by T J Green
He groaned. “Are you kidding? There are loads! It’s summer. There are positively gaggles of them, all giggling and surfing and drinking. I got chatted up tons last night. It was great.” He grinned, and then his face fell. “Hold on. Are you saying I was being chatted up by Mermaids?”
Avery shrugged. “I don’t know. But after yesterday, we know they’re here, in town somewhere. Didn’t you hear about the missing fishermen?”
Dan nodded sadly. “Yeah, I did. It’s pretty crap. I didn’t know them, but I know friends of them. You think it was Mermaids?”
“It was a calm night, they were in an area not known for the best fishing, and far away from the other boats. We think they were lured there, and then…” She didn’t need to finish the sentence.
Dan sat heavily on the stool behind the counter. Fortunately, they had the shop to themselves. “Are they that powerful?”
Avery nodded. “We think we found where they’ve come ashore—the cave in Devil’s Canyon Cove. Within seconds they had bewitched Alex, Reuben, and Newton. Not enough to make them jump overboard, but they were distracted, vague—dreamy,” she said, searching for a better word. “For some reason Nils was spared, probably because he was at the front of the boat. But,” a sudden flash of worry flashed through her mind. “Maybe we should check, just in case.”
“And all they want is men? Mates?”
“Yes, we think so. We also think that the magic we released has attracted them here. I suppose like anything that’s supernatural, they have their own magic, but are drawn to the magic of others, too. But they’re not of the Earth. They are Other.”
Dan’s bright and breezy attitude had disappeared. “For the last few days, there have been about half a dozen long-haired, long-legged young beauties flirting the night away at The Kraken, just off the harbour. They’ve been attracting men like flies around shit. Including myself. Now that I think about it, it does seem weird. I mean, people flirt in pubs all the time, but these girls exude glamour, confidence. I wonder?” He looked into the middle distance, lost in his thoughts for a second. “I must admit, when you’re close by them, it’s hard to look away. But, well, they’re attractive and funny. It’s not that unusual.”
Avery fell silent, thinking and watching Dan. “It’s a big pub, isn’t it? Pretty loud, bands on sometimes?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s not the pub I usually go in, actually, it’s a bit full-on for me, but my mate, Pete, wanted to go in Saturday night. It has a big party vibe on a weekend, lots of young people out to have fun. One of those pubs.”
Avery nodded. She knew exactly what he meant. It was the type of pub she usually avoided, too. But maybe she should make an exception. She ran through all the pubs in White Haven. There were quite a few, a mixture of family pubs, upscale bars, chain pubs, those who catered for all sorts, like The Wayward Son, and then there were the party pubs that only wanted singles or couples. Kids were actively discouraged. There were only a few that would fit that description. The Kraken, The Flying Fish, and The Badger’s Hat. If she were a predatory female, looking for the biggest selection of young men who’d be drinking, up for fun, flirting, and sex with no strings attached, those would be the pubs that would offer the biggest pool of men to choose from. And she presumed they were choosing them. If Avery could perfect the spell, then she could try it out, maybe tomorrow.
Avery looked up at Dan. “Can you spare me for a few hours?”
“I guess so.” He looked momentarily confused. “I thought you were worried about Nephilim?”
“Oh, I’m worried about both now.”
“Great, just great,” he murmured. “Bring me coffee and cake when you come back.”
***
As usual, Briar’s shop smelled divine. This time it was the scent of basil, rosemary, and…what? And then it struck Avery. Tomatoes—fresh, sun-warmed tomatoes. Delicious.
Briar looked up and smiled, and then went back to serving her customer, putting the finishing touches on her wrapping.
There were already quite a few customers drifting around the displays, trying out lotions, and sniffing soaps. Another customer, a young woman, carried some creams to the counter, so Avery strolled around the shop, trying out hand creams while she waited.
When Briar was finally free, she joined her at the counter. “What are you doing with tomatoes, Briar?”
