I didn’t have a problem breaking into a few houses, so I nodded. “I need you to go over the spell and stay with my sister. Nikolos and I will get the mirrors, the mullein leaves and some supplies. We don’t want to go into that swamp unprepared.”
“Get insect repellent. I don’t have time to make a natural one and I’m covered in bites.” Blythe handed me a drawing. “The mullein leaves grow all over the place. They look like this.” She pointed. “And the leaves have soft hair-like fibers on them. They feel like flannel. They might have blooms still, but it could be too late in the year.” She turned to Dooby before pulling out her bag of rune stones. “I’m going to cast while you two are gone. I think we need a little guidance.”
I gave Elsa a last glance before we left, the need to hurry burning like the Dweller Demon’s poison in my veins.
Chapter Sixteen
“Guess the visited reflectors thing would have come in handy the first time on Aegenia,” I muttered, using my good hand to slap at a mosquito on the back of my neck. My head ached like I’d been breathing secondhand smoke in an elevator for hours so I’d left the hat off. Besides, I’d had enough hiding. A blue Taurus slowed as it passed us and I got a glimpse of red hair—teased high enough to brush the ceiling of the car—before the vehicle picked up speed. The woman clipped the edge of a sign that read Sadie’s Hair Salon as she took the corner too fast. The business with its plain, white exterior and chipper, potted petunias by the door, was closed. Like most of the others we’d passed. What was left of the town shut down early in this place—too early. We not only needed supplies—we needed answers.
I crushed one corner of the bag Blythe had given me to gather supplies. The big, yellow, happy face bag.
I’m sure it looked just lovely with my scowl.
We had only walked about a hundred feet from the hotel room before stopping on a side street to look through the heavy growth of tall grass for the leaves Blythe needed. I took a deep breath of the hot air and inhaled a faint hint of lingering exhaust. Even in a town this small, there would normally be more cars out. It was easy to see the people who lived here cared for their spot on this earth since none of the buildings outside of the various bait shops suffered from neglect. Not much in the way of peeling paint or boarded up windows.
The best part was the way they’d incorporated beautiful Florida nature into everything. Buildings had been built around trees instead of cutting them down.
Fred, who went out of his way to at least seem human, suddenly floated into my peripheral vision. He looked more ghosty than usual. In fact, he looked downright sickly. I frowned. We hadn’t fought anything in a while so he’d used no extra energy. He blinked out for a second and I lifted an eyebrow in question. There were too many people still around so I couldn’t ask outright—not yet. I was still hoping some of them would talk to me.
He just shrugged, his boyish face drawn with worry. No, not worry. He looked devastated, like some sort of old grief was ripping into him. I watched him for another minute before briefly closing my eyes. I knew he wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t tell me what was wrong if I asked. And I was at my limit of patience—ready for something to happen.
Nikolos had knelt to inspect some fuzzy-looking weeds. They weren’t mullein. “The book itself would have come in handy.”
He stood, nodded to a young couple walking past. The girl smiled at him. Her eyes darted to me and her mouth fell open. She elbowed her boyfriend and not-so-subtly tilted her head my direction. His eyes flared open wide.
“What?” I snapped, walking after them when they hurried away. “What’s with you people?”
Nikolos placed his hand on my arm. “Calm down. You’re going to scare them and besides, your looks stand out. I’d think you’d be used to it by now.”
“Used to people staring, yes, but come on! These people are acting like they know me.”
“Or someone who looks like you,” he said quietly.
“I hadn’t thought of that.” My shoulders slumped a bit as I silently admitted that my grouchiness stemmed from not only my impatience over Elsa but also a weird nervous edginess at the possibility that I was close to finding out answers about myself. A part of me had always realized those answers could be in this area. So I was angry with myself for giving up before. And a little scared over finally getting somewhere.
I mean, what if it turned out I really was a bad thing.
