I reach to my bedside table and unplug the phone from the charger before I answer it. “Hello?”
“Morgana. Hello. This is Levi.” The monster council member’s voice is tight. “I know this is probably a long shot, but I just checked on our new guest, and it looks as though he left at some point in the night. Is that tracking spell still live? Did he happen to return to the library?”
I sit up straight in bed and glance around my room, as if this were the space Bo would appear in. But of course he wouldn’t behere. I would be shocked to find the mythic in any room in the library after the way he reacted last night.
Still, I feel obligated to check.
“The tracking spell was one use only, and I haven’t heard anyone trying to get in. I locked and spelled the front door.” And yet I have the sneaking suspicion this house would be able to undo all of my physical and magical protections if it had the whim. “I’ll check though. Can I call you back?”
“Yes. Please.”
The moment after I press to end the call, I consider if it might have been a better idea to keep Levi on the line.
Ame and Jack are here, I remind myself.
They have a noise-dampening spell cast on their room, so I don’t have to hear their bedroom activities every night, but the spell is one-way. If I scream about an intruder, they’ll hear me just fine. Especially with Jack’s werewolf ears.
I slip out of bed and pull on a robe, then press open the heavy door that reveals a winding narrow set of stairs. The old wood creaks under my sock-covered feet, though the steps shine like new in the warm Edison bulb lights I mounted on the walls.
My room is not the most practical choice. We had to bring all the furniture up piece by piece because of the dramatic angles. The stairwell from the first floor to the second at least has coffin corners to help with maneuvering.
Still, my room has the best view and gives me the romantic notion of living in an enchanted tower.
Or I guess it’s not just a notion. The house is enchanted, and three stories makes a tower as far as I’m concerned.
I make my way through the quiet house that has been converted into a library. I flip on lights as I go, not sure how it would feel if I came across the newly freed monster in a dark room. And yet the thought of him brings nothing like fear to my mind. His nonhuman form is intimidating in shape and makeup,but the man himself, even frantic, never seemed particularly violent. There were no splashes of amber in his aura that I’ve spied in those of violent people.
He was a blend of sage, tangerine, and cerulean.
Confusion, anger, and sadness.
All understandable.
Despite the house being on the larger size, it doesn’t take me long to navigate through the entire place and see no sign of Bo.
I call Levi back.
“He’s not here, unless he’s hiding. And a guy that size would have trouble concealing himself in this place.”
I unlock the front door and step out into the cool morning, my feet chilly on the porch’s wooden boards. There are the sounds of cicadas and bats in the darkened woods. The occasional owl hoot. A few early rising birds have begun to chirp. I dodge the random spiderwebs that were built overnight on the front porch, planning to sweep them away, like I do every morning.
Spiders love a lake house.
“I guess it was too much to hope it would be that easy,” Levi mutters on his end of the line.
“If I had to guess, I’d say he went back to his trailer,” I offer.
I don’t know much about the guy, but the fact that he ran there first indicates it may be the only place in town where he feels safe. It may be the only place that’s familiar to him after seventeen years.
“That was my next thought. I want to head over there, but I’m kind of dealing with something right now.” He clears his throat. “Moira’s pregnant—I’m not sure if I mentioned that—and she’s having some pain. She might need to go to Dr. Grove.” He names a newer doctor who moved to Folk Haven only a few months ago.
“Oh no. Sorry she’s not feeling great.”
I haven’t spent too much time with the monster and his selkie mate, but I do know their coupling caused some stirring in the town. Even after living here for a few years, I struggle to understand the faction of town folk that are upset by inter-mythic mating.
Mythics mixing bloodlines might result in monsters, but we’re all weird and magical anyway. I don’t see why we need to divide ourselves.
“You should stay with your mate.” I don’t hesitate on my offer. “I’ll go find Bo. I’ll check on him.”
