Rider said nothing.
Worried about Rider, I kept an eye on him. "I'll call Travis and let him know we're on our way."
The Sanctuary was a government owned area in the middle of nowhere, and we relocated the Lost there on a temporary or permanent basis. Essy was the Speaker for a tribe of fairies that were permanent residents.
After calling Travis, I could have begun my report, since other than Logan's humming, things were quiet in the van. I felt shaky, though. I had no idea what had happened at the second crime scene, or why. The Path can take a Reader forward or back, but moving forward in time was rare, and either direction you go, you're in the real world, only the overlaying Path changes.
Except for today.
We made one stop so I could pick up a piece of fruit for the fairies, but it wasn't until we reached the Sanctuary that I felt steadier, although, the sight of the horses didn't help. My limited experiences riding have been less than stellar.
Without a word, Rider walked past the horses, which bucked and moved out of his way, and then he disappeared into the woods. Travis tried to calm the horses while watching Rider retreat.
I passed a worried look at Logan who shrugged. Once the horses were calm, we approached and took the reins from Travis.
"I take it Rider won't be going," Travis said.
"No, he'll meet up with us later," Logan said. "Want to join us?"
"Sure, we’re not expecting anyone out here until this evening," Travis said.
Logan patted the horse. "Let's saddle up."
I eyed my horse suspiciously before getting on. "Is someone relocating here?" I knew the horse was tame, but my heart thumped harder as I clumsily jumped into the saddle.
Travis flicked his reins and led the way. "Not yet, but another team wants to test temperature and conditions at the lake. I'm not sure what for yet."
"How's Essy doing?" Logan asked, changing the subject.
"The family is doing well,” Travis said.
The ride took us through woods and stretches of fields filled with prairie grass. By the time we reached trees with denser foliage, my headache was gone, but my thighs were protesting from the ride. We dismounted, tethered the horses loosely to the trees, and then continued on foot. Spring was stretching into the area, and the canopy of branches above us was starting to fill back in with greenery. There was a chill saturating the air, but the warmth was nudging it away. In fact, the further we went into the woods, the warmer it grew and the denser the greenery became.
Whispers of wings on the wind, which could be mistaken for the buzz of bees, began to override other forest sounds. The further we walked, the louder the noise became.
Logan stopped. "We seek an audience with the Speaker."
There must have been enough fairies around to state our purpose.
From the left we heard, "Logan, I recognize you as keeper of the AIR treaty." Essy had arrived.
Some treaty, I thought, as dust drifted down onto me. The greatest defense a fairy had was the woods they lived in. The dust that I was trying very hard to ignore was a powdered form of poisonous plants from the area. They haven't found anything I'm allergic too, but have been persistent in their efforts ever since we met.
Even though I knew the answer, I looked to see if Travis and Logan were getting the same welcome, but there were no fairies hovering above them.
"We will oversee any complaints or requests," Logan said, maintaining the proper greeting.
"We have neither complaint nor request."
With that out of the way, Logan dropped the formality.
"How was your winter?" Logan asked.
Essy landed on a small branch. "It was difficult, but we prevailed."
I stepped forward and held out an orange. "I brought something for you." Fairies loved sweet foods, and the orange would be exotic since they can't forage for them locally.
Essy glared at me and made angry chirping noises.
Feeling deflated, I handed the orange off to Travis and tried not to be too upset by the exchange. No fairy wanted to talk to me since my soul had been ripped out last fall. Essy knew me long before the incident last fall, but there was no changing how she felt about me now.
In the end, they took the orange from Travis after he ate two pieces to prove that it wasn't poisonous. A walk with Rider would have been more productive, even in his mood.
While Logan and Travis finished their visit with fairies, I took a step back, wiped the dust off the shoulders of my jacket, and watched my partner interact with Essy. I was relieved when he wrapped the visit up, and we walked back to the horses.
"Sorry about Essy," Travis said.
"She'll come around eventually." I held no real hope for that to happen, but I didn't want Travis feeling sorry for me.
We rode back, and I tried to hide my disappointment with the fairies, and my disdain for horses by talking with Travis.
Rider was leaning against the truck when we returned. He was sweaty but wasn't breathing hard. I'd never seen Rider in any other form than the one he wore every day, but I was curious if he ran on two legs or four. It sounded like an invasive question, so I raised the subject.
As soon as the horse stopped, I jumped off.
Logan remained in the saddle. "I'll help Travis with the horses, and then we can go to the office." He was always reluctant to leave the saddle. I'm sure he'd keep a horse in his backyard if he had space.
I thanked Travis and handed off the reins. Logan was humming when the two rode away.
"How was Essy?" Rider asked.
"Everyone was okay," I said.
Rider wrinkled his nose. "Poison Ivy?"
Sighing, I wiped off my shoulders again. "Probably." Rider looked more amiable than he had when we arrived. "Uh, I'm not sure what went on earlier, but I wanted to thank you."
"I was able to help, so I did," Rider said.
"You're okay, though?"
"It was—, there were no side effects," he said.
I glanced towards the stables to see if Logan was on his way. "Do you know what happened?"
Rider hesitated. "I do not."
