by Amy Hopkins
He had been right that a cold drink and something to eat would make her feel a little better. Penny sat and watched the final student do his run on the bike. Cisco was always her favorite to watch.
He took off much as she had, moving slowly over the first hill and picking up speed for the jump beyond it. Unlike Penny, though, Cisco landed his jump perfectly, zooming to take off at the second. His run was over in a few short minutes, much to Penny's disappointment. She could have sat there and watched him ride all day.
She admonished herself. You're not Amelia. Get a grip, girl.
The class ended, and Penny's fellow students headed toward her to start packing up. The sandwiches were quickly eaten, since the three hungry young men always made short work of whatever snacks were available. Once the folding table was packed on the bus, Mack nodded to Penny.
"Are you gonna take the bike, or are you wimping out on me?" he asked.
Penny raised an eyebrow. "Me? Wimp out? You don't know me very well, do you?"
"I was hoping I did, and I'm glad I was right." Mack gave Penny a fist-bump. "I have to get these three idiots back to the Academy. When you're done, ride the bike back. I'll have Jess organize someone to return it."
Penny nodded, reflexively trying not to put a hand on her stomach when her nerves fluttered. It's an easy track, she reminded herself. He wouldn't send me out there if I was likely to get injured. Not on my own, anyway. She knew it was true. Mack might be a little crazy, but he'd never put any of them in danger.
Mack left with the three boys leaning out of the bus window to holler good luck wishes at Penny. When they were gone, she turned to the little red bike.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," she told it. "If we're out on some little goat track together and I fall off, you're going to get left to rust in the rain. Yes, I know it's not raining. But I’ll make sure you were buried so deep in the forest no one will ever find you got it?"
The bike sat silently.
"Glad we understand each other." Penny swung her leg over and flicked the kickstand up with her heel. "Let's go."
She rode slowly past the track used for training, past the old barn where she had jumped a car and taken out a cardboard zombie, and over to the little gate. As Mack had promised, it was unlocked. She pushed it open and wheeled the bike through.
The track was indeed an easy meandering path through the forest. The gentle curves and easy rises and dips gave Penny the confidence to increase her speed.
Pine needles and spindly branches whipped past at an increasing pace. Twice, she scared birds that had been minding their own business, sitting on branches that crossed over the trail.
This isn't so bad, Penny realized. She was deep in the forest now, glad that her path had only been a single track. Otherwise, she wasn't sure she'd have been able to find her way back.
Penny slowed when she reached a tiny clearing. She killed the engine and took her helmet off, then inhaled the pine-scented air deeply. "I could almost get to enjoy this."
A twig snapped next to her. Penny froze.
She heard the snorting exhale of a deep breath and slowly turned her head. Not ten feet away, a majestic white horse stood in the trees. It pawed the ground with one hoof and let out a gentle snort. When it ducked its head to tap a thin, spiraling horn on the hard-packed dirt, Penny gasped.
"You're a unicorn!" Penny's mind fled back to her childhood when, like every other girl she knew, she’d dreamed of owning her very own unicorn.
Penny took a slow step forward, one hand outstretched toward the mythical beast.
The unicorn whinnied and took a step back.
"It's okay, bud," Penny said soothingly. She took another step, but the unicorn dodged away again.
Penny let her hand fall away, stifling her disappointment. I've seen it, she told herself. That's enough. She edged back toward her bike, and to her surprise, the unicorn pranced joyfully.
"Wait a minute…” Penny cocked her head to one side, watching the eager unicorn. “You want to run with me?"
It danced again, and Penny carefully slid her helmet back over her head. She threw one leg over her bike and turned the engine, wincing when it rumbled to life. It didn't bother her new friend, though.
Penny tested her theory by inching forward slowly at first, gaining speed when the unicorn kept pace with her.
As Penny’s bike flew past the trees once more, the unicorn gave a joyful whinny. Its thundering hoof beats kept pace with the roar of the bike as the two of them sped through the forest.
