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“Arkansas, right?” Seemed like worlds away, but maybe that was what I needed. Six months ago, I’d only had to worry aboutmyself, and sometimesthathad seemed like too much. Then it had been Charlie too. Now I had the majority of a pack looking to me like their existence hung on my decisions.
“Yes, but not for a while. If you wanted to keep Charlie in school here, it would be a five-minute drive from our current location. It’s probably a shorter commute than where he went to school before Death Day.”
“You’re like a post-apocalyptic salesman,” I said before sipping some of my cider, which was giving me a nice little burn. Was this part of the sales pitch?
“You buying?” he asked, his smile making the burn a little warmer. “I’ve got a nice little suite ready and waiting, heat, plenty of fireplaces if you like the ambience, lights, movies, video games. It’s almost like stepping back in time.”
I glanced around and then looked at him pointedly.
“I make no bones about my intentions,” he said.
Obviously, since everyone hearing his plans to bring me over didn’t seem to be an issue.
Duncan headed our way. I wasn’t sure if he’d heard what we were talking about or just couldn’t contain all the acid in his overflowing bucket of lemons and had to come share. Maddocks was hot on his heels. He didn’t have the same “I’m going to kill someone” expression as Duncan, but his brow was furrowed.
“Making plans?” Maddocks asked.
“Just laying out her options,” Kicks said, unfazed.
“Her best option is here,” Duncan said, glaring at Kicks.
Maddocks took a softer approach, coming to my other side and smiling. “You need to keep Florida in mind as well. We’ve got plans to make our move to Main Street, U.S.A., the happiest place on earth. There’s a nice little suite in the castle with your name on it.”
I gasped softly. “In thecastle?”
Kicks whipped his head to me, the smile wiped from his face.
But there wasn’t time to address the castle offer, as everyone whipped their heads to the east, clearly aware of something I couldn’t hear.
“What’s going on?”
“Strangers are here,” Kicks said, not breaking his stare toward the entrance.
Richie, one of the shifters on gate duty, appeared, signaling for Duncan and Groza, who were both on their way over. Kicks and Maddocks fell in right beside them.
I followed. I didn’t have the hearing everyone else did, so I’d need to be front and center to know what was going on.
There was a flurry of activity by the gate, and then three women appeared. Chugga, another shifter who did guard duty, was waiting by the entrance. Once he received a signal from Groza, he waved his hand, motioning the newcomers in.
Three women, all on the attractive side and probably in their early thirties, strolled in as if they had nothing to fear. Obviously they didn’t know these were shifters. But even a human community was risky for women of childbearing age. It might not be affecting me in my current situation, but I hadn’t forgotten that more women had died than men.
Jaysa suddenly appeared beside me, standing half in someone else’s spot, almost creating a two-headed woman. As if I didn’t have enough stuff around here to freak me out.
“They aren’t normal,” she said.
I hummed in response, hoping to encourage her to elaborate without having to say anything and look like the freak talking to herself.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with them. I only know there’s something,” she answered.
As far as ghosts went, there had to have been a better pick to send me. She was never sure of anything. I wanted to ask whereWidow Herbert was, but Jaysa was already a prickly one. There was no chance that question would go over well.
Duncan and Groza approached the women. I headed that way as well. Jaysa might think they were off, but they looked normal enough to me. If they only knew what kind of situation they’d walked into, they’d be running out of here screaming bloody murder.
The darkest-haired woman stepped forward slightly. “Hello. We wanted to introduce ourselves. I’m Lola Ramsay. These are my sisters, Alisha and Harriett.”
“I’m Duncan, and this is my wife, Groza,” Duncan said.
It seemed like everyone turned and took stock of my reaction to that introduction. It might’ve been my imagination, since I was standing like a stone. I was barely even blinking, not willing to give anyone the slightest opening to say I looked out of sorts.
