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I’d been trying to find a way back into her life for four years, and still wasn’t anywhere close to earning her forgiveness. I’d highly underestimated her feelings for Seth and her ability to hold a grudge. But I was having dinner with her on Saturday night.
If Thora Chase hadn’t ripped out my best friend’s heart and served it up for breakfast, I might’ve gotten on my knees and thanked her for bringing about that earthquake.
Dale Samson’s house came into view, as did Finn’s truck. Lady Gaga blasted out of the Bluetooth speaker he set up whenever he was on site. He had a thing for bubbly pop music. If he knew about Thora’s return, he wasn’t letting on. Everything appeared to be business as usual.
I knocked on the door as a courtesy, knowing there was no way he’d hear it over the music, then went inside. He had a plastic sheet up between the kitchen and the rest of the house. I pushed it back to find him standing on a ladder with a hammer in hand and three nails held in his mouth. He’d just pulled the hammer back when I called his name. And he slammed it on his thumb.
“Son of a bitch.” He spit the nails out and held his thumb between his teeth.
“Sorry for the surprise drop in, but I’m about to fuck up your day even more.” I crossed the kitchen to the opposite counter and closed his music app. “We need to talk.”
“Yeah, we do.” Finn dropped his hammer in the toolbox. It clattered against the metal, flipping a tape measure to the floor. He hopped off the ladder and wiped his brow with the bandana tucked into his back pocket. “Galen is losing his shit over the earthquake. He felt it, too, and said his machines went haywire. When I told him about what happened with you and Audrey, he seemed to think Donovan was on to something with that X-Men thing. Except he thinks we all got some kind of magic. We just don’t know how to use it yet.”
Finn’s brother worked for a paranormal research facility in Salem. Not like those guys who’d go trekking through the woods with a camera crew, looking for Bigfoot. This was a legit operation. He had a degree in engineering and his company received government grants to study unexplained changes in energy. Galen worked remotely and lived on the island full time, mostly because he’d been studying the land around the cave for three years.
And he’d just landed one hell of a breakthrough.
“Did he try hooking you up to one of his machines?” I asked. Galen had a variety of paranormal detectors used to measure things like heat, energy, and brain activity, half of which he’d invented himself. The guy was a genius.
“Dude. He used his spare key to get in my house and stick all these wires to me while I was sleeping. I woke up swinging and almost broke his nose.”
I let out a laugh. “At least he knows better now.”
So, Galen thought everyone who felt the earthquake had powers. Interesting. That fell in line with Selene’s way of thinking, and I trusted her authority on this stuff more than anyone’s. Galen’s birthday was in early February, which made him an Aquarius. He’d been born on the island and adopted by the Wilders in his early teens, about a year after Finn. Brothers, but not by blood. Slowly, another piece of my theory clicked into place.
I’d been putting out feelers in town all week. No one else had even hinted at an earthquake. There had been talk, the general consensus being that a few of us had too much to drink on Saturday night and thought the ground was moving, but it seemed as though only a handful of people experienced it. Say, twelve.
Finn and Galen’s other brother, Rafe, was a Gemini. His birthday was next week. If he also felt the earthquake, that would finalize the air signs. I didn’t know Brooke’s sign, but I was willing to bet she was a water, like Audrey. The two of them were tight with Violet Fischer. Donovan would know her birthday. I didn’t have any guesses for the fire signs outside of Thora, who was an Aries.
It was hard to say who else might’ve felt the earthquake. There were a lot of families who had been around for multiple generations. I’d put Donovan on Cole duty, just to be sure the three of us made up the earth signs. Though I was pretty confident Seth was the only Latham brother who hadn’t felt the earthquake, since he wasn’t on the island. That was key.
Before I could get too far off track, I put a note in my phone about Galen and Rafe next to the other things I wanted to discuss with Audrey at dinner. Now wasn’t the time to go chasing down rabbit holes. I’d come here for a different reason.
“Listen. I didn’t stop by to talk about the earthquake,” I said.
“No? Does that mean you came over here to work?” Finn grabbed a screwdriver off the counter and slapped it in my hand with a grin. “Thanks, buddy.”
There were some people who preferred to ease others into big news, but I was more of a firm believer in ripping off the Band-Aid. “Thora’s back in town.”
All amusement fled his expression. “Since when?”
“I think she was the, ah, special trip your dad made for the mayor Saturday night.”
“Fuck.” Finn scrubbed a furious hand over his scalp. “Okay. Give me a second.”
He swiped his phone off the counter and went out back. With one arm slung over the top of his head, he paced the yard while he talked to his dad. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but judging by his tight features and wild hand gestures, it wasn’t good. He hung up and threw his phone. It smashed against a pile of decorative rocks. The screen went black. He came back inside and slammed the slider hard enough to rattle the glass.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Not even a little bit.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. “I asked him point-fucking-blank on Saturday night why he made such a late run and he didn’t tell me.”
“Cut your dad some slack. He probably didn’t know what to say.”
“He could’ve said anything. He’s had almost a week to figure it the fuck out.” Finn kicked the bottom cupboard with the back of his work boot. “I’m not a kid. I don’t need hand-holding. Just shoot me straight, instead of letting me run the risk of getting blindsided.”
I didn’t disagree with him. “I’m sorry, man.”
“It’s fine. I’ll get over it. I just need a minute to be pissed is all.” Finn rarely engaged in conflict, hated it more than anything. It usually took something big to set him off. He rolled his shoulders, as if trying to loosen whatever knots had formed there. “Did you see her?”
