strongest image of you running into a fire. I know it’s a stupid question, but—did you?”
“I did. Sort of. There was a bit of a flash fire on set. It’s out. Everyone is fine. Thank you for worrying about me. You have no idea how much it means to me that—”
“But how did you know that I saw—”
“We’ll talk about this later. I promise you we will.”
Behind him, the director called his name. Damn it! Just as he and Athena were making the right kind of connection, just as her mind was beginning to open, he had to go.
“Thank you,” he said again. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
###
Thena looked at the clock on the living room wall before she stepped onto the porch. She was surprised to discover it was only five forty-five, when it seemed as if this day had gone on forever. And it hadn’t just been Aunt Maria and vampires and James on fire. There’d been a long exchange of emails with her editor about cover copy and cover art for her next book—the one she wasn’t finished writing yet. There’d been a long call from her mother trying to talk her into leaving for the annual family trip to Greece earlier this year. Thena wormed out of her mom that the real reason wasn’t that grandpa’s not getting any younger but you need to get away from that younger man . Thena’s pointed out that they had these things called airplanes, so that if the younger man wanted to he could visit Okios. Not that Thena thought James would follow her across the world, or even as far as Missouri, but a girl could dream.
Then, of course, her younger sister had been in a shoot-out. Lonnie was an FBI agent. Thena had seen a news crawl about FBI agents stopping a bank robbery in Washington, D.C. and had called her sister on a hunch that Lonnie was involved. Thena didn’t understand why she was suddenly having hunches and visions, but she’d acted on this one just as she had on the one featuring James Wilde. It turned out that Lonnie had indeed been involved. Shots had been fired. Lonnie assured Thena that she was fine. No one, including the bank robbers, had sustained any injury.
“You lead an exciting life,” Thena had told Lonnie before they hung up.
“Be grateful you lead a quiet one,” Lonnie had answered.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, Thena had loved her quiet life, never wanted to change it, reveled in it. Now she wasn’t so sure making up and writing down adventures was enough for her.
She chuckled at herself as she went out onto the porch, a glass of iced tea in one hand, her knitting bag in the other. She sat down in the rocking chair, put the tea on the table next to it, then glanced at the other items she’d put on the table earlier. Two telephones and a laptop. The communications types available to her were immense, all of it plugged in and charged up.
She tsked. “All this because Jimmy said he’d be in touch.”
She left all the tech on the table and took out her knitting. Along with the row counter, tape measure, cable needle, and the pattern she’d worked out for James’s sweater. Knitting wasn’t just two sticks and a string when working on a complex Aran Irish knit project with all its twists and bumps. She reveled in the challenge, and got to work.
After a while, Ed Caven stopped by the porch. “Weather Channel says there’s a strong storm front heading through tonight.”
Thena looked up from her knitting, past Ed, to the sky above the distant hillside where sheep wandered the pasture. The sky was clear and blue and quiet, but you couldn’t argue with all those weather satellites and radar and whatever the meteorologists used. Besides, she’d broken an arm in her youth, and the healed bone in her upper arm told her the Weather Channel’s prediction was correct.
“Everybody sleeps in the barn tonight, I guess,” she said to Ed.
“Sheep Mother won’t like that. She’ll get out.”
The guard llama was an amazing escape artist. “We can but try to
“I did. Sort of. There was a bit of a flash fire on set. It’s out. Everyone is fine. Thank you for worrying about me. You have no idea how much it means to me that—”
“But how did you know that I saw—”
“We’ll talk about this later. I promise you we will.”
Behind him, the director called his name. Damn it! Just as he and Athena were making the right kind of connection, just as her mind was beginning to open, he had to go.
“Thank you,” he said again. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
###
Thena looked at the clock on the living room wall before she stepped onto the porch. She was surprised to discover it was only five forty-five, when it seemed as if this day had gone on forever. And it hadn’t just been Aunt Maria and vampires and James on fire. There’d been a long exchange of emails with her editor about cover copy and cover art for her next book—the one she wasn’t finished writing yet. There’d been a long call from her mother trying to talk her into leaving for the annual family trip to Greece earlier this year. Thena wormed out of her mom that the real reason wasn’t that grandpa’s not getting any younger but you need to get away from that younger man . Thena’s pointed out that they had these things called airplanes, so that if the younger man wanted to he could visit Okios. Not that Thena thought James would follow her across the world, or even as far as Missouri, but a girl could dream.
Then, of course, her younger sister had been in a shoot-out. Lonnie was an FBI agent. Thena had seen a news crawl about FBI agents stopping a bank robbery in Washington, D.C. and had called her sister on a hunch that Lonnie was involved. Thena didn’t understand why she was suddenly having hunches and visions, but she’d acted on this one just as she had on the one featuring James Wilde. It turned out that Lonnie had indeed been involved. Shots had been fired. Lonnie assured Thena that she was fine. No one, including the bank robbers, had sustained any injury.
“You lead an exciting life,” Thena had told Lonnie before they hung up.
“Be grateful you lead a quiet one,” Lonnie had answered.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, Thena had loved her quiet life, never wanted to change it, reveled in it. Now she wasn’t so sure making up and writing down adventures was enough for her.
She chuckled at herself as she went out onto the porch, a glass of iced tea in one hand, her knitting bag in the other. She sat down in the rocking chair, put the tea on the table next to it, then glanced at the other items she’d put on the table earlier. Two telephones and a laptop. The communications types available to her were immense, all of it plugged in and charged up.
She tsked. “All this because Jimmy said he’d be in touch.”
She left all the tech on the table and took out her knitting. Along with the row counter, tape measure, cable needle, and the pattern she’d worked out for James’s sweater. Knitting wasn’t just two sticks and a string when working on a complex Aran Irish knit project with all its twists and bumps. She reveled in the challenge, and got to work.
After a while, Ed Caven stopped by the porch. “Weather Channel says there’s a strong storm front heading through tonight.”
Thena looked up from her knitting, past Ed, to the sky above the distant hillside where sheep wandered the pasture. The sky was clear and blue and quiet, but you couldn’t argue with all those weather satellites and radar and whatever the meteorologists used. Besides, she’d broken an arm in her youth, and the healed bone in her upper arm told her the Weather Channel’s prediction was correct.
“Everybody sleeps in the barn tonight, I guess,” she said to Ed.
“Sheep Mother won’t like that. She’ll get out.”
The guard llama was an amazing escape artist. “We can but try to
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