AIR Series Box Set

by Amanda Booloodian

  "Says here we've lost a minotaur." Logan looked pointedly at me before looking back through the list. "A gnome, two pixies, a fairy, two trolls, a changeling, a gremlin, and a witch."

  I frowned and tried to find the area he was reading from. "That's not twelve."

  Logan pursed his lips and took out his phone. "The others mentioned aren't Lost. I need to make a call."

  "Humans, not Lost?" Confused, I watched Logan walk out before returning to my search. "Why?"

  Towards the end of the report, I found what I was looking for. A list of names, the reported date of death, and their species: gnome, two pixies, fairy, minotaur, troll, changeling, gremlin...

  "How did we find out about the gremlin?"

  "Neil has his ways," Taylor said, sounding reluctant.

  I read on. There was another troll, a witch, and then my heart froze.

  A psychic.

  My gaze jerked from Taylor to Sable and back down, trying to find more context to the list. "How do we know the humans ended up dying because their souls were taken out?"

  "With these people, nothing has shown up in autopsy reports, but not many were autopsied. The others had suspicious circumstance around them. Like Am, there was no indication of illness, but the Lost reported an unexplainable feeling in the area around the home, or site where the body was found." Taylor's voice sounded harder than it had before.

  "Someone is targeting the Lost?" Rider asked.

  "It's not only Lost on the list." My voice was raised in my panic, but I didn't waste the breath to apologize for snapping.

  "Which you seem far more concerned about." Taylor's voice was thick with animosity, but his face was impassive.

  Fury clawed its way up out of the disaster or my soul. Fear and worry exploded into anger and I moved slowly to my feet, glaring at Taylor. "How dare you."

  Rider moved in front of me, and I tried to push him out of the way. It felt like I was trying to move a wall. My veins filled with fire and crushing rage. All sense of myself shunted aside.

  Taylor had also risen. He was studying my reactions, but I saw accusation written across his face.

  Vertigo rolled over me and I felt off balance, but I let the anger keep my stance. "You don't know me. Each person on that list-"

  Rider grabbed my face and made me look straight at him. "This is not you."

  His eyes bore straight into mine. I wanted to knock him out of my way to get at Taylor.

  At the same time, I cringed at the thought. This was Rider. No part of me should want to shove around my friend. Grabbing hold of that feeling, I stared at Rider, anchored my thoughts to him, and began the struggle to pull myself out. The fury danced below, trying to keep hold, but I didn't, and couldn't, let it take control.

  My muscles felt used beyond their ability, but it was me again. I gripped Rider's arm and he dropped his hands. I'm not sure what he saw, but he relaxed and dropped his gaze. Rider looked confused but kept eyes on Taylor, since Taylor hadn't sat down.

  "I need to examine you. Now," Taylor said.

  "You stay away from me," I snapped. Feeling rubbery and worn, I sat before I could fall. I didn't look at Sable, and I decided to ignore Taylor completely.

  Exhaustion kept the panic from rising too far.

  "Rider, there are psychics on the list." My voice matched my mood.

  Taylor moved towards me. "The-"

  Rider let out a low growl before Taylor could say anything else. Rider's low rumble filled the room and left me feeling like nightmares waited in the shadows.

  The room was motionless even after the sound faded.

  "When did you last speak with Margaret?" Rider's voice didn't hold a trace of the menace he had unleashed.

  "I spoke with her a few hours ago, but Gran doesn't hide who she is. And Mom, oh God." Panic crept back in my voice. I hadn't talked to my mother in over a month, but Gran had recently talked with her, right?

  "You're a Reader in a family of psychics?" Taylor's voice was low and held remorse, but I ignored him.

  Logan came back in the room. My fear was on display, but I didn't bother trying to hide it.

  "Margaret will be staying at my house for now," Logan said.

  I let out a slow breath, but the tightness in my chest didn't go away. "Is anyone checking on my mom?"

  "Your mom is pretty closed off about what she is," Logan said.

