Since it was Saturday, Mom wouldn’t have classes but it was possible she’d still be at the university. I didn’t want to storm Temple to find her, so I decided just to go to her house and hope.
Because we knew how bad it was likely to be, Ian and I got some breakfast too. Both of us thought more clearly when our stomachs weren’t controlling our thought processes. Or we were both procrastinating. One or the other.
Ian rubbed his chin, his brow wrinkled as he pulled onto Mom’s road. “What’s the point of this, Mads? Do you really think seeing her is going to change anything?” he asked, his eyes scanning the condo building as we pulled into the parking lot.
I groaned. “I don’t know. I’m mostly just . . . I’m trying to be the bigger person. Maybe if I try harder, she’ll see me as me and not the weapon to hurt Dad with.”
He glanced at me before he pulled into a parking space. “You shouldn’t need to try, Maddie. She’s your mom. She’s supposed to love you no matter what.”
“Not everybody’s parents are like yours.”
“True but not everybody’s parents think of them as a weapon.”
I scowled at him, moving to get out of the car.
He laid his hand on my arm to hold me back. “You’re an amazing woman, Madison Meyer. Don’t let her tear you down.”
I closed my eyes for a second before I leaned over and kissed him again. “Want to finish that makeout session we started last week and never got back to? That might help me hold my confidence in place.”
He chuckled, motioning behind us. “Probably not the best idea. I just saw the dragon getting out of a very nice car. I’m keeping my hands to myself for a while.”
My stomach clenched. No. I was a grown woman. I would not be pushed around by her anymore. I was there to see if being away from her had changed her opinion of me. Or maybe I was just there because I still felt like a little girl looking for love. I didn’t know anymore.
I got out of the car and lifted my hand in a small wave as she looked in my direction. She was a beautiful woman, with the same dark hair and fair skin I had and only a few lines fanning out from her eyes and mouth. Mom was in her mid-fifties, although could have passed for late-thirties.
She wore a slim pair of red, business casual kind of pants, with a white, button-down shirt, and heels that made my feet hurt just looking at them. It was a good look for her, one that showed off her best features. She knew how beautiful she was and it showed in the confident way she stood.
Mom narrowed her eyes as she watched me walk toward her. It was the only indication she gave that she’d even seen me. I could tell that she’d noticed Ian by the way, her nostrils flared.
I felt my throat tighten, my heart starting to pound. All of a sudden, I felt like a little girl. I was desperate for Mom’s approval but all too aware it would never be given. Something inside me quivered, ready to hide in my closet like I’d done so many times as a child.
Ian’s arm brushed mine and all of a sudden, I remembered. I didn’t care if Mom approved of me. I had family. I didn’t need her.
I tipped my chin toward the Audi as we got to where she stood. “Nice car,” I said in as cold a tone as I could manage.
Her mouth tightened even further. “Indeed,” she agreed, eyeing Ian’s modest sedan in a way that judged him for not driving something flashier.
I motioned to Ian, curious about how she’d react to him. “I assume you remember Ian Gregory,” I said, wishing the ice inside me would melt.
Mom made a ‘Hm,’ noise and turned toward the condo. “I don’t have time to stand around talking about cars. If you’re coming in, make it fast.”
I stood still for a second before I spoke. “I met Quinn last week,” I stated, hoping to see some kind of emotion. Anything.
She stopped, slowly turning back to look at me. “Your point?” she demanded, no emotion at all anywhere near her.
“My point is that my sister is--”
“Your sister,” she scoffed, her lips curled in a sneer. “According to what she told me, SHE went to MIT. SHE is a productive member of society. SHE is not a disappointment to the family I gave her to.”
The child inside me curled into a ball, not wanting to have to face the dragon’s disapproval. The rest of me was sick and tired. I was eighteen-years-old. I had lived on my own for six months.
I had a job that I loved. I had a boyfriend I loved. I had friends who were family to me. I had Dad and I had Quinn. The wounded child would be no more.
