Murder Between the Worlds: A Between the Worlds Novel (6 page)

After getting through a single day that felt like a week, the next few days seemed anti-climactic in their normality. Allie managed to get through 48 hours without any additional crises and to successfully avoid all 4 of her roommates which was no easy task. Usually the 5 friends enjoyed spending time together, often sharing communal meals and watching movies together in the evenings when they were home. Allie knew how lucky she was to have actual friendships with the people she lived with, but she dreaded having to explain her conversation with the task force. She had no doubt that Bleidd would be furious, Syndra would want the entire discussion repeated ad nauseam so that she could analyze it to death, and Liz and Jason would be worried.

As she’d expected business at the store had fallen off to almost nothing. Most of her customer base had a healthy caution around police and the idea that she was being investigated had freaked people right out, although to be fair she wasn’t sure that knowing she was helping with an investigation would have been any better. She found herself hoping that the rumor mill found something new to talk about soon and people forgot whatever story was going around about
Between The Worlds
. Realistically she could only go so long without sales before it was going to start hurting.

After work Wednesday she decided to visit an old friend so she stopped at the town’s Chinese restaurant on the way home to grab food to share. It was never a bad idea to show up to visit a creature of Fairy bearing a gift, and she knew this one had a weakness for sweet and sour chicken and pork egg rolls.
Dynasty Moon
was run by a pair of Hulijing, Chinese fox spirits, and it was widely agreed that they made the best take-out in town. They were pricey though, and Allie couldn’t eat there very often, but she felt like splurging a little, despite her worries over her anemic bank account.

After picking up her order she headed home in a better mood. She parked her little car in its usual spot and hiked around the house towards the woods behind the backyard with the bag of takeout in one hand. The wards on the perimeter of the property extended to cover the expanse of yard from the curb to the stone walls that bordered the other three sides of the lawn, but the property itself actually went back almost a dozen acres. It just wasn’t worth the energy and effort to keep wards up on the entire area all the time, so they didn’t bother. Reaching the stone wall that marked the back edge of the yard Allie climbed over easily, feeling the customary tingle as she crossed from the warded to unwarded side. Her shoes crunched in last year’s leaves and she whistled cheerfully, ducking low branches and weaving through the underbrush. There was no path to follow but Allie knew the way.

After several hundred feet she could see the open sky through the trees and the ground beneath her feet was noticeably softer. A dozen feet more and she was standing on the banks of the pond. The water stretched, black and still, as large as a football field, with the occasional clump of trees or half submerged log jutting up from the surface. She carefully sent out a tendril of focused magic to caress the surface nearest where she stood, like knocking on a door, and then waited. Within a few moments the still surface rippled, the dark, dripping head of a large horse emerging. Where the horse’s eyes should have been were dark concave hollows and he turned his head to stare at her from one of these eyeless sockets for a moment before the head disappeared beneath the water again. A moment later the surface heaved and broke as the entire fairy horse emerged, walking onto the shore to her left. The kelpie stood there, water dripping from his mane and tail, and Allie smiled widely, proffering the bag “Good afternoon Ciaran, I thought you might be in the mood for some excellent Chinese take-out.”

The huge form rippled and shifted like the surface of the water a minute before and as she watched the horse’s dark form changed into that of an equally dark haired man. Seemingly oblivious to the late spring chill and totally unabashed by his nudity Ciaran sniffed the air appreciatively.” Is that sweet and sour chicken?”

“And two pork egg rolls.” Allie agreed.

The kelpie smiled widely, “Nice to see you again Allie.”