  "Only after my dad died. When she was younger, she was good at what she did. That's hard to hide and even harder to forget."

  Logan already had the phone back out. "We'll ask Hank to get someone to keep an eye on her until this gets sorted out."

  "And your family?" I asked.

  "Jonathan's handling it for now. He'll keep them safe."

  Logan didn't shut the door behind him, but he moved far enough down the hall that I couldn't hear what he said.

  "Cassie, I'm sorry," Taylor said. "I didn't mean to imply-"

  "That I thought humans were more important than the Lost?" I glared at Taylor. "I'm pretty sure that is exactly what you meant."

  Taylor cleared his throat and spoke more formally. "You're right. I should not have assumed anything. I apologize."

  I wasn't comfortable with his solemn attitude, but I tried to let go of the last threads of anger. "You didn't know. And I shouldn't have gotten so agitated."

  "Speaking of which. May I?" Taylor waved a penlight he'd been holding.

  "May you blind me repeatedly?" I sighed. "Go for it."

  By the time Logan returned, Taylor had checked my pulse, listened to my chest, taken my temperature, and of course, shined lights to check my pupil dilation.

  "Hank has someone on the way. They'll keep an eye on her," Logan said.

  I finally relaxed.

  Logan didn't leave time for a thank you. "The Lost and anyone with an ability outside of the normal is being targeted. The office has begun their own search, and they are going to try to pinpoint areas with the highest risk of being affected. Teams will be moving to those areas soon. Sable, I think they'll ask MyTH to help work through the city."

  "I'll talk with Gordon and call people in," Sable said.

  After Sable left, Logan looked around the room and frowned. "I feel like I've missed something in here, but we need to move on. We need suspects."

  Taylor, already sitting back down, cleared his throat. "Neil has a list on page twenty-seven that should help us."

  Rider sat back down, and we all flipped to the page Taylor mentioned.

  The list was much longer than I suspected. Some of these types of Lost I had never heard of and several had subcategories listed. There were human abilities here as well.

  "Has there even been an alchemist in this country?" Logan asked.

  "Neil is thorough," Taylor admitted. "He's allowed for the possibility that anything could be around without us knowing."

  The word ‘Walker’ jumped out at me from the list. I expected it to be there, and I tried to concentrate on the others, but my eyes were drawn back to the word again and again.

  The list of demons was extensive and most of the words, if they were actual words, were unpronounceable, but a few of the names I knew. Demons weren't beasts of the underworld, but I could see where people got that idea. Like other mythological creatures, they come from other planes of existence. Their home dimensions, at least the ones I knew about, resembled different forms of Hell. They come to our world through portals, like the other Lost. Demons, along with several others on the list, aren't allowed to be brought to this world intentionally. That doesn't mean they aren't around, but it's hard for them to remain inconspicuous, so the likelihood that one of them are behind this wasn't high.

  "What are the little numbers next to some of the names?" Rider asked.

  "Footnotes," Taylor said. "If you turn to the next page, you'll see a matching number."

  "That's a lot of notes," I said.

  "It looks like most of them are 'would likely consume energy rather than use in this manner',
" Logan said.

  "Most of the demons fit that bill." Under my breath, I added, "It could take a lifetime to track everything down."

  "We're going to attack this from multiple angles." Logan didn't look up. He was busy crossing out names and making marks. "We're going to narrow down this list and concentrate on the most likely. The notes will help us. We'll also go at it by following the case. There are drugs, money, and connections to be made."

  "I've tried to get Neil to contact some of his dealers, but he won't give them up," Taylor said.

  This was the second time I had heard of Neil's dealers. I thought about asking why Neil had known them, but decided I wasn't sure I wanted the answer.

  I rubbed my temples and stared blankly at the paper. "It does seem like it would be easier to trace back the drugs, even if we don't have names. There have to be links to the people arrested today. There's also the merchandise itself."

  "It's all cheap jewelry. It could have been picked up anywhere," Logan said.

