by Sharon Joss
She nodded.
“That’s my girl. Come on, let’s go back, your mom is waiting for us.”
She heaved a big sigh, and we rejoined her mother. Gerard Fontaigne had arrived, and taken the empty seat I’d been saving for Lance.
“Where’s Lance?” I asked. “I thought he was coming with you.”
“I dropped him at his house to change, but he told me he had some things to attend to.”
Worry gnawed at me. “Is he mad at me?”
“I don’t think so, Mattie. He seemed preoccupied by something. Distant. I drove by on my way over here to offer him a ride, but he wasn’t home.”
“Maybe he went to pick up his car at the impound.” Maybe he’d heard about Andrea’s death.
“Perhaps.”
Soothing music came over the speakers, and I settled into the padded chair. Every few minutes, more people arrived. I looked for Rhys, but couldn’t find him. I studied the picture on the front of the program. A sepia-toned print showed Madame Celeste Coumlie standing proud beneath the palm-shaped sign in front of her home. She must have been in her early thirties. Her dark hair trailed to her waist, and her unnatural eyes stood out in the photograph, but her bare arms showed no markings. Other photos inside the program included a picture of the wedding party and even a photo taken with President Herbert Hoover. Several testimonials written by people who knew her best, memorialized her wonderful qualities. I recognized a few names and even a couple of famous actors. The room filled up, almost every seat was taken, and more people continued to arrive. Most had auras and lifelines, but I spotted more than a dozen who didn’t. I wondered if they were all djenie. Several guests arrived with invisible djinn in tow.
Over the next two hours, a steady stream of people filed by the open casket to pay their respects. Herman the German, Frau Deckhardt, the owner of the Shanghai Palace, Bunny Tacker and her fiancé Ronnie all stopped by. Mimsy Wu even introduced me to her mother.
I finally caught sight of Rhys and Henri, but they stayed at the back of the room, deep in conversation with an older man I didn’t recognize. I watched him for a few minutes as they stood in the doorway, and then Rhys followed the man outside. I stood to follow him, but Mayor Jim Brunson intercepted me.
“I am so sorry, Mattie. I admired your great-grandmother and knew her for many years. She encouraged me to go into politics. I had no idea you two were related.”
I blushed. “Thank you for coming.” I was getting pretty good at this funeral-speak, but not so good at making chit-chat with the Mayor after nearly running him down with my scooter. “I’m sorry about the other day. I mean, I got a little distracted, I’m glad you’re okay.”
“No apology necessary, I may have over-reacted. Mrs. Coumlie had been ill for a long time. I know how difficult it can be to concentrate on work when you’re so worried about your family. Caring for the elderly can be an enormous strain. You should have said something. I’m revoking your suspension. Your job is waiting for you. Come back to work whenever you’re ready.”
I started to protest, but my common sense kicked in. “Thank you, sir,” was all I could manage.
“Call me Jim, Mattie.” He shook my hand and I beamed at him in return.
Well slap me with a feather and call me stupid. I felt like I’d just won a new car.
Norm Sunders chose that moment to pop up and congratulate me on the overflow attendance. He complimented my new buddy Mayor Jim on the large turnout of local politicos and asked if Senator Barnes would be attending. As the men drifted away in conversation, I realized who was missing from the throng. Other than my brother, the only obvious no-shows were from law enforcement. In fact, not one of my friends from the police department or Parking Control had come. The message was clear, the realization stung. A lot.
Karen tapped me on the shoulder. “Congratulations. I told you everything would work out.”
I shrugged. “So why didn’t anyone from the department come? Not even Mike.”
She looked around the room. “You’re right. Oh, you understand where those guys are coming from, they’re just like you. They aren’t comfortable with um, this kind of stuff.”
“You mean the paranormal community. Anomalous individuals. The Hand of Fate.”
She waved her hand. “All of that. Like it or not, you’re one of them now.”
“They’re never going to accept me.” I lowered my sunglasses. “Not like this. They’ll shun me when I go back to work, too.”
