Dr. Frank gushed with approval. “Great work this week, Natalya. I’m proud of your forward progress. Nick told me how cooperative you were when he wanted a piece of your property.”
Then it would be wise not to tell him that I wanted to bite Nick’s hand off when he refused to return the ornament.
As we headed back to the building in Greenpoint, a feeling of dread came over me. “Do we have to go into that room again? With the bad smell?”
“Unfortunately, we do. That’s the jump point that takes me directly to your home. There are other jump points to Jersey, but we’d have to hike for a while, and I don’t think you’d want to do it in those shoes.” For some reason, I had a feeling Nick took pleasure in my pain. I knew he didn’t like the jump point, but he tolerated it much better than I did. From the way he vigorously used the baby wipes and alcohol I had in my purse, he hated germs about as much as I did. So he either used his magic to hide his fear, or he’d somehow conquered his anxiety over filth. Perhaps it was a guy thing.
As we entered the building, he asked, “What do you think Dr. Frank will ask you to do next?”
“I’m sure it’ll be something even worse than giving up an ornament. I suspect that I’ll have to buy something and return it, or else I’ll have to give you an entire box.”
He opened the door to the basement. “Are you ready to do that?”
Fear bit into me. So far, I felt like I’d made progress in recovering. But my voice shook a bit. “I think I’ve improved a bit. I’ve done things this month that I wouldn’t have done on my own.”
Our footsteps echoed on the rough, dirty metal stairs.
“I’m glad one of us has improved,” he said after a brief laugh. “By the way, you can keep my rose.”
He reached for the doorknob and I stopped him. In the receding darkness, I saw his eyes. Apparently, he wanted to do the right thing. He hid his anxiety behind a wall, and I couldn’t smell it. Fear has a scent similar to body odor. Depending on the person, it either excites me or fills me with anxiety. In this case, I didn’t know how to react.
“You don’t have to do that. I have friends around.”
He opened the door. “With the rose on your property, you’ll be protected. I can stand my torment if it means you’ll be sleeping safe and sound.”
From the way his stern voice echoed through the room, I knew he meant for me to let it rest. Apparently even wizards felt a need to swing their magical staffs around and exert some kind of machismo.
I covered my nose with one hand—as if it helped. The room’s smell bordered on putrid. “I think it smells worse now.”
Nick placed his hand on my stomach and pushed me back. “Someone else is using the gate.” His voice lowered to a whisper. “Back up.”
“I don’t smell anyone.”
He pushed harder. “If you could smell it, you’d be dead.”
His fingertips on my body tingled, as if he was preparing to do something. I searched the darkness for movement. But all I could discern were shadows along the walls. Then a slight movement at the end of the room startled the wolf within me, but it was only a mouse.
We were slowly stepping backward when I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise. A growl tickled the back of my throat, but I clamped down on my panic. This wasn’t the time to fight. Nick had some serious powers, but if he was running, it had to be bad.
“Shit!” he muttered.
“ ‘Shit’ what?”
He stopped me ten feet from the door. “They’ve surrounded us.”
“They? You haven’t told me what we’ve run into. How about a clue so I can defend myself?”
Something slithered toward us and knocked me in the mouth. I stumbled backward but Nick caught me before I hit the floor. I touched the side of my mouth and tasted blood. From every corner of the room we heard grunts and hisses. Something inside me snapped and I growled. No one hits a werewolf without consequences.
“Not now, Natalya.”
My body shook as the urge to change gripped me.
“Clamp it down. This is not the place. I can’t control both you and them.”
He placed a hand on my heart. The cool sensation flooded my senses again. Wave after wave of calming energy brushed against my cheek and caressed my torso. Meanwhile, he used his other hand to reach into his trench coat and pull out a long black staff. He flicked it and the room burst into flames. Swirls of orange, red,
and yellow danced around the room torching the boxes and anything that hid around them. So bright, yet so deadly. I closed my eyes when the light became too much to bear.
As soon as the fire disappeared, the room fell into the silence of a tomb. I tried to back away from the smoldering boxes around us, but Nick grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the gate.
