Dying Covenant: The Complete Series Read online

  I glanced in the bag, impressed at their haul. “Wow! You guys really did make out.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever had morels,” Paris said, wrinkling her nose as she stared over my shoulder. “What do they taste like?”

  “They’re okay,” I replied. “I think they’re something of an acquired taste. Aric loves them. He would get naked and roll around in them if given the chance.”

  “I would not,” Aric protested. “That would ruin the mushrooms.”

  Sami giggled, apparently happy despite her initial reticence to go. “I found the most. Heath says it’s because I have young eyes.”

  “I swear I could be looking right at them and never see them,” Heath said. “These two would be fifty feet away and sniff them out under a bunch of leaves. It was weird.”

  “So what do we do with these?” Paris asked, taking the bag from me. “Do we sauté them like regular mushrooms?”

  “Um … I’m not sure you should eat those,” Heath hedged, darting a worried glance in Aric’s direction. “I read some of those could be poisonous.”

  “Only if they’re false morels. We’ll check them all,” Aric said. “It’s easy to tell. I’m sure she can try a few.”

  “But … what about the baby?”

  “The baby will be fine,” Paris said. “I’ve never been a huge mushroom fan, though. I might try a bite to say I’ve tasted them and then we’ll see after that.”

  “Mom can just heal her if she gets sick,” Sami offered. “She healed me on Christmas when I ate a bag of candy that I wasn’t supposed to touch. I got really sick and she fixed me.”

  Aric swiveled quickly. “I knew it! You ate my chocolate-covered cherries.”

  Sami realized her mistake too late. “I … um … Mom ate some, too.” She extended her finger for emphasis in my direction. “We both got kind of sick, and she healed us so you wouldn’t figure it out.”

  “Glutton,” Aric said, shaking his head. “You owe me more magic fingers for that.”

  “Oh, whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes. “They weren’t even that good. I don’t know why anyone buys them in the first place.”

  “Then why did you eat them?”

  “Because it was Christmas morning and we were in our pajamas and it was a long walk to the kitchen,” I replied. “I’ll buy you two boxes this Christmas if it will shut you up.”

  “Nothing but vengeance will shut me up,” Aric countered. “I can’t believe my own wife lied to me.”

  “Thanks a lot, Sami,” I said. “You’re such a narc.”

  She only knew what the word meant because she’d heard me use it before. “I’m not a narc. You’re a candy thief.”

  “I don’t think you have a lot of room to talk,” Aric said. “You’re a candy thief, too.”

  “But Mom did it first!”

  “Yes, but your mother rewards me for her thievery,” Aric said. “For example, tonight she’s going to clean all of these mushrooms.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” I said. “I barely like eating the things. They’re dirty.”

  Aric was in a playful mood, which meant his afternoon with Sami went better than expected. He was having none of my attitude. “Woman, get over here and clean me some mushrooms!”

  Sami giggled wildly at her father’s act until he grabbed me around the waist and made wet kissing noises against my neck. She was over it in two seconds flat after that. “Oh, gross! Why do you always have to do that?”

  “Because if we didn’t do that we never would’ve gotten you,” Aric replied. “Go get cleaned up. Your mother will have the mushrooms washed and cut by the time you get back. You can help me cook them.”

  “Can I help you grill?” Sami was a negotiator at heart and she loved starting the grill with her powers, which Aric allowed only under his watchful eye. She couldn’t always manage it, but the ability was there. Her emotions often stymied her efforts.

  “Yes,” Aric said. “You’re dying to show Heath your parlor trick. I get it. Hurry up and get cleaned up and we’ll get to cooking … while Momma here gets to washing.”

  Sami scampered out of the room while I fixed Aric with a dark look. “I hate it when you use that voice to order me around.”

  “You’ll live,” Aric said, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Sami was gone before sobering. “Did you find anything?”

  “Just a mess,” I replied. “She’s messier than you are.”

  “That’s not much of an insult. I clean up after you,” Aric said dryly. “You didn’t find anything?”

  “We searched the entire room,” I said. “We looked under the bed, under the mattress, in the closet, through all of the dresser drawers … there’s just nothing there.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” Aric said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t feel particularly good about keeping her a prisoner in the house, but until we know what’s going on I don’t see where we have much of a choice.”

  “She’s grounded for a month,” I reminded him. “That should make the job easier.”

  “Well … .” Aric shifted from one foot to the other and averted his gaze. I knew exactly what that loaded “well” meant.

  “You caved, didn’t you?”

  “I didn’t cave,” Aric countered. “I … listened to her explain how she overreacted and … um … then she used that voice she uses when she wants me to do something and … yeah, I caved. Sue me.”

  “You’re such a marshmallow,” I said, poking his stomach.

  Aric furrowed his brow. “Wait, you’re not angry?”

  “I knew you’d cave. You always do.”

  “I don’t always cave.” Aric shot me an annoyed look. “That’s unfair.”

  “Oh, puh-leez.”

  Aric snatched the bag of mushrooms back and clutched it closer to his chest. “I’ll wash these myself.”

  “I think that’s best.”

