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"Yes?"
"Can I please talk to you?"
I didn't recognize the voice. Okay. I pulled on a clean T-shirt and a new pair of jeans, picked up Slayer, and opened the door. A young man stood in the hallway, dressed in a djigit outfit. Young, barely eighteen. Dark blond hair, brown eyes. He stood, rocking forward on his toes, as if expecting to be jumped any second.
"What is it?"
"You're looking for the orange creatures," he whispered in a heavily accented English.
"Yes."
"I will take you where they nest. If you pay me. But we have to go fast and be very quiet."
Aha. "What's your name?"
"Volodja."
A Russian name, short for Vladimir. "How far is it?"
"Two hours. On the mountain. I want three." He held up three fingers. "Three thousand dollars."
"Sounds like a good deal to me."
"I'll wait in town by the statue." He took off down the stairs.
My howling in the dark had paid off. Someone got upset over the blood test and now they had decided to make me disappear. The only other party interested in getting rid of me would be Lorelei, and she had no reason to fight with me. She was winning.
They really thought I was stupid. At least he didn't offer to sell me a nice beachfront property in Nebraska.
I pulled off my T-shirt-it hurt-and strapped myself into a bra. It also hurt. I put the T-shirt back on, found my boots, and headed to Doolittle's room. I'd finally found the end of a thread in this messy knot. If I pulled on it the right way, it would lead me to the guilty party. But I'd need backup.
The door stood wide open and I heard Aunt B's voice from down the hall. "And then I told him that beads were just fine, but a woman had to have certain standards . . . Come on in, dear."
How did she know? I was pretty quiet. I stepped through the door. The debris was gone. A clean, tidy room greeted me, furnished with new bedding, chairs, and desks. Doolittle sat in a wheelchair. I did my best not to wince. Eduardo stretched out on the bed to the right. George sat on the other bed. Keira sat on the windowsill, while Aunt B occupied a chair. Derek lay on the floor, reading a book.
Everybody, except Doolittle and Aunt B, studiously pretended not to look at me. We'd been attacked, we were still under siege, and the shapeshifters had turned grim. My fight with Hugh must've made things worse somehow. Either that, or all of them also knew that Curran had found himself a new main squeeze. Awkward.
"A young djigit stopped by my room," I said. "His name is Volodja and for three thousand dollars he will walk me deep into the mountains and show me where the bad shapeshifters live."
"How fortunate." Aunt B's eyes lit up. "Would you like some company for this wonderful trap, I mean, adventure?"
"I would."
"I'll come," Derek said.
"No. I get you into enough trouble as is." Derek and I were close. If Curran did decide to pull the plug on our relationship, I didn't want to divide the boy wonder's loyalty. That was how the packs split, and both Derek and Barabas were just idealistic enough to dramatically exit with me. It was best to start distancing myself now.
"I'll come, too," Eduardo said.
"Why don't you let me go instead," Keira said. "You can barely stand."
"I don't know, all he has to do is come with us and loom," Aunt B said.
Eduardo crossed his arms on his chest, making his giant biceps bulge. "What do you mean, loom?"
"We need you to stand there with your arms crossed and scowl," I translated.
Eduardo scowled. "I don't do that."
"Just like that," Derek said.
Eduardo realized his arms were crossed and dropped them. "Screw you guys."
"That settles it. I'm going." Keira hopped off the windowsill. "Besides, I owe you, bison boy."
"For what?" I asked.
"He got hurt trying to save me," Keira said. "When the thing pinned me down, he picked it up and slammed it on the floor. It was very heroic."
Eduardo shook his head.
Perfect. Between Jim's sister and Aunt B, my back would be covered. "I'll need to check on Christopher and we're good to go."
Three minutes later I was knocking on Barabas's door, with Aunt B and Keira looking over my shoulder. Barabas opened the door.
"How is he?"
Barabas's face took on a pained expression. "So far he threw up and tried to dive in the bathtub."
"At the same time?"
"Thankfully, no. He's soaking. The dirt is embedded in his skin. Are you going somewhere?"
I explained what was going on. "If we play along, we can get to the bottom of who hired him. Unless it's a one-in-a-million chance that he actually is telling the truth."
"Be careful," Barabas said.
We left the castle and took the winding road down the mountain. The sea sparkled like an enormous sapphire. The sun shone bright and the air smelled of salt water and the light scent of apricots. The beauty of it was so startling, I stopped and looked.
"We should go swimming," Keira said.
We all knew that a relaxing day at the beach wouldn't be happening, but it was nice to dream. "There are no frogs in the sea."
"Why would I be interested in frogs?"
"Jim told me one time that he didn't swim unless there were frogs involved. I assumed he ate them."
"That's disgusting," Keira said. "You really should stop listening to my brother. And he swims like a fish, by the way. The Cat House has an Olympic-sized pool and he swims a couple of miles every time he stays over. Frogs. That man has never eaten a frog in his entire life."
Aunt B laughed.
We started down the winding road. The gravel path smelled of rock dust. Dense blackberry bushes formed a solid wall of green on the sides. I suddenly realized I was starving. I pulled a handful of berries off the bush and stuffed them in my mouth. Mmmm. Sweet.
"Berries are always best off the branch," Aunt B said. She wore a bright yellow dress with a white paisley design on it, sunglasses, and a straw hat. Keira wore a sundress with a light brown bodice and a wide skirt made of strips of light turquoise, white, and brown fabric. It came up to her knees and made her look five years younger. The two of them appeared to be on vacation, while I, with my sexy bruised face, big boots, jeans, and a sword, looked like I had a camp of bandits to destroy.
"What's the connection between you and our handsome host?" Aunt B asked.
Blackberries taste much worse when they try to come back up your throat. "Uhhhh . . ."
