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The man’s eyes went wide with shock as I barreled toward him. He tossed the pup onto the back seat, slammed the door shut, and hopped into the driver’s seat.

I picked up the little girl, scaring the hell out of her. She kicked and shouted in my ear as a blur named Clive raced past me. I turned to take her back to the plane and ran into Vlad.

He waved me past him. “Take her to her mother.” He said something to the girl in Greek that calmed her down. Or maybe he mesmerized her. Whichever it was, it worked. She stopped kicking and yelling.

When I came around the front of the hangar, I was confronted with a panicked and screaming woman who ripped the little girl from my arms. She shouted at me for an extended period of time. I was glad I didn’t understand any of it, honestly, but was happy I could give the little girl back to her mother again. Hopefully she’d hold on tight.

I heard a noise behind me and so didn’t clock it when the woman reached back and slapped me hard across the face. Clive was suddenly beside me. He held up his hands, trying to stem the tide of horrible things she was saying about me. He explained what had happened and how I had rescued her daughter. I understood, because he was speaking English, which seemed like a poor decision given how much the woman enjoyed cursing me in Greek.

The little girl clung to her mother, crying into her neck. Vlad walked up beside us, the puppy in his hand. He asked the little girl if she wanted the puppy. At first, the mother shook her head, but when the daughter’s tears stopped and she held out an arm for the pup, the mother relented, letting her take him.

Clive pulled me away and we headed back toward his plane. Stheno, Coco, and Bracken were waiting by the side of the station wagon, watching whatever crazy drama this had turned into.

“Making friends everywhere you go,” Vlad snarked.

“Yeah, yeah. Good call retrieving the dog.”

He nodded. “I couldn’t leave it trapped in a car with a corpse.”

I leaned into Clive as we walked.

Are you all right? Did she hurt you? he asked.

I’m okay. It’s just—mother and daughter. It’s after midnight. It’s my mom’s birthday. I gripped his hand tightly.

He wrapped his arm around me and kissed the top of my head.

It feels like I just lost her and then it feels like she’s been gone forever. I can’t explain it.

Believe me, I understand.

“What the hell was that about?” Stheno asked when we got close.

Clive checked the time. “Perhaps we can get in and start driving before the explanations begin.”

We all piled in, Clive and Stheno in front, Coco, Bracken, and Vlad in the second row, and me in the way back. I didn’t have a seat, but I was used to sliding around in the cargo area. I even found a chapter book back there. The owner of the car must have had a child who sat in the back too.

I picked up the book. “Hey, how weird is this? I found a kid’s book back here, but it’s written in English.”

Clive’s gaze found me in the rearview mirror as he drove out of the airport. “That is odd.”

Stheno half turned in her seat to look back at me. “No one cares about the book. What did you do to get that woman screaming at you?”

“Why does it have to be my fault?” I asked.

“It doesn’t have to be. It just usually is.” Eyebrows raised, she waited for me to explain myself.

“Sam was saving her daughter from abduction,” Clive told Stheno, his voice cold. He could put up with a lot from her, but her being difficult with me was putting him on edge, especially after that slap.

Coco turned in her seat. “What happened?”

I relayed what happened as best I could, though it all felt strange and not quite real.

“What made you walk toward the child in the first place?” Bracken asked.

Shrugging, I said, “I don’t know. I was just watching her because she was so cute, twirling in her pretty dress. She kept moving farther from her mother, though. The adults were talking and no one was noticing the little girl. I sprinted when I saw the puppy. It felt all wrong. It’s the middle of the night. Why the hell was someone walking a dog at a small airstrip in the middle of the night? And doing it in a way that was coaxing a child farther from her mother?”

“And he really was?” Coco asked. “That man was trying to steal the child?”