A whiff of jasmine and honeysuckle hit my nose. I descended the steps and set off in search of the origin. Why not? I had nothing better to do. No books. No TV. No Internet. No phones. Wargs didn’t need them to communicate, but I was getting twitchy without my cellphone and its distracting apps.

Paper shredded, and I heard Dell inhale over the bucket. “I’m ready to go home. My meemaw’s chicken is so much better than this.”

“I know what you mean.” Not the chicken part. Aunt Dot wasn’t allowed in the kitchen unsupervised. The poor woman could burn water. The going-home part? That sounded good right about now. Graeson still owed me a phone call, but last night was riding us hard today, and I wasn’t ready to do battle for that promised trip into town.

I was starting to regret not using Daphne’s cell while I had the chance. Paranoia had warned me the conclave might trace her phone records to corroborate her story, and the last thing I wanted to explain was why I hadn’t reported the incident or checked in with Vause. Letting Aunt Dot worry a while longer seemed the lesser of two evils.

“Where’s home for you?” she asked around a hunk of breast meat.

“Tennessee is where I live now.”

A thoughtful crunch. “You’re not from there originally?”

A twinge rippled through my chest. “No.”

“Do you live alone?”

“Yes and no. Home is an airstream trailer.” I smiled thinking of its cozy quarters. “My aunt and cousins live in the same RV park as I do. Aunt Dot bought it, actually. It looked like I would be stationed there for a while, and she wanted a new project. She kind of collects real estate from all the places we visit.”

“Huh.” The bucket rattled when she jogged to catch up to me. “You mean your whole family goes where your job sends you?”

“Gemini are nomadic by nature.” We also tended to band together in family groups. “With Aunt Dot getting older, it’s easier to have time to plan our next move and coordinate.”

“Are you seeing anyone?” Dell munched thoughtfully. “All that travel has to be rough on relationships.”

“I don’t date, so it’s not a problem,” I assured her. Dell’s chicken must have gone down the wrong pipe, because she started choking. I whacked her on the back, and she caught her breath after a minute. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she wheezed. “I just— That sounds lonely.”

Lonely I was used to. Having company outside of blood relatives…now that was weird. First Harlow and now Dell and the ever-present Graeson. “Are you seeing anyone?”