Werewolves have a distinct view of friendship, so I was fairly certain Rider wouldn't lie to me. It was hard to get into their inner circle, but once you were there, you were friends for life. Each of us held up our end of the friendship and always assumed that the other would do the same. I was learning what that meant.
I think he was holding something back, but I didn't press the issue.
When we made it back to the office, Rider went to the command room to check in with Hank, while Logan and I went to the clinic upstairs. No major catastrophes had befallen field agents or the Lost that day, so the doctor was available.
"I'm assuming you all are not here for a checkup," the doctor said as we walked in.
AIR had a few medical rooms on the second floor of the office. When field agents get hurt, there is not always a way to explain the injuries. You can't go to the hospital when a demon injects you with their venom, so we see Dr. Yelton. He also oversees care of the Lost.
"Good morning, Dr. Yelton," I said. "We're here to see what you have on Am. What can you tell us?"
"There's not much to tell, really," he said pulling out a folder. "The report will be entered tonight, but I expected the lack of information would pull you into the office."
"Lack of information?" I asked.
"I oversaw the gnome autopsy that Dr. Taylor performed at MyTH. They have a good facility, and Dr. Taylor did a fine job. The problem is that there was nothing to find."
"I'm not sure I'm following you, Doc," Logan said.
"We screened for toxic chemicals, did a thorough examination, and autopsy. We couldn’t find anything wrong with the gnome," Dr. Yelton said.
"What did she die of?" I asked.
"Nothing," Dr. Yelton said. "There was nothing that she died of."
I blinked a few times, unable to process. Logan appeared to struggle too.
; "What could do that?" Logan asked.
"I'm looking into other cases. It appears that her heart slowed down and stopped without causing any trauma to the organ or blood vessels around them. When anyone dies, you can see the damage that death causes on the body."
"Could it be a gnome thing?" I asked. My gnome research hadn't made it far.
"Nothing that we're aware of, but we are researching the issue. There is a problem with that line of logic as well, though. Yesterday, a file came across my desk. The preliminary looks the same."
"Raj?" I asked.
Dr. Yelton flipped over a file. "Yes, that's the name."
"What about the other two? Did their autopsies seem normal?" I asked.
The doctor leaned back in his chair. "His friends died from trauma caused by their accidents. We've received several blood and tissue samples from the bodies. We are going to continue to test for lesser known toxins as well as toxins related to the Lost. I'll let you know if I find anything new."
"Thanks, Doc," Logan said.
"Thank you, Dr. Yelton." I followed Logan back downstairs, running the facts over in my mind, trying to figure out what it meant.
Rider was waiting for us in the control room. "Clancy filed his report on the necklace you received from Bill. He did not find anything."
"Nothing?" I didn't mean to sound unbelieving. "Sorry, but this case is running into a brick wall."
"Has it been released?" Logan asked.
Rider looked unsure. "The report ended with currently in evidence and was followed by the word release."
"It sounds like it's still with us. Let's take one last go at it while it's here," Logan said, "to be thorough."
We went down a few flights of stairs, past the basement and into the first sub-basement. There were cavernous rooms, including one that held evidence. Another sub-floor down held our man-made portals, which must have been closed. When they were open, the air vibrated and set me on edge. I don't notice it much upstairs, but down here, it would be obvious, even with my mind churning over the case.
"Nothing gets thrown away here, does it?" I asked.
The evidence room wasn't tall, but it was enormous in length and width.
"Mostly, I think it gets shifted around," Logan said. "Twenty years ago or so, I saw them load a bunch of stuff and take it away. I think it went to a different storage area."
A musty scent that reminded me of stale old books wafted over us.
"I'm never down here much," I admitted. "It looks like the rows are dated, though."
Rider looked at the ceiling. "I am not sure that I like being so far below the ground."
I read a note card held in a silver plaque, with the dates 1992.7-1993.2. "We'll make it quick, if we can."
Logan led the way. "Oldest to the left, moving to the newest on the right."
Old fluorescent lights buzzed overhead as we walked the length of the room. Each row was marked with dates.
"Here's the current year." Logan turned down an aisle.
There were boxes and tagged bags lining the shelves. A few of the boxes had our names on them from other cases. I lingered on the box that was signed with Vincent’s name, before silently berating myself and moving on. He'd contact or he wouldn't. There was no reason to dwell on it.
Obviously, my heart and head were in two different places.
Moving further down the aisle, I focused again on the current case.
Logan stopped in front of a tiny evidence bag. "No fingerprints, no lingering residue."
"Clancy looked the item over. There was nothing he could use from it,” Rider said.
"Clancy's good," Logan said, "if there were anything there, I would expect him to find it. But, even clairvoyants can be fooled."
Rider picked up the evidence bag and turned it over and over in his hands. "Can we open this?"
"Feel free," Logan said, "it's been released. Don't touch it, though."
Rider opened the bag. His nose wrinkled after sniffing the contents. "It smells like Clancy and..."
"And?" I asked.
"Sterile is the best description I have," Rider said.
"It was worth a try," Logan said.
"Yeah, I guess it was a dead end. Still—" I closed my eyes and took a few steadying breaths.
