Page 9

8

Mor

Normally, the sound of my cell phone ringing at six in the morning would wake me up.

But that would require me to have fallen asleep.

Even though last night was stressful and exhausting, when I finally lay down in bed, sleep evaded me.

For the last few hours, I’ve just been staring upward at my skylight, watching the starry sky shift with the earth’s rotation.

Even though it’s technically morning, sunrise is more than an hour off.

I reach to my bedside table and unplug the phone from the charger before I answer it.

“Hello?”

“Morgana. Hello. This is Levi.” The monster council member’s voice is tight.

“I know this is probably a long shot, but I just checked on our new guest, and it looks as though he left at some point in the night. Is that tracking spell still live? Did he happen to return to the library?”

I sit up straight in bed and glance around my room, as if this were the space Bo would appear in.

But of course he wouldn’t be here.

I would be shocked to find the mythic in any room in the library after the way he reacted last night.

Still, I feel obligated to check.

“The tracking spell was one use only, and I haven’t heard anyone trying to get in. I locked and spelled the front door.” And yet I have the sneaking suspicion this house would be able to undo all of my physical and magical protections if it had the whim.

“I’ll check though. Can I call you back?”

“Yes. Please.”

The moment after I press to end the call, I consider if it might have been a better idea to keep Levi on the line.

Ame and Jack are here , I remind myself.

They have a noise-dampening spell cast on their room, so I don’t have to hear their bedroom activities every night, but the spell is one-way.

If I scream about an intruder, they’ll hear me just fine.

Especially with Jack’s werewolf ears.

I slip out of bed and pull on a robe, then press open the heavy door that reveals a winding narrow set of stairs.

The old wood creaks under my sock-covered feet, though the steps shine like new in the warm Edison bulb lights I mounted on the walls.

My room is not the most practical choice.

We had to bring all the furniture up piece by piece because of the dramatic angles.

The stairwell from the first floor to the second at least has coffin corners to help with maneuvering.

Still, my room has the best view and gives me the romantic notion of living in an enchanted tower.

Or I guess it’s not just a notion.

The house is enchanted, and three stories makes a tower as far as I’m concerned.

I make my way through the quiet house that has been converted into a library.

I flip on lights as I go, not sure how it would feel if I came across the newly freed monster in a dark room.

And yet the thought of him brings nothing like fear to my mind.

His nonhuman form is intimidating in shape and makeup, but the man himself, even frantic, never seemed particularly violent.

There were no splashes of amber in his aura that I’ve spied in those of violent people.

He was a blend of sage, tangerine, and cerulean.

Confusion, anger, and sadness.

All understandable.

Despite the house being on the larger size, it doesn’t take me long to navigate through the entire place and see no sign of Bo.

I call Levi back.

“He’s not here, unless he’s hiding. And a guy that size would have trouble concealing himself in this place.”

I unlock the front door and step out into the cool morning, my feet chilly on the porch’s wooden boards.

There are the sounds of cicadas and bats in the darkened woods.

The occasional owl hoot.

A few early rising birds have begun to chirp.

I dodge the random spiderwebs that were built overnight on the front porch, planning to sweep them away, like I do every morning.

Spiders love a lake house.

“I guess it was too much to hope it would be that easy,” Levi mutters on his end of the line.

“If I had to guess, I’d say he went back to his trailer,” I offer.

I don’t know much about the guy, but the fact that he ran there first indicates it may be the only place in town where he feels safe.

It may be the only place that’s familiar to him after seventeen years.

“That was my next thought. I want to head over there, but I’m kind of dealing with something right now.” He clears his throat.

“Moira’s pregnant—I’m not sure if I mentioned that—and she’s having some pain. She might need to go to Dr. Grove.” He names a newer doctor who moved to Folk Haven only a few months ago.

“Oh no. Sorry she’s not feeling great.”

I haven’t spent too much time with the monster and his selkie mate, but I do know their coupling caused some stirring in the town.

Even after living here for a few years, I struggle to understand the faction of town folk that are upset by inter-mythic mating.

Mythics mixing bloodlines might result in monsters, but we’re all weird and magical anyway.

I don’t see why we need to divide ourselves.

“You should stay with your mate.” I don’t hesitate on my offer.

“I’ll go find Bo. I’ll check on him.”

Levi huffs a surprised breath.

“You will? You’ve already done a hell of a lot for him, and I don’t want you to feel obligated. But that would be a massive help to me.”

I don’t know that I feel obligated, but I have a sense of responsibility related to Bo.

I am the one who freed him from his statue prison.

I don’t think he’s going to cause any problems in town, but if he does, I am not excited about that potentially reflecting back on me.

Also, the melding colors of his aura stay imprinted on my mind.

