by Kimbra Swain
“Thank you,” I said.
“You don’t have to thank me for taking care of her. I would have done it whether I’d promised him or not. I was Uncle Levi before he became Daddy,” Levi reminded me. He tiptoed around Dylan’s absence, but if he could make a joke from it to get me to smile, he would. I did smile because he was right. Winnie was in love with Levi before Dylan claimed her. She asked daily about Dylan. Each time the pain cut through me, opening the wound over and over again. I hadn’t forgotten that Dylan was in a jar somewhere but charging into the Otherworld to retrieve him wasn’t the answer. I had the feeling that Brockton wouldn’t do anything to Dylan as long as he knew he could control me with it. Unfortunately for him, the ice queen was back.
A much darker version of myself, the fairy queen from the Winter realm tended to be calculating and cold-hearted. Dylan had wiped much of that away. I still felt his warmth through Aydan, but I feared that the longer he was gone the farther that I would sink back into that life. If he never returned, my whole existence would change. Even Levi in his best efforts would have to either destroy me or make sure that someone else put me down, because he told me repeatedly that he would never do that.
My darker side had resurfaced since we returned from Summer. Seeing that jar shatter and the ashes spread across the ground broke something inside of me, releasing a darkness and power that teased me with its deceptive strength. I was still ruthless in a way but tempered by a mother’s heart in the same way that Dylan used to temper me. Our children now filled that role. I looked at Shady Grove as a child that needed nurturing. Sometimes that meant I had to feed it. Sometimes it needed to be whipped into shape. But most of the time, it meant that I had to hide my broken heart and keep on giving as much of myself as I could.
If Brockton tried to manipulate me with the jar, I had resolved to protect my family and my town no matter what. Without a doubt in my mind, it was what Dylan would have wanted me to do. I just hoped my bite was as ruthless as my bark.
“Where is your father?” I asked.
“Where do you think?” he said.
Levi’s father, still mourning the loss of his life-long love, spent most of his days at Hot Tin. Nestor kept an eye on him for us. He never drank too much, but he drank a lot. It was sad to see him come and go. I believed that he thought if he reconnected with Levi it would ease the pain, but it hadn’t. Levi spent very little time with him. He said it made him feel awkward. I didn’t push the issue considering I was the queen of daddy issues.
“Any sign of Rufus?” I asked, changing the subject.
“As a matter of fact, there is a rumor in town that a dachshund has been hanging out Fordele and his family,” Levi said with a smile.
“That damn dog,” I said. “They are probably giving him homebrew. I always knew he was a closet alcoholic.”
“Want to go check it out?” Levi asked. I looked down at the sleeping Aydan. “Hey, Freckles!” Levi called Astor something different every day. Astor with his humble heart rolled with the punches.
“What’s up, Bard?” Astor said, joining us from the kitchen. He held two peanut butter sandwiches. One in each hand.
“Grace and I need to run into town. Do you mind watching Aydan?” Levi asked.
Astor loved the baby as much as anyone. I might as well hire him as my nanny as much time as he spent playing with Winnie and watching Aydan. However, it didn’t seem like a proper title for the knight. He was lost since coming to Shady Grove. I needed to find him an occupation and soon. Perhaps Troy could teach him the police business or with his cooking skills, he might like working at the diner to give Luther a break. Betty had already made him blush twenty shades of red the first time Astor met her, but they quickly became friends.
“Not at all,” he said.
Levi offered me his hand. I took it, and we jumped in the truck to visit Fordele and the wandering fairies.
As we approached the old little league ballpark, I almost cried with joy. It was an RV bonanza. I missed my old trailer. Something about knowing you can pick up and leave at any moment had always given me comfort. Now I had laid down roots. We lived in a real house which was better for my children, but there was something about that thin-walled abode that I missed. Perhaps it was the intimacy of the home.
“You miss the trailer. You’ve got to be kidding me,” Levi smirked as we got closer to the colorful gathering of RVs. There were about thirty in all.
