Page 53 of Hallow Hill at Halloween: Part One

“Yes, madam?”

“Did you see anything? In the forest after dark.”

“An anthropoid,” Evie supplied. “Over six feet tall?”

“I did detect a figure running in the opposite direction.”

“No other details?”

“I’m sorry, but no.”

“Evie,” I said, turning to her, “I hope I didn’t take you away from something important. Like a state dinner.”

I could see her grin even in the dim indirect light. “Nothing’s more important than you. What I gotta do to convince you of that?”

“Well…”

“I can tell you this. We’re going to start doing some I’m-in-danger-what-do-I-do-first drills. You should grab for your medallion without even thinking about it.”

“You might get tired of that really quickly.” She was shaking her head. “What if I automatically grabbed for the medallion because I thought The Hallows was empty and Dolan suddenly appeared. Or Keir grabs me from behind when I think I’m alone in the house. Or when those spiders zipline across the length of my porch inches away from my hair.”

She chuckled. “I think you’ll know when to call and when not.”

“You give me too much credit.”

“Want me to ride home with you?” Pause. “Or get you a room at an inn?”

“No. Please go back to what you were doing.”

“Only if you swear that you’ll use the hotline if anything else goes awry.”

“I will.”

“You better.”

“I will!”

Evie gave me a kiss on the cheek as I settled into my comfy nest inside Romeo. I sat behind the steering wheel, even though I wouldn’t touch it between Sherwood and Hallow Hill, mostly to keep from alarming other drivers.

“Romeo, are you up to driving us home?”

“Indeed. I am prepared to begin straightaway.”

“You sound eager,” I said to him.

“It has been an unusual day,” he answered.

No argument there.

Air kissing Evie as Romeo pulled away, I couldn’t stop myself from looking back into the darkness of Sherwood Forest wondering just how close I’d come to the near miss I’d just experienced. Inside the car, I felt secure as could be. Nonetheless, knowing there was a creature, potentially werewolf, out there was disturbing.

Wouldn’t you just know that if there was only one werewolf left, we’d meet and be on a first name basis?

Olivia had left food for me even though I’d been truly inconsiderate by not saying whether I’d need dinner or not. Cold chicken. Greek salad in the refrigerator. Fresh baked sourdough left in the Aga warmer. What could be better?

I watched a reality show about racing around the world and half a documentary about Little Richard, who was the template for Prince.

I grabbed a chicken stick treat for each pup as I turned out the lights and made my way to the bedroom.