by Willow Mason
“Two or three seconds.” The vampire shrugged.
My eyes widened. “That doesn’t sound long enough to be safe.”
“There’s another one just a single second ahead.” Leo gave an exaggerated sigh. “It doesn’t matter how different the time, the point is we never catch up to them and they never fall back to us. Never until now, anyway. The vortex must’ve malfunctioned and he’s taking advantage.”
“Uh, guys,” Muffin said. “If a dangerous prisoner is attempting to break time itself to end up in this room, don’t you think we might be safer…” She mouthed the word, outside, and waved her paw at the door.
“I was outside until you all used the vortex as a shortcut,” Leo said with a flick of his cape. “Follow me.”
Once we’d all exited, he locked the door while I stared in dismay at the scant protection. “Even I could break this door down if I really wanted to.” Luckily the windows were too small for a man to fit. “Can we shore it up somehow?”
“We could put a dresser in front of it,” Leo offered. With his flaming skull face, I couldn’t meet his eyes while he talked. “But I doubt that would hold him for long. What we need is for the national authority to turn up and sort out something a lot safer.”
“The twins told me supernatural prisoners are placed in cuffs to subdue their powers when they’re arrested,” I said. “Does anyone know how that works?”
Both Brody and Leo bristled. “What are you insinuating? That we’ve spent time in cuffs?”
Muffin gestured for me to pick her up, whereupon she jumped onto my shoulder. “Phone and ask him. Didn’t his deputising give you that knowledge?”
“Nope.” In fact, the few police-type thoughts I’d been having were gone altogether. After going straight to voicemail, I composed a text to Syd. As soon as I pressed send, I worried it might be viewed by someone who shouldn’t see it.
Speaking of Lucas, I phoned the hospital only to be told he’d been discharged. No wonder my deputy skills were gone.
“Let’s say the prisoner is lying,” I said as we moved inside. “If he killed Blake Stone, where did he get the stake?”
“The same place he’s getting his paper and goodness knows what else. The future. I’ve never been there but I imagine the provisions are good, considering there’s only one person there to enjoy it. The real question is how is he sending those things back through time.”
“Forget that,” I said, waving my hand. “It’s above my pay grade to think about.” Not to mention the headache it was giving me trying to work it out inside my mind. “What reason would he have to kill Blake?”
“The same as the rest of us,” Muffin said, exploring the cupboards and finding them disappointingly full of nothing but exotic teas. “He’s a monster.”
“What was he in prison for?” I glanced at Leo who stared out the window.
“Hm. I’m not sure I can divulge that. Privacy and whatnot.”
“If you prefer, we can call the police and Syd can ask you the same thing.”
Leo gave me a sly smile. “Except he’s not answering his phone.”
“What’s the big secret?” Muffin demanded. “And why don’t you have anything cakelike to eat?”
“Because I’m a bloodsucker and if I told you the big secret, I’d be telling you everything.”
Muffin tilted her head. “Famous, is he?”
“Notorious is the word.” The vampire puffed out his chest.
“What’s your role here if the prisoners are all meant to be secure?” The entire situation still puzzled me. “How does your presence in the house make the world safer?”
“It doesn’t.” Leo smoothed one eyebrow with his forefinger. “The supernatural authority insisted on having a caretaker while the technology was in its infancy. Since I’ve got time to spare and needed accommodation, I volunteered.”
“This should have been cleared with every supernatural living in the area,” Muffin said, tapping a paw against the ground. “Especially, if the process wasn’t fully understood.”
“I don’t like this one bit.” Brody crossed his arms and glared at Leo. “You’re hiding something.”
“I’m good at hiding many things,” Leo purred. “That’s why I’m the perfect man for the job.”
“Come on.” Brody pushed himself away from the table. “I’m going straight to the police station to see if Syd can make head or tails of this information. I’ll feel a lot better once the police know everything.”
