Chapter 13

Something was wrong.I couldn't place what it was, but there was something that seemed different when I woke up. I froze. I sniffed, but couldn't smell anything. Still, my alarm bells were ringing. Pushing myself up to a sitting position, I leaned back against the headboard, straining to see if I could hear anything other than the rain.

Nothing.

I had long ago learned to pay attention to my instincts, so I slid out from beneath the covers, shivering as my feet hit the cold floor. The kittens were both asleep, curled up on the bottom of the bed, oblivious to the world. They were sleeping the sleep of all those who were young and exhausted after a long day of charging around.

Peeking out my door, everything seemed to be all right. I flipped on the hall light and darted into the living room. Nothing amiss there. The kitchen stood silent, as well. I pressed my nose to the front window, but nothing seemed to be going on outside, and if there was—Von, James, and Kells were out there.

Heading back to my room, I stopped at Grams's door and softly knocked. She surprised me by opening the door.

"Are you all right?" I asked. "I feel like something's off."

Fancypants flew up over Grams's shoulder. He had taken to sleeping in her room. "What's going on?"

"We're not sure, but something feels wrong—" I froze as someone pounded on the front door. "Hold on." I glanced down. I was wearing a see-through chemise but right now, it sounded like whatever was going on was urgent. At that moment, my phone rang. I glanced at it, then answered.

"Open the door. It's Von. I need to tell you something."

It was his voice all right, but with my alarms ringing, I said, "Put yourself on Face-to-Face, so I can be certain?"

"Sure thing. I'll call you right back." He hung up, then the phone rang again and I opened it to see Von staring at me, looking frantic. I hurried to the door and opened it.

Von was there, all right, and he rushed in and motioned for me to shut the door. He didn't seem to notice what I was wearing, which relieved me.

"What's going on?"

"I've called 911. The Anderson farm is on fire."

"What?" I was so startled that I shouted. "Sorry! I need to get dressed?—"

"Hold on, let me fill you in first."

"Come on. You can stand outside my bedroom." As I turned, I saw Grams standing there. "May and Bran's farm is on fire—I need to get dressed."

"Oh no," Grams said, hurrying beside me. She stood outside my door as I slipped inside, leaving it cracked so I could hear Von.

"Kells was policing the border of your land that buttresses up against theirs. He smelled smoke, so he decided to check it out. Their barn was on fire. He called 911, then ran in to try and rescue any animals they might have. He managed to get their goats out, and the horse, but then the fire grew too intense and he had to get out. He left the door open so any other animals can try to get out."

"Motherfucking hell. Okay, give me a couple minutes." I stripped off my nightgown and jammed my legs into a pair of jeans. Commando would have to do for now. Then, I pulled on a sweatshirt and pulled my hair back in a ponytail. I slid on a pair of boat shoes and hustled back out to Von. Grams was in her room, changing.

"Fancypants!"

He flew up. "What can I do?"

"Keep a watch over the cats. Make sure they don't get outside. If there's trouble…"

"I'll get through to you."

Fancypants and I were bonded, and over the past few weeks, that bond was growing stronger. We were able to make connections now, though not always strong ones. We spent time every week playing with the bond, seeing how far we could strengthen it.

I nodded and Fancypants flew into my room, settling on the bed next to the cats. They stared at him as he made several noises that sounded a lot like mewing. Then, Gem and Silver curled up next to him, settling down beneath his wings as he enfolded them in a gentle embrace.

Grams emerged from her room, fully dressed and ready to go. At that point, James entered the living room.

"James will stay here with your house to guard it. I'll take you over to May's, if it's safe to drive to their house." Von motioned for us to follow him.

We got in his truck and he called Kells on speaker phone. "Is it safe to drive down to the house?"

"If you do, be cautious of the emergency vehicles. You don't want to get in their way. I warned May and Bran and they're packed and ready to go, along with their animals. Bran has them in the trailer, and they caught as many of the chickens as possible. He's moving the hives out of danger now."

I grimaced. The thought of their lovely farm going up in flames made me sick. I wanted nothing more than to be able to summon the rain right now, but that wasn't my element. I turned to Grams. "Can we do anything? Call the rain spirits?"

"You're earth, my dear, and so am I. But we can say a prayer, at least. And we can muster up some protective energy for their farm. But let's talk to May first. we don't want to interfere with any magic she might be doing."

It made sense, but I fidgeted, wanting to do something. However, sometimes the best thing to do was to stay out of the way. There were no signs of emergency vehicles on the road, though I could hear the faint wailing of sirens, so Von swung into the driveway and we headed for the house. May's house was about as far back from the road as mine, but before we came out of the thicket surrounding her driveway, I could see a faint orange glow ahead.

