So yeah. I was willing to bet that Katrina Kozlov wasn’t in any trouble. Convincing her otherwise would take time.
I waited until Alvarez went back to his office before stepping up to Johnson. Kozlov snoozed in a chair a few feet away. I didn’t care if she saw or heard anything. If her job was to audit me and my department, she’d have to know the truth eventually.
“Carl, I know you and I didn’t exactly hit it off on the right foot, but the last thing I want for you is to be carted off to an institution.”
I took one of his shaking hands in mine, it was cold and clammy like a wet fish. Slowly, his eyes moved ever so cautiously towards me. They appeared totally blank as though there was nothing inside his head.
“That spirit you saw earlier,” I said. “It was Clyde, wasn’t it? He scared you pretty bad, didn’t he?” Carl’s eyes got bigger, and I willed him not to start screaming again. “It’s okay. I understand. I saw him too. He came right out of the wall. And then he got scared and disappeared.”
Standing up, I gave my hands a shake and glanced quickly out the door down the hall to where I could vaguely see the outlines of an officer at the front desk.
“Okay . . . ” I breathed, giving my hands another last shake. “Just to let you know, this is gonna make me super tired, so if I’m a cranky-ass bitch tomorrow, you’ve only got yourself to blame.”
Rubbing the palms of my hands together, I felt the heat and energy grow between them. Closing my eyes, I imagined that energy grow into a beam of glorious emerald green, healing light. Taking a couple deep breaths, I moved closer to Carl, moving the now gleaming ball of energy in my hands towards him. Unlike the ghost he’d seen earlier that night, my healing energy didn’t scare him in the slightest. His eyes softened as he gazed into it.
“You’re gonna feel a little sizzle and then a pop,” I told him gently as I slowly moved my hands above his head. The ball of warm light followed. “Then you’re going to feel like your whole body is being filled up with peppermint and champagne. Hopefully after that you’ll feel normal again.”
Moving the ball of energy onto the top of his head, I pressed my hands down hard onto his scalp and felt all the warmth and energy in my body surge through my arms. It felt as though a vortex was swirling in my stomach. As though all the heat and vitality was being sucked out of me.
Opening my eyes, I imagined the large green ball moving all the way down the length of his body, dropping into his stomach before sending out spirals of light into each fiber of his being. He let out a long gasp and threw his head back as though he’d been punched hard in the chest. Then he opened his eyes so wide they were almost bulging out his head. His hands gripped the couch cushions while his mouth opened wider, then wider still as he sucked in more and more air.
Moving my hands away from him, I saw a good portion of my vitality shift from my body and down into his, until he was filled with a brilliant green that emanated from each of his pores. Gradually, that light began to fade as it absorbed into him. Carl closed his eyes and his hands stopped shaking, and then his mouth slowly spread into a soft smile. His whole face held a natural glow like he’d just finished the most exhilarating hike.
Sagging back against the couch, he let out a long, satisfied breath and stared up at the ceiling.
“Unbelievable!” he declared. “What was that?”
“W-wh-what did you just do to Carl?” Kozlov stammered from the chair. Judging by the expression on her face, she’d seen the whole thing.
“I fixed him.”
Stunned, she kept looking back and forth between me and then Carl.
“He looks like a whole different person!” she gasped. “Everything about him is completely relaxed.” I nodded my weary head. Even Carl’s eyes were filled with nothing but a serene warmth.
“He’s still the same dude,” I explained to them both. As the words fell out my mouth, I was aware of my own body becoming more and more exhausted. I could barely stand up. I staggered backwards until I fell into a chair and let out an involuntary yawn.
“Agent Rivera? Did you do this to me?” Carl asked as he looked around the break room. Logan was mumbling something unintelligible from the floor.
“Yeah. You were broken. I put you back together. This is the part where you say, ’Thanks, Rivera.’”
“What, exactly, did you do?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, too tired to talk.
