Miss Frost Braves The Blizzard: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 5)

by Kristen Painter

  “Hmm, hello?” I was too bleary-eyed to look at the caller ID.

  “Miss Frost, this is Sheriff Merrow. Sorry to wake you, but I believe that answers my question.”

  “Huh, what?” I rubbed at my face, trying to figure out what was going on.

  “I’m looking for Birdie. She’s not answering her cell or house phone, and there was no answer at her door this morning.”

  “Birdie?”

  “Yes.”

  I was a little more awake now. “I haven’t seen her. Maybe…” I wasn’t sure it was my place to say what I was about to say, but I wasn’t entirely alert and my judgment was iffy. “She might be at Jack’s. What with the power out and all. Two is warmer than one.”

  He grunted. Which was when I grasped what I’d just said to the sheriff about his beloved aunt.

  I was now completely awake. “I just mean, Sinclair stayed over here because his building didn’t have as much power as mine does, but not in my—that is, he slept on the couch, and I thought maybe Birdie had stayed at Jack’s or he stayed at her place, probably on the couch, too, and that’s why—”

  The sheriff cleared his throat. “She did mention something about going to see him. But she ought to answer her cell no matter where she was. Sorry to wake you.”

  The line went dead. But right before it had, I realized it was possible to hear embarrassment in a werewolf’s voice.

  I snickered as I put the phone down and stretched.

  Mmm. The scent of coffee reached my nose. That put a smile on my face as I got out of bed, put on my robe and slippers and headed for the kitchen. Only as I was walking through the living room did I remember that I hadn’t done a thing to my hair. Probably looked like I had a yeti clinging to my head, but well, it was high time Sin understood what he was getting into.

  He was at the stove cooking. He was in pajama pants and T-shirt and looked way better than anyone had a right to at this hour. Sweet fancy Christmas, that was a sight to wake up to. I slid onto one of the stools at the island. “Morning.”

  He turned around, smiling at me. “Morning, beautiful.”

  I ran a hand through my hair. My fingers got tangled on a knot. I yanked them free. “I’m not sure I should enjoy how convincingly you lie.”

  With a soft chuckle, he held up a cup. “Coffee?”

  “Yes, please.”

  He filled the mug and brought it to me. “You look adorable. Despite whatever that is on your head.”

  I laughed. Today was going to be a good day. Even if I had accidentally ratted out Birdie’s extracurricular activities to her nephew.

  Sin brought me a plate of French toast next. “Want to take a drive over to the shop with me after breakfast? I just want to check on it and the apartment. Make sure everything’s okay.”

  “I’d love to.”

  “Great.” He brought over a second plate and sat next to me. His gaze went up to my hair one more time. “This is a brand-new side of you.”

  “Rethinking things, huh?”

  His eyes lit with unbridled amusement. “Just wondering if I should have gotten you a brush for Christmas instead of that jacket.”

  As soon as breakfast was over, we were in Sinclair’s doughnut-scented SUV (a side effect of his deliveries), crawling through the streets of Nocturne Falls. Any reasonable speed was impossible since the roads were thick with fresh snow and more was being added by the minute. I had a feeling the snowplows had given up. At this pace, the normally ten minute trip to his shop would take us forty-five minutes. I didn’t really care, though. Spending all this time with him was a real treat.

  Sin peered up through the windshield. “It has to stop snowing at some point.”

  I pointed my hands at the road. “You want me to see if I can do a little something about it?”

  “That seems like it would require a lot of magic on your part, and I don’t want you wearing yourself out. Besides, it’s not coming down so hard I can’t see. Just wondering how much more of this we’re in for.”

  “I wish I could tell you. Winters in the North Pole are much more controlled than this. Mostly because my dad’s in charge of controlling them.” I sat back. “At least we’re in no rush. Take your time.”

  “I will.”

  My phone rang. I dug it out of my coat pocket and checked the caller ID. I didn’t recognize the number, but I wasn’t going to screen calls considering the current state of emergency in town. “Hello?”

