Walking in the Dark

by Donna Augustine

  I greeted Butch and Leon as I sat at one of the tables the next morning. The dwarves hadn’t gotten around to fixing the booths yet.

  Didn’t matter where we sat, though. The view was still the same. I couldn’t look anywhere but up at the dark office. It had been four days since Kane left. No word and he wasn’t answering his phone. Didn’t call back after countless messages.

  I ordered food.

  I looked up at the office.

  I toyed with my food and glanced over at the door, hoping to see him walk in.

  Kane had said he’d be back soon. Four days was not soon.

  It took about thirty minutes for me to concentrate long enough on Butch and Leon to realize I wasn’t the only one staring upward.

  “This is normal, right?” I asked, hoping I’d get the answer I wanted. I got a halfhearted grunt and a shrug. “So, this is not normal?”

  Another shrug and two grunts.

  “Answer me. I need actual words right now, because I’m walking the edge here.” I was on the brink of jumping across the table and strangling the first one I got my hands on if they didn’t give me a verbal reply.

  Leon looked at Butch but then saved himself from physical harm by talking. “We’re worried too.”

  That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. This was definitely not the normal, but in my gut, I’d known that already. I dropped my fork, not bothering with the pretense of eating anymore.

  There hadn’t been any explosions, so that was good. If Crem had blown Kane up, we would’ve heard about the explosion. But Kane disappearing right after Asher did? When I knew Asher hated him? It didn’t sit well.

  I looked around and realized that we’d started to attract attention. Or I had. I adjusted my voice before saying, “Office.”

  They nodded. They’d probably noticed all the tilted ears in our direction.

  I made my way up to the office, with Butch and Leon on my tail and everyone in the place watching our every move. We weren’t the only ones suspicious about Kane’s disappearance. The apartment upstairs might have been a better idea, but it was as if now I’d decided to act, I didn’t want to waste one more second, even to be less obvious about it.

  I pressed my lips firmly together until we were all in the office and the door was shut. “What’s the policy when someone goes missing?”

  Neither of them spoke right away, but I didn’t get nervous until I saw them shoot each other questioning looks. Then I was ready to climb the walls. “There is a plan in place for when someone goes missing, right?”

  “Kane was always the planner. He’s never gone missing before,” Butch said.

  Leon walked to the Keurig. “This is too much. I need a French vanilla, not a hazelnut, and I can’t handle this today.” Both of his hands were running over his scalp and his psyche seemed to be frazzled.

  I spun around to Leon, heart in throat and my pulse going from sixty to one fifty in two seconds flat. “Drink a hazelnut and deal with it.” I took a step closer to him and took a hold of his forearm to make sure I had his full attention. “You can’t fall apart on me. Not now.” I watched as my words sank in and then waited for some sort of acknowledgment that he was going to keep it together.

  His head bobbed rapidly a few times before he said, “I’m good. I’ll drink the hazelnut.”

  I gave him a pat on the back. “Good man.”

  “What about the locator spell you have?” Butch asked.

  “I tried it last night, along with everything else I could think of. He’s not showing up.” That was the worst part. It meant maybe he was already dead. Or in the Shadowlands? Lured in by Asher somehow? The weight of the overwhelming possibilities made my legs feel like they wanted to give out.

  Butch’s eyes dropped to the ground.

  “What are we going to do?” Leon asked, holding on to his coffee with both hands.

  I looked at Butch, thinking he’d answer, to realize they were both looking at me. Me. They thought I could do something to save Kane? I was calling the shots?

  Screw it, I was good with that. I could do this. Kane had saved my ass over and over again. He wasn’t going down even if I had to dig up his grave and drag him back from the dead.

  But I had to be smart about it, and not go all Death Angel or Bomber Girl on everyone and everything. I had to think this through. What would Kane do? He wouldn’t panic. He’d assess the threat first. Intelligence gathering. That was what we needed.

