“What kind of help?” Kade shifted his attention to the vacant man. “He’s not in there.”
“No, but we don’t know if that’s a permanent condition,” I explained. “We don’t know that when we end this – whatever this is – that he won’t go back to what he was before. I have no idea what this woman was, or what kind of magic she used. I can’t fix him until I have more information. Even if I get that information, I might not be able to fix him.
“We can’t watch him in the meantime, though,” I continued. “We need him to get the proper care he deserves. We also need to make sure we’re not on the hook for this woman’s death.”
“Even though she totally had it coming,” Kade muttered under his breath.
“Despite that,” I agreed. “Our other problem is that we need to move the body when it’s still daylight because the second it gets dark the ghost things are going to be back to lock us in here.”
“So you think Dolph and Nellie are going to be able to move a body out when this place is crawling with people?”
I nodded without hesitation. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve got it under control.”
Kade threw up his hands and scowled. “Oh, well, if you’ve got it under control. Clearly I have nothing to worry about.”
“You really don’t.”
“I wish I could have as much faith as you.”
“It will be fine.” I was seventy-five percent sure that was true. Mentioning the other twenty-five percent seemed like a poor idea given the circumstances. “We’ll work together and everything will turn out completely fine.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
He wasn’t the only one. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Kade heaved out a resigned sigh before pulling me in for a quick hug. “Good.” He briefly buried his face in the hollow of my neck. “Thank you for doing whatever it is you did to save me.”
“You’re welcome.” I ran my hand up and down his back. I didn’t say that I thought he was capable of saving himself from that situation because it felt like adding fuel to an already raging inferno. He had no idea what he was dealing with and I couldn’t take time out to hold his hand until we were clear of this potential catastrophe. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. As soon as Nellie is here, things will be better.”
“I’ve never heard anyone say that about Nellie, but I guess I’ll take your word for it.”
I chuckled despite myself. “He’s good in a crisis.”
As if on cue, Nellie picked that moment to stroll into the tent. He didn’t seem surprised by the scene. Rather, he seemed amused and gung-ho to be involved in a body transfer. “It’s been a while since I’ve had to move a body during the day.” He didn’t sound particularly worried.
“At least six months,” I agreed. “I have her address. And we need to make sure the police find her husband because he can’t be on his own. Oh, there’s also another blank guy wandering around the midway – at least there was ten minutes ago. You need to track him down and get him into the hands of the authorities, too.”
“Got it.” Nellie’s smiled as he leaned down to stare at the woman’s lifeless eyes. “I’ll need one of those ice cream refrigerators, a leash for the dude and a slight distraction to get her loaded into one of the trucks.”
“I can handle all that.”
Nellie brightened considerably. “Have I ever mentioned that I love this job? It’s never boring.”
Kade rolled his eyes. “You have the weirdest sense of humor.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Now … let’s get this witch in a freezer, people. She’s not getting any fresher.”
BY THE TIME the ghosts returned to line the dreamcatcher we had the fairgrounds empty of visitors and were back in our usual spots so we could study them. Max illuminated the entire area – mostly in an effort to pierce the fog because it was especially thick tonight – and it wasn’t hard to ascertain that we were being inundated with twice as many ghosts as usual.
“Will you look at that?” Percival was agog as he took up position next to Raven. He still had a purple clown wig on and oversized shoes that irritated every inch of me. I tripped over them twice before glaring so hard he wisely moved to the other side of his girlfriend.
“Everything is handled,” Nellie announced as he joined us, his face flushed with excitement. “We got the woman inside and put her on the couch. Made it look like she had an aneurysm or something.
“We searched the house, but only had a few minutes to spare,” he continued. “We didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Of course, we couldn’t look as thoroughly as we wanted.”
“What about the husband?” Kade asked.
“We let him outside to wander the neighborhood. We dropped the other guy you told us about in the police station garage.”
Kade’s mouth dropped open. “You did what?”
Nellie snorted, genuinely amused. “Don’t worry. We parked around the block and kept an eye on guy number one to make sure he didn’t wander into oncoming traffic. Then Dolph mentioned to one of the neighbors that he thought it was weird the guy was just standing in the yard. The neighbor called for help and we left when the police were a block away. We listened on the scanner to make sure they took him into custody. They did, by the way, and he’s being transported to the nearest hospital.
“As for the second guy, we blanked the cameras in the garage – there was only one working anyway – and dropped the guy as close to the underground door as possible,” he continued. “We watched him until two officers came in from patrol. They took him inside after trying to talk to him for a few minutes, so he’s being taken care of, too.”
“That’s good.” I fixed him with a sidelong look. “How was it getting back here?”
“The ghost things are around the parking lot but they seemed fine letting us in.”
“I wonder how they would be letting you out.”
Nellie pursed his lips. “That’s exactly what I was wondering. I mean … look around. Those things are two deep and I don’t think there are any gaps in the ghost line. They clearly want to keep us inside.”
