by Tegan Maher
He turned to Charles and muttered a few words in Latin.
Charles blinked a couple times, then worked his jaw. “Thanks, man. That feels a lot weirder than I thought it would, and I didn’t like the idea of not being able to speak when I wanted to at all. We’re gonna have to find a better way of protecting our secrets than that.”
Michael shrugged. “It was your idea. I suggested cyanide pills, but everybody was all ... Nooo, that stuff will kill you. We can’t do that.” He’d raised his voice a couple octaves when he was imitating “everybody,” and I smiled. It was so nice to see him joking around. He’d been through a rough several years, and there was a time when I’d been afraid he’d never smile again.
“Okay,” Tempest said, her voice echoing my impatience, “now do we finally get to know what this super-secret job is all about? And where’s Rocky?” Rocky was Michael’s wolf familiar, and she’d had a semi-crush on him forever.
Michael and Charles exchanged a look.
“Rocky’s outside waiting. Unlike you, he’s way too big to sit at the table. As far as the info, it’s kind of a need-to-know thing,” he said. “I can’t just tell you everything that’s going on. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be secret. And it’s that way for a reason.”
“Numerous reasons, in fact,” Charles agreed, nodding. “I don’t think we should talk much about it until we’re at Mila’s. She’s lead on the project, and it should be up to her what, if anything, you need to know.”
I raised my brows at him as I took a drink of coffee. “I kinda need to know at least enough to clear you.” I turned to Michael, swatting his hand away when he tried to swipe a sausage link. “I have three Valkyries bent on dragging him to Valhalla or wherever and making him dead because they think he killed Liz.”
Michael’s food arrived. “Do you want me to take this out and give it to Rocky?” Charlene asked, nearly batting her eyes as lifted the plate loaded with meats. I shoved my coffee cup to the end of the table so she could reach it.
“Sure, Charlene,” he said with a quick glance up at her as she filled his coffee. “That would be nice of you.”
She stood there for just a second longer than she needed to, the coffeepot swinging a little bit from her index finger. When Michael dug back into his breakfast without sparing her anything other than a dismissive smile, she pasted on a smile and headed to the door. Without filling my cup.
“They’re not gonna drag you to Valhalla,” he told Charles around a bite of toast.
“Not if I have anything to say about it, they’re not,” I replied.
Michael’s eyes were glittering with orneriness, and he shook his head. “No, I mean, that’s not where they’d take him. Valhalla is sorta like the Norse version of heaven for warriors. That’s what a Valkyrie’s job is, or at least used to be—to choose which warriors died and went to Valhalla.”
“Yeah, I know,” I replied. “Stephanie’s told me about it. So where will they take him, then?”
“Heck if I know,” Michael said, forking up the last of his eggs. “It’s my job to know about real monsters, not memorize Norse mythology.”
“Wrong answer,” I said, reaching over and stealing his coffee. “They’re not takin’ him anywhere if I have anything to say about it. Now, hurry up and finish. I wanna go see Mila so I can get some answers. They only gave me forty-eight hours, and that was twelve hours ago.”
He reached for his cup, protesting, but I pulled it closer to me and did the one thing I knew would make it mine—dumped sugar in it.
“What’d you do that for?” he asked, scowling.
“Because,” I said, motioning to my still-empty cup sitting on the end of the table. “I didn’t get a refill because you weren’t nice to Charlene. A blind man could see she’s got it bad for you. I’m not going without caffeine because you’re obtuse.”
He started to argue, but Charles shook his head. “She’s right. We come here at least once a week, and every time we’re here, that girl about turns herself inside out for you, but you never give her the time of day.”
“I’m nice to her,” he said, defensive. “I just ... never noticed she was any nicer to me than she is to anybody else.”
I raised a brow. “She left my cup empty because she thinks you’re with me, and she’s out there right now finger-feeding your familiar. Plus,” I said, eyeballing the mound of bacon on his plate, “she gave you extra good stuff. She’s definitely into you.”