I knew it was probably a foolhardy thing to do—driving toward a fire rather than away from it—but May and Bran were my friends. As we pulled into their driveway, Von eased the car off to the right, out of the way, and we jumped out. May was standing on the front steps. I hurried over to give her a hug. She was crying, and Bran was now loading things into his truck.

"Von, why don't you ask him if he needs help?" I said.

Von nodded, hurrying over to Bran.

I turned to May. "I heard the sirens. The fire department should be here in minutes.

"Our barn—all my stored herbs and goods for the farmer's market…and the bees! Luckily it's night and they're quiet, but Bran needs help to get them out of the way."

"Von will help him." It was extremely fortuitous that Kyle had offered me his men to watch over my house. Without them, May and Brian may not have woken up in time. I shuddered, thinking of what might have been. Inadvertently, my problem had become their safety net.

At that moment, the sirens grew louder, and two fire engines and a medic unit came barreling down the driveway. Bran ran over to direct them to the barn area.

"Stay here a moment," I told May. I darted around the house to check the proximity of the fire to the house. I could see the flames from the back end of the backyard, but so far, thanks to the heavy rains, they hadn't torched the trees and bushes yet. I watched as the firemen passed us, Bran running alongside the engine. After a moment, I returned to May.

"Do you know if Kells got all of the animals out of the barn?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I think so. Bran said he did. We have a couple barn cats I'm worried about, but I imagine they raced off into the woods to hide. Let's hope so."

Grams was sitting on the front porch swing. "This is deliberate," she said. "Elphyra and I woke up about half an hour ago with the feeling that something's off. I think we tuned in on the fire."

"I think you're right. It didn't feel directly connected to me, although I still have the sense that we are woven into the general web of whatever sparked this off." I shook my head. "But if someone's targeting me and that someone is also responsible for the fire, then why? What connection could there be? Or…are the two events connected? Did chaos come out to play?"

Grams convinced May to sit down on the swing with her. "That's a difficult question to answer until we know more."

May pressed her lips together, then pushed the hair out of her eyes. I hadn't realized until that she was wearing a pair of striped pajama pants and what looked like a long-sleeved PJ top beneath her jacket. She had slippers on, and was carrying her purse.

"I should get dressed," she said. "I wasn't sure how fast the fire was going to travel, and didn't want to be caught with my pants down, so to speak."

"Go ahead. We'll keep watch," Grams said. "We'll let you know if you have to hurry."

As May went inside, I turned to Grams. "This was no accident. I can feel it. Sure, we've had a few thunderstorms lately, but if there had been a direct lightning strike, we would have heard it. Something else set that barn on fire—" I stopped as Von returned. Bran wasn't with him.

"May will be back in a moment. She went to dress," I said.

Von sat on the front steps. Grams pulled a bag of energy bars out of her purse and handed one to me, then one to Von. We were just finishing when May returned, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and a warm jacket.

"You have news?" she asked Von.

"Yes," he said. "Here's the thing. The firemen should be able to extinguish the fire and keep it localized to the barn. The barn's gone—or it will be. I think the foundation may stand, though it probably won't be safe to enter for awhile after they put out the flames. But none of the trees around the barn caught fire, and the ground and grass were so wet that there are only a few charred spots. Your house should be safe enough, at least for now. It's going to take a little time for them to wrestle the fire out, but you shouldn't be in any danger here."

At that moment, a noise made us turn around. Bouncing up the walkway was a huge old ginger tomcat. May knelt down, cooing him in. He wouldn't let her pick him up, but he flopped on the porch near the swing, staring at her.

"Is that one of the strays?"

May nodded, her eyes misting over. "Thank gods he's safe. I hope his buddy is, too. This is Chester, our champion mouser. Frank, a black and white cow-cat, is our other barn cat."

"I saw him in the bushes," Von said. "At least I think it was him. Big old tomcat, black and white patches all over—he looks like a demented Dalmatian?"

"That's Frank. You saw him?"

"Yes, we did. Or, I did. He was watching the goings on, and boy, did he look disgusted. I also asked James to do a headcount. There are thirty-five chickens and three roosters that he managed to round up."

May nodded, letting out a sigh. "Well, we have forty-two chickens, so we'll see if seven went missing into the woods, or if they didn't manage to make it out."

"I hope they're all found, but if that's the extent of the casualties, you're lucky," Grams said. "It could have been far worse."

"That it could," May said. "Let's go inside. We'll make some coffee and I'll find something for you to take down to the firemen."

We followed her into the house, and for the next quarter-hour, we fixed coffee and hot cocoa and, pairing the drinks with her homemade chocolate chip cookies—May focused on something she could control.

* * *

Von tookthe treats down to the firemen, and when he returned forty-five minutes later, it was to give us another update. The fire was out, but now they were searching for embers and anything still smoldering. The men had sent their thanks for the coffee and cookies, and it was simply a matter of waiting it out until they thought everything was safe.

