by R. L. King
“Are you sure it’s her?” Jason picked up the note and studied it. “Did you look at her aura?”
“I did—and it looks just like I remembered it. Her handwriting on the note is the same. She talked about things only she would know, and everything she said about the portal mishap made sense. It could have happened the way she described it. Nobody else was there, so there’ll never be a way to know for sure. I don’t know how hard it is to drop off the face of the earth for eleven years, but aside from that…” He shook his head. “I’ve got no reason to believe she’s not really Daphne.”
“You never answered my question,” Verity said. “Do you know what she was doing in Decker’s Gap in the first place?”
“She claims she wanted to take Jeremy up there, to show him the place his father grew up. Remember, that was why they picked a little nothing place like that for their portal in the first place—because Neil Hanley grew up there.”
“So that makes sense too, in other words,” Jason said. “If she’s pulling something, it sure sounds like she made a good effort to get her story straight.”
“Yeah,” Verity picked the roast beef out of the remainder of her sandwich and dropped it onto Raider’s plate, much to the cat’s delight. “I can’t think of any possible way she’d have expected to see you there, since you didn’t even know you were going until yesterday, right?”
“Well, the evening before. That’s when I met with Kolinsky. And I’m sure he didn’t tell her. I don’t even know if he ever knew about her in the first place—or at least my connection to her.”
“My point is, if she didn’t expect you to be there, it doesn’t make sense that she spent a lot of time studying up on your shared history so she could fool you.” She tilted her head, looking pensive. “It does kinda sound like it really is her. And if it is, the big mysteries are whether she has any connection with the energy Kolinsky saw, why you two ended up there at the same time, and how has she managed to stay hidden all these years without catching somebody’s attention.”
“I can maybe answer that last one,” Amber said. When they all turned their attention to her, she shrugged. “Remember, I still sometimes work as an unofficial bounty hunter. My job is finding people who don’t want to be found. But first somebody has to want to find them.”
“What do you mean?” Jason asked. “People did want to find them, right? Al, didn’t you go visit Daphne’s mom? Wasn’t she the one who led you to those notebooks?”
“Yes, that’s true. Daphne’s mum never did believe she was dead. Daphne and I actually discussed that yesterday, before she did her runner. Her mum didn’t know she was a mage, but she did know she was a scientist. She always thought Daphne stumbled onto something she shouldn’t and ended up in some witness-protection program somewhere.”
“Don’t forget too,” Verity said, “that was when the Evil came into the world. Things were pretty messed up back then, in a lot of ways. And if Daphne’s telling the truth, the other three really did die eleven years ago, with no trace, in a place where nobody had a clue they were in the first place. Even if the cops did look into the disappearances, or their families hired private investigators, they wouldn’t have had anywhere to start.” Her brow furrowed. “Didn’t they find the Las Vegas people’s car somewhere else? Like a motel or something?”
“I think so,” Jason said. “I remember we checked it out, and the motel was long gone by then.”
“There you go,” Amber said. “With all that going on, it doesn’t seem that weird to me that Daphne went underground and established a new identity. It’s easier than you think, even nowadays, especially if you stay off the grid and don’t make any waves or do anything to get noticed.”
“True,” Stone mused. “And especially if Daphne didn’t give up magic altogether.”
“Eventually they’d have stopped looking for her,” Jason said. “As far as they’re concerned, it’s possible they all just disappeared on purpose, too—you know, took off for some other part of the world. That’s not illegal in and of itself, especially if they didn’t have any debt or obligations.”
Stone stood and began pacing. “Okay. So it’s possible this really is Daphne. The whole thing with her appearing with the energy surge seems dodgy, though.”
“Maybe,” Verity said. “But didn’t you say Kolinsky couldn’t narrow the surge down to a specific area?”
“Yes.”
“So you picked Decker’s Gap because you knew that was a place there’d been magical disturbances before, which makes sense. But you didn’t find anything.”
“Not a thing.”