Thick pools of blood under a dead, black wizard. His screams echoing in my head as I come to. Knowing I’d been the one who’d ripped him limb from limb…
I covered my eyes, tried to dispel the memory. The horror I’d lived with ever since that had happened swept over me like a heavy, black cape—smothering me with the kind of shame no person should have. Yes, that wizard had killed with a relentless and vicious glee. He’d deserved to die.
That wasn’t the problem. The problem was knowing I was capable of such a thing. That a creature with powerful magic could manipulate me to the point of madness.
I shuddered, then jumped when Nikolos suddenly pulled my hands down and cupped my face. I blinked up at him, sluggishly pulling myself from the memories as if I was climbing from quicksand.
“I don’t know where you just went, what memories put that gut-wrenching expression on your face—I will ask you to tell me one day. But now isn’t the time, Beri.” He rubbed his thumbs softly over my cheeks, slipping one down to trace my bottom lip.
Which, of course, sent a new stream of images into my head. I knew he understood exactly where my mind went when he chuckled and leaned down to press his lips to mine. I inhaled his scent, let his warmth wash over me. He lowered his arms and smiled. It was a big smile. One that put that enticing crease in his cheek. The one that scrambled my guts.
“Did you become a naturalist so you could stay away from people?”
Flushed and off-balanced from the maelstrom of emotions I’d just raced through, I hugged my arms to my chest. Blythe’s stupid bag hit my hip. “You’re changing the subject on purpose.”
He nodded and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.
“I became a naturalist because I can work on my own time and it earns me enough money to do what I really like.”
“Which is?”
“Follow my ears. Trace down rumors of magic and find the creatures—talk to them. See if they’ve known someone like me. That’s why I started. But I like the work, even if it doesn’t pay. I’m naturally curious—”
“You mean nosy,” he broke in.
I frowned at him. “Okay, maybe. A little. But I enjoy investigating magical creatures. It’s fun—exciting. Even dangerous at times.”
He nodded as if he understood completely. “A closet adrenaline junkie.”
I grinned. “Not so much in-the-closet. I’d like to investigate monsters full time, but gathering little sea creatures pays the bills. Plus, I became a naturalist because it’s kind of easy for me. Watch this.” I held out my palm and two monarch butterflies landed delicately upon my skin. I smiled at them, held out my arm to let them go before shooing the handful of bees that had crowded in as well. “I barely have to do anything. And the work I do is pretty important. It teaches people about environmental safety—helps secure the future of the salt marshes. Some of the creatures I collect are used in study, but most go to aquariums. I can call some of them.”
“Like the bees,” he answered. “But I’ve seen they come whether you want them to or not.”
I shrugged. “I haven’t figured out why. They never sting me, but there are almost always a few hovering near no matter where I am.”
“What can you call besides bees?”
I glanced around our feet and spotted a slight, sinuous movement through some tall blades of grass. This creature was sneakier and smarter than the bees, but there was usually one in my vicinity. The small size and black coloring with yellow and red blocks told me it was an eastern coral—too small to bite through our boots, but deadly if some dumbass mist
ook it for a ringneck or a scarlet kingsnake.
Nikolos followed my gaze. He squatted and let the thing slither past his big feet—luckily covered in sturdy jungle boots like mine. “Of course,” he murmured. “Bees and snakes.”
Something in his tone had me narrowing my eyes. The shuttered expression that fell over his face let me know his mind was at work. “What about bees and snakes? I saw them in your home with the goddess figurines.”
His boots creaked as he stood and watched the snake escape into the tall grass. “There was a legend on Aegenia that the Goddess Rhea summoned bees on her frame drum, which also kept evil away from our people. Her creature to call was the serpent.”
I delved into my own memories, searching for the name and coming up empty. “Doesn’t ring any bells.”
“The Greeks called her Ariadne. My goddess.”
He’d talked about her before. “I’ve read a little about your goddess, Nikolos. Mostly stuff about the Minotaur—her brother, right?”