“You can smell them? Oh, good. Gardeners’ soaps. It’s a new range. Delicious, isn’t it? And a little something to soothe the joints, too,” she said conspiratorially.
“Nice! Well, I know you’re busy, but I wondered if you had a couple of dried plants I can have. They’re not that common. Well, I haven’t got them, anyway.”
Briar frowned. “Such as?”
“Agrimony root and Blessed Thistle leaves.”
“Follow me.” She headed through a door into a room at the back of the shop, and the pungent smell of plants hit Avery like a hammer. The room was filled from floor to ceiling with shelves, and on them were jars and baskets stocked with dried herbs, tinctures, fatty creams, roots, cuttings, and real plants in pots. Everything was meticulously labelled. Above their head were rows of wooden beams, and hanging from them were bunches of drying plants. A long bench ran beneath a window, a little bit like in El’s shop, and empty jars sat there, waiting to be filled, as well as ribbons and bags for decoration.
“Wow,” Avery said, looking around. “Very impressive.”
“I need a lot of stock,” Briar explained. She pulled a short step-ladder towards her and used it to reach a small brown jar, and then headed to another shelf and pulled down a bundle of roots. She carefully carried them to the counter, pulled a strand free of the roots, and placed it in a paper bag. Then she measured out a small thimbleful of the dried plant from the brown bottle. “This is strong, so I trust you’re using it sparingly. What are you doing with it?”
Avery lowered her voice. “Trying to identify Mermaids.”
Briar’s eyes widened. “Do you need help?”
Avery thought for a second. “Yes, please. I don’t want to take Alex, or any of the men, actually.”
Briar nodded. “So what’s the plan?”
“I have a spell to unveil Mermaids, but I need to be close by them to use it. I have a few places to try. Which reminds me. Have you got something to aerosolise my potion?”
“Like an old fashioned perfume dispenser?” Briar asked, reaching to the shelf above her and grabbing a beautiful, cut-glass dispenser with gold edging, a fancy purple pump at the top.
“Perfect! You fancy meeting me for a pub crawl after work tomorrow? We’ll start at The Flying Fish.”
“I’m intrigued. Consider it done. And El?”
“I’ll ask her, too. So, another two bottles, please.”
***
Before Avery headed back to the shop, she decided to visit James. He had no idea that the spirit had vacated All Souls, and she knew he’d want to use the church again. She hoped he wasn’t going to ask her awkward questions.
He opened the door to the vicarage and frowned. “Avery, has something happened?”
“Good news only, you’ll be pleased to know.”
Relief washed over his face. “Excellent, come in, the kettle’s on.” He turned and led the way to a large kitchen at the back of the house, overlooking a small square garden filled with children’s toys. “Tea?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t stay,” she said. Hopefully the less time she spent there, the less awkward questions he might ask. “I’ve got to get back to my shop.”
“Of course,” he nodded, pouring hot water into the teapot. “So, what happened with the spirit?”
“It’s gone.”
He paused mid-pour. “Gone? How? Where? When?”
Should she lie and say Alex had banished it? That might have repercussions later.
“I don’t know where.” That was true. “Sometimes spirits just disappear back to where they came from, or it may have gone somewhere else. But we checked the
church yesterday, and it’s safe,” she said vaguely.
“But, I thought spirits usually remained in one place, somewhere familiar to them.”
“Usually, but not always. However, I don’t think you need to worry. I’m sure it wasn’t responsible for Harry’s death after all, and that it was just a horrible coincidence. The police are still investigating.”
“Well, how do you know it isn’t just hiding again? And how did you get in?” His voice was rising with annoyance.
Oh shit. “Look James. I can’t explain everything to you, but trust me, it’s gone. Me and Alex have ways of investigating these things.”
James fell silent for a second, studying her. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not being honest with me?”
“I’m being as honest as I can. But I can confidently say that you can safely use All Souls again.” She smiled tentatively. “Hopefully this will be the last time you’ll have a restless spirit in All Souls. We’ll keep monitoring the local area, just in case it’s gone somewhere else.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You know there was a death in Harecombe too?”
