Witch for Hire (6 page)

I turned around and handed it to Jones. "It's spelled so the glow will increase as you get closer to the person who matches that print, but it will stop glowing if you are going the wrong way. It will turn from gold to green when you are within five feet of the right person. That spell should last for a while. I'm not sure how long, but more than two weeks for sure."

"That was cool." He sounded more like himself when he was in awe of magic I'd performed.

"It was fun." I couldn't avoid smiling. "Did they find any other prints on the device?"
 

"That's the only one so far."

"Then the cleaning spell was intended to wipe away any identifying biological traces. I'd guess they didn't give the spell enough time to work."

 
"Hmm. Makes sense. I'll inform the sheriff after we finish." This man really did love his work. He was grinning just watching me cast a spell he couldn't.

I was feeling tired, but I needed to remind him of something. "I can't vouch for what this person did. The only thing that magic will do is find the person who left that print."

"No worries. Investigating is our job."

I hauled my stuff out of the tent and everyone who'd been waiting for me to move got back to work. The chair outside of the tent provided a convenient place to rest. I was unsure of the time, but very sure that it was raining harder.

"If you're waiting for me to give you an idea for tracking down the trolls I don't have one." The cheerful Jones was gone, replaced by tired grumpy man.
 

An idea had been simmering since they requested tracking, but it wasn't a spell I'd done before. "I know how to track the trolls, but it won't be fast or easy. I need soil samples from every half mile inside and outside the fence of the preserve, and vials of blood from a few different trolls. Using the soil and very big map of Georgia, I'll make a model. With the blood I can create a spell that will give you an idea of where something with similar blood is located."

"Back to the office, then?" Jones asked

"Yup. Did you drive yourself?" I needed to know if we were taking one or two cars back.

"Yes. I can talk to the sheriff and meet you back at the office, if you want to go ahead." He looked at his watch. "It's eleven-thirty. Why don't you grab us some lunch—"

"I brought lunch. It's one of Landa's emergency packs."

He returned my grin. "Bless you child. I'll see you at the office."

Forty minutes later we were munching through hot stew and chips. Jones looked better, and I knew he'd feel better once the minor healing charm I'd forced on him had a chance to do its work.
 

"Do you know how far a troll could've traveled before finding shelter for the day?" I asked. It wasn't something covered in my troll studies since they've been in preserves all of my life. The trolls would need shelter before daylight or we'd be looking for statuary. "The short ones are six feet tall. That's a long stride."

"Hum. I'm not sure. Could we start with a small map, and then do something to make them show up on a larger map if they left the area shown on the small map? If one of those 'Free the Trolls' groups were involved, the trolls could've been in a van."

I don't think of everything. That was the beauty of this job; I could get help without sounding silly. "Very true. I could link two maps. When's the dirt getting here?"

"I think we have enough time to finish lunch and set up," he answered

I nodded my understanding. We continued to eat in silence since we were too tired for small talk. I thought through most of the spells I would do this afternoon, before deciding that my brain needed a break. I hoped the satyr and centaur had moved on today. I hadn't enjoyed their company. I wasn't sure if I wanted Elron to be there or not. He was interesting but rather annoying.

I finished eating first and quickly started cleaning up. He finished, and helped me put things back in the cooler and in the trash.

"Ready to set everything up?" I asked.

"No, but the faster we work, the earlier I can go home and sleep." He shuffled off to the work room and I followed.

We cleared off the work table, pulled the removable glass top off, and started stacking the supplies on it. The large Forsyth County map sat in the middle, with markers, salt, ritual wooden knives, and hair spray around it.

Spells, to me, were a lot like cakes. They were best built in the proper order, one layer at a time. I could complete later portions of the spell before the first bits, but it would be trickier to connect them; much like putting flowers on a cake before the icing.
 

We pounced on the poor man who brought us the dirt, grabbing it before he could even stutter out how it was labeled. He also handed us six vials of troll blood from different trolls. The quantity of blood wasn't as important as the diversity. We quickly arranged the bags of dirt and spread them out in the correct area. After placing the dirt I poured the troll blood into a small glass bowl, draping it with spells for preservation and purity.
 

With a marker, I started writing runes on the edge of the map. Slowly, layer by layer, I built the spells. I told the searching spell to look for things with similar blood, but not that blood. I told it to look outside the area with dirt like this (the troll preserve), but inside the area patrolled by the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office. I told it to put glowing spots on the map where it found things with similar blood. I told the spells to put information that didn't fit on this map on the larger map, and gave it a way of converting size between the county map and the map of the state.

By the time I completed the spells, an hour had passed. Jones gently covered the dirt with hair spray to keep it in place. We cleaned up, giving the hair spray time to dry, and shifted the glass table top back on to keep the dirt from being disturbed.

"How long do you think it will take before anything shows up?"

I sighed. "I don't know. A few hours, I think. It has to search everything with blood even remotely similar and then pick the ones that match. If you don't see anything by this time tomorrow I'll come back and tinker with the spells, though refining the spells could be tricky. What else do I need to do?"

"Nothing that I can think of. I'll tell anyone that asks that you were tapped out for the day."

I grabbed my bags. This was the time to get out. "Thanks. Keep me updated."
 

He nodded tiredly and I shuffled back to the car where I dropped everything on the back seat. Tomorrow would be soon enough to reorganize. I pulled a stay-awake charm out of my spare bag and activated it. The charm would buzz if I started to fall asleep. If I'd been smart, I would've grabbed one when I was called out to the mayor's house yesterday. When I repacked the bags, I needed to move the stay-awake charms from an emergency bag to my regular kit.
 

