Raw power exploded out. It took more effort to make the Path curve around multiple people, while still assuring they received some effect. Once the power had extended itself, I was tempted to try to follow its Path back to when it was created. It may have been my last chance, but I knew I was pushing my limits already. I did a quick scan of the room before forcing the crushing tide away.
When the world turned listless, I went straight for the coffee, grateful that I had another pot already waiting.
"Did either of you sense anything?" Logan asked as they followed me into the kitchen.
"Nothing," Vincent said, "but if it was a Walker, once again, I may not notice."
"Think there's someone upset about this spring?" Logan asked.
Vincent shrugged. "If they had some knowledge about the events, it's possible."
"Have you heard anything from other Walkers? Has anyone mentioned it?" Logan asked.
"I've been out of touch," Vincent said. He looked ill at ease with the way the conversation was going.
"Are there—"
"What about Rider?" I said, interrupting Logan. "Did you sense anything?" I thought I saw Vincent give me a small look of gratitude, but he looked away too quickly for me to tell for sure.
Rider was concentrating hard on his own coffee and had been quiet since we entered the kitchen.
"Rider?" I asked.
He looked like he was about to say something, then stopped. After a few moments, he tried again. "There is a similarity to something that I am familiar with."
"From your world?" I asked.
"It did not originate in my world. I am not sure where it originated."
We gave him space to continue, but when he didn't seem interested in going further, Logan asked, "What is this similar to?"
"Magic," Rider said.
I frowned, not quite following.
"Similar, but not the same?" Logan asked.
"I have not experienced it in this dimension. I am not sure if it would be the same," Rider said.
"You're saying this might be magic?" I asked. "As in witchcraft or Harry Houdini?"
Rider shook his head. "I do not know Houdini, and to my knowledge, I have never met a witch. This was similar to a warlock."
"Warlock?" Vincent said. I think even Logan and Rider heard his skepticism.
"I haven't seen any in this world," Logan said. "AIR doesn't have any mention of them."
"You've checked the AIR records?" I asked. "For a warlock?"
"They're nasty pieces of work," Logan said. "One warlock could do a hell of a lot of damage."
Logan and Rider fell silent. I looked at Vincent. My eyebrow raised mirroring his own disbelief.
"You two are saying that warlocks exist. That magic exists," I said.
"Lots of dimensions use magic," Logan said dismissively. "It's the warlock part that concerns me."
"How could I have been in this job for this long and not know that magic exists?" I asked.
"It's not something a Lost is going to stand up and announce," Logan said.
"What do we do?" Vincent asked.
"Do? I'm not sure there's anything we can do," Logan said.
"Move?" Rider suggested.
He didn't look like he was joking. "What? I'm not moving!"
"I don't think there's reason to get out Dodge," Logan said.
That helped me relax a bit.
"A warlock would find her anyway," Logan said.
Great, I shouldn't move because it would do no good.
"Still, if this is a warlock, what happened this morning was little stuff." Logan looked apprehensive as he continued. "More of a hello, than an attack."
Rider looked mournfully at the table.
"But it might not be a warlock?" I asked. The way they were acting was unnerving.
"If not, it is something similar," Rider said.
"What do warlocks do?" Vincent asked. "What can we do to prevent them from becoming more aggressive?"
"They do whatever they want,” Logan said. “The ones that I've had the displeasure of meeting have been sadistic bastards. What I want to know is how you managed to get on the wrong side of one?"
"Me?" Shocked at the question, I wasn't sure what Logan thought I was hiding. "I didn't do anything!"
"Could it be a part of the case?" Vincent asked.
"Then why would it come after me? Ethan is..." The thought stuck in my throat. Could this have happened to him, too? Could it have been worse?
I snatched up the landline and left the kitchen. My hands were shaking as I dialed his number.
"Couldn't wait until tonight to see me?" Ethan asked when he picked up the phone.
I could hear the smile in his voice and blew out a sigh of relief. "Something like that," I said, trying to sound coy rather than nervous. "I forgot to ask if we were having dinner at the park." It was a good pretext to call.
"There's a nice spot a few blocks away. I thought we could stop by there."
"That sounds great. Everything going well this morning?"
"So far so good," Ethan said.
"That's good to hear. I'll see you tonight?"
"You certainly will."
My fear died. The guys were talking when I returned to hang up the phone in the kitchen. I poured more coffee, before sitting down at the table.
"I'm going to make a few discreet calls to see if anyone knows anything about a warlock locally," Logan said. "It may be best, at least for the time being, that we keep this away from work."
Vincent and Rider nodded.
I shrugged. "As far as I can tell, it's not work related."
"Ethan's okay then?" Logan asked.
"Yeah. It might have nothing to do with his case," I said.
"It's too soon to rule that out," Vincent said.
"If a warlock caused the damage to yesterday’s victim, we would have no way of knowing," Rider said. "I smelled objects only at the graveyard and around the victim. It is possible for a warlock to mask the scent."
"That was a construction site. Not a graveyard," I reminded Rider.
