License Notes
Copyright © 2017 Amanda Booloodian
Cover Art by Deranged Doctor Design
Formatting by Deranged Doctor Design
Published by: Walton INK
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN-10:0-9973353-4-3
ISBN-13:978-0-9973353-4-7
All rights reserved
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions, please contact Walton INK.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Walton INK
booloodian.com
Dedicated to silver, even though...
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Chapter 1
"Whose idea was it to relocate a nymph into a sorority house?" I asked as we drove away from Zeta house.
"I'm pretty sure that was her own idea,” Logan said. “Felicity has a good head on her shoulders, though. Nice girl. Which other Lost do we have on our list for the day?"
"That's it."
"We're not seeing the fairies?" He seemed bothered by the idea. As one of the Lost, a being from another dimension, Logan was particularly active in checking up on everyone he could.
"Usually the changelings take more time." I took out our tablet and looked through today's calendar. "Want to head back to the Farm?"
"Let's manage the paperwork from home. Washington is in town. I'd like to avoid the bureaucracy."
"We are the bureaucracy."
The Agency for Interdimensional Relocation, AIR, had changed in the past few months. At least the office had. Being more high-tech came with the price tag of extra visits from government committees.
"Who ever heard of a portal review?" Logan asked. "They either work or they don't."
"They're probably checking the logs. Who's visiting this world, who we're sending back, that sort of thing. I think it's good that someone is stopping by from time to time."
Logan didn't say anything. Last winter, our previous boss had put me on a hit list so he could maneuver illegal activities with less chance of being caught. That resulted in him being dragged into a dimension of demons and my soul being shattered into countless pieces.
For Logan, the less government involvement, the better. I still couldn't decide if he was overly paranoid. One of his sons seemed to be following in his footsteps. Maybe elves were just naturally like this.
Still, when I powered down our tablet, I put it into a case that blocked all transmissions in and out so that if our superiors wanted to jump on and listen to our conversations, they wouldn't be able to. It was a gift from Logan and I figured it was better to be on the safe side. A little paranoia could be healthy.
"Does Margaret need us to take care of anything while we're in town?" Logan asked.
"No, Gran's out with Dee Dee today. I think they're shopping."
"Want to head out to the Sanctuary and check in on the fairies anyway?"
"Hmm," I said, trying to buy some time. I looked at my partner who was smiling and humming under his breath while he waited for my answer. Elven smiles were practically a contagion. "Yeah, we can go there." He was using the fairies as an excuse to ride the horses. That was usually the case.
Logan started singing an old cowboy song under his breath and changed directions to the Sanctuary. I didn't have to hear the words to know that the song was about cowboys. It was always about cowboys.
My phone rang and Ethan's name popped up on my caller ID. I smiled but hesitated to take the call in front of Logan. Logan was on good terms with Ethan, but they weren't friends.
"Go ahead and take the call from your lawman," Logan said.
I grinned and hit the talk button.
"Hi, Cassie," his voice sounded strained.
My smile sank. "What's up?"
"Look, I, uh, know we don't talk about your job." He stopped, and I heard him cover the phone up and begin speaking to someone else. "Sorry about that," he said when he got back to me.
"What’s going on?"
Logan stopped humming.
"I might have a case that I need your help with, or at least your opinion on." Ethan didn't sound happy about the prospect.
"Sure, where do you need us?" I asked.
He told me the address. "Sorry about this, Cassie."
"It's no problem."
"You might not say the same thing once you get here."
After we hung up, I typed the address into our GPS. "Do you mind if we swing around?" I asked Logan.
"We could do that. Seems awful strange for the local law to drag in outsiders," Logan said.
"It does."
The thought of working with Ethan wasn't a comfortable one. He didn't know who I worked for beyond the Department of Treasury. Our first meeting a few months ago hadn't started out well, but it ended with him asking me on a date. Technically, we hadn't worked a case together, which made it easier for the confidential information to stay out of our relationship.
"Does he know about you?" Logan asked, keeping his voice casual.
"My abilities? No way. I'll leave that out for as long as I can." My last serious boyfriend, fiancé really, tried to have me committed when I told him about my abilities. I'm not one of the Lost, but I'm not your ordinary human either. Everything leaves a trace as it moves through this world, and as a Reader, I see the trails that are left behind.
I was thankful that Logan let the subject drop.
"Lots of construction going up around here," Logan said.
"It seems like there's construction everywhere around town now," I said.
"Looks like we've found our address," Logan said, stopping on the side of the road.