The hotel I passed looked inviting. Between the lack of clothes and active cases south of my apartment, the thoughts of a hotel didn't last long. The last time I'd crashed at a hotel, I ended up driving twice as far as I should have because I wasn't at home when an emergency call came in. To top it off, I'd had to eat nasty fast food, and ended up sick.

Even with the stay-awake charm, it was another drive that required singing, stopping every thirty minutes, a lot of hot tea, and a few donuts. Arriving home, I could've kissed the ground. It was annoying how often I was bone tired because of my job, but every job had down sides. Erratic hours, long days, and the never ending travel weren't a bad cost for work I loved. Retreating to my apartment, I was almost sad that I didn't see Elron. Considering my tired and grumpy state, it would have been interesting.

Blessed oblivion claimed me, wrapping me in a dark warm spot where I could hibernate until I was rested. What felt like seconds later, I was rudely awakened by my phone ringing; silver hair fading from my dreams.
 

"Oaks Consulting. How can I help you?" I yawned and looked at the clock, surprised to see that two hours had passed.

"It's Jerry, and not an emergency. You can relax."

I sighed with relief. "Oh, good. I was going to tell you no if it was, but this is easier." He chuckled. "What do you need?"

"The information from the unicorn was good. We have a few houses we want to check out, but we want you there. I'm worried about what else this person is keeping. I'm betting it's more dangerous than the dogs. When can you get down here?"

"Tomorrow, say eight?" I wanted to get a lot of sleep tonight.

"Sure. I'm sorry I woke you."

"No worries. I need to get dinner."

"Good timing then. Bye."

I rolled out of bed, sniffing. There was a weird smell in the room. Picking up my arm, I sniffed it. The smell was me. I dumped my clothes into a special hamper and triggered an odor charm I had hanging over my bed to clear the air. Realizing that any clothing smelling that strongly would have made me and the bed smell, I stripped the sheets, depositing them in the hamper on my way to the shower.
 

After pulling on comfortable but presentable clothes, I headed to dinner. Walking in, I realized something was going on. Landa was the only other person in the room, and the side bar was empty.

"There you are, dear. I was just fixing this tray for you. No one else is eating down here tonight so I didn't set everything out." She wrapped the last of the three plates on the tray.

"Thank you." I realized something was missing. "Where's Elron?" That elf would never miss a chance to make fun of me.

"He left early this morning, as did Ch'que. Why?" She cocked her head causing her large pointed ears to tilt. Landa wasn't beautiful by human standards, but she was an attractive brownie. She had a deep brown skin, large green eyes, thin lips, a delicate nose, and was four and a half feet tall. Appearances could be deceiving though; brownies were tough.

"I've seen him at dinner every day he was here, so I thought he would be here tonight. I knew he would leave, I just wasn't sure when." It sounded thin, even to me.

"Of course, dear. Here, take this tray and go rest. I heard about those trolls getting out. I sure hope you catch them soon."

The tray was surprisingly heavy. How much food did she think I needed? "I did my best to set them up with a few spells that should make it easy to find the trolls. I'll know tomorrow if they worked or if I need to do something else. Thank you, Landa."

"No problem, dear."

I carried the tray back to my room, more curious than I would care to admit about Elron, his appearances in my dreams, and the contents of the tray.

Elron

I hadn't felt this alive since my mate died. For the first time, the pain of Sylvia's death was distant, more like a scar and less like a jagged wound that hadn't healed. None of the humans remembered the trolls being rounded up, but I remembered. I remembered when one of the last free tribes had hunted Sylvia. She had died a horrible death at their hands when she should have grown old with me.

All things bright and beautiful in my world had ended the day she died. I had rejoiced when the trolls were locked away. I still don't know how my friends kept me on this side, or how other elves took a new partner after their mates died. I could understand wanting the company, but not the speedy replacement of one who was special.
 

I strode into camp, realizing how little had changed in the few days I had been gone. Other than the leaves on the ground it looked just like it had before I left. These woods looked the same as they had every year for the past hundred years.
 

Studying the lovely trees, with houses hollowed out of their trunks, my thoughts solidified. In the last hundred years, nothing had changed. The houses and residents were the same. As a race, we had only had enough children to replace the ones who had died. As a people, we were stagnant. We hadn't changed significantly in the past thousand years. If we weren't so long lived, the race would have collapsed.

I had always considered myself an intelligent man, but for such an intelligent man, I felt rather stupid. Why had we thought the world's changes wouldn't affect us? We used our magic to encourage trees to grow so we could live in them, at peace with nature, but nature was disappearing in many places.
 

I walked into my small house, still remembering when I had moved out of the tree I had grown for Sylvia and myself. I'd wanted to stay, but every moment in those walls became a reminder of what I'd lost. This dwelling was small, and didn't bring up a single memory.
 

Everything was still in its place. The small bed was neatly made, with the bookshelves rising around it. Beneath the window, opposite the bed, was a small reading area with two chairs on either side of a round table. There was a small area, behind the front door, where I could cook.

I peered out the window, checking on the seedlings I had planted; they were in good health. Looking at them, I had inspiration for a new project or two. Walking outside, I took stock of the plants, needing something special. There was one that would work, and be willing to work, for my current need.

After cleaning a shallow pot from behind the house, I filled the bottom with all the right things for this little evergreen before coaxing it out of the ground and into its new soil. As soon as it was settled, I talked to it. This took time. Trees, even young excited ones, don't communicate on the same scale that most people do. Hours later, I was sure it understood what I wanted and would grow with minimum fuss.

Michelle

I fished my phone out of my pocket. "Oaks Consulting." I was terrified that this would be bad news. I really didn't want any more of that. I'd been making the rounds with the Cobb and Cherokee police since eight, but had been in the station at seven. In the ten houses the police had scouted I hadn't sensed anything more dangerous than a pot that prevents over-boiling, but we weren't finished yet.