Ghost Light (10 page)

“What do you think the lights were?” she asked.  “Some kind of spell?”

I hoped it was a spell, because if my suspicions were correct, then wisps were involved.  If my own people were behind this, where did that leave me?

I’d been flinching away from the prospect of coming out as a faerie princess.  But if wisps committed this crime, then I was partly responsible.  My father, king of the wisps, had left our people leaderless.  I had known this for months and done nothing.

I stared at the table covered in plastic bags—so many missing children.  Had the same lights lured the other children from their beds?  There was only one way to find out.

“I’ll know more when we’re done,” I said.  I pointed to the table.  “Keep ‘em coming.”

Jinx gave me an understanding nod and handed me a plastic bag.  Ceff’s brow wrinkled and he cleared his throat.

“Are you certain?” he asked.  “Couldn’t we search the homes for clues?  The families may have missed something.”

The chances of that many families all missing something was a long shot.  In the case of the winged child, he had walked out the front door himself.  There had been no forced entry and the only physical intruders were the lights which floated in the air, never touching any surfaces.  No, my gut told me that the answers were here in these objects, not back in the victims’ homes.

“I have to do this, now,” I said.  “I can’t put this part of the job off until later.  The first few hours are the most important in any missing person case.  If I don’t learn anything new, then we’ll try other methods, but this is our best chance of finding out what happened last night.”

“She’s right,” Jinx said.  She placed a hand on Ceff’s shoulder.  “This is the best way to save these kids.”

“If you are both in agreement, then I acquiesce,” he said.  Jinx put her hand on a curvy hip and raised an eyebrow.  Ceff raised his hands, palm out, and smiled.  “You are the professionals.  I surrender.”

Professionals?  I didn’t feel like a professional in my wrinkled, sweat stained clothes, but we had worked missing person cases before.  I focused on the few facts we knew so far and what information we were missing.

“We need to know if the cases are connected,” I said.  “Maybe, just maybe, one of the kids saw something that will lead us to where they’re being kept.  And if we find the children, we’ll need backup to get them out.”

I was assuming that the children were still alive.  We all were.  To think that these children may already be dead was too horrible to imagine.

“I’ll call Jenna,” Jinx said.

The Hunters Guild wouldn’t sanction a raid to extract faerie children—they only fought to protect humans—but Jenna didn’t mind working a side-job, even if it was to save non-humans.  For a Hunter, she was remarkably open-minded.

“I will send word to the leaders of the local water fae,” Ceff said.  “For now, we should all remain vigilant.”

Ceff was right, fae families should be warned, but how was he going to contact the water fae?  Ceff’s people, kelpies, could be reached through his sentinels at the harbor and the merrows could be called through a magic shell located along the beach, but I had hoped he’d stay here with me while I endured my visions.  It was selfish, but true.

Ceff rose from his crouch and looked out the picture window.  He waved a hand and began flicking his fingers in an intricate series of motions.  Kelpie sign language?  I guess hand signals would come in handy for a species that spent most of its time under water—though I had no idea how they communicated while in horse form.

I lifted my head to look outside and saw a kelpie bodyguard standing across the street.  The man stood in the shadows, his face partially hidden behind a magazine and a baseball cap pulled down low on his head.  The undercover guard was pretending to read, but he was holding the magazine upside down.  The guy must be wet behind the ears (water fae humor), it was a newbie mistake.

Ceff and the kelpie guard exchanged hand signals, which the guard then relayed to someone further down the street.  I suppose after Ceff’s abduction last summer, his guards weren’t straying far from his side.  When he was done signing, Ceff returned to kneel on the floor beside me.

“I have done what I can to warn my people and our allies,” he said.

“Good,” I said.  “Let’s get this show on the road.  Jinx?”

My friend stepped forward, plastic bag in hand.

“Ready?” she asked.

I lifted my chin and gave her a quick nod.

“I was born ready,” I said.  Which, of course, wasn’t true, but the white lie eased the tension in the room.

I pulled off my glove and reached inside the bag.  The second my fingers touched the small blanket, the room went dark.  I sank into the vision, drowning in the memory of a child with too many limbs and too many teeth following a cloud of dancing lights.

