“Jin,” I corrected again.
"Jin, the dealer?" Logan asked.
"Yeah," Neil said.
I was able to concentrate enough to gather my question together. "How long has he been around here, working with Jin?"
"I noticed him about three months ago. He worked his way up fast," Neil said.
"Three months." My cloud of tranquility disappeared, and I fell back into the real world.
The real world sucked.
"Anyway," Neil said, "dude looks ticked and then Indian Dude comes over. That was harsh, man. How do you explain to a dealer why you're arguing with his man? Only thing is, the guy introduces her to Indian Dude. Called her Heather and everything. Like they'd known each other. I practically crapped myself at that point. So Indian Dude walks off, and the other guy starts to follow, but she stopped him."
"It's not as bad as you think," I said, staring up at the ceiling, “and it’s Jin. Can you please call him by his name?”
"You asked him point blank if he did it! Straight to his face and all. He leaned in real close and said something. I didn't know what it was, man, but it shook her up. Shit turned worse and I thought she was, you know, losing herself. So I doped her up and got her the hell out of there." Neil stopped. He breathed as if he'd been running.
From his point of view, it probably wasn't that far off.
"Cassie, is that what happened?" Taylor asked.
"Pretty much." I drew myself up into a passable sitting position and looked at Logan and Rider.
"Why would you fight with a stranger?" Rider asked.
"Because, it wasn't a stranger." I rubbed my temples thinking how bad this looked for Vincent. "Sorry Neil. I should have told you I knew him. He's been missing for almost six months." I watched as Logan's eyes narrowed. "He used to be one of our partners."
Chapter 22
Without reading the Path, I could feel anger boil up. It filled the room and rolled my stomach.
"You are telling us that Vincent was there tonight?" Rider asked.
"I was hoping that one of you saw him coming or going into the party," I admitted.
"We didn't," Logan said.
"So the guy you were fighting with, he's your partner?" Neil's voice was wounded.
"He was my partner. Our partner really," I corrected. "We haven't seen him in almost six months, though."
"You think he's here undercover?" Taylor asked.
Logan said the words I was dreading to hear. "I think he's behind this."
Neil sagged back in his seat. "So, we're looking at an AIR agent, or possibly an ex AIR agent."
"What makes you think he's behind this?" Taylor asked.
I tried to avoid getting frustrated with the turn in the conversation. "I know you all think he's guilty—"
"He's a Walker," Logan said. "He's one of the few people we know of who could be capable of tearing a soul into pieces."
"I didn't know Walkers could do that." Neil leaned forward. "Walkers were on my list because they take souls."
"Vincent shredded Cassie's last fall," Rider said.
Taylor looked at me. “He shredded…but-”
I frowned. "Because he's able to, doesn't mean he's doing this."
"What did he say at the party, when you asked him?" Rider asked.
"He said that even if he didn't do it, it doesn't mean he's not to blame." I'm not sure if Vincent was helping himself or hurting himself with what he said.
"He could be lying," Logan said.
"If it were you or me, I would agree," Rider said. "But he said this to Cassie."
"Not everyone thinks of a friend in the same way you do," Logan said.
"I think he meant what he said. Look, we know Vincent. If he thinks he's to blame, he'll try to fix it. No matter what the costs." My stomach flip-flopped, and I looked at Logan, pleading for him to understand. "I don't think he did this."
"I don't know Vincent," Taylor said, "but from what you all have said, I don't think you can trust one thing over the other. You need more."
Logan looked down at his hands. "Maybe Taylor's right. We should gather more details. Find out what he's been doing for the last six months."
Reluctantly, I agreed. It was the smart thing to do. Get the whole story and make an informed decision. It wasn't my choice, but it was the right choice.
"Let's talk about the dealer, Jin," I said, changing the focus away from Vincent. "What can you tell us about him, Neil?"
"Dude’s super lucky. I've never seen anything like it," Neil said.
"What do you notice?" Taylor asked.
Neil leaned back in his seat and looked at the ceiling, and then he closed his eyes and launched into an explanation. "All dealers deal with risk. You have narcs, rival dealers, and others in their organization that want more money, more status, or who plain want to take over. Then there’s the drugs themselves. Addicts die all the time, but too many dead druggies isn't good business."
"That doesn't make Jin anything special," I said.
"Yeah, but about a year ago, Jin was like the other dealers," Neil said. "Anxious, careful, and paranoid. He got busted, but they let him go. Not long after that, he became untouchable."
"What do you mean untouchable?" Logan asked.
"Stuff rolls off him. For a while, everyone thought he went narc, but no one else got busted, so things went back to normal, only Jin's risks went away." Neil looked like he was turning the thought over in his mind. "Actually, it's more like they went around him. Bad shit that should have rained down on Jin dropped on people around him. Other dealers don't mess with him anymore. I've seen people that wanted to hurt Jin in a bad way, only to have badness bounce back. Not like Jin does them in, but weird accidents happen to them after something should have happened to Jin."
"What makes you think he isn't a narc?" Logan asked.
"The facts don't add up," Neil said.