  “Princess Frost?” The male voice rumbled through the receiver. “It’s Jack Van Zant.”

  “Hi, Jack. Please, just call me Jayne.” That was Birdie’s influence right there. “Everything all right in your end of town?”

  “Not exactly. Have you seen Birdie?”

  The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “No, I thought she was with you. I take it she’s not?”

  “No. She’s not with Hank or Titus or Bridget either.”

  This wasn’t good. Birdie might be a werewolf, but that didn’t mean she was impervious to weather. And if she wasn’t at her home or Jack’s or with any of her family, then that was reason enough to worry. Especially because Hank had been looking for her earlier. “I’m out with Sinclair right now. We’re in his SUV.” I looked at Sin. “We can drive around and have a look for her, see if her car is anywhere.”

  Sin nodded at me, agreeing to what I’d just said we’d do without actually knowing what it was. He’d probably figured it out from what he’d overheard. Something his necromancer senses had undoubtedly helped with too.

  “Her car is at her house,” Jack said. “But that’s where her trail stops. Any other help you could give us would be great. Her family is trying to track her, but this damned snow is making it impossible.” He sounded so worried that my heart ached. “Sorry about the language. Thank you. Call if you find anything.”

  “I will. Right away. You too.”

  He hung up.

  “Birdie’s missing.” I chewed on my lip.

  “I gathered. You think she’d go out in this weather? Where do you want me to go?”

  “I don’t—actually, I have an idea. I asked her to make sure Myra’s house was off-limits, and she said she was going to check on it herself on the way home. I’m guessing that was around six or seven last night since that’s about when she gets off, I think. Anyway, let’s start at Myra’s. See if we can follow her tracks.”

  “Didn’t Jack say something about her car?” He raised his brows. “I wasn’t eavesdropping. Necromancer hearing is pretty sharp.”

  “No worries. And yes, he said her car was at her house but that’s where her trail ended.”

  “So she must have made it to Myra’s, then home.”

  “Unless she walked to Myra’s. She said she only lives a few blocks away. Maybe she had to run home first, then intended to go over to Myra’s only to find out her car had conked out with the cold. Walking there from her house wouldn’t be out of the question if they’re really that close.”

  “Myra’s it is, then.”

  I nodded. “My gut is still telling me Myra’s is the place to start. Especially with that open portal.” I pursed my lips. “I wonder if it’s possible to fall through a portal like that.”

  “You think Birdie might be in the North Pole?”

  “Anything’s possible. Maybe we’ll be able to tell when we get there.”

  “Let’s hope.” He took the next turn, and we headed in the direction of Myra Grimshaw’s.

  The house was pretty much as we’d last seen it, except the flowery pattern of snow around it was basically invisible now. The combination of continually falling snow and many sets of footprints had obliterated the original shape. It was hard to make much of anything out with the fresh cover of powder.

  There was also bright yellow police tape across the front door and going from railing to railing on either side of the steps up to the porch. I was guessing the sheriff had done the door, then Birdie had added the bit on the railing. When Birdie did so
mething, she did it all the way. “I’d say Birdie was here.”

  “Looks that way.” Sin parked, and we went up the sidewalk.

  We had to duck under the police tape to climb the porch stairs, and when we got to the front door, it was locked. As it should have been.

  I tried the handle one more time like it might magically open on the second try. “Well, it’s supposed to be locked, so I can’t complain about that.”

  Not that locked doors could keep me out. My inherited Santa Slide ability meant I could get into any space that wasn’t airtight. I wasn’t quite ready to pull that trick out of the bag in front of Sin, however. I had to think fast. “Hey, you want to check around back? See if there’s an open window or back door?”

  “Sure.” He lightly pressed his hand to the small of my back as if to reassure me that he wouldn’t leave me for long. It was sweet, and a gesture that was very him. “Give me a couple minutes.”

