by R. L. Naquin
“If we know the person who took her. I know. Darius already said something like that. I’ll figure it out, Bernice.”
“Let me know how it’s going. I’m totally out of the loop since Marcus arrived and took over.”
Now it was my turn to worry about her. “Are you okay? Is your job in danger?”
She sighed. “I honestly don’t know.”
“He has his own place to run. Why is he interfering with yours?”
She was silent for a moment. “I don’t know what he’s doing, Zoey. He’s been going through all our records, asking questions about who does what around here. Maybe he’s here to help rebuild us, but his own office is down to a skeleton crew for similar reasons.”
“I don’t like it. He needs to go home and tend to his own business.” I dragged my hand through my hair. “Did he say what he’s doing?”
“He just mumbles a lot and says things like ‘efficiency quota’ and ‘consolidation of tasks,’ which doesn’t really tell me a damn thing. For all I know, he’s planning to kick Art and I out on our butts so he can bring his own team in. Or maybe he’s genuinely trying to solve the problems.” She paused. “Zoey, I’m kind of scared.”
She didn’t have to tell me. I felt her fear leaking through the cell phone connection. My voice was nearly a whisper. “I’ll fix this, Bernice. Just hold on for a little while longer.”
As I hung up, it occurred to me that a little while longer really was all we had, one way or the other. Either we’d stop the cult and whoever was behind it or the zombie world would become part of our world.
Gris hopped onto the bed to stand next to me. “The squad is on the way. Lionel said to give him fifteen minutes or so. They were already in the area.”
I frowned. “Of course they were.”
He patted my leg. “What can I do to help, now?”
I reached for a pad of paper and a pen from my bedside drawer. The effort caused sparkles and swirling colors to crowd my vision. “You could go ask Mom to make me some migraine tea. That would be huge right now.”
He didn’t waste words before bouncing from the bed to the floor and running off into the hall.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the sparkles to make their slow move across my vision and at least out of my direct line of sight so I could see again. Before Andrew had given me the tea he made for me in his herbal shop, a migraine like this might incapacitate me for at least a day. I didn’t know if the tea was magic, but I did know the migraine would be gone a few minutes after I drank the brew. Magic enough for me.
The spots in my vision moved out of the way enough for me to look straight on at the pad of paper I held, though my stomach lurched and churned, and I felt a little out of touch with reality.
I made a list of everyone I knew who could go out looking or might have information. Everyone who might be willing to help—human and Hidden alike. The important thing was to list people who were familiar with the Hidden. There was no telling who or what was holding Kam. I couldn’t risk exposing the Hidden world to regular humans. Otherwise, I’d have started off by calling the real police instead of a guy who wore other people’s skin when they died.
So gross.
A few minutes later, Mom found me bent over my list, scowling past the pain blasting through my eyeballs. She took the pad and pen from my shaking hands and replaced them with the mug of herbal tea.
She sat next to me on the bed, rubbing my back with one hand while I sipped, and squinting at the list I’d made.
“Your handwriting is worse than it was when you were eight.” She paused her gentle strokes to turn the page.
I swallowed a scalding sip, already feeling the tension that threatened to blow apart the bones in my head loosening. “Mmmph.”
“Honey, are you sure you want to get the leprechauns involved? They’re dangerous and unreliable.”
I shrugged. “They also know more about what’s going on underground than anybody out there. I won’t ask them to search for her, but I think I have enough pull to get information if they have it.”
Mom clucked her tongue in disapproval. “When you say pull, you mean fear.”
“I’m using everything I’ve got. If that means invoking fear in an organization that deserves it, that’s what I’ll do.”
She let her hand drop, then ran a finger down the list. “That awful city councilwoman too?”
I gave her a weak smile. “Oh, she’s terrified of me.”
“Zoey, she’s human! You can’t terrorize humans.” She paused. “You shouldn’t be terrorizing anyone.”
I bent over my cup and let the aromatic steam brush over my face. “Mom, I know you don’t approve, but I have to do whatever it takes to get Kam back.” My throat tightened. “I’m not losing anybody else.”
Mom set the list on the bed next to her and gave me a long, worried look. “Baby, don’t lose yourself in trying to save everyone else.” She put her arms around me, and I sank into her, burying my head in her shoulder like I did when I was five. She smelled like shampoo, vanilla and an ocean breeze.
For that one moment, I allowed myself to feel safe. In another minute or so, I’d have to go back to saving Kam and preventing the end of the world. But for one moment, I was five, monsters were only stories, and Mom would take care of everything.
I was reluctant to let go, but I had to get to work. The faster I tackled the list, the more likely we were to find Kam.
Andrew answered on the first ring.
“What’s wrong?” He sounded breathless, as if he’d run for the phone.
I got straight to the point. “Kam’s been kidnapped.”
He blew out a lungful of air. “We knew it.”
“Knew what?” I frowned. Andrew wasn’t psychic. He read auras, which came in handy sometimes, but he couldn’t tell the future. “Did Madame Emilia call or something?”
“No. But Daniel and I have both been on edge since we were over there. Especially Daniel. And Milo’s been acting weird too. It’s as if the whole family has been waiting for something terrible to happen.”