  “Reach out to all the people you can think of and find out if they’ve heard anything. Don’t make it obvious that Kane is missing and we’re searching for him. We don’t need any other issues popping up because we seem vulnerable.”

  Leon was making another coffee, having chugged the first. “How are we not going to make it obvious?”

  I thought about that for all of half a second. “Then be obvious. Just get it done.” God help anyone who got in my way right now. So much for pulling back on my inclination for destruction and mayhem. “Call everyone you can think of and hunt down anyone you can’t get on the phone. Report back here by tonight.”

  “What happens tonight?” Butch grabbed the keys for the Caddy off the desk.

  “If we have no other leads? Something drastic.”

  “Still crazy,” Leon said, plucking the keys out of Butch’s hands.

  I turned to Leon. “Wait a second. First it was ‘still alive.’ I liked that. It was good. Then you two thought you could switch it to ‘still quitting,’ which was just obnoxious. Did I give you a hard time? No. I could see your point, so I let it go. But you can’t change my tagline every week on a whim.”

  Leon looked at Butch. “She’s right. Maybe we should make it ‘still crazy’ and leave it at that.”

  Leon took a sip of his coffee, thinking it over. “I can live with ‘still crazy.’”

  “No,” I said. “That will not be my tagline. Now go.”

  The door to the office shut and I watched as they left the building. The minute they were gone, I called for Zee.

  As soon as she popped up, I got right to the point. “Have you seen Kane or heard anything in the last few days?”

  “No. No one’s seen Kane.”

  “What do you think?” It was strange to realize how much I’d come to trust this often rude and utterly absurd gargoyle.

  Her normal stone face softened like I’d never seen. “I don’t like it.”

  I turned around and pretended that I needed something on Kane’s desk, buying myself a couple of seconds to get the billboard of emotions off my face. I needed people to listen to me right now, not think I was a basket case about to fall apart. There’d be time to fall apart tomorrow, or next month, or at some other time that wasn’t this very moment.

  “Well? What are you going to do?” she asked.

  Had there been some sort of secret meeting I didn’t know about that had placed me in charge?

  “Well?” Zee said. “What are you going to do?”

  I turned around and leaned slightly on the desk, enough to appear like I was somewhat relaxed and to not broadcast the fact that I was scared to death.

  How did I accurately describe what I had in mind? “What I’m going to do is something probably pretty stupid and definitely desperate.”

  “I like it already.”

  Chapter 35

  The day had dragged by, and I found myself with nothing to do but run through the events leading to this place I now found myself. Kane had been right. I’d underestimated Asher.

  Butch walked into the Underground, and the set of his shoulders, his slow pace as he crossed toward the office, said it all. He walked in the room, shook his head, and dropped his eyes.

  He glanced over at Kane’s empty chair before he took a seat on the couch. I leaned my shoulder back against the wall as I stared down at the floor of the Underground, waiting for inspiration to arrive, among other things.

  “Any word from Leon?” I asked, keeping my eyes trained on the main door.

 
“No, but he should be back soon.” He let out a deep sigh.

  I glanced back in time to see him lean his head back and close his eyes, looking ten years older than he had a few days ago. I returned to watching, but not for Leon.

  Butch didn’t seem like he had any energy left to move, but he asked, “What are we going to do now?” When I didn’t answer right away, I heard him sit up. “Are you waiting for something?”

  I bit my bottom lip, knowing the reception I was going to get. No one was going to think this was a good idea. It was my idea, and I didn’t think it was the brightest. But it was the only option we had right now. I’d rather be doing something, which might not work, rather than nothing, which definitely wouldn’t. “I’m waiting for someone.”

  “Who?” Butch sounded skeptical and he didn’t even have a name yet.

  He was going to find out soon enough anyway. “Collin,” I said as I saw Leon walk through the main door, looking as downtrodden as Butch had.

  The couch creaked, relieved of Butch’s weight. “Collin? The werewolf Collin?”

  “Yes.” There was no hesitation in my voice. I’d been waiting to have this fight all day.

