[Mystic Caravan Mystery 05.0] Freaky Places

by Amanda M. Lee

  I used the same ploy I did with Troy, weaving a magical song to entice her before planting a suggestion in her head. By the time she walked into my tent, she was dazed … and completely open to answering questions.

  “Tell me what happened,” I prodded.

  “What do you mean? When?” Becky wasn’t slow on the uptake, but she wasn’t exactly one of the great thinkers of our time.

  “You were almost abducted,” I reminded her. “Tell me about it.”

  “Oh, that.” Becky furrowed her brow. “I guess I don’t know that I was almost abducted. I feel it … in my bones.”

  “Tell me.”

  “It was almost six months ago. It was before we started hearing whispers about missing girls. Er, rather, it was before we started hearing whispers about a lot of missing girls. At that time only one of them had gone missing. Her name was Aubrey Partridge.”

  I filed the name away for further examination later. “What had you heard about her?”

  “She was a good girl. That’s what everyone kept saying. She was a good girl who never did anything wrong, yet she disappeared. Her car was found outside of the library, for crying out loud. I go to the library a lot because they have a coffee shop and it’s a lot cheaper than Starbucks, so I heard the story almost before anyone else.”

  “Did she disappear from the library?”

  “No one knows.” Becky shrugged. “She was in the library the night before she disappeared working on a term paper or something. I’d seen her there before, but I’d never really talked to her.

  “Anyway, according to the librarians, she said goodnight before leaving and seemed to be in a good mood,” she continued. “She wasn’t acting out of sorts or anything. She never made it to her car.”

  It was an intriguing story. “Did they find her purse?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “What about keys to the car?”

  “I don’t know.”

  I bit back my frustration. There was no way the woman could possibly know what the police did or didn’t have. It was unfair to expect it. “Tell me why you think you were targeted.”

  “It was only a week after that. I was at the library for coffee and Aubrey was still the talk of the area,” she continued. “When one girl goes missing, it’s a big deal. When a bunch of them go missing, it seems people start ignoring it. I’m not sure why.”

  She had a point, but I didn’t have time for a philosophical debate. “Did you see something?”

  “I was already nervous because of Aubrey’s disappearance, so I was hyper alert in the parking lot when I left,” Becky replied. “I heard something behind me, so I sped up and had my keys ready so I could hop inside the car. I was afraid to look over my shoulder, but I imagined I saw something.”

  I poked further into her mind, wrinkling my forehead when I picked out an image. That can’t be right. That’s all I could think as I tugged tighter on the vision line. The shadow Becky saw that night had more than two arms – potentially eight if I counted correctly, which wasn’t easy given the shadows – and whatever it was had to be seven feet tall. Surely someone would notice a seven-foot-tall creature with eight arms hanging around town.

  “I was about to have a total meltdown when a woman appeared in front of me,” Becky continued. “I swear, she came out of nowhere and I almost had a heart attack. Seriously … she was so quiet. I was relieved to see her, so I didn’t really care where she came from.”

  “Did she say what she was doing in the parking lot?”

  Becky shook her head. “She only asked me if something was wrong because she thought I looked upset. I was definitely upset, there’s no getting around that, but I felt a little stupid once I’d calmed down. There was nothing chasing me. Obviously.”

  I wasn’t so sure. “What did the woman look like?”

  “Who?”

  “The woman you found by your car,” I prodded. “What did she look like?”

  “Oh.” Becky pursed her lips. “I don’t really remember.”

  I searched through Becky’s mind for an image but what came back was somehow distorted, the features twisted as if in one of Raven’s funhouse mirrors. There was nothing there for me to use, which was frustrating … but also interesting. “Was she young or old?”

  “Um … middle-aged.”

  “Is that like thirty in your mind? Forty?”

  “In her late forties or so. She looked the same age as my mother.”

  “Brown hair or blond?”

  “Brown. It was … a bad color. It’s not something anyone would pick while at the pharmacy.”

  That was an interesting observation. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Her hair and eyes practically disappeared. There was nothing memorable about her.”

  “And the shadow you saw?” I asked. “Did it disappear when she showed up?”

  “Yes. I’m thankful she saved me.”

  I didn’t believe that was what happened, but I kept the theory to myself. “One more thing … did anyone else show up in the parking lot before you left?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean was the woman alone with you the entire time or did someone else arrive?”

  “Oh, I understand what you’re asking.” Becky chewed her bottom lip as she considered the question. “Mr. Peck showed up. I only remember because he called out to me and told me not to walk to my car alone because of what happened to Aubrey. He lives three houses down from me and threatened to tell my parents if I didn’t do the right thing.

  “I still live with my parents,” she added ruefully. “I’m hoping to save up to move out, which is what I was telling that lady when Mr. Peck arrived. She didn’t believe me when I told her how old I was. She thought I was younger and wanted to see my identification to prove it.”

  “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me.” I forced a tight-lipped smile. “Can you remember anything else about that night, Becky?”

  “Just that I was happy to get home.”