“And you.” Allie had met the kelpie when she was wandering the woods as a child and although he normally could be quite a dangerous creature he seemed to have developed a rough sympathy for the lonely child over the years that eventually grew into a friendship. He often wandered the woods in the form of a large black dog, but he always hunted in his horse form; she had learned over the years that his humanoid form was a sign of trust with her, although she didn’t doubt he would also use it to seduce the unwary if it served his purposes. Allie had been very clear with the other people living in the house that no one else was to go back into the woods; she doubted their friendship would keep him from eating one of her roommates, and while it was unlikely that he would risk the consequences of such an action, she didn’t want to take the chance. These days the Elven Guard maintained order by ensuring none of the creatures of Fairy were allowed to harm humans. But in the old days Ciaran had fed on murderers and oath-breakers. Even as a child Allie had wondered if he occasionally still took human victims along with his animal prey and was just clever enough not to get caught, but she had never quite dared to ask.

“How have you been doing?”

“Not bad. Winter’s always a slow time though, nothing much to do, no good hunting.” He shrugged as she handed him the bag.

“Well I hope this helps a little, and you know anytime you want to borrow a book or five to read I’ll be happy to lend them.”

“That would be kind. I haven’t read anything new in ages. I’m not picky, anything will do as long as it’s a good story.” He pulled out the package of eggrolls and eagerly began devouring them in a way that she would have found disturbing if she’d let herself think about.

“Sure thing. I’ll try to get out here in the next week or two if I can, with some for you.” Allie made a mental note to go through and pick out a selection of books for him to try. She certainly had more than enough to share.

“Allie, be careful with yourself.” Ciaran said unexpectedly.

She cocked her head to the side “I’m always as careful as I can be Ciar. Unless you know something I don’t?”

He shook his head. “Not really, but there are rumors going around among the lesser Fey. Everyone’s agitated and with the Elven Guard out searching in the Borderland for someone, we should all be extra cautious. There is death in the air, and it would…pain me…to see harm come to you.”

“Well you’d certainly be seeing a lot fewer egg rolls,” Allie quipped, stalling for time.

She was touched that Ciaran cared enough to pass on any warning, since it was certainly not in his nature, and she was not at all surprised that the Guard were upsetting the Fey in the Borderland, many of whom lived in the Bordertown precisely to try to avoid the elves’ control.

“The Elven Guard has already spoken to me about their investigation. They want me to help them find out why these murders are being committed.”

The kelpie looked thoughtful as he chewed his chicken, eating it with his bare hands, “If you can help them, you should. That would put the Guard in your debt and that is not an insignificant thing. But be very careful Allie, very careful. It’s a dangerous game to play.”

She nodded “I will certainly take your excellent advice as always. Now, do you have time for a game of chess?”

Later, as she walked back through the woods to the house she found herself hoping that her part in this particular dangerous game was already over.

            ****************************

When a knock on her door woke her up early Thursday morning she felt an irrational rush of fear, expecting the worst. She rolled out of bed and pulled on her jeans from the day before, fastening them as she crossed to the door, shivering in the unusually chilly room. As a second knock sounded she yanked the door open with more force than she’d intended and caught Jason with his hand raised in mid-knock. His dark eyes widened, and he stammered, “Um, wow, sorry Allie. Hate to wake you but the breakers keep tripping, and, ummm, Bleidd isn’t here.”

He shrugged apologetically, his black hair falling across his eyes, while she felt an equally irrational rush of relief. “It’s okay Jase.”

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that indeed her clock was flashing, indicating a loss of power. One of the set-spells that protected the electrical wiring, or more likely the one on the fuse box, must have failed or been disrupted. Not an emergency but a tedious thing to fix. A quick look out the window at the pale morning light let her guess it was probably still early, maybe around 7 a.m.

Depending what shift he was working Jason was usually an early riser who made the coffee for the whole house and sometimes full, complex, breakfasts if he had time before heading out to work at the Fire Department. Since he was the only one in the house who could cook well, the idea of a possible breakfast besides cereal was a strong motivator. She yawned as Jason continued to look worried. “Seriously Takada, chill. It’s no big deal. I’ll fix it.”

She stepped out into the hall with him, not bothering to dress beyond the t-shirt she slept in and jeans. If it was a quick enough fix she could go back to sleep as soon as it was done. Or maybe after it was fixed and she’d eat. “I’ll head down to the basement of doom as long as you promise to make coffee and a decent breakfast for me.”