The path began to get tighter and harder to navigate. The trail was less traveled here, and more prone to dipping through gullies and over crooked humps.
Penny wrenched the handlebars and skidded around a tight corner. She glanced back to check on her friend.
The unicorn tossed its head, unbothered by the change in direction.
Penny pulled her attention back to the track. “Oh, fuck.” The gully was too close to avoid. Her stomach dropped, just like the solid ground beneath her, then slammed against her diaphragm. The bike shot up the other side and into the air.
Breathing shallowly, Penny was only vaguely aware of the large white shape sailing across the gully beside her.
Hooves landed with a clatter a moment before the bike’s wheels hit the dirt in perfect alignment. Penny gently hit the brakes and slid to a stop, heart racing.
“That…was…amazing!” She jerked her head up when the unicorn reared, front feet lifted high, tail swishing. It bounded over to the trees and vanished into the foliage, its hoofbeats fading into the distance as it galloped away.
Penny took a moment to catch her breath, sucking in gasps as she tried not to sob. The magical experience had touched her, but more than that, she’d finally moved past whatever had been stopping her from landing her jumps on the bike.
“I did it,” she said, her voice soft. “I really did it.”
Chapter Fifteen
Red tore into another chicken leg with his teeth. “You’re sure it wasn’t just a horse with a stick in its hair?”
“No, Red.” Penny gave him a withering glare. “I know a unicorn when I see one.”
“You know,” Amelia said, absentmindedly handing Red a napkin to wipe the sauce off his face, “I always wanted a unicorn when I was a kid.”
“Who didn’t?” Penny grinned, her elation still fluttering in her heart.
“Uh, me?” Red raised his hand. “I wanted a T-rex or a battle robot. Or maybe a big tank that shoots bombs and has its own wee refrigerator inside, so I don’t have to go out to get soda.”
“Wow. That’s…really specific.” Amelia took a sip of her drink and burped discreetly.
“Amelia!” Red leaned back in a show of disgust. “Did you have to? Now the poor agent is going to have to arrest you for the public expulsion of toxic gas!”
Amelia shook her head, looking up over Penny’s shoulder. “Sorry, Agent Crenel. The werewolf thing has made him go a bit cuckoo. Then again, he was born dumb.”
Penny swung around in her seat to see Crenel standing behind her, doing his best to look as though he hadn’t found the exchange hilarious. He coughed and looked away for a moment, then addressed Penny.
“Miss Hingston, might I have a word?”
“Sure.” Penny slid her plate over to Red, who eyed her last bit of fried chicken hungrily. “Go for it, Red. I’m full anyway.”
Penny followed the unusually silent agent through the halls of the Academy, all the way back to his tiny office. Once they were inside, Crenel closed the door.
“How are things?” Crenel leaned on his desk, arms folded as he looked down on Penny. “I heard you got a job at Paddy’s.”
Penny nodded. She hadn’t had a chance to catch up with the agent since seeing him at the meeting Paddy had organized. “I started last week. It’s good money, and I needed the work.”
“Is it safe?” he asked.
Penny cocked her head. “Sure. Most of the Mythers t
here are pretty friendly. They’d back me up if I needed it, I’m sure. If not for my sake, then for the bar itself. Dean March explained about it being a safe haven?”
Crenel gave a brisk nod. “Paddy is becoming quite the celebrity.” He dropped his arms, adopting a more casual pose. “After Jessica spoke to me about the situation, I went to see him. He has big plans for a tiny guy.”
“I saw you at the meeting,” Penny admitted. “What happened in there?”
“A lot of talk, mostly. Paddy is trying to get the Mythers—the non-homicidal ones, anyway—to agree to an alliance. If they present a united front, agree to adhere to the laws we humans have in place… Well, it’ll make things a lot easier on them, legally speaking.” Crenel folded his arms again, looking impatient.
“You didn’t bring me here to talk about that,” Penny guessed.
“No.” Crenel sighed, screwing up his mouth like he tasted something bad. “I need to ask you some questions.”
