by Kali Harper
“We’ll find a way to fix it,” I said, walking back over to the sofa. “Somehow.”
“Now who are you calling?”
“Lance.”
Maybe this time he’d actually pick up.
Lance never answered, so after the sixth ring with no voicemail in sight, I put out the fire, gathered my things, and headed into town. Normally I’d walk, but as cold as it was and seeing how upset Kat had been, I decided to go by broomstick instead. Alone.
Summoning my broom wasn’t a problem. But flying on my own? I’d never done it before. Without Darby around to guide me on what to do, my nerves got the better of me.
“Take the car,” Sammy suggested, already heading toward the garage.
Using Maggie’s car? That didn’t feel right, either.
“No, I have to do this,” I said.
“You will, but not today. You shouldn’t fly when you’re upset,” he told me.
“And driving’s no better.”
At least with a broom, the likelihood of us hitting someone or getting into an accident was a non-issue. So, after taking a breath and ignoring how much my hands shook, I summoned my broom a second time, got on, and took off before I could wuss out.
Maggie’s front lawn shrunk below as I soared into the sky, making sure I was far above the trees before turning toward the middle of town. It was rather nice not having to stop at stop signs or tripping over the raised part of the sidewalk I always stumbled over, but this was a one-time thing. Just this one time, I thought to myself, and never again.
Sammy wasn’t pleased, clawing the back of the broom as he sunk low against it. In his defense, there really wasn’t a good place for him to sit, and unless he straddled it the way I had done, holding on for dear life was the best he could do.
“I thought familiars were great at flying,” I said over the rushing wind, shoving the hair from in front of my eyes. I probably should’ve pulled it back before we left.
“If you’re a bird,” Sammy retorted, practically hugging the broom as we flew into town, the shops a complete blur as I turned for The Laughing Bean. “Coffee? Now?”
“You want to fly the rest of the way to Lance’s office if he isn’t here?” I asked, landing on the sidewalk, then dismissing my broom once he got off. Poor Sammy shook, every piece of fur standing on end. “He mentioned breakfast yesterday, so I was thinking we’d stop here before hitting the station. Unless you’d rather fly…”
“No, no. Coffee’s fine. Do your thing.” My Sammy? Scared? It was unheard of!
“Odd,” I said, pulling on the door to The Laughing Bean. “Looks like we won’t be getting coffee after all. It’s locked.”
Peering inside the front window, I could’ve sworn I saw something move toward the back of the shop, but whatever it was vanished just as quickly. The lights up front were on, so whoever was inside had started to open shop but never finished.
“Maybe we should go in through the back,” I said, already walking around the side of the building with Sammy following after me.
“All of this for coffee?”
“No. Marcy was by herself yesterday. With Joe sick at home, she must be worn thin. I thought I might help her out for a few minutes. The least I can do is get out the trays and maybe roll out some dough.”
“So long as you don’t cook.”
“I won’t. All I want to do is help.” Stopping short of opening the back door, I knocked and listened for movement on the other side. Pots and pans clanged together. Something fell on the floor, followed by a strange whimper. “Was that… a dog?”
I didn’t know Joe had a dog. Maybe Marcy got one after he was attacked by a stray. “Marcy, are you in there? I’m here to help,” I told her, stepping into a small storage area with metal shelves on either side. “I saw the lights on up front. If you need an extra pair of hands—”
“Astrid, watch out,” Sammy cried, leaping in front of me as a large wolf ran toward us, its chest covered in blood.
“Oh god.” Without another word, I backtracked, ducking into the empty alley and making sure the heavy metal door closed behind us before putting my back to it. My heart hammered so fast, it was a wonder I could still breathe. “Sammy, was that—”
“A wolf?” He was as shaken up about it as I was. “Yes.”
“What’s it doing inside Marcy and Joe’s kitchen?” Not only that but how in the world did it get in there in the first place? “Wolves can’t open doors, right?”
“Not wild ones, no.”
