Page 14 of Hallow Hill at Halloween: Part Two

“Not a scratch to be seen now,” Keir said.

“Thanks to moi.”

“Putting this together. Romeo arrived, albeit not at his best. Rita got her phone then called you.”

“That’s right.”

“And you made the car good as new.”

“Also right.”

“But her first instinct was to call Romeo.”

Evie’s face dropped. “I hadn’t realized that until just now,” she said quietly. “Holy Cow. I must be an awful daughter if my mom’s first cry for help was to her car.”

“I’m sure she wasn’t debating between you and Romeo. She called out to Romeo because he was on site. Simple as that.”

“Thanks for saying so, Keir.”

“You’re welcome. Then what?”

“Then I tried to find out why she’d been so frightened. She said she screamed for Romeo to save her. I asked from what? Then she said it was too dark to tell, which sounded nonsensical. I thought she was just spooked so I started playing guessing games. Was it a deer? Was it a goat?”

“A goat?”

“I know. I’m lucky she didn’t throat punch me.”

“She should’ve.”

“Be that as it may, I was trying to figure out what to guess next when I heard this long, drawn out howl not that far away. It was scary enough to make me freeze and that’s saying something because, you know, not much can hurt me.” Keir nodded. “It was chilling. But…”

“But what?”

“I don’t know. Sorrowful?”

“Evie…”

It was clear that Keir wasn’t interested in emotional editorial. “When it stopped, she said what scared her was tall with two legs and two arms.”

“I asked if it spoke to her and she said, ‘Oh, yeah.’ She said it asked her name and wanted to know why she wasn’t human. At some point she got scared, which is understandablegiven that she was alone at night in a forest being confronted by an unidentified creature demanding to know why she wasn’t human.

“And that’s it. Oh, except that it ran away when it heard Romeo coming to the rescue.” After a slight pause, she added. “Good old Romeo.” Keir silently agreed with that sentiment. “After that I pressed the issue of the medallion I’d given her expressly for the purpose of emergencies. I insisted that she use it when she needed me. Romeo assured us both that he was ready and able to get her home safely. I transported both of them back to the car park.”

“You transported the car?” He whistled low.

She looked at Keir. “Yes. I transported the car, said goodbye and that was all there is.”

After indulging in a deep sigh, Keir said, “You might know that if there’s only one werewolf left in the world my wife would discover him in a dark forest alone at night while I’m away. And she would pique his interest.”

“Her new life is like a series of bizarre Seinfeld episodes,” Evie mused. Keir shook his head to convey his confusion. “I have an idea.”

“What?” Lochlan and Keir said in unison.

“Well, Athena made the mess. Why don’t we ask her to fix it?”

“Oddly,” Lochlan said. “Or maybe not. I had the same thought.”

“And?” Evie asked.

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