Wild Sign (Alpha & Omega #6)(54)

Charles liked very few people.

If she had met Zander before she’d been Changed, she might have fallen for him. Not just because she loved his art but because he was sexy and sweet. He reminded her of one of Wellesley’s paintings—deep and rich with meaning. Every time she looked, she saw something new. Something that made her think.

But she wasn’t that woman anymore. It was Charles, with his darkness, his violence and contrasting gentleness, whom she wanted to take to her bed, to share her life with.

She had gone through some truly awful times, but without them, she would not have had the courage to love someone like Charles. Charles, who had reached out of his own darkness to catch her. She had the strong feeling that Charles’s act had taken even greater courage on his part, though he had never told her so.

“Sounds like you knew some of the people in Wild Sign before you went up?” Anna asked, focusing once more on Zander’s words instead of his person.

“Sure,” he said easily. “The world’s wildernesses are finite, you know? There aren’t many of us who are driven to explore them. After a while, some faces are familiar. Emily and her family—the Tottlefords—I met a few years ago in Alaska. But they’re not the only ones I knew. I stayed a couple of weeks with Jenny and her husband at the time in the Andes.”

Anna was pretty sure that Jenny had been Dr. Connors Senior’s “Opera Singer” from the stories that Zander had shared. But she didn’t want Zander to know that they had another source for information about Wild Sign, so she didn’t try to confirm that.

“The Andes?” Anna asked. “In South America?”

He nodded. “Peru.” But something about the music he was playing had caught her ear.

“What is that song?” she asked.

He smiled. “Do you like it?” He played a few more measures before he spoke. “It’s something I’ve been working on. My only problem is that it sounds familiar to me. I don’t want to take credit for someone else’s work.”

“I hear you,” Anna said. “It sounds familiar to me, too.” She sighed. “Doubtless I’ll wake up in the middle of the night with the title, singer, and where I heard it last in my head. But it’s not coming to me now.”

There was a wordless call behind her. She turned to see Tag and Charles jogging across the street. Charles was carrying two fair-sized boxes, and Tag had a box and a bright-colored fabric bag.

She turned back to Zander. He’d closed up again, like a flower when the sun goes down. He did not look like someone who could be observant and funny or take world-class photographs. He wasn’t playing that odd song anymore—he’d switched to “The Ash Grove.”

She’d been thinking about “The Ash Grove” a little earlier. Music was like that, though; a chord progression could call up a dozen songs to any experienced musician. They’d probably both picked up on a chord progression in something he’d played earlier that was also in “The Ash Grove.”

“Thank you,” she told him sincerely. “I appreciate your help.”

He nodded without looking up. “Let me know if you find any of them? I’ll be here until the snow flies—October or thereabouts. Then I’ll follow the wind.” He looked thoughtful. “Colorado, maybe.”

“I’ll let you know,” she promised. “Safe travels.”

She met Charles and Tag at the SUV, where they were off-loading their burdens.

“Found some things?” she asked.

Charles nodded.

Tag said, “Good thing we went there. Or else when the owner of the storage facility had his next sale, someone would be the proud owner of the Green family grimoires.”

Wide-eyed, Anna looked at the boxes and bag. “That’s a lot of grimoires, right? They have to be handwritten?”

Charles shut the back of the Suburban. “It’s the largest collection I’ve run across in one place.” He glanced over at the storage facility. “They have a presence all by themselves.” And that would explain the heavy feeling in Anna’s chest as soon as she had approached. “Carrie had spelled the locker, or someone—or something—would have come looking for them.”

Anna got into the SUV. “What are we going to do with them?”

“Make my da happy, I’d guess,” said Charles. “Though between this and the fae artifacts we’ve been acquiring, Da is going to have to come up with an alternative storage plan. Eventually we’re going to run into some things that shouldn’t be stored together.”

In her rearview mirror, Tag soundlessly mouthed Boom and made exploding signs with his hands.

Out loud he suggested, “Maybe we should turn the fae artifacts over to the fae.”

Charles looked at him.

Tag raised both hands and said, “It was just a suggestion.”

“What did you learn?” Charles asked Anna.

She shook her head. “Nothing useful, except that I won’t ever be able to think about the people of Wild Sign as anonymous dead people anymore. Zander is observant and a good storyteller, but he’s not a witch. He didn’t notice anything odd.”

“We should find a place to spend the night,” Charles said. “We could stop here and get going early tomorrow. Or we can drive back to Yreka and stay there.”