“And was it wild?” I asked, swallowing around my nerves.
“I can’t tell, there’s too much blood in the air. We need to report this.”
My hands shook enough for Sammy to notice, and when I finally took a breath, it was the hardest thing I’d ever done.
“Deep breaths,” Sammy said, coaching me until my panic attack passed. Fortunately, this one didn’t involve me trapping someone with my magic. “You okay?”
“This isn’t happening.”
“Well, whatever isn’t happening, we should probably tell Lance.”
Oh god. “What if the blood’s—”
“Don’t. Don’t think like that. Let’s get to the station, then we can worry about why he is or isn’t answering his phone.”
Chapter Five
If I thought flying by broomstick after Kat’s upset was bad, walking once we ran into that wolf was close to impossible. My legs shook with every step I took, and as Sammy and I made our way toward the station, I couldn’t help noticing how empty the streets were.
At the start of a new week, the streets should’ve been packed with cars and shops open for business. As we passed one store after another, it seemed as though most of the shop owners in Emberdale had prepared to open, but for whatever reason, never finished.
After passing yet another shop with the door locked and its lights on, I sent Kat a quick text to make sure she was okay and to tell her not to go anywhere. I didn’t say much, but when I told her about the wolf in Joe’s kitchen, she promised to stay put. Sammy and I would’ve joined her, but her store along with Every Last Crumb was on the other side of town, away from The Laughing Bean as well as the station.
Much to my surprise, the station was open. Breathing a sigh of relief once the door closed behind us, I made my way toward Max Tundal, our resident sweet tooth and chief of police.
“Astrid, what brings you down on this fine morning?” he asked, his shirt tighter around his middle than usual.
He really had to lay off the cookies, but then, it was part of his charm. He was in fine order, even his lopsided toupee was behaving itself.
“Have you seen Lance?” I asked him, wanting to tell them about the wolf at the same time.
“Not since yesterday,” Max said, rubbing the back of his neck. “He should’ve been in by now. He hasn’t missed a day in years. Is there something I can help you with?”
Glancing around the room and not wanting to make a scene, I leaned in close and lowered my voice. “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?” Things had a way of blowing way out of proportion in Embderale. If I could avoid the gossip, I would.
Max smiled, then waved me into his office which was on the other side of the building. I’d never been inside his office before as I usually met with Lance, but aside from the flourishing plant, their offices were almost the same.
“So, what can I do for you?” he asked, closing his door so we wouldn’t be disturbed.
“I-I think something happened to Joe and Marcy.” I sat in the chair opposite of him and wrung my hands in my lap, feeling more trapped than before.
“Maybe you should start—”
“I think they’re dead,” I said, blurting out the words. “There was a wolf, and—”
“A wolf? Where?” Max stood from his chair and opened the door to his office, ushering me outside as he addressed everyone in the station. “Gear up. There’s a situation at The Laughing Bean. No one goes in without protection.” To me, he said, “I need you to st
ay here.”
“Here?” I shoved my hands in my pockets to keep them from shaking. “Can I… is it okay if I go check on Kat? There are other shops… other ones that should’ve opened by now. The lights are on, but—”
“It’s okay. Go check on her, then stay put. I’ll call you once it’s safe.”
He didn’t say he’d call me and let me know what happened. Lance would’ve told me. At least I hoped he would, but then Max and I weren’t as close. In fact, he was more of a fatherly figure, keeping us kids in line as he took whatever time he could for himself, time he spent eating sweets from Harris’ bakery ever since Every Last Crumb had closed down.
“What’s going on?” Sammy asked as I joined him on the sidewalk. “That’s a lot of officers.”
“We can’t go with them, Sam,” I told him as he went after the group. “Max asked us to stay here, then said it was okay if we joined Kat in her shop.”
“What about Lance?” He almost sounded concerned.
“He’s… not here.”
“I’m sure he’s fine. Wasn’t his friend coming today?” he asked, offering me the most reassuring feline smile he could.
