Monty sucked in a breath then ran over to me. “You okay?”
I nodded and clasped the hand he offered me, letting him help me up. “The force of her attack just caught me by surprise.”
“Speaking of surprise,” Mrs. Rankin said, “someone care to tell me what the fuck is going on? What was that thing outside? It sounded like a wild boar.”
“Oh, it’s far worse than a wild boar, and it will be back.” Monty’s voice was grim. “Do you want to pack a bag with enough clothes to last a few days? We need to get you out of here.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you fucking two until you tell who you are and what is going on.”
“Mrs. Rankin,” I said, rather impatiently. “You’re in danger. There’s a witch out there in the reservation currently hunting down and killing everyone who’s had an extramarital affair. You’re on her list, and that means you either leave with us now or you stay here and wait for that fucking creature to come back and kill you.”
Her face paled. “But I haven’t—”
“Don’t bother with denial, because it won’t wash,” Monty said. “We believe she’s using a spell of some kind to track everyone who has strayed.”
The woman swallowed. “But it happened nearly two years ago! My husband and I have reconciled—”
“The witch apparently doesn’t care about small details like that.” I cocked my head for a second, listening. “The rangers are almost here. I’ll go out and meet them.”
“I thought you told them not to come in until we contacted them?” Monty said.
Belle mentally cleared her throat. I rang and gave them the all clear. Saves time.
I repeated that to Monty, then dismantled my protection net. The hone-onna had been tossed far enough away not to worry about now, and the—admittedly vague—input I was still receiving through the bone fragment suggested the witch wasn’t close. Which in some ways surprised me. Given the serious hate-on she had for her female victims, I would have thought she’d want to witness the destruction firsthand rather than through the lens of her creature.
We are dealing with a witch both canny and strong enough to summon and control a dark spirit, Belle said. She’d be aware of our presence in the reservation and wouldn’t want to put herself in a situation where we could sense her.
“So you really are connected to the rangers?” Mrs. Rankin was saying, her gaze moving between us.
“Yes,” Monty said, with just a touch of impatience. “Now please, go get a bag ready.”
She hesitated and then obeyed. Monty followed me out onto the front veranda. “Where are we going to stash her? Ashworth’s?”
“He hasn’t got any spare beds left, and given she looked ready to pop, a sofa isn’t going to be optimal.”
“We both know Aiden would give up his bed for her. Hell, Ashworth and Eli probably would, too.”
“I know, it’s just—” I paused and shrugged. “Holding too many eggs in one basket might just be a little too tempting for our witch.”
“Then she has to stay at either your place or mine.”
“The café is probably the better option. I can’t imagine you or Belle wanting an intruder right now.”
“We’re not rabbits,” he said, amused. “We can skip a night or two.”
Speak for yourself came Belle’s droll comment.
He laughed, so she’d obviously broadcast that wide. Which meant—given we were a fair way out of Castle Rock—her telepathic range was increasing when it came to reaching the minds of other people.
It could be another consequence of us using that restrictor spell and merging to battle the Empusa, she said. If it is, it’s one I’m not going to grumble about.
No, if only because it’d make things a whole lot easier when it came to making emergency contact with Monty or the rangers.
The siren drew closer. I ran down the steps and over to the gate. A ranger SUV appeared around the corner, spraying dust and stones behind them in much the same manner we had not too long ago. I stepped out, waved them down, and then waited near the fence.
The SUV pulled to a halt, and Tala climbed out. Her gaze swept me, and relief crossed her expression. “Good to see you’re all in one piece. Did the spirit attack?”
“Yes, but she was too powerful to kill. We resorted to tossing her to the other side of the reservation.”
Tala laughed. “That’ll work. At least for a little while, anyway.”
I nodded. “We’re going to place Mrs. Rankin into protective custody at the café. She should be safe enough there until we catch the witch behind this thing.”
“What about her husband?”
“Unless he’s strayed—and from what Mrs. Rankin has said, he didn’t—he should be safe from retribution.”
“Even so, we’ll go grab him and shove him somewhere safe.”
“We do need to keep the two separate, just in case the witch decides in the heat of the moment she has something against spouses that forgive.” I turned and led the way toward the house. Tala fell in step beside me. “Did you manage to get a list of mineral springs for us?”
She tugged a folded bit of paper from her back pocket and handed it to me. “I pulled it from the Central Vic Mineral Springs GMA plan. Best I could do at short notice.”
“GMA?”
“Sorry, groundwater management area.”
“Ah. Thanks.”
I unfolded it. It was a map of the entire reservation and detailed not only mineral springs, but also waterways and lakes. It didn’t give precise locations, but I could probably use the wild magic for that once we were closer. The majority of the springs ringed Argyle and Rayburn Springs, which was unsurprising, but there was a smaller cluster between Woodbury and Campbell’s Creek, and another up near the Marin compound in Maldoon.
“Any good?” she asked.
“Yes. It cuts down the search area, and that’s the main thing right now.” I folded the map back up. “Have there been any reports of missing wolves in the last week or so?”
She frowned. “No, why?”
“I was told that the very first victim was actually a werewolf. Apparently, his body was destroyed.”
“Where? And who told you this?”
“She wouldn’t say where—she being the hone-onna.”
Incredulousness crossed Tala’s expression. “You were speaking to her? And didn’t kill her?”
“Trust me, if I could have, I would have.”
Tala grunted, her expression a mix of disbelief and frustration. “And you trust she’s telling the truth?”
“I do.”
“Then we’ll investigate.”
Mrs. Rankin stepped out onto the porch, tugging a suitcase behind her. Monty locked the front door, then took the case and one-handedly helped her down the stairs.
“I’d better go talk to her,” Tala said, and immediately jogged over.
Monty threw the suitcase in the back of the truck, then walked over to me.
I handed him the map. “I can send the wild magic into the Argyle area to check out the situation there—it’ll be quicker, given how many springs are clustered around that area. But we should be able to do the rest.”