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  Suzanne paused, squeaked, paused again and then blasted, “Are you asking me for advice?”

  Paige had no idea why Suzanne would think that was a dumb idea. She was the freakin’ mayor of Troutdale. Paige was a mother of a small circus and a detective who hadn’t actually worked a case in two years. Three? It’d been awhile. No. Two. Bobby wasn’t that big yet.

  “Well, um.” Suzanne took in a deep breath and then let it out. “I would get some publicity. This is all about what the people are thinking and what they’re feeling, and that means you have to be seen.”

  “But there are guards on my doors.”

  “Are you under arrest?”

  “No.”

  “Then, by rights, you’re free to go. You’re an American citizen. They can make you feel like you’re not allowed to go anywhere, but they really can’t arrest you.”

  Which Paige knew. She was in law enforcement, but she was bordering on something new here. The people of the U.S. saw her and her family as terrorists. For saving the world.

  But didn’t most terrorists think they were saving the world?

  That was a terrifying thought she couldn’t take back.

  The difference was she didn’t kill people to save the world.

  Suzanne gave her a few more insights on how to get the media to show up where she wanted. How to ask for interviews. What stunts would work better than others.

  She needed to get in front of the camera.

  Right. Okay. “Thanks!”

  “You’re—I mean, no problem.”

  Almost as soon as they hung up, Leslie called. “Yeah?”

  Paige almost sagged with relief just hearing her sister’s voice. “I haven’t been able to get a hold of anyone. Is everything okay?”

  “Yes. I mean, the supply run went well. Is it weird that we’re workin’ so close with Eldora? I mean, she is creepy. Am I right? It’s not just me?”

  Paige chuckled. “It’s not just you.” But her tone said there was something else going on. Actually, it was her accent. Her Texan drawl always got deeper when she was upset. “Anything else?”

  “Well, people are tryin’ to buy m’ damned soap without any money. That’s a problem because I can’t order supplies without cash money.”

  “You’re able to get shipments?”

  “Well, no. But I might be able to get it delivered to a post office and then have Eldora get me a door there.”

  She had a point, but if anything, her drawl was getting even deeper. “Out with it.”

  Leslie sighed. “Fine. Dexx is missin’.”

  “What do you mean missing?”

  “I mean he disappeared. Was at work. Then he wasn’t.”

  “At work?” The world fell out of Paige’s stomach.

  “That’s what I said.”

  “Did you check the vide—” She was talking to the wrong person. “I love you.”

  “Be safe.”

  They hung up and she called Michelle who didn’t pick up until the third call. “I did check the video surveillance,” Michelle said without saying hello. “I have no information. As soon as I do, I’ll let you know.”

  “What do we know?”

  “Nothing.”

  “But the wards…” This shouldn’t be possible.

  Michelle paused. “Did you and Dexx have a fight before you left?”

  “Yes, but…” Understanding flooded through her. The wards prevented anyone from coming and taking Dexx. If he left, he did so under his own volition. He did so willingly. “No. You know him. Even if we were fighting, he wouldn’t just leave.”

  “I don’t… know.” Michelle paused. “He was pretty upset.”

  Paige couldn’t even begin to imagine Dexx just leaving like that. He’d been there through all the shit she’d dealt through the last few years. He hadn’t run once. He wasn’t a quitter. “I want you to treat this like it’s a kidnapping.”

  “Kidnapping?” Michelle’s voice was clipped. “Not a murder?”

  No. Never. Not Dexx. She wouldn’t even think that. “They have more to gain by holding him hostage.”

  “Because of the way things are going.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re becoming a bigger player.”

  Apparently so. “Yes.”

  “Okay.” That one word was light as if spoken with a small swarm of relief. “I’ll have everyone continue to dig. Not that they would stop if I told them to.”

  “How’s crime?” Because Paige needed the distraction.

  “Down. People are scared. They’re working together. It’s good.”

  “Good.” There were other questions she wanted to ask, but again, those were questions for someone else. “Keep me apprised.”

  “Will do.”

  They disconnected and Paige’s next call was to Merry freakin’ Eastwood.

  She knew that if she tried to do a spell of any sort, it wouldn’t work. It wasn’t the collar. She still had access to her magick.

  It was the fact that she sucked at spell work. She needed the best.

  Normally, that would be Leslie, but her tone said she was elbows to eyebrows deep with stuff. Leslie was the Whiskey wife. She handled everything so that everyone else could handle everything else. Paige wasn’t going to burden her with more.

  That left Merry Eastwood who was the best, most powerful spell caster she knew.

  Merry answered on the first ring. “This is a surprise. You’re quitting already?”

  “No.” She had a plan, thanks to Suzanne, and she was going to work on implementing it. “I need your help.”

  “My help?” Merry seemed bored as if she already knew what Paige was going to ask.

  “I need you to tell me where Dexx is.”

  Merry paused. “Isn’t he at work or playing house cat?”

  The cat jokes were funny, something Paige didn’t want to admit, but she didn’t have time for that at the moment. “He’s gone.”

  “Did you two have a fight?”

