Witching Time: An Ante-Fae Adventure (Wild Hunt Book 14)

by Yasmine Galenorn

“Not to worry. I’m not doing much of anything right now,” he said. A coyote shifter and son of the Great Coyote, Yutani worked for Herne over at the Wild Hunt. For a while he had pursued me, and I had worried that he might be like one of the incels—refusing to take “No” for an answer and blaming women for his lack of a relationship. But he apologized and now we were friends.

  “I was wondering if you could do some research for me? I’m trying to find out everything I can about the original owners of Dream Circle Farms, and the land itself. I think the father was named Jericho Lanchester, and the farm’s located on 175th Street in Woodinville. There are some freaky things happening there, and I’m trying to help out a friend.”

  “Hold on. Okay, you said Dream Circle Farms?”

  I heard him tapping away on his keyboard. “Right. And Jericho Lanchester.”

  “On 175th Street…Woodinville. All right, let me get on this. As I said, I’m not really doing anything right now. I’ll call you when I find out anything. If it’s late, I’ll text you.” He paused, then said, “You know, when you mentioned the farm’s name, I got a very uneasy feeling. Be careful, Raven.”

  “We have creatures hiding in the corn maze, but we can’t figure out what they are. The spirit of a young woman is haunting the land. There’s something sneaking around the ravines. I don’t know—just a lot of stuff going on and I’m not sure how it’s all related. I gather that a family of earth witches owned the farm some forty to fifty years ago, and the daughter vanished. But that’s all I know about the history. One of the current owners seems to be affected by the paranormal activity going on there, as well. Not possessed, so much but…mood shifts and personality change.”

  Yutani tapped away some more. “I’m taking this all down. Okay, I’ll get right on this. Talk to you soon.”

  As I hung up, Kipa returned, three piping-hot pizza boxes in hand. He put them in the back seat. As we headed home, I told him what Yutani had said.

  “I’m glad you asked him to help out. He’s good at ferreting out secrets.”

  The rest of the way home, I stared out the window, wondering if whatever was on the land could follow us, and praying that the answer was a big, fat “No.”

  My father and Raj had cleaned the house till it sparkled. Or rather, my father had, with Raj’s dubious help. But the place looked fantastic.

  We set the pizzas on the table and Kipa brought in paper plates and a bottle of wine. I got the wine goblets out of the china cabinet, and within minutes, we were all settled in the living room, pizza and a merlot in hand. Raj was eating his pizza over at his corner in the living room, making a mess on the tray that kept his crumbs off the floor. But he was enjoying himself, and that was what mattered.

  Kipa and I told my father about what had happened.

  “That sounds like the work of sub-Fae,” Curikan said. “At least, the rustling in the corn.”

  “I don’t know—I normally would agree with you, but I’m not so sure. I think there’s something bigger going on, something that ties in with the earth witches who owned the place.” I helped myself to another slice of pizza—pepperoni, sausage, and extra cheese—and bit into it.

  “What could an earth witch scare up?” Kipa asked. “Elementals?”

  “An earth elemental for sure, but you would have seen it. There’s no way to hide an earth elemental in a corn field.” I shook my head. “No, this is something different. As far as the ghost, Kipa said he thought that she was trying to stay away from the creature.”

  “If a ghost is afraid of something, then yes—it’s big. Very few things can harm a ghost except, well—a necromancer, or a bone witch. Sometimes electromagnetic radiation can disrupt them, but I doubt this farm has a giant microwave or a nuclear power plant hanging around in the back yard.” Curikan shook his head. “I’m at a loss. I honestly don’t know what to tell you. I’ve seen a lot of things in my day, since hills and mountains are filled with odd creatures and energies. But this has me baffled.”

  I was tired of talking about the farm. I really didn’t want to go back out there tomorrow, but I had promised and I didn’t want to break my word.

  “Let’s change the subject. I’m tired and I want to think about something else for a while. I regret agreeing to read cards there. All it did was involve me in something I wouldn’t have chosen to get involved with.”