“Yes, but no reports of spirits,” she said, hoping the vicar there hadn’t felt a presence. Surely not, or they’d have heard about it. “Anyway, I better go. I just wanted you to know the church is safe again.”
“You know what some of the town believes about you, Avery?”
She felt her heart start to pound, and she took a deep breath. “Yes, I know. Because of the things in my shop and my ancestor, people think I’m a witch. This town runs on rumours of magic. That’s how we make our money, you know that.”
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” he said, watching her intently.
“Not always,” she said evenly. “And you came to me, remember.”
“I accept there are many things in this world I don’t understand, Avery. I needed help. Maybe desperation was my weakness.”
“Not a weakness. You needed help and I gave it, and will do again. You can trust me. If anything else happens let me know.”
And before he could ask anything else, she left.
***
When Avery dutifully arrived back at Happenstance Books, she carried fresh pastries, Dan’s weakness, and lattes. She spent the rest of the day serving customers and reviewing the instructions to the spell in her head, and as soon as the day was done, she headed up to the attic to start. She lit the fire in the small brick fireplace, stoking it until it burned hot and bright. Then she pulled out the cauldron she kept for such work, and set it on her wooden table. Finally, she started to assemble her ingredients.
It was hours later when Avery finally finished, and the potion was now simmering down. Her stomach grumbled, and it was already becoming dark out. The dormer windows were open, and the scent of summer and dust drifted in. Beyond, just visible in the grey twilight, bats swooped for insects. She sighed with pleasure, and once again thought on how much she loved White Haven, and would do anything to keep it safe.
She headed down to the kitchen to feed the cats, now watching her with resentment, and to make some toast, bringing it back up with her to watch the potion like a hawk. One wrong move now and she’d have to start again.
She sat on the rug, eating absently, when her phone rang and she saw Ben’s number.
“Hey, Ben. How are you three doing after Saturday night?”
His voice sounded excited, which was a relief. “We’re great, thanks, just psyched about the whole night and really pleased with some of our footage. If you’re free tomorrow, you should come round to the office we’ve got set up.”
“Sounds intriguing. I think I could do that. Where’s your office?”
“We’ve bagged a room at the university. It’s small and poky, but better than nothing.”
“Sure—can anyone else come?”
“Whoever’s interested,” Ben said.
“Cool. Mid-morning okay?” she asked, thinking she could get back and relieve her staff for lunchbreaks afterward.
“Perfect. See you then.”
Avery knew most of the others would be working, but Alex might be free in the morning. She called him, looking forward to hearing his voice. It rang half a dozen times before he picked up, and she could hear music from the pub. “Hello, gorgeous,” he answered.
“Hello gorgeous, yourself. You busy?”
“Hold on,” he shouted, and then the sounds disappeared and she realised he must have moved into the kitchen area behind the bar. “Sorry, had to move. Yes, very. It’s a sign tourist season has hit. How about you?”
“The usual. Look, I won’t keep you, but do you want to come with me to see our friendly neighbourhood ghost busters tomorrow morning? At the Uni in Penryn?”
“Yeah, why not. Any chance I could come to yours tonight? I can finish in another couple of hours.”
She felt the warm pleasure at seeing him flood through her. “That sounds great. Do you need anything? Food, drink?”
“Just you.”
She felt her heart skip a beat and she smiled. “Well, I’m all yours.”
“Later, then,” he said, and rang off, leaving her grinning at the cats like a lovesick fool.
19
Penryn University was a well-designed mixture of old buildings and new, set in green fields close to Falmouth, a town on the south coast of Cornwall.
Alex and Avery arrived close to 10:00 AM, pulling onto the visitors’ car park in Alex’s Alfa Romeo Spider Boat Tail. The day was overcast but muggy, and they had driven with the roof down and music blaring, both of them singing loudly and laughing all the way.