“I do. Good memories,” I said.
“I can’t deny that, but surely you wouldn’t go back there now,” he said.
“No. My children come first,” I replied.
“Well, I’ll be damned, Grace Ann Bryant has grown up. You make me so proud,” he smirked.
“Shut it, Dublin, before I jerk a knot in your tail,” I said.
Just before he got out of the truck, he said, “I’m still waiting for the day you will actually do it.”
“You do know that isn’t the same as swappin’ gravy, right?” I asked as we walked up to Fordele and Wendy who were sitting outside an RV playing music. She was playing an autoharp while he beat two wooden spoons together. A group of children danced around them. At their feet, a wiener dog jumped and played. I shook my head at the mutt. He was having a grand time with all the attention that the children were giving him.
“To me, it’s the same,” Levi said with an eyebrow waggle. It made the scar above his eye twitch. While the scar represented what I didn’t know about Levi, the face was still the same one I knew and loved.
“Rufus!” I called out to the mutt, ignoring Levi. Well, half ignoring Levi. It was impossible to ignore him completely.
Rufus froze in place, then when he saw me approaching he took off in a sprint as fast as his short legs would carry him. He darted across the grass then jumped up to my knees where I caught him in a flurry of doggy kisses.
“Never mind. I’m not interested,” Levi said, watching the dog lick me.
“Liar,” I replied.
“Well, I thought he might be yours,” Fordele said. “He’s been babysitting for us while you were getting things settled.”
“Thank you, Ford. Where did you find him?” I asked.
“He found us. He just walked up one day not long after the trailer park went under. We started feeding him because one of the folks in town said he might be yours,” Ford explained. “Why don’t y’all come join us?”
After calming the squirmy dog down, I tried to hold him away from my face, so I could talk. He proceeded to continuously lick my hand. “Rufus, stop. No thanks, Fordele. I should get this joker home. Winnie keeps asking about him.”
“Any word on Dylan?” Ford asked.
“No. Nothing new,” I replied with a wince. Levi stepped closer to me. He didn’t have to touch me for me to know he was there. We hadn’t ventured out much since we got home, but when we did, he was always right there. When I should feel smothered, I just felt protected. He was doing whatever he could to fulfill his promise to Dylan.
“Sorry. We wish you all the best, Grace,” Ford said as Wendy joined him. She wore a white skirt with a colorful scarf wrapped around her waist. Her top was the color of a summer sunset with tassels hanging around the sleeves. Around her neck, she wore the Hand of Hamsa in the form of a colorful pendant. In the center of the hand, a large eye looked back at me. It was unsettling.
Almost every religion in the world knew about the evil eye. Her necklace was to ward off the evil eye. It was also a symbol used by fortune tellers. It waved at me through a tangle of other beaded necklaces with various protection charms. Typical garb for a wanderer. I should know. I used to dress in much the same way. I loved the flowing skirts and mid-drift bearing tops. I’d never admitted it to anyone in Shady Grove, but I was once a very good dancer.
“Really?” Levi said.
“Get out of my head.”
“I want to see you dance,” Levi said.
“My dancing days are over,” I said.
“No, t
hey aren’t. You just need a good reason to dance,” Levi replied.
“You play beautifully,” I said to Wendy, ignoring Levi again.
“Thanks. You and Levi should come back and bring the children. Levi could play with us,” she said, reaching up to the amulet. She rubbed her hand over it.
“I would like that,” Levi replied. His response drew my attention away from her necklace, and back to the fact that I hadn’t bought him a new guitar yet. I’d been thinking about his abilities and how much the instrument enhanced his spells. He needed a way to do that without carrying around the lute or another guitar. I had an idea to help, but I was missing one item. I wanted to make sure I could get it before I told Levi about my idea. This was one of the few times, I completely blocked Levi from my thoughts. He would get twitchy if I left it blocked for too long.
