Part 6 (2/2)
”I'm guessing trolls aren't common in this area?” I asked, but the only answer I received was a loud splash behind me.
I turned in time to see ripples and the kelpie's dark shadow fade under the surface of the water. I glanced at Malik-or at least at where Malik had been. Now there was only his retreating back.
I whirled back around, and the movement dislodged small pebbles, sending them tumbling down the bank to make plink plink sounds as they hit the water. The troll was running now, bounding toward me. c.r.a.p. My muscles tensed, preparing to send me bolting away. My car wasn't far, just on the other side of the bridge. Then the troll reached into his coat, pulling his sidearm and in the process flas.h.i.+ng the badge at his waist.
”Freeze-FIB,” he yelled as he leveled a gun large enough to be a small cannon at Malik's fleeing back.
I froze. For one endless moment, even my heart stopped. Then the next beat crashed hard, threatening to knock me forward. I lifted my hands slowly, palms open to show I carried no weapon and was preparing no spell. Not that it mattered. The troll never looked at me.
He thundered by, each stride of his tree-trunk-thick legs eating the ground in a ma.s.sive gait. Still the distance between him and Malik grew.
”Malik Sh.e.l.lycoat, by order of the winter court I command you to stop,” he yelled, his voice booming but already breathless.
Malik dove into the forest, slipping silently through the underbrush until he vanished among the trees. The troll crashed after him, trees shuddering and bark exploding like shrapnel as he shouldered through.
I remained by the bank, my hands in the air until both fae had vanished from sight. Then I lowered my arms, glancing around. I could still hear the troll's loud pursuit in the distance, and I half expected to spot the troll's partner approaching me, gun out and cuffs in hand. But there was no one.
Time to get out of here.
I grabbed my purse from where I'd dropped it when the troll appeared and snapped my s.h.i.+elds closed. I hadn't had my grave-sight active long, and I hadn't actually reached for the grave or used my power, but darkness still swam over my vision. I dug the gla.s.ses I often needed after the ritual from my bag and blinked, giving my sight a moment to adjust. It did, and after a couple of still-rus.h.i.+ng heartbeats, my vision cleared enough that I was confident I'd be able to drive. Then I made my way over the bridge, not exactly running, but just barely not.
The FIB was an official law enforcement ent.i.ty-I probably should have waited to see if the agent's backup would arrive. There would definitely be questions about what I was doing out in the middle of nowhere with a person of interest in a homicide case. I'm not fleeing the scene, I told myself, but I was. And I knew it.
I'd just crossed the bridge when I noticed the shadow leaning against my car. I stopped short, squinting to make out the figure. I groaned and started walking again when I finally recognized the woman.
”Agent Nori,” I said as I approached.
”Miss Craft. You have a tendency to show up where you shouldn't.” She flashed some teeth. ”It seems you found the fae who was hara.s.sing you.”
I twisted the strap of my purse in my hands as I focused on her nose, not her eyes. ”I was mistaken about his involvement.”
”I see.” She drew the word out so it had multiple syllables. ”Be that as it may, he's still wanted for questioning in an open case. If you encounter him again, give me a call.” She pressed a card into my hand. ”And, Miss Craft, let me give you a little friendly advice. Those who don't have loyalty to a court don't have loyalty to anyone. Be careful with whom you a.s.sociate.”
”Right.” I slid into my car and got the h.e.l.l out of there, silently wis.h.i.+ng luck to Malik as I drove away.
Chapter 7.
I called Caleb on my way to the Magic Quarter to meet Rianna, but he didn't answer his cell. I didn't like the idea of walking into the Bloom alone, but Tamara was working late and I wasn't going to call Holly. That left me with only one other person.
”Thanks for meeting me here,” I said as Roy popped into existence in the pa.s.senger seat of my car. A ghost for backup in Faerie probably wasn't much backup at all, but he was the best I had. If nothing else, at least he was a second pair of eyes.
”Hey, no problem. It's not like I have a lot of better prospects to haunt,” he said, folding his hands behind his head. ”So, what's on the agenda? A little breaking and entering? Some undercover work? Or just a little good old spying?”
I pulled into a metered spot a couple of blocks from the Bloom-that was as close a parking spot as I could find. ”Actually we're going to meet with an old friend of mine.” I paused, my hand still on the stick s.h.i.+ft. There was an issue with bringing Roy along that I hadn't thought of before now. ”I'm meeting Rianna.”
