I pulled out my camera and started snapping pictures. I didn’t know what we were looking for or what could give us an important clue later, so I wanted to document everything.
Glen came back from checking the borders and looked at Heather and me. “Okay. Where did you find the markings before?”
We both pointed to the post office, a small wooden building that leaned a little to the left. The window frames were empty and no door hung on its hinges, but unlike most of the other buildings in the town, it was mostly intact. And when we walked closer, I could see that the floor was once again swept clean: no dead leaves on the ground, no snow drifted in over the threshold, not a speck of dust or dirt inside. Yet there wasn’t a single footprint on the snow outside.
Glen circled the outside of the post office once and frowned. “There’s something very strange about this building. Do the park rangers take care of it?”
I shivered again and shook my head. “No one’s been here in a month or more. You saw the roads.”
He turned and looked at me. “You said that you didn’t drive out here.”
“No, we flew on my broom—” I realized what I’d just said, and my eyes widened. “My mom has a broom, too.”
Kai leaned closer to the front doorway and sniffed. “I don’t smell her here, but it’s hard to smell anything in this cold.”
Heather pulled a flashlight out from her jacket pocket. “The interesting stuff was inside.”
Kai held my hand as we went inside, and even through our gloves, I felt comforted. Still, I was happy to let Heather lead the way and point things out.
The Unseelie vine symbol was still scratched in the middle of the ceiling. Glen barely looked at it. “Yeah, that’s always been there. It’s hardly proof of any recent activity.”
Heather shone her flashlight in all of the mail sorting slots, but all of them were empty. She looked back at me with a sad shake of her head. “Sorry, Rosa. We should have kept the one we found before.”
I sighed. “We must have forced them to switch delivery spots.”
Ashleigh came to the open doorway and peeked in. “Did you guys find anything?”
“Nope.” Glen pointed at the ceiling. “Only what we already knew about. Did you?”
She shook her head. “No traces of magic, other than a lot of ghost activity, but that’s to be expected.”
I squeezed Kai’s hand. “I’m sorry I made you guys come all the way out here for nothing.”
“No, hang on a second.” Heather’s voice came from behind the counter. She was kneeling down, looking at something on the floor. “There’s something written here.”
I rushed over to kneel beside her and saw her flashlight beam pointed at more scratches on the floor. The shapes were hard to identify, and I had no clue what they meant. One was an arrow, but it didn’t seem to be pointing at anything in particular. “Great, we can’t read that.”
Heather brushed her fingers over the rough edges of the scratches in the wood. “These are fresh. And it’s actually close to a code that I know.”
I pulled out my camera and attached the flash. When she moved her hand back, I snapped several pictures from different angles.
Glen leaned over my shoulder. “After you develop that, I can cross-reference it with the code books in the castle library—”
“No need for that.” Heather traced the shape of the symbols with her finger. “This one is ‘messages’, and the next one is ‘move’. The arrow indicates the direction of the movement, south to . . . a rose garden?”
I squinted closer. The second to last symbol was a stylized rose. It reminded me of the one we’d found in Mom’s attic after she left. “Rose’s Garden. They’re using her store.” I looked up in surprise. “But her store’s closed and everything is gone. Did we miss something? We have to go check it out.”
I started to rise, but Glen put a hand on my arm. “Hang on. The store’s in the middle of the town, and it will be easy for anyone to watch it. If we go rushing in, they’ll just see us again and move somewhere else.”
I brushed him off and stood up anyway. “If we move fast, we could find a lead that finally tells us where she’s hiding and get my sister back before Mom has a chance to run again. This is all we have to go on right now. We have to try.”
Kai stepped closer and put his arm around me. “I think he has a point, though. We need to do this more carefully, come up with a plan—”
“I have to find my sister!” I pushed his arm off of me.
Heather stood up. “What if I tried contacting the Unseelie sympathizers myself? I’ve worked with them before. I could write a message of my own, using their code, and drop it off at the store.”
I turned and stared at her. “And what would you do if they answered it?”
She shrugged. “Same as last time. I try to earn their trust and get in to the group.”
“That sounds extremely dangerous,” Glen interrupted. “You joined with honest intentions before. If you went undercover like that, you’d risk them catching you.”
“What’s the worst that could happen?” I asked, afraid that I already knew the answer.
His eyes burned into mine. “Madness. Torture. Death. To an Unseelie, humans are inferior, and they wouldn’t hesitate to dispose of you any more than humans would kill an animal, especially one that threatened them.”
I frowned. “And the Seelie are better because they’d just exile you to Faerie? You said that the ghosts were the lucky ones to escape that fate.”
He looked away. “Well, those were extreme circumstances. My grandfather had to make a tough decision. He certainly didn’t do it for sport.”
Heather cleared her throat. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
“I think we still need time to look into this back at the castle, and to discuss what exactly should go into your note.” Glen held his hand out to Heather. “Will you go back with us?”
Ashleigh came over and pulled out her cell phone, which had a camera. She took a picture of the writing on the floor. “So we don’t have to wait for the film to develop,” she said apologetically, glancing at me.