  "Yes, but there was a whole lot of it on site today, probably purchased all at once, and my guess is, it wasn't a jeweler buying it. If it was all bought from the same place, we should be able to track the purchase."

  "And the purchase should have been larger than what we saw today," Rider said. He too was making notes on the page, or at least making marks on it. It didn't look like English.

  "Why larger?" I asked.

  Rider took time, appearing to think through his response. "They were a payment. These are possibly new and unique, at least for drugs. I do not believe they would all be given away."

  "That would make it easier to trace. While Hank looks for connections between people, we'll ask him if this type of purchase could be traced," Logan said.

  "We could ask Neil to look into the same, if you want," Taylor said.

  I noticed Logan's eyes flick towards me. "We should let him concentrate on what he's doing now." Logan dropped his pencil and looked over his notes. "The people we've met who take this don't realize it's a drug. At least they don't think of it that way. Once Hank finds us a name, we need to follow this up the food chain, to find a source."

  "Paper trail?" The ex-accountant in me came out. "Should we follow the money?"

  "These people paid in product, that may not help you while following the drugs," Taylor said. "You need someone moving around the same circles as the product."

  "Neil?" I didn't bother trying to cover my skepticism.

  "He would only get someone through the door and be a guide. Neil is too young, too inexperienced, and too closely connected to the wrong people." Taylor's words didn't sound like insults, only facts. "Someone else is going to need to meet these people."

  "Going undercover in the city's drug scene?" Logan asked. "I spread my face around the police station and spent too much time with the criminals for that."

  Looking confused, Rider looked up. "Undercovers?"

  Logan grinned. "When you go undercover you pretend to be someone else and infiltrate from the inside."

  Rider looked like he was thinking that over before going back to work.

  "Although, that's not really what this needs to be," Logan said.

  "I think you're right," Taylor said. "Someone attending a few events might be enough. I was thinking Rider, but..."

  It took a lot of effort for me not to grin. "That leaves me."

  Chapter 18

  Logan crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. "Are you sure you want to volunteer? Margaret will have my ears if anything happens to you."

  I tried to downplay the fact that I was excited about the idea. "I'm assuming you all won't be far away."

  "Maybe we should send someone else in with you," Logan said.

  "Should I go with her?" Rider asked.

  Taylor cleared his throat. "You might work better in surveillance. She'll have Neil. Whether he likes it or not, he can be an important tie to the right communities, and he's good at figuring his way out of tight corners."

  I cringed. The thought of relying on someone like Neil didn't inspire a lot of confidence.

  "Neil and I don't see eye to eye on much of anything," Taylor said, "but I would trust him in this. The kid's a lot of things, but he's loyal above all else. He might not admit it, but he would sell his dealers out before he would anyone in this room."

  That didn't settle my thoughts about Neil, and I could tell that Logan didn't like the idea either.

  Putting Neil out of my mind, I focused on other areas of the job. "So, where would I be going? Clubs, or dropping by people's houses?"

  "There could be a bar or two involved," Taylor said, "but the parties are where you'll need to be. They always move around, and they're hard to get into. You have to know the right people."

  "And the way you've been talking, Neil knows them all." There was an edge to Logan's voice if you listened hard enough.

  Taylor sighed. "He does, and that's our reality. The larger dealers set up private parties. Sometimes, they even show up."

  "Why would they get that close?" I asked.

  "I wondered the same thing," Taylor said, "and Neil told me what he knew. They never sell, consume, or hold any drugs at the parties, and they probably have an exit strategy. It's not a large risk because they've set up the event and it's private. Neil thinks it's worth it for them because they get to see their top sellers and top buyers. They watch, and they have other people watching. They know who they're dealing with on both sides of the table."

  "How many big dealers do you have in the city?" Logan asked.

  "Neil has access to two. He never talks to them, only their..." Taylor waved his hand around as though trying to push aside words that weren’t quite what he was looking for. "I guess they're employees? Other dealers, anyway. But he recognizes the bosses when they show up."

