Risen (Haunted Series Book 22)

were small,” Ted said.  “Just like you were when you were little.  Now that you’ve grown two inches, you’ve lost your appeal,” he teased.
“Ouch.  You’re not scoring any points with that kind of talk,” Mia said, feigning hurt feelings.  “I’m going to go and take out my anger on the shrubs.”
Ted scooped her up so fast, Mia almost drew her wings in defense.  He kissed her long and deep.  Mia tingled from her lips to her toes.
“Whoa,” she said when she could put a coherent thought together.  “Who needs the Caribbean?  It’s very hot in here.”
Ted set his wife down.  “It’s always hot when you’re around, Minnie Mouse.”
“We’ll have to further this discussion about the Caribbean later.  Right now, I have bushes to beat and a call to make.”
Ted escorted her out the door and watched as she jammed her feet into her muddy boots.  She smiled up at him and said, “Later, gator.”
“After a while, crocodile,” Ted responded and shut the door.
Mia scrolled through her contacts as she walked back to the farmhouse porch.  She found Angelo Michaels’s phone number and called, hoping to get his voicemail.
“Hello, Mia,” he answered in his rich Italian voice.  “It’s been a while.”
“I realized I haven’t called to thank you for defending me with the Brotherhood.”
“You were rather vexed.  I expected you lumped me in with the morons persecuting you.”
“That was shortsighted of me,” Mia said, but she didn’t mean it.  “I just got a call from Sabine…”
“Before we talk about Sabine, tell me, how are you?”
“I’m fine.  I’ve been moving some of the larger plants away from the house, so I’m a bit dirty.”
“I mean, how are you feeling?”
“I… What?” she questioned.
“You have gone through another transformation.  One that has moved you closer to your birdman origins.  Nicholai said you’re a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.  Any thoughts on coming and joining my wing?”
“Your what?”
“I have an opening for - what do you call it?  Oh yes, a thug.”
Mia laughed.  “Me, your thug? Angelo, you should be putting a thug between you and I, not putting me in a position to defend you,” she advised.
“You hurt me so.”
Mia stuck her finger in her mouth and mimed vomiting for no other reason but that it made her feel better.  “About Sabine…”
“Mia, you should really work on your social skills.  Okay, we now speak of Sabine.”
“Are you aware she’s out in the Caribbean with Patrick and Mason Callen?  Not to mention Kevin Murphy and Fergus O’Connor.”
“Gerald gave me a heads-up.  She’s on a treasure hunt.  The excursion will do her good.  She can’t always be mama; she needs to be a woman too.”
Mia fought to control her temper.  Angelo just seemed to hit all the wrong buttons these days with her.  “Please listen to me uninterrupted before I forget all the particulars.”
“Please, tell me.”
Mia caught him up on the situation and ended with, “I don’t think this is a harmless treasure hunt.  Sabine is all but paralyzed with fear.  I think, if you have any people out there, maybe consult with them before something horrible happens.”
“Why don’t you fly down there?” Angelo asked.  “It would only take you a few hours with those wings.”
“I’m working here, I haven’t been invited, and I couldn’t find the Caribbean Sea, let alone a hidden island, in said ocean.”
“But you can find your way to Hell and back.”
“I had help.  What are you insinuating?” Mia asked.
“Just that you drop everything for Michael, but when I ask you for your help, you make jokes.”
“Excuse me a moment,” Mia said and dropped her phone.  She picked up the largest of the lilac bushes, shook it until all the dirt fell from its roots, and tossed it half across the yard.  She picked up her phone and said meekly, “Sabine asked me to call you.  I have.  She didn’t ask me to come down.  Goodbye, Angelo.”  Mia ended the call and took out more anger on the next bush.
Murphy watched Mia from a safe distance.  She really didn’t hurt the plants or he would have stepped in.  They would go through some shock, much like the shock he was going through at seeing her behave so violently without being in battle.
“Can I help you?” he asked, moving cautiously towards her.
Mia spat out the dirt she had breathed in during her fit.  She pushed her hair out of her eyes and silently stared at the ghost for a moment.  “Actually, there is something.”  Mia pulled a stick of green chalk out of her pocket.
“You’re not sending me to Hell are you?” Murphy asked.
This caused Mia’s anger to trickle away as the humor of the situation filled her.  “I wouldn’t send you to Hell.  You can eat in Hell, not that you’d find anything good in the Pit of Despair but…”
“You liar, you don’t know anything about the Pit of Despair.”
“You’re right.  K.  The chalk.  Ted found this in Brian’s suitcase.  I think there are four other pieces somewhere in his room.  Would you mind playing detective and finding them for me?  It would ease my mind knowing that he isn’t opening portals in Wyoming.”
Murphy nodded.  “After I help you replant these bushes.  Which should be easy now you’ve shaken all the dirt away from their roots.”
“You saw that?”
“Yes.  I’m still shaking in my boots.”
Mia’s face twisted in a half smile.  “Sabine asked me to call Angelo.  He can be so…” Mia’s jaw clenched.  She stopped herself and continued, “irritating.”
“He and I don’t always see eye to eye either,” Murphy said.
“He had the audacity to say that I’m all one-sided when it comes to all things feathers.”
“Mia, I’m a little slow…  What are you talking about?” Murphy asked.
“I mean,