“Humans can’t handle the truth,” Leo said in a worried voice, sidling close to Brody. “You saw Lucas this morning.”
“Syd isn’t human, he’s a fairy.” I was about to lend my backing to Brody’s plan when movement outside caught my eye.
“Still, it’s better to keep things just between us at—”
“Shh,” I said, cutting Leo off mid-plea. “There’s somebody out there.”
The four of us turned and stared at the bushes along the side of Leo’s section. As my pulse counted off thirty beats, a branch rustled, and a pair of narrowed eyes stared out through a gap.
“It’s the girl I saw around here this morning.”
“You saw one of those filthy teens hanging around outside and you didn’t tell me?” Leo leapt down the stairwell into the basement where his sword lay. “Let me at her!”
“Don’t be silly. You can’t go around cutting up teenagers just because they’re annoying. None of us would make it through puberty if that were the case.” I pushed Muffin into Brody’s arms. “Stay here and keep out of sight. The girl’s got fast reflexes but I’m going to see if I can work a cloaking spell.”
“Fancy.” Brody tickled Muffin who didn’t appear pleased.
“You’ve only read about that in one of Esmerelda’s old books. It’s better I go out there. She’s not going to run away at the sight of a kitten.”
“And how are you going to catch her?” I asked. “Knock her down with your paws?”
“I can entice her inside,” Muffin said, straining to get out of Brody’s grip. “Watch and learn, baby. Watch and learn.”
I scratched my scalp and closed my eyes, picturing my body fading away into invisibility. When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see myself at all. The sensation was both liberating and frightening.
“Well, that worked pretty well for something you’ve just read about in a book,” Brody commented dryly. “Let’s hope you read about finding random piles of treasure next.”
Muffin sniffed and finally struggled free of Brody. “I still think my plan would work.”
“And if I muck this up, we might find out.” I gave her a quick pet and moved to the doorway, scanning for movement amongst the foliage.
“At least go out the back door,” Muffin said, chuckling. “Your invisibility’s no good if you’re going to open a door while she’s crouching just a few feet away.”
“Great idea.” I slipped out the back, lifting the handle so the door wouldn’t scrape against its frame. Taking care with where my feet landed, I crept to the edge of the bushes.
The teenager was just a few steps away. I lunged for her heel, catching hold of her sneaker and pulling her towards me in one swift motion. She screamed, kicking out at someone she couldn’t see.
I quickly discovered being invisible didn’t make me impervious to a good kick in the kneecap. Although my leg buckled, my grip held firm. “Stop fighting,” I called out, resulting in redoubled efforts on her part. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
The girl’s body relaxed while her eyes went into overdrive, scanning in all directions. “Who are you?”
“We just want to ask you a few questions.”
“We?” The girl flipped over, taking me by surprise so I lost my hold. She kicked back, struggling to her feet and ran.
I recovered quickly and sprinted after her, tackling her around the knees and bringing her to the ground with a heavy thump. The backpack she’d carried on one shoulder went flying, the unzipped top spilling its
contents onto the ground.
A glove of garlic, a large cross, and a wooden stake with its end sharpened to a deathly point.
Chapter Eight
Brody helped me move the girl inside. My spell disappeared as quickly as it had worked, and the teenager glared as I appeared in front of her.
“Danni Bonham,” Brody read out from her student ID as he unpacked the rest of her backpack. An assortment of snacks and a few bottles of water were piled on the table. Then he dropped the bag and stepped back, drops of sweat popping onto his forehead.
“What?” Muffin asked, jumping up to sniff at the contents. “Oh.” She skittered away.
I left my position at Danni’s side to look. A gun was nestled in the bottom of the bag. The light caught on its grey angles and faded to dimness. “How did you get a handgun?”
“It’s not real,” Danni said between furious scowls. “Take it out if you don’t believe me. It’s made of plastic and not even a very good replica.”
