[Mystic Caravan Mystery 05.0] Freaky Places

by Amanda M. Lee

  “Oh, you guys make me want to puke.” Luke rolled his eyes as he accepted the metal bistro table Kade handed him. “I don’t know why I put up with this ridiculous high school display every time we pack and unpack at venues. I’m thinking of banning you two from seeing each other until all the work is done.”

  Kade merely lifted an eyebrow. “Are you still hungover after your keg stand the other night? Is that why you’re in such a foul mood?”

  Luke scowled. “How many times do I have to tell you people that I don’t do keg stands?”

  “I guess until we believe it,” Kade shot back. “You seem to forget that we were there and saw everything … including that little dance you did in your underwear after the fact.”

  Luke’s mouth dropped open. “Poet!” His voice was unnaturally high and screechy, and caused me to cringe. “Did you hear what he just said to me?”

  “I did.”

  “Make him stop.”

  That seemed like a bad idea. “I’ve decided, from here on out, I’m not getting involved when you guys argue,” I countered. “I don’t like being the ‘mommy’ in this threesome when the arguing starts, so I’m removing myself entirely from the situation.”

  Luke looked affronted by the announcement, but Kade let loose with a lazy smile as he watched me shuffle to a spot a few feet away to collect the bistro chairs.

  “Oh, well, are you happy?” Luke scorched Kade with a hateful glare. “You’ve turned Poet into Switzerland. She’s neutral. How do you think that’s going to go?”

  Kade shrugged as he accepted the chairs from me. “I think it will be fine. I don’t think it’s fair to put her in the center of things all the time. She shouldn’t have to choose.”

  Luke rolled his eyes to the sky. “Did you hear that? He doesn’t think she has to choose.”

  “Who are you talking to when you do that?” Kade asked, interested.

  “The great wolf in the sky,” I answered for him.

  “Is that what all those wolves were talking about while Luke was doing his keg stand?” Kade asked. “They said they were dancing for the great wolf.”

  “I had trouble keeping up with everything that was going on,” I admitted, sheepish. “I had a little too much to drink, too.”

  Kade’s grin lit up his already handsome face. “Yes, but you were cute … and you didn’t do a keg stand.”

  “I didn’t do a keg stand!” Luke stomped his foot and caused the truck to shake. “Stop saying that.”

  Kade held up his hands in mock surrender. “Fine. You didn’t do a keg stand. I’m clearly mistaken. It must have been some other blond wolf wearing flamingo boxer shorts I’m thinking of. Sorry for any confusion.”

  Kade delivered the apology with such dry precision that I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

  “That’s better.” Luke heaved a sigh. “That’s everything but the grill.”

  “Which I’m grabbing now.” Kade slid me a sidelong look before grabbing the huge metal contraption in question. “Are you riding with Luke or me this time?”

  That was a loaded question. I’d been trying to split my time between the two most important men in my life the past few weeks – mostly because Luke was feeling left out and I didn’t like that – although I couldn’t remember exactly where I was in the rotation. Ultimately it didn’t matter, because there was no way I would risk riding with Luke when he remained so adamant he wasn’t the keg stand type.

  “You.” I smiled. “In fact, I’m going to check the trailers and then get in your truck.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Kade smacked a kiss against the corner of my mouth and then turned his attention to the grill. “Are you ready for this?”

  Luke made a face, but nodded. “I’m ready.” He flexed his muscles as he readied to accept the grill from Kade. “I didn’t do a keg stand. You need to stop spreading that rumor. It makes me look bad.”

  “I agree it makes you look bad,” Kade gritted out, his muscles straining as he hoisted the grill. “You know we have photos, right?”

  Luke’s face drained of color as he struggled to lift the grill. “You’re lying.”

  “We have video, too.”

  Luke managed to flick me an annoyed look as he lifted. “You’re in big trouble.”

  I could do nothing but smile. “Why do you think I’m riding with Kade?”