Starting at Rider’s head, a shiver rolled down him, straight to his feet. "I do not understand why humans would build on top of the dead. Is it a monument of some sort?"
We all looked at Rider. His primary partner spoke up first.
"What do you mean the building is being built on top of the dead?" Vincent asked.
"The bodies underground. It appears to be very old, but it is an uncomfortable thought in my world to build over the dead," Rider said.
"What makes you think there are bodies under the ground?" I asked.
Rider looked confused. "There is not much that will mask the decay of the dead, depending on how deep they are buried. With more than a few together, the smell will remain until the bones are dust. Even then, there is a smell, but you may not recognize it as a person or animal. These are very close to the surface."
I was horrified by the thought.
Rider looked at our faces. "You did not know the dead rested there?"
"We did not," Vincent said, keeping his voice level.
"Something was hauled out of the ground there," I said.
"Or crawled out." Vincent's eyes held traces of fear.
"No, no, no, I'm not sold on warlocks yet. There's no way you're telling me zombies are possible." There was a squeak to my voice that I wished wasn't there.
Vincent shook his head. "No idea."
I looked at Logan and Rider.
"Rumors only," Logan said. "Rider would have noticed the smell if something dead came out of the ground."
"Unless the scent was masked by something, like a warlock," Rider said.
"We need to get back out to that site," Logan said, standing up. "I’m going to run home, get ready, and call Hank on the way. We need to get construction halted." Logan looked me over. "Rider, can you run out and get us some breakfast? There's a donut store on the edge of town. I should be ready by the time you get back."
> Rider nodded and left.
"We'll need some coffee to go," Logan added.
"I'll make it," I said.
"I'll be back in thirty." Logan left through the back door.
This left Vincent and me in the kitchen alone, together.
Chapter 9
The silence stretched out, although I'm not sure it could be described as awkward. Vincent and I were usually pretty comfortable with each other when our situation wasn't strained.
"Would you like some more coffee?" I asked. "It sounds like it's going to be a long day."
"Thank you. I'd like that."
He was the only one of my partners that took his coffee black. For me, it wasn't by choice. This time around, I added plenty of sugar to mine.
"I'm glad to hear that nothing’s wrong with Ethan," Vincent said.
"Are you?" I asked, taken aback by the statement.
Vincent nodded. "He appears to make you happy. I wouldn't want that taken away."
"Thank you. We're doing pretty well."
"It’s been a rough morning."
"You mean after learning about warlocks and zombies?" I asked.
A flicker of a smile appeared on Vincent's otherwise impassive face. "I meant your fall down the stairs."
"Oh, yeah. A few bruises, but I'm sure I'll be fine. Um, Rider said you two were already on your way?"
Vincent nodded, but didn't say anything.
"So, you knew something was wrong?" I asked, prying a little deeper.
"I did."
"Is that..." I stopped trying to think of a way to phrase my concerns about him knowing what was happening to me. My face started to turn red and I couldn't ask, so I switched gears. "How come you know something is wrong with me, but I never know anything about you?"
He frowned. "You seem to know precisely how I'm feeling."
"When we're apart, I mean."
"I go through a great deal of effort to hide my thoughts and emotions. The fact that you know them when we're together is disturbing enough."
"Why do you do that?"
"It's...complicated."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure I couldn't possibly understand."
Vincent sighed and slumped back in his chair.
There have been rare occasions when I have seen Vincent like this, exposed to the world. Each time I felt like I was intruding on a private moment. One where he let his guard down.
I wondered if he had moments like that when he was alone.
"You are infuriating," Vincent said.
"That sounds about right," I said.
He didn't look at me, but he smiled. A genuine smile. It softened his face and made my heart beat faster. The expression slipped away, but his face remained softened, and his mask of indifference didn't return.
"Walkers don't tend to get many questions from those around them. What people already know about us causes them to be leery. You make things...difficult."
Right, of course I do. I felt a cloak of depression sink over my shoulders. "Don't worry about it. I need to go get ready."
"Wait." Vincent reached out and grabbed my hand as I started to stand up. "That came out wrong."
My hand tingled and warmth spread up my arm. I closed my eyes and let that connection, that closeness we shared, fill me. I'm not sure what he felt. I wasn't even sure I wanted to know.
What I did know was that he was still holding on. When I looked at him, he had his eyes closed. It would be nice to think that this connection would have been there even if we didn't each have a small part of the other's soul.
But people didn't work like that, did they?
When he opened his eyes he looked at me, and I could feel the sadness and regret well up, causing my own to deepen. My eyes started to burn. Vincent slowly took his hand away and I could see him retreating into himself.
I forced a smile and left the room before any tears decided to arrive. It didn’t help that I felt stupid. Why did I have to get so worked up around him? I seriously needed to get a handle on myself. Vincent wasn't the only one that could bottle up his emotions.
Since I had already prepared for work, there wasn't much for me to do. Focusing on something was always key, so I did a quick internet search for self-defense classes, and then stuffed my gear bag with some exercise clothes. In the bathroom, I checked myself out for bruises and took some ibuprofen to dull the ache that had been caused by my fall.