“It matters to me!” Carl said, putting his foot down. “I’ve never felt anything like that in my life. It was the most wonderful thing that has ever touched my body. It was . . . amazing.”
I’d used my gift countless times over the years, usually on animals, plants and a few sentient beings. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d used my magic on a living, breathing, human being.
“I healed you,“ I told him. “I was born . . . different. I guess you could say I have powers.”
Carl’s eyes brightened.
“Like super powers?”
“Something like that.”
He shook his head. “Impossible.”
“Except that you and I both saw it,” Kozlov cut in. “All three of us did.”
Carl frowned, shaking his head, but he wasn’t upset. Just confused.
“I know, but it goes against everything I ever thought was possible. But I know it really happened. I felt it. And when I saw that—that spirit or ghost or whatever you want to call him, I know that was real, too.”
“Yeah,” I said, resting my head on the back of the chair. “That’s why our department’s called the Occult Crimes Division. We deal with ghosts and paranormal phenomena all day, every day. Do you know how hard it is for guys like Alvarez to pick up the phone and ask for help with a poltergeist? That’s exactly why I can’t handle non-believers. All they do is slow us down.”
Carl cast his gaze inward as though he was trying to weave both sides of his mind together; one side belonging to a hardened skeptic, the other to a new believer.
“It’s all real, isn’t it?” he said. “Everything you two do in the Occult Crimes Division. It’s real.”
“Yeah. It’s really fucking real.”
He lay a hand on his forehead and kept staring into the carpet. Then slowly, he raised his face towards me.
“I’ve always followed the science,” he said. “So if I see irrefutable evidence to prove something, I have to trust that evidence.”
“All we know is what we’ve been told by the rest of the officers,” Kozlov said. “There wasn’t any solid proof. But that changed tonight. I never thought I’d see an actual ghost, and now we’ve all seen one. The evidence I experienced last night, well, it was irrefutable. Don’t you agree, Carl?”
He shook his head and smiled.
“I do. I can honestly say that I’m a believer now,” he declared. He had what I call ‘the look’ . . . a little starry-eyed, a sense of disbelief and awe. I watched him for a second as he stared up at the ceiling, no doubt contemplating the mysteries of the universe. “I can’t go back to the way things were a day ago. Not after what I’ve seen with my own eyes.”
“So, do you finally understand that a miserable ghost named Clyde McQueen is haunting the Mariposa police department? How are these officers supposed to do their jobs when there’s a poltergeist fucking with them? It’s our job to figure that out.”
Carl lowered his face.
“Yeah, I understand. We need to help Chief Alvarez and the precinct however we can.”
“Exactly. So can I count on you guys?” I glanced from Carl to Katrina, feeling a sense of relief when they both nodded in agreement.
“Great. Healing you really knocked me out so I’m gonna take a nap. Wake me up if you see any signs of Clyde, or if Hawthorne snaps out of it.”
The last thing I saw before I dozed off was Logan sleeping on the floor near the break room table, curled up under a blanket.
I just hoped he was okay.
13
Logan
&n
bsp; It was a darkness like no other. The kind that entered your bones. The kind that made you feel as though you’d entered a black hole. It was suffocating. So completely stifling that I felt like black velvet ropes were wrapping themselves around me and squeezing like a boa constrictor.
But through that darkness was also bliss. I’d never slept so soundly or felt such comfort. It felt like all my bones had been removed and I was left with big, sloppy, wet noodle limbs.
I didn’t know how long I was in this state, only that I never wanted to leave it. Gradually, over a period of time that could have been five seconds or five years, I noticed a twinge in my arms and legs as I began to wake up. Slowly, my eyelids peeled open and the world came into view. But it wasn’t the world I was expecting.
I sat up and looked around the room. Candlelight flickered over ancient bricks and the air smelled like moss and flowers.
This isn’t the break room at the Mariposa Police Station. And where the Hell is Alvarez? Where’s Elena?