Before he could say anything else, the girl in question appeared, ever-present coffee pot in her hand. “I forgot to refill your cup, sweetie,” she said to me. “I’m sorry. Rocky was just tellin’ me your Michael’s sister—I should have seen the family resemblance. Is there anything else I can get for you?”
“We’re good,” I said. “Just the check. And maybe a coffee to go, if you don’t mind.” Now that she knew I wasn’t a threat, she didn’t have any reason to spit in it, so I’d take the extra dose of caffeine. “And one for my vision-impaired brother, too,” I said, rolling my eyes at him.
She grinned and winked at me. “You got it, honey.”
I huffed a breath out and shook my head. Minus the eye shadow, Charlene was cute. It was no wonder he was single.
Chapter 15
TEMPEST WENT OUTSIDE to say hi to Rocky while we paid up, and when we stepped out of the diner, the heat slammed us in the face like we’d opened an oven door. The humidity was already high, and within a couple minutes, my shirt was sticking to my back.
“I don’t know how y’all live in this,” I grumbled, cranky. “It’s stifling.”
“You live in it, too,” Michael said, bemused.
“No, I live on the beach where there’s always a breeze. It’s hot, yeah, but the air moves. Here, it feels like we’re just bein’ baked alive.”
I almost wished we’d have just ported, but I was getting lazy. It wasn’t a habit I wanted to get into, mainly because I liked to eat too much to stop exercising. Thankfully, Mila’s was only a couple blocks away, but when we reached her shop, the door was locked and the sign was turned to closed.
I cupped my hands to the windows, but just like the day before, the place was dark without a soul in sight. “Why isn’t she open? She always opens at seven, and it’s after eight.”
Charles pulled in a deep breath. “When was the last time you actually spoke with her face-to-face?”
“I don’t know,” I said, lifting a shoulder. “A month or so ago. Why?”
“A lot’s changed in that time,” he replied, stepping around me. “She’s had to adjust her hours a bit.”
As he said that, lights came on inside, and a flustered Mila flipped the sign to open. When she saw me staring in at her only a couple feet from her face, she about jumped out of her skin. Flinging her hand to her chest, she jumped back, but a broad smile split her face. She whipped the door open and pulled me into a hug.
“Des! What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on you, for one thing,” I said, giving her the once over. “Charles said you were supposed to meet him at the resort yesterday, but you never showed, then when we tried to get ahold of you, you didn’t respond. On top of that, you lied to me when you told me about the wrinkly old crone. I was standing right outside when you said that.”
Her cheeks pinked as she stepped back and drew us into the shop. The dark circles under her eyes worried me. Her dark hair, usually shiny and full, looked dull. Considering she was the one who made the only product that tamed my out-of-control mop, that wasn’t good. Her hair usually looked better when she got out of bed than most people’s did fresh from the salon.
“What’s up with you?” I asked, studying her closer. “You look like crap.” She looked like she’d lost some weight but gained some muscle, which was good, but there was a nasty bruise on her forearm and bags under her eyes. I took her by the elbow and twisted her arm a little so I could get a better look. She pulled away from me and brushed me off.
“Pot, kettle!”
she huffed, scowling at me. “Your skin looks terrible. Have you not been using the sunscreen and serum I made for you? You’re gonna look like old leather by the time you’re forty if you keep spendin’ all day every day in the sun with no protection.” She motioned to the bruise. “And as for this, I’ve been taking self-defense classes,” she said, flitting behind the counter to flip on the inside lights. “and I have been busy here. I can’t make enough product to keep up with the demand. You know how it is this time of year, and my web business is off the chain. I’m fine.”
Rocky trotted to a shady spot and plopped down on the cool tile, panting, but Tempest headed directly for the steps that led to the upstairs apartment. “I’m gonna go see Calamity. I assume she’s still sleeping?”
Mila nodded, yawning. “We had a late night making potions.”
