Chapter 13

 

A WEEK OF intensive training followed along with Frei drilling into me the backstory that I was to stick to. It was pretty much my own. I had a rap sheet so Frei just embellished on it and made it look like I was hiding out from the authorities. I hoped she fixed it all when we got back because I did not want a return trip to Serenity.

We flew from the base and I was blindfolded again but once we were on the ground at an airport, we were on our own. Frei had an SUV ready and waiting. The heat prickled but it wasn’t unbearable. The wind was something else. When I’d been in Colorado it had been windy but this was relentless. There were a few corrugated hangers and a rickety looking iron sign over the road out. It was scrub land, wherever it was, broken up with patches of sand or dust. Although it was greener than where the CIG base was, it must have baked in the summer. There weren’t swaying fields of crops like in Oppidum.

I watched Frei, hoping she might tell me something or start a conversation but she was locked up tight behind her mirrored aviators. 

She looked different to how she always dressed. I couldn’t explain it because she was still in jeans, a t-shirt, and that same battered jacket she loved so much. Somehow, the way the clothes were cut covered her up more. She looked tougher, angrier, like she didn’t care.

“You gonna tell me where we are?” We drove along a highway. I hoped she’d say something ’cause I was sick of trying to guess.

“Texas.”

“Right.” I weren’t hot on geography but I knew Texas was a big state. We headed into a town with trees down the middle of the main street, and neat, well-kept buildings on either side. It was quieter than Oppidum but the cars and pick-ups lining the sides showed folks were frequenting the place.

“Ain’t many crops growin’, huh?” I asked as we left the town behind and headed along another highway. There was a long ridge on the horizon that looked like God had decided to stick a step in.

“That’s the Caprock.” Frei’s fingers whitened on the wheel. “Cotton country.”

Apart from some bushes, and windbreaks off in the distance, there weren’t much else but long furrowed rows.

The bluff drew nearer as we headed along the dusty road. The road ascended it, gradual, careful, a strip of dirt cut down the middle. When we crested it, I swore I could see for miles. It was the flattest place I’d ever seen. It felt so strange. I was used to mountains. Even the CIG base was on one. I hadn’t ever been to a place without any before.

“You got your ID ready?” Frei glanced at me or at least turned her head toward me. I couldn’t tell what she was looking at.

“Yeah, are you sure they ain’t gonna be able to track me?” According to the little thing in my hands, I was now Alex Riley. My backstory was that I had been born someplace in the Midwest and my mother had travelled all over the states. I’d been imprisoned in Arkansas. I’d escaped . . . somehow . . . and was officially a fugitive.

“Your name was too unusual and you’re unique. It made it a challenge to hide you.” She fiddled with her ring. “But you’re covered. There was a killer in that state close to your description just not as tall.”

We turned off onto a smaller road which seemed to run along the edge of the Caprock. I looked out and saw the town in the distance. Wildflowers grew in amongst the scrub. The wind rattled the SUV. 

Frei seemed not to notice, roaring us along the road. I guess in her red fancy SUV it weren’t a problem. She drove cool cars, sleek, but the whole thing felt like a statement. The wood trim inside looked good enough to run my hands over but I didn’t dare. I didn’t know much about cars but she flicked a stick around when she changed gear. I’d never seen a car with one before. It dripped luxury. Crime must have paid for some folks.

Frei turned again. The uncultivated land so close I could reach out and touch it. A long windbreak stretched up from the scrubland ahead but there were a couple of buildings in the far distance otherwise. The road squeezed through the gap in the trees, the road newer, hedges planted up on either side with trees behind them. Caprock Academy shimmered in the sun, at least its high white rendered walls. The gates were wrought iron like Serenity, with a guardhouse like Serenity. I swallowed a tingle of fear at that.

Frei had told me the academy was not the only one. There were several in the States. They were a mix of kids who were slaves and rich kids from the families who owned them. The two never mixed. The latter were there to prove legality should any authorities come knocking.

