I dropped my head to the side where my phone perched in its charging dock. Austin lay through that technological portal, a big bad alpha who liked to secure his territory. He’d made that perfectly clear.
Except, for some reason, this house was not in his territory. That was the impression I’d gotten from his exchanges with Mr. Tom, at any rate. It was like this house was a sovereign nation, an island within the rest of the town.
The cops would help. They didn’t have to know about the magical stuff to respond to a prowler.
Right?
I pulled the covers away from my feet.
It was probably wise to check for a prowler before calling anyone. It wasn’t likely the police would believe me if I said I felt a prowler out there somewhere. They’d think I was cracked. And if they knew what house I was calling from, they’d be sure of it.
My fingertips tingling with fear, I edged over to the windows and looked out across the grounds. Branches lightly swayed in the breeze, their leaves moving like little bells. Moonlight sprinkled the ground.
If there was an intruder, he or she wasn’t visible from my window.
I closed my eyes and concentrated, imagining the magic was real, and I could use it to sense the location of the intruder. Almost immediately my sixth sense grew, pointing me to the side of the house, coming around the front.
“God, I hope I’m cracking up,” I said, my heart lodging in my throat, nearly choking me with fear. “I really hope I’m having a nightmare. Why did I want to head out on an adventure, anyway? I should’ve just gotten a few cats and stayed put. If someone breaks in here, I wonder if Mr. Tom can use that third story trap door and fly me out of here.”
An ah-ha! light flashed in my brain. That must’ve been the purpose for the trap door. An escape route for fliers.
Heart rampaging in my chest and limbs shaking, I hastily put on athletic sweats and stuffed my phone into my zippered pocket. I lightly jogged out the door and down the hall. My muscles screamed in protest, the soreness from my run a couple days ago stiffening my legs.
My knees cracked as I ran up the stairs to the third floor heading to the attic. Stupid old joints. That was one thing I would like to fix with a fountain of youth.
In the attic, I grabbed a crossbow and some arrows. While there, I picked up a spear just in case. I had no idea how to use a crossbow, but I did know how to jab someone with a long stick. It would do in a bind.
Heading back down the stairs, my ankles now crackling like pop rocks, I started compiling a checklist for the fountain of youth. By the time I reached the top of the stairwell leading down to the first floor, the presence felt like it was nearing the front door, its fast pace now slowing. Its goal was clearly the front stoop.
Why would a burglar come around to the front? And if the intruder wasn’t a burglar, what were they here for?
Last night flashed through my mind.
“You are able to sense the greater—”
I jumped, started to scream, and clamped a hand over my mouth to stop the sound from escaping. The crossbow thunked against the ground.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, miss,” Mr. Tom said from right behind me. He bent to grab the crossbow. “I thought maybe you would’ve felt me coming. Obviously you couldn’t have heard me, what with all your thumping around. You sound like a stampede of giraffes going up and down the stairs.”
“Yes, thank you, Mr. Tom,” I said dryly, peeking around the corner and down at the front door.
“You can feel the greater surroundings, now, hmm?” he said, leaning over me to peek as well.
I elbowed him to get him off my back, but I was thankful he was there. It was less terrifying to go through a burglar situation with someone else, especially someone who named his weapons.
“I guess. There’s someone on the front porch—” I pulled back around the corner as a shadow loomed through the glass at the side of the door. My heart kickstarted, beating frantically. “You locked the front door, right?”
“Yes, but we have nothing to fear. There is just one of them, and Edgar is monitoring him or her. They don’t seem to want to do damage of any kind. Not yet.”
“What do you mean not yet?”
“If we’re living for the present, we have nothing to fear. If we are worrying about the future, this could be a bad omen.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know who we are dealing with, I know what we are dealing with, and if you mix all the ingredients together, it’s a recipe for disaster. But rest assured, right this moment we’ll be just fine.”