"It could take months," Vincent said. "They may not even be in this world."
"We don't have that kind of time," Logan said. "Too many lives are at stake. And whoever is doing this is here."
I leaned forward and rested my arms on the table. "I have an idea of where I'd like to start. Right now, I have a lot of luck on my side, and I need to give it back to the leprechauns. They had to have seen him."
"Dude." Neil's eyes went wide. "I'm not sure that's the best idea. You may need that luck."
I shook my head. "I know, but it's not mine to keep. Besides, I saw what it did to Jin when it caught up with him. It wasn't a pretty sight."
Neil snorted. "Indian Dude had that coming."
Vincent and Rider nodded in agreement which helped Neil's confidence. He sat up straighter anyway.
"Cassie's right," Logan said, "giving it back is the right thing to do. She'll have to use a little luck to return it, but maybe they'll help us."
"We also need to find every friend and family member that has one of Jin's little trinkets." It gave me the creeps even saying his name, but it couldn't be avoided.
"You don't think they'll run down on their own?" Logan asked.
"No, not if they're like Jin's. Most of them hold that little shard of soul. It doesn't have anything keeping it together, so it dies away." I shuddered at the thought, but took a steady breath and moved forward. "What Jin has isn't a larger chunk, it's the whole thing. One solid soul. Who could say how long that would last?"
Chapter 28
Neil, doing more calculations and analysis than any one person should ever be able to manage, found a likely place for me to find a leprechaun. As far as AIR was concerned, we were running down a lead, which was true overall. AIR and MyTH were working together to hunt down anyone who Jin might have sold souls too. Although they weren't sure why we wanted them, the police and DEA were collecting anything that might resemble what we were looking for.
It felt good knowing so many people were working on this. Hopefully, that meant that none of the jewelry fell through the cracks.
My two partners turned into three now that Vincent had joined us. MyTH helped us gear up for hiking and camping in rugged terrain, and we were off to find the leprechauns.
For the first three hours of our journey, I used the tablet to update our case file. It caused me to run into a few difficult decisions on what should go on permanent record. In the end, I skipped around, telling the parts I was willing to think about and ignoring the rest. I wanted to ask Logan what I should say about Jin, but he held up a finger for me to wait, and then pointed to the eye of the device.
Logan was becoming more and more concerned, or dare I say it, paranoid, about what the office might be tracking. Or maybe he was only more vocal about it, now that we had been partners in the field for a year. As my mentor, Logan could be trying to get me to pay more attention to everything that went on around us.
I caught up with Gran and let her know I missed her. She told me that I needed to take Vincent to the Palm Reader. Also, that I was to ignore the old coot in the woods. It was the first time I had truly smiled in days.
Logan hummed, although sometimes he moved back and forth between humming and singing. I asked him if he wanted me to turn on the radio, but he declined.
The track of land Neil sent us to was in the Ozarks. The countryside was beautiful, but I was already dreading the hills. Logan left the paved road and roamed down a gravel one, which turned to dirt before he parked the truck.
We were unloading our gear and my phone rang. Ethan's name appeared on the screen.
"I'm going to take this." I walked away from the truck. "In private."
"Hi," I said, walking down the road, "I'm glad you called."
"That's a positive start," Ethan said. "I've seen some stuff cross my desk in the past few hours that put me in mind of you."
"The jewelry?"
"Yeah. We'll be on the lookout. Does this mean that your case is winding down?"
"We're getting ready to talk to a witness. If they saw anything that we can use, we should be able to wrap things up before long."
"That's good to hear, I was hoping we'd have the chance to get together again, soon."
"I wish I could say yes." Going out with Ethan, forgetting about work, Vincent, and everything in between, sounded wonderful. "Unfortunately, I am getting ready to walk into the wilderness, and it's possible I might not walk back out for a few days."
Ethan's cheerful mood came through his voice. "I never pictured you as a camper."
I laughed and the muscles in my chest loosened up. "Neither did I, but we do what we have to for the job."
"That's the truth."
"If you want, I can call in a few days, once I've reached civilization again."
"I'm already looking forward to it. Good luck catching your bad guy."
"Thanks."
Walking back to the truck, I saw that the team was huddled around a map. Unless it was GPS, with a little blinking dot on a trail, I'm pretty sure I wasn't going to be much help. When I came up beside them, Logan insisted that he show me where our starting point was, and which direction we were traveling.
We grabbed our gear and with Logan in the lead, we walked into the forest.
And we kept walking. Logan and Rider were good for updates on pace and how far we'd walked. After the third mile, the terrain became more difficult to navigate. It didn't help that I suggested a different direction, but since it came from the extra soul I was carrying around, we figured we were going the right way.
"It's getting dark," Vincent said about a mile later.
I wasn't about to complain. There was enough light to see by, but I was done for the day. Logan began putting our camp together while Rider checked the surrounding area.
Vincent was surprisingly adept at camping. We decided on no fire for the night, but they sent me out for wood in case we needed it, and as many twigs as I could manage for the cook stove.