“Well, this is something pretty terrible.”
We talked for a few minutes while I filled him in on the details. He took a huge chunk of my list from me—especially Madame Emilia, whose real name was Sheila. Her shop was right across the street from his, and they were old friends. She might be able to divine something with her cards or crystal ball. Or whatever it was she used. Despite her rather boring real-life persona driving her kids to soccer practice in her minivan, she was the real deal.
In fact, the area was surprisingly full of humans who had some sort of real-deal supernatural abilities.
I sat straighter, my voice tinged with hope. “Have you got anything of Kam’s over there?”
He thought about it. “I borrowed her headphones a few weeks ago. Why?”
“There’s that chick, Christie something. She finds lost things. Can you hook up with her and see if the headphones will help her find Kam?”
“Got it. Anything else?”
“Not yet.” I brushed my hair away from my face. “Might be running low on migraine tea, next time you’re in the shop.”
“Daniel made a batch for you this morning.”
Weird. I was beginning to think there was more to Daniel than simply being Andrew’s very sweet, very hot boyfriend.
“Be careful, Andrew.” My voice shook. “If at any time something doesn’t feel right, you guys get to my house, okay? I have no reason to believe anybody would be after you. They want djinn so they can open the portals. But I still want you to stay safe. Promise me you won’t follow any leads without calling in for reinforcements.”
“I promise to be safe,” he said. “We’ll find our girl and bring her home. And whoever’s responsible will be sorry they messed with our family.”
Chapter Seventeen
Murphy O’Brian, head of the Sacramento family of leprechauns knew nothing about Kam specifically, but after a little prodding, he
did reveal that a man had purchased a pre-cleansed antique bottle for the purpose of trapping djinn.
“Wait,” I said, not sure what he was saying. “It was for a specific djinn or just any djinn.”
Murphy gave a dramatic sigh. “Look, Aegis, if you’re not going to listen to what I’m saying, I have better things to do. It’s for trapping djinn. Not a djinn. Multiple djinn.”
My pulse quickened. “You can put more than one in the same receptacle together?”
“Only if it’s a specially sanctified container.”
“Which you acquired and sold to him.” The accusation in my voice was not lost on him.
“You may have shut me down in Sausalito, Aegis, but I still have a business to run here in Sacramento.” His voice was cold. “Don’t go passing judgment on me. You have no authority.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers and tried to sound calm. These little bottom feeders had been a problem on more than one occasion. But he was right. It wasn’t my job to shut down the magical black market being run an hour and a half away. I had enough on my plate.
“Murphy, what can you tell me about the guy who bought the bottle?”
“And why should I tell you that? The market has a long-standing reputation for confidentiality. I’ve already told you more than you should expect, all things considered.” He sounded defiant and smug. I hate it when they’re defiant and smug.
All the calm I’d worked to create snapped. “Look, you little weasel. Someone I love is in trouble, and you had a small hand in that. I swear to every god your people worship, I will come down there, shut down your business and chase every one of you into the demon world where I will hand you over as slaves to the queen of the demons. Now is not the time to push me. Our last meeting didn’t end well for you. Don’t make me show you what else I’m capable of.”
Gris walked in the room as I was making this speech, and his turquoise-chip eyes grew large and round. I ignored him.
I reached through the phone with my empathy and felt the fear I’d instilled in Murphy O’Brian. I didn’t flinch at what I found there. I smiled and basked in the knowledge of my own power over this assclown. And I wasn’t one bit ashamed of it.
“I...I...didn’t wait on him personally.” Murphy’s nervousness came out in a stutter. “Let me speak to my associates. I’ll look into it and call you back.”
I sighed. “I don’t want to waste any more time with you. You’ll call my associate and report to him.” I gave him Gris’s number. “Don’t make me wait long.”
I hung up before he could say anything more.
Gris whistled. “You’re a little terrifying today.”
I scrubbed my face with my palms, trying to erase the feelings of anger mixed with shameful pleasure. I needed a reset button.
“Sorry you had to hear that. You know how much I hate dealing with leprechauns.”
He nodded. “I’ll deal with him from now on. What’s next?”
I was exhausted. While I was grateful that Andrew had taken a huge chunk of my list, there were certain people—like the charming Murphy O’Brian—who only I could deal with.
I’d already called Alma Dickson, head of the Sausalito City Council. She was a dreadful, horrible woman who, until I’d stopped her, had been collecting fairies in iron cages in her greenhouse.
Alma was not a pleasant woman to talk to, but my mother would be proud to know I didn’t have to terrorize her. After the role Alma had played in setting up the auction that killed so many Hidden—Iris included—she’d bent over backwards to help.
She knew which detectives on the police force were aware of the Hidden, and promised to send them out looking. Because she had so much pull in the area, she assured me their search would not be confined to Sausalito. They’d look for clues all over Marin in the hopes of finding something that would help.
By the time all the calls were made, we had human police, every Hidden in the area and every human with the slightest supernatural powers in on the hunt. Considering I was unable to leave the property, I’d accomplished a lot.
I hoped it would be enough.