We discussed the settling of all of Ford’s people in the newly created RV park, and how Tennyson had managed to procure all of these RVs for them to live in. They had decorated them in the Romani style. Bright colors that created a lively but homey feel. I remembered why I enjoyed living with them for so long as I traveled around Europe. Bonfires, music, dancing, home-brew, and happy company. No cares in the world unless it was dodging the nasty Sanhedrin.
As we stood and talked, Troy Maynard pulled up in a shiny new black patrol car. The car had been painted with the words Shady Grove Police.
“Afternoon, everyone,” Troy said. “Grace, may I talk to you for a moment?” He held his official hat in his hand in the same way Dylan did. There were so many little things that reminded me of him. Every time we drove by the spot by the creek where we found the old man I remembered our picnic there. The absinthe ingredient fields called to me when we were near them. So many things here were associated with him. It would forever haunt me if he didn’t come home.
“Sure,” I replied returning to the conversation with Troy. Levi stayed with the Fordele and Wendy while I walked back to the truck with Troy.
“We found a body in the woods near the perimeter. You should take a gander. It’s definitely not natural,” he said.
“Human?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied.
“But the barrier is up,” I said.
“Looks like this one was on the inside before that. He’s been dead a few days at least,” he said.
“Did he trip one of the traps?” I asked.
“Mable and Betty said no,” he said, then looked down at Rufus.
“He’s been with the gypsies,” I replied. “Dublin, let’s get a move on.”
Levi ran up to where Troy and I were after saying goodbye to Fordele.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Dead human body,” I replied.
“Well, shit on a cracker,” he replied. “What are you going to do with the dog?”
“Where is the body?” I asked.
“Out near the Baptist church,” Troy replied, which was the opposite direction from home.
As the music began to play, Rufus jumped out of my arms and ran back to the children. “Guess that answers that,” I said.
“I’ll tell Ford we will be back by to get him,” Levi said. “I’m driving.”
“Whatever,” I replied, climbing into the passenger side. “I didn’t want to drive anyway.”
Fordele waved back at me, as Levi returned to the truck.
“Never a dull moment in Shady Grove,” he said.
“Never.”
On the southern-most point of our ward, Troy waited for us to join him off highway 211 which lead south toward Montgomery. The road just beyond the ward had concrete barriers preventing cars from passing. Large quarantine signs warned the humans that the town was closed and declared a complete loss. It helped having fairies in political positions. Levi and I got out of the truck and walked toward Troy.
“Be ready for anything,” Levi said.
“Levi, I’m fine,” I said.
“I know,” he huffed. Ah, there was my brooding bard. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
“Stop,” he said, but I saw the edges of a grin forming at the corners of his mouth.
“Come on, it’s not too far into the woods here,” Troy said, leading the way.
“Who found it?” I asked.
“Amanda along with a couple of other wolves. They were doing a nightly patrol and found it,” he said.
“You are patrolling with wolves?” I asked.
“You told me to do my job,” Troy responded as if he were offended.
“I wasn’t doubting your ability. Actually, it’s rather ingenious,” I said.
“Don’t compliment the man, Grace,” Levi scolded.
“Jerk. Knot. Tail,” I said. Troy chuckled lightly as Levi and I bantered back and forth.
“Promises. Promises,” Levi responded. That grin had made its way up his cheeks.
Walking through the dense forest of tall pines, I touched the trees as I passed them. They spoke to me of the dead human. He had passed by this way. It was hard to get them to tell me what I needed to know. They said that darkness followed the man. I paused on the last oak before proceeding to the white sheet that covered the body up ahead. I hoped that I could coax more out of the trees, but their main concern was that the darkness didn’t return. Pine trees were rarely helpful. Willing, but not a lick of reliable information.
“Anything?” Levi asked.
“Darkness. They said darkness followed the man,” I said.
“That could be anything,” Levi replied.