My hand shook as I lifted the butt of the handgun with my forefinger and thumb, gingerly pulling it from the backpack. As soon as the afternoon light hit it, I saw the difference. I tilted it back and forth, frowning. “Why do you have a toy gun in your bag? It’s dangerous, either way.”
“None of your business.”
“Look, kid,” Brody said, turning his face mean and stabbing his finger at the table. “Either you tell us, here and now, or we’ll take you down to the police station.”
It didn’t sound much like a threat to me. Syd and Lucas were both lovely and the chairs at the police station were a lot more comfortable, but the threat opened up Danni’s floodgates. “I’m not doing anything wrong. This is just a prank. The backpack has nothing dangerous in it. Even the gun is fake.”
From the glare Leo shot at the garlic, it seemed her statement might have been slightly off. I picked up the cross and held it near his chest and he didn’t budge. Learning about the supernatural world seemed to me to be just as much about correcting misinformation as it was taking in new ideas.
“What were you expecting to see here?”
“There are rumours about this place running all over the school.” Danni sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. “I thought if I documented staying here overnight, I could clear them up.”
“And you were protecting yourself against vampires and what? People afraid of toy weapons?”
“The bullets in the gun are grey,” Danni said. When my face continued to stay blank, she rolled her eyes. “That’s practically silver. It’s just in case a werewolf was hiding out around here.”
“And you believe in vampires and werewolves?”
The girl rolled up her sleeve and picked at a scab. “Not really. It was more to get into the spirit of it, you know. After all, what’s the point in staying the night in a haunted house if you don’t believe in all that weird stuff?”
“Have you ever seen weird stuff?” I asked, curious. I couldn’t see any hint of the supernatural about the teenager but that meant nothing. Not when I was so new to all this myself that I couldn’t trust my eyes.
“I’ve seen things,” Danni said in a low voice. “Things you wouldn’t believe.”
Brody hooked his hand through my elbow and pulled me aside. “She’s bluffing. Between all the hair and makeup, it’s hard to tell, but I’m certain she’s one hundred percent human. We should let her go.”
“But she couldn’t see me when I nabbed her,” I said, shaking my head. “Doesn’t that count?”
“Hey, Danni,” Brody called out in a cheerful voice. “You must have an inch on Elisa, here. How did you let her jump you?”
The teenager scowled and shrugged. “She came out of nowhere, that’s how. I was concentrating on the house when she ran up behind me.”
“Really? She wasn’t invisible?”
Danni’s lip curled in a familiar shape I remembered from being that age. She thought Brody was making fun of her. Although an invisible pixie had grabbed her ankle and tackled her to the grass outside, her mind had overwritten the incident with a bunch of comparable facts.
Leo wandered over. “We should tie her up in the basement until we extract every piece of information she’s withholding.”
My mouth pulled down at the corners. “That, for sure, isn’t happening.”
“She’s holding out on us,” Leo insisted.
“For a teenager, she’s being remarkably open,” I protested.
“We should let her go,” Brody said. “Apart from trespassing on what she thought was an empty property, she’s done nothing wrong.”
Leo picked up the stake and pointed it at Brody’s chest. “Nothing wrong, eh? What about intent to kill? Even if she doesn’t have two supernatural brain cells to rub together, it doesn’t mean she’s not dangerous.”
“It’s not a crime to carry a stake in your bag.”
“Actually,” I said in a small voice. “Travelling around with concealed weapons in your bag might be a crime. I don’t know enough about the law to know for sure.”
“See.” Leo beamed a glorious smile at me. “Listen to the pixie. She knows what she’s talking about. Now, fetch me a towel and a bucket of water and I’ll try waterboarding the suspect.”
“Woah!” I held up my hands. “Not likely. I was thinking more like using some magic to make her tell the truth.”
“It won’t work,” Brody said. “The trick worked on Hazel because she was an adult and a witch. With a human child, I doubt the universe will even let your pixie dust turn to smoke.”