  I couldn’t blame her. She may never realize it, but she really did have a close call and probably narrowly escaped with her life. “Well, you’re safe now. Mr. Peck was right, though. Don’t go anywhere alone. Tell your friends. Tell everyone you know. Something dangerous is out there. You need to take care of yourself until the danger is over. Do you understand?”

  Becky, her eyes still glazed, nodded. “I understand.”

  “Great. Now, let’s talk about the best way to get you out of your parents’ house. You’re far too old to be living with them. I happen to have a few minutes, and your life will never be the same once I’m done.”

  21

  Twenty-One

  It wasn’t quite dark when we shut down for the night. The sun was just starting its inevitable descent into the horizon, which meant we had time for dinner before embarking on our cave search. I somehow missed seeing Luke throughout the afternoon, so I had yet to tell him how he would be spending his evening. I didn’t expect that conversation to go well.

  Naida, Nixie and Raven were already working in the kitchen area when I arrived. It appeared Raven was keen to ruin Luke’s night, so she was in the midst of explaining his upcoming duties while he drank lemonade at the picnic table and glared at her.

  “Why do I have to be the one to do it?” Luke complained.

  “Because you have a better nose,” I answered, hoping that praise would force him to capitulate. “You’re the best sniffer we have.”

  “Oh, well, there’s something I want to boast about.” Luke grimaced and I could practically see his mind working. He was trying to figure a way out of the search without looking like a douche. I decided to nip that impulse.

  “Girls are missing, Luke,” I reminded him. “They could still be alive. If you lead us to them, you’ll be a hero.”

  Raven smirked. “And if you don’t, you’ll simply be the zero we already think you are.”

  I murdered Raven with a warning look before shuffling closer to the
table. “It’s important, Luke. You know we wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”

  Luke remained unconvinced. “Why can’t Seth do it? He’s a tiger. They have good noses.”

  “Yes, but if a tiger is seen running around this area the cops will get involved,” Seth pointed out. He was clearly enjoying Luke’s discomfort and made no attempt to hide his smile. “We can pretend you’re a dog.”

  The look Luke shot me was straight out of Petulant Quarterly. “Did you hear that? You can pretend I’m a dog.”

  “What do you want me to say, Luke?” My temper got the better of me. “We have to look and we need you to do it. If you don’t want to be involved … well, I guess I can’t make you.” That wasn’t true. I could make him. But I would never use my powers on him, no matter the cost. It was an invasion I wasn’t willing to spread around to those I loved. “I will be really disappointed, though.”

  “Oh, I hate it when you say things like that.” Luke smacked his hand to his forehead. “You know I won’t refuse. No one wants to be the jerk who says no to helping missing girls.”

  I squeezed his shoulder in appreciation. “I knew you’d come through.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Luke rolled his eyes. “I’m not shifting until we get up there. And if you try to put me on a leash I’ll bite you.”

  “Fair enough.” I moved to help with cooking preparations but Naida shooed me away. “You look tired. Sit down for a few minutes. I think you overexerted yourself by questioning that woman the way you did.”

  My eyebrows nearly flew off my forehead. “How did you know about that?”

  “I saw you talking to her when she was by our booth. I thought there was something off about her, so I was watching, too. I was just about to approach her when I saw you do it.”

  “What did you think was off about her?” Raven asked.

  “I should probably rephrase that,” Naida cautioned. “I thought there was a pall hanging over her, something I couldn’t quite identify. It was almost as if she had a shadow following her.”

  Well, that was intriguing. I related my talk with Becky, making sure to touch every corner of the tale. When I was done, everyone started talking at once.

  “You saw a shadow with eight arms?” Naida asked.

  “Do you think the woman was the shadow?” Nixie asked.

  “Do you think the guy saved her or was it her age?” Raven asked.

  I shrugged. I didn’t have an answer to any of the questions. “I don’t know. I think both Mr. Peck and her age probably played in her favor. I definitely think she was targeted. As for the woman, I can’t get a clear picture of her in my head. I think that’s purposeful.”

  “It’s definitely purposeful,” Raven agreed. “It’s a witch trick. You do the same thing when you glamour yourself and make it appear as if you’re someone else. You don’t really change your looks. You don’t have the power to do that. Instead you make other people think you’ve changed your looks. It sounds to me that this woman is doing the same.”

  We were back to witches. “What about the eight arms? I don’t know any witches who have eight arms. Do you?”

  “No, but I’ve heard about a few sirens that supposedly had eight arms,” Nixie offered. “I’ve never seen one, but there’s a legend that says a few sirens grew eight arms so they could be like an octopus and more easily catch their prey.”

  Hmm. “I don’t know a lot about sirens. I thought they were birdlike. They sing a song and supposedly lure sailors. That legend could fit with the water, but eight arms don’t suggest a bird.”

  “You’re looking at it too literally,” Raven countered. “Evolution doesn’t happen only to humans. It happens to paranormals, too. Perhaps that’s what we’re dealing with here.”

  “If it is a siren, she’s not luring sailors. She’s luring young girls.”

