Elemental Shadows

by Phaedra Weldon

  "That's it," I pointed at her. "That's what I'm worried about. What happens to the ones caught between worlds?"

  Arden looked confused. "You should know this. You just fought one."

  The Shadow People.

  Arden continued. "The door's magic wasn't new when Quinn found it. It was actually based off some spell he found in a book that was passed down from his grandmother and grandfather. But then it was called the Devil's Hole."

  Ivan crossed his arms over his chest. "That sounds awful."

  "It was supposed to. Apparently it was something the church used to get rid of sinners. Evil monsters. I'm pretty sure a few Revenants were thrown into the thing these past centuries."

  "Can…can you get out of it?"

  "Only if the door's opened the same way," Arden shrugged. "But most of the time it's a one way trip." Now she leaned her head to her shoulder. "Why are you asking? Did someone make one?"

  "I don't know. I'm terrified they did," I cleared my throat. "The missing children."

  I counted one beat before Arden realized what I was getting at. What I was worried about. She instantly stood and came to me. "You're not serious."

  "Where else are they?" I searched her face. Arden was beautiful. Ageless. But I often wondered if she had children of her own somewhere, or was she really as young as she looked. "They're not in this world."

  "That's…that would be an abomination."

  I looked past her to Ivan. "Tell her what you and Kyle saw today."

  I moved around to the fire as Ivan recounted the different experiences he and Kyle had in each of the homes with the small and almost playful Shadow People. I came back to them and told her about my experience at Rose's house and how Crwys stopped me.

  "This is bad," Arden said. "We have to know if they're in there."

  "I thought about asking Tzariene if she knew if they were in Alfheim."

  "No. Not Tzariene. You have to ask Brendi."

  Brendi? "No. That's not gonna happen."

  "You have to. You said Brendi made a deal with that Leviathan for Medbh's head, didn't you? It is possible she knows exactly what that bitch did to those children." Arden looked as stricken as I felt. "We have to ask Brendi."

  "But I don't have anything else to give her, and the only reason she hasn't taken me is because she promised her dad."

  "I'll ask. In fact, we'll cut the Circle here. With my people and I'll ask. I'll offer her something."

  "What?"

  "Doesn't matter. Let's get this done. And hope she knows—if they were cast into a Coyote Flame—where."

  "Where is important?"

  Arden reached out and touched my cheek. "Only if you want to get them out."

  We made plans to meet Arden at Gypsy Gardens, her estate outside the city along Lake Pontchartrain at midnight. That gave us around three hours to get to the shop, change and get a few ritual supplies I wanted to use. It also gave Arden time to call out to her house and get them ready. She wouldn't tell me what she planned on exchanging for the information.

  And that worried me.

  Once in the shop, Kyle ran upstairs to my apartment and changed into jeans, shirt, sneakers and jacket. He also stored his ritual robes up there as well. I asked him to grab mine. Ivan didn't have any yet, since up until that point we really hadn't had any reason to cut a Circle.

  I was in the back office grabbing my ritual bag when I heard Ivan yell out. It wasn't a call for me—but more like a "Hey somebody!"

  I dropped what I was holding, pulled my guns out my bag and headed back to the front as Kyle came thundering down the steps. I burst through the door with my guns up just as five men in black suits turned and pointed their guns at me. Ivan stood in the middle of them, handcuffed and looking terrified.

  Dammit. It was like Halloween all over again. Only this time I could see the black suited ninjas. "Drop it right there because I'm calling the police!"

  "Please, go right ahead Miss Hawthorne," the tallest of them said. He was the only one without a gun. And upon further examination of their guns—they had really big guns. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black wallet. "Please, allow me to introduce myself."

  I kept both of my guns focused on him as he stepped forward and held the wallet open. "My name is Special Agent Pierce Goddard. My team and I are here to take Mr. Westerfield in for questioning."

  I looked at the badge and my dex launched. It wasn't just good for identifying species. It could see lies as well. And from what it could tell of the ID, this was legit. But that didn't mean I was putting my weapons down. It'd been that kind of day. "Questioning for what?"