“The Minotaur in the labyrinth—” He looked like he was going to say more, but a beat up, powder blue Chevrolet pickup screeched to a halt on the street next to us.
“Hey, Castor, whatcha doing in town—” The woman in the truck broke off, stared at me, and gasped. She bunched up her sun-darkened, wrinkled features. Her long, pretty blonde hair didn’t go with her leathery skin. She coughed a dry smoker’s hack, and covered her mouth with a fist, staring at me with confused brown eyes. “You’re not Castor.”
I walked closer to the truck. “Afraid not. Does this Castor look like me or something because people in this town have been doing double-takes all day.”
She noisily shifted her truck into park. “You resemble him, that’s for sure. But you can’t tell me people don’t always stare at you. At your friend there, too.”
There was someone here who looked like me. I put my hand on the cab of her truck, left it there despite the sting of hot metal on my still sore-fingers. “Where can I find Castor?”
She stared for a couple of long, long seconds. She must have seen something she liked because she shrugged. “He works in the library so you might find him there. Might not. Spends most of his time out there in the swamp. Keeps to himself and brings honey into town for us then goes back.” She pointed toward one of the bait shops. “You can check Sally’s. She’s a friend of his.”
“Thanks, I will.” I gave her my friendliest smile. Hoped she was one of those small town people who knew everything about everyone. “I wonder if you could help us with something first. My friend and I have been researching the Somatic Slumber.”
Her smile disappeared instantly. “You with the CDC?”
I nodded, hoping she wouldn’t ask for proof. “The Internet showed a high concentration of sufferers here. Do you know any of them?”
“Four of my friends are down. Several family members. They find a cure yet?”
“We’re still researching the cause. Do any of those people you mention live down this street?” I pointed toward a residential area with about twenty houses lined up side by side. Nothing spectacular about any of them other than the obvious signs of absence in the piles of newspapers and dying flowerbeds.
“Why?” Her gaze fluttered to Nikolos and her mouth tightened.
I glanced at him, wishing he would try a good guy smile or two. His dark, forbidding expression wasn’t going to get this small town lady to help any faster. Leaning down, I pitched my voice low. “Can you keep a secret?”
Her eyes lit up and I knew my hunch was right. She was the type who kept up with everything that happened in her town.
I leaned closer so I could whisper. “We think the illness could be coming from an insect. There was a recent addition to our ecosystem and we’re trying to catch one so we can study it.”
Her hand went over her mouth. “What kind of insect?” she whispered between her fingers.
“That’s the thing. It looks like any other typical cockroach, but it’s not. We need access to a couple of houses—victim’s houses—to see if we can catch one.”
She looked around, then nodded. “I’ll take you inside. There are several on this street. But I don’t think it’s a bug. There are signs of struggle in the houses. Our sheriff has been investigating. Well, he was before he got sick, too.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. You say there were struggles?”
She nodded again.
“We think the illness makes them go a little crazy. Some of them even carved up mirrors in their houses.”
“Oh, then you have to see this. It was driving Sheriff Randall crazy.” She turned on her blinker, shifted the truck back into gear, cursed when it made an ear-grating noise, then shifted again. “Follow me. It isn’t far.”
The truck rumbled and turned right down the street I’d indicated earlier. As we moved on foot to follow, Nikolos lifted an eyebrow. “Very good. Quick.”
I flashed him a quick grin. “Had a lot of practice. You learn to improvise when you need info.”
The sun raged on our heads as we walked. It really was unusually hot. It had me swiping my forearm across my forehead every few seconds. Someone was frying fish and the scent of greasy cornbread batter lingered in the air. Nikolos walked quietly beside me and I stole glances at him every few feet. The heat didn’t seem to bother him as much, or else he was just better at hiding it.
The woman parked in the driveway at the third house—a small, square place with white siding and drooping flowers lining the front porch.
“I’m Tandy, by the way, like the Jessica actress,” she called out as she climbed from the truck. The slam of her door was loud in the quiet of the late afternoon.