“About?” Penny darted a glance at the door, wondering if she was in trouble.
“The night Red got infected.” Crenel straightened, dropping the pretext of a casual conversation. “What made you so sure it wasn’t the wolf?”
Penny shrugged. “It just didn’t add up. The car we passed had to have been hit in daylight; the blood was too fresh. As far as Red has shown and all the mythological references we’ve found, werewolves are only active after dark and on a full moon.” She raised a hand to forestall Crenel’s objection. “I know the one we saw was maybe older, maybe has more control over when it shifts. It might play by different rules entirely. But punching a window in? Wolves don’t have fists. And there’s still the matter of the altar.” She shook her head.
“You think someone was out there trying to summon something dead?” Crenel sounded curious rather than skeptical this time.
Instead of encouraging Penny, it threw her off. “I guess? Or maybe it was a coven or some kind of demonic ritual. It could have been one of a million things. I just don’t see how it can be related to the werewolf.”
“You might be right about that.” Crenel pushed himself off the desk and went to sit behind it, face tired and shoulders slumped. “Three more people have died out there, all attacked in their cars. And…”
He leaned back and lit a cigarette, much to Penny’s alarm. She’d never seen him smoke inside the Academy.
“And what?” she demanded. “What else?”
“Someone came forward with new information about the accident you saw that day. The woman involved? She was seen with someone.” He paused again to take another drag. “We can’t be sure since the description was vague, but the artist she worked with was one of the best. We think Tobias was in the area.”
“Tobias?” Penny had to force her fists to uncurl at his name. “What the hell is that slimy little pipsqueak doing out there?”
“Living on the beach, it sounds like.” Crenel gave her a brief rundown. He’d been sighted talking to the victim at a gas station not long before her “accident.” The attendant thought he might have been asking for money or a ride and got turned down. At least, that was her guess when he screamed “Bitch!” at her retreating car.
The security cameras hadn’t caught his face, but the gas station attendant had given a decent-enough description, and a local beat cop had recognized him as one of Cannon Beach’s local itinerant population, a guy who had only turned up a month or two ago.
“I can be there in a couple of hours.” Penny rose, ready to sprint out the door and catch the bastard who had almost killed her with a Kraken.
“Woah, woah!” Crenel grabbed her arm. “I called you in here to give you a heads-up, not to send you out on a manhunt, kid. This is above your paygrade. Whatever he’s doing out there, he’s not alone. Something is out in those woods, and dammed if I’m sending you out to deal with it.”
He waited until Penny was seated before continuing. “We’ve got a whole team on it. They’re armed to the eyeballs and good at what they do. Remember, Tobias is only human.”
“So are they,” Penny muttered. Still, Crenel had a point. The agents he had sent out to deal with this were far more qualified than she was. “So, what do you need me to do? There must be something, or you wouldn’t have dragged me in here.”
“What, can’t a man admit he was wrong?” Crenel stubbed the cigarette out on an ancient ashtray. “But seeing as you offered… When are you working next?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“I want you to ask around. See if anyone knows anything about a new entity down by the beach, or if they know anything about Tobias popping up. He’s a bit of a celebrity in their circles, apparently.” Crenel cocked an eyebrow, waiting for her response.
“That’s just great.” Penny stood, and this time, Crenel let her. “I’ll do what I can, Agent Crenel. Thanks for keeping me in the loop.”
Getting information out of the Mythers was harder than Penny expected. Though most were eager to assist—a violent entity slaughtering people was, after all, harming their cause—their ability to help was…well, lacking.
“Tobias, eh?” Gnorman—with a G thankyouverymuch, as he had informed Penny—sucked his thick white mustache. “I know a man named Arthur? Or what about Tamara? He might be the one you’re looking for.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think so.” Penny kicked herself for even thinking the gnome might be of help. Though he was of the less-homicidal variety than her previous encounter, the pointy-hatted little man had no understanding of gender, individuality or the passage of time.
I guess that’s what you get when you’re a garden ornament, Penny mused. Gnorman speared a bit of kale with a tiny fork.
