Page 47 of Hallow Hill at Halloween: Part Two

“Enough with the name calling.”

Evie was looking around. Fen and Frey were twirling around her knees trying to get loving caresses, verbal affection, and maybe even treats.

She looked down and smiled. “Yes. Okay. Okay. I see you.” She stood straight abruptly. “That’s it. We’ll use the dogs.”

I wasn’t sure what a dubious facial expression looked like, exactly, but I tried hard to convey that I thought that was a hair brained idea.

“Why in the world would you think my puppies could… Oh. Because they’re called fraighounds? Operative word being ‘hounds’?”

“My thought exactly.”

“I have no reason to think they have a talent for finding, um, missing persons.”

“Let’s ask that Valkyrie.”

“Sigrid?”

Again. I was dubious. “I don’t have her cell number.”

“Hold on,” Evie said. She vanished.

I looked down at the dogs who couldn’t have been more unconcerned that they’d just witnessed a person disappear. I said, to the dogs, “Lochlan is going to be getting antsy right about now.” Frey yawned and laid down on the dry grass. “Yeah. I’d like a nap, too.”

Even though I was expecting something of the sort, I jumped when Evie appeared with Sigrid. The Valkyrie looked like she’d just come from having pale blonde highlights refreshed to complement her eyes that were the same color as the North Sea in a storm. As unbecoming as it may’ve been, there was a part of me that was glad my husband was across the street.

“Look who I found.” Evie beamed.

“Oh. Sigrid. Hi. Thanks for coming. I hope we didn’t…”

Sigrid didn’t have time to pretend to care about my pleasantries. She was much too excited about my dogs. I didn’t understand what she was saying to them, but the dogs were spinning around and wagging tails so fast they were almost blurred.

“What beauties,” she said in English.

“Thank you.” I answered.

“Sigrid, like I told you, we need to know if these dogs, or rather hounds, can track people who’ve been taken to an unknown place.”

“Who took them?” Sigrid asked.

“Loki.”

Sigrid’s head went back as she looked at the sky as if to say the cumulation of thousands of years of tricks and pranks wears on a girl. “Why did he do that?”

“It’s a longish story, but basically, he thought he was doing me a favor. He said he was taking them far enough awayso they wouldn’t be bothering me soon. If I can interpret that faithfully, that means they’re alive. Somewhere.”

“Hmmm.” To Evie, Sigrid said, “The answer to your question is yes. Of course, fraighounds are capable of this and so much more.” She looked at Fen and Frey. “But not this young.”

I was thinking all kinds of bad words because I knew what that meant.

“How about their parents?” I asked.

Sigrid looked like she’d won the lottery. “The parents? You know them? Are they nearby?”

“Very nearby. They belong to my clerk. Who’s inside the house.” I looked back at the house. “Might I interest you in tea and almond squares while I go in and explain the situation to him?”

Lochlan was standing, looking out the study front window that faced his own house.

“Sorry, Lochlan. Something’s come up.”

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