My face turned red as I flattened my lips. “I’m such a disappointment that you’re still using my trust?” I shot at her, shoving back the part of me that wanted to duck and run.
I had been eight when I’d written an algorithm for Safe*Zone which had turned them into the top security system in the world. They had paid me a lump sum that had been placed in a trust for me to have access to when I turned eighteen. Mom was my trustee.
It was altogether clear that she had used my money to buy that car. A professor’s salary would not pay for that kind of luxury vehicle. It annoyed me that I had forgotten about the money. It annoyed me more that Mom thought it was okay to use it.
I motioned to the Audi that was probably worth seventy-grand. “I’m eighteen. The fact you’re using my trust is a felony.” My shoulders straightened and I lifted my chin. “I’m disappointed, Cici. I thought you were smarter than that.”
Her face drained of all color and she took three quick steps closer. “You stupid little slacker. You don’t DESERVE that money! All you’d do is waste it!”
I inclined my head and gave a negligent shrug. “It’s my money to waste.”
She drew her hand back like she was going to slap me, her teeth bared as she cursed at me.
Ian guided me back, his eyes fixed on her. “You need to calm down, Professor Meyer. You wouldn’t want people to see how you’ve treated your daughter her entire life.” His voice was stony as his chin tipped back in a pose that made him look like a statue that belonged in Dorothy’s collection.
Mom lowered her hand, her eyes boring holes into me. “I deserved every cent I took from your trust. I spent my life having to deal with an irrelevant, whining brat.”
I stepped around Ian and held out my hand between us. “I can either call the police and let them know about your theft of my money or you can hand me the keys to MY car,” I announced, my hand steady as my heart jackhammered in my chest.
Her face went from stark white to beet red in the time it took to take a breath, a clear sign of danger. Since we were out in the open, I knew she wouldn’t physically attack me. She wanted to, though.
What she did was to swear. A lot. For such an intelligent woman, her insults were kind of trite. It was clear as day there wasn’t a spec of love for me inside her.
That would have hurt me not too long before. Right then, it was nothing more than confirmation of what I already knew. Fortunately, I had gone in with no expectation of reconciliation, so her curses barely registered in my mind.
After she’d worn herself out, she pulled the keys from her purse and dropped them on the ground. “Get out of my sight,” she spat and turned away.
I shrugged, glad it was over. “I’ll leave anything you left in my car on the sidewalk,” I called and hit the unlock button on the key fob.
There were only a few things in the center console, so I dropped them on the ground and went to check the back. There was a ringing in my ears and purple lights flashed in front of my eyes as I went. That was when it occurred to me I was holding my breath. I took in a gulp of air, not sure I could remain on my feet for much longer.
Ian stopped me, his hand on my cheek. “I’m proud of you, Maddie,” he told me, his own mouth thinned with anger.
I leaned in and rested my brow on his chest. “I might start hyperventilating in a second.”
He guided me back and shook his head. “No, you won’t. You’re a strong, capable, amazing woman. You’re going to hold it together because you j
ust defeated the dragon.”
I gave him a shaky smile. “Let’s get to the bank. After I get the trust taken care of, I plan to go back to Dorothy’s house and do some more butt kicking. You in?”
“Yes, I am,” he agreed, his lips quirked up in a grin as he gestured to the Audi. “With this kind of car, you’re not going to need me to work on your ball bearings when we get back.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not keeping this thing. I was thinking maybe I’d talk to your dad about trading it in, get something better than my car but less pretentious than this one.”
He nodded. “Dad’ll be thrilled. There’s one I know is on the lot that I think is perfect for you.”
“Well then, let’s get this done.”
I emptied the rest of Mom’s things onto the sidewalk in front of that parking place and drove away. The wounded little girl I used to be let out a relieved sigh and cuddled in next to my inner warrior. Mom would never hurt me again. Never.
THIRTEEN
Ian smirked as he pulled into Dorothy’s driveway behind me. I’d smoked him on the drive, so stood with my arms folded, tapping my foot in an Erkens-like way.