Smoke filled my lungs, yet Nick managed to stumble toward the jump point and activate it. He coughed, then leaned over me. Within seconds, our bodies were whisked away from the burning basement into the field near my home.
With a wet plop, we landed in mud next to the rock. Rain fell on our soot-covered clothing. I touched the sore spot on my face and then reached for Nick. He lay facedown and didn’t move. How had a trip to New York for therapy turned into an attack?
“Nick?” Faintly, I heard his heart beating. I turned him over and watched for the rise and fall of his chest. Slow yet steady. The man sure knew how to scare the crap out of people.
I never thought I’d have to actually
carry
a man home, but with a mighty heave, I picked Nick up and hauled him across the field. If he’d been a suitor, my mother would’ve been proud to know I’d finally snagged a man.
When I reached my front yard, I found Aggie watching from the porch with worry in her eyes. “I tried to call your cell phone but you didn’t answer.”
She sniffed the air, and then she noticed the bundle on my shoulder.
“What the hell happened?”
“I got attacked by something and Nick rescued us.”
“If he rescued you, then why the hell are you carrying him?”
Once inside, I laid Nick on the couch—though not until
after Aggie had thrown down a blanket. (She had proved a quick study in how much I hated filth.) “I wonder if he’s hurt, or if casting the spell just drained him after he rescued me.”
Even with me safe and sound back at the house, Aggie continued to appear worried.
“Did something happen while I was gone?”
“It’s Alex. He’s disappeared.”
I
t
was clear that either a gang of nymphs had kicked my brother’s ass or something had gone down with the werewolves. I put my money on the latter.
“Your mother called and said your brother hasn’t been answering his cell phone. So they checked on him at his apartment, and that’s when they discovered that he’s missing.”
I used a clean towel to dry my hair before I glanced at Nick again. His pulse was much stronger and I could sense that he’d awaken soon.
“How long ago did they call? Did it look like a werewolf attack?”
“Your mom didn’t say. She sounded distraught. I was scared you’d fallen into the same mix when you didn’t answer your phone.”
This wasn’t good. Perhaps the Long Island werewolves had switched targets.
“We need to go.” I grabbed my purse and phone. The darn thing was dead so I left it on the charger.
“What about the wizard?”
I gazed at Nick for a moment. A lock of his black hair had fallen over his forehead. Perhaps he shouldn’t play hero so often. “We can leave him a note. He’s a grown man. He can figure out how to open the door and leave by himself.”
I was rather disappointed in myself. Why hadn’t I remembered to charge my phone? For someone as anal as I was, a dead battery was uncanny. Perhaps everything that had happened over the past few days had distracted me so much I was coming undone.
Fifteen minutes later, we reached my parents’ home. When we walked in, I was reminded that, when things weren’t going well for my family—not counting me, apparently—the Stravinskys banded together for their brethren. Grandma and my mother sat on the sofa, waiting in silence. Aunt Vera brought out several cups of hot tea.
“Mom, what happened?”
No one moved, as if I’d asked the worst question possible.
“Sasha’s missing.” My mother whispered the words and lowered her head.
“Are we going to look for him?”
Mom managed to nod. “He should’ve stopped by to take your grandma to the store, but he didn’t.”
All I could do was stand there hoping my mother’s words weren’t true. Maybe he’d show up any minute now and knock on the door. My parents would chastise him for a few hours, and then everything would be as it was before.
But I couldn’t completely reassure myself. Perhaps my brother had fallen into some woman’s bed, but somehow I doubted it. Alex would never forget an obligation to our grandmother. After all, the wrath of his aunts would be never-ending. They’d bark, “Shame on you, Sasha! You left your poor sad grandma waiting for you on the curb.” Of course, they’d embellish their remarks with every guilt-inducing statement they could muster. Alex had made mistakes in the past, and I expected him to make many more in the years to come, but he always
put family first. That was why the unanswered calls and empty apartment raised the alarm.
Minutes turned into an hour. Finally, all the Stravinskys filled the house, the women preparing meals for the search party. Grandma had finished her tea. To occupy herself she murmured prayers every few minutes.
Meanwhile, the men huddled together trying to form a plan. First, we’d sweep the township. I had another idea, though. “Have you tried Karey?” I asked Mom.