"How is it you notice all this and no one else does?" I asked.
Neil shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked up at Taylor. Taylor nodded.
"This doesn't go in any report," Neil said. I could feel his anxiety whip around the room. "It doesn't leave this room."
He looked each one of us in the eye as we agreed.
He shifted in his seat again. "It's what I do. I see everything, add up the facts, and get the answer."
"That sounds simple," Rider said.
Neil let out a noise of frustration and tossed himself back in the chair.
"His IQ is off the charts," Taylor said. "By that, I mean he can't be tested. We've tried, but he sees things, even in the tests that no one else does. He got his first Ph.D. before he could vote. But got kicked out of his first three colleges."
Neil crossed his arms. "Professors don't like to be told they're wrong."
"They don't like to be told they're wrong by a kid with an attitude problem. Anyway," Taylor continued, "he sees what other people miss. He makes connections even when he can't explain why the facts add up the way they do."
Neil rolled his eyes. "I know why they add up that way. I just don't know how to explain it to someone who isn't me. And no one is me. It is what it is. The facts are there, and they fit together. In this case, Indian Dude is untouchable."
"I saw his Path which might help explain." I stretched out and gathered my thoughts. "The area around him flexes and moves like nothing I've seen. It's almost as if the Path around him is inviting to some people, but discourages others from coming near."
"I'm not that familiar with Readers, so I'm not following," Taylor said.
I liked talking about what I do, so I sat up straight and filled him in. "The Path is an overlay to our world, which I read. It's like a ripple of running water, but it's everywhere, covering everything."
"Do you see this all the time?" Taylor asked.
"No," I said. "Readers have to open themselves up to it. Everything leaves traces as we move through the world. We leave marks on objects we touch and the air we walk throu
gh. The Path is almost like a memory of that mark left behind. It picks up on emotions, and occasionally intent. The stronger the emotion, the longer the Path holds onto that impression. Some Readers can pick up a Path and follow it back through time to find its origin."
Neil's eyes widened. "Dude, you can time travel?"
I grinned. "Not exactly. I stay put in this time, but the Path shows me the past."
"So you could follow my Path back to my home?" Taylor asked.
"Not if you drove," I said. "Cars tend to muddle things. They move too fast for the person to make a lasting impression. If you were really angry while you drove, maybe, but it would be difficult. If you walked home, especially if it was every day, the imprint would be worn into the Path, and I could follow it."
"You say some Readers. Do different Readers do different things?" Neil asked.
I frowned, thinking back on everything I had said. "There aren't many Readers on record, so it's hard to say. I've spoken to a Reader that is much older than me but is only now beginning to follow Paths for any distance. She can, however, read intricacies of the Path that I have never noticed before."
"We should probably keep that much detail off the record as well," Logan said, eying Neil and Taylor.
Taylor agreed, but Neil wasn't done. "What you do and what you have described doesn't add up."
"I'm sure we could say the same about you," Logan said to Taylor and Neil.
"There's more to it," I agreed, "but from what I understand, most Readers in the past have had these skills. And it's these skills that let me see the abnormalities in Jin."
Taylor looked at me like he had when we had first met, like he was studying me.
Logan leaned forward. "Does this mean he has the ability to move the Path around him?"
I thought that over before shaking my head. "Anything that alters the Path uses effort, which affects the Path. His fingerprints would have been on it somewhere."
"So the Path was acting cognizant in this case?" Neil asked.
"Cognizant? Are you sure you're you?" I asked, stealing his words from earlier.
"He's sobering up," Taylor said.
"And it sucks," Neil muttered.
Not knowing how to respond, I moved on. "I'm not sure if that's the right word. I'm not sure the Path itself was aware."
"I'm not understanding everything here," Taylor said. "How does the Path decide to turn someone away on its own, if it's not aware?"
"I've never seen anything like it," I admitted, "but it would move to draw some people towards Jin. But I saw one person approach him, and his Path worked to keep the person away."
"When Jin came close to you, what happened?" Rider asked.
"I didn't feel the inclination to move away," Neil said.
"His Path flowed around you and didn't try to affect you," I said. "If I hadn't been Reading the Path, it probably would have moved me away. I could see it trying to. Vincent on the other hand, well, the Path tried to make him go away as well, but he sliced right through."
"That is probably the Reader in him," Rider said.
"I thought he was a Walker," Taylor said.
"When he broke up Cassie's soul, he ended up with a piece of it," Logan said.
"Is that normal for a Walker?" Neil asked, leaning towards Logan.
Logan didn't answer.
"If he is breaking apart other souls, would he have a piece of each?" Rider asked.
"It's hard to say." It was an awful thought and one I didn't want to dwell on.
"How are Vincent and Jin connected?" Taylor asked.
I twisted in my seat again. "No idea."
"Is Jin even a suspect?" Rider asked.
"I think that depends," Logan said. "Are there any Lost that could have a Path like Jin's?"
I sighed. "I've never seen anything like this Path."
"We know wearing the jewelry affects people," Logan said, "based on what type of soul is trapped."
"You think he was wearing a piece of the jewelry." It wasn't a big leap.
