Her parents weregone.
Tears leaked down her cheeks again. “Parents aren’t supposed to die!” she shouted at the sky.
The big bird dropped down to a branch ahead of her, making it bounce. It regarded her with a beady eye.
“Daddy, you said you were coming here! Why? How can grownups justdisappear?”
Despite the lack of any breeze, a waft of air brushed hair from her face, and Loretta stopped walking to push at it impatiently and look around. The heat of the day was wearing off, but she was still sweaty. If she lived out here by herself, she could jump in the pond and swim anytime she liked. She was a good swimmer.
She shoved her glasses back up her nose and left the path to study the edge of the pond. There was mud beneath the tall grass, and a short mud wall holding in the water. She stooped down to look for animal tracks. Maybe she could take up studying animals if she lived near the woods. These looked like dog prints, though, and lots of people tracks.
The raven flew to the branch of a bush barely large enough to hold it. It cawed at her again.
A hand shoved at her back, and she stumbled into the low wall and hastily righted herself. She could have fallen into the pond! Frightened, she turned around, but no one was there.
The accidents had stopped since she’d moved in with Evie. Had the killer followed her?
Evie said there was no killer, that her father was trying to talk to her.
That had seemed silly when she’d thought him alive. But now? Her father knew she could swim. “Daddy?” She tried to hide her fear. She didn’t want him to be dead. But if he was and he was trying to talk to her...
The bird cawed and bobbed. The weird waft of air blew her hair into her face again. Her shoulder felt as if a heavy hand was leaning on it.
A little scared, a little excited, she turned in the direction of the blackbird. Raven. Whatever. Idonea’s pet could talk, sort of. Could this one? “Is that you, La Chusa? What are you telling me?”
The bird squawked. Something tapped her shoulder—like her daddy used to? Her stomach felt really strange now, and she wasn’t hungry anymore.
The bird fluttered up in the air, then dropped to the water’s edge where the pond had receded far down the muddy bank. The invisible hand pushed her shoulder again.
“I am not drowning myself in a muddy pond,” she said belligerently, crossing her arms.
She should probably go back to Evie and have her explain why the pond was haunted. Except Jax would try to take her away.
The raven squawked, flapped its huge wings, and pecked at the gravel.
For a moment, for a very brief moment, Loretta felt an extreme sadness surround her. The air turned icy, chilling the sweat until she was almost shivering.
She needed Evie. She’d find a way around Jax...
The raven flew up carrying a mud-encrusted chain, dropping it at Loretta’s feet.
She shivered even more, terrified to look closer. The bird waited expectantly.
Biting her lip, she crouched down and picked up the chain. And screamed. And ran, screaming, back the way she’d come, holding the filthy chain with her mother’s dangling pendant.
* * *
Evie had almost reachedthe pond when Loretta burst out of the field, screaming as if a bear were on her heels. Seeing no bear, she simply ran to catch the child, holding her close while her own heart slowed its thumping and Loretta quieted to sobs.
“Your lungs are almost as good as mine, kid,” she murmured, stroking Loretta’s ratty braid.
Although, it hadn’t been Loretta’s screams that had brought her here. Knowing Loretta would head this way, she’d had Idonea confirm that La Chusa saw her at the pond.
Evie had never had to take care of anyone but herself, and well, Mavis, sort of. She wasn’t certain how this comforting business was supposed to work, but Loretta clung to her, and this just seemed the best thing to do until the child was coherent again.
Jax came thumping up the road after them, probably trying to escape her family. He’d looked as if he’d been pole-axed when Aunt Felicia attacked him. He’d probably thought they were all a bunch of featherheads. Or maniacs. Her family could be pretty overwhelming, and he hadn’t seen the worst of them yet.
“You still want to stay with me?” Evie murmured into Loretta’s ear.