Damn. I didn’t want to do this. I should have called Sam to do it while I hung out with the scaredy-cat, Snooze. Sam was a cop, surely he had experience with telling loved ones bad news.
“Please, sit,” Ms. Johnson said. “I’m sorry, your names again?”
“Mr. Johnson,” I nodded at the man as he put his arm around his wife and introduced Owen and myself again. “We’re here about your son.”
I leaned forward and put the shoebox on the coffee table. A sob caught in Ms. Johnson’s throat. “What is that?”
“Ma’am, I’m a necromancer,” I whispered. I cringed because I hadn’t said that out loud to strangers before. “I was out in the woods near to my home in Shipton Harbor this morning, practicing my craft. I raised a small animal, and when he came above ground, he shifted into your son.”
Dana sucked in a breath and covered her mouth with her hands. Tears filled her eyes. Rick stared at the box for a long time before he finally picked it up. His hands shook as he took off the lid.
Sobs came from Dana and she reached inside to touch little Ricky. “He’s so cold. Rick, he's cold.”
Mr. Johnson curled an arm around his wife and held her to him. “I know baby. But he’s home now.”
The couple held each other with their son in a box in their lap. It was all I could do to keep my waterworks from breaking the dam holding them back.
When they’d calmed down, they clutched the box between them and glared at Owen and me. The father asked, “What did he say?”
“He said that he’d died as the result of being…” I sucked in my breath and searched myself for strength. “He was a bait animal in a shifter fighting ring.”
This so sucked. I hated every part of it. My heart ached for the couple. But what else could I do? They had to know.
Dana cried harder while Rick worked his jaw. His anger was outweighing his sorrow. I wasn’t sure if that was good or not. I would’ve been angry in his place, for sure. Hell, little Ricky wasn’t my kid, and I was angry.
“If you want us to take this to the police,” I said. “I can call in the sheriff of Shipton Harbor. He knows about the supernatural world.”
They shook their heads quickly and vehemently. “No. We’ll handle this among the pack. Shifters…” Rick squeezed his wife. “We’re private. We don’t generally like interference from humans.”
Owen nodded. “I figured as much. That’s why we didn’t do it, to begin with.”
“Is there anything we can do?” I was growing a little antsy, wanting to call Wallie and tell him I loved him. Plus, I didn’t want to start crying in front of these poor people. “I can help with any funeral costs.”
If I didn’t have the money, Olivia and I could start a fundraiser for the family.
The couple stood. They shook their heads but didn’t refuse or accept any funeral help. I’d check on them in a few days and offer again. Owen and I stood as well, then Dana rushed at me and hugged me. “Thank you for bringing my baby home.”
“It was the least I could do. I have a son. I can’t imagine…” I let the statement drift off. When Dana released me, I conjured my notepad and pen from the phone table in my hallway at home. After writing my name and number down, I tore off the page and handed it to Dana. “If there is anything you need, just call. I’m usually up late and sleep in, but Owen is an early bird.”
“Thank you,” Dana said, walking us to the door.
I handed the keys to Owen and climbed into the passenger seat. First, on the drive home, I called my son and thanked him for not being a shifter and for still being alive. He was confused but played along, promising he had no plans on dying.
After I hung up, I cried the rest of the way home.
Chapter Six
Even though we said we wouldn’t, I ended up filling Drew in on what had happened with poor little Ricky. In my defense, the sheriff called me not long after Owen and I got home, and my emotions were still raw. By that time fury at what the boy must have gone through had mixed with my sorrow for his parents.
I tried to play it off as allergies and a scratchy throat, but, no, Drew was too intuitive to fall for my lies. He came over and I spilled everything. Even a few more tears. He knew how shifters were and promised to keep the information unofficial, even though I knew he’d be investigating the best he could off the records.
And so would I.
The shifters would be trying to track this fighting ring and deal with it their own way if they found them before we did.
I didn’t really care who found Ricky’s murderers, as long as they were found and punished.
But I had to put that in the back of my mind, because Owen, Wallie, and I were ready to go to the Coven meeting. I hadn’t been able to talk them out of it. That meant I had to go. Double ugh.
Wallie had driven home as soon as he finished his afternoon class last night. I pulled the mom-card and told him he didn’t need to be driving back and forth so much. It was a four-hour drive one way. A lot could happen.
He’d just stared at me with a raised brow, reminding me so much of his father.
So here we were, standing in my living room ready to go face the witches.
“Princeps invenire pythonissam.”
We waited for the spell to reveal the who and where and nothing happened. “Well, we must have been uninvited.” I started to walk off but Wallie grabbed my hand.
“We can try it in the car. Maybe it’ll work when it knows you are making an effort.”
I huffed. “I am making an effort.” To not go. Didn’t say that last part though…
Owen and Wallie didn’t buy it. They stared until I gave in.
“Okay.” I rolled my eyes and stomped out of the door and to my car. You know, for effect.
Once in the car and the engine started, I repeated the spell. Owen drove, I navigated. “Let’s do this.”
And my too-smart-for-his-own-good son was right. Darn it. The spell worked.
“Mom,” Wallie said as we drove down a long stretch of road by the coast. “What are we doing about our house in Philly?”
I sighed and turned in my seat to face my son. “That is a conversation we need to have. It’s the home you grew up in, yet it isn’t my home. Not really, and not anymore.” As hard as it would be to say goodbye to the house I’d lived in with my Clay, I knew my place was in Shipton Harbor. I wasn’t meant to live in Pennsylvania anymore. “Do you want to move back there after college?” I asked.
Wallie shook his head. “No. I know I should since it’s technically my hometown. But I want to come to Shipton. I feel like I belong here as much as you do.”
I smiled and reached back to pat his leg. “Then we’ll sell the house. We should get a nice bit of profit for what we’ve already paid off on the loan. We’ll put that aside and you can use it for starting out in life. I think your father would love knowing he helped you get your start with the home he worked hard to pay for.”
Wallie nodded and squeezed my hand. “Thanks, Mom.”
I hummed, thinking how nice it would be to have Wallie so close all the time. “We have plenty of land. You could build a house and not even be all that close to me.” On one side, our property ended near Lucifer’s brand-new house.