[Mystic Caravan Mystery 05.0] Freaky Places

by Amanda M. Lee

  Kade turned serious. “What do you mean?”

  “Melissa has a hangover and Raven is … otherwise engaged.”

  “Melissa has a hangover?” Kade made a face. “She’s not old enough to drink.”

  Something about his demeanor made me feel better about my earlier reaction. I patted his arm. “Were you twenty-one the first time you got drunk?”

  “I was fifty-six,” Nellie offered. “Of course, people age differently where I come from.”

  Kade was intrigued. “How old are you now?”

  Nellie winked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “I believe that’s why I asked.”

  Nellie shrugged. “Let’s just say I’m old enough to know Raven isn’t a threat to me and leave it at that.” He flicked his eyes to me. “Have you recovered from seeing Percival’s bare butt?”

  “I guess.” I wasn’t sure I would ever truly recover. “I don’t know a lot about butts, but his seemed really white, right?”

  Nellie chuckled. “I think he used his clown makeup on his lower extremities to … enhance something or other. That caught me off guard, so I had to look closer. By the way, they didn’t like that.”

  “I don’t imagine so.” Kade rolled his neck. “But back to Melissa. How do you know she was hungover?”

  “Because she looked like death, smelled like stale beer and basically admitted it to me,” I replied without hesitation. “She seemed agitated that I’d dare question her actions.”

  “She’s got a lot of nerve,” Kade muttered. “You’re the only reason she’s here.”

  “And I remember what it was like to be that age. You think you know everything and it’s not until later that you realize you knew next to nothing. Plus, well, if it’s her first hangover she’s bound to have a raging headache. I know from personal experience that it’s easy to be bitchy when you have a headache.”

  “I know that from personal experience, too.” Kade poked my stomach. “I’m talking about you, not me, by the way. I’m always a delight.”

  “Ha, ha.” I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. “Where is Pamela?”

  “Luke is helping her call Katie’s friends. They were halfway through the list when I left. I’m assuming you don’t think they’re going to get anywhere with that.”

  “No, I don’t,” I confirmed. “I don’t know where she is, but I don’t think she’s with friends.”

  “Do you think she’s dead?” Nellie turned somber. He liked to have a good time, but he also enjoyed hunting for beasts that needed slaying. “I heard something about that wall of missing girls you found. Do you think this Katie girl is part of that?”

  I held my hands palms up and shrugged. “I don’t know. The things I saw in Pamela’s head … well, they were jumbled. I couldn’t make much sense out of it.”

  “Plus, I wouldn’t be surprised if it melded with the nightmare you had last night,” Kade added. “When you told me about the images you saw – and the laughing – the first thing I thought was that you were mixing the two.”

  I pursed my lips as I stared. “I don’t often mix things up.” I knew I shouldn’t be agitated, but I couldn’t stop myself. “I can separate the real world from a dream.”

  “Uh-oh.” Nellie wrinkled his nose. “I sense trouble in happy land. Now isn’t the time for you two turn on each other.”

  Kade was affronted. “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve upset her,” Nellie pointed out. “You insinuated she didn’t know what she was doing.”

  “I did nothing of the sort,” Kade protested. “I just … don’t even think about making this a thing.” He extended a warning finger. “That’s not what I was doing and you know it. You’re just trying to stir up trouble.”

  “Ah, well, you caught me.” Nellie’s eyes twinkled. “I do like being the resident pot stirrer. Still, I’m not sure what the dream had to do with the vision.”

  “It didn’t have anything to do with the vision,” I said. “The vision was disjointed, as if something … magical … was trying to keep me out.”

  Nellie used the ax to balance his weight and leaned forward. “Do you think something magical took these girls?”

  “I think it’s a distinct possibility.”

  “Okay, then how do we figure out what sort of magical being we’re dealing with?”

  I exhaled heavily, searching my brain. “I have no idea. I was going to take Raven and Melissa with me to walk the boardwalk, perhaps create a net to search for magical remnants, but that doesn’t look as if it’s going to be a possibility.”

  “Melissa is hungover,” Kade argued. “She’s not dead. Why can’t she help?”

  “Apparently she doesn’t want to.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “That’s what I said, but I can’t force her,” I supplied. “I didn’t give it much thought right after it happened because I got distracted by footprints behind the trailers. I was going to show them to Raven, but I’m guessing she has no intention of talking to me today.”

  “I think that’s a fair bet.” Nellie squared his shoulders. “Show me the tracks. Maybe I’ll see something you didn’t. I’m not magical, but I understand how tracks work.”

  “Okay, but I think the most interesting thing about the tracks is that they run parallel to the trailers but are on the other side of the dreamcatcher.”

  Kade’s arm shot out and grabbed my wrist before I could move more than a few inches. “Does that mean whatever was out there recognized the dreamcatcher?”

  “I don’t know. It seems curious, though, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah, I’m definitely not liking it.”

  Kade and Nellie followed me to the spot where I’d identified the footprints. Unfortunately, they seemed to have disappeared.

  “I don’t understand.” I was flustered as I walked up and down the small area. “They were right here.” I pointed for emphasis.

