Client. Stand down. The words mixed in my head. Jack's attack and the staff jabbing against my throat. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. With my emotions under control, I opened them. "Let me up."
The weight disappeared and so did Jack.
I moved to my feet. The birder or, rather, the old woman who I had thought was a birder, stood hidden behind Bern, only the tip of her canvas bag and the corner of her purple shorts visible. Both were shaking.
With a sigh, Bubbe left me and went to comfort her customer. I made out a few murmured words, a spell, I guessed, and the woman seemed fine. . or at least she didn't scream when Bern stepped away, leaving me a clear view of her.
She still looked like a birder to me. Her shorts came to her knees and she wore practical white-laced shoes. Her shirt was pink with a robin on the front, and her bag bulged with what could easily have been a stash of handguns or bombs.
I took a step, thinking to question her if no one else would. Mel dropped the staff in front of me, rapped me in the gut.
"I know her. Bubbe knows her. This entire neighborhood knows her. She was Harmony's principal for four years. She is not a birder-"
The woman reached into the bag.
My muscles coiled, ready.
She pulled out a pair of binoculars and slipped the cord attached to them around her neck.
Mel sighed. "Okay, She isn't one of your birders. She watches birds. The Arboretum is across the street. Lots of people watch birds there."
I kept vigilant, focused on the octogenarian. Older, perhaps, than some, but aside from that she looked exactly like the birders who had killed my mother.
Mel tapped me in the stomach again. "We're here because of Amazons, remember? Besides, you can't jump on every old lady with a pair of binoculars and leather walkers."
Amazons. Right, we were here because Tess had heard the Amazons were planning an attack on Mel's.
Still, I glanced again at the old woman in the robin shirt. "Check her bag," I ordered.
Mel rolled her eyes but marched off. After a few gentle words to the woman, she returned with her canvas bag. "Organic trail mix, an aluminum bottle of water, and a field guide. Satisfied?"
I wasn't. "Open the bottle." If I was going to do this right, I wasn't trusting anything.
Turning her back so the woman couldn't see what she was doing, Mel twisted the lid off the bottle and took a sniff. Her nose twitched.
I leaned forward, ready.
"You're right. It's not water. It's lemonade, with a kick. . vodka, I'd guess." She screwed the lid back on and stared at me. "Okay?"
Still not completely satisfied, I waved her away.
In a few minutes the could-be birder was gone.
Leaving me to face an annoyed Bubbe and an amused Mel.
I passed both of them. At the corner of the building I took a right and kept walking. I walked the entire perimeter of the property before coming back to where the rest of them waited.
I gestured for Bern to join me and headed toward the gym/cafeteria. The building should be vacant; I wanted to make sure it was.
Mel and her grandmother stopped me. Standing shoulder to shoulder, the family resemblance was striking, or maybe it was just the grim set of their faces.
"You think perhaps we could discuss what is happening, what our plan is? And how we can accomplish it without assaulting any more customers?" Mel twisted the staff she still held in the dirt.
I stared her down. "Easy. Close down. Send everyone home."
With Bern right behind me, I continued on into the cafeteria.
We moved as quickly as we could through the building, hitting the main floor. . cafeteria, kitchen, and gym first, then moving to the basement where the showers and a few offices were. The place was empty. It didn't appear anyone had been inside since my last visit.
Reassured, we exited out the front. Mel was waiting for me. "Let's get Bubbe to put some kind of ward on the doors and windows," I told her.
She twisted the staff parallel, then perpendicular to her body. "You think we hadn't done that before?"
"We got in," I reminded her.
"We know you, and for reasons I'm beginning to doubt, trust you." She stalked toward the main building.
I followed her into the basement where the rest of our group, along with Mateo, Dana, and both babies had gathered. Bern stayed outside and once I appeared, Lao joined her. They would watch for anything suspicious while the rest of us talked.
Tess started, repeating what she had told me about the safe camp's plans. When Padia's name came up, Kale jumped in to explain who she was.
As Tess got to the part of her story where she said Cleo had been captured, all eyes turned to Bubbe.
She held out her hands. "My daughter, she will prevail." And that was it. The old priestess seemed more worried with watching how Mateo held his son than with whether Cleo would survive being captured by the tribe.
I took this as a good sign.
"Zery wants us to close the shop-all of our businesses." Mel had stood against the wall most of the conversation, only now stepping closer. Dana, sitting cross-legged on the floor and holding Pisto, looked up, her interest clear.
"For how long? We have a class tomorrow." She glanced at Mel. "Mateo has been filling in for Cleo."
I stared at a dot on the wall for the count of three. Artemis forbid the mommy half of her "mommy and me" class missed a few situps.
"I think that is wise." Bubbe, agreeing with me again.
I looked at the old priestess, wondering why exactly she and Mel didn't get along better.
Dana started to object, but Bubbe stood her ground. "This is not human business, not what has happened here recently. We do not have the right to pull them into it, to risk they be hurt." She looked at me then, her gaze old, heavy, and judging.
I glanced at Mel. She raised an unsympathetic brow.
"What about the babies?" Tess, her voice meek, glanced around the group. "Shouldn't we get them somewhere else? Take them somewhere safe?"
It was a good point, one I hadn't thought of before. I looked at Mateo. "She's right. You and Dana need to leave with the babies while things are still calm."
"Except. . " Tess held up her hand like she was in some human schoolroom.