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“I think the law dictates that I can’t forbid you from doing anything anymore, but know you’ll be abandoning your lonely,divorced mom on the biggest holiday of the year.” That hadn’t come out as maturely not-overbearing as I’d intended.

“You could come up to visit on Christmas morning. It’s not that far of a drive.”

“Oh, sure. I’d love to spend Christmas morning with a bunch of hungover frat boys.”

“Nobody’s going to be hungover, Mom. We’re not twenty-one.”

Like that would matter.

“Besides, we’re going to snowboard, not get smashed.”

“You don’t knowhowto snowboard.” I knew that for a fact. We’d never had enough money to engage in expensive winter sports.

“I’ve been once, remember? Jae-jin’s mom took us up to Steven’s Pass a couple winters ago.”

“From what I heard, you spent the day on the Daisy run.”

“Allbeginners start on Daisy. I’m going to take lessons at Baker. They’ve got a beginner package that includes equipment rental and doesn’t cost much.”

I attempted to rein in my disappointment. If anything, this was a blessing. Rescuing Duncan would be simpler if Austin wasn’t home. I had spent the boys’ entire lives taking an alchemical potion to sublimate my werewolf magic, but these past few weeks, I’d stopped, and the magic had come roaring back. Now, when my emotions got the best of me, I turned furry and fanged—whether I wanted to or not.

Further, members of my pack, in addition to numerous other troubles, had started showing up regularly at the apartment complex. If I wanted to keep my secret identity from my normalhumanchildren… this trip would be for the best.

“Mount Baker is supposed to be a great place to learn,” Austin added in a cajoling tone. Maybe he hadn’t realized that he could do whatever he wanted, no matter what I said. “It’s known for its great powder, steeps, trees, chutes, and cliffs.”

I didn’t know what steeps or chutes were but waved away the brochure description. “It’s fine. You can go. I appreciate you asking my permission, like my opinion still matters.”

Austin smiled in relief. “Your opiniondoesmatter.”

“But you were still going to go if I saidno,right?”

“Of course. Snowboarding is a life skill that I need to learn.”

“Uh-huh. For the record,treesandcliffsare things you want to avoid while careening down a mountain.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Austin saluted me before jogging up the walkway toward my apartment in the back of the sprawling complex.

Surrounded by acres of grassy lawns, paths, and manicured trees and shrubs, Sylvan Serenity hadn’t been a bad place to raise the kids. Other than the increased crime in Shoreline lately and the nearby freeway traffic audible through the greenbelt, it was a pleasant place to live. As the property manager, Iensuredit was.

Before getting into my truck, I looked wistfully at it all, hoping that after I found Duncan, I could figure out a way to keep the owners from selling the complex.

“A problem for another day.” I put the truck into gear.

While backing out of my spot, I had to brake abruptly as a kid on a bicycle wheeled past. My beat-up truck lacked modern amenities like rear cameras. Something clunked around under the passenger seat. Curious, I paused to pull out an unexpected item. It was wrapped in the colorful comics section of a Sunday paper, a red ribbon holding it closed.

A gift?

It had some heft, which gave me an immediate inkling about what it was.

Untying the ribbon and unwrapping the paper revealed a substantial cylinder-shaped magnet with a coil of twine attached to an eyelet. A slip of paper read:

To help you with your future endeavors.

~ Duncan

My first thought was that Duncan had escaped from imprisonment and left it for me during the night. But wouldn’t he have knocked on my door if he were free to do so?

I rubbed the comic pages he’d used to wrap the gift. They lacked the crinkle of a fresh edition. Instead, they were limp and damp, like they’d been out in the truck in Seattle’s damp winter air for a few days.