Page 7 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

Blaming her behavior and drive on the fact that her older brother (our father) had been brutally murdered by supernaturals would have been easy, except she’d been that intense and mission-focused when my parents had been alive. From what I could gather, she’d always been that way.

I pretty much thought Helen was deranged. Mina went back and forth on her opinion of our aunt. One second, Mina seemed to agree that Helen had lost touch with reality if she had ever really been in touch with it to begin with. And the next second, Mina was trying to be just like her, wanting to prove her worth and mettle.

That was bananas. I didn’t need or want Helen’s approval. I just needed to bide my time until we turned eighteen in two weeks and could access the trust left by our parents. In theory, Helen didn’t need to be a part of that. We could simply walk into the lawyer's office and demand our portion.

Then I planned to distance myself from Helen and never see her or any of her freaky group of friends. My hope was to connect with our uncles, Simon and Ashley, whom we’d not seen in years, and start college in South Carolina shortly thereafter. Mina and I had been accepted at Grimm Cove College and were excited to get on with the next chapter of our lives.

“It’s not in here, Willa,” said Mina with an exasperated sigh. While we were identical, personality-wise, we were total opposites. We also had very different styles. She wore contacts in place of glasses and kept her long dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail nearly all the time. She had on skintight black denim jeans and a red fitted shirt while I was in cut-off shorts and a T-shirt with a screen print from one of the band Oasis’s covers. “I looked twice.”

I frowned as I sat up on the van floor.

A van that managed to be in even worse shape than Lester’s cruised by at a snail’s pace. For a second, I thought it might stop right behind us.

Helen didn’t seem to notice or care.

“We don’t have time for this,” Lester said, glancing toward the other van as if he was expecting trouble. “Half the team is already in flight. The rest is meeting us in Romania. We need to go. Now.”

Helen took the passports from Lester and handed ours to Mina. “Meet us at the terminal. Mina, stay and help her look for her necklace. Willa, you’ve got fifteen minutes. If you don’t find it by then, tough. Get your asses inside and to the terminal.”

“Lock my van when you’re done,” snapped Lester, glaring in at me. “I don’t want anyone stealing it.”

I glared right back.

“Like anyone wants your kidnapper’s van,” said Mina with a huff as she pushed past him and into the van.

The brown monstrosity that he called a van was his pride and joy.

“Paint it white,” Mina taunted. “Idareyou. It would be a step up from dog-turd brown.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. She wasn’t wrong. His van was the color of a turd.

Mina found any excuse she could to give Lester a hard time. I had a feeling it was because he went out of his way to give me a hard way to go. She’d always been protective of me. Of the two of us, she was the fighter. I was the reader and the dreamer. The one who liked getting lost in books while she enjoyed learning new fighting techniques.

Helen snorted at the offended expression on her boyfriend’s face. “Admit it, that was funny.”

“My van is great,” said Lester with a grunt. “And its paint job is cherry.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” said Mina. “Also, the 70’s called and want their lingo back.”

He mumbled something about her being a bitch, and Mina waited until Helen had turned and began walking before she gave Lester the finger.

I didn’t bother to hide my laugh.

“Wish we could just do it here and save time,” Lester said to Helen.

She stiffened and glanced over her shoulder in our direction, planting a fake smile on her face. “Fifteen minutes, all right? I don’t wanteitherof you missing the flight. You’re going to love Romania.”

We nodded.

She grabbed Lester’s jacket sleeve and went toward one of the suitcases. She took it while Lester lifted another. They walked through the semi-lit parking lot in the direction of a bus terminal that was near the four-lane road.

Mina crawled into the rear seat area of the van. “I’ll check back here.”

“Thank you,” I said, feeling around the van, desperate to find the necklace. “Come on. It has to be here.”

She poked her head over the back of the seat and flashed a wide smile at me. “Relax, we’ll totally find it.”

A knot formed in my stomach. “What if we don’t? What if I lost it?”

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