Something occurred to me. “That must mean something is going on outside the line.” I turned to search the small crowd for Max’s face. As if sensing I was looking for him, he broke from the conversation he was holding with Kade and slowly turned in my direction. “I have an idea.”
Nellie snorted. “I have a feeling this is an idea that lover boy isn’t going to like.”
I had a feeling he was right. “Stick close. You might have to help persuade him if things go the way I think they’re going to go.”
“Like he’s going to listen to me.”
“He probably won’t listen to any of us,” I conceded. “That doesn’t mean he’ll ultimately have a choice. Come with me.”
“YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS.”
Kade was even more worked up than I’d expected when I laid my plan out for Max.
“I don’t see where I have a lot of choice.” I forced myself to remain calm despite his heaving chest and furious eyes. “They want us locked up tight in here tonight. There has to be a reason for it.”
“And you think the reason is in Falk?” Max was hard to read at the best of times, but his expression was absolutely blank now. “How can you be sure?”
“I can’t be sure.” That was true. “It does make the most sense.”
“It does?” Kade’s eyebrows hopped as he turned shrill. “Nothing about this makes any sense. Those … things … are haunting us every night. They’re crawling into your head. They’re trying to hurt you. What’s your response? To run out there and give them another shot.”
He was overwrought. I couldn’t blame him – this was out of his comfort zone – but I also couldn’t indulge his meltdown.
“Kade, I need you to calm down.” I looked down as I searched for the right words to soothe his frazzled nerves. “I get that you’re freaking out about multi
ple things here, but we’re in a bad spot. I mean … a really bad spot.
“That woman was sent to us today on a mission,” I continued. “She was supposed to mess with us, distract us, and maybe even hurt us. Either she didn’t understand how strong we really were or she was woefully unprepared for her job.
“She’s not the only one out there,” I said. “We know there’s at least one more because of the woman I saw at the library. I’ll wager that we have a lot more enemies than we initially envisioned.”
“So what does that mean?” Kade’s voice was plaintive. “How does running into the woods in the middle of the night when we’re under siege by ghosts make any sense given what you just said?”
His heart hurt. I could plainly see that … and even feel it because we were so closely linked emotionally. I wanted to soothe him, but I couldn’t. In fact, all I could do was make things worse.
“Someone hosted a bonfire at Falk the other night,” I reminded him. “I think it was the people we’re looking for. They conjured these … things. I still don’t know what they are, but they’re not our primary concern. Whatever is happening in Falk is what we need to focus on. These ghosts have been placed here to distract us.”
“You don’t know that,” Kade muttered.
“She’s right,” Max countered calmly. “We need to see what’s happening in Falk. It’s very obvious that the person pulling the strings wants us distracted and on our heels. We need to go on the offensive.”
“And how is she supposed to get through those ghosts and get to Falk?” Kade looked smug, as if he’d somehow won the argument with a single question.
“She’ll use magic and have a little help from me to blow an opening in the perimeter,” Max replied. “She’ll make it through.”
Kade stared at his father for a long moment, something dark passing between them. When he finally found his voice, he was resigned. “Fine, but I’m going with her.”
This was the part that was going to bother him most, essentially rip his heart in two. I didn’t see where dragging out my inevitable response was a benefit for anyone. “You can’t.”
Kade balked. “You’re not going alone.”
“I’m not,” I agreed, resolved to get through this no matter how angry he was. “Raven is going with me.”
“She is?”
“Yeah, I am?” Raven made a face. “Why am I going with you?”
“Because it makes the most sense,” I replied. “Naida, Nixie and Max will stay here to hold down the fort, maybe conduct a few more experiments. They’ll blow a hole through the ghosts, and that will give us an opening. We should be fine after that.
“If we get in trouble out there, Naida will know,” I continued. “She’ll also know if it’s trouble they can help with or if it’s better to leave us to fend for ourselves.”
“Don’t say things like that,” Kade hissed.
I gave myself a second before responding. “I know this is going to be hard on you. A lot has happened in a short amount of time and you’re all twisted up inside. You’re going to fight and insist on going with us because you’re head of security.”
“Ha!” Kade extended a finger in my direction. “That’s right. I’m head of security. You didn’t think about that, did you?”
“Um, dude, she’s the one who brought it up,” Nellie pointed out.
Kade’s face remained immobile. “I’m going with you. I won’t allow you to wander out there without backup.”
“You don’t have a choice, Skippy,” Raven said. “You might very well have power in those masculine hands of yours – and it might be a lot of power – but you’re afraid to use it. That’s fine. We can walk you through it later. For now, though, we need power.”
Raven wasn’t the type to back down, so she barreled forward despite the unhappiness emanating from Kade. “We can’t take you because you’ll become a liability,” she continued. “If we’re protecting you we won’t be able to protect ourselves. We could all die if that happens. You have to stay behind.”
Kade looked to me for support. “You need me.”
“I need you for a lot of things,” I conceded. “But you can’t come for this. We need to move fast and be able to hide if necessary. You’re not ready to do that. You have to stay behind.”