I’d grown up with this woman, and we were as close as sisters. We’d snuck out together. We’d covered for each other. We’d shared secrets and made a million memories, and now she was lying to me. Again. I called her on it.
“I’m not buyin’ it,” I said, motioning to shelves that were only half full. She always kept everything stocked and neat. “What’s really going on? And before you lie to me a third time, let me add that if you don’t tell me, there’s a good chance Charles, here, is gonna get a taste of what Valkyries do to murderers.”
“What?” she gasped, snapping her gaze to mine, finally.
“You heard me. Apparently, he—”
“Wait,” Charles said, stepping forward. “Let me explain it.”
“Somebody explain it,” Mila snapped, glancing back and forth between the three of us.
Michael had taken a seat at the beauty bar and motioned to Charles. “It’s his show.”
Charles shifted his weight from foot to foot, the pulled in a deep breath. “Liz and I have been seeing each other for a few months now.”
Mila rolled her fingers, telling him to get to it. “Duh, I’ve known that. I was just waiting for y’all to finally admit it. What’s that got to do with anything?” She paused, and even though I had no idea what the dynamic was, I had the distinct feeling that Mila expected Liz to be with us. She confirmed that a second later when she narrowed her eyes. “Where is she, anyway?”
Charles let out the breath he’d been holding, and his eyes shone. “She’s ... somebody killed her.”
Mila took a couple steps backward, blindly feeling for one of the stools. Michael jumped up and pushed one behind her.
“How,” she asked, her voice faint.
“Stabbed,” I said. “Colin and I found her last night in the woods right up from the beach.”
Her gaze shot to Charles. “Is it them?”
Charles shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. I didn’t see her ... after. I didn’t see anything suspicious coming or going, though.”
“You know we’re tracking two of them now, right in this vicinity,” she said, rubbing her face with her hand. “They could have followed her there.”
I’d had enough. “Okay, I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but I’m about to. Somebody start explaining, and I don’t want to hear about your self-defense classes or all-night brewing sessions.”
“I agree,” Colin said, stepping forward and putting his hand on the small of my back. “If you think there’s something out there that could have killed somebody, we wanna know about it right now. Des works there by herself half the time, and it’s the middle of the night when she closes. This isn’t just about clearing Charles of murder anymore. This is about keeping her safe.”
His voice brooked no argument, and when I glanced up at him, I was surprised to find his eyes lightening to the incandescent amber that I’d only seen when he changed.
“He has a point,” Michael said, surprising me a little. He was usually all about the secrets. If he had to write his job description, the whole thing would be redacted so heavily nobody else could read it. I didn’t even know for sure what he did for a living, and I knew everything about him.
“It’s your call,” he said to Mila, “but I think you should at least give it to her in broad brush strokes. She needs to know what’s out there, especially if there’s a chance they can access the resort. It’s a prime spot for easy targets.”
Now I was worried. They were talking like there was a serial killer on the loose or something. “Somebody start talking,” I said, then added, “please,” to soften it.
Mila sighed and closed her eyes. “Okay. I’ve hated keeping secrets from you, anyway, and now Michael’s right. You could be in danger. This is hitting a little closer to home than I’d like. I can’t tell you everything, but I can tell you enough to keep you safe. And what’s this about clearing Charles of murder?”
Charles shook his head. “Liz and I have been arguing a little the last few days. I was tired of sneaking around and wanted to bring our relationship out into the open. She didn’t think it was a good idea.” He hung his head. “I may not have killed her, but it’s my fault she’s dead.”
“It’s not,” I said, trying to feed as much conviction into my tone as possible. “There’s no way you could have known anything bad was going to happen to her. She’s half Fae, for heaven’s sake. The woods were her home. And I shouldn’t need to remind you that she was also half Valkyrie. Not exactly women known for being lightweight pushovers.”
“If I hadn’t pushed her, she wouldn’t have wanted to take a walk by herself,” he said. “Paint it however you want, but I do know what’s out there, and I still let her go off on her own.”
