Wolf Hunted, стр. 26
My axe was an excellent home security system.
“Complicated how?” I asked.
Akeyla, who sat at the kitchen table, looked up from her coloring book. “Uncle Frank!”
“Hey, pumpkin,” I said.
She smiled and went back to adding blue shading to a flower.
Maura picked up the stasis satchel meant for Rose’s notebook. I’d left it sitting by the phone, next to the extra cellphone I kept forgetting about.
“Lennart made this?” she asked.
She was trying to distract me from my questions. “How is it complicated, Maura?” It didn’t seem complicated to me.
She nodded toward Akeyla as if to say not now, which didn’t help, and only made me want to ask what was so horrible about Ed’s daughter that Maura wouldn’t speak of it in front of her own daughter.
This was clearly an elf thing. I crossed my arms. “To protect Rose’s notebook.” I nodded toward the satchel.
Maura waved her hand over the buttery leather, and the blue-purple shimmer of Lennart’s suspension spell didn’t respond. She flicked her finger and a subtle sigil appeared around her fingertips. Again, the suspension spell ignored her.
“Quality work,” she said.
“It is,” I responded.
She glared at me and shook her head no again.
I glanced at Akeyla, who kept on coloring happily. She hadn’t heard my questions about her friend.
Maura wasn’t going to talk about it in front of her daughter, so I let it go. “I think Lennart’s a little lonely up there at the brewery with only Bjorn,” I said, the stratifications of “arguing with the magic” be damned. I could, at least, fight this little corner of the magic’s “wants.”
She ran her finger over the leather again. “He’s so shy,” she said. “For a Thorsson, I mean.”
I leaned close so Akeyla wouldn’t hear, though I knew she would. “He wants Akeyla to come by and pick out a kitten.” We couldn’t talk about Sophia, but we could talk about Lennart.
Akeyla dropped her blue pencil. “A kitten?”
Maura glared at me again. “Bjorn’s cats are special.”
“I think you should invite Lennart over for dinner.” I leaned against the kitchen island. “Akeyla and I could go to a movie.”
“Can we get a kitten?” Akeyla bounced around the island and into the center of the kitchen.
Maura set down the satchel. “Not until we’re settled.”
She meant a place of her own that matched Akeyla’s particular magical needs. “There are lots on the other side of the lake,” I said. “You two are welcome here as long as you need to stay.”
“I want a kitten!” Akeyla yelled. “They’re fluffy!”
Maura pinched the bridge of her nose. “Not until we get our own place,” she said.
Akeyla frowned. “Oh.”
“Let’s talk about it after the wolves run, okay?” I said. The last thing we needed right now was a fluffy distraction while we were sorting the latest set of problems. “Besides, we need to ask Marcus Aurelius, remember?”
Akeyla’s magic swirled around her in a controlled, yet excited way. My niece was hatching a plan.
“Lennart and Bjorn may have homes for this litter,” I said, doing my best to get ahead of whatever nefarious kid-idea was forming in her little elven head. “We all need to work together to make sure we do the best for the kittens.”
At least Akeyla wasn’t asking for a unicorn or a Pegasus-style flying horse. Neither of which existed, but one never knew with strong elven magic around.
“Oh,” she said again. “I want to ask Mr. Bjorn. Can I ask Mr. Bjorn at the feast?”
“Maybe your mommy can ask Mr. Lennart,” I said.
Maura glared at me again. “Maybe you can ask my father.”
She meant about Sophia. “About the complicated parts?” I asked.
Would Arne answer my questions about Ed? Something told me that he would not, at least not until the runs were finished and we’d taken care of the interloper. But that little something was also telling me that this particular “elf thing” could very well cause us issues in the near future.
“Who wants spaghetti?” I asked.
Akeyla jumped up and down again. “I do!”
Maura shook her head and walked toward the refrigerator.
The satchel had been sitting there all week. Why hadn’t I taken care of Rose’s notebook?
“I’ll be back in a minute.” I scooped up the satchel.
Sitting under the bag was one of Akeyla’s school notebooks. I flipped it open.
It was full of Ellie notes. Notes I’d written but did not remember doing so.
Was I angry with the enchantments? Resigned? I couldn’t tell, but Maura moving the satchel had reminded me that I had a phone full of notes I’d looked at this morning, and Ellie had asked for her bike and a phone.
The bike needed to wait, but I could deliver the phone now.
I picked up the cellphone box. I also stuffed a fat marker into my back pocket so I could write notes on the box. The sun was about to set, and I’d better set out the phone before I forgot why I’d bought it. “Sal doesn’t like the satchel, so I thought I’d put it and Rose’s notebook in the garage.”
Maura’s magic jiggled ever so slightly. “I don’t like that notebook.”
None of the elves liked it, but Maura and Akeyla mostly kept their opinions to themselves because, I suspected, they didn’t want to be crabby guests.
“It’ll be out of the house and in the garage—on the hook in the back above the cooler.” Best she knew where it was, just in case.
She continued to frown at me. “You should probably lock the garage.”
I wasn’t always consistent about security. Now, with Sal here, it didn’t seem all that important. Besides, if the house was unlocked, Ellie could get in if she needed me.
Did she need me? “I’ll be back in a moment.” I couldn’t remember, so I did the next best thing. I ducked into my bedroom to fetch Rose’s notebook, and went