I suddenly felt very useless. I hung back from the others as Glen and Ashleigh took Heather back to their car.
Kai saw the frustration on my face and sidled over to me. “Can I take your mind off it for a while?”
I opened my mouth to protest, but then I closed it again. I leaned into him, slipping my arm around his waist, and nodded. “Sure. I’ll buy you a coffee at the Drip. We need hot beverages after this.”
The Drip was our nickname for What a Drip Coffee and Bagels, a little cafe on the Main Street stretch that made up downtown Madrone. Walking distance from the bus stop, across the street from the tiny grocery store, and close to my rental house, it was the social hub for local teens. On Sunday, the usual crowd wasn’t flocking around the counter, and we managed to find a little table in the corner to sit and sip our beverages.
I pulled my chair out at a bit of an angle and managed to get a view out the front window of the cafe. From there, I could see the street, the sidewalk patio in front of the cafe, and the area just in front of the closed shop next door.
Kai turned to see where I was looking and groaned. “I should have realized why you really wanted to come here.”
I yanked my gaze away from the door of Rose’s Garden. “It’s not my fault that our favorite spot is right next to my mom’s old store. I promise, I’m going to relax. I’ll keep an eye out just in case.”
He sighed and shook his head. “You have a one-track mind.”
I looked down pointedly at his hand, which had snuck under the table to rest on my thigh. “And you don’t?”
He stretched both arms over his head and yawned. “Me? Nope. I’m a multi-tasker. I can play video games, write a blog post, and eat a sandwich all at the same time.” He cocked his head to one side. “That would be a cool video game, to test how many different things you can do.”
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p; I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, you should totally make that game.” I let my gaze drift back to the window.
“Hello, witchling,” a familiar voice said behind me.
“Hi!” I said, turning in my chair to look at the tall Fae. He wore a long gray trench coat to keep off the cold, but he still wore his customary bright colors with a scarlet scarf and a white sweater with embroidered red apples underneath it. I was careful to ask, “What name do you go by today?”
He winked at me and swung a leg over a nearby chair, facing backwards with his arms resting on the back. “Why, I’m feeling like a Feste today. I came by the castle last night, and it wouldn’t be a proper visit without seeing you, my dear.”
Kai reached across the table and took one of my hands in his as a deliberate reminder. The Fae jokingly flirted with me from time to time, and Kai worried that he was a rival for my affections. But he laughed as if it were no big deal and winked back. “That would make you the Fool, then.”
I squeezed his hand twice in rapid succession, hoping he would take the hint to behave, all the while smiling at Feste. “Fits the holiday. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there last night to see you singing to a bunch of trees.”
“Ah, so you heard about that.” He cleared his throat. “You know, some holidays are just really meant to be spent with family. Anyway—” He peeked out the window at the store next door. “You know that the hunters are already keeping an eye on your mom’s store.”
Kai shot me a look. “Did you tell him why we came here?”
“How could I?” I shrugged. “It’s not like I have a cell phone that can make calls to Faerie.”
Feste laughed. “Ah, if you did, that would be a handy invention. I wouldn’t have to come by here all the time to check up on you.” He leaned closer and stage whispered near my ear, “It’s not that hard to figure out why you are here.”
My boyfriend sighed and squeezed my hand. “Yeah, she’s pretty obvious.”
I snatched my hand away from him and folded my arms. “So, what you’re trying to tell me is that if my mom ever came back to her store, someone would have already seen her, and this is all pointless.”
Feste made a show of examining his fingernails. “Yes, I suppose if your mother was foolish enough to go to an obvious location like her store or her house, then even the hunters could have caught her by now.”
Kai coughed. “But we don’t know who else is working with her, and that’s who we’re trying to see.”
He didn’t have to defend me like that. I nudged him and raised my eyebrows at the Fae. “Do you have a better idea?”
Feste gave me a little smile that made the dimples stand out in his cheeks. “Instead of all this sneaking around and trying to be clever, you should just write to Rosmerta directly. Leave her a note in the shop and back off. I’m sure it will find its way to her, somehow.”
“What?” I jumped in my seat despite myself. I looked over at Kai, and saw that his mouth hung open and his eyes were wide, and he was just as shocked as me. “You mean like, talk to her? What would I say? Please turn yourself in and give my sister back?”
Kai shook his head. “I don’t think she’s going to give up just because you ask her nicely.”
Feste just looked at me. “I’m sure that you’ll be able to think of something.” He stood up. “Another round of drinks? I did enjoy their cookies the last time I was here. Rosa, why don’t you come along and help me carry?”
When we got to the counter, I gave him a skeptical look. “What’s up?”
He glanced around the shop and then back at me. “I have a problem of my own.” He leaned down closer to me. “Do you know of anyone acting in a suspicious manner? Someone who might have something that doesn’t belong to them?”
“That’s vague,” I said with a shake of my head. “Everyone’s got secrets, but I don’t know anyone who’s hiding something major. Can you tell me more?”
