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“Yes, there is. He was right there!” Chloe insisted, frowning as she eyed Ravinia. “Right there. And you saw him, too.”
Chapter 29
The door to the house shut firmly behind her and Ravinia immediately turned to watch the wolf slinking through the shadows, hiding between two houses in the middle of suburban Southern California. “What are you doing here?” she whispered. This was no place for him. There were too many people, too many lights, too many cameras, phones, and too much danger. If a neighbor saw him and called the police, he could be shot or trapped or God only knew what.
If he’s even real. Slow down. He could be a figment of your imagination.
But the little girl, Chloe, saw him, and she knew you did, too.
Unless it was a neighborhood dog. She called him a dog, but she’s only four or five or so . . .
Or maybe she has her own gift . . . she is Elizabeth’s daughter . . . and that could mean anything. “Genetic anomaly,” Aunt Catherine called it.
As the wolf’s eyes glowed in the night, Elizabeth’s porch light clicked off and all illumination for the grounds faded quickly. Ravinia glanced over her shoulder and noticed that each and every blind facing the street in Elizabeth’s home was snapped tightly shut as if in so doing she could cut her daughter and herself off from the world.
Just like Siren Song, Ravinia thought. But it doesn’t work. He can still find you. Still get to you. You’re not safe, Elizabeth. Not safe. Do you hear me?
She tried hard to send a message, but of course it didn’t work. She’d never been one who could send and receive mental transmissions. That was a singular gift bestowed upon only a very few, a line of mental communication between some of Mary’s children or relatives, but one Elizabeth apparently didn’t possess—which was a damn shame.
Ravinia thought of the message she’d thought she’d heard, that almost fuzzy sound. Maybe you just wanted it so badly, she scolded herself. She couldn’t help feeling that if she were going to look as if she were a freak, she would really like to have something better than “soul searching.”
Frustrated, she jogged back to Rex’s car, which was parked around the corner, away from the cruising police car and the woman who’d knocked on Elizabeth’s door directly before them. Ravinia had wanted to ask Elizabeth about her, but she’d barely gotten out her somewhat rambling explanation of her own half sisters and Elizabeth’s mother, Aunt Catherine. She wasn’t even sure if Elizabeth had been listening closely. She’d seemed distracted and well, fearful, and anxious to boot her out the door.
The first meeting hadn’t gone as well as Ravinia had hoped, and it kind of pissed her off that Rex had predicted as much. As she hurried to the Nissan, she heard the sound of a night bird calling and the whir of bats’ wings, smelled the leftover smoke from a backyard barbecue, even heard the rush of traffic on a nearby highway. The neighborhood seemed idyllic, an American dream.
All that would change if Declan Jr. decided to take up his reign of terror on this serene street. Ravinia couldn’t let that happen. She had to find a way to make Elizabeth believe her.
As soon as Rex caught sight of her approach, he switched on the engine and his headlights illuminated the vehicles parked in front of the Nissan and on either side of the neighborhood street. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw the wolf, staying near the shadows, running in tandem with her, carefully skirting the twin beams of light.
“If you’re real, you’ve got to leave,” she warned, and the wolf turned its head to look at her again, golden eyes shimmering eerily for a second. “I mean it. Go away. Please . . .” The wolf held her gaze, then melted into the surrounding umbra and disappeared. “Thank you,” she said heavily. Reaching the car, she opened the passenger door, flung herself into the seat, then slammed the door behind her. “Let’s go.”
“Who were you talking to?” Rex was reaching for the gear shift lever, but paused to stare at her as the interior light faded.
“What?”
He nodded to the passenger window. “You were talking to someone just now.”
“Just myself.” She scowled out the window and didn’t think she was actually lying because she still wasn’t convinced the wolf was real as opposed to something she’d just dreamed up . . . though Chloe had seen him. . . .
“I take it things didn’t go well with Elizabeth.”
Ravinia folded her arms over her chest as the damn seat belt alarm started beeping. Snapping it in place, she muttered, “You could say that.” She shot a glance at Rex who was checking the mirror as he made a quick U-turn in the middle of the street. “She didn’t believe me.”
“Imagine that.”
“She has to listen to me.”
“You can’t make her.”
“Yes, I can. I have to. Something’s going on with her. She wanted to believe me. She just . . .”
“It’s a lot to swallow, and it’s up to her now.” He drove to the end of Elizabeth’s street and turned on his blinker.
“Maybe she’ll call me.”
“Maybe.”
Ravinia could tell he didn’t believe her. Just one more person who wanted to think she was a crackpot. Well, fine. She’d go back to Elizabeth’s tomorrow with or without his help and she’d find a way to get her to open up. If she would just trust in her a little bit, but then Ravinia hadn’t really trusted in anyone, either. She threw a dark glance Rex’s direction. She’d expected so much from him . . . had really thought this was her destiny and yet he didn’t seem to care about her quest except for the payment she owed him.