  Butch made his way to my side, squinting at me. “Why is Collin coming here?”

  I lifted my eyebrows and tilted my head toward him. “You know why.”

  Leon walked in the office. I looked past Butch’s squinty eyes and asked Leon, “Anything?”

  Leon shook his head. “You guys?”

  I shook my head and looked back down at the main door again, still ignoring the squint I was getting from Butch.

  Butch’s eyes widened and he started shaking his head. “You’re really going to do that?”

  “Yes, I am.” I crossed my arms and prepared to take them both on.

  “What is she doing?” Leon asked, walking halfway across the room towards us.

  “Shadow walking with Collin as the anchor.” My words were firm.

  Leon looked like he was pushing it around in his brain a bit before he surprised me by saying, “Okay.”

  “Kane will kill us,” Butch told him.

  “It’s her choice, and he’d do it for us. How can you tell her not to take the risk?” Leon asked.

  I piled on. I’d go it alone if that was what it came to, but I’d rather have Butch watching my back. “If I don’t, Kane might not come back. He might be lying somewhere bleeding to death while he’s partially stuck in the Shadowlands. What if Asher lured or trapped him somehow? I have to try and find him.” Butch didn’t answer. “When you asked me what we were doing, you put me in charge. As the one in charge, I made a decision. And I need you to back me up, because we have to save him.” I braced my hands on my hips and tilted my chin up as I waited for him to say something. Butch was scratching his chin and looking at his feet.

  When he finally looked up, he said, “Okay. I’m in.”

  “Thank you.” I punched him gently in the arm, because we weren’t the hugging type, and went back to my spot to watch.

  Collin strolled into the Underground like he owned the place twenty minutes later. He crossed the room toward the stairs with a look that clearly said, Don’t screw me, or else.

  Butch rolled his eyes. “There was no one else?”

  “If there was, I would’ve called them.” I shrugged and threw up a hand.

  Collin walked through the door, his chest puffed out like he was sizing up his new turf. Yep, he definitely knew Kane was missing.

  “Thanks for coming,” I said, hoping to make this as painless as possible.

  He nodded then looked around the office. “I thought Kane needed something? Why isn’t he here?”

  Butch groaned. I wanted to but held back. Could the guy be more obvious? Everybody knew Kane was missing. If I didn’t need him so much, I would’ve hit him with a magical punch in the gut.

  “I need you to anchor me.” Need, not want.

  “Why would I do that?” His eyes shifted to Butch and Leon as they went and blocked the way out. Collin was officially trapped, and there was only one way out of here.

  “Because I’ll owe you.” Ugh. Another one I’d owe.

  He shook his head as he eyed the door. “Dead men don’t collect debts. My life is easier with him gone.”

  I walked over until I was a foot from him. “I’d rethink that. If you don’t help, Kane might never come back. Do you know what that means?”

  It was a rhetorical question, or should’ve been for anyone with two brain cells to zap together. As Collin stood there, nothing flickered across his expression. He’d known Kane was missing and had already thought this out. But I had a feeling he’d come to the wrong conclusion.

  There’d be a power struggle as everyone tried to fill the gap left by Kane’s enormous footprint. But he was very wrong on one point. “You won’t be next in line. I will. And you will be persona non grata.”

  He blinked rapidly, showing his hand even before he spoke. “No one will ever follow a Shadow Walker. I’ll let you be my second, though.” He smiled as if he were being gracious.

  “You seem very sure of yourself.” I took a step back and quickly went through my head for some magical tricks.

  He knew what I was doing and seemed way too smug about the whole thing, as if I couldn’t possibly show him anything impressive. It made me switch from my initial plan of a small show to something with a bit more oomph.

  I let the words flow out of me in a torrent of emotions. The papers started fluttering. It was only a mild breeze at first, and he laughed, as if that was all I had.