“Yep,” I said.
Troy waited for us at the body. “I’ll warn you. It’s pretty gruesome,” he said.
“Go ahead,” I responded. I felt Levi’s power once again moving toward me. His protective instinct jumped to a whole new fairy level.
When Troy pulled back the sheet, a man in jeans and a light green button-down shirt laid face up, looking to the sky. The only thing was, he couldn’t look at anything. Deep hollow sockets where his eyes should have been were now filled with maggots and flies.
“Were the eyes the only things missing?” I asked.
“No identification, but it’s possible he didn’t bring anything with him,” Troy said.
“The trees said he came from the same direction that we did. We need to check up the road further to see if there is an abandoned vehicle,” I said.
“We went five miles up the road and found nothing,” he said.
“What are you going to do with him?” I asked.
“Amanda called Tabitha, and she’s going to do an autopsy. Then we can store him in one of the cold containers at the morgue,” he said. “Any ideas?”
“Wendigo?” Levi suggested.
“They usually eat everything,” I replied.
“Perhaps a witch of some sort,” Troy suggested.
“That’s possible. It could have been ritualistic,” I said.
“Do you see this, I don’t know what to call it, but residue?” Levi asked. When I looked up to him, I could see that he was looking through his sight. I looked back to the vacant holes on the man’s face and saw what he was talking about. An unnatural minty green smoke hovered around the sockets.
“I have no idea what that is,” I said.
“For once, you don’t know everything,” Levi smirked.
“Levi, dead body. Have some tact,” I scolded.
“Sorry,” he muttered. Brood.
“Who is watching the body?” I asked.
Troy nodded to a tree about 10 feet from us. A slender reddish wolf stepped out into the sunlight and sat down. “New recruit. His name is Dominik.”
“How long has he been here in Shady Grove?” I asked.
“About a month, his name is on the list that Amanda emailed to you yesterday,” Troy said.
“Oh, yes, I remember seeing it,” Levi piped up knowing I didn’t check my email.
“Thanks, Assistant,” I said.
“Someone has to do it,” he grumbled. Whatever. He loved
helping me. He loved grumbling. It was a perfect set-up for both of us. Plus, the brood reminded me of the old Levi. I’d forgotten how delightful it was.
I circled around the body looking at every angle through the spectrum. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary outside of the lingering green haze around where his eyes used to be. “Maybe Tabitha can find out more with the autopsy,” I said.
“It’s like we are that crime scene show with the investigators only we are the supernatural division,” Levi said.
“You want to do this for a living, go right ahead, Dublin. As for me, I’ve seen more dead bodies than I ever wanted to see,” I replied feeling a wave of sadness for this man. He wasn’t part of the world I’d sworn to protect, but if something that I was supposed to protect did this, then I was responsible. The sooner we found out, the better. However, I dreaded more executions. Perhaps there was still good left inside of me because I found no joy in knowing that I could simply snap my people out of existence.
As we started walking back to the truck, Levi became protective again. “You okay?”
“Yep. Just hope it wasn’t one of mine that did it,” I said. “Executions are a nasty business.”
“Let someone else do it for you. I’ll do it, or perhaps Finley,” he suggested.
I stopped in the middle of the forest just out of the sight of the body and Troy who had stayed behind to talk to Dominik. “It is my responsibility. I will do it. You have already carried a burden for me that I can never repay,” I said.
“It wasn’t like that,” he said. Instead of the old Levi who would shy away, he locked his gaze on me. Again, even without the touch, I felt the tingle of his power swell up around me.
“Still. I don’t want anything else on your shoulders,” I said.
“If you haven’t noticed, Grace, I can handle it,” he said. “I handled what happened in the Otherworld, and I can do whatever you need me to do. I want to make sure those children have their mother for as long as they need you.”
“What happened down there?” I asked. The words slipped. I had promised myself not to ask him directly, but here we were talking about it. Or dancing around it.