He looked uneasy. I’d never seen him lacking confidence before. “You know that guardian you met before in you-know-where? She’s misplaced something important, and I think it might have been stolen.” He saw that I still looked confused, so he mouthed a single word at barely even a whisper: “Scale.”
I blinked in surprise. Who would be foolish enough to steal from a fire-breathing dragon, and how could they have managed it? I shook my head again. “I have no idea, sorry.”
“Keep an eye out.” Feste turned back to the counter and clapped his hands. “Ah, Tom, was it? A selection of your cookies, please.”
8
Letters
Rosmerta
My cat Menolly was taking her time adjusting to our new living space. She hated change. Once she’d been comfortable flying on my broom to the store with me every day, and sitting in the window to keep an eye on my customers. But ever since we left our house she expressed her unhappiness by hiding and hissing whenever strangers approached.
In Angelica’s apartment, I’d had to keep Menolly locked up in my tiny room so she wouldn’t go down into the shop. Mary promised me that she could have free range of their house, but so far she hadn’t been brave enough to explore.
We’d been living with the Burbages for three days. Menolly spent the first two days hiding under the bed. Last night I’d been able to coax her out into the rest of the bedroom using a few pieces of chicken.
On Monday afternoon, I sat at the small desk to read one of the books I’d found on the shelf. The room had originally belonged to the oldest son, Richard, but most of his things had been packed up when he went to college. Mary had cleaned the two bedrooms thoroughly when sending off her boys, so Akasha finally had her own room again.
I was turning the page of the book when I saw the twitch of a furry black tail out of the corner of my eye. Careful not to move and startle her, I looked sideways and saw Menolly at the open door, sniffing the air of the hallway. I hoped she would finally venture out. The only other people home were Akasha, doing schoolwork in her room, and Mary, cooking dinner and working on her laptop downstairs in the kitchen. It was the perfect quiet time for the cat to investigate her new surroundings.
The front door crashed open downstairs. “I’m home!” Elizabeth shouted, her voice echoing in the high-ceilinged entryway and all the way up the stairs.
Menolly became a black blur of fur and disappeared under the bed.
Elizabeth came clomping in and dropped her school bag heavily on the wood floor. “Mom, I got the mail! And something’s addressed to our guest!”
I left the book on the desk with a sigh and hurried downstairs. “Close the door and stop shouting,” I scolded as if she were my own child. “You don’t need to tell the whole neighborhood.”
Elizabeth looked up at me and cocked her head to one side, challenging me to order her around again.
But Mary stuck her head out of the kitchen door. “Come in here if you need to talk to me.”
At her look, Elizabeth slammed the door in a hurry and picked up her backpack. “Yes, Mom.”
I followed them into the kitchen. “You have something for me?”
Akasha slipped in behind me. “I wanna see.”
Elizabeth looked between Mary and me. “Maybe you should look at it first, Mom. It could be a trap.” She handed a stack of envelopes to her mother.
Mary shuffled through the pile quickly. Some of them were from the mailbox at the front of the house, no doubt the usual bills and advertisements that came in the post. She set these aside on the table and concentrated on the last two, neither of which were postmarked. “These came from Rose’s store?”
Elizabeth nodded, dropping into a chair. “I stopped for coffee on the way home from school, and saw those in the usual drop spot. Don’t worry, no one was watching.” She grinned. “At least no one who would notice me in the after school crowd. Those stupid Fae would never suspect me.”
Mary sat down next to me and turned the two envelopes over in her hands. On one, I could see symbols, similar to but not quite the sam
e as our group’s code. The other one only had a single name on it, “Rosmerta,” but I recognized the curly handwriting even from a distance.
Akasha started to reach for it, but I stopped her hand. “That’s from Rosamunde.” I looked up at Elizabeth. “You’re right, it could be a trap. Did you see her at school today? Does she know you saw me?”
Elizabeth held up her hands. “Relax, I haven’t told her anything. That was in the letter drop-box on the front of your store with the other one. She probably guessed that you had someone watching the place.”
Mary held up each letter and sniffed them carefully. Her black horse ears twitched. “There are no spells on either of these. I think it’s safe to open them.” She passed me the one with my name, and opened the other one.
Akasha leaned closer, trying to see.
I gripped the letter from my daughter tightly in both hands, but I couldn’t bring myself to open it just yet. What could she have written to me? After everything that she’d done, I dreaded what she could have said. Instead, I leaned over and peered at the other envelope in Mary’s hands. “What’s that one? Not from anyone we know.”
Mary frowned, studying the unfamiliar code, and finally shook her head. “It’s from one of your daughter’s friends, that vampire girl.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “She claims that she worked with a different Unseelie group in Detroit. It must be a lie, trying to draw us out.”
Elizabeth sighed. “I told you already, Mom, Heather’s not a vampire, it’s just her parents.”
“Still.” Mary sniffed. “I don’t want you getting close to their kind. I wish that the Count hadn’t agreed to let them move here. Vampires are so . . . unnatural.”
Akasha rolled her eyes. “She’s in pretty close with the faeries. She’s probably trying to spy on us. I’d throw it away.”
Fae of Calaveras Trilogy Box Set Page 32