  “Maybe she’s a lesbian siren,” Nixie suggested. “Sirens are supposed to be ridiculously sexual. Maybe she’s luring women because that’s what she’s into.”

  That didn’t make me feel much better. “I guess it’s possible.”

  “There’s another possibility,” Naida offered. “Greek myth talks about Centimanes, creatures that had hundreds of arms. They also had a bunch of heads, too, but that’s not important to us. The stories were myths and the creatures most likely weren’t real, but my mother once told me that there were magical creatures out there that stole arms from others to make themselves stronger.”

  I rolled my neck as I settled on the picnic table bench. “You think someone stole the story and is taking the arms of these women to make themselves stronger?” I felt sick to my stomach.

  “No.” Naida shook her head. “I think it’s possible we’re dealing with a witch who perverted the stories and thinks she can make herself stronger by stealing the life essence of others. That’s why we don’t have a lot of bodies. The others are alive. She’s continually draining them to bolster herself.”

  It was an interesting theory. “What about the shadow?”

  “It could be the woman casts a magical shadow. It wouldn’t be the first time. The arms could be symbolic of how the woman feels, how she projects herself.”

  That was a lot better than thinking about fighting a creature with multiple arms. “That would also explain why we’ve only had three bodies. Something went wrong with those victims and she had to discard them. The others could very well be alive.” I felt emotionally bolstered by the thought. “We could still save them.”

  “We could,” Naida agreed, “but until we see what state they’re in, I’m not comfortable getting anyone’s hopes up. This is all conjecture.”

  “It’s good conjecture. A witch would likely spend a lot of time researching power and how to attain it. If she were open-minded, she wouldn’t only focus on pagan rites. She’d expand her repertoire to include mythology as well. I like where your mind is going.”

  “You only like it because you think it means we can save all those girls,” Naida countered. “While I don’t want to dampen your enthusiasm, I also don’t want you to set your hopes too high. A byproduct of draining their life essences would involve atrophying their brains, essentially putting them into walking comas.”

  That didn’t sound good. “We could heal them.”

  “Maybe. We won’t know until we see them. Again, this is only a theory. We have no facts to back it up.”

  She was being rational, yet I didn’t want to entertain the possibility that she was right. “I’m not giving up until I have no hope.”

  I rested my elbow on the table and rubbed my forehead, only dragging myself from my reverie when I heard approaching footsteps. I knew it was Kade before I lifted my head. He has a certain presence, and there are times I can feel his mind brush against mine from hundreds of feet away.

  I smiled as I turned, excited to tell him what we’d been discussing. The words died on my lips when I saw the expression on his face. “What is it?”

  Kade clenched his hands into fists at his sides as he met my gaze. “I have some bad news.”

  “Paige?”

  “No. I have nothing on her.”

  “Then what?” Luke asked. “You’re being a little dramatic. That’s my job.”

  Kade never moved his eyes from my face. “My guy lost Melissa. She’s missing.”

  And just like that, all of the oxygen escaped from my lungs and I had trouble breathing.

  “Screw dinner,” Raven announced, abandoning her preparations and wiping her hands on a towel. “We need to find that cave, and we need to find it now. Eating can wait.”

  WE DROVE TO THE SHORELINE after piling into three vehicles. Kade drove his truck, Luke and I crowding together in the passenger seat while Seth and Nellie sat in the back.

  Kade felt helpless and guilty. Even if I weren’t psychic I would’ve been able to pick up on that. There was very little I could do for him – especially in front of an audience – but I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze as we piled out o
f the vehicles.

  “It’s not your fault.”

  Kade slid me a sidelong look. “There’s no one else to blame.”

  “Maybe no one needs to be blamed. Melissa is an adult. She chose to take off on her own. If something happens to her … .” I trailed off, uncertain how to finish.

  “If something happens to her you’re going to blame yourself,” Kade finished. “That’s dumber than me blaming myself. I think she knew she was being followed. She went out of her way to slip away. She wasn’t taken. He would’ve seen if that were the case.”

  “That’s something at least. Hopefully she’s merely out being stupid rather than victimized.”

  “I’m still sorry.” Kade stroked his hand over the back of my head as he lowered his forehead to mine. “We’ll find her. She could already be out here.”

  I didn’t know if I should hope for that, so I merely pressed my lips together and smiled. “It’s going to be okay. I have … faith.”

  Kade forced a smile. “Then I do, too.” He gave me a quick kiss before turning his attention to a griping Luke. “What are you complaining about?”

  “I hate shifting in front of people,” Luke replied without hesitation. “It’s undignified.”

  “Do I even want to know what that means?” Kade asked me.

  I shook my head. “He’ll survive. Shift now, Luke. We don’t have time to mess around.”

  Luke cast a disdainful look in my direction as he stripped off his shirt and handed it to Nixie. “That’s new and expensive. Take care of it.”

  Nixie nodded. “I’ve got it. I won’t let anything happen to your precious clothes. Don’t worry about it.”

  Luke’s gaze snagged with mine, something unsaid passing between us. I’d seen him shift so many times I’d lost count, yet he remained shy in the moments before.