Finding Insight

by Katherine Kim

  Sight Unseen

  Katherine Kim

  Finding Insight © 2018 Katherine Kim. All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, at katherineukim@gmail.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, or events is entirely coincidental.

  Follow me on Twitter @katherineukim or on Facebook www.facebook.com/katherineukim

  Cover by Venkatesh at Killerbookcovers

  Editing by Proofreading by the Page

  Copyright © 2018 Katherine Kim

  All rights reserved.

  Contents

  A couple quick notes

  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

  About the Author

  To my theatre family, who put up with me while I sat on the shop sofa and cursed and complained through my edits on every break. You guys are amazingly patient.

  A couple quick notes

  You can keep up with new releases, giveaways, and other antics by joining my email community.

  A note: Obaachan and Baachan are both Japanese words for grandma.

  1

  “Hey, Seb? Rachel called a bit ago. There’s something wrong with her entryway light. She’s not sure if it’s the switch or that weird bulb those things take. I’m going to start looking into replacing those fixtures, I swear I don’t know what Obaachan was thinking when she picked them out.” Kai sounded worn out as he walked into the apartment Sebastian shared with him. He slumped onto the sofa with a heavy sigh, and Sebastian silently turned back to the kitchen and pulled another beer out of the fridge before walking over to join his brother in the living room.

  “I’ll go take a look in the morning. It’s probably just the bulb, but you never know.” Sebastian took a swig of his own beer and leaned back in his chair. “I spent all damn day in the boiler room, cleaning up that mess. Tomorrow it’ll be the storage shed. God only knows how long some of that stuff’s been in there. I’m going to take the truck for when I need to make a run to the dump. I’m sure that there’s a ton of garbage in there.”

  “Yeah. The joys of updating and renovating, I guess.” Kai leaned back, the bottle dripping condensation onto his jeans.

  They sat in comfortable silence for a long time, slowly drinking their beers and sorting through their day. Kai and Sebastian were the managers— and until recently the owners— of the Village at Rancho San Calafia apartment complex. It had been left to them by their grandmother, and was now owned collectively by all the residents, but they had been working for several years to reach the point that they could update the units and make a few major repairs.

  The pool and clubhouse were just about done now, not that they’d meant to start there but when their brother Eric orchestrated the property damage and vandalism that had pulled a large window out from the building and dragged the shattered glass into the pool water, it had only made sense to go ahead and plunge into the project from there. And it’s not like they could go for long without a pool available to their residents. Not with as many water-based spirits as they had.

  “Think we should expand the water feature?” Sebastian asked. He was thinking of the little engineered spring half hidden behind the admin building. Their apartment was above the offices so they could actually hear the water burbling outside when they left their windows open. It would be a nice alternative to the actual swimming pool for some of the spirits.

  “Maybe. Worth investigating.” Kai answered. Then he sighed and scrunched his face up. “How are you doing, Seb? It’s been… It’s been rough these last couple of months, you know? You holding up?”

  Sebastian turned to look at his brother. Kai looked tired. It had been a hard blow to both of them when they were betrayed by their third brother— the entirely human one that had come as part of the package with Sebastian’s father, much like Kai had come with Sebastian’s half-kitsune mother. It had been a wonderfully comfortable blend of human and spirit all in one happy family unit, or so they’d thought.

  Eric, apparently, had other thoughts on the matter and tried to remove both of his brothers from his path to supposed wealth: the ownership of the apartment complex in the expensive San Francisco Bay Area. He’d arranged the harassment of the residents of the complex, endangered several people, and pointedly tried to kill Kai himself by drawing him into a trap set by hunters and a vindictive warlock. The actual physical pain Kai had suffered wasn’t anywhere close to as awful as the fact of Eric’s betrayal.

  At least everyone involved was in jail now. The justice system moved slower than any of them liked, but at least it was moving. The hunters were charged with kidnapping, stalking, and attempted murder— and that was just in California. They were also wanted in Florida, and by the Federal courts. The warlock— whose name turned out to be Sullivan Gilbert, poor guy— and Eric had similar charges, though only in the one state, and none of them were being allowed their freedom while the cases wound their way through the system, and for that Sebastian was deeply grateful. Still, the betrayal by his own brother still felt like an open wound.

  “I’ve been happier,” Sebastian answered Kai’s question. “I talked to Dad this morning, though. He says that his therapy is going well. I mean, we all know what Eric did wasn’t our fault. He made his own choices. It’s just…” He sighed and dug his fingers through his hair, sweeping it back off his face. Kai nodded in agreement.

