“Nothing,” Eleri said, sitting in the passenger seat with her eyes closed. She was trying to track Bodhi Banerjee.
She and Donovan had driven down into central Georgia, based on what she'd seen. Donovan had no doubt that her visions had them on the right track.
It felt odd to be trusted implicitly. She’d operated for so long on the idea that she was simply chasing hunches. The impromptu trip had gotten in the way of her contacting Avery, too, but not in the way of Donovan nagging her about it.
“Have you messaged him?”
“No, mom. I haven’t. It’s not the right time.”
She was pretty sure she heard him mutter, It’s never the right time, but she ignored it.
“How much further do we go before we call off—” She’d almost said “the dogs” but that felt wildly inappropriate. “—the search?”
“You haven’t picked up anything for a while? Even that we’re going the right direction?”
“I would give anything for a clue or a spark of idea, because right now…” She turned and shrugged at Donovan, as if to say, I can't get any of it.
They could have called this a road trip if not for the fact that she'd handed the keys to Donovan some time ago and climbed into her own passenger seat. If not for the fact that she was trying to psychically trail Donovan's piece-of-shit brother. If not for the fact that the words that came out of her mouth were not in the direction Donovan probably expected.
She turned and looked at him and mused out loud. “Is he stalking you? Is he trying to get close enough to hurt you? Or is he just trying to make contact?”
Donovan frowned and looked at the side of the road, seemingly checking for exits.
They needed a break. Hell, they might even cast a spell, to see if they could find Bodhi that way. This way didn't seem to be working anymore.
“Do you mean something like, he's trying to contact me to get out of whatever group or cult he’s gotten into this time?”
Yeah, that is problematic, she thought.
Bodhi had been part of a gang in New Orleans. That was where Eleri and Donovan had met him, in the middle of a nasty street fight. When Donovan had first realized the man was his brother, it had opened a can of worms.
But that gang had somewhat disbanded. The sisters who ran it had fled town, and Eleri had no luck finding them. They were better at cloaking than she was at finding.
Then she and Donovan had run into another group specifically hiring wolves and moving with a bit of a wolf agenda. And not a good one. Bodhi was in the middle of that again.
They’d disrupted the group, but there was no telling if Bodhi had found his older brother and wanted to change his ways or if he was going to get initiated into some crap wolf gang by selling out Donovan. Eleri was not about to let that happen. She’d light every bowl she could find on fire if that’s what it took. Because, right now, that and murder seemed to be her main skills.
Donovan seemed to consider her ideas without speaking. Then he pointed out a sign and she nodded. It looked like as good a place as any to get off the road.
The middle of Georgia offered an exit for a state road. Probably, once they drove past the large gas stations and tchotchke shops, they would get to some empty space where they could pull over and have a real discussion.
And maybe cast that spell.
“I don't think his intentions are good.”
Donovan broke into her thoughts, pulling them back from the bleak place they had strayed. “He put a listening device on my house. He knows where I live. He didn't wait for me. He didn't write me a letter.”
“A letter can be traced,” she pointed out, not sure why she was arguing in Bodhi’s favor.
“True. Still, he got the call and he left. You said he put the tracking device on my car before the call came. So it wasn’t because he was called away and wanted to find me.”
“I don't ascribe any good intentions to that one,” Eleri didn't argue. She wondered, but she didn't argue. Donovan had a right to be livid at both his mother and his younger brother.
If he shot Bodhi Banerjee on sight, Eleri would stand and defend him. She was just trying to throw out alternate possibilities.
They stayed silent for a while, pulled off at a state road a few miles later, and found it was exactly as they’d expected.
“If we go up that little road there, it looks like it might be empty. No one's driving that way. We should be able to find some trees….”
Donovan took the turn and Eleri was reaching into the back where she'd stashed her Book of Shadows under a towel on the floor, when the spike of sensation went through her brain.
And the vision hit her.