“And no weird energy around Daphne or her son?”
“I didn’t scan them in depth—I expected they’d be around later so I could explain the situation to her and ask her if I could—but my initial scans didn’t turn up anything. What are you getting at, Verity?”
She shrugged. “Maybe they are unrelated. I mean, yeah, it does sound like a pretty big coincidence. But they do happen sometimes.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Stone muttered. “Maybe I’ll head back there and have another look. But first, I suppose I should go talk to Kolinsky and give him an update about what I found—or didn’t find. Maybe he’s got more information in the meantime.”
Verity gathered her sandwich wrappings and tossed them in the bag. “If you go back, can I go with you? Maybe I can help.”
“We’ll see. Depends on what I find out.”
“Well, let me know. I don’t have any jobs with Scuro until next week.”
When Stone started to rise, Jason said, “Hey, Al—hang on a sec, okay?”
Stone returned to his chair, tilting his head. Jason’s tone had changed, though he couldn’t identify exactly how. “Yes? Something wrong?”
Jason and Amber exchanged glances, and Amber gave a tiny nod.
“No…nothing’s wrong. Kind of the opposite, actually. I didn’t think we were gonna be getting together this soon.” He looked at Verity, who appeared as confused as Stone did. “We…have an announcement. We were gonna tell V first, but Al, you’re family too, so it makes sense to do it now while we’re all here.”
Stone glanced at Verity, who shrugged.
Jason smiled, reaching over to take Amber’s hand. “So…uh…Amber went to the doctor a couple days ago, and…it looks like we’re gonna be having a baby.”
Next to Stone, Verity gasped. She gaped at them in shock for a couple seconds, then broke into a huge grin. “Oh, my god, you guys! Seriously?”
“Doesn’t seem the sort of thing they’d joke about,” Stone said dryly. In truth, he was as shocked as she was. He smiled. “That’s wonderful news, you two. I’m so happy for you.”
“It’s a little sooner than we were planning for,” Amber said, squeezing Jason’s hand. “But we both want kids, so we figured we’d see what happens.”
“Wow,” Verity said. “A baby. My big brother’s gonna be a dad.”
“Your big brother is kind of terrified about that,” Jason admitted. “But…excited too. It’ll give us a reason to step up the reno on the house. We need to add another bedroom before he shows up, or he’ll be sleeping in the laundry room.”
“Or she,” Amber reminded him.
“Or she.”
“Or they,” Verity said, grin widening. “Could be twins. Wait…that’s right! The baby will be part shifter. How many babies do bears have at a time, anyway?”
“Only an eighth shifter,” Amber reminded her. “At that point, I have no idea if any of it will even pass over.”
“Could be a mage, though, if it’s a boy. Right, Doc?”
Stone was still recovering from the announcement. “What? Er—yes, it’s possible, since your mum was a mage. Jason didn’t get it—not entirely, anyway—but he could pass it along to a male child. Not likely, but you never know.”
“Wow,” Verity said again. She picked up Raider and put him in her lap, stroking his head. “That was not what I expecte
d to hear today. Usually, we limit the shocking announcements to one per day.”
Stone finally did stand. “As I said—brilliant news. Let me know if you need help with anything that doesn’t involve bodily fluids.”
“Yours or the baby’s?” Amber’s eyes sparkled.
“Either one—but mostly the latter. I think I told you before, I’m happy to donate handsomely to the university fund, but I don’t change nappies.”
“So scratch Doc off the babysitting list,” Verity drawled.
“Like we’d have put him on there in the first place.” Jason stood, slipping his arm around Amber. “We should be getting back. Amber’s gonna help me with some stuff at the office today, and I have to be in court this afternoon.” He seemed to be having trouble returning to the Decker’s Gap situation now that his more personal news had been revealed. “Let me know what happens with Daphne, okay, Al?”
Stone wasn’t sure how much else he could reveal, so he merely nodded.