  "Sam, you can put your guns down," Kyle said to my left.

  "Not until they do and they take the cuffs off Ivan."

  Goddard nodded to his right, then his left, and the men all lowered their weapons. "I'm afraid the cuffs have to stay. Procedure."

  "Is he under arrest?"

  "No. Not yet. But he is wanted in questioning in conjunction with the actions of a black hat group calling themselves Soul Machine."

  "Ivan doesn't have anything to do with them."

  "I'm afraid we've been given information that says otherwise. And given Mr. Westerfield's past history with computers and hacking, we think he'd benefit from our protection."

  Protection? "You're not taking him."

  Goddard reached into his jacket pocket again and retrieved a folded piece of paper. He handed it to Kyle who skimmed it. "What the hell? You're shutting us down?"

  "Just your Internet. While we conduct our investigation to see if Mr. Westerfield has information that pertains to Soul Machine and the deaths of three elderly men."

  "What does that mean, shut down our Internet? For how long? I have to make orders. I have an online presence." I honestly didn't know if I did or didn't. Ivan took care of all that stuff. I wouldn't call myself a Luddite, but I was in the ball park.

  But let's face it. Magic and technology? Not exactly the best match.

  One of the guys in suits stepped forward and offered me his hand. He literally stood in front of my guns, blocking my view of Goddard and Ivan and stuck his hand out. "Ma'am. My name's Jack Roberts. I'll be handling the shut down. And I promise, I won't damage any of your equipment."

  Equipment? We had equipment?

  The other men in black started moving, escorting Ivan out the front door.

  "Get out of my way, Jack."

  "Ma'am—"

  I fired one of the guns just past his left ear. He moved.

  The bullet struck the wall over the agents' heads and they all aimed their guns at me again.

  "Sam…" Kyle sounded a bit on edge. "You're tired. And stressed out. They'll talk to Ivan and find out he has nothing to do with this so-called group and they'll release him."

  "Miss Hawthorne," Agent Goddard said. "I was told to treat you with kid-gloves. But if you don't lower your weapons I will shoot you myself."

  "Sam," Ivan said from where he was held by the door. "Just do as he says. And remember what I said at Arden's?"

  What he said at Arden's? I flipped through what I could remember and then… Oh shit.

  Kyle stepped next to me and pushed my left arm down. I lowered both arms and watched as they took Ivan away and filed out of my shop. All of them except Jack Roberts.

  "Get out."

  "Ma'am, I'm supposed to take your router. I have a warrant."

  I narrowed my eyes at him. "Then take it and get the fuck out of my shop before I blow your ass off." I turned and headed into the back room.

  I was shaking when I set both guns on the table. I was so tired. And the night wasn't over. No, but it sure as hell just got a lot more complicated. I was depending on Ivan to download that book so—

  DAMMIT!

  He still had the Hammer…and now some weird ass spooks had him.

  Unless they weren't real spooks.

  Oh shit. What if this was like last time, and Dionysus was behind it again? He'd set up a new group w
ith men this time and now they had Ivan. Again!

  My phone rang and I irritably pulled it out of my pocket. When I saw Pauline's number I refused the call and held tight to the phone.

  Who the hell could I ask? I needed to make sure they were legit. I wasn't going to be able to function if I didn't know for a fact those were real agents. Checking up front, I listened and heard Kyle talking with Jack.

  I dialed the only number I knew.

  "Wow…this is a rare event."

  "Shut up, Crwys. I need you to tell me that the agents that just came and picked Ivan up are legit."

  "Wait…what? Slow down. Agents just picked Ivan up? For what?"

  I blabbed it all. Well not all. Most of it. I started where Ivan found out about the leak at the women's shelter and ended at the fundraiser, wrangling pretty well around the Hammer.

  He whistled. I had learned this to be a good thing with him. It meant he'd been listening and he was interested. "Ivan's betting this Ronald Kennett sent the feds some bullshit about him being involved."

