Home > Boundary Born (Boundary Magic #3)(2)

Boundary Born (Boundary Magic #3)(2)
Author: Melissa F. Olson

I wasn’t used to going more than a few days without serious Charlie time, so the last month had been hard.

“He decided to take Charlie and my parents on a last-minute trip to Disney World for Charlie’s birthday,” I reported. “They left yesterday morning.”

“What’s Clara doing while they’re out of town?” Lily said curiously. Clara was Charlie’s vampire bodyguard.

“Oh, she went along. Maven flew a coffin down to Orlando and had a human contact pick her up,” I reported. “She’s mostly guarding a closed hotel room door, but she checks in with me every night so I know Charlie’s okay.”

Lily searched my face, sensing my trepidation. “When are they coming back?”

“I don’t know.”

Lily reached out and gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. She knew me well enough to know that part of me hoped John would never come back to Boulder. He could just . . . I don’t know, buy a condo in Orlando and stay there forever. Charlie would be out of reach for Maven and all the other Old World creatures who might want a piece of Charlie.

It was a nice fantasy, but even if John never came back to Boulder, Charlie would still be a null. Eventually, some other supernatural creature would figure out what she could do for them, and I wouldn’t be there to protect her.

“You look tired, Lex,” Lily ventured. “Have you—”

She was interrupted by a loud, hollow thunk from the other side of the basement. Lily paused, giving me a questioning look. “Was that the boiler or something?”

“No . . .” I squinted at the dim light across the room. There were only a couple of bare lightbulbs down here, and they were all over by the gym equipment. It hadn’t really sounded like a boiler, more like someone gently tossing a baseball into the window well farthest from us. But the nearest neighbors were half a mile away.

I shrugged it off, figuring a stray rock or clump of dirt had been knocked down, bumping into the glass. Or maybe it was starting to hail. “Anyway, I’m fine,” I started, but then the thunk sounded again. And again, louder this time. Lily and I had just enough time to exchange a concerned glance before we heard the glass shatter inward and a small, dark blur streaked into the basement, across the concrete floor. Right at us.

I sprinted three steps to a nearby chair and leaped onto it, managing to keep my balance after a wobble. “Lily!” I yelped, but my friend had already jumped onto the weight bench, looking rather comically like a fifties housewife hiding from a mouse. Except this intruder was a lot bigger than a mouse.

“Where did it go?” she called. We were both turning now, scanning the room, but the creature was nearly the same color as the concrete floor. There was a moment of stillness, and then a furious chittering sounded from right beneath Lily’s weight bench. She froze. “What is it?” she hissed. “A squirrel?”

“Too big.” I squinted, trying to make out the furry shape. It was the size of a small dog, but the body wasn’t right. It shifted, letting out a sort of furious, strangled hiss, and for just a second I could make out its full silhouette. “Fox, I think. Gray fox.” I tried to remember my aunt Violet’s many nature-walk lectures. There was something unique about gray foxes, something important . . .

“They can climb!” I shouted to Lily. But the warning came too late—the fox was already scrabbling up the metal crossbars of the weight bench where Lily still stood. “Lily, run!”

She looked around for a second, panicked, and then reached up, stretching on her tiptoes to get both hands around the rafter beams. Kicking her legs, she swung back and forth for a moment. The fox had reached the top of the bench and began swiping furiously at her ankles, letting out a high-pitched, rhythmic bark. In the full light of the gym area, I could see its wild, frantic eyes—and the line of white foam clinging to its lips. Rabies, I thought, fear wrenching my stomach sideways. I looked around, but all my weapons were locked away upstairs.

Lily had gotten her legs up and managed to jam her feet and ankles into the tiny space between the rafter beam and the ceiling. The fox snarled—my God, could foxes even make that sound?—and went up on its hind legs, clawing at the air where Lily had been. It turned in a frenzied circle, and then its feverish eyes fixed on me. It hissed, spattering the weight bench with foamy saliva. Shit. I needed a better, higher place to go, but there was only a small metal stand for kettlebells, the weight bench, the chair, and a treadmill, none of which seemed all that great for defense against a rabid animal. I could run for the steps, but the fox would be able to climb those just as well as I could, and if it got through the door, it could infect all my rescue animals.

“What’s happening?” Lily shouted, unable to see. Her voice was strained. She looked like she was crouched on all fours, but upside down. Only her ankles were actually being secured by the rafters, which meant she was holding the rest of her body up there. I probably would have fallen by now. Maybe I had underestimated those yoga muscles.

I looked back down, but the fox had vanished. “It’s—” I started to say, but I was interrupted by a crash. The fox had managed to tip over the weight bench, which clanged down on the concrete, sending hand weights and water bottles skittering across the floor. My dogs had started barking in a frantic chorus on the other side of the basement door, and were scratching at the knob hard enough for me to shoot a worried look at the steps.

“Lex!” Lily wailed, now dangling over nothing but a concrete floor. The fox was nowhere in sight.

   
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