AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Excellent,” I said with a grin.
“I’m considering it good practice for when I’m babysitting your kid.”
“My kid is a girl.”
“Aside from the fact there’s no reason why a girl can’t play with trains, this is your kid we’re talking about. She won’t be bound by society’s expectations. Not in any way.”
I laughed, although it was nothing but the truth. I’d grown up under the heavy weight of both parental and societal expectations, and was absolutely determined that none of my kids, no matter how many I had, would feel that sort of weight.
Rules, respect, and independence of thought were an entirely different matter, of course. Those theywouldbe taught.
“Won’t be long,” I said, more for Brandon than Belle, and then moved on, following my nose—or rather, the slight breeze of warmer, fresher air—to the still-open back door.
I closed the screen door behind me, then paused and looked around. Neither Tala nor Monty were in sight, but the wire gate at the bottom of the garden was open. I walked down, the steady pulse coming from the watch neither easing nor increasing its rhythm.
The gate led out to some sort of nature reserve that followed the creek I could hear but not actually see, thanks to the thick undergrowth between us. Lovely old gums followed the creek line, their crowns thick and lush, dappling the light and easing some of the day’s heat. There was no evidence which way Monty and Tala had gone—the breeze, though light, was strong enough to have whisked any scent trail away, but Tala was a wolf and wouldn’t be relying on scent alone. Thankfully, neither was I.
I went right. It had obviously rained overnight, and the path was littered with muddy puddles, forcing me to wind my way through them. After a few minutes, the rusty red rooftop of the old train station appeared through the trees on the other side of the creek and directly ahead was the pedestrian overpass that arched over the creek from the parking area. The rhythm in the watch sharpened abruptly, telling me I was very close. No one stood in the shadows of the overpass, but there were familiar voices coming from somewhere beyond it.
I went through the overpass and saw Monty in the trees closer to the creek off to the left.
He glanced around as I approached. “Found her. Dazed, confused, with an ankle sprain, but otherwise okay.”
I frowned and stopped beside him. Joselyn was sitting at the base of a tree, her bare feet in the water, and her right ankle looking bruised and swollen. Her normally neat hair was not only in disarray, but full of twigs and yellowed leaves. She hadn’t gotten any of those from the scrub surrounding the creek, as it was mainly gorse. If she’d gone through it, she would have been scratched up a whole lot worse. That stuff was the natural enemy of bare flesh.
“Has she said anything?” I asked.
Monty shook his head, but it was Tala who answered. “She seems to be in a state of shock, but I’m not trusting it. Something else is going on, though I’m not sure what. Monty said there’s no evidence of magic.”
“No lingering evidence,” he corrected. “But she obviously didn’t walk here. Not with that ankle.”
“Could she had slipped while going down the bank?” I asked, even as I did. I caught my balance easily enough, but Joselyn, being older, might not have been able to.
Tala shook her head. “There’s no indication of a slip, either here or on the other side of the bank.”
“Huh.” I squatted beside the older woman and scanned her face. Pain etched her features and filled her aura, but her gaze was unfocused and somehow jumpy. Which matched the images I’d briefly glimpsed in the watch. For some reason, her memories and her mind were on a loop she couldn’t escape.
Is something like that possible?I asked Belle.
For a telepath who knows what they’re doing, totally.
Could you check?
Hang on while I get Brandon into his room and rambling on about his trains. There was a long pause.Okay, this will be a surface-level check only unless Tala wants to get someone else here to take over babysitting duties.
Surface level is fine. We just need to know what we’re dealing with.
Right then, let’s go.
As the connection between us deepened, I glanced at Tala and said, “Start recording. Belle’s going to do a quick scan of Joselyn’s mind and memories to see what is going on.”
I raised my hands and gently touched Joselyn’s temples. Her emotions briefly stirred across my psi senses—mostly confusion rather than fear, oddly enough—but I slammed my shields all the way up, not waiting to get caught in the loop of them.
Okay, Belle said,there’s definitely been some interference in her mind, but I’m not entirely sure it’s due to another telepath.
I repeated it for Tala’s sake.Monty said there was no evidence of magic.
None here, but I don’t think whatever happened to her happened here. The trees in her mind look different from those here.