“Ahh! What’s that?” He pointed to a currant that had been hidden by the leaf.
“It’s fruit, Gnorman. Not meat.”
“But I’m a vegetarian!” He threw the cutlery down in disgust. “Fruit isn’t a vegetable! I demand to see the manager!”
Penny sighed and motioned for Nat, the shift manager, to come over. “He’s all yours,” she said, giving the girl a sympathetic grimace.
“Gnorman, I’ve told you, fruit comes from plants. You’re allowed to eat it!” Nat folded her arms, staring down her angry customer.
“Oh. Really?” He wrinkled his nose and sniffed the offending bit of food. “Isn’t fruit usually…plumper?”
“It’s dried,” Nat explained.
She has the patience of a saint. Penny moved away, heading over to the bar where Paddy was chatting to Vila, Uriel, and the ghost of a little girl who apparently didn’t have a name.
“And then,” the girl was saying, her eyes large in her pale face, “she started burning sage. Can you believe it? That house was my home first, not hers!”
“Ye always have a home here, lass.” Paddy slid a mug of ale toward the girl. She picked it up and sipped, screwing her face up.
“Paddy!” Penny grabbed his shoulder and hissed in his ear. “Mate, you just gave alcohol to a nine-year-old. Don’t you know that’s against the law?”
“She’s a hundred and thirty-two,” Paddy said, grinning. “Just because she’s been dead for over a hundred of those years, it doesn’t mean they don’t count.”
“Oh.” Penny eyed the girl warily. “Well, regardless, if an inspector comes by, you might be in trouble.”
“Aye, but if they call her a girl, they’ll be sayin’ she’s human.” Paddy cackled. “They’d be provin’ me point without any effort on me own part!”
“And possibly get the bar shut down,” Penny pointed out.
“Oh.” Paddy’s elation vanished, and he plucked the frothy beverage out of the little ghost’s hands. “Maybe another time, lass.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.” The child pouted but quickly cheered when Paddy leaned over the bar and snatched up a bowl of pretzels for her. “Yummy. I love those!”
Penny slid onto a barstool next to Paddy. “I’m on break,” she informed the leprechaun. “Don’t start an
y trouble for the next fifteen, okay?”
“Me? Trouble?” Paddy’s overplayed innocence didn’t fool Penny for a moment. “Ah, fine. I’ll just sit here and mind me own business. Only for a wee while, mind. Paddy can’t be loungin’ around for too long.” He tossed a peanut in the air and caught it in his mouth, almost tumbling off his stool in the process.
“Good.” Penny slid a photo toward the leprechaun.
He glanced down at it and shook his head. “I told ye, lass. I haven’t seen the bastard since that day I met ye.”
“Who is he?” Vila asked. She leaned over Paddy’s shoulder to look. Then, in the blink of an eye, she shifted into her snake form. Black, glittering eyes examined the picture as a forked tongue flicked toward it. “Why do you ssseek him?”
“He’s a guy who wants to summon some really bad shit,” Penny explained. “He’s trying to bring over Mythers who want to destroy the world. Paddy, I know you haven’t seen him, but could you at least ask around for me? I haven’t had any luck.”
Paddy grimaced uncertainly, then looked at Vila.
Penny glanced at the shifter woman, only to find the snake was now a wolf.
“Get ye filthy paws off me bar, Vila!” Paddy snapped. “It’s not a zoo.”
Ignoring the leprechaun, Vila lifted her head. “Give me something of his. I will help you find him.”
The wolf spoke in a low growl without moving her lips, but Penny understood the words perfectly.
“I don’t have anything on me,” she admitted. “But I can ask around. Will you be here tomorrow morning?”
The wolf ducked her head in a nod. “I will not capture this creature you seek. His blood on my teeth would undo what our kind have worked so hard for. Even seeking him out may make me anathema to others. But…I will find him for you.”
“Thank you.” Penny’s chest tightened. She knew what Vila was risking to help her. Hunting a human could be interpreted as violating the alliance.