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Obviously, the church was a local one. I nodded and quickly finished the rest of my tea. “I’d better get back to work.”
Aiden squeezed my leg and then released me. I rose, picked up my mug and the teapot, then dumped both into the kitchen before moving around the counter to help Belle with the cake and coffee orders.
The rest of the day passed reasonably quickly. I sent Belle upstairs to rest her ankle once the lunch influx had eased and spent the rest of the afternoon doing some food prep. Penny and Celia handled the cleanup while I dashed upstairs to change clothes. We might do nothing more than sit in the truck, but on the off chance that we did have to get out, I didn’t want to look out of place. By the same token, I didn’t want to be running after the Manananggal in a dress and high heels.
“Go with the black pants.” Belle crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Team it with that green shirt, and you’re good to go.”
“Thanks.” I glanced at her. “What are your plans for the evening?”
“I might go through the books we have here and see if Gran had any spells that’ll protect the café from Clayton. I wouldn’t put it past the bastard to destroy this place before he tries the same on us.”
&n
bsp; The memory of fiery dreams rose, and alarm prickled across my skin. “It might be also worth looking into stronger flame-retardant spells.”
“I’m gathering that’s not a random comment.”
I grimaced. “No, but I couldn’t actually see what was burning.”
“Your dreams are damned annoying sometimes.”
“And yet they’re still nowhere near as bad as your spirit guides.” I paused. “I don’t suppose they’ve had anything to say about the Manananggal, have they? Or even Clayton?”
“Other than saying it’s best to avoid them both? No.”
I snorted softly and shoved my feet into my shoes. “I’d better go wait for Aiden.”
Belle pushed away from the door. “Be careful out there tonight. There’s an ill wind blowing, and that usually means trouble is about to hit.”
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.” But I also didn’t think it would come from the Manananggal. Not tonight, anyway.
Of course, I’d been wrong before, which was why I detoured into the reading room to pick up the backpack before heading out to meet Aiden.
He pulled up in front of the café and then leaned across to open the passenger door. “You look rather nice this afternoon.”
“Meaning I normally don’t?” I climbed in and buckled up.
“Maybe I should have said extra nice.”
“I figured it wouldn’t hurt if, for some reason, we had to go mingle with guests.” I glanced at him as he pulled out into the traffic. He’d changed out of his ranger gear and was wearing black pants and a dark blue shirt that emphasized the color of his eyes. “Looks like I wasn’t alone in thinking that. The shoulder holster does spoil the look, however.”
“The jacket will cover it. How close do you need to be to feel the spell being placed?”
“Monty will probably feel the magic easier than me, but if she’s using a proxy of some sort we may not sense anything. It’ll depend entirely on what sort of spell she’s using.”
“And the proxy? Do we need to do anything about him or her?”
“If we stop them—or attempt to de-spell them—it might well warn the Manananggal. We’re better off grabbing a photo of them for identification purposes, so we can find them again once we’ve caught our ghoul.”
He swung right into Hargraves Street. “Do you think the proxy will be in any danger?”
“I have no idea. I guess if things go wrong tonight and the Manananggal escapes, it’s totally possible the proxy will become dinner.”
“I’ll get Tala to ID the photo ASAP; if things do go wrong, we can hightail it over to the proxy’s location and protect him or her.”
He made another turn and then slowed down. A large, white-painted church building dominated the grounds of the school to our right. He pulled up in front of the drive leading into the church grounds.
“Is this the only entrance?” I asked.