As we pulled up to the guardhouse, I glanced at the thick etched name in the pure white stone. It looked like it should be in an art gallery someplace. Water cascaded down over it as if to prove it had overcome its barren surroundings.

I glanced at Frei whose fingertips had lost all color. She looked over her aviators at me, a glimmer of pain in her eyes.

“Where were you sent?” I asked but I didn’t know why. It was clear in her every tense movement.

“Here. I couldn’t speak a word of English.” Frei tapped the wheel. Her eyes lighted on the gates as we approached. “I was terrified when I was dropped off.”

Hearing her say that made me tense up all over. Acquainting Frei and lack of courage didn’t fit. If she was scared, I was ready to turn around and head home. 

The guards at the gate were big hulking guys with rough-shaven chins and heavily lined eyes. Weather-beaten would be too mild, these guys had been battered, bested, and bulldozed into submission. Their voices sounded gruff as if the dust had got stuck in their throats.

Frei flashed her pass at them. They studied it before heading around to my side. I fumbled with my own pass before holding it up. It was too much like Serenity. I wanted to make a run for it. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck. I couldn’t pull this off. There was no way I could pull this off—

“Buzz them in.”

Frei roared through the gate and the wildflowers became long green lawns. “Astroturf. It’s all fake. Just remember that. Everything, every inch is nothing but a lie.”

“Even the huge palace thing there?” I squinted to get a better look. A huge Grecian style mansion, all in white stone was plonked right in the middle of nowhere.

“It’s all an illusion. A statement of superiority.” She nodded to the road leading away to the right. “The rich kids live in a small campus over that way. It’s next to the principal’s house. They have the best of everything.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t have that luxury?”

Frei remained stoic. “You’ll see where the money is poured.”

“And what about those guys?” I pointed to one guy in a white suit and tie on the mass of steps leading up to the entrance. Next to him was a tall lug of a man. His shaved black hair was nothing compared to the razor sharp look in his eyes. He had a shirt and tie on too but he looked like he would be better suited to a sash of bullets and a huge gun.

“The taller one is Jäger,” she muttered. “Stay away from him.”

Okay, so he looked mean, but no meaner than the other guys I’d seen so far. Unless you counted his eyes.

“He was here when I was.” She slowed the truck, scowling. “The other one is the Principal, Smyth.” She relaxed her scowl and looked at me. “Just be careful, Jäger is . . . nasty.”

“Can I have a safety barrier?” I mumbled, feeling out of my depth. If he was so scary then it was possible he’d see through my tough-guy act in seconds.

“Be yourself. Your police record and your sentence speak for you. You’re Alex Riley here.” She smiled that tight-lipped smile. “And you’d need a lot more than a barrier.”

That didn’t exactly instill confidence. “What would I need?” More to the point, where could I get it and how soon.

“You have me. Listen and you’ll be fine.” She stepped out of the SUV into the bright sunlight and picked up both our duffel bags from the back seat. I took a couple of breaths, trying to find some kind of confidence.

“Sure,” I mumbled, getting out of the car. “Good thing I’m trusting.”

Frei flashed me a cocky grin over her shoulder. “One thing to remember about me, I always keep my promises.”

Something in my heart told me that she was speaking the truth. My burdens were faded to a trace but I guess maybe some faith came from inside. I hoped that it weren’t the same place that got fooled by Sam, ’cause otherwise, I was in trouble . . . I eyed Jäger . . . big trouble.

 

THERE AIN’T MANY people who intimidate me. Whether it was Frei’s words or the size of the guy, it didn’t matter, my hands sprung a leak as we wandered over to meet the welcoming party.

The principal, Smyth, in the white suit and panama hat, was skinny but with a bit of a belly and cheeks that were redder than was healthy. Jäger, in the black suit, gray shirt, and black tie, was a couple of inches shorter than me which put him over six foot but nearer to Frei’s height. That should have made me feel better but he was built like I was, the collar of his shirt tight against his thick neck.

