“So, it wasyouwho sent the phantom dog after her?”
He nods. “Yes. That was the easiest form for me to conjure with the ring. To track you and hopefully lead you to me. The rings can summon each other. Act like beacons, when they’re worn. It was the only form I knew I could conjure with any accuracy.”
Dexter slowly nods while Zuzu pops another candy into my mouth like I’m five, and he’s just retrieved me from hiding because—
“Sers,” I gasp. “Uncle Sers.” A flood of fear washes into me. He was like a bogeyman. I always had to worry he might discover me.
“Oh,” Zuzu says, his voice suddenly filled with venom I’ve never heard him speak before. “Youneverhave to worry about him again, little one.” He hugs me tighter. “He is dead, long in his grave.” He kisses my forehead again. “I am so sorry about your mother. We tried so hard to find you and come to you. It nearly destroyed your father’s sanity.”
I cling to him. “Did…my uncle kill Mom?”
I feel Dexter’s hand gently settle on my back as Zuzu answers. “Yes. I’m so sorry. We didn’t know Serxon had a crossing ring until he attacked your father that day. We tried to find where he hid it, but he would never reveal it. Your father left your mother with his, thinking he would take Serxon’s.”
“Can we start over?” Dexter softly asks. “Her mother told her that her father died.” I’m so stunned over all of this that I can’t even appreciate how sexy Dex sounds with a Scottish burr.
Zuzu sniffles. “Sorcha likely believed that. Understandably so. There was a weekend camp you wanted to attend. Arts and crafts.” As Zuzu tells the story, he plays with my hair. “So they enrolled you. Your father had to come here, and he brought your mother over for a visit, since you were to be gone overnight at the camp. But we didn’t know Serxon had arrived on the estate. He followed your father and mother when Parxon was going to take her back, and Serxon confronted them. Attacked them. Your father took her through the crossing, but then Serxon followed.
“That’s when your father realized Serxon had a ring no one knew about. Parxon left his ring with your mother and fought with Serxon, forcibly dragged him back through the crossing. Unfortunately, Serxon got away from your father and hid his ring.” He sadly shakes his head. “No amount of bribery would make him give up the location. He was so angry at your father for mating and marking Sorcha.”
“Why?” Dexter asks.
Zuzu sighs. “I am afraid I am not doing this story much justice,” Zuzu says. “It is very complicated. There are so many things you do not know about us, or how we do things here.”
“Whereishere?” Dexter asks.
“It is still your Earth. It is a different…dimension, I think is the word? We call itJotnunlm. This is the old world, theoriginalworld. Where you come from is the land where the old families sent the sorted ones after the ruling class decided to separate our kind, thejotnun, from the rest. Duringrangnork. The sorting. The ones who’d had the virus, and the shifters, and females. The hybrids who could mate with the females, but who weren’t Alphas or omegas, and who couldn’t give birth. What are now called humans, I guess you could say? And others who wished to go with them. There was very old magick here in this dimension, and none that they were aware of in the other.”
I find my voice. “Wait,what?”
“There is so much to tell you,Mazbushka. Oh, your father will be so joyful when he returns and sees you.”
Something pings my brain. “Wait, when is sunrise?”
He lifts the sleeve of his tunic, exposing what appears to be a digital watch on his wrist. “Less than two hours. Why?”
I look at Dexter. “You have to go back.”
“Like bloody hell I will.”
“Wehaveto send you back.”
“I’mnotleavin’ without ye, girl.”
“AndI’mnot leaving until I see my father.” I focus on Zuzu again. “How far away is the house?”
“Not far, but I have a crew coming this morning to finish repairs on the roof. They will be there for most of the morning. And the estate crews will arrive soon, too, for morning tasks. I should not take you across the open fields while they are there. There is nowhere to hide.” He smiles. “Do you remember our hiding game?”
I nod. “Sort of, yeah.”
“You were always so good. No one ever saw you during your visits.”
“Why can’t anyone know about her?” Dexter asks.
“Because they will immediately know she is not of here.”
“But how? Can’t we disguise her?”
“The problem is that she is female.”
