Starlight Web

by Yasmine Galenorn

  I gave her a shrug. “I’m good at catching emotions. And there’s an unspoken connection between the two of you.”

  Caitlin groaned. “What the hell do I do? If I break my engagement, I’ll start a feud between his family and mine and then my father will have to pay a breach of contract fee to them. But…I fell for Tad over a year ago.”

  I thought about the situation for a moment. Some shifter families were very big on arranged marriages, mostly to ensure the bloodline held. “Do you think your fiancé might feel the same way you do?”

  Caitlin sighed. “I don’t know. We never really talk about love. He’s started talking about our future together. He’s talked about buying a house, and he said that he doesn’t mind if I work.”

  I grimaced. That kind of thinking had never been a part of the magical community, though it was still too rampant in the human realm. “I thought cats were more matriarchal.”

  “The lions, yes, and housecat shifters, definitely. Tigers can go either way. But among the Mount Baker Bobcat Shifters—my Pride—the men tend to govern. If I want to remain part of the clan, I have to abide by the rules.” Caitlin reached for a brownie. “I’ll try to feel out what Arlo—my fiancé—is thinking. For all I know, maybe he’s in love with somebody else, too.” She paused as my phone began to ring.

  I glanced at the screen. It was Millie Tuptin. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “I called to find out how Tad and Hank are doing.” Millie paused, then added, “Two of the search and rescue team fell ill. I sent them to urgent care, and the doctor can’t find anything wrong with them.”

  “Did you send them to an urgent care facility that focuses on Otherkin?”

  “No, they’re human,” she said. I could hear her tapping on the desk with a pencil in worry.

  “Why don’t you call Dr. Fairsight at the hospital? Ask her to see if what’s afflicting them is the same thing that Tad and Hank went through.” I paused, then added, “We’re going to talk to someone to see if there’s a way we can break the curse. If not, then it really would be best to build a security fence around the entire area.”

  “Will you let me know what you find out? I’ll have my men head over to the hospital. So, about Tad and Hank?”

  “Oh, right. They’re being released today, so they should be back in the office by the afternoon.” I chatted with her a little more, and then hung up.

  “Millie?” Caitlin said.

  I nodded. “Two members of the S&R team are sick. I’m losing hope that we can cleanse the land. Sometimes curses are too ancient and embedded to break.”

  “True, but there has to be something we can do.” Caitlin dusted her hands on her pants. “I’m going to wash up, then why don’t we tidy up the office for when the boys get back?”

  We spent the next twenty minutes organizing files and cleaning and dusting. Then, at 10:45, we headed out in my car for Rowan Firesong’s house.

  Rowan Firesong was not only the oldest witch in Moonshadow Bay, she was one of the most powerful. I had the feeling there were others like her, hidden out of sight. Powerful magical beings usually played it close to the chest. The more powerful you were, and the longer you lived, the more enemies you accumulated.

  Rowan’s house was back from the curb, and was also buttressed against the Mystic Wood. The thicket wove its way around Moonshadow Bay in a U-shape, surrounding the entire town with a cloak of magic and shadow.

  The one-story house itself was old and weathered, but not in that falling-down way that abandoned houses had. Ivy and barren rose bushes climbed the trellised arch that arced over the sidewalk leading up to the house. Mullioned windows lined the cottage walls, shuttered against the windstorms that raged through the Pacific Northwest.

  The yard was full of trees—cedar and fir, and a massive weeping sequoia that bent and twisted into something akin to a faerie-tale creature.

  “This is beautiful,” I said, transfixed by the chaotic yard. The snow covered most of the grass, but ferns poked through the blanket of white. Hydrangea bushes lined the walkway, along with giant patches of mums, silent under the mounds of snow.

  “Her yard is as wild as the Mystic Wood,” Caitlin said. “We’re being watched.”

  I nodded. I had the same feeling. I glanced around and then my gaze lit on an owl perched in one of the fir trees. It sat perfectly still, watching us.

  “Her familiar, ten to one.” I nudged Caitlin’s arm and nodded toward the bird.