  I glanced up to find Paris and Heath biting their lips to keep from laughing. “It’s okay if you want to make fun of us,” I said. “You’ll learn eventually that you’re a marshmallow, too. I give in all of the time – although it’s less because she uses that voice and more because I’m too lazy to embark on a full-fledged argument.”

  “It’s all very illuminating,” Paris said. “Heath and I are not going to parent like that, though. We’re going to be firm.”

  Aric snorted as he dumped the mushrooms into a colander in the sink. “Yeah, we said that, too. The first time your kid points at a stuffed animal in a store and says ‘pretty, daddy’ you’ll melt just like I did.”

  “He gives in more often than I do, but I still do it, too,” I admitted. “She knows she can snow him.”

  “She doesn’t snow me,” Aric argued. “I know she’s manipulating me. I just can’t make myself care. She’s so cute. She has those big brown eyes, and when she smiles I see Zoe looking back at me.”

  “She doesn’t smile like me.”

  “Yes, she does,” Aric and Paris said in unison.

  “I know you think she looks like me but she has your smile and that thing she does when she wrinkles her forehead and really concentrates – usually on doing something evil – is all you,” Aric added. “I can’t say no to you either, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  “You say no every summer when I want to eradicate the bees in our yard,” I reminded him.

  “That’s different, and you know it,” Aric said. “I’m a pushover for both of the women in my life.”

  “You mean all three of the women in your life,” I corrected. “You’re a big puddle of goo when your mother comes around, too.”

  “Oh, yeah, speaking of that … .”

  Aric didn’t get a chance to finish because Sami picked that moment to stomp back into the kitchen. Her previously sunny disposition was gone and in its place the sullen tween monster I’d come to recognize as my daughter. “Someone was in my room!”

  My heart sank as I hurriedly stared at the steaks I was re
adying to get out of the plastic wrap. “No one was in your room,” I lied. “Why would you think that?”

  “Because someone cleaned off my computer screen,” Sami said. “It had pop on it from when I laughed at a video on YouTube the other day. I never got a chance to clean it off.”

  “I think there’s a lesson for you there,” Aric said smoothly. “Clean up your messes – especially when it comes to expensive electronics – right away.”

  Sami ignored him. She knew he wasn’t the guilty party, which meant her ire was directed solely at me. “Why were you in my room?”

  “I was looking for a T-shirt,” I said. “I thought you might’ve grabbed it out of the dryer by mistake.”

  “That’s such crap, you liar,” Sami snapped.

  “Hey!” Aric wagged a warning finger in Sami’s face. “Do not speak to your mother that way. We just had this talk and you said you were sorry. Was that all an act?”

  “No, but I said it before she went through my stuff,” Sami said, her cheeks flushing with color as the anger built and the embarrassment of Aric’s chastisement in front of other people washed over her. “I want to know what you were doing in there.”

  I shot a murderous look in Paris’ direction as she made herself busy on the other side of the island studying the label on the steak sauce. “This is your fault,” I said. “I told you she would notice if you cleaned something.”

  “I didn’t mean to clean it,” Paris shot back. “It was just so … gross.”

  “Yeah, kids are gross,” I said. “Get used to that.”

  “You’re gross,” Sami said. “I want to know why you were in my room and I want to know right now!”

  “Lower your voice,” Aric said, his voice even but harsh. “I’ve had just about enough of you. You’re sweet and loving one moment and a monster the next. Your mother was in your room because … .” He didn’t know how to explain the situation without panicking her.

  “You walked in your sleep again last night,” I volunteered. “We’re worried that somehow you’re being controlled, and we looked through your room to see if you had any possessed items.” That would shut her up.

  “Do you expect me to believe that?”

  Or not. “It’s the truth, Sami,” I said. “You walked out of the house again last night. I have no idea where you were going, but you didn’t respond to us when we talked to you. I had to go into your mind again. We found you in a bowling alley.”

  Sami stilled, a small flicker of recognition flaring in her chocolate eyes. “That didn’t happen.” This time her voice was barely a whisper. She remembered the dream and now that she knew part of my explanation was real she was terrified the rest of it was true. “I would know if something like that happened.”

  “Sami, we’re not trying to spy on you,” Aric said. “We’re trying to take care of you. That’s our job. I know you don’t believe that, but … we’re worried.”

  “Why?” Sami challenged, her annoyed tone returning with a vengeance. “Do you think I’m finally going to turn into a magical wonder like Mom? Is everything you told me finally going to happen, or is this going to be a big nothing like everything else?”

  I opened my mouth to answer and then snapped it shut. Part of me understood why she believed that. We had been preparing her for the worst her entire life. When she was little, we ran her through drills in case a stranger approached her. We made her recite back to us what she would do if we both were killed and she was left on her own. She was terrified of every shadow for a time, and finally Aric and I realized we were doing her more harm than good and took a step back. To her, it probably looked as if we were taking a step forward again.

  “Sami, we made a mistake when we tried to make you remember all of that stuff when you were a kid,” Aric said, his expression pained. “We’re sorry. This is different, though. You’ve gotten out of your bed and tried to leave the house two nights in a row. We thought you were sleepwalking, but Paris thinks you were in a trance, that someone was trying to control you.”