  “Thanks.” As soon as he disappeared around the side of the house, I took a quick look around for nosy neighbors, then did my thing.

  I materialized on the other side of the door on all fours. I rocked back on my heels and took a few seconds, leaning against the door to catch my breath and let my head stop spinning. It might have been a smidge worse than usual, but then again, I might have just been paranoid. Or still feeling some aftereffects of the magical whiplash I’d endured earlier.

  I knew I’d sat there long enough when the knob on the kitchen door jiggled. Sin was on the back porch. I forced myself to my feet. That gave me a moment of light-headedness, but it passed pretty quickly. I started forward, wobbling a bit, but I was walking a straight line by the time I was in the kitchen. I unlocked the back door and smiled at Sin.

  “How’d you get in?” He wiped his feet on the outside mat before entering.

  “Magic.” I didn’t want to lie, so I hoped he didn’t ask for more explanation than that. I changed the subject as quickly as I could. “Let’s head downstairs and see if we can find any evidence of Birdie having been in the basement.”

  He was studying me a little too hard. “I’ll go first. You look pale. Then if you fall, I’ll be your safety net.”

  I made myself smile. “I’m fine. Just weird being in a dead lady’s house.” Which it was.

  He snorted softly, but let it go. He went to the basement steps, flipped the light on and went down.

  I followed, my view blocked by his broad back and shoulders. Which was why, when he let out a soft curse, I wasn’t sure what it was all about.

  The second my gaze hit the floor, I understood. “That ice puddle has gotten bigger.”

  “Yes, it has.” He moved to the side so I could come down off the landing. “I’d say by another six inches. What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know. My dad didn’t mention that was even a possibility.” I crouched down by the ice puddle.

  Sin took a step forward and put his hand on my shoulder. “What are you planning on doing?”

  “I was going to touch the puddle. No magic. I just want to see if I can stick my hand through it and feel if the portal is…turned on or whatever. Then we’d know if it’s a two-way deal or not.”

  “Here.” He held out his hand to me. “Give me your other hand, so I can hold on to you in case it tries to suck you through or something.”

  I almost made a snarky comment about tying ourselves to the railing, too, but I didn’t. Sin’s main goal always seemed to be my protection. I wasn’t going to give him grief about that.

  “Okay.” I took his hand. “Thanks. Just so you know, if I get another magical shock, you might feel it.”

  He shrugged and squeezed my hand. “I’ll deal.”

  I smiled and turned back to the puddle. “Here goes.”

  I reached out and carefully touched my fingertips to the surface of the puddle. It was shockingly cold, which was saying something coming from me. A shimmer of blue light—magic—danced across the face of the ice. And just like that, my hand slipped in.

  I swear I touched something…furry? But the surprise of it was so intense I jerked back, falling against Sin’s legs.

  “You okay? What happened?”

  “My hand went through.”

  “I saw that.”

  “And then I touched something. Something that absolutely wasn’t Birdie.”

  “You okay?”

  I nodded and got to my feet. “The portal is definitely operating on both sides. But I don’t see any sign that Birdie might have fallen through.” I looked around. “I mean, she’s a werewolf, right? If she realized she was getting pulled through a magical portal, or falling through one, she would have fought it.”

  “For sure.” Sinclair bent down and ran his hand along the smooth concrete beside the ice. “There would be claw marks on this floor at least.”

  “I think so too.” I sighed. “So where is she?”

  He straightened. “I wish I knew. Let’s go over to her house. Can’t hurt to check there too.”

  “No, it can’t.” And we had no other leads anyway.

  We went out the front door, turning the latch to lock it behind us, and got back into the SUV. Sin cranked up the heat and pulled back onto the snowy road toward Birdie’s. We got only a few blocks before a fallen tree blocked our path.

  “There will be more trees down if this snow keeps up. They can’t take the weight.” He turned right. “This will add a few more minutes to our trip, but we should be able to get to Birdie’s, no problem.”

  “I’m not that familiar with this part of town. And I’ve lived here longer. How do you know it so well?”