As Alex parked, Avery called Ben to let him know that they’d arrived, then they checked the map on the visitors’ board and strolled across the campus to the entrance of the Pendennis Building where Ben had agreed to meet them. There were very few students around. It was the summer holidays, and the university had opened up for summer school and short courses only.
They approached a dark red stone building, the large windows glinting with reflected sunlight. Ben was leaning on the wall, scrolling through his phone as he waited. He looked rumpled, occasionally running his hand through his short dark hair. His Penryn University t-shirt was creased, his jeans had dropped from his waist and were perched on his hips, and his feet were barely in some old green Adidas trainers. He looked up and grinned when he heard them approach, put his phone away, and shook Alex’s hand. “Hi, guys. Glad you could come. You’re going to love our stuff,” he said, leading them inside.
The interior of the building was modern. The entrance was huge, and bright artwork decorated the expanse of white walls. Granite tiles covered the floors, and a sleek staircase was in the centre, next to the lifts.
“I didn’t know you had office space,” Avery said, looking around with interest.
Ben headed to the lifts, and pressed the button. “We didn’t until about a month ago, when my website really started to take off, and we got lots of referrals. I approached my tutor and stressed that what I was doing was fundamental research, and after all, that is what this building—and this university—is all about. Obviously there’s a central research area we all use, but I wanted my own space.” He dropped his voice. “He wasn’t very happy or very eager to help, but one of the other research projects had just been canned, and the semester had ended, so I argued I should have the spare room. And since it’s the holidays, no one’s here.”
The lift pinged as it arrived, and they stepped in, Ben pressing the button for the fourth floor.
“Well, I guess congratulations are in order,” Alex said, looking vaguely impressed.
“We’ve only got it for six months,” Ben shrugged, “but it’s better than nothing. We’ll set up in my flat afterwards if we have to.”
When they arrived at the fourth floor, Ben led them through a maze of halls and doors, passing room after room, until they came to the end of the corridor at the back of the building. He flung open the door. “Ta da!”
The room beyond was small, with a tall, narrow window on the far wall looking out over a mixture of buildings and fields. In the distance was a glimpse of the sea and the sprawling town of Falmouth. The room was packed with workbenches, a desk, computers and electronic equipment, huge white boards filled with pictures and scribbled writing, and the hum of electricity buzzed in the air. In the middle of all this were Dylan and Cassie, staring at monitors.
“Welcome,” Ben declared. “Mi casa es su casa!”
“So, this is where you investigate all the things that go bump in the night?” Alex said, looking around with amusement.
Avery prodded him in the ribs. “This is pretty cool! And exciting.”
Dylan slid the earphones he’d been wearing around his neck. “Make us feel legit. I’m going to have business cards printed next.”
Cassie laughed. “Your faces are a picture, but he’s not kidding. Over the last few days, we’ve decided we’re going to make a go of this.”
“Come in,” Ben said, shutting the door behind them and ushering them to some spare seats.
“But I thought you were doing post-grad studies, and had—” Avery floundered for the right word, “other careers planned.”
“When you study parapsychology this is the perfect career,” Cassie said, leaning back in her swivel chair. “I mean, of course we’ll finish our post-grad studies, obviously, but I only had vague plans of what to do with it. Research, of some sort. This is the perfect fit.”
“Seriously?” Alex said, looking at her, baffled. “You looked massively spooked at the castle the first time we met.”
“It was a shock, I admit that. None of us had ever seen anything on that scale before.”
“And potentially won’t again,” Avery tempered, feeling she needed to add some reason to the conversation. “Ghosts don’t normally manifest like that.”
“True,” Cassie agreed. “But I came back, didn’t I?”
Dylan was perched on the end of his chair, his right foot on his knee. The screen next to him appeared to be showing an audio file that he’d paused halfway through. “We know that not every event will be as big as the stuff we’ve seen recently. Don’t worry, we’re not getting the wrong idea. But there’s way more out there than I realised. And knowing you, and what you are—it’s opened our minds to all sorts of things. We’re going to be a bit more than just ghost-hunters.”