Roy's hands fell and his face screwed up tight. ”Tell me you're going to manifest me.”
”Uh, no.” By ”manifest,” Roy meant he wanted me to pump him with enough energy to make him physical in the land of the living. The first time I'd done it he'd punched Rianna. At the time that had been a good thing, as she'd still been under Coleman's control and on the opposite side, but Roy had deeper reasons to hate Rianna-she'd been involved in his death. Unwilling though she might have been, Roy was having a hard time forgiving his murderer. I guess I couldn't blame him. ”Try to play nice,” I said, giving him a pleading smile.
His fists balled by his side, but after a moment he gave me a sharp nod. ”Fine.” He stood-straight through my car, which was rather disturbing-and walked to the sidewalk.
I hurried to catch up.
He sulked as we walked to the Eternal Bloom, his shoulders slumped and his gaze down. After two attempts to start a conversation with him-which both received only noncommittal sounds in response-I didn't bother trying to converse with someone that no one else on the street could see. I would make it up to him later. Maybe I'd buy him some Legos-the little blocks were light enough for him to pick up if he concentrated. Roy floated through the main door when we reached the Bloom. I, on the other hand, had to pull it open.
”Hullo, la.s.s. Welcome to the Eternal Bloom,” the bouncer, a red-bearded man perched on the stool in the entry said, his accent thick. ”Check all iron items here, and do'na forget to sign the ledger.”
”No iron,” I said, pulling a pen from my purse.
The entry wasn't large, just a short room with enough s.p.a.ce for the bouncer, his stool, and the pedestal with the ledger balanced on top. I saw only one door, but I knew there was another one not accessible to the majority of the bar's clientele.
As I stepped up to the pedestal and ledger, the short man stood on his stool. Even with the stool's height, he only reached my chin, but he peered around my shoulder, watching me write my name, and most important, the date and time. I wrote as legibly as possible. I was about to step into a pocket of Faerie-I wanted to make sure I emerged on the same day I entered.
”Ah, a VIP,” the bearded bouncer said once I put my pen away. He puffed on the pipe clenched between his teeth and then blew a smoke ring in the air. The sweet, tobaccoscented smoke stung my eyes and tickled my chest. I coughed, waving a hand in front of my face to clear the air. When I blinked away the moisture in my eyes, I found two doors along the back wall where there had been only one before.
The little man smiled around his pipe. ”Enjoy your visit, la.s.s.”
”Right. Thank-” I stopped myself before I thanked the man. Hitching my purse higher on my shoulder, I glanced back at Roy. ”Coming?”
”Yeah, right behind you,” he said, but he was staring at the newly appeared door, a frown etched hard in his s.h.i.+mmering face.
Maybe I'll owe him more than Legos for backing me up in there.
I jerked open the door and then hesitated. Roy wasn't following.
”We won't be long,” I promised.
The ghost bit his lower lip. ”I can't go.”
Okay, that was a little much. I knew he was mad at Rianna, I got it, but he'd said he'd back me up. He must have seen my thoughts on my face because he shook his head.
”It's not . . . her. It's the door. It feels wrong. Definitely not safe.”
I stepped back into the entry, letting the door swing shut, and studied it. Safe? Well, I wouldn't describe Faerie as safe for anyone, but the fact that he said it felt wrong did concern me. The door was some sort of portal to another place-it might not be safe for Roy. h.e.l.l, it might not be safe for me. But that was another story.
I thought back. I'd seen a ghost, or at least a spirit, in the Bloom before. Well, actually I'd sort of created a ghost when I'd jerked the spirit from a dead, animated body of a slaver's pet grave witch. ”I've seen ghosts in there,” I told Roy, leaving off the rest of the story.
”Yeah, but did the ghost leave?” He stepped back, farther from the door. ”It feels like a cemetery gate.”
That wasn't good. Cemetery gates kept ghosts-and other, rarer forms of the dead-locked inside. Even newer cemeteries typically had a ghost or two, the older ones many more, though the ghosts rarely started their spirit-life in the graveyard. Like some sort of spirit roach motel, the ghosts could enter the cemetery, but they couldn't leave. While Roy might get annoying once in a while, I definitely didn't want to get him stuck in Faerie.
”Okay, stay here,” I said, and realized the bouncer was studying me, his bushy red eyebrows drawn together and his pipe in his hand.
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