Apartment buildings were being erected all around us. We couldn't go any further due to the sheer number of police vehicles. Since we were visiting Lost today, we were in a regular car instead of our usual SWAT-style truck.
We approached the crime scene tape and we were immediately stopped by an officer.
"This is a crime scene. Please return to your vehicle and leave the area." The scorn in his voice was palpable.
"We're federal agents. Lieutenant Ethan Parker contacted us," I said.
"You're an agent?" the man snorted. "Likely story. Move along."
Logan tensed beside me. People's first reaction to me was never a pleasant one, just one of the
many side effects of a damaged soul. Once people got used to me, they got over it, but Logan always took those first reactions personally.
When I went to get my ID out of my back pocket, the officer put his hand on his gun. Moving much slower, I took out the ID and handed it over.
"This looks like it came from a cereal box," the guy said, tossing it back at me, "move along."
Sometimes, I hated being me. Usually, I could take the rudeness with a grain of salt. Having a shattered soul made me stronger than I had ever been in the past, so I let the downsides slide off, but being at my boyfriend's civilian crime scene had me anxious already.
"Listen here, you pompous—"
"Officer!" Ethan barked from beside a large piece of yellow construction equipment with the letters CAT on the side. "Stop screwing around and let them through!"
The officer looked surprised and stood aside. Logan lifted the tape and we walked onto the official crime scene.
Ethan appeared glum when we approached. "Agent Seale," Ethan said, shaking Logan's hand. He hesitated when he turned to me. "Agent Heidrich." He gave me a handshake too.
I guess that put us squarely in the professional category today. At least Ethan had the sense to appear uncomfortable using my last name. Still, I thought we were past the stage where he called me "agent."
"Lieutenant," Logan said, "what do you have for us today?"
Ethan took off his sunglasses and looked at us. "It's pretty muddy back here. I should have given you a heads up about that."
Behind him, a large sheet had been pinned down to the ground to keep from blowing away.
I frowned, knowing there was probably a body underneath. "We're good, lieutenant."
He flinched slightly when I said lieutenant, but he was right. At a crime scene, business is business. Maybe it's best to keep it professional.
"Right, we have one body. White male. He was found by a crewmember who arrived this morning.”
"This morning?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, we're getting ready to move him now. I wanted to hold off till you got here. We, uh, initially held off to find the rest of him."
"Pieces missing?" I asked, trying to keep myself from grimacing.
Ethan nodded.
"We'd better take a look," Logan said. "Everything around the body been processed?"
"Yeah, you’re good to go. Listen, Cassie, maybe you shouldn't—"
"Lieutenant," Logan interrupted, "we don't know each other well yet, but here’s a friendly warning. It might be a good idea to drop that train of thought before it goes any further."
My face was already red. Ethan was going to suggest I stay away, not look, or something equally stupid. Lips pursed, I ignored both of them and stalked over to the cloth.
A year ago, I would have flipped the covering over to prove I had no issues. I was a month shy of completing my first year in the field. Seeing that this scene covered a wide patch of ground, I knew better than to charge in. Instead, I walked to the edge of the cloth, knelt down, and waited for Logan to join me. This gave me a moment to ready myself.
"Let's see what we've got," Logan said.
I lifted the cloth.
Red. There was a lot of red scattered over the ground. It wasn’t the bright red that you’d see on TV or in the movies. Instead, it was a ruddy color that covered the grass and soaked into the ground. The stench released from under the cloth made me swallow hard and use my jacket to cover my nose and mouth. It took me longer to identify pieces. My mind didn't want to focus. Closest to me, a pool of pale flesh puddled together. Skin and muscle littered the ground. Ragged strips of flesh looked torn and shapeless.
"We're not sure what exactly happened here," Ethan said, keeping his voice low, "but the ME has looked things over and we've scoured the area. Tentatively, we're calling it an animal attack."
Shaking my head, I lowered the cloth and as one, we moved away from the remains.
"You think that's what it was?" Logan asked.
"There's a lot of bone missing. What's left doesn't show any bite marks that we've seen yet, but I can't think of anything else that might be able to do this. In the case we worked together this spring... well, this seemed odd as well, so I thought you all may be able to give us more," Ethan said.
"What do you say, Cassie?" Logan asked.
"Weird is right up our alley," I mumbled. Louder, I added, "We can take a look, but I think we need Rider."
"I'll call him in." Logan tapped his head. "Wait for me before you get started."