"You sure you want to do that again today?" Logan asked.
"It's fine," I said, concentrating. The Path flared up around us.
Each item on the shelf radiated color. When I turned around to look at the shelves behind us, I could see that many items held a distinct Path. In a far corner of the room, brilliant blue stood out like a volcano, even from this distance. A bright incessant Path spread up from the floor, but I ignored it, thinking of the portals below.
A well of gold sprung from Logan's core, like a small glittering sun, and wrapped itself around him. Worried blues and greens twirled through.
"It's fine," I repeated again, and gave him a look that I hoped was reassuring.
Rider was a fluctuating flow of greens and browns that flickered between instinctual animal and human.
"What's the necklace look like?" Logan asked.
Focusing on the small package that Rider had put back on the shelf, I could see the trail he had left behind, but concentrating hard, I looked back further.
"It's blank," I said. "I can see where other people have been near it, but Clancy's right, the necklace doesn't tell us anything."
Sliding the Path away, the real world came into clearer focus, but with color drained away.
"Let's get out of here," Logan said.
The sterile carpet hushed our footsteps as we exited. We didn't shut off the lights. I'd hate to think someone else might have come in while we were here. The thought of trapping someone in this vault with the lights out made my skin crawl.
"Remind me to bring a flashlight next time we come down here, just in case."
***
"It's good to see you again," Ethan stood to greet me when I found him waiting at the restaurant. "You look nice."
"Thank you," I said, taking a seat. "It's good to see you too."
Trying to find the thin line between looking nice and looking like you were trying too hard was one I was never proficient with. Lately, though, my work attire had improved along with my work ethic, so it wasn't too hard to find an outfit to wear.
The waitress appeared at the table with a pitcher of ice water and asked if Ethan would like some, poured his water, and left the pitcher on the table. Then she said she'd be right back with a menu.
My good mood faltered, but Ethan poured me a glass of water and didn't appear to give it a second thought. When the waitress came back with one menu, for Ethan, he handed it to me and asked for another. She apologized, looking genuinely sorry, and later, when she brought Ethan a drink and forgot my coffee, she also appeared very apologetic.
Ethan watched the waitress walk away, presumably to get my coffee, and he looked nervous.
We hadn't had the chance to talk yet, so I dived in. "How was your day?" It was an awful question, but it would hopefully get the conversation started.
"It wasn't bad. We closed the case your team was interested in, so I have a light caseload right now. How was yours?"
My mind flashed on this morning, being thrown forward in the Path and disappearing in time, but I shoved it firmly away and replaced it with smaller facts that I could talk about. "We mostly drove around today and spent some time at the office."
Ethan began to talk, but our waitress appeared.
"Would you like to order?" Her voice was friendly, but she did not come bearing coffee.
"Oh, are you ready?" Ethan asked me.
"Sure."
We gave our order, and I checked after the coffee. The waitress apologized again and took off for the kitchen to place our order. Ethan tapped his fingers on the table and watched her walk away.
Grabbing another harmless detail of my day, I threw out, "My partner did manage to convince me to get on a horse."
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"A horse?" Ethan's fingers stopped moving, and his good humor returned. "Do you keep those around the office?"
I laughed, but then I thought, didn’t we have horses at the Farm? "We weren't at the office, we had to go off road and Logan will take any excuse to be around horses."
"He's a fan of riding?"
"Yes, but I'm sure he also gets some entertainment value out of watching my attempts."
"I'm sure you can't be too bad with horses."
"My first experience was, oh wow, about a year ago now, and things didn't go well. My horse ended up at the stables long before I did."
"You fell off?" Ethan asked.
"Bucked off."
"Ouch. Were you hurt?"
"Bruised pride and embarrassment more than anything else, it was practically my first day... uh, in my current position." My awkward stammer made me shift in my seat.
"Sorry to hear your first time on a horse went so badly. Maybe, if you'd like some tips, I could take you riding. Only if you’re interested of course."
Between him overlooking my awkwardness and his offer, my smile was hard to tame down. "You may be underestimating my serious lack of skill."
Ethan's voice was tinged with humor. "I promise no miracles, but my aunt has a few horses, very tame, and she appreciates it when I take them out to stretch their legs."
"Oh, they're family horses. I'm pretty sure once Logan finds out you'll have a new best friend."
Ethan sat back in his seat as someone approached, but kept his eyes on me. "As long as he brings you along, I'll consider myself lucky."
A plate was sat down in front of Ethan.
"Thank you," Ethan said.
"Can I get you anything else?" the waitress asked.
"Uh," Ethan looked around the woman, "is the other meal coming?"
The girl looked confused, and then her eyes opened wide. "I am so sorry." She covered her mouth. "I'll go check on it."
She hurried away before I had a chance to ask about coffee.
Ethan slid his plate to the side. "I'm sure she'll be right back."
My hopes weren't high. Some people didn't know how to react to me, so they mentally moved me into an empty space. If someone was distracted or has met me more than once, things were golden. When Logan and Rider were around, they were able to take attention away from me until the other people became comfortable with me.
AIR Series Box Set Page 38