“Cocky,” he said, motioning to the keys. “Yours does lock down completely, so nobody can mess with it once the doors are locked?”
I shrugged. I hadn’t even thought about it. Looked like I should have.
If our creature was into messing with cars, it would be good to be able to lock them down. I hit the lock on the key fob, then went to look at the fuel door. It looked to me like no one could get in.
I motioned to his. “Yours will be okay too, right?” I asked, still unsure why whatever the creature was had gone after Erkens’ truck.
I stopped dead in my tracks. Erkens. A paranormal investigator. He had come to the house and his truck had been messed with in a way that could have killed him.
I had been in the house and the voice had whispered in my ear to get out, then it had thrown me at the wall. That was it. Whatever was going on was to get us away from Dorothy. That thing wanted us out so it would have free reign. Why?
If the shadows had just been hanging around for months, why had they gotten vengeful? Why had they tried to make me believe Dorothy was going through my things?
“Who’s feeding Slip?” I asked aloud, my mind whirring through ideas.
Ian stood back, his eyes fixed on me as he waited for me to think through the case. He was good at that, giving me the time I needed when I needed it.
If the brownie wasn’t being given the treats he expected, he might have gotten nasty. He hadn’t seemed to have a problem with me seeing him either, which was very atypical of those creatures. Maybe he had found a way to bring the trickster to teach Dorothy that lesson.
I ran up to the front door and rang the doorbell, waiting anxiously for Dorothy to answer. I raised a finger to tell Ian to wait when he stepped up next to me. I didn’t want to have to explain it all repeatedly.
Dorothy answered the door after a minute, her eyes flicking from one to the other of us as she twisted the Atlantis Ring around her finger repeatedly. “Uh, hello. Welcome back,” she faltered out, glancing at Ian again.
I leaned in and gave her a light embrace. “Dorothy, I might have figured it out. Maybe,” I said, relieved to have that one thing click into place.
She hugged me in return, sniffling a little into my shoulder before she pulled back. “Well, then. Let’s get the group together and see what we need to do,” she said, her trust in me making guilt fill my belly.
I shouldn’t have doubted her. I had known her for only a few hours, yet in that time, she had been nothing but kind. I should have had faith in her. I should have figured it out faster.
Erkens and Spencer walked into the front room, both of them waiting to see what I would say.
I nodded to them before I looked at Dorothy. “Do you know what a brownie is?” I asked her, fairly sure she must.
Dorothy shrugged a little. “I’ve read the myths. They’re household spirits who clean and kill spiders, isn’t that correct?”
“It is but they do it in exchange for honey or cream.” I waited for a few seconds before I went on. “You believed the cleaning service was keeping your collection spotless but it’s been Slip. I think that the fact you’re not giving him what his kind are used to means that he found a way to get a trickster’s help. I think if you leave some honey out for him, his grudge against you will fade.”
Dorothy sat down, her hands clasped tight. “I . . . I’ve spent my life believing stories like these were for the simple, peasants who weren’t educated enough to understand the way the real world worked. And a creature of myth has a grudge against me because I haven’t given him honey. This is . . . it feels like a dream.”
Erkens scowled and folded his arms. “This trickster isn’t going to stop until it knows your lesson is learned. A brownie is not a threat to your health and safety but the fact he might be working with a trickster or some other creature we don’t know about, that makes it unpredictable. Even if you fulfill the brownie’s demands, it might see you as an easy mark. It might make more and more demands until it’s no longer amused by you.”
Dorothy swallowed hard, her head tipped to the side as she looked at him. “Are you advising that I go on about my normal routines like nothing has happened?”
“No. I’m not making that suggestion at all. What I’m saying is that this might not be over.”