His tie drew my eye, the academy’s crest stamped on it. He could have been a prison guard in Serenity for the steel he had in his dark eyes. I couldn’t tell in the strong sunlight where his irises stopped and his pupils began. 

He looked like a machine. A handsome one but still a machine. He didn’t seem bothered by the heat at all. His military haircut was close. His stubble so dark that he looked like he dyed it with boot polish.

Frei said he’d been there when she attended so he’d have to be at least twenty or so years older than her. I put her around Renee’s age which made Jäger in his mid-fifties.

Frei cleared her throat beside me. I guess I was making a fool out of myself by gawking at the guy. I flicked my gaze away and studied the expanse of grounds all covered in that fake, plastic grass.

Weird.

“Huber sends his regards,” Frei said with a tone of smugness. I hadn’t heard her talk like that before. I weren’t real sure if I cared to again.

“Doesn’t he always,” Smyth answered. “Generally right before he swipes something.”

They laughed. At least I knew hers was false. When she did laugh for real it sounded like she was up to something.

“You have some potentials he’s interested in.” Frei moved up the steps into the shade cast by the huge pillared porch. “Must be quality for him to bother.”

Smyth strolled along at her side as Jäger and I fell into step behind. Smyth cast a disgusted look at the huge duffel bags on each of her shoulders. She looked like she carried pillows but I knew my pack was heavy.

“Not in your league but they could be useful as decoys perhaps.” Smyth held open the heavy wooden door for us. “I’m surprised he’s not still working you.”

“He decided he enjoyed my company more.” Frei strolled inside. I went to follow but Jäger put his arm out to stop me. Frei glanced at me with reassurance in her eyes as she headed off down the corridor.

“There aren’t many people who can meet my eyes,” Jäger said in a low, graveled voice. He sounded like a growling lion.

“I know what you are and what your story is,” I said back. I had no idea why I’d just said that. I didn’t have one iota. “I’m . . . fascinated.”

Fascinated? What? Freaked out and ready to run maybe but I sounded like I was into machines.

“My story?” His voice held danger.

“Yep,” I said, sounding like I knew what I was on about. “Anyone who can handle Locks impresses me.”

He did? How did I know that? I weren’t supposed to see anyone’s past. Nan said they’d taken it all away.

“Don’t believe everything she says.”

I dared to lift my eyes to his. He looked impressed. His smile was full of charm. I could see that he must have a string of women who swooned at his every word.

“My bite is far worse than my bark.” His grin morphed into a razor sharp smile that made me think of sharks. Hungry sharks circling dinner.

“Which just makes you all the more impressive.” My tone made me picture Nan throwing icy cold blasts at me. Me and my mouth were gonna have words ’cause I sure weren’t liking the way it was talking.

“Your own record is interesting. Do I need to watch you around the merchandise?” He sounded amused.

Merchandise? What—?

My stomach dropped.

He meant the students. “Depends if they are pathetic.”

He laughed.

I felt the urge to punch him. Elite nut job or not.

“You seem to have a thing for dangerous men.” He held open the door for me.

He must have meant Sam, did he? Wait, no, Frei had said that she kept the same crimes but changed the names, the locations. I didn’t know what folks thought of me being so close to Sam and not seeing the truth. What kind of idiot would have been so gullible to spend a decade inside for him?

“That depends on how dangerous.” I smiled my best smug grin, fighting the nausea that rolled around in my gut. “Some don’t hit the mark.”

He could read my expression. I could sense that he had seen my revulsion. His eyes scoured mine and I shivered, not sure if it was the icy air-con or him.

“He charmed others,” Jäger said as he led me along a wide corridor. Floors shiny, the colors colonial, it looked like a sugar plantation. Ones I’d seen in old civil war movies. I got the horrible feeling that it was more like that than any school. “Media reports say he charmed you too.”

The panic thudded through me. He was testing me, I could feel it. “He was all looks and no substance.”

If I’d been in charge of my mouth, I would have said Sam was dumb as a bag of hammers, that he was a bitter, lost angry soul that hurt me to think about. I didn’t know who was in charge of me speaking but I was thinking about asking Frei to drive me back to Serenity.