  "Before we move any further, we need to talk to Hank. Maybe he's found a connection and we don't need to mess with any of this." Logan didn't sound too hopeful.

  "I'll talk with Neil to see if anything will be happening over the next few days that would be useful for you," Taylor said.

  "It's late, but if Cassie's got the doc's sign off, we have a chance to sleep in our own beds for the night," Logan said.

  "We're in uncharted territory," Taylor said. "The best I can suggest is get some rest while you can, but I think you need to be under observation until we know the side effects."

  My eyes narrowed at Taylor. "I have plans tomorrow, and I don't intend on missing them unless we move on the case."

  "Maybe Logan or Rider could-"

  "No way." Take one of my partners on a date? That would be humiliating, not to mention hard to explain. "Besides a few bruises, there's nothing physically wrong with me."

  Logan drummed his fingers on the table. "It's a hike, right?"

  "Um, yeah." Hearing my personal life up for discussion didn't exactly make me comfortable.

  "Let me talk to Ethan. He can be on the lookout for anything odd," Logan said.

  I leveled my glare at Logan and crossed my arms, trying to keep everything inside pushed down, while hiding shaky hands on the outside. "You're going to ask Ethan to what? Watch out for mental instability?"

  Logan leaned back. "We could tell him you hit your head while on the job, and he's probably already heard about the drugs."

  My breath caught.

  Logan hurried on. "The drugs at the bust. Cops talk; if he hasn't heard that some agents got a healthy dose of meth, he'll hear it soon. I thought he could keep an eye out for mood swings. Look, I know how you feel about this, but sending you out into the wilderness with Ethan thinking everything is okay, isn't an option."

  "Will he be able to handle the situation if it goes wrong?" Rider asked. "There will be no one around."

  My mouth went dry, and I turned to Rider, gaping at him.

  Rider met my gaze with a level, but not an unkind look. "How would you feel if you began to act odd, or attacked him and caused an injury?"

&
nbsp; I slumped in my seat and tried not to look too upset. "I'll cancel." It came out as a mumble.

  "Or you could change your plans." Logan sounded way too cheerful, and when I looked up at him, he was grinning. "Instead of roaming the countryside with the risk of getting hot and sweaty and possibly hurting someone, you stay in and follow doc’s orders, watch some movies, and let Ethan keep an eye on you."

  Thinking that over, I frowned at Logan, but I sat up straighter. "Let me tell him."

  Logan frowned. "You'll undersell it."

  It felt like I was bargaining for freedom and losing. "No one goes on a date with a permission slip from their partner."

  "That depends on the partner." Logan looked at my expression and tapped his fingers on the table. "You tell him, but either me or doc sits in to make sure he knows what he needs to."

  "To my side of the conversation only."

  "Deal."

  ***

  "I am so sorry about this." It was probably the third time I’d said it since Ethan had arrived, but I couldn't seem to stop. "You really don't have to spend all day over here if you'd rather do something else, like see sunlight."

  "Spending the day with you is the highlight of my week. We can go in the backyard if we feel the need to see the sun."

  Thinking about the fairy in the backyard, I grinned. "Maybe."

  "And this time, I know what happened, which I think will be a novelty."

  "That's true." I couldn't look at Ethan when I said it.

  "Well," he said, a little less optimistic, "at least I know the important parts."

  "You do. And," I stressed this part, "because you're here today, I don't have to spend the day with the doctor or anyone else watching over me."

  "I thought your grandmother might be around,” Ethan said.

  The smell of baked goods was almost unnoticeable now that Gran moved in with Logan’s family for the duration of the case. This morning I had hoped to talk with her in person, but I had no luck.

  “I thought she’d be here too, but she’s away from home for a few days.”

  “Well, I’m happy to be of service and keep an eye on her granddaughter.” His grin was adorable, but short lived. “I heard it was a mess on scene.”