“So get contact lenses. In a few weeks this will blow over. They’re still your friends, Mattie.” She gave me a worried look.
“What?”
“Maybe this isn’t the best time to tell you, but Martin got a huge promotion a couple of weeks ago. The bank is relocating us to San Francisco. I wanted to tell you earlier, but you were so upset, I couldn’t.”
I was stunned. “Wow, um. Congratulations. You’re moving?”
She nodded and squeezed my hands. “At the end of the month. Martin’s already found a couple of houses for me to look at. We’re flying out next week to decide which one to make an offer on. I’m going to miss you, Mattie. I can’t imagine living so far away from you. You’ve been like family to me.”
My throat felt dry. I tried not to show how upset I was. “We’ll still talk all the time. I’ll come out and visit. Abbot’s won’t be the same without you.” I’d just lost my brother, great-grandmother and best friend, all in one day.
“I’ll call you as soon as we get back, if not before.” We hugged. Martin came up to us and put his arm around her.
“Don’t worry, Mattie. The boys and I will take good care of her. As soon as we get settled, you come out for a good long visit.”
“Thanks Martin, I can’t wait. Congrats on the promotion.” I followed them out to their car and watched as they drove away. My old life was slipping away from me, and I could do nothing to stop it. I walked back into the funeral home to search for Rhys. The place was thinning out, but I didn’t see him anywhere. I hoped he hadn’t left already.
“You look real pretty today.” The warm voice of my brother sounded like music to me.
I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. “I’m glad you came. I’m so sorry, it’s my fault you got arrested.”
He appeared pale, but good humor crinkled at the corners of his eyes. My brother was back. “No shit. They must have followed you out to the faire. They had me in custody less than an hour later.”
I choked back my emotions. “Oh, that. Um, sorry. I was talking about, oh never mind. You’re out.” I gripped his gnarled hand in mine. “I talked to Violet.”
“Yeah, I ran into her in the parking lot.”
“And?”
He looked away and shrugged. “And nothing. No promises.”
I blurted it out without thinking. “Andrea’s dead. The Night Shark got her.”
“I heard about that.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Can’t’ say as I’m real broken up about it.”
“I’ve got your money.” I held up my hand at Lance’s reaction. “Wait. I have to tell you something.” I pulled off my sunglasses.
Lance let out a low whistle. “What have you been up to?”
I took a deep breath. “Um, Madame Coumlie is our great-gran.”
“So you said.”
“Well, I’m her heir. The oldest woman of the line. I’m not sure what it all means yet, but this happened right after she died. And there’s some other stuff too. Stuff that’s still happening. What I mean to say is, when I went to pay off your IOU, Mimsy Wu refused to take my money. She gave me a receipt and everything, but when she found out I’m the new Hand of Fate, she said your money was no good.”
My brother cocked his head as he studied my appearance. “Yeah, well that Mimsy’s a piece of work, all right. By the way, where’d you find that lawyer? He’s a helluva guy.”
I met his eyes. “You have to go back to rehab, Lance.”
He stroked his chin. “I’ve got to c
lear up a few things, and Violet wants me to meet with a counselor later in the week.”
“At least you’re talking. That’s good.”
“Look sis, I’ll see you around. I’m going to pay my respects to Celeste and take off.”
“Celeste?”
“She was a good friend of mine long before she became our gran.”
I frowned at him, incredulous.
“You don’t know me nearly as well as you think you do.” He kissed my forehead. “Go on. Your boyfriend is outside waiting for you.”
“Are we okay?”
He smiled. “See you around, brat.”
“Later, grease monkey.”
I took a deep breath and pushed back out through the double glass doors into the parking lot. I spotted Rhys standing amid an assemblage of two dozen people. Something about the crowd jarred my senses, something that couldn’t solely be attributed to the loose cluster of unattached djinn hovering around the edges. None of these people had been inside, I realized. They loitered in the parking lot, skulking like feral cats. Several were accompanied by named djinn. They appeared dressed for a wedding instead of a funeral, in soft pastels and bright summer whites with seersucker instead of the somber funereal colors of the midsummer mourners inside. Two women in the group wore gaudy feathered hats that would have been more appropriate in an Easter parade. But something else seemed incongruous with this occasion of death.