I turned toward the other side of town and took a deep breath. “He did.” That must’ve been where he’d gone. He probably went to the airport outside of town to pick Ivan up.
“You can’t use cell phones at the airport,” Sammy said matter-of-factly.
“And last night?” He hadn’t answered me then, either.
“He picked up eventually, but what did you expect? It was after midnight. Pretty-boy needed his beauty sleep.” Okay, now he was teasing me.
“Thanks, Sam.”
“What for?”
“For being honest and… for taking my mind off everything.”
“Anytime.”
Kat locked the door behind us, dragging me inside her office at the far end of the store where she’d been reading before we arrived. Even though I’d just seen her, she was different somehow. Her eyes were red, her voice weary, and as she spoke, she didn’t sound nearly as confident as she usually did.
Her books always made her happy, but as she read through one of the volumes she’d pulled off the shelves, she sounded more like a how-to video than the woman I’d known ever since my move to Emberdale.
“Did you get a good look at it?” she asked once I finished telling her about the wolf.
“There was blood, but I was too scared to notice much else,” I admitted. If I’d looked at its eyes, would I have noticed anything?
“How about you, Sammy?”
“Nothing. The air was too thick,” Sammy said, kneading my pant leg as I stroked the length of his back.
“Most shifters are sentient,” Kat explained, reading through another book on her desk as she spoke. “They’re pretty much like me, or… how I used to be.”
I reached across the vast expanse between us and placed my hand on hers, giving it a squeeze once I did. “This is temporary,” I said. It has to be. “These two events can’t be a coincidence. What if your fox is scared?”
“It’s possible,” Sammy agreed. “Shifters, while human, can sometimes give in to their more animal-like instincts, even if it’s limited to their animal form. If your fox isn’t speaking with you, there’s a good chance she’s hiding from something. You haven’t lost her.”
“But I’ve been near wild animals before,” Kat argued, shoving her pile of books to the side. “I may have shivered and sensed her cower, but that was it.”
“And if another shifter rubs you the wrong way?” Sammy asked.
“I keep my distance.”
“Which is exactly what your fox is doing now. She’s keeping her distance,” I cut in.
“From what?”
“I wish I knew. Unless Chief Tundal wants to fill us in, anything we say now is speculation.”
“Until Lance comes back, you mean,” Kat said, offering me a watery smile.
“Yeah. When he comes back.” I hadn’t told her about Lance missing his phone calls, but I’m sure she knew. She usually did.
“You said there were other shops like The Laughing Bean?” Kat asked when I didn’t say anything else.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t willing to go in and check each one.”
“I would’ve run as soon as I saw it turn the corner,” she admitted, averting her gaze as her cheeks darkened with color. “The wolf, I mean.”
“I would have too if I could. I saw its paws and its nose first, but I couldn’t move.”
“You were in shock. Afraid,” Sammy said. “Of course you couldn’t move.”
“And what about you? How come you weren’t frozen in place?” I asked Sammy.
“Call it animal instinct and leave it at that.”
“So what do we do now?” Kat asked, opening another one of her books to the front page.
“We wait for Max to call.”
Chapter Six
By the time Max came by Kat’s shop, he’d already roped off half the town, including the station due to its location.
“We can’t be too careful,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck as Kat and I awaited his instructions. “No one’s seen the wolf except you, Astrid, but I think it’s best if we keep things locked down until animal control gets here to pick it up. I’m sending everyone to the town hall so we can get a more accurate head count. Until I know what we’re dealing with, I’d feel much better having everyone in one place.”
“Of course,” I said with a nod, gathering a handful of books from Kat’s desk. “Any word from Lance?”
“No, but I did leave him a message along with a text to meet us there when he gets a chance.”
I nodded as I didn’t expect my voice to work. Not being able to reach Lance had never bothered me before, but then, we were dealing with a wild animal in town doing who-knows-what. Beside me, Kat took my hand in hers, offering it a gentle squeeze before returning to the few books left on her desk.