I heard voices below, but I didn't hurry. When the doorbell rang, I knew Rider was back. With the gang all together, I took my bag and went downstairs. From here on out, Vincent was another partner. Nothing more.
There may even have been a small part of me that believed it.
Vincent appeared to be taking the route of ignoring what happened. The strained look in the corners of his eyes was the only indication that something had passed between us.
That worked for me. Ignoring things was my specialty.
"Hank is working to get a temporary stop to construction. We need to head to the Farm for some equipment. Cassie, can you reach out to Ethan and let him know we're checking out a lead at the construction site?" Logan asked.
I glanced at my phone for the time. "I'll get in contact with him. Do you all need me at the office?" Mentally, I was crossing my fingers. Fitting self-defense classes into my crazy schedule wasn't going to be easy, but there was one this morning I could make if I hurried.
Logan looked surprised. "No, we can get the equipment. You want to catch up to us at the job site later?"
"Yeah, give me a call when you're on your way," I said.
"Will do, we can take the truck," Logan said, leading the others out.
As soon as they left, I jumped in my car and headed to the gym. I called them on the way, to make sure there was room in the class. They were friendly on the phone, which was a good sign. It didn't hurt that the first class was free.
Out of the fifteen people in class, only two of us were women. The next hour was hell, and here I thought I was in reasonably good shape. At first, I was able to blame it on being tired after a rough morning, but after the first twenty minutes, I wondered if I had ever exercised before. After thirty, I was trying to figure out why anyone would put themselves through this torment. We did a few drills, which I thought might slow things down, but that wasn't the case. If anything, the people in the class worked harder. Even after the brief cool down, I was still panting and covered in sweat.
Oddly, though, I felt good, as if I had accomplished something. After class, I signed up for a full month.
It was on the way home that I realized I had forgotten to call Ethan. Since I was feeling exceptionally gross, I waited until after a quick shower to give him a call.
"Two calls in one morning? To what do I owe this pleasure?" Ethan asked.
Two calls in one morning. Crap. He was going to start thinking I was the clingy type if this kept up.
"Um, this one is work related," I said. "We, uh, found out some information about the work site."
"What did you find?"
I should have thought this through. Explaining that Rider 'smelled' dead bodies in the ground was out of the question.
"It's a theory at this point, but we're getting construction stopped," I said.
"We haven't released the crime scene yet. You should be good there. I'll head in that direction, though."
"It's actually the secondary site we're interested in today. Although, I'm not sure how far that will widen."
"That site was released the first day. Any evidence is probably long gone."
My phone beeped, signaling a call waiting.
"Logan's getting some stuff, and we're meeting at the site. That's him on the other line. I've gotta run."
"See you soon," Ethan said.
I wasn't sure if Ethan was supposed to be at the site or not, but I guess it was too late now. I switched over to Logan's call.
"We'll be at the site in fifteen minutes, give or take. I'm not sure who Hank has lined up to meet
us, but we can't get construction stopped until we give them facts to back up our suspicions."
"How are we going to do that?" I asked.
"Ground penetrating radar. Meet us out there?"
"Yeah, I'm about twenty minutes away," I lied. "Ethan's on his way as well."
"Should make for an interesting afternoon. See you out there."
Drying my hair was agonizingly slow, so I left it damp. I threw on clothes and rushed back to town. Morning classes weren't going to work. On the way to the job site, fatigue became more pronounced, I started to notice muscle aches and I was starving.
When I arrived on site, vehicles from the construction crew were everywhere, but I drove up as close to the area as I could get. My partners and Ethan were standing around doing pretty much nothing. Ethan was there chatting with another officer, but there were also workers. A man in a yellow hard hat looked like he was giving out orders to the crew. When I got within earshot, I could tell he wasn't happy about how the day was turning out.
At least it was Friday.
Ethan nodded in my direction as I walked up. I gave him a small wave, but headed straight to Logan.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Difference in opinion," Logan said.
I watched the man in the hard hat. "Which opinion is ours?"
"We," Logan gestured to the three of them, "think we'd like to take our equipment down to the site and get this taken care of. That guy over there," he pointed to the guy talking with the workers, "thinks we shouldn't be allowed on the property."
"Oh joy, what did Ethan say?" I asked.
"He thinks we should wait for the city inspector to show up," Logan said.
"Sounds reasonable." I stifled a yawn.
"The general contractor is short tempered. How are you feeling?" Logan asked.
"I'm fine, why?" I asked.
"We may need you to calm the situation down a bit," Logan said.
"I'll do what I can."
The construction crew was getting smaller as guys broke apart to move to other buildings. Eight apartment buildings were going up, each of them in various stages, so there was plenty for them to do.
The next twenty minutes seemed like some sort of standoff. The general contractor stayed in his corner, Ethan and the other officer stayed off to one side, talking, and then there were the four of us. Logan was humming to himself, I've never seen Rider look so bored before, Vincent was silently keeping an eye on everyone in the vicinity, and I felt ready to eat my own fist, which was starting to make me cranky.
Stolen Sight (AIR Book 3) Page 7