  “Hmm, I think you’re right.”

  We climbed the three steps that led to the porch. A porch swing hung from the ceiling next to the door. I looked for a bell, but there was only a knocker shaped like a gargoyle. I raised the heavy brass knocker and rapped it twice. As I did so, I caught a whiff of perfume from behind my right shoulder.

  You didn’t think we’d let you walk into this house without one of us here?

  I recognized Esmara’s voice and laughed.

  “What’s funny?” Caitlin asked.

  I started to answer when the door began to open. “Tell you later,” I said, though I was pretty sure that Rowan would be able to sense Esmara’s presence.

  Sure enough, Rowan glanced over my shoulder. “Come in, you three.” She nodded toward the living room.

  “Three?” Caitlin asked as Rowan hustled her in.

  “Tell you later,” I said again, following.

  Rowan was lean and weathered, with her long silver hair pulled back into a bun. She wore a denim jumper over a peasant blouse, with what looked like a pair of pinking shears in her pocket. Her eyes glinted, her gaze darting over us. I could tell she missed nothing.

  “Sit down, both of you.” Rowan motioned to the sofa. She sat in a rocking chair opposite. “Tell me why you’re here. I have a busy schedule, so you’ll understand if I do away with chitchat and the usual niceties.”

  The look in her eyes was stern, and her tone made it clear she didn’t suffer fools, small talk, or anything else that might waste time.

  “All right, we’ll come straight to the point,” Caitlin said.

  Together, we laid out what had happened with our clients, then Tad and Hank, and with the property. Now and then, Rowan interjected a question but for the most part, she kept silent until Caitlin and I finished.

  “So, we’re wondering if you can clear the curse on that land.”

  “If I can’t, what will you do?” she asked.

  “Tell the real estate developer to look elsewhere. Ask the chief of police to erect a fence around the perimeter to keep people out. Put up warning signs,” I said.

  Rowan frowned, leaning back in her chair. “Tell me, January—what do you think about this? What do your instincts tell you?”

  I glanced up at her. Of course Rowan would be able to sense my magical signature.

  “You know I’m a witch, then?” I asked.

  “Yes, and I know you’re Fam-Trad. Your guardian is standing right behind you.” Rowan laughed. “I helped your great-grandfather found this town. Of course I know who you are. And you,” she said, turning to Caitlin. “You’re a young bobcat shifter—still finding her way in the world.”

  We stared at her, at a loss for words. Rowan had a way of taking over the room.

  “Well, I asked you a question,” Rowan said, turning back to me. “And don’t ask your guardian—I don’t want to know what she has to say about this. I want to know what your instincts are.”

  I closed my eyes and lowered myself into a trance, trying to sink past the fear. As I pictured the land and the institution, it seemed covered with a gray miasma, a shadow of smoke and grime and age. I drifted even lower—past the building, down into the earth below the brick and mortar.

  And there it was, sleeping in a dark corner of a very deep cavern. A pocket of rage, a cunning sentience that was voracious. It was rooted into the land with tendrils plunging so deep that they grew right down into the molten core. The rage came from a painful place, and as I peeked into the abyss, I could see a trail
of bones leading down into the hole, a trail of bones and memories as old as the world. The elemental attracted anger and turmoil.

  The elemental had been here since the mountains had first risen, since the earthquakes and clashing tectonic plates had birthed the Cascades into being. It had been slumbered quietly before that, but the tumultuous movements of the earth had shattered its peace, and it had been awake and angry ever since, its venom cursing the land.

  The elemental suddenly seemed aware of my presence and turned toward me. I gasped and broke out of my trance, almost falling off the sofa in my hurry to remain anonymous. I didn’t want it to notice me.

  “Cripes…” I was shaking. “That…thing…”

  “You sensed it, then?” Rowan said. “You understand what it is?”

  I nodded. “It’s like a geyser, waiting to go off every time something triggers it. No wonder the native people of this area left that site alone.”