  “We thought if we could find a cursed object in your room we would be able to put an end to it and find the person doing this,” I added. “We didn’t go through your things to invade your privacy.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  I probably wouldn’t believe me either if the roles were reversed. “That doesn’t change the fact that I’m telling the truth.”

  “Oh, whatever!” Sami grabbed the empty bowl I planned on putting the potato salad in and threw it in my direction. Aric’s reflexes were fast enough that he caught the bowl before it struck me, and he growled as Sami bolted for the front door.

  “Where is she going?” Paris asked, alarmed.

  “Not to her room,” Aric muttered, following the sound of Sami’s feet. She was stalled at the front door when we caught up to her, fruitlessly punching a code that no longer worked into the keypad.

  “What’s going on?” Sami screeched. “Are you locking me in here forever?”

  “Not forever,” I said. “Just until we figure out what’s going on.”

  “No!” Sami grabbed the door handle and wrenched it open, ignoring the wail of the alarm as it marked the breach.

  I hurried to the keypad to punch in the correct code as Aric followed Sami outside. I was only a few seconds behind them, but when I hit the top of the walk I pulled up short. Two new people had joined the party, and Sami raced toward them when she realized reinforcements – for her, at least – had arrived.

  “Grandma! Grandpa!”

  Ten

  James Winters caught Sami mid-air as she threw her arms around his neck. She was in full-on sob mode and her grandfather’s face contorted in concern when he realized it wasn’t glee she greeted them with, but sadness.

  “What’s wrong, pup?” James ran his hand over the back of Sami’s hair as her wails grew exponentially louder. She was playing for an audience now. “Did something happen?”

  “Mom and dad are being mean to me,” Sami said, her voice shaking.

  “I’m sure that’s not true,” Helen Winters said, moving up behind her granddaughter. She had a dark look on her face as it bounced between her son and me. “Are you sure you’re not overreacting?”

  Sami bit her lip and shook her head, fat tears spilling down her cheeks.

  “Well, Grandpa is here now, so you can tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it.” James had a pervasive attitude as a grandparent. Aric swore up and down he didn’t boast that same attitude as a parent. I think there’s some unspoken rule that grandparents have to take their grandchild’s side, making the parents the ultimate bad guys. “What’s wrong, my little puppy?”

  I hate it when he calls her that, by the way. Not only has Sami manifested limited mage powers, but any wolf traits have fallen by the wayside as well. I can’t decide if Aric is happy or sad about that. James and Helen are most definitely sad.

  “Mom went through my room and looked at all my stuff,” Sami said. “She’s spying on me.”

  That was a gross exaggeration. “I’m not spying on her.”

  Helen lobbed a challenging look in my direction. “That doesn’t seem fair, does it?”

  “Oh, good grief,” I muttered. “What are you guys even doing here?”

  “You didn’t think we’d miss our only granddaughter’s birthday, did you?” James asked.

  “No, but her family birthday party isn’t until next weekend.”

  “And Aric called me earlier today and asked me to come,” James shot back.

  I slid an accusing look in Aric’s direction. “Really?”

  “I was going to tell you,” Aric said. “We got distracted in the kitchen. I thought Dad might be able to help me search the woods and follow that scent. I picked it up in three different locations while we were mushroom hunting.”

  “You could’ve mentioned that sooner.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t want to alarm Sami,” Aric said. “That was before you told her someone evil was trying t
o possess her. Good one, by the way.”

  “Oh, bite me,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

  Aric ignored my anger and moved to greet his parents, exchanging a warm hug with his mother and one of those stiff, one-armed embraces with his father. It wasn’t easy since Sami still had her arms thrown around her grandfather’s neck.

  “We’re so excited for your birthday, Sami,” Helen said. “We got you a great gift.”

  Sami’s crocodile tears evaporated quickly as she brightened. “You did? What is it?”

  “It was on your list,” Helen said, moving toward the back seat of her husband’s sports utility vehicle. Given the location of James’ body I couldn’t see how big the gift was when Helen removed it from the vehicle, but Sami’s gasp told me it had to be huge.

  “Omigod!” Sami’s screech was obviously for a good reason for a change. “It’s a puppy!”

  My heart rolled as I pressed my tongue to the back of my teeth and took a step forward. This could not be happening. There was no way Helen and James would be irresponsible enough to … nope, there it is.

  Sami’s arms were full as she swiveled, a wriggling German shepherd puppy happily licking her face as the duo yipped together.

  Aric risked a glance over his shoulder. I could tell the puppy came as a surprise to him, too. “Um … Mom … I … how … don’t you think … .”

  “We’re not keeping that puppy.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think of a better way to phrase them, although the sentiment would’ve been the same.

  “What?” Sami’s face crumpled as she clutched the puppy closer to her chest. “No! He’s my gift.”

  “He’s her gift,” James repeated. “We didn’t buy him for you, Zoe.”

  On a normal day James and I got along. I often wonder if he would’ve preferred Aric marrying a full wolf and living a boring life, but if he felt that way he never showed it. Helen was another matter. We got along, but she coddled Aric to the point of forcing me to fight the urge to puke some days. I figured that had to be a mother-and-son thing.