"I'm fairly certain of it," Logan said. "Who is suspected to have been killed by this?"
Neil rattled off the list.
The number of people that had fallen to this monster was alarming. "I've seen the Path of all of them except the telepath. None of them look like Jin's, and I doubt the telepath would look the same either."
"There are other Lost around that won't report deaths. Some are here illegally, others are private, and others don't have the capabilities to report such a thing," Taylor said.
Neil was staring into space. "It adds up. Jin has been untouchable for months, but I had it wrong. Untouchable is the wrong word. Well, it's the right word, but there was another word I used to describe it. Luck. The man is lucky."
Logan's eyes grew wide. "That can't be. There are none around here."
Neil snorted. "Those little bastards could be all over the place and we wouldn't notice. That's the point. They're Lucky. They're untouchable."
"Who are they?" I asked irritably.
Neil smiled smugly but didn't say anything.
"Leprechauns," Logan said sadly. "He's got a leprechaun."
I watched Logan carefully. "I haven't seen any records that leprechauns exist." How does he know this stuff?
"Man, you are dense," Neil said. "Haven't you figured it out yet? Everything is real. We have griffins living in caves off the river. Gremlins pop in and steal metal. Mermaids swim in the ocean and even in some lakes. Werewolves, vampires, sphinx, you name it and it's out there somewhere. How do you not know this already? Hell there's even a drag—"
"Neil, stop being such a little shit. We get it." Anger filled Taylor's words, but fear and anxiety rushed through the room.
"Whatever, man." Neil pushed his chair away from the table and stalked out of the room.
We ignored him, except Taylor, who watched him go.
"Okay," I said, "Jin may have a leprechaun soul on him. The other souls didn't last long, but it sounds like Jin's been this way for a few months."
"He could have the whole leprechaun somewhere," Logan said.
"How would he have caught one?" Taylor asked.
"They're almost impossible to catch," Logan said. "They're faster than gnomes, can't be trapped, and they have luck on their side. You physically have to pick one up to catch them, and with their history, they don't allow that."
"What is their history? I mean the real history, not pots of gold at the end of the rainbow?" I asked.
"The real and the myth collide too much to know for certain," Logan said. "One of the oldest legends talks about three leprechauns dragging a man into the water. The man caught one, and supposedly, the leprechaun bargained for its freedom by agreeing to grant the man three wishes. The man became a king. Some say he got his wishes and let the leprechaun go, others say he kept it in a cage, hanging in a dungeon after it stopped granting wishes. Knowing human nature, my guess is it died in its cage."
I cringed. "That's awful."
"It's not only humans that would have locked one up. There's a lot of people, elves included, that always grasp for more. Anyway, word got ‘round, and people were trying to hunt leprechauns. Stories of gold only made the attempts more frequent."
I wrapped my arms around my stomach, feeling ill at the thought of small people being hunted like animals.
Logan started to sound far away and he looked lost in thought. "The thing was, only the one was ever caught. For a while, it's said that the leprechauns taunted their hunters and played cruel jokes on them. And who could fault them for that? Then they disappeared. Occasionally, there are rumors of kids spotting one, and they've popped up in records a time or two in the past few hundred years, but nothing concrete. I've never heard stories of one on this side of the world."
"Maybe this is where they disappeared to," I suggested.
"Does their luck ever run out?" Rider asked.
Logan crossed his arms. "If Jin has one, the leprechauns’ luck ran out. At l
east for the one he has."
"It could fit," I said.
"From Neil's reaction, I guess it fits better than other options," Taylor said.
"If only one man, hundreds or even thousands of years ago ever caught one, why would it be possible now?" I asked.
"You broke through the Path that moved others away." Rider looked away from me. "So did Vincent."
"Should we try to go talk to the leprechauns?" I asked. "If they're around, they could have seen who did this."
Taylor and Logan looked at each other for a few beats.
Logan's face matched the seriousness in his voice. "If there are leprechauns, we need to keep them out of it. Keep the government out of their business. The last thing we need is a bunch of politicians trying to gain luck."
That was the first time Logan had hinted about the government trying to use the Lost. If he were worried, though, why would he work for AIR? I put it out of my mind. Better to concentrate on the trouble we already had.
"Okay," I said, "we can't be sure of leprechauns. They stay out of the reports and we leave them alone."
Logan appeared to relax, which made me think I should be more cautious about what I put in any of my reports.
"If Jin's Path is always like this," I said, moving us back on track, "he has to have a steady supply of whatever is causing it, or he has power himself. People around him have to know more."
Logan frowned and leaned back. "Someone does know." He looked at me, worry in his eyes. "But you'd better call Margaret to see if she has any warnings before you talk to him again."
Chapter 23
Despite Logan's concerns, I didn't think Vincent would be any trouble. Jin, however, gave me the creeps, so I wanted to stay far away from him.
Gran was worried when I called her, but she was at a loss to know why. The only thing she could tell me was, “Don't go see the artwork.” Hearing the misgivings in her voice, I took the advice to heart and promised not to look at any paintings or drawings.
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