Page 54 of Brushed By Moonlight
“You do now,” Bene chuckled over his shoulder.
“Hey, where’s Claudette?” Roux asked. “Isn’t she supposed to help with breakfast?”
“Apparently, she left town,” Mina muttered.
I exhaled. I’d had enough of Claudette hitting on me for a lifetime, not to mention watching her hit on the others. So, whew.
“Was it us?” Bene looked hurt.
Mina snorted. “A good guess, but in this case, probably not. Claudette has a reputation for being a little, er…spontaneous.”
Leave it to Mina to find a nice way to sayunreliable. It was easy to picture her composing understated report cards. What would mine say?
Must learn to harness his impulses… Social skills still developing…
Bene’s would say,Encouraged to develop his focus more,and Roux’s,Strong leadership and responsibility, but recommend activities that are not directly linked to achievement.As for Henrik, probably something like,Should strive to interact with peers in ways that foster mutual comfort.
Her pace brought us to the garden in no time, and she didn’t let up until we approached the derelict fountain.
“So, I was about here…” She slowed, then stopped, and pointed into the bushes. “And he — or she — was over there. Have you checked that area?”
“Of course we checked,” Roux groused.
Mina took another sip of coffee, placed her mug on the lip of the fountain, and charged off into the bushes.
“Feisty, isn’t she?” Bene chuckled while Roux hurried after her.
“That’s one word for it,” Henrik grumbled, catching up at last.
I hurried after Mina and found her inspecting the ground behind the bushes.
“What about this?” She patted one trampled area. “Or this?”
Roux clearly didn’t appreciate being questioned by a schoolteacher. She might know a lot about math, spelling, and social studies, but what did she know about tracking?
More than I expected, frankly, because the spots she indicated had also caught Roux’s attention, and he was the best tracker among us.
“We checked those,” he said. “Someone was there, but there’s no scent.”
“So, a vampire,” Mina mused.
Roux and I traded surprised looks.
“You know more about supernaturals than I thought,” he said.
“You should have seen the parties my grandmother used to throw,” Mina muttered, still focused on the ground.
“Your grandmother, the…?” Roux tried.
Mina hesitated, leaving me to fill in the blank with my own guesses.
Fox shifter? She was that crafty. Wolf?
Dragon?my inner beast hummed hopefully.
“My grandmother, the socialite,” Mina said, evading the heart of the question. Then she patted the ground again. “How heavy a vampire? Can you tell?”
Roux nodded. “Someone around my size.”
