“And she’s tired of being out of the action,” Theresa snorted.
Touching the tip of my nose with one hand and pointing at the White Tigress with the other, I nodded. “That right there. That’s the deal. Maisie wants to have her babies and raise hell at the same time.”
“True,” Zelda agreed, coming around the front of the car.
Opening the back hatch, I let Maeve and the dogs out. The minute my sister’s feet hit the ground, she went into doctor mode and took control.
“Okay, let’s find Kai.” Pointing toward the house, she directed, “I have done enough crime scene investigation to teach a class. I’ll start collecting evidence.”
“I’ll assess the scene. They taught us all about it at the Academy, and since I’m in Dispatch, I rarely get to flex those muscles,” Theresa pitched in.
“Flex away,” I sorta-kinda cheered, getting more worried about the fate of my Mate with every passing second.
Turning to ask Zelda what she thought, I realized she was already in Witch mode. Her Magic was everywhere. Red and orange bubbles floated on the breeze. Yellow and green sparkles touched down on every surface. Violet and blue smoke wafted in, out, and around everywhere else.
There was no way I was going to bother her. Zelda could handle her shit. There was no doubt about it. I just let her do her thing, knowing she would tell me the second she found anything.
“Arthur, Otis, Chewy, let’s go find…”
“Arroooooooo! Harr-uff, roo-ruff! Harr-uff, roo-ruff! Woof! Woof! Wooooooofffff!” Mona was losing her ever-loving mind, and my boy, Arthur, was off and running.
“Wait!” I yelled, but there was no use. All three of my boys were off and running with Mona leading the way.
Running, something I truly never did unless coffee or chocolate was involved, I joined the race. Following the pups up the cement steps, across the massive porch, and into the house, Mona’s piercing, urgent whines got louder and more persistent.
Stopping and circling, the boys mirrored her actions. She sniffed. They sniffed. She barked. Arthur translated. Otis agreed, and Chewy once again said, “Why didn’t I vote for tacos?”
Over and over, the process repeated as we made our way through what remained of Hoopingarner House. Into one room, then another, and another, then…
Mona stopped. Her long, dark gray tail shot straight into the air. Her nose went down, and she boofed. The muffled, breathy, closed-mouth sound was quickly followed by a chuff as she stared into a ginormous hole in the middle of what I instantly recognized as the ballroom.
In the blink of an eye, four dogs and little old me stood staring into the crater. I could feel the buzz of telepathic Magic and knew the pups were discussing something they didn’t want me to hear.
Tuning into their mental conversation, I caught Chewy say, “You know she’s gonna wanna go down there.”
“But we can’t let her,” Arthur insisted.
“And you think…?” Otis started to say before I interrupted.
“Well, this is less than ideal.”
“No.” Arthur was adamant.
“Definitely not tacos,” Chewy grumped.
“That's a really big hole,” Otis stated the obvious.
Walking up beside me, Zelda knelt at the edge of the hole. Placing her hand on the floor, she had just barely touched the scorched wood when she jerked it back.
“Oh,” she gasped, rubbing her hands together as if trying to wipe something away. “I don't like that.”
“Don't like what?”
“I don’t know, but this is ‘Baba Yaga-level don't like what I feel’.”
“Well, shit.” Forcing out an incredibly exasperated breath, I waited. Zelda always had an explanation.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long before she began. “I don't know what this is.”
