“Scout still out there?”
I didn’t hear her reply once I pushed through the doors into the kitchen.Abbi was (surprisingly) not there, but evidence of her strafing run was clear in the huge slice of pumpkin pie that was missing and the half-empty marshmallow bag.
I found the mugs, started the kettle for Lu, and turned on the tap for a glass of water, which I downed in one go and refilled.
I poured coffee, thinking I might go for a snack of the cheeses, smoked meats, and nuts they’d set out, when I heard Lu’s phone ring.
It wasn’t loud, but it was a silly little tune that managed to carry, even over other noise.
Lots of people might be calling her—Ricky, for one.Raven, because he was like that.Maybe even Dot from the B&B back in Illinois.
But I knew from the chill that shot through my bones, it was none of those people.
Whoever was on the phone was not a friend.
I barged into the control room.
Lu was on her feet, facing me, but from the look on her face, she didn’t see me.
Pamela was on her feet too, but she leaned over her tablet, her fingers flying.
“Speaker,” I said.“Lu, put it on speaker.”
She snapped out of her daze and put her phone down, turning on the speaker function.
Insipid orchestral music played.The caller must have put Lu on hold.
“Who is it?”I asked.
“Headwaters,” Lu whispered.She swallowed and scowled, color coming back to her cheeks.“His secretary put me on hold.”
“Why?”
“Because Headwaters wants to talk to me.Directly.”
“He knows,” I said.“Knows we’re on to him.”
Card came down the stairs, moving silently, a book open in his hand, his tattoos glowing softly.
The music stopped and a woman’s voice said, “Headwaters will speak with you now.”
A click sounded, and I knew something evil hovered on the other side of the connection.An evil we’d been hunting for decades.
“Lula Gauge,” a slow, low male voice said.“I know you have the spell book of the gods.”
My heart hammered so loudly, I could barely hear his words.This felt like a nightmare.One where I was locked in place.Frozen.
Lu’s breathing was fast, both rage and fear.But her voice when she spoke was calm and without inflection.
“We will find you,” she said.“And we will kill you.”
The pause on the other end was long.I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the phone screen, Lula didn’t move.
It felt like not even a single grain of time fell.
“You know what I am?Who I am?”
“Yes.”