  “Yes, because they knew they couldn’t win.” Rowan tilted her head. “Those of us who first founded the town did our best to dislodge it, but we had to give up. We should have erected a barrier around it back then, but we didn’t foresee the population growing so large. But take another look, this time at the building.”

  Caitlin looked puzzled. “What? What are you two talking about?”

  I closed my eyes again and lowered myself back into trance. Once more, I went drifting along the astral as I sought out the patch of ground again. But this time, instead of plunging beyond the building, I focused on it instead of the land surrounding it.

  The first thing I noticed was that the asylum was tired. It was weary and it wanted to rest. The spirits who had kept it alive for so long had all been absorbed by the land elemental and they ran wild, like wayward children, banging and clanging against its walls. They were avatars of the elemental, and yet, they were almost autonomous. Like a swarm, each one spun off separately and yet all were linked to form a central hive mind. The building was tired. It was tired of being used as an extension.

  My eyes flew open. “We have to destroy the building. It won’t destroy the creature, but it will calm the activity some, and it will allow the elemental to rest.”

  “Exactly.” Rowan paused, smiling for the first time since we’d arrived. “Your guardian and I were keeping you protected while you were in trance. It took both of us, but we kept the elemental from figuring out who you are.”

  Relieved, I let out a long breath. “Thank gods for that. As for my guardian, there’s a tradition in my family. The Ladies—former matriarchs from the family tree—watch over the witches who are born into the next generation. They watched over my mother, and now they watch over me.”

  “I thought your aunt was a witch too,” Caitlin said.

  “She is, and they guard over her. But I hear them easier, I think. My great-aunt Esmara is my personal guardian.”

  Rowan nodded. “Do you understand my answer now?”

  “Yes, I do. There’s no way we can detach the elemental from the land, but the building gives it more form and focus.”

  She nodded. “Yes, the building needs to come down. It’s an anchor—a focal point—for the activity. And I agree, the land should be barricaded off. It will put fewer people at risk.”

  “Will you explain to me what you found out?” Caitlin asked.

  I gave them both a quick rundown of what I had seen and sensed. “Everyone who has died on that land has become bound together. The building itself acts as an amplifier. I think the dark magic that was worked in that place seeped into the walls, turning it into one big bullhorn.”

  “You’re correct.” Rowan shrugged. “So my answer is no, I can neither destroy nor purge the curse. But if the building is destroyed, then the threat decreases substantially. However, it’s not my place to raze the structure, and my guess is the owner is motivated by money, not by charity.”

  Caitlin leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “What if the city bought the land? They could destroy the building without a problem.”

  “We can hope,” I said. “Millie wanted me to call her again. I can ask her if the city might be able to do that.”

  “My guess is that you’re not going to get an answer you like. But it can’t hurt to try,” Rowan said. “As far as interested private parties, I know someone who has the money to buy it.”

  I raised my head. “Who? Do you think they’d be willing to do that? To invest in land they can never really use?”

  “Possibly,” Rowan said, standing. “I’ll get back to you. Meanwhile, I have an appointment.”

  Caitlin and I said our good-byes and headed back toward my SUV.

  “We didn’t exactly get the answer we hoped for,” Caitlan said.

  “No, but I think we’ve made a valuable ally. Come on, let’s get back to the office. We can call Millie from there.” As I put the car into gear, I glanced up at the owl, who was still perched in a tree. Rowan Firesong was in my life now, for better or worse. And I had a feeling both were possible.

  Chapter Sixteen

  We stopped to pick up takeout—mac ‘n cheese, fried chicken, and biscuits—since we weren’t sure whether Tad and Hank would be hungry. I bought the food while Caitlin bought a latte for herself and a mocha for me.

  Tad and Hank were already waiting when we got back to the office. Both had that death-warmed-over look and were sprawled in their chairs, listlessly staring at their keyboards. They perked up a little when Caitlin and I entered the room and Tad waved at us.

  “Hey, where were you?”

  “We were talking to Rowan Firesong.” I paused, then noticed that the coffeepot was empty. “You want me to make more coffee?”