  "I also suspect Kennett's the one that set Arden up with the three dead Elders."

  "How so?"

  "Because Ivan hid the information he had on Kennett on one of Arden's company's servers."

  "Is it still there?"

  "I have no idea."

  "I'm gonna need that." Crwys said something to somebody and then, "Give me the agent's name."

  "Pierce Goddard."

  He paused. "That's the same agent that came asking us about Soul Machine and Ronald Kennett. The one I told you about? Runs a cyber terrorist task force across Mississippi and Louisiana. Kennett knew right where to send the stuff. Look, I'll see what I can do about helping Ivan. You go through with the ritual at Arden's. If I get good news, I'll either bring it to you or call you."

  I felt a small bit of relief. Small. Mostly I felt guilt because I still hadn't told him everything. "I'll try."

  "Sam…when was the last time you slept?"

  "This morning." I hung up and shoved the phone back in my pocket. I saw the red 3 on the phone icon and knew Pauline had left messages. But I couldn't head out to Picayune just yet.

  I had a small bathroom built just off of my office. It wasn't much, just a toilet and a sink, but one thing it was, was private. I locked myself in there for a few to mediate. I know, meditating in the bathroom sounds weird. But don't knock it. Best place to sit and regroup.

  Until someone knocks on the door.

  Knock, knock, knock. "Sam?"

  I hung my head. "Is it time to leave?"

  "Yeah…no…I don't know. But I need you to come out here. We have a problem."

  Again?

  I was pretty sure this problem had something to do with Jack Roberts, so I took my time and splashed water on my face, raked my fingers through my unruly mass of hair, took two more deep breaths and stepped out. Luckily neither of them was in my office. I grabbed my bag and looked for them. They were in the break room.

  "Sam—" Kyle said as he put his hands on the table. "Jack has a slight problem."

  "Really? How nice." I set the bag on the table. "We have to go."

  "I am really sorry ma'am," Jack said with his hands out. "But I can't find your modem or your router."

  Jack really was a nice looking guy, in a sort of geeky way. He was a nice build, a little too wiry for me. His hair was cut pretty short on the sides and back. A nice brownish color. Reminded me of chocolate pudding.

  My stomach growled at the thought of pudding. I wondered if there was yogurt in the fridge. So I went to it to see. Yay! There was an Oikos! I grabbed it and looked for a spoon. "What is that?"

  "The modem is the device that—"

  "No. Stop." Kyle waved his hands in the air. "Both of them make Wi-Fi possible. But he can't find ours."

  Omg…this yogurt was so good. I ate half of it before I asked, "Do we have either of them?"

  "I thought we did. I mean, I get Wi-Fi on my phone."

  "Is it our Wi-Fi?"

  They both looked at me. I really was listening. But I'd left all of this up to Ivan, and it was obvious to me the person they had to ask, was Ivan.

  Kyle narrowed his eyes. "Are you saying we don't have Wi-Fi?"

  "I don't pay a Wi-Fi bill. So I would suggest to you," I pointed my spoon at Jack Roberts. "That you should be asking Ivan Westerfield, the innocent man your people just dragged out of here. I don't pay a bill on a Wi-Fi. You won't find a bill for it in my name. This shop doesn't have Wi-Fi. It's a magic shop. Magic and wireless don't get along."

  I turned and finished the yogurt before I tossed the empty container into the trash.

  Jack looked at me, then at Kyle. "Is she serious? Magic?"

  "Yep. We're a magic shop."

  "Magic isn't real."

  I waved at him. "Get out. Kyle, in the Jeep." I turned and looked up the stairs to my apartment. "Grey! We're going!"

  Kyle had his bag packed and hoisted it over his shoulder. "You can walk out this way."

  "Is the front locked up?"

  "Oh, let me make sure." Kyle disappeared through the door just as Grey came down the steps.

  When she saw Jack, she stopped at the bottom of the steps and growled at him. Her ears flattened and she showed some teeth.

  "Grey, stop that. This is Jack the G-Man." I looked at him.