I didn't have high hopes of twigs being able to cook anything, even if I brought a tree's worth back to camp, but I took their word for it and went into the woods.
Our team really didn't feel like a team anymore. All evening, everyone went about helping with the camp, but much like the drive here, and the hike, there wasn't any discussion. You'd think, sitting around the stick-fueled cookstove (which worked better than I ever expected) that a team would talk. There would be stories, and someone would say, “Remember when” and everyone would chime in with their own memories.
Everyone acted as if they were afraid to say anything, although it could be that I was the only one that felt that way. Maybe this was what things were supposed to be like when you were trekking through the wilderness.
Or maybe I was hoping for an instant reunion.
The night closed in when I went to find the hammock Logan had set up for me. It was a tight line, about chest level between two trees. After staring at it for at least a minute, I attempted to get in, and probably looked ridiculous, but there was no way I was going to ask how to jump into one. Once I managed it, though, it was more comfortable than I thought. I slipped into the sleeping bag, without falling out, and fell asleep listening to the sounds of the woods at night.
***
There was a bleak, cold chasm below me, and I was dangling from a rope. The air felt moist and burned my throat with each breath. The darkness began to shift, and someone lurked in the murky distance. Below me a whirlpool formed. My grip tightened as I was moved with the flow of the swirling shadows. My muscles felt weak, and the chill air began to settle into my bones.
The gloom underneath lurched and the rope grew taught as if someone was taking hold of the bottom. My breath came faster which scoured my throat even worse, and my muscles protested as I made them pull my own weight. I struggled up until my hands turned slick with blood. In a vain effort, I looked up, hoping to find anything to grab onto. There was nothing. Realizing I was climbing to nowhere, my lifeline f
rayed and became thinner even with my hands wrapped tightly around it.
When there was nothing but a thread remaining, it snapped and I fell. Hands from the shadows grabbed me and shook violently. Afraid it was Jin or worse, I tried to lash out. My muscles were weak, but I'd be damned if I was going out without a fight. I threw a punch.
"Cassie," Rider whispered, "wake up."
"Cassie," a voice hissed and drove the chill even deeper.
I reached out to the warmth of Rider and opened my eyes.
My hand was clamped around his arm. After reassuring myself it was Rider, and I was safe, I was able to pull away.
"Are you okay?" he asked, keeping his voice low.
My night vision was pretty good, but I looked around, and it played tricks on me. Across the dark camp, there was the shade of an old man who stepped around a tree, disappearing. Swirls of pitch night were opening up around us. Resisting the urge to reach out and grab Rider's arm again, I closed my eyes and took a few steadying breaths.
When I looked again, the camp was normal. "It was a bad dream." The night had grown chill, so it was no wonder my dream was full of cold. "Sorry to wake you up." I tugged up the sleeping bag and buried myself inside.
"Would you like to talk about it?" Rider asked.
"I'm okay. It's been a lot all at once is all." I'm sure my voice was muffled, but I was equally sure that Rider could hear me. "Good night, Rider. Thank you for waking me up."
"Good night."
In the morning, I felt grungy and without the option of a shower, it didn't make for a pleasant morning. At least there was coffee.
We hiked further into the woods.
"Is this how Deliverance started?" I asked around noon.
Vincent chuckled lightly behind me.
"Nah, we need banjos for the beginning," Logan said.
"Oh, right." Feeling a twinge of good luck, we moved west and followed a creek. Once we were back on track, I picked up my line of conversation. "So, what you're saying is, we've jumped into the middle of the movie. I'm not finding that comforting."
Logan and Vincent laughed. After the previous day of silence, it was comforting.
"I think it looks like the movie you showed me last Halloween," Rider said. "Dale and Tucker?"
"Wait, does that make us the college kids?" I asked.
Rider laughed, and at least for a short time, we felt more like a team.
With my encouragement, we crossed the water. Shortly after that, I called for a halt.
The trees were sparser here, but we would be in good shape for setting up camp.
"You think this is the spot?" Logan asked.
"For camp I do." I tried to nail down the feeling behind the decision, but it radiated from everywhere. "I think the rest of today's hike needs to be on my own."
Rider and Logan stopped and looked at me.
"We do not know what is in these woods," Rider said. "It is better if we stick together."
"Do you really think the leprechauns will come near me with three other people around?" I asked.
Rider began to object.
"Or with even one other person around? They haven't been seen in centuries. The best chance we have is for me to go on my own.”
"She's right." Vincent didn't even look up from setting up camp. "She's got luck on her side."
"Luck will only get her so far, there are smells out here. Of predators." He glared at Vincent. "What do you think they will do when they sense Cassie?"
Vincent grimaced and looked up at Rider. "Would you rather have us wander around out here for nothing?"
"Yes, if it means she stays with us," Rider said.
"She goes on alone, but not far." Logan added to me, "And get back here before it gets dark."
