“A friend of mine is relocating a dangerous animal. He got hurt earlier, so I’m driving his rental.”
“He caught what ate old Terfel’s reindeer?”
“Not yet,” I lied. “He’s working on it, though.”
“Don’t let him have all the fun.” Her enthusiasm returned. “I’ve been tracking it.”
Why was I not surprised to hear her say so? “You have to be careful, Mrs. Gleason.”
“Bam-Bam and I are plenty careful, don’t you worry.”
“Call if you need backup, okay?”
“Sure thing.”
The call ended with me more certain than ever that her backyard was a graveyard.
“That’s the old woman with the gun.” Aedan recoiled from the phone. “She’s scary.”
“She’s good people. She’s just also a good shot.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “At people.”
“She almost caught me out of the water. I don’t know what tipped her off, but she knew I was there.”
The offhand comment told me he had other glamours, or means of camouflage, than his human guise.
“She’s got a sixth sense when it comes to people on her property.”
As I said it, I got a hunch. Between the years she spent on that land, and the blood she had shed there, she might have bound herself to it. It was witch magic, but I already knew the town had multiple witch bloodlines. None of them were powerful, as I hadn’t wanted a challenge on my hands. Most of them had more human in them than witch these days, but that didn’t mean there weren’t the odd outliers.
Arden and Camber had enough magic to work in my shop, to imbue the proper intent into our products.
Mrs. Gleason might be touched with a little bit extra too.
“She patrols.” He shook his head. “Humans are so odd.”
The behavior was peculiar, but I had chalked it up to the eccentricities allowed to all of us as we age.
Maybe, now that I had access to bureau resources again, I ought to dig deeper into the locals’ histories. I would love to have an extra hand at the shop. Right now, sick days and vacations days were a luxury. We had to replace Ms. Dotha, and soon. Especially with me taking on a heavier Black Hat workload.
Midnight loomed by the time I parked at the house. Aedan could leave the wards without help, but I had to let him back in. He set off toward the creek with the cage, and I—after making certain I was alone—let magic unspool from my wand toward the truck, cleansing it inside and out of any damning evidence.
The rental logo was a familiar one, and I called the national hotline.
“Hi.” I put on my best concerned citizen voice. “I found one of your rentals abandoned on my road. I was afraid someone would steal it, since the keys were in the ignition, so I drove it up to my house.”
After answering a barrage of questions, I left the keys on the front seat and lumbered into the house.
“What’s with the truck?” Colby dropped from the ceiling onto my head. “I saw Aedan with you.”
“The truck was used to bring those killer otters to town, but whoever rented it dumped it in a field.”
“I miss all the fun.” She heaved a sigh. “I should have gone with you.”
“Eh.” I patted her head. “You had more important things to do.”
“The guild is on break until New Year’s.” She glided into the kitchen. “I’m officially on family time.”
“Excellent.” I rubbed my hands together. “Christmas movie marathon?”