He nodded, tilted his hand, and let the flowers and loose petals flutter to the ground. Without another word, he helped me into the Jeep, moved around to the driver’s side, and away we went.
I felt Jasper and Ulric take to the air when we were halfway down the road, quickly lost to me as soon as they crossed Ivy House’s boundaries. I did know a sort of tracking magic that I could’ve applied to them, keeping tabs on them at all times until the magic wore off, but it would have required some sort of preparation. Having been blindsided by all this, I just had to trust Austin to make sure all was going according to plan. Easy to do.
“I feel like my luck has run out,” I confided softly. “Like this time, I won’t slip out of his grasp.”
“I’d agree with you…if you’d previously slipped out of his grasp.” Austin headed out of town, toward the foothills. “But you didn’t. You broke out. You bested his people without apology, and you’ll do it again.”
“Sometimes it’s annoying how much confidence you have in me. I feel like you don’t see reality.”
“It’s not me who is missing the obvious. But you’re scared, I get it.”
“But do you? You don’t seem like you’re ever scared.”
“I’ve never known greater fear in all my life than when I woke up in Edgar’s cottage after you were taken. I promised myself it would never happen again. Then it did. It terrifies me to think he could grab you and I’d be helpless to save you. Fear is different than cowardice, though. Fear keeps us sharp. Fear is what creates courage. It’s okay to be afraid. It’s healthy. The danger is when you feel nothing at all.”
I let my breath out slowly. “Okay, then. I’m afraid today, but I’ll be courageous when the time comes.”
“That’s all we can hope for.”
An hour later, the conversation having moved on to trivial nothings without ever faltering, he parked at the top of a little hill off the beaten track, grabbed some spare clothes out of a bag in the back, and walked us down to a wide stream with quickly moving water. Once there, he dropped the pile of clothes on the sandy bank, as though we’d gone frolicking as polar bear and gargoyle.
“This is going to take a bit of trust.” He handed me a small vial filled with clear liquid. “I’m going to need you to drink that.” He held up a similar vial. “I will, too. It’s not a date rape drug, I promise. It’ll mask our scent and tracks. It’ll make us invisible to anyone trying to follow, just like what that deer shifter used. One of the things he used, anyway.”
“Are you challenging me to a battle of wits?” I asked, holding up my vial and looking at his. “Do I take what I am given, or do I trade it for yours…”
The grin intensified. “Careful here. It is never wise to go against a Sicilian when death is on the line.”
I laughed, delighted he’d caught the Princess Bride reference, and downed the contents of my vial. The liquid tasted fresh and sweet, not much more than a mouthful.
“Oops.” Austin pulled out the little stopper on his vial. “You chose wrong.” He winked. “Been nice knowing ya.”
“Meh.” I batted the air. “You always say that. I’m still here, aren’t I? Those dolls haven’t gotten me yet.”
Austin took my empty vial and pocketed them both. “Speaking of dolls.” He held up his hand to keep me put for a moment. I felt the liquid fizzing down my body. “Is Ulric putting those around the house, or is it Ivy House? Your mother was not amused at dinner yesterday. Clearly she’s not doing it.”
“Ivy House,” I said dryly. “I don’t know how to reel her in. She is endlessly delighted by the ways my parents try to rationalize her magic. They apparently think the secret doors Ivy House keeps popping open are plaster siding or something that is about to fall off.”
“Isn’t plaster siding for the outside of a house?”
“I think so, but my mom doesn’t know any better. They think the house is basically falling down around them. The dolls are a joke, the doors moving on their own are ghosts, the thumps are rats, and so on. I can tell the shifting mantelpiece carvings in the TV room are making my dad think he’s losing his mind. He seems to ignore the carvings half the time and stare at them with a scowl the other half, as though daring it to move. What he thinks about you changing I have no idea. It’s like he never saw it.”
Austin shook his head, directing us right, looking back to check that we weren’t leaving any tracks behind. “It’s beyond me why it was so easy to convince you, yet they refuse to believe what’s in front of their eyes.”