Page 25 of The Magic of Destiny
“Let's go, man. She probably has to poop or something,” Cam said, just loud enough for me to hear, causing my mouth to drop open.
“Oh, right. Hope everything goes... smoothly,” Bram called, and I cracked up.
“Get. Out!” I shouted, barely able to talk through the laughter.
I heard his footsteps retreating, along with low muttering. “What do I care if she poops?”
Snorting at that, I turned the shower on and hopped in. The moment I was alone, my thoughts immediately turned to Sloane. The pull in my heart was strong, desperately urging me to find him and protect him. He was my grumpy buttlord, and I loved smothering him with sunshine and smiles. Gods, I wished I could reach him somehow. I had to just have faith that Asrael wouldn't actually harm him—why go through all this trouble just to kill him? Still, my stomach churned at the thought of what could be happening.
I washed quickly and got ready to go. I couldn't wait to see Miranda. She'd been my best friend since we were kids, and it had been killing me not to wrap her in a hug yet, even though she’d made it clear that she needed space. I couldn't imagine the pain and despair she was going through after having her beautiful little girl kidnapped. As her friend, I would do whatever she needed, and since leaving her alone to process for a few days was what she’d needed, I’d respected that.
When Hunter had explained to the guys about the trackers implanted into every Montague employee, Khol had thought of something. If there were trackers, they could potentially be hacked and traced. Hunter had turned out to be a bit of a computer genius, so those two had been glued to their computer screens over the last two days.
Their hope was firstly, that they could find Laurie—or at least trace her past movements—and secondly, that they could find out if Montague had already placed a tracker on Sloane.
The thought that I may have a sister wasn't far from my mind, but unfortunately, that had to take a back seat for now. There were more pressing issues. Like my missing mate and my bestie's daughter.
* * *
We piledout of the car in front of what remained of Miranda’s house, and found Khol waiting. He was wearing a t-shirt and basketball shorts again.Who the hell is this guy, and where did Mr. Larson go?
Hunter was at the apartment—he’d called to let us know he wouldn’t be helping us this afternoon, saying his talents were better suited behind a computer monitor. As much as I wanted him and Cam to spend time together, I had to agree that we should take advantage of any edge we could get.
We’d driven past The Mystical Piglet on the way to Miranda’s house, reminding me how thankful I was that Arlo and Frank had been happy to help out with running the shop for me. Right now, I just couldn’t imagine having the energy to deal with my customers, as much as I loved them.
My feet carried me across the sidewalk to where Khol was waiting, and I glanced past him at the destroyed house. Parts of the ground were scorched where the flames had burned unforgivingly before Cam had arrived and unleashed the rain.
Khol smiled when we made eye contact and he opened his arms in greeting. I found myself sinking into his embrace easily.
“Hey, wild one. How are you feeling? You hanging in there?” he asked, his hand gently patting my back.
“Yeah, yeah... I'm doing okay,” I told him. “Where's Mir—”
“Hey, everyone! Come on, this mess isn't going to clean itself. Khol, can you please order pizza for everyone?” Miranda shouted from the side of the house. I turned to look at her and nearly gasped.
Her hair was sticking out in every direction, there were dark bags under her eyes, and somehow her features had taken on a gaunt appearance in the span of only a few days. She met my eyes for a split second, before turning and heading back in.
“She's going to be okay,” Khol reassured me. “We'll get Annie back and everything will be fine.”
I swallowed the growing lump in my throat and nodded.
“I better order that pizza,” he told me, digging his phone out of his pocket and walking away.
“Hey, Sprout,” Kai murmured, stepping up beside me. “You alright?”
A weak smile was all I could muster. “I'm just worried about her. Let's get in there, okay?”
“You got it, Goldie.” Bram led the way as we all approached the destruction. Only half of her house was still standing, and even with that, the windows were all shattered and black ash stained the window frames.
Miranda was talking with a group of men who were holding clipboards. I watched her shoulders slump at whatever was being said.
“Watch your step in here, baby.” Cam laced his fingers with mine and squeezed gently, his way of letting me know he was there for me.Gods, I love this man.
Miranda appeared like a ghost. I nearly yelped when we rounded the corner into the living room and she was already standing there, looking around.
“What's the plan, Miranda? How can we help?” Fischer asked in a soothing tone.
“Those men told me it would be in my best interest to tear the house down completely. Rebuild, or buy something else. The problem is, the insurance company won't pay for this if it was arson—which it was. The arson investigators are still trying to determine that I wasn't the one who set the fire, so nothing can really happen with the house until then,” she told us, her voice as sad as her eyes.
