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I jolted uprightas my cell phone vibrated next to my head. I blinked, finding myself at my tiny kitchen table. Then I remembered my visitor from the night before. I glanced at my phone and let out a tired sigh when Ruby’s name lit up the screen.
“Hi Rubes.”
“Winter? Did I wake you?”
I chuckled. “I had a visit from a ghost last night. I guess I just dozed off again. What’s up?”
I didn’t usually tell people about my ghost visitations, but Ruby was used to my interactions with spirits. We’d become fast friends in middle school, bonding over our lack of parents. Hers had died in a fire, but at least she had memories of them. I’d never met mine. My mother left me in the ER of Salem Hospital with a note pinned to my onesie.
Please take care of Winter.
I love you, baby.
She didn’t sign it, but social services kept it in my file. After two failed adoptions, I bounced around the foster system for years, and my final foster mother gave it to me when I turned eighteen.
Babies wailed in the background and Ruby sighed. “Just a second.” She set the phone down and cooed in the distance. Finally, the little ones quieted again. She came back to the phone. “They’re already sitting up. Can you believe it?”
A wistful smile curved my lips. “Mathias said werewolf babies grow much faster than humans.”
“I know, but at this rate they’ll be walking by Christmas.”
Mouse jumped up on my lap, sensing my discomfort with the current conversation. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to see if you needed any help on the party planning. Zeke mentioned that one of his pack members could pitch in, so it’s not all piled on you.”
I rolled my eyes, grateful she couldn’t see my expression. “The last thing I need is a hulking werewolf at my kitchen table, trying to design centerpieces.”
“It doesn’t have to be one of the guys. They have mothers too.”
I hadn’t thought about the elders. All this mom talk brought the memory of the panicked ghost back to me. I rubbed my temple. “Isn’t one of your pack members a private investigator?”
“Yeah, Jackson is, why?”
“Jackson?” High school came flooding back. “Jackson Walker? The football player?”
“Yeah. That’s him.”
I blinked. “Did you know he was werewolf?” I jotted his name down.
“Yes.” Ruby chuckled. “You would too, if you ever came to the Christmas party.”
“Ouch.” My jaw dropped even though she couldn’t see me. “Wait, is that why you made me the party planner this year?”
“It was your turn.” But I could almost hear her smile.
“Fine.” I stared at his Jackson’s name and number.
He had been the star wide receiver for the Salem High School Witches. I never attended a game, but his athletic prowess had permeated the student body. No wonder he was such an amazing athlete. He was a werewolf.
He was also built like a god, with a smile that could make your knees weak.
Not that he’d ever smiled directly at me. I’d never actually met him. We went to the same school, same graduating class, but he was a jock, and I’d been a theater geek. Our paths had never crossed.
Ruby snapped me out of the past. “Why do you need a private eye?”
“That ghost last night. She’s worried about her daughter and asked me to find her. Apparently the person or people who killed her might be coming for her daughter now.”
“Zeke has Jackson digging into Hinterland and Bloodstone to see if we can find the connection with Sienna from the Coven of Shadows.” She paused. “He might not have time to find a ghost’s baby right now.”