“And his crimes?” He led me further along, the walls lined with portraits of guys in suits. They all seemed to enjoy posing like they were monarchs or something. I had no idea who they were but I knew this place hadn’t been around for that long.

“He thought he was great until he picked on someone his own size.” I felt so detached from my words, so lacking in emotion. It was like Frei had taken over the controls. I sounded so bored. I felt anything but. It ripped me in two just to think of it, of Jake, of the girls.

Jäger’s eyes filled with admiration and the side of his lips curled in a smile. It made me want to throw pickle juice in his eyes.

“I can imagine that you’re quite a challenge.”

I smiled at him. “Count on it.” I moved toward him and tidied his lapel. I was pretty sure Renee would either be proud of my attempted cover or tell me that I was being so dumb she was gonna shoot me. I was guessing the latter. “I like a man who can prove his worth.”

Go figure that. My mouth was on a roll. I wanted to crawl under the weird fluffy plant thing next to the door.

He smiled. “Look around you. There’s a lot of worth.” He held open the wooden door, “Principal” stamped in gold letters on it. “I look forward to seeing how you fit in.”

I strolled in and took in the large office overlooking a quadrant of buildings like the one we stood in. Frei and Smyth sat on either side of a huge desk as I stared out of the window. A huge tree grew in the middle of the fake green grass. There were three large blocks enclosing the quadrant. To the left was one that looked very much like any high school but with five floors if the windows were anything to go by. The building on the right was a gray stone block, some kind of weird geometric shape to the back of the building jutting upward. Maybe it was the art block or something, I didn’t know. Opposite me, beyond the tree was some kind of gym. I knew a gym when I saw one. Some kind of clock tower speared up from behind it in the distance. 

Frei nodded to me, duffel bags at her feet, as I sat beside her and Jäger joined Smyth on the other side of the table. He didn’t sit though, just stood there watching me.

“I want them as skilled as you can get them. A lot of buyers like to pretend that the recession is affecting them.” Smyth shot me an amused smile. “But I like to bleed as much as I can out of the tight fists.”

Undercover was way too hard. I chuckled, hearing the falseness of it. I’d end up punching him. I may even throw pickle juice at him too.

“Locks told me we’ll be pumping up the brats?” I glanced at Frei who remained silent. 

“Yes,” Smyth said, placing his panama hat on the table beside him and unbuttoning the straining jacket. “Skill captains. Her old friend Sawyer is here, Jones too. Locks will take the ones Huber is interested in.” He glanced at me with glassy eyes. Had he started drinking already? “As this is your first experience, you get what’s left.”

What was left? I glanced at Frei. Her look said, “tell you later.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a potential Huber will enjoy,” Smyth said with a rakish grin at Frei. “Can’t blame him for indulging in your other skills,” he trailed his gaze over her, “but I do want to keep him happy.”

“And his eyes away from whatever you are hiding.” Frei smiled as I thought about knocking the leery grin off Smyth’s face.

Smyth wagged his finger at Frei, not noticing my scowl. “Now, now . . . you’re not here for that. He’s assigned you a teaching role.”

He sounded kinda scared of Frei. Whatever she’d said had put him back in his place. I wanted to high-five her.

Smyth turned to me. “For continuity, I propose that you be given a more manageable name.”

Because Alex Riley was so hard?

“Like?” Jäger said. His lips curled in that smile again and he was paying me way more attention than I wanted. I didn’t want another name.

“Oh, it would have to suit you,” Smyth said.

“Samson,” Frei said, turning to me.

I glared at her. Her eyes twinkled like she wanted to chuckle at me. At least it wasn’t “fists,” or “towerblock,” but seriously?

Smyth and Jäger exchanged a glance then they both nodded.

“Samson it is,” Smyth chimed. “Now, Jäger will show you to your quarters. I think you will find them satisfactory.”

Jäger strode to the door and held it open.

