“Can I ask what you’re doing?” Anne Regan’s familiar voice made me jump, and I guiltily looked over my shoulder at Uttira’s newest human liaison officer, who had her stun gun out and pointed at me.
“Trying to get in. Ashlyn’s driveway needs to be shoveled. I don’t want her to think no one cared that she was gone when she gets back.”
“That’s sweet of you, Eliana, but you should know not to try to break in. Her house is warded against your kind.”
I flinched at her choice of words.
“But I’ve been in there before.”
“Ashlyn allowed you in.”
“You can get in, right? Would you get her shovel from the garage for me?”
She considered me for a moment and slowly lowered her weapon.
“Having that pointed at you didn’t even bother you, did it?”
“No, but only because I’d never give you a reason to use it.”
“You’re one of the few, then.” She sighed and holstered her weapon. “Come on. I’ll get the shovel for you.”
“Any update on the search?” I asked as I followed her to the front of the house.
“Nothing promising. The Council is interviewing druids about a location spell, but they haven’t picked one yet. Sorry.”
“Keep pushing the Council. You need to be Ashlyn’s advocate. The Council only cares about her absence because they’re afraid of who Megan will find guilty when she returns.”
“I met Megan and can understand their fear. I’ve been pushing since we last spoke. It doesn’t seem to do any good.”
She opened the garage door and reached around the corner for the shovel. Ashlyn’s car waited inside, an untouched reminder of her absence.
“Go ahead and close it back up. I’ll keep the shovel in my car and clear her driveway until she’s back to do it herself.”
“Hopefully, that will be soon.”
I nodded and started scraping. Officer Ragen didn’t stay to watch me but got into the patrol car idling at the curb and drove off. When I had everything clear, I packed up the shovel and headed out of town toward Megan’s place.
While the shovel probably hadn’t been the personal item that the druids had in mind, it was likely all they would get unless they knew a spell to unlock windows. And if they did know one, I wanted nothing to do with breaking and entering.
I wanted to experience being shocked as much as I wanted to listen to my dad talk about how he worshipped my mom every morning. No, thank you.
Chapter Nine
Pulling into Megan’s driveway several minutes later, I looked up at her house in awe. Somehow, Elbner had managed to paint in the middle of winter, and he’d done a beautiful job of it. He hadn’t gone with the white on white look that the house had before. Instead, he’d painted the trim white and the main body a soft turquoise, accenting the decorative scallops near the roof’s line with a medium grey and the front door with a vibrant red.
Megan and Oanen were going to be stunned when they got back.
As I continued forward, I realized Elbner wasn’t in his usual spot. The reason became apparent when I rounded the side of the house and saw him with a shoe in hand, on the back porch. Jenna stood before him, talking rapidly.
“No more mongrels,” Elbner yelled as soon as I opened my car door. He threw his shoe with deadly precision at Jenna’s head. She nimbly caught it and tossed it back before casting me a desperate glance.
“I’m just trying to feed him. We’ve been at this for hours.”
“Hours?”
“Fenris tried to feed him last night like you asked, but this guy wasn’t going to budge for him. I told Fenris to go home to get some sleep and let me give it a try.” She faced the goblin. “Would you honestly rather starve than let me feed you?”
“Yes.” He crossed his arms and turned his glare on me. “You promised to care for Elbner in Master’s absence. Sending these mongrels in your place isn’t care. It’s neglect. Elbner won’t have dogs feeding him.”
“How long?” I asked Jenna, ignoring Elbner’s tirade. “How long was Fenris out here?”
“Most of the night,” she admitted. “He called me before dawn. He really did try.”
“Bribes don’t sway Elbner.”
I turned on the little man, and his steely gaze locked with mine as I crossed the yard. The texture of his weathered skin and the glint of fear in his eyes stood out in sharp focus.
“If you wish to stay, your senseless bigotry ends now. You will be nicer to whichever of Megan’s friends I send to feed you, or you will leave. Immediately.”
He jerked his head in a quick nod.
“And don’t you dare throw another shoe at anyone again.”
He quickly put his shoe on and hurried inside. I followed.
“Wow, Megan has a really nice place,” Jenna said as she stepped in behind us.
“It is now, thanks to Elbner’s efforts.”
My praise didn’t change the stubborn goblin’s resentful glare as he stood in the arch between the kitchen and the front foyer. He watched every move I made as I prepared his food.
“Did you find better honey?” he asked.
“I apologize, but an urgent issue prevented me from looking.”
He harrumphed and took a seat at the table as soon as I finished stirring the oats and milk together.
“Since you weren’t fed yesterday, would you like me to come back tonight to feed you again?”
“No. This is fine.” Those words sounded almost choked, and he glared at me harder afterward.
“All right. Then, we’ll get out of your way. The outside of the house looks beautiful. Thank you, Elbner.”
“I did it for my master.” The passionate, rage-filled words followed us out the door.
“He’s awful,” Jenna said quietly. “How did Megan not kill him?”
“I have no idea. He had a brownie companion with him when he arrived. The brownie told me Elbner licked his wings on their journey from New York to Megan’s house. The goblin tried telling the boy they were ‘wing baths.’”
“That’s terrible.”
I nodded and opened my door. “Would you like a ride home?”
Jenna’s expression turned to one of relief.
“Yes. Thank you so much. That little ingrate was exhausting.”
She made herself comfortable in the passenger seat as I pulled out of the driveway.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. Fenris should have called me and said Elbner was being difficult again.”
“He didn’t want to bother you.” Jenna shifted in her seat, and I could feel the sadness growing in her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She said it far too quickly to be believable.
“You know I can sense all emotions, not just sexual energy, right?”
She gave me a sheepish look.
“I was getting jealous about all the time Fenris was spending with you and said something to him. He explained some of what you’re going through with missing Megan and how Adira and your mom are pressuring you and acting like there’s something wrong with you just because you won’t toe their line.” She paused for a moment. “I guess I’m just feeling a little upset with myself for being so focused on my own misery that I haven’t stopped to think there might be someone else who was feeling the same or worse than me. Yet, when you saw I was having trouble with Elbner, you stepped right in and stuck up for me. Thank you.”