  “They don’t appear to be here now,” Kade said. “Are you sure you really saw them? I mean … you were upset over what Melissa said. Maybe you imagined them or something?”

  “Yes, because that sounds completely plausible,” I drawled, rolling my eyes. “Why would I possibly imagine footsteps behind the trailers? What possible reason would I have to do that?”

  “I don’t know.” Kade’s temper flared thanks to my tone. “I don’t think you need to take this out on me, though.”

  “I’m not taking it out on you.”

  “That’s not how it sounds.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and focused on Nellie. “Am I taking this out on him?”

  “I stopped listening ten minutes ago,” Nellie admitted, his eyes trained on the ground as he moved back and forth over the area where I was certain the footprints existed only twenty minutes earlier. “Do you smell that?”

  The question caught me off guard. “Smell what?”

  “I … don’t … know.” Nellie lifted his nose and inhaled. “It almost smells like … licorice or something.”

  “Like anise or licorice?” I pressed.

  Nellie shrugged. “Does it matter?”

  “Probably not, but I’d still like to know.”

  “I guess anise would be the correct term,” Nellie said after a beat. “That’s black licorice, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Then definitely anise.”

  “So what does that mean?” Kade asked, holding my gaze as he licked his lips. “What are we dealing with?”

  I hated the way he asked the question. I hated even more that I didn’t know how to answer. “I have no idea. This whole thing is weird, and there’s definitely something going on.”

  “Then we’ll find out together,” Kade said. “We’re still a team, right?”

  The leading edge of my anger softened. “Yeah.”

  “Then we’ll work together to find the answer.”

  My smile was rueful. “Sorry I bit your head off.”

  “Sorry
I questioned your memories.”

  Nellie let his gaze bounce between us. “You guys are so cute I totally want to throw up all over you. There is such a thing as a sweetness limit … and I think you’ve hit it.”

  I wasn’t bothered by the statement. “You’ll live.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  SETUP OPERATIONS WERE ONGOING, so I left Kade to discuss security procedure with his men and drafted Luke to search the boardwalk with me. He wasn’t exactly happy about it, but when he realized I was distracted and he could complain to his heart’s content, he embraced the shift in plans rather quickly.

  “I can’t believe you saw Percival’s naked rear end,” he said after we’d been walking for what felt like forever. In real time it had been only an hour, but it felt infinitely longer. “Did it look different?”

  The question threw me for a loop. “Look different how?”

  “Like … did it look British?”

  “Percival isn’t really British,” I reminded him. “He’s faking being British, although we’re not supposed to bring it up. As for the question, what does a British butt look like?”

  Luke shrugged, noncommittal. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen one. I was merely curious.”

  “It looked like a normal butt … other than the clown makeup, of course.”

  Luke grabbed my arm before I could continue walking. “He had clown makeup on his butt? Oh, that’s so weird! I’m never going to let him live this down!”

  I pictured the riding crop Raven carried and silently congratulated myself for leaving that part out of the story when retelling it for Luke’s amusement. “So, how did things go with Pamela once I left?”

  If Luke was bothered that I purposely changed the subject, he didn’t show it. “Not well. She called all of her daughter’s friends. None of them had any idea where Katie ended up after the beach party.”

  I shifted my eyes to the sandy expanse on our right. We’d stuck to the boardwalk’s designated path for most of the walk, but the beach was close enough that we could search it, too. “Perhaps we should head out there.”

  Luke followed my gaze. “If you think that’s necessary, I’m willing to do it, but I want to know what you’re thinking first.”

  “I’m not sure what I’m thinking,” I admitted. “The flashes, the things I saw, they’re hard to put into words.”

  “But you heard the laughing, right? It was the same laughing you heard in your dream. That has to mean something.”

  “How do you know about the laughing?” I was honestly curious. “I don’t remember going into great detail about the laughing.”

  “Kade told me while we were waiting for Pamela to talk to the police,” Luke replied. “He seemed worried.”

  “I didn’t know you guys were on speaking terms.”

  “It comes and goes.” Luke was blasé. “The thing is, he’s right about both of us loving you. We like to irritate each other – in fact, we turn it into a game at times – but we both want you to be happy. We’re willing to work together for that.”

  “That was almost touching. If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you meant it.”

  “I do mean it. Just because I want to beat him up most of the time, that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to be happy. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.”

  “Fair enough.” He had a point. “As for the dream … I’m not sure what to make of it. Kade blames himself because he pressed me on the doll story, but I’m not sure that was it. Er, well, I’m not sure that was completely it.”

  “And you didn’t even tell him the full doll story,” Luke drawled.

  I stiffened, slowly turning my eyes to Luke. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, don’t do that,” Luke chided as he wagged a finger. “I know that’s not the entire doll story.”

  Crap on toast. “I thought you didn’t remember the story.”

  “I don’t. I only remember bits and pieces of it. But I know that the very abbreviated version you whipped out last night isn’t everything.”

  “If you don’t remember, how can you possibly know that?”