Verity threw her arms around first Jason, then Amber, giving each a hard hug. “Keep me posted,” she told Amber. “I’m available for help too. And unlike Doc, I will change diapers—if you teach me how.”
“Got a while for that yet, but I’ll keep that in mind.”
After they’d departed, leaving Stone and Verity alone in the house, Verity let her breath out in a long whoosh. “Wow. I know I keep saying that, but…I can’t quite get my mind around it, you know? My brother’s going to be a dad. I’m gonna be an aunt.”
“Believe me, I understand completely.”
She idly stroked Raider, who’d padded to the edge of the table and stuck his head out as if to say, hey, humans, there is a cat here who needs attention. “Things are changing, aren’t they?” she murmured.
“Life has a way of doing that.” He was having the same feelings, though. He remembered when he’d first met Jason. How different they’d both been back then—Jason as a slacker, southern-California beach-bum who avoided responsibility and had no idea what to do with his mentally confused sister, and Stone as a reclusive scholar who got involved in dangerous situations only under extreme protest. Now, Jason owned his own private investigation agency, was married, and he and his wife owned a home, while Stone had found out he was not only a descendant of ancient dragons, but quite likely immortal, and had arguably saved the world from magical ruin more times than he cared to admit.
And after all that, this upcoming new life, bizarrely, seemed like the biggest change of all.
Verity patted his shoulder and smiled. “It’s okay, Doc. I recognize that deer-in-headlights look. It’ll be a big change, but people do it every day. Maybe you’ll even do it someday.”
“I already did it. Remember Ian?”
“Ian doesn’t count. You weren’t around for his diaper days. He’s more like your little brother than your son. I know I haven’t spent much time around babies, but they change everything.” She giggled. “Except themselves.”
He mock-glared at her. “All right, enough of that. Off you go. I’ve got to go see Kolinsky. Thank you for coming, though.”
“Of course. And I was serious about offering to help if you need it, though I get why you didn’t seem jazzed about it, now that you can zip around without a portal. Are you ever going to tell Jason about that?”
“I suppose I’ll have to at some point.”
“Are you ever going to tell me how it works?”
“That’s a more difficult answer.”
She shook her head with an indulgent smile. “You know, I used to get mad at you when you wouldn’t tell me stuff. But I’m getting used to it. Not like I have a lot of choice, but I am.”
Stone wasn’t too sure about that. “I appreciate that. Must go now, though. You can stay if you like—I’m sure Raider would enjoy having someone to indulge all his whims.”
“Nah, fun as that sounds, I need to get going too.” She shot him a wondering look. “A baby. Who’d have thought, after everything we’ve all been through together, that’d be the one to shock me?”
10
Stone didn’t bother sending word ahead that he was coming to see Kolinsky. He figured, since the dragon had sent him on his errand in the first place, the least he could do was be around to hear the report.
Kolinsky didn’t disappoint. When Stone pushed through the ward and entered the shop, he found his friend at his familiar place at the roll-top desk, writing something in an old-fashioned ledger book with an elegant fountain pen.
“You know,” he said, stopping to lean insouciantly in the doorway, “one of these days I’m going to pop in here and find you perusing your collection on a computer so state-of-the-art that you can’t even buy it in normal shops yet.”
“Highly unlikely.” Kolinsky finished what he was writing, closed the book, put the pen back on its stand, and only then did he swing his chair around to face his visitor. “I assume since you are here, you have returned from your investigation.”
“I have. And I wish I had better news for you.”
“You found nothing?”
“Oh, I found something, all right—but I’m not convinced it’s connected with the energy you spotted.”
Kolinsky waved him to a chair. “Please, sit down and tell me what you’ve discovered.”
Stone didn’t sit. Instead, he paced the room and gave the dragon a full account of everything he’d found in and around the Decker’s Gap area, leaving out names and Jeremy’s existence. Since he didn’t know how much Kolinsky had remembered about the Evil and their portals, he provided a brief overview of those as well.
