Gabriella shrugged. “Based on what I witnessed downstairs, her body is flushing. Hot flashes mean it’s coming soon. Maybe a day or two.”
“Shit,” I hissed.
When female shifters went into heat, it wasn’t terrible. Usually. The problem was that most women’s first heat was intense. She’d have a hard time concentrating and doing anything. We did need those suppressants. However, I wasn’t sure how happy Maddy would be about taking them. After all, she’d taken shifting suppressants since she was a child, and that was part of how this whole problem started. It was a different medicine, so I hoped she’d understand. I needed her fully focused.
“Make whatever calls you must. Get the meds prescribed, and I’ll figure out how to get someone to a pharmacy.”
Back downstairs, I found the others basically ready. Maddy looked like her usual self. Did she even notice a change happening? Could she even understand she was going into heat? I needed to discuss it with her, but that would need to wait until Abi was safely off.
“I’m going to see her off,” Maddy stated as I came back into the room.
“Is that the best idea?” I asked.
“I don’t care if it’s a good idea or not. I’m going. It won’t be dangerous. Sinthy will bring us back quickly. I’m going.”
Her tone brooked no argument. Her mind was made up. I couldn’t wait for life to become boring again—whenever that might be. I turned to look at Sinthy.
“If Maddy’s going, then so am I. Can you send all three of us?”
Sinthy blew out a breath, puffing her cheeks as she did. “I’ll need to eat a whole pizza and go to bed early, but yeah. Shouldn’t be an issue.”
“Well, let’s do this. Before anything else comes up,” I said.
Sebastian tossed his drink and snack into the trash can and stomped upstairs. He didn’t spare us a second glance.
“Everyone ready?” I asked.
Abi was watching Sebastian go. She pulled her eyes away and looked at me. “Can I have a second? Real quick. I’ll be right back.”
I waved at her to go. The day couldn’t end soon enough. She jogged up the stairs, and in a few seconds, I heard her having a murmured conversation with Sebastian. I blocked it out, giving them the privacy they needed. When she returned, Abi’s back seemed a little straighter. Her eyes were more focused. It was like she’d finally figured something out. What that was, I had no clue. All I knew was that I was happy we were ready to go.
“Hold hands. Abi, keep your free hand on your suitcase,” Sinthy said.
We did as she asked, then the witch mumbled a few words, and that same sensation hit me as it had when she’d teleported with Maddy and me.
Sinthy caught my eye and winked. “Have fun, Nico.”
Before I could ask what the hell she was talking about, I blinked, and we were gone. Tugged along into whatever magic plane facilitated this fast travel. When I blinked again, the three of us stood in a bathroom stall. It was a large handicapped stall, but even so, we were crammed in tight with Abi’s suitcase.Outside the stall, two women were having a conversation at the sink. I gritted my teeth, finally understanding Sinthy’s joke. She’d sent us all into a women’s bathroom. Very funny.
We waited for almost five minutes before things sounded quiet. Hustling out of the bathroom, I managed to get into the main hallway without anyone spotting me. The rest was fairly easy. It took some before we figured out how to get the private airstrip. We had to leave the main terminal and walk down a short sidewalk to a separate building with a few small planes out front on their personal taxiway attached to the airport’s main runway.
A man stood on the tarmac holding a big cardboard sign that read:Abi. As we neared, the pilot waved to us and met our group halfway.
“Abi? Are you Nico?” the pilot asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, this is Abi. She’ll be your passenger.”
“Well, all right then. Only one bag, Miss?” he asked as he took her suitcase from her. “Mr. Moretti is very excited to have a guest.”
“Umm, is the island nice?” Abi asked.
The pilot’s smile grew. “Paradise, my lady. That’s the only description.”
“Is it a straight shot from here?” I asked, eyeing the small plane. Could he get all the way to the island with that tiny thing?
The pilot stowed the bag in the luggage compartment near the tail of the plane before answering. “We go from here to a small airstrip in the Keys, where we’ll transfer to a chopper. From there, I’ll get her the rest of the way.”
“You can fly airplanesandhelicopters?” I was surprised and a little impressed.
