6

6Cope

Cope had to admit spending time in Sedona basking in the energy vortex had been food for his soul. The last time he and Jude had been in Arizona, they'd landed at the small airport in Page, which was near the Utah border and closer to Eagle's house. Fitz and Jace had wanted to fly into Phoenix so they'd be able to see the big saguaro cactus that dotted the landscape at lower elevations. They were planning a trip to Saguaro National Park the day before it was time to go home. Maybe Wolf would get to see his beloved rattlesnake there.

Cope shivered at the thought. When the plans for the trip had been finalized, Cope had bought kids' books about Arizona and its flora and fauna. He'd imagined the fauna would include coyotes and roadrunners, like in the cartoons, along with other birds and small mammals like rabbits and marmosets. Much to Cope's dismay, the book had included tarantulas, Gila monsters, which were poisonous, and rattlesnakes, which were deadly. According to the book and Jude, those animals were more afraid of people than people are of them, but he disagreed. Strongly. If he woke up with a spider on his chest the size of Jude's fist, he'd be on the first plane back to Salem, where the worst thing he had to worry about were overly friendly squirrels wanting their backyard feeders filled.

"Here's our new home!" Jace called out. He'd been in charge of finding a place for everyone to stay. The house had a feel of the Pueblo revival look to it, with lots of windows.

"Wow! I love it!" Everly said.

"I like it too, even though it's brown." Aurora turned her nose up, as if she wasn't sure she wanted to sleep in a house the color of a mud puddle.

"I made sure it's got a pink bedroom for you girls and a pool!" Fitz eyed Aurora in the rearview mirror.

"A pool!" Aurora shouted. Wolf and Everly joined in with her excitement.

"Let's get all the luggage unloaded, and then we can figure out who's sleeping where." Fitz climbed out of the driver's seat and headed for the back doors, where he'd stacked the luggage like a Tetris pro.

"What do you think?" Jude asked as he helped Cope out of the van.

"It's gorgeous with the palm trees and all those windows." Cope leaned closer to Jude. "Do you think there are snakes? What if Wolf finds one in the yard?" His lunch tumbled in his stomach like a missing sock in the dryer. What the hell would he do if he saw a rattler or if one bit him or one of the other kids?

"Take a breath, babe," Jude said softly. "I'll gather everyone around for a safety briefing after we get the room assignments sorted out."

Cope nodded. In all the stories Jude had told about growing up in Arizona, none of them included rattlesnake encounters. He knew there was an antidote to snake venom but didn't want to find out firsthand how it worked.

All Cope wanted was an easy vacation. No venomous snakes or spiders big enough to drive a car or restless ghosts or angry ghosts or vengeful spirits. Hell, he'd prefer it if his gift was offline for the whole trip. That went double for Everly. Cope couldn't believe the difference in the little girl when they'd been in Sedona with their abilities muted. He hadn't had much of a chance to speak with the shop owners at the different crystal stores, but he was hoping that they might have a stone that could help Everly shut things down so she could just be a kid. He made a mental note to talk with Ten about this later.

"Okay, let's check out the house." Jace motioned everyone forward after he and Fitz had taken all of the luggage out of the van. He unlocked the door as the kids raced inside.

Jude dragged their two big suitcases into the house while Cope grabbed Lizbet and Wolf's backpacks filled with their comfort items along with the baby, who looked like she was ready to run. Not that Cope could blame her after being cooped up all day on the plane and then in the van.

"This place is gorgeous." Cope loved the open floor plan. The front door opened into a foyer with a glittering chandelier. To the left was the gourmet kitchen. On the right were the stairs leading up to the bedrooms, and in front of them was the great room. It was filled with a large leather sectional with plenty of room for everyone. A large flat-screen television was mounted to the wall above the gas fireplace, which was made of smooth river stones that matched the red rocks they'd spent the morning marveling at.

"Cotton candy pink!" Everly shouted from upstairs.

"Barbie pink!" Aurora chirped. "This is the best room ever."

Cope headed up the stairs, certain Lizbet would love the pink room as much as the other girls. According to Fitzgibbon, the room had a crib for the baby and a portable one in the garage. He'd check that out after everyone had gotten settled in.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Cope was practically blinded by the burst of pink reflecting on the sand-colored walls of the hallway. If it was this bright from where he was standing, he couldn't imagine how overpowering it would be in the room.