Kolinsky listened in silence, showing no reaction. When Stone finished, he remained in the same position, fingers steepled, gaze fixed on a point far away.
“So…what do you make of it?”
“I…am not certain.”
“You don’t even have any ideas?”
“Not at present. I checked my sources again this morning, and whatever energy I had detected previously has not returned. There is no sign of it anywhere near that area, or anywhere else that I can find.”
“Do you think my friend’s reappearance could be somehow related to it?”
“I do not know that either. How confident are you that this woman is who she claims to be?”
Stone thought about that. “Reasonably so, I suppose. I mean, her aura was right. And her story makes sense, if I can believe the part about her going into hiding and avoiding everyone she knew for eleven years. That seems hard to do in these modern times—but I suppose it isn’t impossible.”
“No, it is not. And you are certain you detected no sign of any anomalous energy around her?”
“Not a bit. Like I said, though, I’m not even certain it was the same place. You didn’t give me enough of a specific location to be sure. I could go back and look around the rest of the area some more, I suppose, but I don’t think it will get me anywhere. Especially if you’re not seeing the energy anymore. Even if it was there in the first place, it sounds like it’s gone now. I’ll check my source too, but I’ll wager yours is better than mine.”
“Quite likely so.” He considered, then nodded. “Thank you for investigating, Alastair. I appreciate your effort.”
“So…that’s it? You don’t want me to do anything else? You don’t want me to hunt down my friend? Because I’m not sure I’m willing to do that.”
“I have no interest in this woman, unless you discover something definitive about her that is relevant to the anomaly.”
“You don’t think it’s too big of a coincidence not to be related?” Stone wondered if he was trying to convince Kolinsky, or himself. A bit of both, probably.
“I do not believe it is compelling enough for me to pursue, even if it is. I am mainly concerned with harmful effects of unusual dimensional intersection rifts. If this is not one of those cases, my interest decreases significantly.”
“Fair enough.” Kolinsky had never exactly been a cuddly teddy bear, focused on making l
ife better for mundanes—or even normal mages. Ever since Stone had learned his true nature, he understood that even more. There was no point in getting worked up about it. Stefan was Stefan, take him or leave him. “Doesn’t bother me, I suppose—my friend can do what she likes. If she doesn’t want me getting involved in her business, so be it. At least I won’t end up in any more lakes whilst chasing her down.”
Kolinsky’s eyebrow crawled upward. “Lakes?”
Stone waved it off. “Embarrassing, really. After she nicked my Jeep, I had to walk back from Decker’s Gap. I got a ride to Morgantown, but I was fairly worked up by the time I got there. Lost my concentration trying to return home. Ended up—actually, I’ve got no idea where I ended up, except it was on a ley line. I dropped into the middle of some large body of water somewhere.”
“Indeed.” Surprisingly, this bit of information seemed to interest Kolinsky more than any of the rest had.
“Hardly a big deal. You remember some of the times I buggered things up when I was first learning. I didn’t even tell you about some of the more embarrassing ones. Once I got out of the water, dried myself off, and focused properly, I got back home with no trouble.”
Kolinsky nodded, but still looked thoughtful. “I suppose so.”
Stone narrowed his eyes. “You’ve got something on your mind.”
“No. You are correct—it sounds like a mere lapse in concentration. I would advise you to avoid them in the future, since you could put yourself in potential danger if you deviate too far from your destination.”
“Tell me about it. I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Stefan. Let me know if any other interesting anomalies pop up. Life at the University’s getting positively dull these days.”
The more Stone thought about it, the more he was convinced Kolinsky had had something on his mind. He’d barely reacted to the story about Daphne, but the one about missing Encantada and ending up in the lake had piqued his interest. That was odd, because Kolinsky never did anything without a reason.
On a whim, he returned to the Encantada house (Verity was gone by now) and popped over to the one in London, where he checked Desmond’s globe for any sign of energy near the West Virginia area.