“Stop it,” Mila said, glowering at him even as she swiped away a tear. “You didn’t know they were in the area, and the Enchanted Coast is one of the safest places on the planet, even for supernaturals.”
“I feel like Colin and I are the only ones in the dark here,” I said, reaching the limit of my patience.
“I’m about to explain,” she replied, “but you’re probably going to be a little surprised. And maybe mad.”
“Not nearly as mad as I’m getting right now,” I pointed out, tapping my toe. “Or as mad as I was yesterday when you bald-faced lied to me. Any day now.”
“Fine,” she said. “A few months ago, a wizard from the PCBI came here looking for my help with a potion. He thought I’d be able to break it down into its components without figuring out what it was. He claimed it was for some cold project he was working on in his spare time, but that nobody had been able to deconstruct it.”
“Well, that was stupid,” I said. “I don’t know jack about potions, and even I’d know enough to at least take a guess.”
“To be fair,” she said, lifting a shoulder, “It was an ancient potion, and dark to boot. I wouldn’t have recognized it either, except mama’s such a history freak.” Her lips curved into a wry half-smile. “Turns out, all that info she made me memorize wasn’t so useless after all.”
We’d spent countless hours at her place while her mother taught us about herbs and plants and how to turn them into potions, or how to counteract the effects of many of them if something happened. I hadn’t attended the more advanced lessons, though. Not my skill set.
“You know the old myth that Abaddon’s Gate is an actual gate to the Valley of Lost Souls?” she asked.
Colin nodded. “Everybody’s heard that. It’s printed on every brochure in the city.”
“Well, it’s not a myth,” Michael said, cutting to the chase. “There’s an actual, literal gate that holds those souls in. The eternally damned. The worst of the worst. Manson meets Jack the Ripper and Hannibal.”
“Are you kidding?” I asked, turning to Mila, my thoughts whirring. “But even so, what’s that got to do with an ancient potion?”
Before Mila could answer, the bell above the front door of the shop tinkled and a young brunette wearing camo shorts and an olive-green tank top backed in, pushing the door open with her butt because she had a coffee cup from my favorite coffee place in each hand. Her wavy hair was thick and so
long it nearly reached her waist, and I wondered how she tolerated it in the heat. Mine was long, but I always kept it up off my neck.
“Mornin’ Mila,” the girl said over her shoulder, going quiet when she turned around and saw us. “Oh, hello. I didn’t know there was anybody else here. Hey Charles! I didn’t expect you back so soon.”
She handed Mila one of the coffees, then took a drink from the other one. “What’s going on?”
Sympathy filled Mila’s eyes. “Honey, come in here. We’ve got something to tell you. Everybody, this is Kat. She’s working with Liz, Charles, and I.”
“Hi,” Kat said, distracted and never taking her eyes off Mila. “What’s going on?”
Mila took a couple steps forward to close the distance between them and laid her hand on Kat’s arm. “Sweetie, I don’t know how to tell you this, but Liz was killed last night. Out at the Enchanted Coast. We don’t know yet who did it.”
“But Charles is accused of it,” I added.
“Charles is? Why?” She sat her coffee down and ran a hand over her mouth, her face pale. “No, wait, first, what happened to her?”
She took a seat on a stool beside Michael while we filled her in.
“But they don’t have any evidence against you,” she said to Charles, her gaze intense. “They can’t just convict you because you were dating her.”
He lifted a shoulder. “To be fair, if I were the one investigating it, I’d think I did it, too. Or at least that I might have.” His lips curled into a pained smile. “After all, I was hiding in her closet, holding her bow. Even I have to admit the optics there aren’t great.”
I only listened with half an ear because I was more interested in watching Mila. I wanted to know what was going on with her. We’d been two peas in a pod our entire lives, and we’d never kept anything from each other. I hoped Tempest was pumping Calamity for info in case Mila decided to continue her silent streak.