I sighed, remembering the admonition from the twins that magic only worked well when it played along with the natural order. To force this young girl to confess—even if it was to nothing—felt manipulative and scummy.
“Then I suggest we take her down to the police station and let Syd deal with this.” When Brody opened his mouth to protest, I shook my head. “A killing took place next door, and she’s got a carbon copy of the murder weapon in her bag. We can’t just send her home to get a lecture from her parents. Like it or not, Danni could be responsible for Blake’s death or know someone who is.”
After a moment, Brody gave an exaggerated sigh. “Fine.” He whipped out his phone and dialled the station. “But I’m going to look like I’m backtracking on my threat.”
“A real tragedy to disappoint a teenager you’ll probably never meet again.”
Brody didn’t seem to appreciate my humour and walked to stand in the corner while Muffin stood guard over Danni. In a moment, he came back with a disappointed expression on his face. “Syd can’t get away for the time being and he told me in no uncertain terms that putting Danni in a car and driving her to the station against her will was tantamount to kidnap. He’s sending Lucas.”
Despite all that had happened since the morning, my heart jumped with excitement. “Good. Now Leo, how about you make us that cup of tea you were desperate to provide us with this morning while we wait.”
The vampire clapped his hands together. “You’re in for a treat.”
“What’s going on?” Danni called out. “I’ve answered your questions and now I want to go.”
“What were you going to film yourself on?” I asked, taking a seat next to her.
“On my phone.” Danni stared at me as though I were a creature from outer space.
“Is it a good one?” I pulled out my old mobile and gestured to it. “I’ve been thinking of getting an upgrade, but I don’t know the first thing about technology.”
The girl snorted at my battered phone. “I’d need a magnifying glass to read the screen.” Soon, she was detailing the advantages her smartphone had over my piece of two-year-old antiquated technology. Between my nods of encouragement and Muffin purring in her lap, it seemed no time before Lucas pulled up on the road outside.
“Here you go,” Leo said with the smile of a host who expects his guests to be blown away by his offerings. “I’ve put together a different blend for each of you.”
“Sorry, it’ll have to be another time,” I said, getting to my feet and gesturing at Muffin to release Danni from her captive lap sitting. “There’s a policeman at the door who probably has a few questions for you, too.”
“A policeman?” Danni’s eyes shot to Brody’s guilty face. “But you said—”
“The sooner we start, the sooner all this will be over.”
My words might have been cheerful but a quick glance around the room showed me the dangers. “Leo, do you want to take Brody downstairs and show him your coffin or something? It won’t do to have this many supernaturals crowded around, given Lucas’s”—Danni gave me a hard stare and I quickly corrected—“I mean, PC Bronson’s tendency to faint.”
“About time,” Lucas said as I answered the door. “I was thinking this was a prank call.”
“It still might be,” I told him while walking back to the table. “But the prankster is Danni Bonham in this case.”
As soon as Lucas’s eyes alighted on the stake, his expression changed. “Where did you get that?”
Danni began to answer, but he held his hand up to stop her. “No, I think a better idea will be for you to accompany me down to the station.” He awkwardly shovelled all the potential evidence into the backpack and slung it over his shoulder. “Well, come on.”
“Shouldn’t I come with you?” I asked, responding to the abject misery on Danni’s face. “Until you can reach Danni’s parents.”
“Right. So, you’re a temporary guardian now besides being a temporary deputy.”
“I’ll leave the moment you reach her parents.” I held up my hand as though swearing an oath.
“Fine. Come on, then. We’re in the middle of a murder inquiry if you hadn’t noticed and I don’t have time to sit around waiting for you to sort yourselves out.”
He bustled out the door, holding onto the backpack like it was an explosive device. Danni slouched after him, scuffing her feet on every step.
A man across the street was washing his car and in the late heat of the afternoon, I wished he’d send a bit of the spray my way. As he bent to sponge off the remains of a bird dropping on his windscreen, I recognised his face.