Chapter 37 What? Me?
THIRTY-SEVEN
What? Me?
We were getting up and returning teacups to the kitchen sink when Declan walked in the back door.
“Hey. There are some construction people out here. They look like they’re yelling, but I can’t hear a thing. Should we be concerned about this?”
“Oh, shoot.” I waved my hand and two men stumbled into view, like they’d been leaning on an invisible wall that had disappeared.
“Bracken!” one shouted, making us all jump.
“Sorry.” I went out to the deck. “Really. So sorry. We had a meeting, so I threw up a privacy wall.”
I recognized one as a member of Declan’s pack. The other looked like one of the bear shifters Kenji’s family employed in their construction company. The men took a moment with that information.
“Good one,” the taller one said. “We could use one of those when we meet too.”
The other nodded.
Bracken stepped out onto the deck. “Let me walk you gentlemen back and you can ask me what you need to know.”
The shorter of the two, who was still at least six feet tall, bowed his head toward Declan and said, “Alpha.”
Declan patted him on the shoulder. “I saw the work you’ve been doing for my mate’s family. Excellent job.”
The man’s face lit up. “Thank you, Alpha.” He gave me a respectful nod, then followed Bracken and the other man back to the far side of the gallery.
Declan kissed me, his hand resting on my stomach. “How was your day?”
“Interesting. Oh, which reminds me.” I went back into the studio. “I had a dream about the baby last night.”
Mom popped up from the couch. “Is everything all right?”
I told Mom and Faith everything I’d seen, while Declan pulled the drawings from my backpack and placed them on the worktable. We talked for a while. Mom was beside herself, but Faith just stared at the drawings.
I moved to her side to see her face and feel her emotions better. “Faith? Are you sensing something wrong?”
Mom stopped mid-sentence, looking warily between Faith and me.
Faith shook her head. “No. Not at all. I was thinking that it’s kind of a bummer I was born too late to be your friend and too early to be theirs.”
Declan walked up behind Faith and put his big, warm hands on her shoulders. “You’re not too young to be Arwyn’s friend.”
I shook my head. “Cousins are closer than friends.” I laughed. “I mean, not all of our cousins, but you, me, and Frank? Absolutely.”
“And,” Declan said, “you’re the perfect age to be these guys’ babysitter, if you want.”
Mom put her arm around my waist, making sure not to touch any exposed skin. “She’ll have competition for that role.”
Faith grinned. “I think I’d like that.” She turned to me like something had occurred to her, but then she glanced at the other two and clamped her lips closed.
“It’s okay,” I told her. “You can ask.”
She tucked her hands into her hoodie. “It’s nothing, really.
It’s just that that rumor didn’t make any sense.
” She waved her hand at me. “You’re beautiful and I’ve seen pictures of you and Aunt Sybil when you were little.
You’ve always been beautiful. Like your daughter will be beautiful. Why did they say you were deformed?”
Declan stepped back from Faith, his hands fisted. “Who said that?” he growled.
I patted his chest. “It’s nothing. Swans—we believe—started rumors about Mom’s sister Bridget, then about Mom and me to rattle Gran and get her out of the Wicches’ Council.
As to why…” I unhooked one side of my overalls and lifted up one side of my top, exposing a ribbon of iridescent scales.
They went from one shoulder, across my back, and over a hip before wrapping around my thigh.
Faith gasped, her hand covering her mouth. “That’s so pretty. You’re a real-life mermaid.”
“A siren,” Declan agreed.
I tucked my shirt back in as Declan latched my overalls. “I’m not, but I do have some traits from my dad.”
“Arwyn Cassandra Corey, would you like to explain that tattooed octopus tentacle I just saw?” Mom glared at my back.
“What? Me? A tattoo?” I stepped around Declan so the wall of him was between Mom and me. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Faith giggled.
“How did you even do that without being trapped in visions?” she demanded.
Declan stared down at me, his eyes twinkling. “You’re an adult in the process of creating another person. You can probably tell her now.”
My shoulders slumped. Mom still looked too scary, so I told Faith, “I’ve been pretty insecure about the scales most of my life. When I was a teenager, I decided I wanted a tattoo to help camouflage them. Mom, as you can see, was adamantly against it.”
“For obvious reasons,” Mom cut in.
“So I began researching spells that could give me the tattoo I wanted. It took forever, scouring grimoires, before I found one I could alter to work for me. I worked very hard on it and maybe put a little too much magic into it.”
Blowing out a breath, I unlatched both shoulder straps of my overalls and let Declan lift my shirt up in the back. Both Mom and Faith gasped.
“It’s so realistic,” Faith whispered.
“This is Ursula,” Declan said. When he touched my back, both Mom and Faith yipped in surprise.
“It moves!” Mom shouted.
Faith gasped again. “Where did she go? She got tiny and disappeared.”
I nudged Declan to pull my shirt down. “That’s because Mom scared her. Nice going, Mom.”
Mom rubbed her forehead. “You have a living tattoo running around your body and have since you were a teenager? How did you do this?”
I shrugged. “I have it all written down in one of my notebooks.”
Faith raised her hand. “Can you make me a—”
“No,” Mom and I said together.
Mom paced away. “Honestly, Arwyn, the things you get up to. I think it may be better that I never knew.”
When Mom’s back was turned, I looked at Faith and gave her a subtle thumbs-up. She grinned hugely, noticed Declan’s furrowed brow of disapproval, and quickly walked back to the couch to pick up her empty can and put it in the recycle bin.
