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Fee shuddered at the thought, worry for Lena settling on her shoulders.
Gert landed in front of her a few minutes later.
“I like your hair, girlie. It suits you.” She ruffled Fee’s newly bleached pixie cut.
“Thanks.”
“You haven’t been into town lately,” her aunt admonished.
Fee had lived outside of Maple Hollow for a while now, but she preferred the quiet safety of her oak grove to town most of the time. Her customers knew where to find her based purely on word of mouth. She didn’t really need to come into town too often. Much to her aunt’s chagrin.
“Sorry, auntie. I’ve been busy.”
Gert just harumphed and topped off Fee’s coffee.
Fee leaned across the counter and whispered, “What do you make of the missing woman? Have you heard anything?”
Gert glanced over her shoulder, but the diner was mostly empty. Other than a table of older folks, loudly mapping out a route using a real paper map. GPS didn’t tend to work out here in the woods.
“Knox has Lena,” Gert whispered.
“He does?” She could end the whole search party madness right now? Why wasn’t she?
“Shush,” Gert admonished, her gaze flicking from Fee’s face to the people at the back table. Not that they were paying any attention to them. They were currently fighting over the best way to cover the most ground and still make it back by lunch.
“Shouldn’t we tell everyone? The town is going crazy over this.”
“No.”
“No?” Phoebe blinked in surprise at her aunt’s adamant denial. “Auntie, what is going on?”
“Knox needs her. Just for now, just for a few more days. He needs more time.”
“More time? For what? And since when do the wolves kidnap innocent humans and we just go along with it?”
Gert huffed. “You know as well as I do, that girl is not just a human.” Okay, so her aunt knew more about Lena than she realized. “She sees things, Fee. Things that could affect us all. Things about bloodshed in these woods.”
A shiver ran up Fee’s spine at the mention of Lena’s visions. When had seeing the future ever worked in anyone’s favor?
“So why does Knox need her?”
Gert pulled her closer, her whisper nothing but a breath of air against Fee’s cheeks.
“You know we don’t get involved with wolf politics, but this is different.”
“Different how?”
“Knox has a plan to help us all.”
Right. The Plan.
The plan that the Highlanders and Knox’s own brothers were highly skeptical of.
“How does Knox’s insane plan help nymphs?” If he was anything like his father, there was no way he gave a shit what happened to them.
“Dryads are dying!” Gert was angry, her hands trembled against Phoebe’s arms where she gripped her tight. “A swath of forest just west of here was clear cut. They burned it, Fee. Nymphs died with their trees. And now I hear, there’s been developers sniffing around Maple Hollow. They want to put in some kind of superstore. And big parking lots and goddess knows what else,” she hissed. “It’s spreading. They’re spreading, the humans, like a disease through the forest. If we don’t do something, there will be nothing left for us. If Knox’s plan works, he can protect the land for all of us.”
Fee swallowed hard, the thought of her beloved grove being burned sending a jolt of panic to her stomach. Maine had the largest percentage of forests of any state in the country. If they couldn’t find space here, where would they go?