Trying to move off the bed, I soon realized my path to the floor was obstructed by wooden bars. Then I looked down and saw my legs had disappeared. Now I was staring at fat little baby legs and pudgy toes.
“Aw, fuck. I’m a baby again.”
With my stupid little chubby hands I tried to rattle the bars of my crib, but I was too weak to make much sound. I tried to call out for help. Maybe if I shouted loud enough Elena would be able to hear me. She’d crossed into different planes of existence before. But all that came out my mouth was, “Bagga ahaab gagaga.”
Ugh! Stupid baby voice!
Annoyed, I slumped back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. If this was what it was like to be a baby, I didn’t blame them for crying all the time. I knew what I wanted, I just couldn’t make my mouth or my hands do it.
The shadows of the nearby candles were dancing hypnotically across the wooden beams of the ceiling. They looked so beautiful that I was mesmerized. I started to see the willowy shapes of dancing women in them, and the more I watched their performance, the sleepier I became.
Closing my eyes, I started to drift off again. The last thing I thought as I drifted off was that I hoped I’d wake back up in the police station . . . griping about civet-poop coffee.
I wasn’t so lucky.
I was jolted awake again. Or at least my dream-state baby body was. Lying on my back I stared back up at the ceiling, but there were no more dancing shadows. There was nothing but darkness, and the smell of the candles’ extinguished wicks lay thick in the air. As I lay there, I felt as though my brain had melted along with the candle wax. Was I dreaming or was I really a baby? Was I hallucinating? Or had I simply gone nuts?
I tried to sit up, flung out my chubby limbs and tried to rattle the bars again. A gurgle escaped my throat. I grew more infuriated. It was bad enough being stuck in a dream world, but in an infant’s body I was powerless to move or communicate. All I could do was babble and wiggle.
Getting increasingly annoyed, I did what all babies did—I started to cry. Was there any worse noise than a baby screaming? I cried at the top of my lungs, my piercing shrieks echoing off the walls.
“Shhh . . . ” came a voice.
Was it the lovely Lady Sanne I remembered from my previous dream? Or the handsome bearded warrior fae that was supposed to be my dad? I might not have known them, but in that moment I longed for their soothing voices and loving faces. The more I cried, the more I yearned for these people as though they were really my parents. I felt connected to them in a way I couldn’t truly comprehend, but the bond was so strong it tugged at my tiny body until I felt as though I would go insane if I never saw them again.
“Shhhhh . . . ” came the voice again.
It took all my strength to lift my head, and when I did, I felt a fear grip at my heart that sucked the breath out my lungs. Blue fire. It hung in the doorway surrounding a single blue hand.
“Be quiet, little one,” came an insidious voice.
There was the sound of footsteps entering the room, and a second later, that blue hand was curling itself around the bars of the crib. I could feel the gaze of the person above me more than I could see it. It was dark but hot. An invisible laser beam pointing right at me.
“What a beautiful child,” the voice oozed into my ear like hot, acrid tar. “What a beautiful, perfect little child. You’re so pure.”
I looked up, terrified. I needed to see the face of who was talking. But I couldn’t see any features, just a great big shadow of darkness and that fiery blue hand that never left my sight. No matter where I looked it was there, its sapphire glow lighting up the whole room.
“Your purity is more valuable than you could ever know,” said the voice. “It holds so much power.”
The blue hand moved over the side of the bars and into my cot. I could feel its evil before it touched me. I sensed its strength and what it was capable of. I knew that as soon as that hand landed on me, I would never be the same.
“Don’t touch me, you freak!” I tried to scream, but all that came out was more bullshit baby babble.
The hand was so big, so powerful compared to me. I tried to crawl away from it, but it only crept closer. Gradually, as the fear swelled up inside me, the blue fiery fingers crept across the bed and wrapped themselves around my stomach. It picked me up like I was nothing, and I was held over the bed for a few seconds.
“You will be perfect for Queen Solana,” said the voice that emanated from the darkness.