  KADE STOPPED AT MCDONALD’S once we were on the road and ordered snacks and sodas. The drive to Washington would take hours, and even though we’d have a full meal when we stopped, we were both starving and didn’t want to wait.

  Plus, well, it meant we fell out of the group driving formation and were on our own. It wasn’t a big deal, because we would arrive at the next site within thirty minutes of the rest of our group, but it was sometimes the closest we came to having time alone on moving days. We often purposely scoped out detours to carve time out for ourselves during busy days.

  “Are you really going to show Luke the photos we took of him?” I asked as I munched on my fries. “He’ll melt down if you do.”

  “Why do you think I’m going to do it?” Kade grinned as he bit into his double cheeseburger.

  “I know you like messing with Luke – I do, too, because it’s easy and often amusing – but he’s pretty adamant about this keg stand business,” I said. “He doesn’t want anyone to think he did it.”

  “Yeah, I find that weird. I mean … he kind of acted like an ass that night. Everyone was drunk. No one cares.”

  I shrugged. I wasn’t sure how much of Luke’s private business I should share with Kade. Ultimately, I figured Kade should know some of it so he wouldn’t accidentally say the wrong thing. Kade enjoyed messing with Luke, but he didn’t want to purposely hurt him.

  “Luke is kind of an outsider when it comes to wolf shifters,” I supplied.

  Kade slid me a sidelong look as he swallowed. He was new to the magical world we lived in – even though his biological father was a mage – but he was doing his best to absorb everything because he was genuinely interested. “What do you mean?”

  “He’s gay.”

  “I know. That’s the reason I don’t have a problem when he climbs into bed with you to gossip.”

  I shot him a wry look. “Most wolf shifters aren’t gay. It’s a big deal to be able to populate the species in wolf shifter circles. Luke is basically an outsider because he has no interest in finding a nice female to mate with.”

  “That’s kind of sad.” Kade rolled his neck as he considered the statement. “So you think he got out of control with the other wolves because he wanted to fit in for a change.”

  “Montana is big wolf country. He’s always nervous when we go there. These guys accepted him with open arms and he had fun.”

  “He did have fun.” Kade was thoughtful. “Does that mean you don’t want me teasing him about the keg stand? I won’t if you think it will hurt him.”

  I snorted. “Oh, we’re definitely teasing him about the keg stand. It was ridiculous. He’s almost thirty and was acting like a teenager.”

  Kade’s shoulders drooped, relief washing over him. “Good. I’ve got some really great photos.”

  “It will be fine.” I rested my hand on Kade’s knee for a moment, happy simply to touch him. “Luke will eventually get over it and won’t even remember why he was so embarrassed.”

  “I think he’s going to remember.”

  “Yeah, but eventually he won’t care.” I popped another fry into my mouth. “It will be fun to torture him for a few days.”

  Kade’s smile was wide. “I’m always excited when those opportunities arise.”

  “You and me both, honey.”

  We lapsed into amiable silence as we finished our meals. As soon as we were done, and I’d balled up the wrappers and put the bag of trash by my feet, Kade changed the subject.

  “So, tell me what I should expect in Washington,” he prodded.

  I was confused. “What do you mean?”
>
  “Is this another shifter stronghold? I mean … I would think it would be because of the landscape. Plus, well, isn’t that where Twilight was supposed to be set?”

  I pressed my lips together while debating how to answer. Finally I went with the obvious question first. “How do you know about Twilight?”

  Kade made a disgusted face. “Oh, I knew you’d latch onto that part.”

  “Yes, and I’m going to tease you mercilessly for it,” I said. “For now, though, I’m more interested in how you know about it.”

  Kade balked. “I know things. I keep up on pop culture.”

  “You asked Luke if he was a New Kids on the Block fan while he was drunk the other night.”

  “So? He strikes me as a boy band type.”

