“Huh?” I narrowed my eyes in mock suspicion. “Accomplice in what?”
“Come with me,” he said. I took his hand and he pulled me upright before leading me away from our group. We walked through the trees for less than a minute before he stopped and pointed to a tree with trailing branches that resembled a willow tree, except they were deep purple in color. It stood about twelve feet away. Through its long but thin branches, I could spy Arwen and Brock beneath it. Arwen was sitting on Brock's lap, his arms resting around her while they talked.
Once Heath had verified that I had spotted them, he led me away and stood with me behind a tree. He proceeded to inform me of an idea—something he wanted my help with. It was a plan too delicious for me to reject.
“I’ll be your conspirator,” I replied.
I could hardly keep my face straight as we moved back into view of the rest of the group. Heath gestured to Corrine, who was talking with my grandmother, and then to Kiev, who was sitting in conversation with Aiden and Micah.
“I’ll fetch Kiev,” he said, “you fetch Corrine.”
“Got it,” I whispered.
And so the two of us parted ways. As I approached the two women, they turned to me, raising their brows. “Have you seen Arwen anywhere?” I asked.
Corrine frowned, even as she looked around the clearing. “No.” Then she tensed. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know,” I said, mimicking her frown. “Brock is missing, too. Last I saw of them, they were over there,” I added, pointing vaguely toward the direction of the willow tree. “We should look for them.”
Barely a moment later, Heath had finished talking to Kiev, and the two men made their way toward us.
“I won’t worry Ibrahim about this yet,” Corrine murmured. “Hopefully she’s just nearby.”
“I’ll do the same with Mona,” Kiev grunted.
Perfect.
“I’m guessing we shouldn’t shout either, if we can help it,” Heath added, his face amazingly serious. “Probably best to not disturb these woods at night… As Grace said, we last saw them over here.”
Heath led us into view of the willow tree. I could no longer hold back my snigger as Corrine and Kiev’s eyes shot to it at once. Watching the metamorphosis of Corrine’s expression was like witnessing the falling of an avalanche. Her eyes widened at first, then narrowed, as though she doubted her vision. Then the truth came crashing down on her all at once. Her jaw dropped so starkly, she looked like a dead fish.
Kiev only looked mildly less shocked.
“Of all things good and evil,” Corrine gasped. Then her voice strengthened into a bellow. “Arwen!”
So much for not disturbing the woods…
Arwen and Brock jerked apart as if jolted by an electric current. They gasped for words as their cheeks heated to a deep tomato red.
“What in the name of all that is holy is this?” Corrine stormed toward them. “Brock? How long has this been going on?”
I stole a glance at Heath. His chest was shaking with silent laughter.
“Augh, Mom! I was going to tell you, okay?” Arwen cried back.
“I really hope you treat my daughter right, mister,” Corrine rampaged on. She was now standing in front of Brock, gripping his collar. “Because if you don’t—”
“Hey,” Kiev interrupted. “What are you insinuating?”
Heath and I backed away before Arwen and Brock noticed us, although it was clear the entertainment would have lasted a while longer.
As we returned to the rest of the group, I thought of Victoria with a twinge in my chest. If only she could have been here to see that.
“Good job, partner,” Heath said, giving my arm a squeeze.
All I could think to respond with was a goofy grin. Before I could do something to embarrass myself further, Xavier’s voice rang out through the trees. “The tracker! It’s showing up! The receiver is working!”
Everyone shot up and rushed toward him. Even Kiev and Corrine arrived with their rumpled children.
“Thank God!” Vivienne whispered.
A red light at the base of the receiver had started flashing, even as an arrow emerged on the screen. It spun around wildly at first, but then settled, pointing deeper into the woods.
“I wonder why it started working only now,” Micah said.
“Maybe we needed to be closer,” I suggested hopefully. “Maybe we’ve gained a lot of ground on them.”
“Hm,” Micah murmured. “Well, while it’s working, we should follow the device. This will hopefully save time. A lot of time.”
Victoria
I felt quite disconcerted by the care Bastien was showing toward me. Mostly because I simply did not understand it. We were still basically strangers to each other. His behavior almost made me suspicious, although he had done nothing to earn my suspicion.
I looked at him, frowning, as he scanned the trees around us. “We should keep moving,” he muttered through the satchel and belt still clenched between his teeth.