“I set up surveillance like you asked. I spotted a little girl dart out of the woods and set an item on your steps. It’s late, and she was alone. I followed to make sure she got home safe. She spotted me, or maybe she smelled me, and panicked. She shifted, and here we all are.”

“Emily, is what he said true?” I cocked my head and scanned the woods for hints of her father or Aisha. Gods knew if she had blasted a distress call through the pack bond, our lifespans had just been reduced to a matter of minutes. “Are you the one who’s been leaving the gifts at my house?”

“That face says it all, doesn’t it?” Dell knelt beside Emily and tapped her nose. “She knows she’s in trouble.”

A ripple of magic stung the air, and the pup’s fur shed in clumps. As fluid as water poured from a glass into a bowl, Emily slid from one shape to another.

“Don’t tell Daddy.” Fat tears glistened on her thick eyelashes. “Please.”

“Tell him what?” That she was out here? Alone? Or so near fae?

“He said fae are like rabid dogs.” She hiccupped, holding in a sob. “They might look okay from a distance, but they’ll bite you if you get too close.”

Isaac snorted then sobered when he realized he was the only one laughing.

It sounded exactly like something Bessemer would say. “You came to get a look at me and my family?”

“Yes.” Her bottom lip trembled. “I thought she was one of you. She was so nice, and so pretty, and pink is my favorite color.”

Dumping a bucket of ice water over my head would have shocked me less. “You saw a girl with pink hair?”

Emily’s head bobbed.

“Did you talk to her?” I grabbed her arm. “What did she say?”

“S-s-she asked me to do a favor for her. She said she was a friend of yours, and she wanted to surprise you.” Emily scuttled closer to Dell. “She gave me weird gifts to put on your steps.” She tugged against my arm. “She waited in the trees, and when I did good, she gave me a lollipop after.”

A quiver started at the base of my tailbone and rolled up through my shoulders.

Isaac and Aunt Dot were safe, Theo was too, but Mom and Dad had all but severed ties with us. Who else would know the symbolism of those otherwise-random items? What had the newest token been? The possibility the scrunchie wasn’t a plant but might be authentic chilled me to my marrow. I would get through this, and then I would suck it up and ask Aunt Dot how to contact my parents for my own peace of mind.

“A lollipop.” Dell drew back with a frown. “Was there something special about them?”