  “That’s kind of stereotypical, but we’ll forget that for a moment,” I said. “New Kids on the Block were popular twenty-five years ago. You kind of dated yourself with the reference.”

  “That doesn’t mean I don’t know things,” Kade challenged. “I’m better with movies and books than bands.”

  “Fair enough.” I patted his hand, which rested on the seat between us, in a consoling manner. “I can give you a music tutorial later if you feel that you’re being lapped in the knowledge department.”

  “Ha, ha.” Kade shot me a warning look. “I was merely trying to learn about our next destination.”

  “I know.” I decided to take pity on him. “Washington used to have a few wolf shifter strongholds, but Twilight essentially forced them out of the state. They’ve relocated to Idaho and Montana for the most part.”

  Kade quirked an eyebrow. “I don’t understand.”

  “When all that Twilight mania hit, people everywhere started visiting the state,” I explained. “That means that tourists were actually heading into the woods to pay some sort of homage to Bella, Edward and Jason.”

  “Jacob,” Kade automatically corrected.

  I pursed my lips to keep from laughing. That had been a test – something he realized after the fact – and now I was certain he knew a lot more about Twilight than he should. “Jacob. Of course.”

  “Oh, geez.” Kade kept his eyes focused on the road in front of us. “You’re going to turn this into a thing, aren’t you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “I think it would be cruel to turn this into a thing.” I adopted a pragmatic tone. “I don’t want to be cruel.”

  “Oh, baby, you idle at cruel when you get going with that mouth of yours,” Kade argued. “I’m not going to let you turn this into a thing, though. It’s not important. What is important is the new area where heading to. I don’t know a lot about it, and since I’m head of security I thought you could fill me in.”

  He was deflecting with duty. I made a mental note for later to challenge him on it. For now, I let it go. “We’re on the Elliott Bay side of the city. We set up camp in a waterfront park. It’s actually a really pretty location. It’s a new spot, but not all that far from where we usually land. I guess we’re part of some big festival or something. I’m not exactly sure.”

  Kade was clearly glad about the teasing reprieve because he nodded and relaxed his grip on the steering wheel. “And what kind of paranormals are we dealing with?”

  “There’s not any one big faction taking over the area in Seattle.”

  “Really?” Kade was surprised. “I would think that’s a coveted area. I can’t believe there are no paranormals there.”

  “Oh, I didn’t say there were no paranormals. I just said there wasn’t one big faction there.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means there’re a lot of little factions. Some shifters, some mages, a lot of witches. It’s an interesting and bohemian area.”

  “What does that mean for us?”

  I shrugged. “It changes every year. That’s why I like it.”

  “Huh.” Kade was stymied. “So you’re basically saying we won’t know what we’re dealing with until we get there.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Well, I guess that’s that.” Kade didn’t look happy. “I was hoping to get a heads-up before we arrived and not get thrown straight into the fire, but it doesn’t appear that’s going to be possible.”

  “No. It’s okay, though.” I focused my eyes on the passenger side window so I could appear nonchalant. “That gives us plenty of time to discuss why it is you know so much about Twilight.”

  “Oh, geez.” Kade slapped his hand to his forehead. “I just knew you weren’t going to let that go.”

  “Sorry, honey. That’s not how I roll.”

  2

  Two

  By the time we landed, Kade was over my Twilight teasing – er, well, at least mostly – and he was in a good mood as we started unpacking. Unlike some of our previous locations, we were close to the water, and the park we settled in had a relaxed ambiance. We weren’t out in the open, although that created another set of problems.

  “Did you know it was going to be like this?”

  Raven Marko, our resident lamia, sidled up to me and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked out at the busy boardwalk stretching to both sides.

  I shook my head. “I knew we weren’t going to be in the same location as years past, but I didn’t realize we’d be on top of everyone else.”

  Raven scanned the grounds, trying to give the impression that we were having a normal conversation and weren’t particularly bothered by the new set-up. “How are we going to erect the dreamcatcher?”