I opened my mouth and let out a riotous scream for help, but before a sound could escape, I was gripped tighter until all the air was squeezed out of my lungs. I tried to cry but couldn’t. I fought to breathe but couldn’t suck in an iota of oxygen. With all the strength of my tiny limbs I tried to fight against my captor, but I couldn’t do a damn thing to save myself.
“You’ll be quiet, little Niklas,” came my warning. “Make a single sound and I will crush you.”
I knew it wasn’t just an idle threat. It was obvious whoever this was had the power to kill me with their bare hands if they wanted to. I fell silent, and gradually, the grip on me loosened. But if I thought they were going to let me go entirely, I was sorely mistaken.
“Keep silent, little Niklas. We’re going on a little adventure.”
I felt the grip of the blue hand tighten on me again ever so slightly, warning me to obey . . . or else. Then the room was moving around me and the crib was fading away. I tried to reach out for the safety of those wooden bars, but we were already turning a corner into the hallway.
I wanted to scream my lungs out, but knew that if I dared, I would never be able to take another breath. Whoever was holding me had the power to kill me with a single squeeze.
All I could do was hang limply in the hand of my captor as I was spirited away down the seemingly endless dark corridor. The sound of footsteps echoed across the ancient stone, moving in an uneven tempo, like a heartbeat.
Thump, thump.
Thump, thump.
Thump . . . thump . . .
I woke up screaming and bolted upright like I’d been poked with a cattle prod.
“Put me back in my fucking crib, you blue shitbag! Put me back!”
“Whoa!” came an amused voice and I turned round to see Alvarez sitting at the table in the police station break room chuckling at me. “You must’ve been having a nightmare. You’ve been making crazy noises in your sleep all night.”
Rolling over and realizing I was on the floor, I pushed myself to my hands and knees just to feel something stable. Then I stood up on wobbly legs and stretched.
“Aw Jesus, how long have I been out?”
“About eight hours,” said Alvarez.
“Shit. Really?” I rubbed my eyes and looked at my phone. it was almost eight-thirty in the morning.
“You feeling alright?”
“Not really. My head’s kind of fuzzy.”
“Is that all? I thought you’d have a pounding headache after chugging
all that Valium.”
“Wait a minute—what?”
“Johnson’s Valium,” Alvarez repeated, as if saying it again would help explain things better. “Agent Kozlov gave you his dose by mistake.”
“Dammit,” I grumbled. “Shit like that keeps happening. One of these days I’m going to wake up missing a kidney.”
I swayed from side to side as I tried to regain my balance. Then, when I felt overwhelmed by a sense of fogginess, I let out a long yawn.
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
“Your FBI pals are grabbing breakfast. Should be back any time now.”
“Thanks. I’m going to step outside for a bit,” I said, and headed for the front doors. The last twenty-four hours had been a lot to handle. My dad was in the hospital, no doubt clinging to life, and my flight was scheduled to leave in a couple hours. One of the federal agents trying to eliminate my job had experienced a mental breakdown while the other one had drugged me. I was having nightmares of being trapped in a baby’s body while a big fucking blue hand threatened to kill me. And in a moment of weakness, I’d slept with my partner. It felt like my world was falling apart all around me.
A silent buzzing in my pocket snapped me out of my self-loathing session.
“Hello? Ellen? Is that you?”
“Hi Logan,” she chirped back. There was a lightness in her voice that hadn’t been there the night before. “I’m so glad I caught you.”
“How’s my dad?”
“Oh, you wouldn’t believe it, but he’s recovered so well! So, so well. He’s fine!”
“He’s fine? Really?”
“Yes, totally fine. He woke up feeling right as rain. I’m sitting next to him now in the hospital. Would you like to talk to him?”
“Of course!”
There was a scuffling sound as she fumbled with the phone. A second later, Dad’s voice boomed on the other end of the line.
“Logan! How are you?”
Catnip & Curses (The Faerie Files Book 2) Page 14