  Kipa laughed, shaking his head. “Nope. I guarantee you, woman, you would have agreed to help if you had just talked to Evie or Rain in passing. You can’t help it. You’re a fixer.”

  I glared at him. “No, I’m not.”

  “Yes, you are. Isn’t she?” Kipa turned to Curikan, who snorted.

  “Ever since she was a little girl, she tried to tackle problems that were bigger than she was. And I can’t tell you how many stray creatures found their way to our home, courtesy of Raven’s nature. We practically had a woodland sanctuary. We took care of birds with broken wings, stray cats, stray dogs, lizards that she caught, you name it—she brought it home. I finally had to stop her when she brought home a ‘pretty kitty cat.’ She’d wandered into the nearby forest and found herself a bobcat kitten.”

  I groaned. “I can’t believe I did that.”

  “You were fearless, just like your mother,” Curikan said. “We took care of all of them, except the bobcat. I managed to track down the mother and return the kit to her.”

  Kipa was laughing, his eyes dancing with light. “You’re something else, woman.”

  “Oh, you haven’t heard half the tales about what this one did,” Curikan said, jabbing his thumb at me.

  “Stop! You will not give away any more of my secrets!” But I was laughing by now, too. Truth was, it felt good to focus on anything but the farm.

  “Girl, I’m your father. I can tell anybody anything I want to about you.”

  I leaned over and gently punched his arm. “I can’t stop you. But I’ve got my own stories about you.”

  “Anybody want some more wine?” Kipa asked, refilling our glasses.

  We spent the rest of the evening talking over old times. Raj joined us on the sofa when he was done eating, and though he kept quiet, I could tell he loved being part of the group. He snuggled next to me, and I wrapped my arm around him.

  For an evening, I was able to let go of the tension and worry that had been continuous since Pandora had caught hold of me. Sometimes, an evening of laughter was all I needed to face the next day.

  Morning came and with it, the sun broke through the clouds. The wind was up—it was breezy outside. I yawned, staring out the window, wishing I could just cancel. I had no desire to return to Dream Circle Farm. As I finished dressing, I received a text from Yutani, asking me to call him when I had the chance.

  Still in my bra and panties, I placed the call, making sure it wasn’t on Face-Chat. “You have something for me?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I do,” he said. “I found out a few things, but I didn’t have time to search in-depth because Herne called shortly after you did, and set me to work on something about the dragons.”

  “Okay, well, any information is helpful,” I said.

  “The family who originally owned and cleared that farm was, indeed, the Lanchesters. They bought the land in 1965. Jericho was the father, Elzabeth the mother. They had five kids, one of whom was named Aida. She was the only girl, and she was the middle child. In 1978, when she was fourteen, she was reported missing, presumed a runaway. The family—well, the parents—told the cops that she often ran off to stay with friends. Now, there weren’t any other records of her having run away, and cops did interview her friends. Most of them said that, as far as they knew, she had never run off before.”

  “So, the parents weren’t worried about someone kidnapping her?”

  “The father was, to a degree, but her mother was convinced that she had run off. Anyway, neither one even once hinted at foul play. The cops were busy at that time, and they did search some, but the case just went cold. Let me shoot you a pictu
re of her.” He texted one over.

  I glanced at it, then called Kipa in to look at it. “Does this look like the spirit you saw yesterday?”

  He nodded. “Right on the nose.”

  “It seems we have a match. So she didn’t run away. Or if she did, when she died she returned to the land,” I said, putting Yutani on speaker phone.

  “Right,” he said. “Nothing was ever heard from her again and nobody ever reported seeing her anywhere.”

  “Anything else?” I asked.

  “Five years later, the father vanished. He just…disappeared, like the daughter. Elzabeth told everyone who would listen that he had abandoned her and the kids, and that he ran off with a girlfriend. Nobody ever questioned it. Two years later, she gathered up her four sons, sold the farm, and moved away.” Yutani paused for a moment, then added, “Thing is, nobody’s ever heard from the father again, either. Jericho vanished as completely as his daughter did. I did as many searches as I could think of and while the name comes up, none of them match his information.”