I slid up behind Rhys, feeling my way forward, like a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. It was their auras. Not all of them had one. Most did not even have lifelines. These were the paranormals, I realized. The supernaturals. Anomalous individuals. A dozen or more strays from the hidden underbelly of the town. These were the refugees; the real residents of Shore Haven. Hiding in plain sight, drawn here like moths to the flame, they belonged here more than any of us.
I felt a whisper, the first promise of belonging. Would they embrace me, or would they brand me an outsider, and crush me with their rejection? I choked down a sob and stood shoulder to shoulder with Rhys. These were my people too, now. I could help them, I know I could. Rhys and I could keep the intensity of the FBI and law enforcement gaze away from them. Allow them to maintain their cloak of invisibility, keep them safe from prying eyes and restore their sense of safety in their secret sanctuary. I slipped my hand into the crook of Rhys’ elbow. Without turning, he drew me to him, and curled my arm protectively within his own.
I rested my head against his shoulder, and tried to concentrate on the conversation, but my emotions were too chaotic. With each breath, my chest unclenched a little. Calm joy filled me. A sense of renewed purpose bubbled up inside me.
As I listened to the conversation, it began to dawn on me that these people were all complaining to Rhys about something. They were all being plagued by djinn.
“What am I supposed to do, Warrick? They’re everywhere. The feds are going to start a witch hunt any day.”
“If the FBI finds out I’ve got one of these, you know what will happen. I’m already on their watch list.”
“I hear you, Dave,” Rhys answered. “I promise we’re working on it. Give me a few days to get this taken care of.”
A wave of heat washed over me, and I remembered my promise. What was I waiting for?
“How are you going to do that? Now that the Hand is gone, how can you expect to control these things? Who knows what’s going to happen next?”
Rhys hesitated, and I answered for him. “I promise you, the djinn will be gone from your lives tonight. Give us just a few more hours.” Rhys gave me that great smile of his. The one that was just for me.
“Who are you?” This from the skeptic on the FBI watch list.
“The torch has been passed.” Rhys pulled me forward. “This is Madame Coumlie’s heir, Mattie Blackman.” He winked at me, and my heart fluttered happily. For an uncomfortable moment the group stared at me. Then, without warning, they alerted to something coming up behind me, and without a word slunk away into the shadows.
I turned to see the FBI’s paranormal control agent, Frank Porter approaching at a brisk walk.
“Hey you two, I’m glad I caught you.” I experienced a moment of panic before I remembered I’d ordered Blix and Larry to stay at home.
“Shoot,” Rhys said.
“I wanted let you know that in addition to the bodies in the walk-in, we found body parts of three more in the main kitchen freezer upstairs. We’ll need to run DNA to identify some of them. Looks like some of the missing go back years.”
“He was a demon master. His djemon killed them.” I hoped it was true.
“Well, not all of them. More than half the victims had been strangled. You were lucky you weren’t one of them.”
“Lucky for me he bled to death.”
“Actually no. He died of a massive brain hemorrhage. In spite of all that blood, the doc thought he would have survived.”
Guilt and confusion flooded through me. On one hand, I know I’d done the right thing. One the other hand, I couldn’t forget the sound that his life’s thread had made when I snapped it, or the surge of savage glee I’d experienced at the moment of his death. Morta. I shivered in spite of the heat.
“We found five more skeletons down in the tunnel below the sub-basement. Coroner is guessing that they’ve been there for decades, maybe since prohibition. He thinks they might have been rival bootleggers or inconvenient witnesses. We followed the same rail line you told us about, and guess where it led us?”
“The basement of Mad Otto’s estate,” I answered.
“Bingo. When we asked to search the premises, the old coot refused us and threatened us with his demon. Can you believe that?”