Chapter 10

T
he kidnapped fae children had been as different from one another as night and day, but every one of them had left their homes while chasing balls of light. In every vision the glowing orbs danced and twinkled enticingly, just out of reach.

I rubbed my face and stretched cramped muscles.  After subjecting myself to over two-dozen visions, I’d agreed to a shower and a nap.  The visions the children left behind may have been mild compared to some I’ve experienced, but the vast number of them left me exhausted.  The sleepless night hadn’t helped matters either.

I wasn’t sure if the hour of sleep had done me any good, but the shower had felt divine.  Wrinkled, sweat stained clothes had been replaced with a clean pair of jeans, black tee, my spare pair of leather gloves, and black Doc Martens.  My knives were already strapped into forearm sheaths, and my leather jacket, which would keep the weapons concealed in public, was tossed over the chair to my right.

Ceff sat to my left, not daring to enter the kitchen while Jinx prepared a makeshift breakfast.  My roommate was as territorial as a hearth brownie and hostile as a pixie.  It was best to avoid the kitchen when Jinx was cooking, especially when she was armed with a spatula.

I slouched against the kitchen counter, the smell of eggs, toast, and fresh brewed coffee bringing a smile to my face.  A smile that was gone the moment Jinx opened her mouth.

“So, you think wisps kidnapped all those kids?” she asked.

I let out a heavy sigh.  It was the one thought I’d tried to block out during my one hour respite.  But now all of my worries came rushing back.

“I think they’re involved, yeah,” I said.  I took a bite of toast, giving myself time to think things over.

“I agree, your description does match what we know of wisp physiology and behavior,” Ceff said.

He’d also showered—the heady mix of bath gel and his own scent of salt and sea strong on his skin.  Ceff smelled more delicious than breakfast.  I drew in the scent of him and sighed.

“If it’s wisps, then all the more reason to stop them,” I said.  “I’m not going to let my people go around kidnapping little kids, not if I can help it.  Once we find and rescue the children, I have some new rules to enforce.”

“Dude, are you serious?” Jinx asked.  “You’re going to come out of the faerie closet?”

“Yes,” I said.

And I knew exactly the place to do just that.

A trip to Club Nexus was definitely in my future.  I needed to gain control over the wisps that were currently running amok in my city.  I also wanted to warn the faeries of Harborsmouth about the threat to their children.  Ceff had a network for contacting water fae, but so far all the kidnappings had occurred on dry land.  The fastest way to spread the word was to speak with local fae leaders and Kaye had said that the club was their gathering place.  I guess what she’d said about the convergence of power was right—all roads did lead to Club Nexus.

And something that the cat sidhe, Torn, had said still niggled at me.  He mentioned the dead rising from their graves to haunt the streets of Harborsmouth.  I thought it was idle gossip at the time, my mind focused on Melusine and the potential threat she posed, but what if the sightings were more than rumors?  Torn made it sound like harmless ghost sightings, but what if it had been something else?

If specters of the dead had not risen, then what was wandering city graveyards and cemeteries?  Unfortunately, none of the possibilities were good.  Graveyards attract all kinds of supernatural nasties.  Vamps, ghouls, voodoo priests, black dogs, spriggans, even wisps were known to lurk in burial grounds.

What if the ghost sightings had something to do with the wisps?  If the two were connected, then tracking the reported ghost sightings may lead us to the children.  I had to find this guy Torn and drill him for details.

“Announcing your royal status will be dangerous,” Ceff said.  “The wisps may have gone without an official leader since your father’s disappearance, but that does not mean someone hasn’t filled the power void in his absence.  Your very existence will alter the current wisp hierarchy, and that is bound to anger some.”

“Noted,” I said.  “But if wisps are kidnapping children, then someone needs to shake that hierarchy up a bit.  And, with my deadbeat dad in hiding somewhere, I’m the only one suited for the job.  The wisps will have to listen to their princess.”

“You said this might piss people off,” Jinx said.  She turned to Ceff and crossed her arms.  “What exactly do you mean by that?  Are we talking stacks of complaint letters, or ninja faerie assassins?”

“Assassins are a distinct possibility,” he said.  “Though some faeries prefer the more honorable practice of declaring a duel.”

Assassins?  Duels?  I was in way over my head.