  This was getting odder and odder. “Do you know what the earth witches did on the farm? Did they sell anything? Crops? Or did they just live there?”

  “They actually sold a number of things, but mostly trees. The father was a woodcutter, and he stripped a lot of the land over the years to sell the logs. For an earth witch, he wasn’t all that sustainable in practice.” Yutani sounded puzzled. “Actually, it’s odd all the way around. Given they were earth witches, they could have turned that land into a spectacular showplace, but they stripped the land and let the house go to ruin. By the time Elzabeth sold it, records say it was drastically in need of some TLC.”

  “Fascinating. What about the people who bought it?” I knew there had to have been at least one buyer between the Lanchesters and Rain and Marigold.

  “The farm sold to Avon Doughtan, in 1985. Then the farm sold a whopping twenty times between Doughtan and your friends. That’s twenty-two owners—including the Lanchesters—in fifty-five years. Now, granted, houses sell over and over, but usually not at that rate. That works out to a sale about every two-point-five years.” He paused, then said, “Okay, I have to go, we’re heading into the staff meeting. Herne wants me to ask Kipa to come in as soon as he can.”

  “I’ve got a prior engagement this morning, but I’ll try to make it there this afternoon. I can’t promise, though,” Kipa said. “That’s the best I can do.”

  “No problem. Talk to you later, and if I can find out more, I will.” Yutani ended the call.

  I stared at my phone. The house had sold twenty-two times in fifty-five years. Had they inadvertently summoned something that kept driving people off the land? The last person to own it had gone into foreclosure, just abandoning it. I decided that more research was necessary and was about to jot down notes from the call when I received an email from Yutani detailing everything he told me.

  As I pulled on a plum-colored cold-shoulder dress over a pair of black leggings, I decided that it might be time to call Wager Chance. A PI, Wager was also a friend and he cut me a special rate when I needed to hire him. While Rain hadn’t hired me to look into what was going on, I was worried enough about them that I was more than willing to spring for Wager’s fees.

  “I’m going to ask Wager to help out on this,” I told Kipa, slipping on a pair of knee-high purple and white striped socks before sliding into my ankle boots.

  “That might be a good idea,” he said, handing me a silver belt.

  Heading to feed the ferrets, I thought that my mother was right. I always seemed to get myself into problematic situations. Maybe, one day I’d learn how to avoid doing so, but for now, I just blundered my way through, doing the best that I could.

  By the time we arrived at the farm, I had called Wager and asked him to start investigating the background of the place. He said he’d get right on it—business was slow at the moment—and so I tried to relax.

  “I’ll get right to harvesting the corn,” Kipa said. “I’ll summon several of my men to help.”

  Kipa’s elite guard—the Elitvartijat—were a group of wolf shifters from a clan known as the SuVahta. They were more elemental than they were shifter. Massively strong, they were prime specimens who were absolutely devoted to him. They followed the Wolf Lord anywhere he went, and if there was one thing Kipa was sure of, it was their loyalty.

  “Good. The sooner that maze is down, the better.” I shuddered. “It gives me the creeps.”

  “Be cautious today. I have a feeling that whatever is out here is working through Marigold, and after our talk yesterday, it has to know something’s up.” Kipa sounded worried. He was carrying my bag for me, and had his right arm wrapped around my waist. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. I know you want to help, but just…be careful?”

  I gazed up into his eyes. They were like warm toffee with flecks of topaz glinting in them. He had braided his hair back and he looked like Jason Momoa, only even more magnetic.

  My heart warmed as I realized how much I really cared about him. I wasn’t waiting for a proposal—unlike my friend Ember, I wasn’t ready to get married. But I felt secure with Kipa in a way I never had before. Ulstair, my late fiancé, had been a wonderful part of my life, but he never made me feel safe. I always knew that I was stronger than he was, and that was fine. But now, I was learning what it was like to be on the other side of the coin. And I didn’t hate it.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked, his voice low.