  His teeth were clenched tight and he looked like he was actually going to growl back at her. I waved my hand in front of his face. "Hey, you. Get a grip."

  He blinked and pointed at Grey. "That's a wolf."

  "Yes."

  "A real Paladin."

  I frowned at that. "A what?"

  Kyle breezed back in. "Okay. All locked up. We're good."

  "Fine. Show the G-man out. We've got less than an hour to get there." I watched as Kyle escorted Jack Roberts out the back. I also watched as Jack and Grey kept looking at one another. Why had he called her a Paladin? Was that a type of wolf?

  I followed them out with Grey beside me. I got in Kyle’s car and Grey jumped into the back. I would have liked to take my Jeep, but my top had a rip in it and given New Orleans' rain lately—I didn't want a wet butt.

  Kyle came jogging back and slid into the driver’s seat.

  "Where's your G-man?"

  "He went around front." Kyle looked around as he backed the Jeep out and then pulled out onto Bourbon Street. "You think he's cute?"

  "Who? Jack?" I winced. "If you like the government type."

  "I think he's cute."

  "Is he Family?" Translation, is he gay?

  "Oh I'm sure of it," Kyle smiled at me.

  I glanced at him and saw that dopey, dreamy look he always got when he fell in love. But be advised, Kyle fell in love every other Thursday. "Wipe your drool and get in the mood. We're gonna be talking to Brendi." I shivered at that.

  Brendi. The Obsidian Queen of the Unseelie Court. The first Queen of the Faerie Realm.

  Thinking of this made the yogurt curdle in my stomach.

  I was glad Kyle drove out to Gypsy Gardens. I was still too rattled from G-Men taking Ivan. I mean come on…whose life is like this besides mine? I didn't mean to sound like I'm whining, even though I am, but…damn. I couldn't catch a break lately.

  Grey knew I was wiped both mentally and physically at this point and kept her head on my shoulder from where she sat in the back. I didn't know how I functioned without her before. She wasn't like the usual Familiar, not a companion I just drew energy from for magic. She was more of a constant companion. There was something familiar about her that I could never quite put a finger on.

  Arden's plantation—because let's face it, that's what it was—sat just outside of New Orleans along the boarder of the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge. Though most of the land was considered a swamp, the water itself fed into Arden's Elemental Gift of Water and worked as a killer power base. The land had been in her clan for generations. I use the word clan because Arden came from a long line of gypsies that stole th
e land from white settlers over a century ago, gave up their wandering ways, and worked magic with the land.

  The plantation sat at the end of a long drive of moss-covered trees. The scene always reminded me of the plantation setting in the movie Interview with the Vampire. My heart jumped into my throat as Kyle sped along that sandy drive.

  I counted around sixteen cars parked in the lot in front of the house. All of them high end. BMWs, Mercedes, Lexus…and then there was Kyle's Prius. At least I knew Kyle was keeping up with the planet's care and maintenance and not the Joneses.

  The moon wasn't visible; it was in its dark phase since it was full on Samhain. The December air was crisp as I grabbed my leather jacket out of the back and put it on, then strapped holsters on my thighs and slipped my guns into them. I didn’t use the custom made holsters much because they were showy, but I felt that tonight I needed as much showy as I could get.

  "I don't think my aunt's going to want those in the house."

  I glared at Kyle as he grabbed his own bag out of the trunk, but I didn't comment. I was a little worried what would come out. Part of my mind was thinking about Ivan, knowing he still had the Hammer uploaded inside of him, somehow. Another part was thinking about the Cleric's threat of warlocking and the fact I had less than nine hours left to find their damn book for them. Another facet of my multitasking was thinking about these children and feeling guilty—because if what I think is true and they're not in Alfheim, then I've left them in that limbo for over two weeks!

  All my own childhood fears of trust and dependence on adults came back to me. I relived my own feelings of anger and doubt when my mom vanished. And I hated that temporary feeling of betrayal I'd had, until the police said she'd died in the line of duty. I didn't want these children thinking any of these things about me.