Another half hour and Bran returned to the house, along with the fire marshal and Daisy, who had apparently been informed of what had happened. May invited them to sit down and offered them more coffee and cookies. Daisy took her up on it, the fire marshal settled for a bottle of water.

"So…is it too soon to tell what caused it?" May asked.

Bran glanced at the fire marshal, who tugged on his collar.

The man reached out his hand to May. "Fire Marshal Tucker, ma'am. Pleased to meet you, though I'm sorry it's under these circumstances. As to the cause, we're pretty sure it's arson. I found an empty container of gasoline. Whoever set the fire wanted to ensure than the flames took hold. We're bagging what we can find and taking the evidence in. I doubt if we'll be able to find fingerprints, but you never know. It's worth a try."

"So, it was arson." May paled.

"I'm afraid so. I don't think the wiring was faulty. And with an empty gasoline can right there, one that Bran said he doesn't recognize? You seem to have had an unwanted visitor in the neighborhood." The fire marshal set his lips, shaking his head gravely. "This is nothing to mess with, May. The fire could have spread. You lucked out. Your house could have burned up. You and Bran could have lost your lives."

"How bad is it?" May asked.

"The barn's gone," Bran said. "We lost seven chickens. But the bees are safe and the goat and horse and the cow. Thank gods we took the pigs to slaughter the other day, or they might have been gone too. We'll recover. The barn will have to be rebuilt, but overall, the marshal is right—we got off easy, for what could have been."

Daisy frowned. "What I want to know, is what the connection is. You can't tell me, especially since Fire Marshal Tucker found evidence of arson, that Elphyra's shop being vandalized, and your barn being burned down, don't have any thread in common." She paused, then asked, "Have any of you been approached by realtors lately? Especially developers? I've heard that some developers pull some shady tactics to get owners to agree to sell their land."

I shook my head. "I can tell you that nobody's approached me about selling."

Bran agreed. "Same here. Mom, has anybody tried to talk to you about it?"

May shrugged. "Not that I can remember, and something like that, I would remember. But that doesn't mean that isn't a possibility."

I pulled out my phone. "I wonder…Bran, do you recognize any of these women? Daisy sent me the pictures. They match three sets of prints found in my shop."

But neither May nor Bran could identify any of the three.

"There was a fourth set of prints we couldn't ID," Daisy said. "And since passports and driver's licenses are issued without them, there's a chance we may never know who they belonged to. Even if we did, we wouldn't necessarily have evidence to link them to the crime."

"Well, it's nearing dawn, so my men will stay around and gather what evidence they can," the fire marshal said. "We'll let you know when we're ready to head out."

Bran placed his hand on May's shoulder. "Get some rest. I'll stay up till they leave. I can't sleep anyway, I have to find a place to take the cow, goat, and horse."

"I have room," I said. "I have the shed, which can be turned into a makeshift stable. As long as you come over and take care of them, you can use it."

"Thanks, love, but I'll rent a stable somewhere. That will free up my time for rebuilding the barn." Bran looked so dejected that I wanted to give him a long hug, but this was neither the time nor place. Instead, I reached out and took his hand, squeezing it gently.

"Whatever we can do to help, just ask."

Bran worried his lip. "I know I promised to go to the wake with you—and I still will, if you need me too, but…"

"Don't worry about it," I said. "You're needed here. But, can you keep an eye on my house, too? Just occasionally peek over there?"

"Of course, dear," May said. "Now, go home and get to bed. I'll get some rest, too, if Bran doesn't mind."

"Go to bed, Mom. You need your sleep." He poured himself another cup of coffee. "I'll call you in the morning, Elphyra. Well, you know, later this morning, given it's nearing dawn."

Dawn in October came late. It was five-forty-five, and the first hints of light were creeping above the horizon. The clouds had cleared away, we saw, when we headed out to the car. I felt bad for leaving Bran to contend with the mess he was facing, but he had insisted that he'd be fine. Grams and I climbed in Von's truck and he eased back down the driveway. May had had her drive paved, and it occurred to me that it made sense. Heavy rains made graveled driveways unusable at certain times of the year.

As we got out of the truck back at my house, James emerged from the house.

"Everything okay? Did they save the house?" he asked.

"Yeah, thank gods. But if it weren't for Kells, things might have turned out worse. He's a hero, you know, and I'm going to tell Kyle that." I paused, then added, "Would you guys stick around a few more hours? I'll make you breakfast when I get up."

"You don't have to do that, and of course we can stay. We don't have to leave until eight."

That would give us two hours of uninterrupted sleep. Grateful, Grams and I headed into the house and locked the door. There was nothing to say, so I kissed her cheek. By the time I had stripped off my clothes and crawled into bed, I was so tired that in seconds, I was asleep, so deep that my dreams couldn't find me.