  “That my life has been so much better since you came into it,” I said. “Seriously, I never expected to meet someone who could match me in so many ways. I’m…”

  “Unconventional? Quirky? A little provocative? And even just a bit in-your-face?” He laughed. “I love everything about you. You keep me on my toes and you aren’t afraid to confront me when I screw up. I’m not sure what it is about you, but I don’t mind when you scold me. You make me want to be a better man.”

  I laughed. “You’re a good man,” I said. “I won’t put up with bullshit, and if you weren’t a good man, I’d have kicked you out early on.”

  He held me fast, leaning down to kiss me. His lips were soft, his breath warm as it mingled with mine, and I felt a surge of hunger. I wanted to feel his hands on my body, and I moaned softly, my heart racing.

  “Tonight, us-time,” he whispered.

  “As soon as we can,” I whispered back, feeling him press against me through his jeans. I caught my breath and then let it out in a slow stream as I steadied myself. The man knew how to trigger me in the best of ways.

  “Woman, you’ve got me wrapped around your little finger,” he said, laughing.

  “I think I might have you wrapped around some other part of me,” I shot back.

  We paused at the gates. Evie was there, looking ragged.

  “Evie, you okay?”

  She shook her head. Her eyes were red and it looked like she had been crying. “Mom—Marigold—is on a tear this morning. She’s pissed off about the corn maze and she’s been chewing me out, up one side and down the other. I can’t do anything right.” She paused, her eyes welling up. “I can’t take this much longer. I’m ready to move out. I had planned to live at home when I started college next year because…you know, the costs to live on campus are incredible, but at this point, I’m thinking I’m going to apply for a dorm room. Or maybe look for someone who has a room for rent in Seattle. As things stand now, I don’t know how I’ll manage to handle her mood changes until then.”

  I frowned. “You know, maybe you should stay with someone for a while until things calm down.”

  “Oh, Marigold’s going to freak out enough when she finds out I’m moving away from home next year. If I left now, she’d call the cops and make them haul my ass home. I’m still seventeen. I can’t just run off. I wouldn’t want to worry Dray or Rain. And…I don’t really want to worry my mom, even though she’s gone batshit crazy.” Evie stamped our hands. “I don’t know if you can
help, but please…if you can do anything?”

  “We’ll try,” I said, not wanting to promise anything. While I suspected that Marigold was being influenced by some sort of supernatural activity, there was always the chance that she had developed some sort of psychological problem, or maybe she was going into perimenopause and her hormones were whacked. Human women’s bodies fluctuated more than those of the Fae or Ante-Fae. Their cycles were more irregular and their timing wasn’t as on point as other species. But if Rain was able to get Marigold to the doctor for a checkup, that might catch anything that was causing a physical issue.

  I gave Evie a hug and she smiled through her tears. As she wiped her eyes, we entered the fairway.

  Chapter Nine

  The sky had clouded up again and the jury was still out on whether the sun would break through. The forecast called for showers off and on, and by the way the wind smelled, I suspected we’d have more rain than sun.

  Kipa dropped my bag at the booth, then gave me a quick kiss. “I’d best get into that maze and start harvesting corn before Marigold changes her mind. She can’t very well open the maze if there’s no maze for people to get lost in.” He jogged off.

  “Hey,” Llew said, arriving just as I started to set up my table. “Evie sure looks glum.”

  “She has reason.” I told him what she had told me. “I called Wager Chance this morning and he’s looking into the history of the farm for us. Yutani found out several things for me last night. The farm was bought by the Lanchesters in 1965. In 1978, Aida—their only daughter out of five children—vanished. She was fourteen at the time. While she was listed as a runaway, her photo matches the spirit that Kipa saw yesterday.” I filled him in on the rest of what Yutani had discovered.

  “There has to be some problem. Houses don’t sell that often without good cause.” He glanced around. “Did Yutani find out why everybody else left?”

  I shook my head. “He had to get back to work. Wager will dig deeper. The house was abandoned and that’s how it sold as a foreclosure to Marigold and Rain. Which means somebody got the hell out of here fast.”