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“Why don’t you both come over here? I’m off work, it’s kinda lonely.”
“Because, uh,” Saber said, thinking fast, “we’re going on a hike.”
“Ahike?” Her dad seemed skeptical.
“Yeah,” she said. “I love hiking.”
For a moment, she thought her dad might ask to join, and she couldn’t think of a reason to say no to him.
“Well,” he said. “I guess I have some work to do.”
Saber felt a rush of relief, then a little guilt at leaving him.
“Love you, Dad,” she managed to say, then went to her room to change.
She pulled on a pair of black overalls and a black thermal shirt, then tugged on a black baseball hat. Lastly, and without much thought, she tied a red bandanna she’d found at the thrift store around her neck. Then she slid the rosary over her head and held the little cross in her hand. If what Mia said was true, the little plastic figurine was only as powerful as the wearer’s faith, and she had none. They didn’t plan on finding any conscious vampires anyway.
The feeling in the car as they drove to the mansion was quiet, anxious. Saber drove, with Doug in the front seat beside her and Elijah, Mia, and Lozen squished into the back.
“I’m scared,” Lozen finally said. “What if something happens and no one knows where we are.”
“I told someone,” Mia said, her voice low and quiet. “One person knows where we are.”
“Who?” Doug asked.
“Katja Olsen,” Mia said, and Doug turned around.
“Katja Olsen?” he asked, a little incredulous, and she nodded.
“You know each other?” Saber asked Doug.
“She’s a pretty prominent member of the community, an old friend of mine,” he said. “Why did you tell her, specifically?”
Mia was quiet for a moment and Lozen looked at her.
“Is she…?”
Mia nodded.
“Huh,” Lozen said.
Elijah groaned.
“Another ‘witch’?”
His voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Yes,” said Mia, ignoring his derision.
“Ok,” he said. “Awesome, good to know. A random witch knows where we are. So comforted bythatthought.”
He laughed a little hysterically.
Doug stared straight ahead as if he, too, were having second thoughts about the strange situation with which he’d become entangled.
“I’m glad she knows,” he finally said. “I trust Katja. I’m surprised that she’s involved in the occult, but she’s trustworthy.”
Saber pulled the SUV onto the side of the road a hundred yards from the gate to the mansion and, once again, she and Doug walked in through the shrubs in the side yard.
