Page 18 of Moody as a Minotaur

Nana and the younger woman had been eyeing one another all night. Maybe it was because it was my grandmother, but the whole flirtatious ogling across the room had made me squirm. But who was I to yuck someone else’s yum? If Davina wanted to hook up with a senior citizen, and Nana felt like she could keep up with a woman at least thirty years her junior, all power to them.

But had they spoken to one another? When would they have set up an assignation?

No. I was sure they hadn’t spoken. So, what else would Nana be up to? Knowing Nana, it could be anything.

Bootcamps at Nana’s house had taught me that.

You know, it still shocked me that our parents hadn’t hesitated to hand us over to her, which showed how little they knew about Nana. Although, to be fair to our parents, Nana had made us swear not to tell them what happened. And it was a mantra we cousins still lived by.

It’d been a long time since I was a kid who spent part of my summer under Nana’s tutelage, but as I recalled, Nana excelled at everything. She could move through the woods in the dark like no one else.

Damn it.

I bet she was dressed in her black cat-burglar clothes again and was about to go snooping around town at three in the morning. Yeah. That sounded like something she would do, but I really hoped I was wrong.

I threw back my covers and scrambled out of bed because I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I knew she was still in the apartment. My bare feet slapped against the laminate floor as I padded down the hallway. I checked the living room and kitchen first. They were empty. The kettle was cold. The bathroom was empty too. I tiptoed to the spare bedroom. The door was ajar. Dread pooled in my gut as I nudged it open a crack. Seeing the empty bed, I pushed the door all the way open.

“Nana?”

I flicked on the light.

She wasn’t in there, or anywhere else in the apartment.

“Oh, for pity’s sake…” I muttered as I retraced my steps to my bedroom.

I grabbed my phone and jabbed at it until I found Nana’s name in my directory. I waited for the call to connect.

Something started ringing in the other room.

Damn it. She’d left her phone behind. I don’t know why, but that ramped up my sense of urgency about finding her.

I considered swapping out my pajama pants for jeans, but that’d take energy I didn’t have. Instead, I yanked on my hoodie and a pair of socks before stomping back down the hallway. I shoved my feet into my shoes at the top of the stairs and was about to head out when I remembered it was the middle of the night in October. I grabbed my jacket off the hook and rammed my arms into the sleeves.

“Nana is out of control,” I muttered to Sushi and his friends, who were eyeing me curiously from their tank.

Sushi let out a string of bubbles and I swore I could hear him thinking,Why the hell are you wandering around the place like a ghost in the night?

“Me too, Sushi. Me too,” I muttered.

The crisp and cold air punched me in the face as I stepped into the street. A thin layer of frost coated the world and glittered at me under the streetlights. Sometimes we already had a couple of inches of snow by this time of year, so I should be happy it wasn’t snowing, right? Still, I couldn’t help but think of my bed. I had been all happy and warm a few minutes ago, but oh no… Nana had to go wandering off.

I shivered and zipped my jacket up to my neck. My pajama bottoms did little to ward off the cold, but I wasn’t going up to my apartment again. I had to find Nana. I pulled my jacket collar tighter around my neck.

I scanned the frosty street. Curses detonated in my head like little explosions. Where the hell had she gone? If I had to walk all over Willow Lake to find my grandmother, I wasn’t going to be impressed. I might even phone my mom to tattle on her.

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to get my brain working. I bet she went back to the Willow Lake Inn. Either that or Levi’s motel. Was she meeting up with Fin and his friends? I didn’t hear them making any plans, but the chances were high they had a private group chat, one that didn’t include me.

The motel wasn’t far, so I opted to start there. Imarched down the street. Each step fueled my anger. I couldn’t let her spy on my neighbors. These people were my customers and my friends. If she destroyed my life in Willow Lake, I was going to be so pissed. No. That was wrong. I wasalreadypissed.

As I approached the motel, I noted how dark all the guest rooms were, just as they should be if people were sleeping. Except if this was Nana’s destination, then the lights should be on. Nana might think they were hunting down Mafia types, but the rest of them thought they were chasing ghosts. They wouldn’t sit in the dark while making ghost hunting plans.

I stared at the motel, looking for any movement in the windows. And now I was acting like a creep. This was what she’d driven me to. I hoped no one from the police caught me skulking around.

But I still didn’t look away until I was sure everything was quiet. She wasn’t there.

To make sure she wasn’t getting up to any other trouble here, I did a quick check of the perimeter, kicking the shrubs as I went to make sure she wasn’t hiding in them. Most of them had already lost their leaves, so I doubted she could hide in them without me seeing her, but she was cunning and wily.

As I finished my circuit without finding her, my dread grew. I also didn’t see Simon, Levi’s security guard. I didn’t know why Levi kept that guy on the payroll. He was nice enough, but he was a terrible security guard.