He walked off to call our sometimes partner, Rider Wolfe. As a werewolf, he would be able to pick up smells that might help us identify things we might overlook. The head tap is the part that made me nervous. It was only natural that he would want me to read the Paths in the area. With a death that violent, I was afraid of what I might see.
Then there was Ethan. Using my power meant that he'd see me wandering around following trails invisible to anyone but me, and that's if I was strong enough to control all the forces inside me. With the added difficulty of pieces of souls from various Lost swirling around, it made things volatile and unpredictable at the best of times.
"Cassie, I'm sorry to drag you into this," Ethan said.
He had waited until Logan was out of normal earshot range. Ethan and I had never learned how to work together while seeing each other, and I had hoped we wouldn’t have to. Ethan looked so worn, though, that I knew it would be worth it to help if we could.
Forcing a smile on my face, I said, "You're doing your job. If we can help, we will."
"Yeah, but it's a hell of a thing to invite someone you see personally into something like this."
"Rider's on his way," Logan said, returning, "and I called Hank to get us logged in.” He turned to Ethan. “Hope you don't mind, but I also let your officer know that we'd be expecting company."
"That's good. Not sure what got into him earlier," Ethan said.
"Did you all find anything else on site?" I asked, steering away from the officer. I didn't want anyone to get into trouble.
"We're not too sure about that. Since we don't know what or who we're dealing with, it's hard to say," Ethan said.
"You found something?" I asked.
"Mostly the usual construction stuff, but there's something the work crew noticed. It's down this way."
Ethan led us to the end of the new street where we stood around a hole dug for a walkout basement. It appeared that people were getting ready to pour concrete.
"What are we looking at?" Logan asked.
"The crew put down some rebar yesterday," Ethan said. Seeing the confusion on my face, he added, "The metal poles. They strengthen the concrete. They poured piers, which help with stability. You can see where the concrete is coming up out of the ground."
"Sure." I nodded and let him continue.
"The rebar they laid over here looks the way it should," Ethan said, "but over there, it has been moved around. That wouldn't be a big deal, because it's easy to move, but there's also a hole that wasn't there before."
Logan's forehead wrinkled. "A hole?"
"Yeah, we can circle around if you want, but it looks like someone dug a hole." Ethan shrugged. "It's out of place, so I'm not discounting it. It has already been photographed. We're getting ready to see how deep it is."
"Let's go down and check it out," I said. It was better than going back to the body and it didn't add up. Why would Ethan think a hole was important?
My boots were coated in mud by the time we made our way around the building site.
"Any luck?" Ethan asked an officer nearby.
"No, sir, it looks like it drops a few feet then slants back. We're having a hard time getting pictures since there is an angle in the space."
"Thank you," Ethan said and turned to us. "Nothing much we can say. It could be nothing."
"Do you wanna take a look?" Logan asked me.
"Uh." I took a quick look at Ethan. "I can."
Log
an nodded. "Ethan, could you do us a favor and meet our colleagues and bring them down here."
Ethan looked carefully at Logan, but nodded his head slowly. "We can do that. Officer," Ethan said without taking his eyes off Logan, "would you meet the feds and bring them this way?"
"Sure thing." The officer walked away.
Logan waited until the officer was out of hearing range. "You've got to tell him sometime."
"Do I?" I meant for that to sound sarcastic instead of an actual question. Logan hadn’t left me much choice by saying that in front of Ethan.
Logan shrugged.
"You're right," I said. Apprehension dug into my stomach.
"You need backup?" Logan asked.
Ethan had his arms crossed. He didn't look upset, but alert.
"No," I said, "but we could use a few minutes."
Chapter 2
Ethan looked at me expectantly.
"I was really hoping to avoid this, or at least be somewhere," I gestured around at the construction site, "more private."
Still, Ethan didn't say anything.
I plunged in. "Right, you already know that my job can be out of the ordinary. What you don't know is that I am out of the ordinary."
He smiled and started to say something.
"No, that came out wrong," I said.
"Whatever it is," Ethan said, moving closer and putting an arm around my waist, "you can tell me. If you want to give me the short version here, we can pick it up somewhere private later."
I felt heat rush to my cheeks, but it was good to feel his arm around my waist. Comforting, even.
"First off, I'm not crazy." I looked at him and tentatively waited for a response.
"Not crazy. Got it." It looked like he understood the seriousness of the statement.
"But the thing is, I can see things that other humans can't. It's a skill that comes in handy with my job." I looked away from him and tried not to throw out the words as fast as I could. "I can see things that others can't see. Traces of where people or things were in the past, or what someone’s feeling."
Stolen Sight (AIR Book 3) Page 1