“I’ll expect you at the meeting tomorrow morning to go over procedure.” Smyth didn’t bother to get up from his seat. “Locks, I know you are aware of how we do things but it never hurts to be reminded of your place.”

Oh, I didn’t like that. I hated that tone. I hated the way he ran his gaze over her and hated the smarmy grin on his face.

Frei didn’t flicker. She smiled as if he was paying her a great compliment, thanked him, picked up our bags, and walked out of the room.

Pickle juice. I was going to start stocking up.

“Samson,” Jäger said with a charming smile as we headed out onto the quadrant. It was too quiet for a school. Either it was lesson time or we’d come to an academy of mutes. “As you are . . . higher . . . you will be responsible for Locks and her actions.”

Higher? Like taller? I didn’t know what to say to that. “I can handle her.”

Frei should have kicked my butt for that but instead she smiled as if I was being sweet.

Jäger walked too close. His aftershave felt like it was attempting to suffocate me. We walked in the buffeting wind all the way around the opposite block and to an impressive looking villa.

I wanted to ask him where the togas were.

“Enjoy,” he purred, handing me the keys. “Just keep her locked up at night.”

He glanced at Frei who dipped her gaze.

“Not that it’ll stop her for long. She’s a handful.” He stepped toward her and lifted her chin. “Huber or not, behave or I’ll start finding you interesting.”

Frei said nothing. Not a word as he stroked the side of her face.

“Good girl.”

I was trying my best but I wanted to pummel the guy. I puffed out my chest. “Like I said, I can handle her.”

Jäger raised an eyebrow at me. He dropped his hand from Frei’s face and wandered to me. He didn’t stop until his face was inches from mine. “Then I’ll extend my reminder to you. Behave or I’ll find you interesting.”

I gripped the keys, fighting the wish to jab them into his wandering eyes. “Sounds like an incentive.”

Jäger laughed, licked his lips, and turned to stride off back toward the quadrant.

I was panting. My shoulders were hitched up to my ears. I wanted to take all the fury I’d locked away over my life and let it out on him.

Creep.

Good thing I didn’t have my burdens, at least some of my burdens. I didn’t want to know what icky thoughts ran through his head.

Frei’s hand on mine made me tear my gaze from Jäger’s retreating back.

“I’ll let us in.” Her tone was softer than I’d ever heard it.

“I want to poke him with something sharp,” I muttered through a rattling breath. “Don’t care what you say, they’re creeps. They make Sam look like a gentleman.”

“You fronted up to him for me.” Frei touched my arm, placed the key in the lock, and let us in. “Thank you.”

“How do you do it?” I asked, glaring around at the opulent place. Tiled floors, clean, sharp walls, colonial with a large hole in the floor filled with mosaic tiles. “How do you hold in the need to kick their butts?”

Frei closed the door and dropped the bags. She took my hand and led me around the villa. “Living room, for guests.” She pointed to the left of the door, fireplace, couple of chairs, and a coffee table. “Living room for us.” Behind a half wall, two squishy sofas, a bookcase, and a TV over the counter from a state-of-the-art kitchen.

“Gym is always at the back overlooking the garden.” She swept her hand in that direction. “Kitchen diner.” She motioned at the silver fridge. “Statues of the highest paying customers in various poses.”

There were a few. I wondered why we needed statues in a villa.

“Staircase is spiral and down the hall from the guest living room.” She took her jacket off and slung it on a chair. “Bathroom off our living room.” She cracked her knuckles. “Two bedrooms upstairs, a bathroom with a whirlpool . . .” She cracked out her neck. “. . . and lots and lots of pictures of fat men.”

“I guess that this is a cookie-cutter house then?”

Frei nodded. “It’s a senior staff villa. They rate you.” She shrugged. “Which is why you get your very own slave.”

Didn’t that make me want to stand in a shower for a week. “There is no way I’m letting some poor thing wander ’round picking up after me.”

“Good, because I suck at laundry.”