We came up the narrow sidewalk and followed her to the porch. I noticed Nikolos paying careful attention to the ground around us. I didn’t know if he was continuing our ‘insect’ story or trying not to step on the dying flowers with his big feet.
When Tandy pulled out keys, I lifted an eyebrow. She shrugged. “This is actually my house. I take care of my mother and she’s down now with this Somatic thing. If it’s from bugs, I’d sure like you to find out if any are in my house.” She shivered and slid the key into the lock.
I was hoping for a hit of cool air, but the air was only slightly cooler because of the noisy air-conditioning unit in the front window.
“Sorry about the mess. I spend most of my time off at the hospital. I took my mom to the one in Naples, so it’s a bit of a drive. My uncle is a doctor there.”
We stepped over piles of clothing and magazines as we followed her into a narrow, dark hallway. Fred slipped into place silently by my side, his nose wrinkling at the mess. The house smelled musty—the warm, humid air clinging to my skin, causing sweat to drip into my eyes. Flies buzzed over a piece of pizza on a paper plate on the coffee table.
“Sorry about the heat, too. Since I haven’t been here, I haven’t been running the unit much. Just got back into town this morning and turned it back on.” She led us into a room that looked as if it had suffered a battle.
The bed was a wreck of tangled sheets and since it was so close to the dresser, small bits of glass peppered the covers. A lamp beside the bed had been shattered against the wall—I could tell because of the bits of smoky white light bulb still stuck in the paneling. Just like in my sister’s room, a round symbol had been carved into the mirror.
I squeezed between the bed and dresser for a closer look. It was a circle about two feet in diameter with three parallel lines that curved together inside, never once losing their distance from each other. Three again.
“The edges of this one look really jagged. Not smooth like the others.” I looked at Nikolos, but Tandy spoke up first.
“My mother has palsy; she shakes.”
“You think she carved this?”
She wrung her hands together. “Who else would have?” She looked at the floor. “See any of those bugs?”
That’s right, we were supposed to be looking for bugs. I bit back a g
rin when Nikolos made a show of checking under the bed. “Do you have a flashlight?” he asked her.
“Sure.” She hurried from the room.
I squatted so I could whisper. “The palsy and jagged edges just don’t fit—not if we’re right about something coming through the mirror.” The faint scent of sweat came from Nikolos, but it wasn’t unpleasant—not in the least. This close, I could see the strands of hair that had come loose from his braid and stuck to his neck. “Blythe said she came through the glass and attacked.”
“Maybe the soul is somehow turning on its attacker?”
I was trying to picture such a thing when Tandy screamed. I jumped to my feet and ran ahead of Nikolos as we followed the noise. I nearly tripped over the crap piled up in her living room, but I could see her standing in her kitchen looking out a small window over the sink. “What’s wrong?”
She gasped, her mouth opening and closing before she pointed. I saw a flash of mottled black skin and knew what was out there. I looked at Nikolos. “Demon.”
He nodded and pulled his knife.
Tandy screamed again when she saw the knife.
I ran to her, grabbed her arms. “Go lock yourself in your room. Don’t try to run out another door. There could be more than one out there. Stay away from any windows.”
She nodded and fled.
I pulled my own knife and moved to Nikolos who stood by the back door. I heard the demon shuffling around out there, banging into a metal trashcan. “Stay alive,” Nikolos muttered before kicking out the back door and dashing through the opening.
I followed him, but lurched right to his left. We stood on either side of the little back porch and took in the thing ransacking Tandy’s trash cans. It wasn’t a demon—it was that damned ghoul again. He’d lost the disguise, standing there in his full naked and hairy glory. He pulled a greasy-looking brown paper bag out, opened it and sniffed the contents. I was so stunned to find him there I didn’t see the demon to my right until it rushed in a blur of movement and slammed one huge hand into the side of my head.
Dweller on the Threshold Page 24
