom and the aunts. If the naiad came calling, she might not care about sparing a dog. Millie wasn’t as much of a concern when it came to animals. She was part of Aunt Tillie, which meant she loved animals.
“Do you want to talk?” Landon asked when I emerged from the bathroom clad in shorts and a tank top, face freshly washed.
“I’d rather sleep. I hope that’s okay. I need to think.”
Landon lifted the blanket so I could crawl under it. “We can talk things through in the morning.”
I nodded. “Thanks. It was a really long day.” I rolled and rested my head on his shoulder.
He snuggled me at his side. “Steve will have more questions tomorrow.”
“Yeah. The paranormal world isn’t looking so fun now.”
“It’s a bigger world than he realized.”
“Maybe I should’ve eased him in. Throwing him in the deep end without knowing if he could swim might’ve been a mistake.”
Landon hit the switch on the lamp beside the bed. “It’s better this way. You can’t spend all your time worrying about how he’s going to react. He needs to keep up. You can’t break your rhythm, not when you’re dealing with something dangerous.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“I know.” He kissed my forehead. “Sleep. We’ll figure out where to start in the morning.”
“Okay. Sounds like a good idea.”
I was out within seconds, which is why I was disgruntled when the darkness began to ease, and I found myself in another dreamscape. The naiad was waiting.
“This is a surprise,” I said. She stood next to Torch Lake and looked out at the water. “I didn’t realize you had dream magic.”
“We don’t,” she replied, her eyes still on the lake. “We can access the magic of others, and you have dream magic.”
“It’s not very strong.”