“But … .”
“No.” I offered up a firm headshake. “I know this is going to eat at you, but we don’t have time to mess around. We need to see what they’re doing in Falk. You can’t come with us. That’s final.”
22
Twenty-Two
Kade remained bitter as I changed from flowing skirt to black trousers and tennis shoes. I tied my long hair into a ponytail so it wouldn’t get in the way, and shrugged into a hoodie to cover my T-shirt. Raven did the same several feet away, Percival at her side, their heads bent together as they whispered between themselves. I changed by myself because Kade refused to help. I felt isolated before I was even separated from my group.
He was being petulant – I think he knew that – but that didn’t change his attitude. He was furious, angry beyond words, and he struggled to let the fury go long enough to say goodbye.
That grated more than I wanted to admit.
“Don’t look behind you,” Max instructed, moving in front of me. “That will be your instinct, to look over your shoulder to see if anything is giving chase. What happens if you do that?”
Max had started training me on certain escape techniques when I was a teenager and he found me trying to pick his pocket in Detroit. Instead of busting me, turning me over to the police, he saw something he liked and offered me a job. The first few weeks after that were difficult, mostly because I wasn’t used to following rules, but eventually I came to see Max as my savior rather than jailer. I’d had a better life ever since.
“I’ll trip because I’m not watching where I’m going,” I answered perfunctorily. I’d seen enough horror movies to know that was true, so he didn’t need to drill it into my head. “I know not to look behind me.” I zipped my hoodie as high as it would go, close to my chin. “We’ll be okay. We know what we’re doing.”
“I know that.” Max squeezed my shoulders and glanced to his left, to where my eyes naturally gravitated. Kade stood staring at the taunting ghosts and gripping his hands into fists at his sides. He didn’t so much as glance at me, which caused my heart to flutter. “I’ll take care of him.” Max lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “You take care of you. If something happens to you out there, he really will never get over it. You need to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
I nodded and forced a smile. “I never thought I’d be one of those women who has to temper her actions for a man.”
Max chuckled, low and throaty. “That’s not what you’re doing. He’s upset. He doesn’t understand. If he could go with you it would be a way of keeping some control. That’s not possible – and he truly understands that, whether he’ll admit it or not – so he feels as if he can’t offer you anything. That’s not easy for a man like him.”
“And what kind of man is he?”
“An alpha-hole,” Luke answered automatically as he moved to my side, his eyes lighting with mirth as I scowled. “What? He’s totally an alpha-hole.”
“He is not,” I shot back, taking a moment to make sure the laces on my sneakers were tied tightly.
Max furrowed his brow. “What’s an alpha-hole?”
“It’s nothing,” I automatically answered.
“It’s a book and movie thing,” Luke countered. “It’s an alpha male – think Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone in all their movies – who thinks he needs to tell a woman what to do to protect herself.
“In this case, Poet is the one with the knowledge and Kade is the one pouting because he can’t go with her,” he continued. “That makes him an alpha-hole.”
“He’s not an alpha-hole,” I countered. “He’s just … struggling. He doesn’t want me to be off on my own.”
“I d
on’t want it either,” Luke admitted. “I’m worried. Maybe I should go with you.”
“You might slow us down, too,” I argued. “You can’t shield yourself with magic and you can’t physically fight these ghosts. You’ll probably be a distraction.”
Luke made a face. “That’s my payback for calling your boyfriend an alpha-hole, isn’t it?”
“It’s just the beginning of my payback.” I looked to Raven and found her watching me with an expectant gaze. “Are you ready?”
She nodded. “We should go now.”
“We’re ready to blow a hole in the ghosts,” Naida volunteered. “As soon as you’re ready, we’ll scatter them. That should give you an opening. Use it to run as fast and as far as you can. I don’t know if they’ll follow you when they regroup, but if they do you’ll be on your own.”
“We know.” Raven’s expression twisted with impatience. “Let’s get it over with. The sooner we leave, the sooner we come back.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Let’s do this. I … .” I didn’t get a chance to finish what I was saying because Kade slid in front of me, grabbed the front of my hoodie and pressed a sloppy kiss to my mouth.
“Oh, I knew he couldn’t let her go without making up,” Luke teased. “He’s kind of cute when he gets handsy, isn’t he?”
“That’s the exact opposite of what I was thinking,” Max said dryly. “I was wondering if anyone had a blindfold handy.”
Kade ignored the conversation and pulled back far enough to stare into my eyes. “Please be careful.”
I wrapped my fingers around his wrist, giving it a squeeze as I nodded. “It’s going to be okay. We know what we’re doing. We’ve been taking care of ourselves for years. This is no different.”
“It’s different to me.” He smoothed the back of my hair and pressed another kiss to my forehead. “We’re going to fight about this when you get back because … well, I’m probably going to need to fight about something. Don’t take it personally.”
Freaky Rites (A Mystic Caravan Mystery Book 6) Page 20