Gris hopped up on the bed. “Lionel’s here with his crew. They’ve been searching the property with Maurice and Riley.”
“Did they find anything?” I didn’t expect any good news yet, but I asked anyway.
“Not yet. But if you’re done in here for now, Lionel would like to speak to you.”
I grimaced. “How’s his face?”
“What?”
“Nothing.” I needed to get over my prejudice. Skinwalkers were Hidden. I helped the Hidden. Swamp bogies and chupacabra didn’t make me flinch, and they weren’t exactly pleasant to be around. So the guy needed to use other people’s skin. So what? I wore leather shoes.
Unless, of course, he was the one who’d kidnapped Kam, at which point, my treatment of Murphy O’Brian would look like coddling in comparison. I trusted my people. They were family. Lionel and his people were not family. If someone we knew was forcing djinn to open portals, it stood to reason Lionel was the most likely suspect. My instincts were usually pretty good.
And I didn’t like the guy.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I’d been trying so hard not to be icked out by his skin thing, I’d downplayed the warning bells going off about everything else. He was never far away when we needed him, despite being located all the way out in Petaluma. If something went wrong here, he and his team always managed to get here within fifteen minutes.
Petaluma was a good forty-five minutes away.
Convenient.
Of course, maybe he was always patrolling nearby because we were in danger and he was good at his job.
I totally believed in the power of coincidences. My world didn’t usually contain many of them, though.
I’d have to watch Lionel more closely and hope I could trick him into showing his hand. Not that I was very good at being tricky. Or playing poker. My poker face kind of sucked.
Lionel waited out front, hands clasped in a polite waiting gesture. He grinned at me and I made an effort to smile back.
“What have you found?”
He hunched his shoulders. “Not much. I examined the grass where it was trampled, and I’m certain nothing crossed inside the ring to get to her. My guess is an arm or leg slipped out of the barrier and the perp got lucky. He grabbed her and dragged her out.”
Hearing his description of her attack made me queasy. That was our girl he was talking about as if she could be anyone. “You got all that from trampled grass? In the dark?”
“Ma’am, I’m very good at my job.”
I bet you are. Whatever that job really is.
“So, you believe we’re still safe in here.” I kept my voice steady, devoid of the accusation and doubt gurgling inside of me.
“I do. But I’ve suggested to Maurice that he have the fairies reset the ring for reinforcement. My people and I will stay at least until it’s done to ensure your safety.”
I nodded. No. That wasn’t at all suspicious. But it was exactly what I needed to catch him in a lie. My plan was in place. “We’ll do it at daylight, once Darius is back. I want him inside the ring when it’s reset.”
“Good thinking, ma’am.”
“Please stop calling me that.” I cast my gaze across the yard and found Riley hunkered next to the trampled grass area. I wandered over and squatted beside him. “What do you think?”
He looked as tired as I felt. “I don’t know. Lionel says the kidnapper didn’t cross inside, but I can’t see how he could know that.”
I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Do you trust him?”
“He hasn’t given me any reason not to.” He ran his fingers over a bare spot where grass had been uprooted.
I rested my hand on his shoulder. “That’s not an answer.”
He scratched the new growth of whiskers on his cheek. “No. No, I don’t think I do.”
I squeezed his shoulder
. “Good. Neither do I. He’s always nearby when something happens. It’s suspicious.”
“How do you want to handle it?”
I glanced around to make sure no one could hear us. “He wants to be here with his team when the fairy ring is reset. I think we should make a show of it to draw him out—force his hand.” I didn’t know exactly what Lionel might do, but if he was behind all this, he was bound to make a play once he thought our protections were disabled. Then we’d have him.
Riley stood and pulled me to my feet with him. “He’s got different guys with him this time. He introduced them, but they didn’t say much. I’m not sure if he’s trying to get us to reset the ring so his team all have access or if he’s just trying to throw us off his scent.”
“What happened to the other guys?”
He folded his arms across his chest. “He didn’t say.”
“Uh-huh.” I shoved my hands in my pockets while I thought about it. “How do we know he’s the same guy the Board hired? He’s had two different faces in the time I’ve known him. Seems like any old skinwalker could take over.”
Riley coughed into his fist and spoke louder than he had been. “And that’s how we can tell she was pulled out of the ring. You and the rest of the Aegises are still safe, as long as you stay inside the barrier.”
If Riley’s fake conversation hadn’t alerted me, the sound of feet crunching on gravel behind me let me know that Lionel was coming toward us.
“Good news!” he said. “I spoke to Maurice, and he said the fairies should be able to reinforce the ring at sunup.” He stood beside me, and as he spoke his skin made a soft squishing sound, as if his face didn’t fit well.
I tried not to show how thoroughly icked out I was. “That’s great. Thanks, Lionel. It’s a good thing you’re here.”
Sarcasm disguised as sincerity wasn’t my best skill, but he didn’t appear to catch it. Riley, on the other hand, knew me well enough to give me a warning pinch on the back of my arm. I bit my lip and didn’t flinch.
Riley stepped forward and held his hand out to shake Lionel’s. “I really appreciate your help here tonight. You and your team.”