Rhys and I looked at each other, neither of us surprised. “What happened?”
“He’s got a smart lawyer. Because of his age and health, he’s under house arrest. With all his money, I doubt he’ll ever serve a day in jail. The Bureau has never run into a situation like this before, so we’re not quite sure how to proceed. Probably be in all the papers tomorrow.”
“This must put you back in good graces again,” Rhys said.
Porter beamed and blushed ear-to-ear. “I’m not disappointed.” He glanced around to make sure no one was listening in. “The Bureau is going to be looking for a replacement for me. The paranormal task force needs people with special talents. Either of you interested? What about it?”
“You said neither of us had psychic abilities.”
“Obviously those tests don’t tell us everything.” He nodded at Rhys, and I realized some unsaid message had passed between them. “What do you think of my offer?”
“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Frank. I’m an academic, remember?”
“What about you, Mattie?”
I chewed my lip. I’d wanted to work in law enforcement, real law enforcement, not just Parking Control, all my life. But today’s snub by Mike and the department’s rigid stance against the anomalous community bothered me. Porter’s antagonistic attitude toward the Hand of Fate and demons shocked me. In spite of what Karen said, I wasn’t so sure things could ever go back to the way they used to be. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted it to. I didn’t picture myself as a hypocrite.
“Thanks, I’ll think about it.”
Porter took off and Rhys and I drifted over to my car. We leaned against Trusty Rusty, waving to people as they left, not looking at each other. After ten minutes, I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“I’m sorry I freaked out last night.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
“Can we start over?”
Rhys turned to face me, his expression serious. “What did you have in mind, Mattie? Other than sealing up that cavern, what do you want from me?”
What exactly did I want? Now that we’d come to the moment, I didn’t seem able to string the right words together. When in doubt, chicken out.
I smoothed my hair. “I have a plan.”
“What�
��s your plan?”
“Well, two things. First of all, we don’t need the journals, we have Oneiri-- I mean Henri. We can just ask him, but I’m pretty sure I already figured it out. That’s what I came over to tell you yesterday. I found a way to banish the djinn. I sent all mine to the cavern. It was so easy, Rhys. I think Madame Coumlie did the same thing. I think she used Oneiri to herd all the djinn back into the original cavern and she commanded them to stay there. Then they sealed it. We can use Blix and Larry to do the same thing.”
His sharp eyes drilled into me. “Blix and Larry?”
I blushed. Oops. “It’s a secret. Don’t tell anybody.” How did I forget Lance’s warning so quickly?
“So you have two djemons now? When did this happen?”
I winced. “Um, three. The first one was by accident, but I sent him to the caves with all the other djinn that had been following me. Blix and Larry have been with me from the beginning.”
Rhys gaped at me. “You surprise me.”
“After I sent the other djinn to the cavern, I ran to your office to tell you. When I found blood all over the floor and Henri hiding in the stairwell, I figured the Night Shark’s djemon had taken you. The only place I could think it would go was the caves. I called on Blix to lead me to you. And if it weren’t for Larry, I’d have been chopped into little pieces by Garr and his machete.”
Henri came up to us at that moment, and confirmed my suspicions about what had been done in 1930. He had indeed rounded up the unnamed djinn that had attached themselves to the unsuspecting citizens of the Shore.
“I was able to assist Madame in finding the djinn, and once they were in her presence, she ordered them into the cavern, which was then sealed. People believed the entrance was sealed to keep the djinn inside, but that wasn’t true. The command of the Hand of Fate alone kept the djinn in their cave. The seal was nothing but a safety measure to keep people out. However, as Madame’s powers began to fade, so did her compulsion and power over the djinn. They began to drift beyond the confines of the cave and into the town.”
“Henri, tell me about the others. What happened to the named djinn?”
He shrugged. “As long as they had not yet been made flesh, they obeyed the Hand of Fate, and were banished. The fully materialized djemon could not be compelled, except by their master. Most answered to a single man, and once he died, they were too small to survive.”
