“This trading thing is tedious,” I mumbled as Edgar loped behind Ulric, one running like a normal person, one looking like some sort of vaudeville act.
“So you were the creature that scared the deer away last night?” I asked, my tension easing. “You were following it?”
The basajaun frowned, the expression only evident by the changing configuration of his hair. “This is the first time I have been off my mountain in months. I have had plenty to interest me there.”
Tension flowered inside of me again. Wishful thinking, clearly. There was still a Big Bad unaccounted for.
“Hello.” Edgar licked his colorless lips as he stopped near the basajaun.
“Edgar, the basajaun has agreed to help us in exchange for a daily flower quota,” I said, then held my breath, hoping he didn’t make this difficult.
“Oh. Yes, we could use the help. For now, anyway.” Edgar smiled, his canines elongated again. “Ivy House has delivered to me an additional book, and I am making some headway, but sadly, it doesn’t contain anything in the way of a counter-spell. My research continues.”
The basajaun shook his head slowly. Apparently he wasn’t picking up what Edgar was putting down.
“Edgar, why don’t you talk about the restrictions with the flowers,” I said. “Didn’t you say you were going to create some sort of meal plan for the basajaun?”
“Oh! Of course.” Edgar turned to the basajaun. “You must know that flower production takes time and love. I am better than most, but even I must wait for them to grow. For that reason, we’ll need to limit how much you eat at a time. I have planted more, with you in mind, but we only have so much space. Come, follow me—I’ll give you a sample of what I’m working on for you.”
I watched them go, the basajaun stooping to catch every word.
Austin looked out over the wood. “I’ll learn the way to smell magic. That will help me assess the prowler, if there is still a trail. If the magical presence in the street was of a higher caliber, we can assume he or she will be cautious. They’ll try to figure out who they’re competing with before pushing forward. Or they might just rush in, hoping to get there first. We need to bring in the other gargoyles.”
I blew out a breath. “Ulric can work on a story to tell the parents.”
Austin nodded and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. “That basajaun gives us a leg up. Not only is he incredibly vicious, but he’s at home in the trees. He can move through the woods more stealthily than anyone our enemies have at their disposal. There is danger lurking, but we are equipped to handle it. After a full night’s sleep, you’ll see that.”
I dropped my head to his shoulder. If it was Elliot Graves, he clearly had a team of people headed over the mountain, and who knew how many would come at us from the front. We’d be grossly understaffed, not to mention I had my parents holed up inside. Without Ivy House, Austin’s confidence didn’t ring true. It was a nice sentiment, and I appreciated the support, but it would take more than a night’s sleep to see us out of this. I could send out a summons for help, but the previous times it had taken a while for anyone to show, and when they did, one of those groups had a problem with a competing alpha. That wouldn’t help us now, with danger lurking just out of sight.
We’d need to go it alone. This might be the time I was successfully kidnapped.FourteenThe next afternoon, I paused midway through sweeping on some makeup when I felt Austin step down on the property.
He’d delivered on all of the promises he’d made the previous night. He’d learned how to decipher the scent of a magical user, retraced the prowler’s trail, deduced the unknown Big Bad out front was a middle-range magical worker at best—less than whoever was trekking over the Basajaun’s mountain—and stayed the night so I could sleep soundly.
And I had. No nightmares had troubled me. Worry hadn’t kept me tossing and turning. I’d woken up refreshed and ready to figure this thing out.
It was amazing how safe he made me feel.
Come morning, he hadn’t shown any fatigue, but I’d tapped into our connection for long enough to feel it. I’d set to work on healing it without saying anything. After the breakfast forced on him by my mother, he’d given me a secret smile and whispered, “Thanks,” before heading out to check in with the people he had watching the town. The guy never took a day off.
Not that I was complaining, given the situation.
He’d texted in the early afternoon telling me to get ready; he had somewhere to take me. He hadn’t specified where.