  “Because I remember laughing really hard when you were telling that story, and what you told Kade last night wasn’t funny,” Luke replied. “I can’t remember exactly what happened, but I know there’s more to that story.”

  “Not much.”

  “But there’s more.”

  I thought back to the day I destroyed the doll. “There was more. You’re never going to hear it again, so it’s probably best if you let it go.”

  “Yeah, that sounds nothing like me.” Luke followed me toward the beach. We’d been up and down the boardwalk four times. Not once did I sense a displaced spirit or hidden human remains. The search was obviously starting to wear on Luke because he groaned in frustration whenever I stopped to extend my senses. “Do you think she’s out here?”

  “I don’t know.” I kicked at the sand before turning my attention to the water. “The truth is, she could be out there. The odds of finding her if she went into the water aren’t great.”

  “This isn’t a normal water pattern,” Luke reminded me. “I’m not sure that’s true. Still, if you want someone to search the water, Naida is the obvious choice. She was out here skinny-dipping all last night.”

  I definitely didn’t need to know that. “Tapping Naida is a good idea. Of course, if someone died and was dumped in the water last night, we would probably already know because Naida would’ve detected it.”

  “Just out of curiosity, what makes you think Katie is dead? She could’ve taken off on her own. That’s not unheard of with teenagers.”

  “I didn’t say I thought she was dead.”

  “Then what did you say?”

  “That something was wrong with the scenario … and I stand by that.”

  “Okay, so what do we do next?” Luke asked. “She’s not here. If she was taken, she was moved to another location. How do you suggest we find her?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “What do you know?”

  “Absolutely nothing.”

  “Oh, well, at least you seem on top of things.” Luke made a face. “Do you want to get some ice cream? I’m hungry and I think I might pass out if my blood sugar gets any lower.”

  I’d heard worse offers. “Okay, but you can’t question me about Percival’s naked butt again. I’m declaring a moratorium on that conversation.”

  “Oh, I’m definitely going to talk about Percival’s butt. Get used to that.”

  10

  Ten

  Melissa sat with the rest of the group around the picnic tables when we returned. She looked marginally better, although her color remained off and she seemed a bit surly.

  “Must you be so loud?” she challenged Nellie, who appeared to be in the middle of a re-enactment of the scene from this morning.

  Nellie wasn’t the type to bow to anyone, especially a young woman who created her own ailment. “Yes.”

  “Well, I don’t have to listen to it.”

  “You certainly don’t,” Nellie agreed, returning his attention to Seth and Dolph. Seth worked as muscle when it came to setting up and breaking down camp. He also served as our resident tiger because he was a shifter. Dolph was our strong man, and even though he towered over Nellie by a good two feet he often deferred to the gregarious dwarf. “Now, where was I?”

  “The makeup on his behind,” Seth answered automatically. “I’m still unclear on that, by the way. Did he draw a face or was it simply white?”

  “I wish he’d drawn a face,” Nellie replied. “That would have made things so much more entertaining.”

  “I heard that,” Raven snapped, moving toward the kitchen. She didn’t look happy – although I couldn’t blame her – and I wondered if this was the first time she showed her face since the incident in her trailer. “If you keep telling that story, Nellie, I’ll make you choke on it.”

  As a lamia, Raven possessed powers and a certain skill
set of her own. I knew it wasn’t an empty threat. Nellie didn’t look bothered in the least, though.

  “Well, if I’m going to choke I want to make sure I’ve got things right,” Nellie drawled. “With that in mind, why did you have a riding crop?”

  Raven scowled as she shifted her eyes to me. “This is your fault.”

  I could see how she might feel that way. “I honestly thought you told me to come in.”

  “Well, I didn’t.”

  “That wouldn’t have stopped her anyway,” Melissa noted, her tone sour. “She didn’t even wait for me to speak before entering my trailer this morning.”

  I clenched my jaw to keep from blowing up, a hundred different ways to slap back the girl on the tip of my tongue. Ultimately, all I did was shrug. “I didn’t realize it would be such a big deal. I’m sorry. I will wait for an invitation next time.”

  “Whatever.” Melissa rolled her eyes and sucked down half a bottle of water.

  “What’s going on here?” Raven asked, her gaze bouncing between Melissa and me. “Are you two fighting?”

  “I think ‘fighting’ is the wrong word,” I replied. “We’re merely seeing things differently.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, for starters, she thinks she’s my mother,” Melissa drawled. “She’s decided that she needs to tell me what to do … and when.”

  That was hardly the way I remembered things. “Do you have something you want to say to me?”

  Instead of backing down, Melissa doubled down. “I believe I already said it.”

  “Great.” I sat on a bench and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler at the end of the table. “We searched the boardwalk but came up empty.”

  “This is for the missing girl?” Raven furrowed her brow. “What did you expect to find?”

  I shrugged. “I didn’t expect to find anything. I was hoping to find something – even if it was just a whiff of something – but it didn’t work out.”

  “She’s a teenager. Teenagers take off.”

  “That’s what I told her,” Melissa grumbled. “But she didn’t listen to me. Maybe you’ll have better luck.”