Page 24 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
She had his number. She wouldn’t resist contacting him for long.
No such joy. The message came from Svallin.
Status update.
He typed a reply, “I have secured Earth-based equipment to assist me.”
You already have equipment. Superior equipment.
“Yes, and how would I explain why my arm glows with foreign symbols and makes noises? It is safer to use Earth tech.” The reilendeer communication device was flexible and transparent. Worn on the forearm, it was invisible. Unfortunately, it lit up like a beacon when in use. Better to keep it hidden and use an Earth phone like anyone else. Remembering to keep the device charged—it used batteries known to explode if damaged—and not dropping it would be the biggest challenge.
This isn’t a holiday. I want results.
Mads flipped the phone over to hide the screen. Reaching for a notebook, he made a list of Karl’s known domiciles. He needed to go through the motion of hunting his bounty to keep Svallin off his back.
Odessa
The bed shiftedand the familiar scent of strawberry shampoo snuggled near. “Mommy? Can I sleep with you?”
“Did you have a bad dream?” Odessa lifted the blanket and Ruby climbed under.
“The Attic Man was in my room again,” she whispered, like the man haunting her nightmare could hear her.
Odessa smoothed back the curling red hair and kissed her goblin’s forehead. She’d had this recurring nightmare for a few weeks now. The first time, she woke up screaming that she was being murdered. Panic raced in Odessa’s heart as she ran to Ruby’s bedroom, only to find the girl standing on her bed and pointing to the opened window.
Since then, the dreams were not as vivid, but they frightened Ruby enough to crawl into Odessa’s bed.
“Is your night light working?”
“He unplugged it,” Ruby said.
“The bulb probably burned out.” No nefarious mischief necessary. “Go to sleep and I’ll fix it in the morning,” Odessa said.
“Can you sing me a song?” she asked, voice already drowsy.
The only thing that came to mind was a Corinne Bailey Rae song from way back. Amazingly, she remembered most of the words. Well, the chorus. She repeated that a few times before Ruby drifted off.
Chapter 8
Odessa
“Set the cheese plate out on the table, please, Ruby,” Odessa said, her attention focused on wrapping brie in puff pastry. The recipe she found on the internet looked fancy as all get out but seemed easy until she tried to cut out leaves to decorate the top. The leaves looked sad, too thin and narrow, but she didn’t have enough dough to try again.
“Why is the cheese red? It looks gross. And smells gross.” Ruby poked the sliced Wensleydale, then stuffed a cracker in her mouth. “I don’t like it.”
“It has cranberries in it.”
“Ew.” Ruby wrinkled her nose.
“It’s sweet and fruity with honey undertones,” Odessa said. At least that’s what the wrapper said. She grabbed a wedge when it arrived at the store earlier in the week.
“Mom, you’re being weird about food again.”
“Just bring it out, okay? You don’t have to try it but don’t say it’s gross until you do try it,” Odessa said. Ruby had to pick today to be obstinate. It’s like her child enjoyed acting out in front of Odessa’s parents, just to make her look bad.
That wasn’t true. She still felt rattled from yesterday and the heat of the kitchen compounded her headache. A sense of dread and not being alone in the house woke her that morning. She grabbed the baseball bat at her bedside—don’t judge, a girl needs easy access to her pummeling equipment—and eased out the bedroom door into the hall. Her heart pounded while she tried to listen for anything out of the ordinary, but she couldn’t hear anything other than the wind and the tapping of tree branches against the windows. With her day starting on that rough note, her temper frayed, and everything just felt like poking a grumpy bear with a stick.
She wanted to reach out a paw, grab that stick, and maybe commit a little mauling.