“We should probably get going, Aunt Sybil. I still have homework to do tonight.”
After they left, I filled Declan in on today’s revelations.
“Servants?” he asked. “That’s creepy. If there are no more sorcerers, what does that mean for Swans?”
I shook my head, plopping down on the sofa beside him. “No idea. With any luck, the loss of the grimoire and the sorcerer to teach an apprentice, maybe we can break that connection between the families.”
“Are we sure Calliope didn’t train anyone else?” He wrapped his arm around me. “Or that other one? Abigail? You said she taught the cousins when they were little. Do they only pick one apprentice?”
Groaning, I leaned into him. “We can hope.”
He stroked his hand up and down my arm. “New topic. You said you wanted to see your raccoon friends. We can order pizzas and hang out here until they arrive before we go home.”
“I love that idea.”
Declan’s head turned toward the deck. “Hold that thought. You have visitors.”
I slumped in my seat. “I just had visitors. I’m all visitored out.”
Osso and Hernández appeared, pausing at the open door. Osso knocked on the sill and waited until I waved them in.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Hernández said. “We wanted to let you know where we are with these two cases.”
“Okay. Can I get you—” I started to get up, but Declan held me in place.
“There are cookies on the table,” he said. “If they’re hungry, they can have one of those. You’ve done enough today.”
Osso sniffed the air and took two. Hernández grabbed one before Declan leaned forward and took one as well.
“Thank you for this,” she said, holding up the cookie.
“First, we’re working on getting a warrant for the Swan home.
We’re going to very specific people and trying to be quiet about it, as we’re not sure who the Swan woman might be influencing.
The evidence is shaky, even with the video of her at your place and the Bishop place.
I have a friend in IT who’s working on cleaning up that image of the car that picks her up.
If we can show it’s Catherine Swan’s car, we’ll have a much better shot at getting a warrant. ”
She took a bite. “We are working on that one,” she assured me.
“On the topic of the camp murders,” Osso said, taking over, “we have a few more victims identified. Kaknu is keeping us informed on what’s happening with the FBI.
As for the mayor, he was around to chew out the captain about the case a couple of days ago, then lead that press conference.
He’s currently out of town, though. His secretary says he’s in LA for some charity event.
It’s been on his calendar for months, so we don’t think he’s aware we’re looking at him. ”
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw Uncle John’s name. “One sec.” I swiped the phone screen. “Hey, Uncle John.”
“Hello again,” he said. “I wanted you to know that when I got home, I thought about what you’d told me and checked the video recordings from the last couple of nights. I didn’t even have to go that far.”
I sat up straight and Osso took out his notebook. I didn’t have the phone on speaker, but shifters could hear regardless.
“I actually have a couple of detectives with me now. Two of the ones you saw this morning. Is it okay if I put you on speakerphone?”
“Yes, of course,” he replied.
I wanted Hernández to hear as well, so I tapped the screen. “Okay. What did you see?”
“It was last night, a little after one in the morning. There were two of them, both in dark clothes, hoods pulled up. One was taller than the other, but they were both slim. The smaller of the two stayed on the other side of the street, standing beneath a tree. She—I assume she—held something tight in one hand while the fingers of her other hand twirled in a spell. The man waited a moment on the sidewalk. His hands moved as he cast as well. When they finished, they shared a look. He smiled, then tried to run up my front walk. The ward threw him back. He ended up on his butt in the gutter. I don’t have audio on the camera, but he looked like he was swearing rather than casting.
His hood fell back, so I got a pretty good image of his face. ”
Osso and Hernández stood.
“Uncle John, is it okay if the detectives come to you now? They need the video of his face to try to get a warrant.”
“Of course,” he said. “I’m home.”
“Thank you for checking and letting us know,” I told him. We said goodbye and I gave the detectives my uncle’s address.
“Before we go,” Hernández said. “We want to thank you for your help with the camp case. We know it was hard on you and some of the officers didn’t make it any easier.”
I glanced at Declan, then back at them. “You’re welcome. Hopefully, you guys can keep him from hurting anyone else.”
“That’s the plan,” Osso said. “Okay, we’ll get out of your way. Have a good evening.”
They went out the back door and I was left wondering what was going on. I turned to Declan. “What the heck was that? Since when is Osso so polite?”
Declan kissed my head. “Shifters are very protective of mothers.” Grinning, he said, “I think in Osso’s mind, you’re in a different category now.
I bet it was driving him nuts when he could tell by your scent that you were pregnant but you wouldn’t confirm it.
You can expect it to get worse as you get bigger. ”
I tapped his chest. “You too?”
“Most definitely me too. I should probably apologize now for how badly I’ll want to protect you and do everything for you. It would be a lie if I apologized, though, because I won’t be sorry.”
I slumped against him again. “I’ll be annoyed when I have more energy.”
He relaxed back onto the couch, kicked off his boots, and put his feet up on the coffee table. Guiding my head to his chest, he said, “Go ahead and nap while I order us dinner.” He chuckled. “This feels like old times. Where’s your remote? Oh, I see it.” He leaned forward, then settled back.
I didn’t think I could possibly fall asleep like that, but I did. I woke to Declan shifting me off of him so he could stand up. “What’s happening?”
“Pizza’s here. The delivery guy knocked on the gallery door. I’ll be right back.”
“Be careful,” I mumbled. “Last time we ordered pizza here, a killer was waiting on the porch.”