  He smiled. “Deliveries.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “When I first opened, I did anything to make a sale. Including delivering doughnuts to whoever wanted them whenever they wanted them. Now I just do big orders. And I’m not always the one who does the delivering, as you know.”

  “Who ran the shop then?”

  “Johnny.”

  “I didn’t realize he’d worked for you that long.”

  “Yeah, he’s a good kid. Works at the store, then leaves at two, heads home for a bit then goes to evening classes at the community college.”

  “Wow, that’s dedication.”

  “For sure.”

  We took a left and up ahead one of the small parks that were scattered throughout the residential areas of town came into view. Except I’d never seen it look like this before.

  Sin laughed and shook his head as he slowed down even more. “I guess that’s what happens when you give supernatural kids a bunch of snow days.”

  I inched as far forward in my seat as the safety belt would let me. “Holy giant snowballs.”

  Sin peered through the windshield. “Is that…an ice castle?”

  “Yeah, I think it is.” The structure rose up out of the middle of the park, towering over the houses around it. There was a statue in the center of that park, but the kids must have built around it. The fortress had everything you’d want in an ice castle. Except for maybe a door, which must have been on the other side. Turrets, look-out slots, larger windows—a small, blue furry thing zipped past one of the windows.

  “Stop the car!”

  Sin hit the brakes. We skidded a few feet, but I didn’t wait for the SUV to settle as I jumped out and ran to the fortress.

  Sin came up behind me a few seconds later. “What happened?”

  I stood in front of the ice wall and stared up at the frozen monstrosity in front of me. A familiar stench settled over me, telling me everything I needed to know. “This wasn’t built by kids. This is way worse.”

  “Worse? How?”

  “It was built by yetis.”

  “You’re sure about that?” Sin looked skeptical. I didn’t blame him. Most people hear yeti and conjure up images of an abominable snowman. Sometimes it’s a scary one, sometimes it’s a giant Muppet.

  “Positive. I saw one go past the window. They don’t look anything like what
most people think. And now I know why this weather is so bad. In fact, everything is falling into place. The smell at Myra’s. The preserves being eaten.” I shook my head in disgust for not realizing it sooner. “They must have started coming through the moment the portal was formed.”

  “Wait, the yetis are causing the weather? They can do that?”

  “Yes. They wield strong winter magic. It’s a defense mechanism, mostly, but in this case, I think they’re trying to re-create the North Pole here. Although they’re overdoing it a little.”

  Then a shockingly familiar face peered over the top of the wall. “Princess? Is that you?”

  “Birdie?” I almost fell over. “What are you doing up there? Come down here.”

  “I can’t. These rotten little blue rodents kidnapped me. I was at Myra’s, making sure everything was secure, when they ambushed me.”

  “Can’t you just come down?”

  “Nope. I tried to leave and one bit me. Didn’t break the skin, thanks to my coat, but it hurt. Then I tried snarling at them, you know, all half-wolf, to get them to back off, and they practically attacked. I can’t imagine what they’d do if I went full wolf.”

  “Are you okay otherwise? Are you warm enough? Do you need anything?” This was not good.

  “I’m fine, all things considered. Could I be warmer? Sure. But that’s not the worst of it. These things smell like a garbage truck had a baby with a dog food factory on a hot summer day.”

  I nodded. “They’re known for their stench. We’ll get you out of there.” I wasn’t sure how, though.

  “Well, until you do…” She leaned over the wall a little more, and the light glinted off the crystal snowflake pendant at her throat. “Let Jack and the kids know what’s going on, would you? One of these walking bath mats ate my cell phone.”

  I pulled my phone out. “I’ll do it right now.” I dialed Jack first, since I’d promised him I would.

  Sinclair pointed toward the other side of the ice castle. “Going to do a little recon. Be right back.”

  I nodded at Sin as Jack answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Jack. I found Birdie. She’s basically fine. She’s at Balfour Park. You need to come here.”