  Why did everyone—She didn’t finish that thought. She knew why everyone asked that question. It was the right one to ask. “Yes. But he wouldn’t leave right now.”

  “Is he chasing a lead or whatever it is that he does?”

  “He didn’t check in with his team.” And Paige had finally gotten him—no. His team had finally gotten him trained to do that.

  “The wards would prevent any harm from happening.”

  “I know.”

  Merry didn’t answer right away. “What do you think happened?”

  She had no idea. “I think DoDO somehow got in and that they have him.”

  “Why?” Merry clicked her tongue in a sophisticated tongue-click which was soft and light, instead of the harsh tongue-click Leslie typically used. “Never mind. I’ll be right there.”

  Paige had no idea what she meant by that but Merry didn’t provide further details and when she looked at her phone, she realized she’d been cut off.

  She had enough time to fix her and Leah some lunch. The twins were being fussy in the living room. Rai really hated being in puny human form. She was trying to pull herself up so she could at least stand on her wobbly baby legs, and it was taking a lot more effort than the girl wanted. Shoots of baby lightning danced around the room.

  A door opened in the middle of the living room and Phoebe and Merry stepped through.

  Merry assessed the room with a cool eye and walked to the kitchen island, dropping a rather large bag on the grey marble counter. She curled a lip at the collar for a moment and then pointed at it, one eye narrowed more than the other as she raised an eyebrow.

  “Represses the spirit animal.”

  Merry nodded, her lips still clamped tight. “Not your magick?”

  Paige shook her head. “But the demon door is opening.”

  “The—” Light dawned on Merry’s face. “Right.” She turned to her bag and started pulling things
out. “Would you like to help?” she asked Leah.

  Leah was interested and repulsed at the same time. She licked her lips and glanced at Paige. “Yes?”

  Eldora went for the stove and turned the burner on for hot water.

  Paige kept forgetting or overlooking the fact that Leah was Merry’s descendant, thanks to the fact that Paige had married her son. She hadn’t known at the time that he was her son. And she still secretly believed that Merry was the one responsible for Mark’s death, but she couldn’t prove anything.

  But if Paige was going to allow Leah to learn her door magick from Eldora Blackman, then she had to allow Leah to learn blood magick from Merry. Paige had been very lucky growing up with Balnore by her side. But there weren’t enough demigods to teach all the Whiskey kids on their various forms of magick.

  Paige kept the twins busy while Leah and Merry talked quietly about the objects that came out of that bag.

  It was like Hermione’s magick bag that held everything. Paige was a little disappointed when a tent didn’t come out. The only thing she could think of was Harry Potter. Magick really was cool.

  The twins seemed happy to self-entertain, so she joined Merry and Leah at the counter.

  With the countertop prepped, Merry looked up at Paige. “I need something of his.”

  Eldora finished making tea . She placed a mug in front of Merry and another in front of Paige. She turned to Leah. “Cocoa?”

  Leah frowned at her grandmother and grudgingly nodded.

  Paige could almost feel for the girl. She’d grown up thinking Rachel was her only grandmother. Then she’d come to live with Paige and realized that Alma was another grandmother.

  And then they moved to Oregon and discovered that the wicked witches of the east and west were also her grandmothers.

  And they were both currently helping her locate her adopted-unofficial dad.

  That kid was the poster child for the new “nuclear” family.

  Well, Paige was going to have to look that meaning up later since, she wasn’t certain it was entirely correct. She was pretty sure that word didn’t mean what she thought it did.

  Merry sipped her tea and gestured for Paige to do the same.

  She picked the cup up and sniffed it. It smelled good. She took a sip. It tasted good. “What is it with you and tea?”

  Merry’s black eyebrow twitched as she lowered her cup. “There are many herbs that assist in many ways with magick, something your sister knows well. But you both could do with a few lessons on real magick.”

  “From a blood witch.” Paige had been instructed by one of the most powerful witches she knew, Alma.

  “Our magicks require a lot more structure than yours.”

  Paige knew she wasn’t wrong. Her magick was… life? She still didn’t quite know how to peg it into a bucket. It was nature magick. That’s what it felt like, and nature had rules. Not just the kinds that humans seemed to require.

  Merry drank a bit more, Paige following her lead.

  And then she got to business.

  Being on the outside of the spell was a little like watching air move, which was possible when the sun streamed through the window to highlight all the little dust particles. She pulled the charm Dexx had given her when they’d moved to Oregon out of her pocket. He had a similar one from her. It was a matching set.

  Merry handed it to Leah. “Place it in the center, girl. Good. Now, one hand up the other down. Feel your core and draw from your blood.”

  Nothing happened for a few seconds. Leah glanced at Paige, but calmed, and settled into the spell.

  The charm wiggled and rose.

  The charm glowed a brilliant orange, like a hearth fire, and floated above the dust circle she and Leah had drawn using red and black colored sand.

  Merry’s head fell back and black smoke sizzled around her as if the very air was alive.

  Paige’s heart leapt, hoping for good information, for good word, or for Merry to just provide her with a location or procure him right then and there.

  The air stopped sizzling and the charm fell to the counter with a clank, all the magick disappearing from the room.

