Harry nodded, his expression grim, his eyes full of concern. “According to Principal Ditter, no one saw them leave—classes weren’t even out yet. They were at recess, which means they were talked into going with this person from the playground, if what the teacher says is right. Principal Ditter sounded the alarms and called me when neither of them showed up for last period. But according to her, no sooner had she sent out a search party than the kids were back on the school’s premises. It all happened so damn fast. One minute I was babysitting Carl, the next the principal was calling to say she couldn’t find the kids. Who would want to take my kids, Mara, and why?”
Harry’s grief, his statement thick with it, shoved the last of her anger aside, letting in sympathy and yet more fear. Mara reached out and squeezed his hand, relishing the warmth of his skin before she pulled away. “I don’t know. But we won’t let anyone hurt them. I swear that to you, Harry. So, did you notice the bracelet Mimi had on? She said the lady with the swingy hair like mine gave it to her. It had her name on it, Harry. Did Fletcher come back with anything unusual, too?”
Harry shook his head, his eyes bereft, his mind clearly sifting through his conversation with Fletcher. “No. Nothing. And his description of this woman was the same as Mimi’s. Except he said when she dropped them off, as she ran away, she got all blurry. He said she was really fast. ‘Superhuman fast’ were his words.”
Mara gripped the edge of the counter. Blurry? What would make a child describe a scenario like that unless the person doing the running wasn’t human? Humans didn’t get blurry when they ran. “Someone paranormal . . .” The words slipped from her lips before she could stop them.
“So this does have to do with all of you?”
Mara tilted her head, certain she hadn’t heard an accusatory tone in his voice, just a simple question. “That makes no sense, Harry. No one knows about you but Guido and us. And he doesn’t know about the kids unless you told him. No one at Pack even knew the kids existed. They still don’t, as far as I know. How could they unless you told them? HR doesn’t even know about them.”
Harry’s head popped up, his dark hair bristling against the collar of his shirt. “You looked at my file?”
“Before you get all hormonal on me, yes. Once I found out about Mimi and Fletcher, I wanted to be sure I didn’t make things worse in case you didn’t want anyone at work to know about them. You weren’t answering your texts and I was sweating the small stuff. So I peeked at your insurance information to see if you’d put them on the plan. That’s it. I was just trying to keep track of my lies.”
“Then I don’t get it. I just know they can’t go back to that school until we find out who this person is. Maybe never, at that. Because after today, it’s obvious their security is lax. No way am I taking a chance someone could grab them if it was that easy to do it, and I’ve said as much to Principal Ditter and the police when they questioned the kids and me.”
Oh, she could almost hear the weeping and wailing of the car-pool ladies now. “Okay. So next question. Until we find this person, how do you feel about them staying with Wanda while you adjust? We can’t have them witness a shift until we know you can control it.”
Harry’s head cocked. “But isn’t she out on the Island? That’s too far from me. I need to see them.”
Mara shook her head. “What choice do we have? I’d bring them back to Pack, if you’d all just let me. But nooo, everyone’s worried about me getting caught for turning you, even though that’s going to happen anyway. So we can send them to Wanda. Heath’s away right now, so he won’t be there to tell anyone. She keeps normal daytime hours, or they can play Count Dracula with Auntie Nina and Carl the Zombie.”
Nina barged through the back door, holding Carl by his belt loop. “Sit, buddy. When I tell you to stay with Harry, you stay the hell with Harry. Do you want to end up kidnapped by the bad people? No. You do not. Because then I have to kill the bad people if they hurt you. That’s always a shitty mess.”
Though his face always had that crooked, almost misshapen turn to it, his eyes said he’d been caught doing something he knew he shouldn’t have. He folded his chin to his chest in remorse as he sat on a stool and put his head on Harry’s shoulder.
“So the issue of the kids. You wanna see them on Skype for a little while or on a website’s sidebar, Harry?” No Holds Barred Nina asked, jamming her hands into her hoodie’s pocket.