I stared at her as she buzzed around, pulling something out of her pocket and switching it on. I was pretty sure I blinked a few times too. “Huh?”

She turned, catching me staring. “Me, Lorelei. That’s why he gave you the little speech.” She shook her head, tapping her ring with her thumb. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen him that fascinated before.” She looked me up and down with a lopsided smile. “And I did not think you had that in you.”

“I was protecting you.” I folded my arms. “It was that or floor him.”

I scowled at the thought. I didn’t care who he was. I could have knocked his teeth out and not thought twice. Considering I spent so long in Serenity dictated to by some pretty big losers, this place was something else.

“So I saw.” Frei fiddled with the device on the counter and it beeped. “Good, no bugs.”

“What in Blackbear is that?” I pointed to the tiled hole in the floor. 

She glanced at it and pulled her laptop out of her duffel bag. “It’s . . . a water feature.”

I cocked my head. “Why do they have a water feature in the middle of the living area?”

“Long story. It’s better you don’t think about it.” Pain flickered across her eyes. It hurt watching her. She had more courage than I could ever imagine coming back here.

“You ain’t that person no more. Look at me.” I took her by the shoulders. “You don’t belong to anyone. You got me now.” I smiled at her. “I ain’t gonna let you go through this alone.”

She studied me for a moment as if she wasn’t sure whether to believe my words. Seeing her vulnerable gave me a stomach ache. I needed to get her being Frankenfrei again.

“Fancy a workout?” I asked, hoping I could make her smile.

She shook her head. “Glutton for punishment, huh?”

It became clear why Renee always challenged her, why she made her compete. Frei came out of herself when challenged. Her spirit shone through.

“Never,” I said, hoping it sounded convincing. “Just need to keep them puny guns of yours working.”

Frei’s look was one of icy, cool calm. The Frei I knew. “Puny?”

Not even close to puny. She weren’t my size but those arms could lift way more than mine. “Okay . . . maybe not puny . . . how ’bout skinny?” I cocked my head. “No . . . no . . . scrawny?”

Frei flexed her jaw and motioned with her head to the back of the villa. “Gym, Lorelei. You asked for it.”

She strutted off and I sighed, she was gonna blitz me even in jeans and a t-shirt.

“Stop drooling and move.”

I made my feet do just that and tried not to think about how painful it was going to be.

 

RENEE LAY, STARING up at the white nondescript ceiling. The moonlight tinted it with silvery blue and the wind rattled the windows. A dust storm had rolled in earlier, covering everything in brown snow and she’d watched the maintenance guys shovel it off the paths before trying to sleep. She’d been in the academy for a week, she’d made contact with the two POIs as instructed. The academy seemed secure, the staff pleasant but she’d spent the entire week in fits of frustration. There wasn’t a reason she could put her finger on. Not even hormones.

Renee ran her thumb over Aeron’s necklace. She couldn’t explain it but when she touched it, she felt a warm hug around her. It felt like a mother’s embrace. She should call her mother. She never called enough.

“You sober for a second?”

Renee heard the voice and sat bolt upright. Maybe someone was outside her window.

“Blondie, when you gonna stop tryin’ to stick things in a neat little box?” Renee turned and watched as something took a seat on the bed beside her. “You think better when you think with your heart.”

Renee pinched her arm, hoping it would wake her up. It didn’t. The weird mist of what sounded like Nan shimmered in the moonlight. She was officially certifiable. “Nan?”

“You expectin’ somebody else?”

“I’m having an hallucination.” Renee swung her legs off the bed, squealing at the icy cold from the . . .whatever it was . . . and hurried to the bathroom. She threw water on her face. She’d put the drunken episode down to just that, drink. This, how did she explain this? “It’s the heat . . . it’s—”

She shrieked as an icy blast hit her cheek.

“You calmer now?”

Renee shook her head. “Do it again.”

Another icy blast hit her cheek. She shivered.

“Better?”

“Not really.” She shuddered and tucked her necklace away in case it was really Nan. She didn’t want Aeron to get in trouble. “How can I help you?”

