Emma shook it. “Emma Davis. Does it show that much?” Because people certainly kept pointing it out.
“We don’t get a lot of people moving to Hundsburg, more people moving out. It’s kind of like a one-way street. They leave and they don’t come back.”
“That bad? It seems like a nice place.”
“Oh, it is. It’s just nothing exciting ever happens here. The most exciting thing to happen is someone buying the old school.”
“Oh.” Emma nodded, turning her head the other way. Vivianne was matching her pace, and luckily the turn to the bridge was coming up because she didn’t want to answer any questions about . . .
“You don’t happen to work at the new business? Do you?” Vivianne smiled.
“My best friend’s husband is Jack Lockett. He makes these really cool play structures based on fairy tales.”
“Oh, what’s going on in the rest of the building?” The wind picked up, and Vivianne straightened the blanket around her baby. And pulled the cute dog closer to her leg.
“I’m not sure. Most of it’s still empty.” Not a lie. The best way to misrepresent the truth was to say as little as possible. Something she’d learned from her ex-fiancé. And she hated lies.
“It’s a gigantic building.”
“It is.” They’d reached the bridge. “It was nice meeting you. I’m sure I’ll see you around soon.”
“If you ever want to borrow a dog to talk to or walk, I share Penny here with my brother.” Vivianne petted the dog’s curly head.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Look me up on ShifterChat and friend me. We have great girls’ nights out at the Easy Rabbit. Mack doesn’t let the usual barflies in and makes us all pink drinks or dragon’s ale if it’s been that kind of day.”
Emma turned, hastening her escape. “I will, Vivianne. Thanks.” Maybe not everyone had an angle. At least, that’s what she hoped was true. That people were bored and curious and wanted to know what was going on in Mr. Thompson’s old science room and how the heck had that little female gotten the Excalibur window open? “Nice meeting you.” Emma waved, crossing the street to head over the bridge.
Halfway over the bridge, Emma slowed her pace and stopped to take in the raging water rushing underneath. It pushed at a giant rock in the middle of the river, and Emma wondered if it was spring drainage that made the river run so fast. She must have stood there longer than she expected to because, when she looked up, the sun had slipped below the horizon. The wind had picked up too, and the smidgeon of Spring in the air had vanished. She trudged up the steep hill to her new little home.
A bottle of wine and a frozen pizza had become her new standard for an exciting night. She settled onto her sofa surrounded by boxes and started a movie on her tablet as her phone rang.
“Shiori! How are you doing?” Emma answered.
“The question is, how are you doing out there in the boondocks?”
“I’m good. It’s a lot of fun out here.” Emma surveyed her new undecorated living room. The movie on her tablet paused.
“I wanted to check up on you.”
The phone buzzed. “It’s Daphne, I’ll conference her in.”
“Are you okay?” Daphne was breathless.
“Shiori’s on the line too,” Emma said.
“Hey.” Daphne paused. “I felt something this afternoon, and I was wondering if it was either of you.”
“It was me. I kind of drained my power really low. I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would hurt you. I should have known.” They were more than elementary school friends. They were elementary school friends who’d stolen the family grimoire for a day and successfully completed a complicated spell which tied them and their powers together for the rest of their lives.
“It didn’t hurt me, and I don’t think that’s what it was. It was more of a spark, like a good kind of spark.” Daphne cleared her throat. “Did you feel anything, Shiori?”
“I did. Perhaps. I was in the middle of reading a brief, and I went tingly all over.”
“Did you meet someone, Emma? Because I thought you swore off men.” Daphne’s tone was clipped, and there was definitely something up with it.
Emma paused. “I . . . a bunch of people. I met a friendly woman with a baby. It was cute. I think I’m going to get a dog.” She wasn’t going to be able to keep anything from either one of them. Not when they’d bound themselves and their power together as children.
“A dog?” they said together with more shock than excitement.
“Yeah, a dog. I can handle a dog.”
“I suppose,” said Daphne. “Just stay clear of men, at least for a while. You said that’s what you want.”
“It is. No more men.” Emma chewed on the side of her cheek. It was a good thing Hunsburg was full of shifter males.
6
“How are you not mad at Mom?” Flint parked his ass on a barstool. Pike had put the older two to bed and headed to the store to pick up dessert, leaving Flint alone with his sister. Eloise was the second oldest in the family by three minutes before Vivianne. His parents had Tad, then two years later the twins, and a gap of six years before Flint—though people always assumed Vivianne was younger than Flint—and two more years before Reagan. The older three were always bossing him and Reagan around, even now.
“Oh, I am. But not like you. She did what she had to do to keep us safe, Flint.”
“Keep us safe? Well, she didn’t have to pretend to be something she wasn’t.”
Eloise dried her hands with the dish towel and threw it on the counter. “Where do you suggest she make a change, Flint? Let’s just say we had a time machine and could turn back time.” Eloise pulled Milo onto her hip and wiped the toddler’s nose with a paper towel. The little champ shook his head away from his mother and wiggled down.
“There’s no time machine?”