  “Yeah. It’s not Dad’s fault. I’ve told him that. Or yours, Seb, don’t think I don’t know you blame yourself, too. But I get it. I feel the same way.” Kai stretched forward to put his empty bottle on the coffee table. “I’ll call him tomorrow. He may not be my father, but he’ll always be my dad, you know?”

  “He’ll be glad to hear that. Again.” Sebastian smiled. “Speaking of your father, any sign of him recently?” He watched Kai shake his head. “He was around so much for a while, and now nothing. Feels kind of weird.”

  “Well, you know him. He’s tricky to pin down at the best of times. He’ll show up if we really need him, though, I’d bet.” Kai leaned back against the sofa cushions again and closed his eyes. Silence settled around them again, just the quiet of the late hour and the camaraderie of trust in each other. It was interesting that family had been both the cause of many of their problems and the way they’d solved them. Family by blood, like Kai and Sebastian who fought like hell for each other and their people, but also like Eric and Sarah’s mother who had been so focused on keeping her daughter away from anything that even touched the spirit world that she’d almost crushed the woman’s soul.

  Sebastian grinned at the thought of his girlfriend. Sarah was a perfect example of chosen family: a woman who had defied her own mother to find her roo
ts and learn of her powers as a witch. Something that Sebastian was personally grateful for, not only because she’d decided he was worth her time and was willing to date him, but because she’d saved his own life from a nasty spell at the end of a very long day of fighting monsters in a nearby cave.

  It was an interesting thing to think about, this family idea that had struck him, but not one he had the energy to pursue tonight. It had been a very long day of maintenance. Just the ordinary, every day work of running an apartment complex. After the past few months, Sebastian was glad of the break. No hunters threatened his family— either of blood or of choice— and no bigger problems than a clogged pipe or a blown out light bulb loomed on the horizon. Sebastian was grateful for the calm.

  Still…

  “Hey, man. I’m going to…” Sebastian let his words trail off when he looked over at Kai and realized that his brother was snoring softly. He grabbed the quilt off the back of the chair he sat in and draped it over his brother before collecting the empty beer bottles and turning off the lamps in the living room. He left the kitchen light on, though, so if Kai woke up to move to an actual bed, he wouldn’t be too disoriented. Then, stepping out of the apartment, he locked the door as quietly as he could.

  Once he got outside he took a deep breath. It was late, but not very late. Not even eleven at night yet. The neighborhood that surrounded the apartment was a mostly quiet suburb of Los Gatos. It was near enough to San Jose to be full of commuters and their families, but far enough away to not be full of tech bros partying late into the night. Especially on a Tuesday. He could hear a car a few blocks away, and the traffic on the nearby freeway. There was some rustling of a small animal in the hedge, testing the air and considering leaving the safety of its cover.

  “Good evening, Sebastian.” A voice to his right made him jump.

  “Dammit, Marcus. Either you learn to make some noise or I’m putting a bell on you.” Sebastian grinned at the newcomer who chuckled. “Kai passed out on the sofa, if that’s where you’re headed.”

  Marcus shook his head. Sebastian glanced over at his friend and neighbor as he fell into step beside him. He was tall and slim, and fit in nicely with the Silicon Valley Geek Chic aesthetic with his almost retro glasses and his checked button up shirt under a grey sweater. Marcus and Kai had grown close over the last adventure, partly because of Marcus’ step-daughter Cassie who accepted Kai as a demi-god without letting it go to his head. She easily slid into place as their honorary little sister, and so, Marcus was family now, too.

  “I was just doing a patrol around the complex. Then I was going to head over to the rec room and see if there’s anyone there. Cassie is staying over with a friend tonight, supposedly to work on a project for history.” Marcus raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “I’m skeptical about how much work will actually get done, but they’re both good kids, so I let her go. I made sure she had her cell phone and her necklace. I know that if anything happens, that charm will help more than the phone, but you know how it is.”

  Sebastian couldn’t blame the man for being paranoid. It was him and his step-daughter that the hunters had followed here in the first place. Being any kind of vampire was enough for some humans to label him evil, despite the fact that he was a lidérc and more than happy to feed off the general energy of a place like a nightclub, rather than completely draining the life force from one person. After everything they’d been through, Cassie, Marcus’ step-daughter, now wore a protection charm enchanted by both Sarah and Doc, and completed with a personal blessing from Kai.

  “Yeah,” Sebastian nodded. “I was thinking about doing a wide lap around the neighborhood. Maybe head out into the open space preserve a bit. Kai and I were talking about everything and that makes me nervous these days.”

  Marcus nodded. They walked around the buildings together, not talking about much, just sharing the night until they reached the back of the property and the door in the brick wall that circled the complex. On this side it was clearly visible, but from the other side it was covered by vines and bushes, hiding it from casual view of anyone on the Los Gatos Creek Trail.

