Page 71 of Home to the Hollow

Once he leaves, I tilt my head at Prez. “I thought you guys were all doing so well. What’s with the theatrics?”

“Ah, Magpie. Men like Edgar have serious issues when people dare to mess with what they consider theirs. This incident has pushed a primal button that he’s having trouble shutting off. He’s not angry at me, and I know it. He brought you here because he trusts me to take care of you.”

“I guess so,” I murmur, glancing out at Teddy stuffed into a tiny chair with his long legs stretched out. “So, tell me... what kind of nasty things are you going to do to me while you have me alone?”

Presley grins, his eyes dancing at my unexpected innuendo. “Why, Jolene Whitley, I believe you intend to test my professional integrity. I’ll have you know that I’m not that kind of doctor.”

His grin makes the tension in my frame melt, and I look up from under my lashes. “I’ll guess we’ll have to see about that, doctor.”

Rich Girl

After a weekend filled with overprotective guys and an absent Seer, I thought coming back to school would take my mind off of the results from the bloodwork Prez took. Instead, I walked into a fretting Bobbi Jo, who had to sit me down to talk to me about my ‘inappropriate curriculum’.

That turned out to be a rumor spread by unidentified staff members about the sculpture unit we’re working on. It seems they ‘mistook’ the statue of David for some kind of crazy ‘avant garde, NEA funded pornography’.

Mmm-hmmm.

Once I settled that nonsense, I headed for my room to find that the entrance to the art room mysteriously had a new lock on the door. There wasn’t a janitor in sight, and I’m sure that was on purpose. I had to go find Hugo to teach me his secret entrance through the back room, which he wasn’t ecstatic about giving up. I guess it’s been a way for him to disappear before I came along, and after meeting our colleagues, I don’t blame him.

Apparently, the boys don’t have control over the mean girls now that some of them married or date them as adults. I’ve also learned that Bobbi Jo is beyond oblivious and has zero control over anything in the school because of a suspiciously worded school board law put in place thirteen years ago.

Thatdoesn’t seem weird or anything—it went into effect right about the time where the events of my famous catastrophe took place, the rich assholes in this town made it so they were the only ones who could vote to suspend, expel, or fire students and staff from WHFS.

Color me amazed that this wasn’t in the staff code of conduct, nor is it in the student handbook.

Sighing as I clean up the classroom from a day full of beginning sculpting, I consider the lessons I have tonight. The boys know I’ll be late, so we’re ordering takeout Chinese. I haven’t gotten to discuss the weird crush-y vibe I got from Wolfie when he saw Julia was in town, nor have I been able to talk to Seer about her ‘friends’. It’s left me unsettled, and this bullying nonsense doesn’t help my frazzled nerves.

Once I put the last piece in the cabinet to ensure no one ‘accidentally’ destroys a student’s project, I gather my bag and my glasses to head out to the companion area.

Kali and Hecate insisted on joining my guys this morning, so I whistled for Eury as I herd the crew of canines and felines from their spots. They don’t seem to like the other animals, instead choosing to perch on a craggy rock fixture like they rule the roost as they glare at the assorted companions belonging to students and staff alike. I’m not a fan of the bigger predators that some folks kennel there for the day, so I hope they never get into a rumble.

I don’t think two King Danes and two servals can take a fucking mountain Lion and a lowland gorilla, even with the help of a pissed off harpy eagle.

“Have fun today, dudes?” I ask, adjusting my sunglasses before I start the engine. An indignant ‘mow!’ and matching growls echo out of the backseat. Hyde looks at me sheepishly from the front, as if explaining that she can’t control the others, and I frown.

I wonder if my companions are being bullied as well. Teddy might know who some of the more aggressive animals belong to. If so, a conversation might be in order. I’ll end up in the principal's office again if some asswipe is having their companions try to hurt mine.

Shaking my head at the sheer lunacy of my colleagues or students ordering fights like we’re at apalenquerather than a damned school is over my fucking line. I’ll have their guts for garters and them some.

This fucking town is a snake pit, I swear.

* * *

My studio isdark when I arrive, and I’m glad to see the motion sensor lights on the front wall work when I walk by. It’s not dark out yet, but after the events at the club, the guys are certain the stalker is a bigger threat than we assumed.

I still believe the movement outside my house was wildlife, and whatever happened to us at the club was coincidental—college areas are rife with assholes trying to score with chicks in bars. Chemical help in that effort has become a one in five statistic in the U.S. and we simply ran afoul of a would-be date rapist.

That doesn’t make it less disgusting, but it’s not as scary as assuming that I have a stalker obsessed enough to follow me for an hour to the city, poison me, and lug five people home instead of harming us. Tharin’s size alone would take a goddamned Hulk or a team, and I’m not ready to concede I’ve got an entire crew of motherfuckers trying to hurt me.

Besides, if it was the asshole from Thailand, they wouldn’t bother with Julia and her guys. They would have killed Seer and me, maybe posted some revenge video, and gotten the hell out of Dodge. The General doesn’t have a beef with them, and I can’t see why he’d risk leaving any of us alive and relatively unharmed.

Psychological games are way above his IQ and his pay grade.

Impatient yips from Hecate draw me out of my musings and I open the back door, letting all the furry folk in before I flip on the lights. Kali comes rocketing in—followed by Jekyll, Hyde, and shrieking Eury—and barrels past us into the studio like her ass is on fire. Dropping my bag, I run after her to find her in the main gallery, snarling at a large chest.

A chest that was not there when we left the gallery after the event last week.

I approach the ancient-looking thing carefully, pulling my phone out of my pocket. Pressing the speed dial for Teddy, I wait for his voice to come out of my AirPods before I speak. “Teddy, where are you?”

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