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“Get a bottle per person. Play it safe.”
We laugh and I turn to call Hunter, who’s still out exploring. But as soon as I open my mouth to say his name, he comes bounding forward, letting me know that there’s something buried under the little shed.
ChapterTen
Swallowing hard, I grip the steering wheel and fake a smile, waving to Keith and Lauren as I back up enough to drive around Lauren’s car.
“I’m a horrible friend, aren’t I?” I flick my eyes to the rearview mirror, looking at Hunter. I didn’t tell Keith there was something buried under the shed. Hunter picked up the scent of something long dead but didn’t have a chance to sniff around long enough to be able to tell if it’s human or animal remains. For all we know, it could be an old family cat buried in a forgotten pet cemetery. “Something tragic happened there. I will go back,” I say out loud to make myself feel better.
My heart starts to beat rapidly and my stomach clenches. I hate lying and while this is more withholding information, I still feel icky about it.
“You’re right,” I tell Hunter and feel a little better. “It’s not like it’s going anywhere, and it’s been there long enough already.” I pull out of the driveway and bump along the country road. “And leaving it be until I can figure out what’s going on at the house is probably safest. I can go back and cleanse it after trying to figure out who’s trapped there and why.”
A slew of text messages come in when I’m about a mile away from the house. Crap. I didn’t realize I didn’t have service inside. I glance down, seeing that most are from Ethan and two are from my brother. I don’t attempt to read them until I’m stopped at a stop sign. Most of the texts are from Ethan, asking how the investigation at the house went and letting me know his last client was running late so he’ll be late. The next is from Harrison, asking me to call him when I have a chance.
“Odd,” I mutter but call him right away.
“Hey, sis,” he answers on the second ring.
“Blink twice if you’re being held captive by a demon,” I shoot back.
“I’m on the phone. How will you know?”
“Just checking. Are you good?”
“I’m fine. What about you?”
“Good as well, considering I’m having to scramble to add another place setting to the table.”
“You’re so dramatic, Annie.”
“Fine. I just can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
He hesitates for a second. “I wasn’t sure if she’d actually come.”
“Oh,” I reply, not expecting that response. “From what Nik said, you two seemed pretty, uh, committed.”
“Things are good,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “We went from friends to something more pretty fast.”
“Hey, I understand the wholehard and fastpart of romance. Kinda living it.”
“Gross.”
“You brought it up,” I laugh and press down on the gas, going faster now that I’m on a busier road. “But I’m happy for you. Though I do need some basic deets. Like how did you meet her and what is her name?”
“Saanvi. And we met when I came here for the interview a few months ago. We hit it off and emailed back and forth until I officially moved to Chicago. Then we went from emailing to talking to…well, you know.”
“Boning,” I say, relinquishing my title of the mature sibling for just a second there.
“Not quite. She, uh, is a wait until marriage type of girl.”
“If you were face to face with me, you’d see my jaw dropping. You’re a whore, Harry. Not that I’m judging, because I’m not. I’m just surprised.” I look at Hunter in the mirror.And now we need to be extra sure this girl isn’t a demon.
“Hah. I think you’ll like her, really. She loves horses and has been in lessons for the last decade or so.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. She said she competed in first level dressage but scored in the sixty percentile or something, whatever that means.”