“More the other way ’round, Blondie.” Nan breezed over as if standing at her side and taking her by the elbow. “You having some issues?”

“I’m either talking to a vivid hallucination, which means I need a long conversation with a psychiatrist or I’m talking to a ghost which means . . . I need a long conversation with a psychiatrist.”

“A spirit,” Nan said with a tut.

“There’s a difference?” She had enough trouble not offending people let alone former people. She needed to lie down. She needed whiskey. She needed therapy.

Another icy blast hit her. She shrieked.

“Focus, Blondie. You were better when you were juiced.” Nan sighed. “There’s some complications, side effects to what my Shorty did an’ well . . . you ain’t gonna find them easy.”

“You mean like I’m insane?” Renee wandered downstairs to the liquor cabinet but it wouldn’t open.

“Sober is better in this place,” Nan said.

Renee tried the cabinet again. It didn’t have a lock so Nan, delusion, spirit or otherwise was holding it shut . . . and her head hurt.

“You mean I’m frustrated,” she said, deciding to hear the delusion out. Maybe it could speak sense into her. “I haven’t been able to settle since St. Jude’s . . . I just feel so . . . so . . .”

“Restless?” Nan asked from her left.

Renee turned to the shimmering thing and nodded. “You know what that is?”

Nan swooshed past her to the right. “I do.”

Renee turned to focus on her. “So what is it?”

Nan swooshed back to the left. “Can’t say.”

Renee frowned. “Why?”

“Ain’t my place to. You gotta figure some things out on your own. Just like Shorty did.”

Renee tried not to smile at how Nan called Aeron Shorty. “Well, I can’t ask Shorty for help. I’m not meant to know her.”

Nan swooshed around to the front. “Nobody gonna believe that for a second.” Renee heard her click her tongue and . . . a cat meowing? “Tiddles is up from his nap. I gotta head on out, Blondie.”

“No,” Renee blurted, her hand held up to stop the odd shimmer leaving. “Please, you visited for a reason. I’m listening.”

Nan clicked her tongue once more. “The folks in this place gonna know you ain’t strangers, so you gotta sidestep the curveball with a good swing.”

Renee was sure some of that was baseball. Not helpful as she was a football girl. “Are we talking about a pre-emptive strike?”

“Whatever play gets the home run, Blondie.” Nan swooshed to her side as if they were in a huddle. “Figure out a plan B.”

Plan B? She could do that. “I can do that. I hope.” Renee bit her lip. “What if Aeron gets thrown off by it? She could drop her cover. She could crack and run for it.”

Nan shook what looked like her head. “I said she’d bolt like her mother for different reasons. When it comes to helpin’ my girl stays the course.”

“Noted.” Renee tried not to shiver. Huddling with a spirit required more clothing than her nightshirt. “Was I right in hearing Lilia was your granddaughter?”

“How old you think I am?”

Renee yelped as a cold finger iced her in the side. “Take that as a no . . . so I was hallucinating about Bess?”

Nan tutted. “No. Bess is my daughter too. A woman can give birth more than once you know.”

Renee frowned. “So Aeron has an aunt?”

“Some place but that ain’t exactly important now is it?” Nan tutted again. “Focus on making sure them folks watching don’t get suspicious. They ain’t the welcoming sort an’ I don’t want Shorty getting caught unaware.”

Renee straightened up. She protected Aeron, that was her job. It would always be her duty. “I’ll keep her safe.”

“No doubtin’.” A cat meowed again. “Tiddles wants to play chase the yarn.”

“Wait. What do you mean unaware?”

“Gotta scoot.” Nan’s voice faded and Renee felt alone. As if someone had turned the TV off.

She glanced around. She was standing in her nightshirt, in the living room, in the middle of the night. Good thing she had her own villa or she’d have to claim to be a sleepwalker.

Aeron was unaware? Renee didn’t understand it but she didn’t have to, delusion or not, she wasn’t taking a risk. Plan B . . . she just needed to think of a plan B.