“We can worry about rogue wisps later,” I said.  “According to Kaye, Club Nexus is only open from twilight until dawn.  I won’t be announcing my reign until tonight.  That leaves me with a few hours to check out another potential lead.”

“What lead would that be?” Jinx asked.

“Something Torn said,” I said.  “The cat mentioned ghost sightings in graveyards and cemeteries around Harborsmouth.  If humans saw unglamoured wisps floating around a graveyard, it’d make sense they’d think it was ghosts.”

“You think the wisps are hiding out in a graveyard?” she asked.

 “Wisps are attracted to hidden treasure and places of death,” Ceff said.  “Your burial grounds qualify.”

“It’s a long shot,” I said.  “But until I can question Torn, this is our best lead.”

“I didn’t really dress for traipsing around old graveyards,” Jinx said.  She looked down at her platform shoes and frowned.  “Eat up.  I’ll go change.”

“No,” I said around a mouthful of eggs.  “We need you here to man the phones and meet with clients.  There may be parents only now realizing that their children are missing.  If more families come seeking our services, there’s a chance someone saw or heard something useful.  Maybe we’ll catch a break.”

“Okay,” she said.  “I’ll hold down the fort.  If I learn anything new, I’ll text you the info.”

“And Jenna?” I asked.  Jinx had phoned our Hunter friend while I was unconscious.  She’d mentioned their conversation earlier, but I was fuzzy on the details.

“She’s willing to work as backup so long as you find the kids in the next nine hours,” she said.  “After that, she’s on official Hunter business.  They’re sending her to deal with some fuath infestation out in the suburbs.”

I glanced at the Felix-the-Cat clock hanging on the kitchen wall.  It was already past 3 o’clock.  Nine hours wasn’t a large window of opportunity, but my goal was to find the children before midnight.  If we didn’t reach them soon, chances were good that we wouldn’t find them at all.  Or if we did, that they wouldn’t be alive—and that was unacceptable.

All the more reason to start casing local graveyards and cemeteries.  I wasn’t going to sit around doing nothing while I waited for Club Nexus to open its doors.  I washed the last bite of toast down with coffee and slid my plate across the counter.

Break time was over.

“Can I get a printout of all the victim’s street addresses?” I asked.

Jinx nodded, wiped her hands on her apron, and slapped a folder down in front of me.  Not only was my roommate a great cook, she was also the most organized office assistant on the planet.  Just don’t make the mistake of calling her a secretary or you could end up with a split lip.

She slapped my phone down on top of the folder.  The last time I remembered seeing my phone, it had been sitting on my office desk.  Jinx must have picked up my phone and the case files while Ceff helped me up the stairs to our apartment.  She tapped a nail on the screen, bringing up a map of Harborsmouth.

“I programmed the victims’ addresses into your phone,” she said.  “You can see the locations in relation to other points of interest…”

“Like local graveyards?” I asked.

“Exactly,” she said.

Ceff leaned in, though careful not to touch, and we studied the map.  Each address was marked by a small red pin on the screen.  Tapping the pin opened a window with the full name and address of the victim’s family.

“You’re a genius,” I said.

“I know,” she said.  Jinx flipped her hair and grinned.  “You can use Flyover to see the sites in relation to landmarks.  Tap this to add field notes.”

When Jinx had first insisted I upgrade my phone, I resisted.  Using a touch screen was difficult while wearing gloves, but this little app had me glad I’d finally caved.  This morning while talking to clients, I’d assumed the abductions were scattered randomly around the city.  But the pins on the map told a different story.  Fae in all city districts had been targeted, but the locations were not completely random.

The kidnappings were clustered around graveyards and cemeteries.

“Your theory appears to be correct,” Ceff said.  “The children who were taken all lived within walking distance of a burial ground.”

The major difference between graveyards and cemeteries was that graveyards are often small and located beside a church.  Cemeteries are larger, public burial places.  The primary difference for supernaturals was that graveyards were always on hallowed ground.  Large cemeteries, on the other hand, often had unconsecrated land where criminals were typically buried.  Traditionally, this area was at the rear of the cemetery, but as cities grew so did the number of deceased.  Most cemeteries now encompassed land not part of the original.  If hallowed ground had been a problem for our kidnappers, then they would have stuck to the large cemeteries.