"Dow!" Lizbet said before kicking her feet against Cope, who set the baby down. She ran toward the room, letting out a squeal when she bounced off Everly and landed on her bottom.

"Oh. My. God." Jude let out a low whistle from behind Cope. "It looks like a unicorn threw up in this room."

"Not just one. A whole herd." Cope blinked several times to get his eyes used to the brightness of the color. It was a combination of bubblegum pink with raspberry trim. Thankfully, the room had come as advertised with two twin beds and a crib. "What do you think, Lizbet?"

"Me!" the little girl shouted. She climbed onto one of the beds and started jumping. Soon, she was joined by Aurora, who held the baby's hands.

"Okay, monkeys, no jumping on the bed," Fitzgibbon said after snapping a few pictures. "Jace is making a snack. Better hurry downstairs before he eats it all."

Aurora and Everly zipped past Cope and Jude, with Lizbet hot on their heels. Jude grabbed his daughter and swung her into his arms.

"No!" Lizbet said, squirming to get down.

"I'm heading downstairs. I'll take her." Fitz reached for the baby, who practically flew into his arms. "The bunkhouse for the boys is the next room down, and then there are two other bedrooms for you and Jude to choose from."

"Let's take a look." Cope peeked into the next room and saw it was painted a sky blue that thankfully didn't make his eyes feel like they were going to explode, like in the pink room. There were several toy trucks scattered around, along with books arranged by color in baskets.

"This is great for Wolf and Ezra." Jude set Wolf's bag on one of the beds and headed down the hall toward the two empty rooms. "This one faces the road," Jude called out.

Cope headed for the one across the hall, which he reasoned would face the backyard. "Oh, this one is nice." The room had a California king bed with a terra-cotta-colored quilt and an army of throw pillows in shades of yellow and turquoise. Two large windows overlooked the yard and the neighborhood beyond.

"This is perfect!" Jude dragged the bags into the room before joining Cope at the window.

"You seem good," Cope said, sounding surprised. The visit last Christmas with Eagle had gone a long way to restore Jude's relationship with his grandfather, but Cope knew the real work lay in being able to come to terms with the land and the people who inhabited it, members of the reservation who'd made Jude's teenage years a living hell.

Jude opened his mouth but snapped it shut, seeming to change his mind about what he was going to say. "I am good," he agreed. "I spent the morning watching how the kids reacted to the landscape and the people we met. Everly would move here today, and Aurora didn't seem as distressed about getting dirty." Jude paused again, wrapping an arm around Cope. "Am I crazy, or did Wolf seem different today? Older, wiser, or maybe settled?"

Cope's first instinct was to affirm that his husband was indeed off his nut but held his tongue. Wolf had been different after the plane touched down in Phoenix. "I'm not sure I'd agree with wiser since he's bound and determined to find himself a snake, but he seemed at peace. Every other time we've traveled away from home, he's hyper, like he needs to see everything all at once."

"He wasn't like that today. Do you think he felt a connection to the land?" Much to Cope's surprise, Jude didn't sound scared by that possibility.

"I'm not sure. We did our best to prepare him for this trip, and I know Wolf and Eagle spoke about his homecoming. I almost feel like Wolf has a quiet curiosity for this place."

Jude nodded. "Yeah, I think so too."

"Snack time!" Jace shouted, his voice echoing down the hall.

"I'm starving," Jude said. "I shouldn't be, but I am." He raced from the room. "Better hurry before I eat all the snacks!"

Cope wasn't in any hurry. Knowing Jace, the man had made enough food to feed half the neighborhood. He stayed where he was in the window, looking out at the cloudless, bright blue sky. Halfway to the house, he'd noticed his gift coming back online, as it were. It was like picking up a radio station from static, with his signal getting stronger the further north they drove.

Cope's plan for this trip was for his entire focus to be on his husband and kids. Jude might be smiling now, but he knew that could change in a heartbeat once they crossed into Navajo Nation. As for now, he'd enjoy every second of this homecoming while keeping an eye open for trouble on the horizon.