  With a push, the wind hit him so hard he fell on his ass and slid across the room. Unfortunately, there was some collateral damage, and Kane’s desk slid as well. Butch and Leon were hanging on to the doorframe for dear life, and the windows cracked—the new windows.

  “Let me know when you’ve had enough,” I yelled.

  “Stop it!”

  “What? I can’t hear you so well over the wind.”

  “Stop!”

  Suddenly everything dropped to the ground, all of us looking a lot worse for wear. And Kane’s office, whoa. Well, once I saved his life, he’d get over it. As long as I did save his life.

  I looked out the now broken window, and the entire lower floor of the Underground was staring upward. I used my elbow to knock out a loose piece.

  “Everything is fine. Go back to your meal.” Busybodies.

  Collin was getting up from the floor. “I get everyone’s word here that if I do this, there’ll be no retaliation against me if it goes wrong?”

  “Deal,” I said, no hesitation. It wasn’t like I wanted to hurt the guy, or not usually.

  Butch and Leon weren’t so quick.

  “Deal.” Butch was the first to cave.

  Leon held out longer, but finally gave a nod. “We’re all going down together, now, fur boy.”

  Satisfied everyone was finally on board, I walked over to the desk and ended up having to dig through the papers on the floor before I found the map I’d marked. I handed it to Collin. “Be there in an hour or we’ll come and get you.”

  Collin took the map, and I was pretty certain he was scared enough to show up of his own accord. He exited the room like he thought he was about to be the star in The Wizard of Oz remake.

  Butch was smoothing down tufts of his red hair. “Now that was a show.”

  “Thanks.” It hadn’t been perfect, but I was feeling somewhat smug. I’d used my magic, no one had died, and the building was mostly still standing.

  Leon nudged Butch. “If she makes it through this, she gets to go back to ‘still alive.’”

  “Agreed.”

  Chapter 36

  Butch and Leon stood beside me at the cemetery, one of the first places I’d ever shadow walked.

  Butch ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t like this.”

  “Shut up. She’s nervous enough,” Leon said.

  I’d deny the nerves, but I was too jittery to talk. I might
be willingly walking toward my death, and Kane might already be dead. That thought gutted me. There was no such thing as calm right now.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t do this?” It was the fifth time Butch had said that.

  Leon tensed. “What are you, stuck on repeat? She feels like she’s got to, so let’s support her.”

  “Does she, though?” Butch asked, stepping around me and closer to Leon.

  Leon matched his move until they were standing in front of me, face to face. “If a person I loved was in danger and I could do something, I’d take the chance.”

  I coughed. “I’m not in love with him. I’m concerned for him.”

  Butch threw his hands up. “See? She’s fucking delusional. That’s why she shouldn’t be doing this.”

  Leon stood his ground. “She’s just not in touch with her emotions. It doesn’t mean that she’s making bad choices.”

  I was relieved when a white SUV pulled up. Their debate was cut short as Collin and two of his people got out of the car. I squinted in the dim light. I knew these two. They’d tried to recruit me before Butch and Leon. Somebody owed me a bag of Doritos.

  I met Collin halfway as his sidekicks continued toward Butch and Leon. Each side did an appraisal, feeling their counterparts out.

  “Big wheels you got going on,” Leon said, motioning toward the SUV. “Overcompensating much?”

  “Maybe we can afford a new car, is all,” one of Collin’s guys said.

  Butch squared his shoulders. “Don’t disrespect the Caddy.”

  There was a tense moment, and then it was over for no reason I could figure, and they appeared to be shooting the shit. It might’ve been guy code, or some sort of thug code. Either way, it was a mystery to me.

  Collin nodded to the side. I followed and held up a hand to Butch and Leon when they would’ve followed.

  Collin crossed his arms and couldn’t seem to find a comfortable position to stand. “We really doing this tonight?”

  I looked about the place. I’d thought the message and location had made that pretty clear, so what was going on here? I centered my attention on him and realized there was a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. Ah shit. He was scared. That didn’t bode well.