Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
For a small town in Montana, the town square was surprisingly bustling. People milled in and out of stores holding multiple shopping bags. We landed on a roof two buildings to the left and on the opposite side of the store I was surveilling.
“Down,” Cernunnos murmured. “Humans don’t look up, but others do. We’re sticking out like sore thumbs up here.”
We ducked and hurried over to the edge of the roof, finding a spot to help conceal us. Cernunnos waved a hand. “There. We can move about as much as we wish now.”
“You could have done that when we landed.”
“I needed a moment to get my bearings. Use too much magic, and it will bring attention.”
“Thank you.”
“Your thanks sound a little grumpy, Moira.”
I eyed him. “You don’t have to stay, you know.”
He laid a hand over his heart. “How you wound me. Of course I’ll stay. It’s been ages since I’ve been on a proper stakeout.”
“If anything, this would be considered mild stalking.”
“You’re gathering intel on a criminal. Stalking is a crime of power. You have no desire to control the woman or actually see her other than to find out her movements so you can stop her.”
“Hmm. Stakeout,” I mused. “I like it.”
“Good. Now all we need is junk food and too much coffee.”
“I’m afraid I have neither of those.” I pointed at my bag. “Snacks in there. No coffee.”
He wiggled his fingers. “Have you forgotten? I’m magical.”
“No coffee. Because I am not magical and neither is my bladder.”
I sat cross-legged on the ground. “Now hush. I need to focus.”
Root and Branch, the name of my mother’s apothecary, had a surprisingly cute storefront. The sign above the shop had a dark wooden background with lighter wooden letters in a stylized font. Oak leaves twined around the R and B in the name.
The shop did a brisk business. People milled in and out, human and witch alike, most exiting the store with at least one bag. I could only assume she sold more than herbs inside, as some of the bags were larger than I was used to seeing come out of a shop like that.
We sat there for a few hours, Cernunnos occasionally making cracks about certain people. “I wish I knew if she’s there today,” I murmured.
“It’s almost lunch. Maybe she’ll come out to take her break.”
“Dunno,” I said offhandedly. “I’m sure she’s holding at least two people captive in her basement to snack on.”
A warm hand settled on my shoulder at the moment I realized what I’d said. If he hadn’t known what happened to me, maybe he would have laughed. “We’ll wait,” he said quietly.
I glanced up. “Is this why you came? You felt sorry for me?”
“I’m too ancient to feel sorry for anyone, Moira.” He sank down beside me and crossed his legs. “I came because I did not want a friend to face the thing that haunts them alone.”
Tears burned the backs of my eyes. My throat clogged. I looked away and nodded. “Thank you,” I croaked.
“Tell me one happy thing you remember from your childhood.”
I kept my eyes on the apothecary’s entrance while I thought about it. “There was a stray dog in town. He was brown and black and white and had the floppiest ears I’d ever seen.”
“Some type of hound,” Cernunnos remarked.
“Maybe. Larger than a beagle and had a barrel chest but wasn’t a Basset.”
I called him Scout, which was a typical name for a dog back then.
He wasn’t mine. I would never dare to bring a living thing into my mother’s household.
Every time I saw him, he’d come up and show his belly, but oddly enough, he never came out when my mother was with me, almost as if he knew the unlimited bounds of her cruelty.
“I always brought a flask of water with me to share. We’d go into the forest for as long as I could and sit there. He put his head in my lap and snoozed.”
“Sounds like a good memory.”
“It was. We moved a few years later. Asking my mother to take him with us would have signed his death warrant.” A memory I hadn’t thought of in years struck me.
“The wildlife stopped visiting us the week we moved in. No birds sang in the trees. No bugs or snakes skittered along the ground. Every place we moved into had an emptiness about it.”
“Animals have far keener senses than we do sometimes.”
“I’d forgotten how much I missed those sounds until I saw my mother again.” I pushed my legs out in front of me. “Evie has always had life reaching for her, and I took comfort in all the plant life surrounding us. But it’s not the same as having an animal companion.”
“No,” Cernunnos agreed. “It is not.”
“Do you have one that hangs around?” I glanced over at him.
Cernunnos watched the door as closely as I was. “They’re around me constantly,” he admitted. “I have to ask for a moment of peace if I need one.”
“Pets are frowned on at the Keep. Too many children now.”
Cernunnos snorted. “Evie’s Rowan is worried about their pets getting eaten?”