She didn’t say anything, mostly because with Max around, there wasn’t much we could say without getting a stern warning from the chief of police. He’d never said as much, but I knew my visits to see Lance while he was at work bothered him. Everything was fine when Lance investigated Maggie’s murder, but ever since then, Max kept a sharp eye on me whenever I made a visit.
Not that I saw Lance often, but there was something about me he didn’t like.
Everyone’s suspicious, I told myself, knowing what it was like to suspect the wrong person for the wrong thing. Max didn’t think I made the whole thing up, did he? If the wolf had blood on its chest, then Max should’ve seen blood somewhere else. A bloody paw print. Something.
Again, I had to remind myself the chief of police wasn’t Lance. Any thoughts he had about the wolf, its whereabouts, or its victim were kept between Max and his men.
“Do you think Lance is okay?” Kat asked, drawing me from my thoughts once Max excused himself, likely to warn everyone else about the animal running around town.
Staring at the books in my hand, I said, “I hope so.”
“Do you want to go to the town hall? Maybe he’ll meet us there.”
“It’s not the second date I’d hoped for,” I admitted, depositing the books I had onto the counter up front as Kat locked up.
“Will there be one? A second date, I mean.” She joined me and Sammy on the sidewalk, then dropped her keys in her purse.
I honestly wasn’t sure. Lance sounded genuine when he’d invited me out for coffee and again when he apologized for leaving, but did I want to have a sick feeling in my stomach all the time? Worrying for a friend was one thing, but Lance? He’d signed up for this. It was his job to investigate and put himself in harm’s way. Could I handle that?
“I don’t know,” I finally said after a long moment, stopping when Ronan Clark called after us.
Ronan struggled for breath once he reached the top of the hill, his gray hair all out of sorts from what appeared to have been a very long run. I hadn’t s
een him in The Market when we walked by, so wherever he’d come from, it wasn’t there.
The Market was a tiny hole in the wall between Every Last Crumb and Kat’s bookstore a few doors down. It was the only grocery store in town. Ronan may have carried the essentials, but his homegrown fruits and vegetables were one of the main reasons why we kept going back.
He’d worked next to Maggie’s bakery long before I moved to Emberdale and was now in a committed relationship with her ghost. I say relationship because that’s what it was. Maggie couldn’t talk to Ronan unless she possessed one of the cats, but the way those two hung on each other’s words, they were completely smitten with one another.
“Mr. Clark,” I said with a smile, making room so he could walk between us. “Are you heading to the town hall as well?”
He nodded, took a deep breath, then removed a handkerchief from the breast pocket of his plaid shirt so he could wipe his brow. “Heading there now.” He coughed, and after taking another steadying breath, he continued. “I had to go check on the plants.”
“It isn’t safe,” I said, not entirely sure what Max had told him. Did Ronan know about the wolf at all?
“I’ll say! They dug up my plants. They broke into the greenhouse, toppled over every single one of the pots, and tore it all apart.”
“Who?” Kat asked, looking from Ronan to me. “Who ruined your plants?”
“Dogs! Those stinking mongrels.”
My heart dipped into the pit of my stomach. “Are you sure they were dogs?”
“Sure am. Big ones too. They tracked mud all over my greenhouse floor. Paw prints as big as my hand!”
Oh god. “Ronan, you need to tell Max.”
“What on Earth for? He won’t do anything about it. It isn’t police business.”
Okay, so maybe Max hadn’t told him about the wolf prowling inside The Laughing Bean or the one responsible for killing Kyle’s cow.
Placing a hand on his back, I said, “Tell him anyway. He hasn’t said why we’re meeting?”
“Nope. Sounds like a complete waste of time if you ask me. Who has a town meeting in the middle of the day? We all have jobs to do.” His voice broke at the end. “Not that there’s much I can do with the few seedlings I have inside my house. The entire season’s ruined.” He dropped his hands to his sides in frustration.
