Jasper finished the transition into his human form, thankfully in the shadows of the trees. Likely my dad wouldn’t have noticed him from such a distance; not that it would’ve really mattered at this point. The cat had gotten out of the bag a few times over. It was amazing that he wasn’t giving in to it.

“Just saw an animal prowling and trying to figure out what it was,” I said. “It’s nothing. Probably a deer.”

“I followed it through the woods,” Jasper said quietly, talking quickly, clearly trying to get this out before my dad got within hearing range. “About halfway to the property line, the illumination wore off. I dropped in altitude enough to continue tracking it, the low light making things difficult. It stopped for a moment, and then vanished. I saw the image of the deer wink out.”

“It isn’t a mage, so it must’ve taken a magical elixir of some kind,” Austin said. “How close did it get to me?”

Jasper shook his head. “I didn’t see you running in, so it couldn’t have been very close. Then again, my focus was acute.”

“And you’re sure the witch in town wouldn’t know about that kind of elixir?” I whispered to Mr. Tom.

He shrugged. “She might know, but she wouldn’t be able to make it. Illumination and invisibility are master-craft potions. Tricking this house would take the very best.”

My stomach churned, and Austin looked up at me, the weak moonlight falling across his face. His eyes smoldered with determination. I knew what he was thinking. Only the very best could make a potion powerful enough to trick Ivy House, and there was one mage who’d continually shown interest in me.

Elliot Graves.

I’d never officially met him, but everyone who had agreed he was the biggest, baddest mob-boss mage in the world. He’d been trying to take me by force, thwarted at every turn by Ivy House. If this was his doing, he’d just found a way around my best defense.

“We need to move you,” Austin said, his voice low and rough. “You’re not safe here.”

“She’s as safe here as she is anywhere,” Mr. Tom said. “More so, because elixirs don’t last forever, and the second the mask is peeled back, Ivy House will spring.”

Austin’s jaw clenched, but you couldn’t argue with that logic.

“It’s fine. Right now, that deer is just checking things out,” I said. “It doesn’t suspect we’re onto it, so we still have the upper hand.”

“Even if it did, it would come back anyway,” my dad said, reaching us. “When it comes to eating flowers, they have a short-term memory. I chased one with a tire iron early one morning. I sure scared it something good. You should’ve seen it take off. Came back the very next night.” He put a hand to his hip, the other holding up a half-eaten sandwich, and looked at the ground. “Well, no wonder it’s a great mystery,” he said. “A bunch of geniuses, standing around tracking in the dark. Go grab a light, Jacinta, and we’ll see what we’ve got.”

“I’ve got it.” Edgar loped back into the area, a camping lantern in each hand.

My dad watched him. “That man sure runs funny. Though for his age, it’s a blessing he runs at all.”

“You have deer in L.A.?” Mr. Tom asked.

“They live in the burbs on the edges of a nature preserve,” I said as Austin flicked on the light and studied the ground.

He traced a small indent with this finger. “I don’t get a scent. All I get is the smell of flowers.”

“Yeah, the stink of the flowers will nearly blow your hair back,” my dad said. “That’s hard-packed dirt. If that deer was just walking around, you aren’t going to see much. Get it wet tomorrow night. You’ll see a track, all right.”

Austin stood. To me he said, “I’m going to have Jasper show me the trail. I’ll report back when I’m done. It sounds like…” His eyes flicked to my dad and back. “It sounds like we’ve been down this road before”—he was talking about Elliot Graves sending someone for me—“though this time, I’m not sure what the end goal is.”

My father’s face scrunched up. “Well…they don’t have any end goals. They just forage. That’s what they do. The flowers are tasty, and they come to eat them.”

I ignored my dad. “I’m going with you. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the deer is a lure in the eventuality someone—usually you—checks it out. He’s already figured out how to circumvent Ivy House’s defenses. It would make sense if he tried to take out my next strongest defense.”

“Or maybe he knows we’ll all check it out together, since it’s on Ivy House property, and is waiting to ambush us. If I go alone, I’ll be the only one who gets—”

“No.” I grabbed his arm, an uncomfortable feeling coiling tightly in my stomach. “We go together. I’ll…go high, so we’ll be separated, but we’ll check it out together.”

Austin stared at me for a long moment, clearly not wanting me in danger, but probably recognizing a hopeless cause when he saw one.