  That was a very good question. We created the dreamcatcher, the magical net we used to draw in evil paranormal creatures … and the occasional human sociopath, by combining my magic with Raven’s, along with our two resident pixies Nixie and Naida. We usually erected it on the night we arrived, but because we were in such close quarters, we would have to figure a way to do it without drawing attention.

  “I don’t know how we’re going to do it.” I opted for honesty as I turned to my left and forced a smile for the people setting up shop at the crafts show area. They watched us with unveiled interest and it made me uncomfortable. They weren’t exactly right on top of us, but there was very little room to navigate.

  I rolled my neck as I turned back to our parcel. It was plenty big, but it wasn’t a square. We usually put our trailers on three sides – segregating into various groups – and then erected the midway and tents in the same configuration each go around. We had a wedge-shaped plot this time. We were going to have to come up with something different.

  “I think we should have a meeting before we set anything up,” I said after a beat. “This is going to take some planning.”

  Raven nodded. Our relationship wasn’t always easy, but we’d made strides of late to keep our working relationship amiable, even when we still tended to snark at one another on a personal front. “I think that’s a good idea. I’ll spread the word.”

  I left Raven to her task and headed toward Luke’s truck. He was parked in the lot behind our parcel, and he looked to be having a row with Kade.

  “I think you’re a complete and total jerk sometimes,” Luke complained. “Why do you have to be this way?”

  “I think you’re being overly sensitive,” Kade shot back. His back was to me so he didn’t see me approaching. “I think you should suck it up and act like a grownup instead of a child.”

  “Ugh. It’s as if you don’t even know me.”

  At first I worried they were fighting over something massive – it wouldn’t be the first time, after all – but when I realized Kade had his phone in his hand and was displaying photos of Luke doing a keg stand, I instantly relaxed.

  “I see you two are doing your usual flirting,” I drawled, drawing their attention to me. “Should I be worried that you have so much sexual chemistry?”

  “Ha, ha,” Luke wrinkled his nose. Before Kade came along, we spent most of our time together. I still spent a lot of time with him, more t
han most boyfriends would be comfortable with, but Luke and Kade’s relationship was a work in progress. They both cared about me, so they tried to get along – or at least not kill each other – but they were hardly best friends.

  “What are you guys doing?”

  Kade shrugged as he switched off his phone and slid it into his pocket. He was trying to act smooth, but I knew better. “We’re discussing unloading the truck. It’s not a big deal.”

  “You’re a terrible liar.”

  Kade frowned. “I wasn’t lying.”

  I internally cringed. Lying was a sore spot between us. I lied when he first joined the circus as security chief because I was trying to protect the big paranormal secret and my friends in the process. He understood that. It was the second lie, the one about Mystic Caravan owner Max Anderson being his father, that didn’t go over well. We got into a big fight, he pulled away so he could pout and glare, and I was miserable. Eventually we worked things out, but the lie still hung over us at odd times.

  “I didn’t mean … .”

  Kade held up his hand to silence me. “It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean it that way.”

  “Ugh, do we have to bring up that again?” Luke rolled his eyes. “It’s over and done with. Why is it still a thing?”

  “It’s not a thing.” Kade kept his voice even. “It’s simply a memory that occasionally trips us up. It’s not a thing, though.”

  I pressed my lips together and remained silent.

  “It’s really not.” Kade grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Everything is okay.”

  I nodded in thanks at his giving nature and then returned to the problem at hand. “I’m still staying out of it when you guys fight. I happen to know you were torturing Luke with photos, so that’s what I was talking about.”

  Kade’s expression filled with faux innocence. “I think that’s a terrible thing to say about your boyfriend. I think I might cry over it later.”

  “Your take on sarcasm isn’t always good either,” I offered. “As for the rest … um … we’re going to have a meeting over there and discuss the setup.”