Таня Хафф - Summon The Keeper

A stack of white briefs, also neatly folded, tucked in beside the jeans.

There’d been a lot left unsaid upstairs in the hall. Claire’d been looking sort of aloof and unapproachable, but also twisting a lock of hair around one finger. Dean had to smile at the combination as he added all but one pair of socks to the bag.

Diana had given him continual advice on the way to the station. About half of it, he hadn’t understood.

It didn’t much matter.

Claire was leaving.

He was leaving.

At least she hadn’t offered to rearrange his memories. He’d have fought to remember the last eight weeks.

“What in tarnation have you done to my hotel?”

Claire, who’d been waiting in the office, stared down at Augustus Smythe, opened and closed her mouth, and finally managed a stunned, “You?”

“Who else would be willing to run this rattrap?”

“But…”

“Used to be a hole to Hell in the basement. That sort of thing has to be monitored.” He shrugged out of his overcoat and tossed it up on the counter. “They say I’m retired, with full pension for years of service rendered, but I know better.” Bushy brows drawn in, he glared around at the renovations. “So you opened up the elevator; lose anyone?”

“No.”

“Tried it since the hole closed?”

“No, but…”

“Never mind. I’ll convince that harpy next door to go for a ride.” To Claire’s astonishment, he smoothed back his hair and grinned. After a moment, the grin rearranged itself into the customary scowl. “Well? Haven’t you got somewhere else to go?”

Now that he mentioned it, she had.

The summons grew stronger as she shrugged into her backpack and held open the cat carrier for Austin to climb in. Reaching for her suitcase, she stopped, straightened, and decided Jacques was right. There’d always be a reason to delay.

She reached for the suitcase again, shifted it to her left hand, and picked up the cat carrier with her right. “Tell Dean I said good-bye.”

And then she left, ignoring the muttered, “Idiot,” that could have come from either the Cousin or the cat.

The summons drew her west. She passed the park, and the hospital, and the turnoff to a house Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister had lived in briefly before he entered politics.

The definitive November wind, cold and damp, blew in off the lake, stiffening her fingers around the handles of her luggage. By the time she reached the lights at Sir John A. MacDonald Boulevard, she decided that the summons was taking her farther than she wanted to walk. Even in a bad mood and feeling vaguely guilty about pretty much everything.

“You need a lift?”

He wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Frowning, Claire turned to face the truck. “You don’t know where I’m going.”

Leaning across the front seat, braced against the edge of the open window, Dean shrugged. “So?”

“Just get in!” The cat carrier rocked in Claire’s grip as Austin shifted his weight. “I’m freezing my tail off out here.”

“You told him which way we’d be heading.”

“What part of get in don’t you understand?” he snarled, poking a paw out through the wider weave in the front of the carrier.

There were people crossing the street toward her. Another few feet and they’d be close enough to hear.

Claire got in the truck.

Fastened her seat belt.

As Dean shifted into drive and started across the intersection, she held the top of the cat carrier open just far enough for Austin to climb out.

“What happens next?” Dean asked.

Claire shrugged and squirmed around to set the carrier behind the seat with her suitcase. “I don’t know.”

There was still a lot that had to be said.

“You did know the speed limit on this street is 40k?”

And a lot that didn’t.

Dean nodded. “Okay. We’ll play it by ear.”

“You’ve been to Hell,” Austin snorted, stretching out on Claire’s lap, “you should be up to it.”

HEY! WHO TIDIED THE BRIMSTONE?

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by TANYA HUFF from DAW Books:

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THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM

THE WILD WAYS

The Confederation Novels:

A CONFEDERATION OF VALOR

Valor’s Choice/The Better Part of Valor

THE HEART OF VALOR (#3)

VALOR’S TRIAL (#4)

THE TRUTH OF VALOR (#5)

SMOKE AND SHADOWS (#1)

SMOKE AND MIRRORS (#2)

SMOKE AND ASHES (#3)

BLOOD PRICE (#1)

BLOOD TRAIL (#2)

BLOOD LINES (#3)

BLOOD PACT (#4)

BLOOD DEBT (#5)

BLOOD BANK (#6)

The Keeper’s Chronicles:

SUMMON THE KEEPER (#1)

THE SECOND SUMMONING (#2)

LONG HOT SUMMONING (#3)

THE QUARTERS NOVELS, Volume 1:

Sing the Four Quarters/Fifth Quarter

THE QUARTERS NOVELS, Volume 2:

No Quarter/The Quartered Sea

WIZARD OF THE GROVE

Child of the Grove/The Last Wizard

OF DARKNESS, LIGHT, AND FIRE

Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light/The Fire’s Stone