I laughed. “Evie more so than Rowan. Shifters can’t control their instincts for many years. And eating a pet will traumatize everyone, so the general rule is not to bring one around.”
“What about Ethan’s Keep?”
My eyes narrowed. “What about it?”
He grinned, those ancient eyes swirling with amusement. “I smelled him all over your apartment this morning.”
He didn’t have to say “and you.”
Shit. Sometimes I forgot how well paranormals could smell. I’m not sure why. I was one of them. I guess I just forgot when it concerned me. Mostly because I didn’t make a habit of snuggling Shifter Lords on my couch.
“I’m assuming Ethan’s Keep is the same way. My dreams of pet ownership are on hold until I decide to get my own place.”
“Have you thought about moving out?”
“I like being close to Evie.” And hated being alone.
Cernunnos went still. “Watch.”
I leaned forward, peering at the door. Two people came out, neither of whom were my mother.
I started to relax, but the door opened once more.
Minka, as she called herself now, was taller than me by a couple of inches.
She had the same dark hair as I did, but her eyes were the true green of a pureblood witch.
Mine were so dark, they looked black in certain light.
She always called my eyes muddy and blamed my father for ruining our bloodline.
Seemed she never thought she might have participated in that.
Today, her hair was arranged in a neat chignon, a few strands loosened to soften the sharp angles of her face. She wore a pair of taupe, wide-legged flowing pants, a white tank top, and a colorful kimono cardigan on top. Her gaze swept the street, a furrow appearing on her perfect brow.
I started to shrink back. Cernunnos put a hand on my arm. “Trust, Moira. She cannot see us.”
“But she senses something here.”
“Perhaps,” he said, studying my mother intently. “Power calls to power.”
“You think she’s powerful?”
“She has stolen the life force from thousands,” he said roughly.
“Her power comes from stolen magic. My answer is yes, she will be formidable to challenge, but not invincible.” His eyes began to swirl.
“I will instruct the local fauna to stay far from her. They probably already will, but it takes a while for darkness to seep into the land. It’s safest for them to avoid her entirely.
As her sacrifices dry up, her magic will weaken. ”
I stared at him for a moment. “That’s smart.”
“I should hope so. I’ve been alive since the dawn of time, Moira. If I hadn’t learned anything since then, I’d be afraid for my very soul.”
What must it be like to be connected with every living thing?
Evie was similar, but she was more connected to flora than fauna.
All I imagined was a web of interconnection with him at the center.
“Tell Ember, please,” I said, thinking of what might happen to him if Mom spotted him close to where she was performing magic.
“I know he won’t be out this way, but in case he is, I don’t want anything to happen to him. ”
Cernunnos smiled. “You are fond of the little fox.”
“How could I not be? He’s adorable, and he likes me, so obviously he’s perfect.”
My mom got into a sleek BMW and started to pull out of the parking lot.
“Shit. How can we follow?” I must be off my game. Her leaving had never occurred to me. Ethan. I gritted my teeth. Every time he was around, my brain became scrambled eggs.
The god held out his hand. “Come. I will show you a trick or two.”
Minka pulled out of the parking lot. Cernunnos tugged me along, the world flashing by in a rainbow of colors.
I sucked in a stunned breath and followed.
We were running but not. Somehow, we moved through a stream of time and events, everything in fast forward.
Keeping an easy pace with the car, Cernunnos stayed several feet back to keep her from sensing us, I assumed.
After a while, she pulled into the parking lot of a cute rental home with dark blue shutters. There wasn’t a lick of landscaping or flowers within five feet around the home, and most of the grass had died.
She’d been living there for a while now, based on the lack of green things.
Cernunnos slowed and pulled us into the dense woods across the street. “Wait.”
Minka got out of the car and went inside. The day was still early. Odds were she wasn’t home for the rest of the day. If she left again, we could get inside and try to find out what she was planning.
She wouldn’t leave her territory undefended. Even now, I could sense her dark power shimmering around the house and parts of the yard. The place had to be rigged with traps.
“Do you think we can get inside?”
Cernunnos narrowed his eyes. “Dead things live inside, gods touched. I don’t think you want to go in there.”
I closed my eyes. “Human?”
Cernunnos didn’t answer for a moment until he noticed my attention. “Human, shifter. Other animals.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I am sorry you were exposed to her, Moira. My offer to kill her still stands.”
As we stood there, I strongly considered ending things right then. My mother would stand no chance against a god.
Cernunnos could go in and kill her where she stood, ending my eternal nightmare for good.