Page 15 of Hallow Hill at Halloween: Part Two

“I ruled it out because our predicament is somewhat urgent. Olympians like to play hard to get. Even if you can locate the one you want and communicate with them, they operate on island time.”

Evie needed clarification. “Island time? Like Caribbean island time?”

“The same. Rita could be…” Lochlan cleared his throat. “By the time Athena gets around to granting an audience, it could be too late. And there’s no reason to believe she’d agree. After all, she’s had thousands of years to rethink her hasty decision and reverse the curse. ”

“I see,” Evie said. “So does that mean it’s not worth trying?”

Lochlan shook his head. “I guess beggars can’t be choosers. We shouldn’t rule anything out.”

“Agree,” she said.”

“I’ll see who I have in my contacts who could act as liaison.”

“Good. The other possible avenue might be her sister, Euryale. If the accounts I studied at uni were true, her oldest sister, Sthenno, would definitely turn a deaf ear. She hated Medusa for her beauty. But Euryale may have been fond of Medusa and might be of use. If nothing else, she might coax Medusa to join her in the Underworld.”

“Because of the expeditious nature of our problem, I’ll attempt to contact both. Greeks are not known for their eagerness to open diplomatic channels, but as you say, it’s worth a try,” Lochlan offered.

“Okay. I’m off to ask Maeve about the door chime. If I’m not back for a while, you’ll know it’s because it can be hard to get away. She always needs attention and always assumes her stuff is the absolute most important stuff.”

“Understood,” Keir said as if he’d experienced the situation many, many times.

Maggie stepped up onto the porch just as Evie left. She nodded to Keir and Lochlan while pretending to catch her breath.

“Why are you acting like you’re out of breath?” Lochlan asked.

“Samhain tourist season is upon us. I’m practicin’ human behavior,” she said.

Keir looked away shaking his head.

“I’m wonderin’ why Rita’s no’ been ‘round. Dolan has a couple of things to show her,” she said.

Keir and Lochlan looked at each other.

“She’s bunged up with a temperature. She’s still mostly human, you know,” Keir said, hating lying to Maggie about the true nature of Rita’s absence.

“Oh dear,” she said, knowing that was an appropriate response, but knowing anything about what illness might feel like. “She’ll be fine though.”

It wasn’t a question, but Keir knew there was a question buried within. “Of course. Olivia and I are giving her best of care.”

Maggie looked truly disappointed. “What about…?”

“Such luck you stopped over, Maggie,” Keir said. “I’d completely forgotten about Legendary Lunch. We’ll be canceling this week, but Rita wouldn’t want everybody to think she’s not well. Maybe you could say she’s needing to give her case files more attention than usual?”

Maggie perked up and raised her chin. “O’ course. Leave it to me. No’ a soul will know she’s a thing less than hale.”

Keir smiled. “Rita can always count on you.”

Maggie turned a smirk toward Lochlan. “That she can. To be sure.”

Seemingly satisfied, she turned to start back up the lane.

“Don’t forget the panting for breath,” Lochlan called after her.

Evie left with another idea unspoken. Vuk was going to continue to cause trouble between her mom and stepdad ifsomebody didn’t step in. Keir wanted him dead. Rita didn’t. It was an impasse.

It had been said this werewolf was the last of his kind, but Evie didn’t have any reason to believe that was anything more than rumor. Not other than the fact that Vuk Redfurd. was alone and hitting on her mother.

She thought the best person to ask might be Serafina. A sliver of the Italian fae queen’s territory bordered the wildlands that were thought to be refuges for extra-human anarchists. It was, more or less, the most likely place to begin a search for werewolves. Evie thought that, if there were any left, Serafina might know, or she might know someone privy to that sort of information.

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