“Well. You crazy kids have fun. I think I’ll retire now.” My dad about-faced and headed for the house.

Mr. Tom watched him go. “That man is the prime example of a Dick ignoring anything that doesn’t fit into his world view. I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean, I’ve heard about it, but never actually witnessed it.”

“Oh yes, it’s quite extraordinary,” Edgar said. “I’ve seen it a lot.”

Austin shook his head. “Fine, but you will stay with me, not in the air. Call Ulric and Cedric down here. What about the few you have in the hotel?”

“Leave them there. I don’t want to bring any more people into my world who don’t expressly belong. Those guys aren’t great anyway.”

“If they aren’t great, why haven’t you turned them loose?” Austin asked, stripping out of his pants.

“I know, I know, don’t push me.” I glanced at Mr. Tom. “Anything from Niamh?”

“Yes. She saw him or her leave, someone clad in leather. They were not glowing. Near as I can figure, the person at the front must’ve left about when that deer did.”

“There was another one?” Austin asked.

I blew out a breath and nodded. “No Dick or Jane prowler would care about a deer, even a glowing one. They’d just think their eyes were playing tricks. Only a magical person would know it was a shifter, and likely one using a potion or elixir. Them taking off means they were not happy to see one another.” I put my hands on my hips and thought for a moment. “Keep Niamh watching the front. Tell her to call if the person at the front comes back. We’ll check out the trail of the deer. I’m more concerned with whatever circumvented Ivy House’s magic than a person in leather. Get Cedric but leave Ulric in the front, just in case. Let’s go while the trail is still fresh. We’ll circle back to the front after.”

“Maybe they are working together and just pulled back at the same time?” Mr. Tom said.

“I don’t know if that would be worse or better. Regardless, my parents will be caught in the crossfire. We have to find a way out of this, for their sakes.”

Ten

Martha grabbed the shoes from Jessie’s floor. That girl had never learned to put her shoes away. If a body wasn’t careful, there’d be a shoe garden in the living room, housing all of the discarded shoes that were never picked up. She placed them in the enormous closet only a quarter filled with clothes. Martha clucked her tongue. All of that time with no job and no child to look after, and she couldn’t pick up a few things. Martha would never understand it. She loved shopping.

Speaking of which, she needed to take a tour of the downtown area. She’d seen the cutest little shops as she was passing through.

A pop caught her attention.

She straightened, bracing her hand against her lower back. These old bones were not what they used to be.

A crack had formed beside the dresser, from the floor nearly to the ceiling. More siding popping loose, no doubt. This house was falling apart!

A wave of worry washed over her. Poor Jessie. First Jimmy moved away, then Matt up and left her, and now she’d been taken for a ride by that Havercamp woman. This house might look okay on the outside, if a bit spooky, but it was clearly a fixer-upper. It would be an absolute money pit. Hopefully those nice young boys planned on sticking around for a while and paying rent. Jessie was going to need it.

Martha placed her palm on the wall and leaned into it, popping the siding back into place with a click. A few nails should do the trick. She’d let Pete know. He could hammer the problem spots back into place, easy.

Back in the room, she noticed a doll sitting on a pillow in the middle of Jessie’s bed.

That was odd. She didn’t remember seeing that doll when she’d come in. Then again, she hadn’t been paying attention to the bed she’d made earlier, noticing instead the discarded shoes. Jessie must’ve set the doll up there, trying to make nice after putting them all away last night.

She left the room, and the butler fellow was out in the hall. The tuxedo was overkill and the cape just plain odd. She didn’t dare mention it to Jessie so as not to upset her, but he was a weird man. Very eccentric.

“Good morning.” Martha smiled at him. His coloring box might be shy of a few crayons, but manners were free and friendliness went a long way. Maybe he was just depressed and acting erratically. With a new house owner, he’d had some adjustments as well. He didn’t seem dangerous and treated Jessie with the utmost respect, and Jessie did have good locks on her doors—Martha had tested them—so there didn’t seem to be anything to worry about.

“Yes. Good morning. I trust you slept well,” he said, the words polite but the tone stuffy. It was like he fashioned himself after the butlers in those black-and-white British movies. Someone should tell him he’d gotten the dress code wrong. She’d never known a butler to wear a cape, not even a British one. Although all the men in the house except Austin seemed to wear them. It must’ve been some sort of peer pressure situation, or fashion sense gone wrong.