Jason smiled widely, “Hey, for the joys of electric power and your fabulous magical effort you get coffee and an omelet.”

“Bless you, Jason, bless you.” They both laughed as she jogged down the stairs and through the kitchen to the basement door. She flipped the switch at the top of the stairs without expecting anything and then moved easily into the darkness.

The basement was a dreary musty place, full of old boxes, unwanted junk and an abundance of spiders. No one ever went down there without a reason, but unfortunately it was also the electrical center of the house. At the bottom of the old wooden staircase was a small utility room which housed the furnace, hot water heater, and the house’s main fuse panel.

Allie entered the little room and opened the fuse panel door. The slight tingle of magic that should have tickled her fingers was unmistakably absent and she sighed. The spells she had set over the system to insulate the electrical wiring from the magical atmosphere had been broken, possibly by something as simple as a mouse or insect crossing their boundary. She–or Bleidd–could create more powerful permanent spells to protect the wiring but that sort of major enchantment was at the very limits of her abilities and would exhaust her for weeks. It never seemed worth it when it only took an hour at most to set up the lesser spells. And Bleidd had never been willing to risk the effort either, although his reasons were his own.

Chanting softly she quickly framed a basic spell and flipped the fuses back on. Instantly the hum of the furnace kicked in and light flooded the doorway behind her from the bare bulb that hung out in the main basement. She heard Jason’s appreciative voice in the kitchen and didn’t doubt that the smell of coffee would soon be wafting down the stairs. That spell would act as a Band-Aid for the moment as she got to work resetting the stronger enchantments that normally kept things running.

She had reframed the larger spell and was chanting and tracing the physical symbols of the spell over the panel when she heard Jason calling down the stairs again. She ignored him, unable to stop without losing the effort and energy she’d already put in. Moments later she was aware of the sound of the stairs creaking, and she felt the hair raising up on the back of her neck; the steps were too light to be Jason and she was almost certain it was more than one person. Still, if she stopped now she’d lose all her work so far and have to start over. She pushed the thoughts away and focused on finishing the spell work. As soon as the last syllable left her lips and she felt the spell settle fully into place she pulled her attention back outwards. The light from the door was lessened and she knew before she turned that it was being blocked by someone, or more than one someone, standing there. She took a deep breath and then turned to face her audience.

Two of the Elven Guard who had been at her store earlier in the week stood there looking at her. One was fair haired, the other dark. She wondered how they could have found her here and then realized that of course they knew where she lived because they knew where Bleidd and Syndra lived and she had told them herself who her roommates were. The two Guards looked incongruous in the grimy basement, like exotic art in a cheap motel. Allie was suddenly, acutely aware that she was standing there in dirty jeans, in a t-shirt she had been sleeping in every night for the last week, without a bra, barefoot, and with unbrushed hair. Both elves watched her calmly as she wished she could disappear through the cracked concrete floor.

After an uncomfortable silence the fair haired elf, Jessilaen, spoke, “Good morning, Aliaine.”

She swallowed hard, “Allie. Everyone calls me Allie.’ And then, belatedly she added, “And good morning to you Jessilaen and, uh,”
Oh dear Gods what was his name?
“Brynneth.”

The Guard commander smiled warmly, “You may call me Jess if you prefer.”

She felt an almost hysterical urge to tell him that among humans Jess was usually a female name but she didn’t quite dare. Elves were notoriously particular about their names, rarely offering nicknames. She knew that offering one to her, although probably a response to her insistence on being called Allie, was a rare gift. From the look on the other elf’s face he had not expected it either. She nodded, unsure of the proper way to respond. Jess stepped into the tiny room, leaning forward to examine her spell, and she felt suddenly off balance by his close proximity and her own state of undress. She crossed her arms across her chest as subtly as she could, feeling mortified all over again.