  Merry pressed her hands to the countertop palms down until her fingertips went white.

  Eldora swapped out her mugs for another one.

  Merry took a long drink from it, glaring for a moment at the other witch.

  Leah looked at Paige and shook her head, her lips open, her blue eyes filled with concern.

  Paige held out a hand to quiet her. They needed to give Merry time to speak.

  She did finally. “He’s alive. He’s safe.”

  That was good. “Where?”

  Merry shook her head, looking fatigued. “His location is protected by something very powerful. You are right. He’s being held.”

  She had to get him. “Where?”

  Eldora thumped her lightly on the arm. “Didn’t she just say she didn’t know?”

  Paige ignored the fact that she actually had a ping of comfort from that small action. She missed having Alma around, someone older and wiser. For that one brief moment, she forgot that Eldora Blackman was the enemy. “A general area maybe? Near? Far? Anything?”

  Merry’s expression sagged. “He’s facing something from his past.”

  His past? He’d already faced the demon who’d taken his brother. There was nothing left for him to deal with in his past. “What past? He’s dealt with his past. The demon that—"

  “A past life,” Merry said simply. “He needs to follow this through, and it doesn’t concern us. Concentrate on the here and now.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Eldora started gathering Merry’s things.

  “It’s connected.” Merry lifted one shoulder, not looking like the powerful witch she always presented herself to be. She looked vulnerable. “It’s all connected.”

  Paige didn’t know what that meant.

  With their stuff gathered, Eldora opened another door and walked through.

  Merry paused and touched her chest, pointing to the amulet she’d given Paige. “Next time, use that. It can’t be traced.” She walked through the door and it closed behind them.

  Paige stood in the silence, staring at Leah, “Did you see anything?

  “I— I’m not sure. I might have seen Hattie? I don’t know what that has to do with his past, do you?”

  “No.” She whispered a swift prayer to the goddess.

  The goddess didn’t reply. She never replied.

  What in the world had they gotten themselves mixed up in this time?

  11

  Paige couldn’t stand in stunned silence for long. What to do? The Mayor’s advice came back.

  She started making phone calls. She called Danny and got a few contacts in the media. He didn’t know everyone, but he knew people who knew people and he knew who she should ask for.

  She told the guards they were going sightseeing. They didn’t like it, but they let her go. So, over the next couple of days, she and the kids went around the town eating at different restaurants and visiting the places on Paige’s tourist list. They almost forgot about the collars.

  But not about the reporters. They followed everywhere.

  She was caught on video nursing. Well, she’d already been caught giving birth on international news, so why not? Nature mom, doing nature things.

  The reporters were filled with questions. She answered as best she could, and spun her answers building up the paranormal community.

  The tone of the questions changed as the days progressed. She even got the reporters to help with the kids. To be fair, they were still shifters and had a bit more energy than normal human babies.

  Something that the reporters noticed almost immediately. The beraver ones were a little concerned with the lightning and the fire that would dance in the babies’ eyes when they were angry. So, she had to talk them through that and what to do if they we
re caught by a rogue fire spark.

  There was actually a lot of laughter through these impromptu, nearly constant interviews. Everyone wanted to know what it was like raising powered kids because raising normal kids was tough enough.

  The collars didn’t stop chafing as the days wore on. By the end of the third evening, all of the kids were starting to get a little bit punchy and irritable. Luckily, by this time, the newness of them had worn off so they were able to go to a fan favorite—Red Robin—and have a great burger and endless fries, something Paige was almost certain they’d stop offering due to her and her kids. Shifters had four extra empty legs to fill.

  Naomi’s kids, Ginny and Todd, took an instant shining to Leah, so they were almost always there. Rai was also a fan favorite, leaving Ember to his own devices. Paige didn’t understand how even babies could be separated from the herd. However, it appeared as though Rai was going to be the socializer while Ember remained on the outside. It wasn’t that Ember was horrible for any reason. He was probably just an introvert and it was already showing that people overwhelmed him.

  Naomi and her kids walked Paige and hers up to the hotel room. “Hey, I wanted to ask— um, we could show you some places you missed. Interested?”

  Leah looked about ready to refuse out of hand.

  Paige took the invitation and ran with it. “Sure.. we got some of the touristy places out of the way, but maybe we could go someplace full of history but doesn’t cost the world?

  Todd, her son, had a list of several places.

  Paige wasn’t certain that Todd’s interests were necessarily the same as Leah’s, but it was still nice to have Leah treated like she was a human being instead of a zoo exhibit.

  The next morning, Paige got the twins ready with Leah’s help, before Naomi arrived.

  Leah gave her mother a small glare. “I hate the reporters. This isn’t anything like I thought it would be.”

  Same with Paige. “I think it’s working, though, and if we can make it easier for the other paranormals, then I’m willing to be inconvenienced a bit longer.”

  Leah’s expression said she didn’t appreciate that statement at all. “Collared like dogs. Why do they hate us so much?”

  “Fear.” Paige hated to be forced to open her daughter’s eyes quite like this, but she knew she had to. “People fear what they don’t know.”