  “Be careful out there,” Marcus nodded at the door.

  “I will. I’m heading to Sarah’s after this. Probably get there before midnight. I’ll call and check in with you so you can stop worrying.” Sebastian grinned when Marcus bumped shoulders with him. Then, pulling on the magic in his soul, he willed his body to change. He shook himself to clear that second of vertigo that accompanied his point of view dropping from the height of an average human man to that of an average fox.

  Marcus held the door open, and Sebastian yipped his thanks and darted out the opening and into the scrubby brush along the running trail. The creek was not much by way of a natural space, really, but it served its purpose well enough and Sebastian knew every leaf and stick and bit of gravel for miles in either direction. After a moment, he tipped his head in the direction of Sarah’s house and twitched his ears, then turned the other way, towards the edge of the park that wasn’t very far.

  It wasn’t much, really, just a vague worry in his mind that he knew full well was caused by going back over the events of the past few months. He couldn’t make it all the way down to the rotting camp cabin they’d lured Kai to, to check that place out, but he could easily get to the place they now called the Wight Cave. The place where the Villagers pulled together to fight an army of soul killing nightmare monsters that had been gathered there deliberately to attack the Village.

  The place had been cleaned out and purified after the battle, and the warlock who’d controlled the monsters had been cut off from his magic thanks to Kai and arrested thanks to the police. Still, the place made them all a little nervous.

  It was a lovely night, soft and still cool with winter lingering in the shady wooded areas, but it was nothing a little fur couldn’t handle. The scents of earth and the recent sprinkle of rain and the somewhat distant smells of human civilization rolled over his nose and he listened to the night animals going through their own semi-wild rituals and routines.

  It was altogether a pleasant run through the woods, and Sebastian was enjoying himself immensely. It was a perfect way to relax before heading over for a late night snack with Sarah. He sat down to rest for a moment before turning back and bent down to lick some mud from between his toes when he heard the distinct sound of snoring. Human snoring.

  Crouched low to the ground and staying in the underbrush as well as he could, Sebastian headed for the source of the noise. Squeezing under the last of the wall of shrubbery that hid their battle back in January from random passersby on the nearby trail, he peered into the clearing in front of the Wight Cave, and blinked in surprise.

  There, in a sleeping bag on the ground, snuggled up to the rock face that cracked to open that dark hole in the earth, slept a man. An entirely human man.

  Sebastian crept a little closer, sniffing cautiously for any indication of danger. There was a faint, sick-sweet smell that he couldn’t quite place, and a tingle of magic that seemed forced and slightly unnatural. As he took a step back so he could head somewhere to call Kai and report this intruder, the man snorted and coughed, then rolled over to resettle back into his sleep, and Sebastian made his second startling discovery. The man sleeping in the forest, outside a cave that had housed over a hundred creatures of darkness, was barely more than a boy.

  2

  Sebastian had been unable to settle tonight, so instead he slunk through the underbrush on nearly silent paws for the third time this week. He wasn’t especially worried about the noise— after all, who cares about a hushed rustle of leaves in the forest at three in the morning? Especially to a human, and that was his current prey; he and Kai had been keeping a nightly eye on the boy since Sebastian had found him a week ago, and he knew that Marcus had investigated, as well, at least once. With as much trouble as they’d had recently, being cautious simply seemed wise. Still, after several days and a few discussions on it with the rest of the Coun
cil, none of them could see how this kid could pose a threat. Neither of them sensed any magic on him, and though they now knew that didn’t make a difference to how badly a human could hurt them, it still helped.

  Nevertheless, he was obviously hiding from something. Whether that was a bad home life or something worse, Sebastian didn’t know.

  A low groan broke the hush of the nighttime and Seb’s ears twitched to catch the sound. It came again, louder now, and carried a sliver of pain in it. He sprinted the short distance left to the clearing and found the boy twisted up in his sleeping bag as he moved around in his dream. Whatever nightmare held him captive, it was unpleasant, and Sebastian felt a tug of sympathy when the boy’s next groan ended in a whimper.

  Sebastian let out a hoarse bark, and inched closer to bark again. Foxes didn’t sound like dogs, but it was more than enough to start breaking through the dreams of a sleeping camper.

  “Ungh,” the boy groaned again and rolled to his side, thrashing against the bonds of the sleeping bag. Sebastian barked a third time and the boy jolted, his body freezing for just a second before he scrambled free of the bag to the nearest bush to throw up.

  He was not tall, particularly, but he had that lanky, stretched out quality that is so common in youth. His long legs and thin arms moved gracelessly as he held himself over the ground through his illness. Finally, he sat on his heels and wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. Sebastian saw that the boy was shaking badly, but made no move to get closer.