The mixture of loneliness and defeat struck something in my chest. I don’t like the idea of Bo being alone in this town that he no longer knows.

I’ve only started to feel like I’m finding a place here.

That I’m not an outsider.

Maybe I could help Bo find a place too.

Maybe that is a way I could give back to this town.

“I don’t mind. If he’s not at the trailer, I’m not sure what my next steps will be, but I can definitely swing by there and see if he’s around. I can check in with him to see if there’s anything I can do to help.”

“That would be great. And do not hesitate to call me if anything becomes more complicated than checking up on him. And if you do find him, please tell him that he is welcome back into our home.”

“I’ll keep you updated.”

I reenter my house and head upstairs, ending the call as I go.

As I quickly work through my morning routine and get dressed, I brainstorm what to do about the library.

There is no one readily available to watch it while I’m gone.

Ame and Jack will be getting up soon, and they’ll each be heading off to their respective jobs.

Ame to the veterinarian office, where she works the front desk.

And Jack to Ramla University, where he heads the tech department.

Broderick also has classes that he has to teach today, and I was lucky that Anthony was able to step away from his tailoring duties for the spell last night.

As we approach the Halloween Ball, he’s been working eighty-hour weeks just to make sure everyone who ordered a gown has one by the time the event occurs.

There is no one else that I have trained to help in any way in the library.

It’s a position that I’ve known I needed to fill for a while.

But things keep getting in the way, so here I am, having to set up a sign outside the front door, announcing that the library is closed for the morning.

I shoot off a quick text to Ame and Jack, so they know where I’ve gone once they wake up to find the library isn’t open.

Then I climb into my truck and point my headlights toward the Monster section of Folk Haven, watching as the sun colors the sky above the trees as I drive.

The road around Lake Galen is winding, but there’s only one main road, so it is easy to follow.

It’s the gravel driveways that shoot off from the pavement that are hard to memorize.

But I recall the one I turned down last night when seeking out the missing monster.

The sun has started to crest above the trees when I pull up in front of the dilapidated trailer.

Somehow, it looks even sadder in the light of day.

Now, I can see the peeling, sun-bleached paint and the water-warped wooden steps leading to the crooked front door.

The whole trailer sags in the middle, and I wonder how much longer the roof will hold out.

I wouldn’t feel safe going inside the thing.

But I don’t plan on leaving until I’ve thoroughly checked for Bo.

I shut off the engine and climb out of the truck.

The moment I open the door, I hear movement inside of the dilapidated building.

And I really hope it is Bo and not some strange animal I’m about to encounter.

Safe bet, I decide to make my presence known as opposed to stepping into that condemned building.

“Hey! Bo?” I call out.

“Is that you in there?”

There’s a pause in the rustling.

I pray to The Dark One that I have not alerted a wild animal to my presence.

But then there’s the sound of footsteps, and the door gets pushed open to reveal a dusty, daylight-illuminated version of the man I saw for the first time last night.

But unlike last night, he’s kept his clothes with him.

I’m glad, mainly because he seemed achingly embarrassed about exposing himself to strangers multiple times.

“Mor?” He blinks, his eyes adjusting to the sunlight.

“Hi. Yeah, it’s me.” I give a wave, then cross my arms over my chest. “Levi gave me a call when he realized you’d left.”

I brace myself for him to get defensive on how we’re tracking him.

Instead, he ducks his head, cheeks flushing.

“Sorry. I should’ve left a note.”

“You didn’t have to. It’s just … we want to help.”

A spark of sage confusion flits in the corner of my sight, slipping through the control I have over my magic.

“Why? Y’all don’t know me.”

Why do I want to help him?

Hell, isn’t this guy from here?

Shouldn’t he have grown up with that classic Southern hospitality?

“I guess I want to help because I’d hope someone would do the same for me if I were in your shoes.”

I tilt my head, glancing behind him at the trailer.

There’s graffiti on the side, most of the windows are broken, and discarded beer cans litter the lawn.

I get the sense, after a certain time of this place being abandoned, some delinquents decided to use this as their party space.

Gods, what must it feel like to find your home has been misused in such a way?

If I found the library had been mistreated in my absence, I’d go on a rampage.

But Bo merely seems to be attempting to collect the shattered pieces of his life.

And I feel for him.

“That’s kind of you,” he murmurs.

“Do you need help?” I wave toward the trailer.

“Cleaning up? Or looking for something?”

Bo glances over his shoulder, face lined with despondency.

“There’s nothing left for me here.”

His words sound like they refer to more than just the place he used to live.

Without contemplating the move, I stroll forward and wrap my hand around one of his thick wrists, tugging him away from the reminder of his past.

“Let’s get breakfast. Life always seems shittier when you’re hungry.”

And I have the overwhelming urge to remind Bo that he’s alive and that’s a good thing.