"Right." I checked over my water supply and food while trying hard to ignore the fact that they'd argued about me going when I had already made the decision. In my mood, it was best not to linger. "I'll see you all soon."
When it came to distances, I was the worst. There was no way for me to judge how far I walked, but I kept a steady pace and moved where my inner guide suggested. There was a small clearing by a stream where I stopped, sensing that now I had to wait. The water rushed by and the breeze blew gently. It wasn't the kind of feeling that you got at a fairy homestead or a gnome hill, but it was a pleasant place to sit.
So many things can go through a person's mind when they have time alone with nothing to do. Thoughts that I had been determined not to think about had been stuffed into small corners of my mind and were now stumbling out. The easy ones, my job, Rider, Logan, and Gran, flew by fast. My mother and my ex took up some time, but those had been squashed down so long that it was their natural state to be ignored.
Thoughts of Vincent were becoming densely tangled into the case, but it was memories of pain and fear that knotted things up. There was guilt there as well. I should have spoken with him after the night with Jin. He was probably as bad off as I was, but I was keeping him away.
Crap, I was crying at work. Who does that? All those thoughts had to be rolled up and crammed into their hiding places.
Concentrating on the sounds of the forest and running water helped to clear my mind. How many people can say they've been truly alone, possibly miles from anyone else? The surprising answer is, almost no one. People may think they're alone, but all types of beings lurk in out of the way places.
After spending some time tuning into the world around me, I spotted three examples.
There was no one to tell me what a leprechaun looked like. What I had expected, the little people in green that you see on posters at St. Patrick's Day were so far from the truth that I wondered who had dreamt them up.
Two people, around three feet tall, watched me. The third was taller than I was and made little alarm bells go off in my mind. The tall man stared at me while smoking a pipe. He faded away into the woods. It was unsettling, and I breathed easier when he disappeared.
The remaining two weren't wearing green as one might expect, or even red, which Logan had said was what the older version of leprechauns wore. Instead, they wore brown, and while their hair was redder than my own, it grew in a tufted way around the head, neck, and face, suggesting they weren't actually of Irish descent.
I was pretty sure they were a type of Lost, maybe one that came here hundreds of years ago and became trapped. But it's hard to say what might have originated in our own world.
The two continued to stare. I didn't make a move beyond looking from one to the next.
Chapter 29
When the luck nudged me to do so, I spoke, the words forming without much thought on my end. "Something was taken from you, and I've brought it back."
One of the two disappeared, but returned quickly with a third person of the same size and shape.
"Uh, someone came and took something from you. I've brought it back?" I hadn't intended it to be a question, but I wasn't sure what I was doing.
"They always come looking." I'm not sure if he was talking to me, or to the others.
"For hundreds of years we go unnoticed, but to a few of our choosing,” another said.
"Now two discover us," said the third.
The first one who spoke continued, "Always looking, but you say you are returning."
"What is it that you want in exchange?" the second man asked.
"More than we are willing to give, and more than she deserves." The third person clearly didn't like me, I think he was male, but it was hard to say for sure.
They stopped speaking. They stayed well away and appeared to blend in with the trees if I took my eye off them. I waited a moment, reveling in the fact that I was meeting leprechauns.
The second soul wasn't helping me out now, so it looked like I was on my own. "I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to say. I don't want anything and what I have isn't mine to keep."
"Nothing in return," the first one said.
"Well that's not true," the second said.
&nb
sp; "She will ask for more than she deserves," the third said again.
"Well," I continued, "I'll give it back no matter what. It doesn't belong to me, but I would like to ask a few questions if you are willing."
"Information can be expensive," the first one sighed.
"Is it worth the luck?" the second one asked.
"We should take what's ours and throw her back," the third said.
I really didn't like the sound of that. "The one that did this. He killed one of you and stole the soul away. I want to know if you saw him. If you know who he is, or if you have any clue, I'm trying to stop him from doing this to any others."
"She wants to help us," the first said.
"What she says may be true," the second said.
"She might want more from the thief than he is willing to give," the third said.
"That's not our concern," the first said.
"She can do what she likes," the second said.
The third crossed his arms. "What she says could be true."
It sounded as if the third was agreeing with the other two, which may have been a signal. All three stepped out into the open but stayed well out of reach.
"What should I call you?" I asked.
They hesitated and looked at each other.
"You'll give us what was taken?" the first asked.
"She has the stolen luck,” the second said.
"You'll return it unconditionally?" the third asked.
I nodded afraid to speak. We really needed to know, but the soul had to go back, no matter what.
"The man who came was like one with you only more," the first said.
"His darkness grows to greater depths," the second said.
"He takes what is not his and walks where no one travels," the third said.
"Do you know what he looked like?" I asked.
The first stamped his foot. "Tall, like your friend."
"Blond like the elf," the second said.
"Hair long like yours," the third said.
I opened my mouth to ask more, but the first leprechaun stamped his foot again.
"She means to trick us," the first said.
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