Dorothy looked down at the ring on her finger, a slight smile crossing her face. “My Leopold was a man who believed in myths. I’m sure that’s why he hired you the first time, Tiberius. Knowing that he was right is enough for me. I know the way to make friends with this creature and that is what I intend to do. Maybe my Leopold is watching out for me after all, by helping me to remember the wonderful paranormal investigator from Pittsburgh.” She stood up and held out her hands to Erkens. “Thank you, Tiberius. I appreciate your help but I also appreciate the company.”
Erkens took her hands, pulling back quickly. “You’re going to want to be careful,” he told her, motioning to the driveway. “Those things have a nasty sense of humor. The fact they put sugar in my gas tank and hurt Madison means they’re stepping their nastiness up a notch.”
“I’ll be careful and your truck will be replaced.”
He shook his head. “There’s no need for that. Insurance is there for a reason.” He turned toward the front door and lifted his hand in farewell. “Call if you have any more problems.”
“Oh, I will,” she said, her eyes fixed on his butt.
I did my best to suppress the vomit that wanted to rise at the idea of what was obviously going through her mind about Erkens. I walked to the kitchen and took a saucer from one of the cabinets, pouring some honey onto it from a pretty jar next to the moon box. I took that saucer into the museum and glanced around.
There were so many treasures in her house. Slip had a big job. I thought he was a nasty little creeper virus for the way he’d gone about it but I did understand why he might be angry.
“Be good, Slip,” I said aloud and walked out of the room.
Dorothy laid her hand on my arm when I stopped next to her, her eyes a little damp. “I would never do anything to hurt you, Madison. Whatever is going on in my house, I want you to know, I’m appalled that you were hurt while you were here.”
I laid my hand on hers and smiled. “I’ve been hurt before. I’ll be hurt again. I can handle it.” I squeezed her hand a little. “I’d love to know if my idea works. Slip was a crabby little thing but he might be kind of fun to have around after you’ve smoothed the waters.”
She leaned in and pitched her voice low. “I might say something similar about that Ian of yours. He seems crabby but I imagine that once the waters are smoothed, you two will have fun making it choppy again.”
My cheeks flushed with embarrassment but I grinned at her. “That’s the plan,” I said, seeing Ian’s eyes turn toward me through the front door.
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She shooed me off, patting my butt as I turned. “Have fun with that, Madison,” she said, giving a cheery wave to all of us before she closed the door.
I looked around that immense property as I walked toward the cars. I couldn’t imagine living alone in such a gargantuan place. I hoped Dorothy really would stay in touch.
Erkens humphed as I stopped next to him. “You bought a new car while you were out?” he asked, eyeing the Audi with disapproving eyes.
“It’s too hard to explain. I don’t want this thing, though. I plan to trade it in,” I said, a pit forming in my stomach at the memory of the look on Mom’s face.
Ian shook his head. “Not hard to explain at all. Maddie’s mom has been stealing from her. This is the car she bought with Maddie’s money, so after a lot of swearing, she handed the keys over.”
Erkens’ eyes bugged but he didn’t speak. All he did was get into the passenger seat of my car, shooting Ian a pointed look that was a clear ‘ride with Spencer’ order.
Ian let out an unamused laugh, although didn’t comment on Erkens’ move. He simply turned to look at me. “Your mom scared me when I was a little kid but she seems like she’s gotten a lot worse. Is that new?”
I turned my eyes down. “Uh . . . that was a lot milder than usual,” I breathed, not wanting to talk about any of it.
There was a reason I never told him how bad things had gotten. I’d never told anybody. It was so much easier to pretend nothing had happened.
Dorothy had been right, though. Pushing the pain aside only made the healing more difficult. Maybe it was time for me to face up to the truth about my mom.
FOURTEEN
Lars Nemen nodded when the cars pulled out of the driveway. He had heard some of what the brunette had said, so he knew he and Stelen needed to move fast. They had lucked out that the others hadn’t spotted them. He doubted their luck would hold much longer.
He glanced at Stelen and motioned to the steps. “We need to move. I’ll grab the Otto woman and bring her up here. You start searching,” he said, not bothering to keep his voice low.
The Shadow Walkers Page 6