  Tad nodded. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

  “Tea for me, if you don’t mind,” Hank said.

  “So,” Tad said, “Dr. Fairsight told me she had recommended you talk to Rowan. I should have thought of that before. I’ve never met her, but I know who she is.”

  “Rowan’s different from what I expected her to be,” I said. “But she’s smart.” I glanced at Caitlin. “Should I tell him or do you want to?”

  “You go ahead. You understand the magic involved better than I do.”

  “All right,” I said, handing Hank a mug with a tea bag and steaming water in it. The coffee was percolating and Caitlin retrieved paper plates and napkins from the storeroom for the mac ‘n cheese, fried chicken, and biscuits. We gathered around the main table. By that time the coffee and tea were both done. Caitlin poured a cup for Tad and added three sugars and cream.

  We settled in with our food and drinks.

  “Here’s the thing…there’s a land elemental rooted in that parcel of land. It’s very angry and very aware, and it’s causing all the problems. All of the spirits on the land have been absorbed by the elemental.”

  “Basically, it has MPD?” Tad asked. “Multiple personality disorder?”

  I nodded. “Right. The spirits have some autonomy, but they’re inexorably bound to the land because they have merged—at the core—with the creature. The building is acting as both a focal point and an amplifier.”

  “So, we can’t dislodge the elemental, I take it?” Tad asked.

  I shook my head. “No, it would take a major quake or other natural disaster to budge it. And since the spirits are connected to the elemental, we can’t exorcise them. However, if we destroy the building, it will help to calm the activity. It won’t solve the problem, but there should be fewer casualties.”

  Tad sighed. “So, we tell our clients to look elsewhere for land?”

  “Right. There’s nothing they can do. Even if they destroy the building—which we know they’d be doing—building other structures will just offer a renewed focus and more food for the elemental.” I knew what I was about to say was overly hopeful, but I said it anyway. “Ideally, we should encourage the city to buy the land, raze the building, and then cordon off the area.”

  Hank coughed. “That’s not likely to happen. While I thin
k we could convince the mayor that the idea is sound, I doubt the city has enough money to buy a piece of land they can never utilize.”

  “He’s right,” Tad said. “And I know for a fact that the company that owns it now won’t agree to just demolish the building and let the property sit off the market.”

  “Then what do we do?” I asked. “We can’t just walk away.” I had a wild flash that I should buy the land. I had just enough in savings, but then reason took hold. I couldn’t build on the land. I couldn’t sell it. I’d be stuck with a white elephant. A haunted white elephant that I’d owe property taxes on every year.

  “Does anybody know a philanthropist?” Caitlin said. She lowered her voice. “The UnderLife of Moonshadow Bay tend to be very wealthy.”

  I shivered, not wanting to think about the UnderLife. They existed in the shadows. The UnderLife—the vampires and ghouls and the like—were the stuff of nightmares for most people, human and Otherkin alike.

  “Do you know anyone in the UnderLife?” I asked. “I certainly don’t.”

  Caitlin shook her head. “We talked to a few for a couple of the cases we’ve been on, but I can’t say we’re on a first-name basis with them.”

  “Let’s just put that on hold,” Tad said. “Who’s going to tell the chief of police about this?”

  “I can,” I offered. “I know Millie. She can talk to the mayor.”

  “Thanks. Go ahead and do that this afternoon? Meanwhile, I’ll brief our client on the bad news,” Tad said.

  I carried another helping of mac ‘n cheese and my drink back to my desk. “I’ll call Millie now.”

  As I put through the call, I thought about the land elemental and jotted down a few notes. I wanted to tell Charles Crichton about it so he could add it into the history of the city. But for now, I looked up the number for the police. The dispatcher put me through to Millie.

  “Hey, it’s January.”

  “January, I’m glad to hear from you. How are your coworkers?” She sounded concerned.

  “They’ll live. They’re out of the hospital and back at work. Listen, I have some information for you about the asylum. If I tell you, can you tell the mayor? We’re hoping that the city will get involved.”