“Yes. She hasn’t answered either.” My mother ran her fingers through stray curls that had escaped her ponytail. She always seemed composed, but this afternoon, after she’d taken a few shots of bourbon to calm her nerves, the calm Russian woman I once knew had vanished. In her place sat a mother with worry etched into her face.
“I can’t believe he got caught up with a nymph. For all we know, she’s enchanted him and they’re frolicking in the woods while we worry about him.”
“Oh, Mom. Alex would never do that.”
My mother snorted. “I find that hard to believe after a pregnant nymph showed up at our door.”
I shook my head, but I let her rant. Better for her to assume that he was with Karey than captured by the Long Island werewolves.
“While you were in college in Pittsburgh, he had so many girlfriends I lost count. Though actually, your aunt Vera did start counting all the girls he cavorted with.” From across the room Aunt Vera nodded. “While you managed to stay with one man, he couldn’t wait to sample every flavor in the fruit basket, if you know what I mean.”
“Did those two witches ever find out about each other?” my aunt asked.
“Those poor girls never had a clue.”
I suppressed a chuckle. Those girls had likely met each other, all right. Both in the same bed, with my brother.
Mom shook her head. “I’m not sure how it happened, but my homebody husband and I gave birth to a ladies’ man.”
She continued to unravel. “If those dirty wolves have touched my boy—”
Aunt Vera brought my mother another cup of hot herbal tea. She murmured in Russian, “Don’t worry about him, Anna. I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding.”
The phone rang and Dad rushed to answer it. We all stopped and waited with expectant faces.
But then he frowned. “This isn’t the time, Yuri. No, I won’t put your grandmother on the phone.”
Mom and Aunt Vera groaned at the same time. If I hadn’t found my cousin’s timing slightly amusing, I would’ve done the same. After a few curse words, and a threat to have his mother take away his car privileges, the conversation ended.
A few minutes later, the phone rang again. This time Dad checked the caller ID and quickly picked up. But the hope in his brown eyes faded as he turned to us and briefly shook his head. “No, Stan. Thanks for checking out those places for us.”
He turned to my uncles, rubbing the small balding spot on the crown of his head. “Looks like the time to go out and hunt for Alex has come.”
I stood and followed the men outside. No one questioned my decision to join them. All this time Aggie had remained at my side, quiet and solemn. Once outside, everyone divided into teams. Aggie joined Aunt Vera to head west. Dad pushed Mom in my direction. “Look after your mother, Natalya. Search the lake and the surrounding property.” My mother headed for my car, but my father tugged on my arm to speak to me privately.
“You won’t find anything there. Just keep her busy. She’s starting to think the worst.”
I had the same fears, but I buried them under resolve. It was no time to release the wolf straining to act on my mother’s words. I wanted to hunt. To track and find him.
When I reached the car, I found my mother in the driver’s seat. “Are you sure you want to drive? You’ve had a few drinks.”
“Be quiet and get in the car.”
I shrugged and got in. Dad had wanted me to distract my mom from the hunt, but I suspected that those distractions shouldn’t include getting pulled over by the cops.
We drove northbound for a while, heading toward Highway 9, which would take us to the lake, but instead of taking the entrance we continued through town.
“Mom?”
“I know what I’m doing, Natalya.”
“Are you sure? We’re supposed to go to the lake.”
She ignored me, so we just sat there for a while as she drove. I tried to figure out where we were headed, but I didn’t have any friends on the north side of town. Then, after a certain point, South Toms River Township turned into Toms River. Where the hell did she plan to take us?
Mom twisted and turned through a subdivision, and then pulled up in front of a three-story brick condo building.
I leaned closer to the window. “Who lives here?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Did my mother know something about the kidnapping that my father didn’t? “Is Alex being held here?”
She pulled into the parking lot. “I have my suspicions.”
Of all the ideas my mother had ever hatched, this wasn’t the smartest. We shouldn’t be here. Not alone anyway. But before I had a chance to stop her from leaving the
car, she jumped out and made a beeline for the building. I slowly followed her, pausing to catch the scent of other werewolves. Only one scent lingered in the air like a faint whisper.