Trickster Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 2)

by Cedar Sanderson

He started the engine and she jumped. “Get in, Bella, and stop worrying so much.”

  He drove like a bat out of hell, she discovered, and she learned that the only way she could deal with some of the turns he took was to close her eyes and hang on to the edges of her seat for dear life. They were never on two wheels, although she could have sworn that they should be, and they weren’t pulled over, which she decided had to be through the use of magic in some way. They made Eugene and I-5 in less time than she would have thought possible, but at least on the freeway she could relax. He did not drive weaving in and out of traffic, he just went straight and outpaced all the other cars.

  He winked, never looking away from the road in front of them. “Still alive over there?”

  “Yes, strangely enough.” She slumped down a bit. “This is much better.”

  “I do like a curvy road.”

  She could hear the satisfaction in his voice and decided to ignore the subtle innuendo. “I didn’t think you could get through the Coast Range that fast.”

  “Most can’t.”

  She looked out the window, they were through the city and out into the Willamette Valley. “I haven’t been through here since I was a kid. It’s gotten built up.”

  “I haven’t been on this stretch of road, I don’t think. My old stomping grounds were quite a bit further south.”

  “Oh?” Bella prompted, curious. He didn’t answer, and she decided she wasn’t going to push him for answers. Or distract him, not at the speed he was going.

  She settled for looking out the window and checking the time, wondering when she could call Dan. She had been thinking she would wait until Portland and they were only an hour out... but now she was thinking it wouldn’t even be that long. Bella wondered if she could bubble the whole car, and how long it would take. Magic above was... she closed her eyes and accessed the library. If she couldn’t do anything else, she could at least research.

  Alger’s gift was oddly useless at times. There were whole sections of magic it didn’t seem to cover, or not well, like the use of magic in human realms. Bella had decided this was more about Fairyland not going above if they could help it, much less studying it. And the rogue Folke were turned over to the Hunt, and if they were questioned about life above, she couldn’t find transcripts of it.

  Right now, she was going over anything she could find about ogres, volcanoes, and the area they would be working in. She’d suspected, from the very early magic lessons Lom had given her about the influence of earth, wind, fire, and water on magic users, that the volcanic proximity to the ogre nest had a meaning. There were allusions to a fire affinity, but those who tried to study ogre habits mostly wound up finding out their dietary preferences by serving as a meal.

  It might help find them, though. If there were active fumaroles... she pulled out her phone. This wasn’t something the centuries of books in her head could help with. But a few USGA maps later, she thought she knew where to start looking, at least. She sat up straight and stretched a bit in her seat.

  “Back with me?” Dean glanced quickly at her, a wry expression on his face.

  “Where are we?” She looked out the window at suburbia.

  “Just getting into Portland. I was thinking we’d stop and stretch our legs, maybe get some food.”

  She nodded. “That sounds good. I need to make a call, too.”

  Bella mused as they stopped at a fast food place that she had been away long enough to make even this seem exotic. Not that there had been a place like this within a hundred miles of her cabin in Alaska, either. For the moment, it was hot, filling, and not sitting in the car with a bubble on her fingertips while Dean drove.

  She left Dean sitting in a hard plastic booth and sipping soda meditatively and stepped outside to call Dan. Looking through the window, she wondered just how long it had been since the fairy man had been above.

  “Dan, it’s Bella.”

  “What have you been up to?” she could hear the laughter in his voice. “Raven scooped us all up and had us in Washington before we could ask what was going on. You in big trouble again?”

  “Nah... I just need help hunting some really big game,” she copied his teasing tone.

  “So that’s why Raven had us fly in packin’ heat.”

  “Good to hear. So where are you? Raven just said the hotel.”

  “Ah. He’s not so good with details, the old man.”

  Bella sighed. “He’s helping me. I’ll take it.”

  Dan gave her directions to the hotel and she hung up as Dean came out.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Want to let me drive?” She didn’t have much hope, but she had to ask.

  He shook his head. “Nope. You’ll live.”

  He grinned evilly as she rolled her eyes and got in the passenger side.

  It didn’t take anything near an hour to get to the hotel. Bella was working very hard to not look at the speedometer. She appreciated that they were getting there fast, but still. She made a mental note to ride with the boys when they went on the mission.

  She had a budding plan. Time to find out if they could do it.

  “Bella.” Dan met her in the lobby with a hug. He nodded at Dean, who dipped his head fractionally in return, and then looked away again. “We have a suite. C’mon, you have any bags?”

  She shook her head. “Lead the way.”

  They must have made an odd collection, she mused. The tall, bearded man in jeans and a well-worn flannel shirt, the short dark-haired woman, and the very short, slender guy with the black leather jacket and the strut. It felt odd to get on an elevator rather than use a bubble. Humans, Bella thought as they rose in silence, adjusted quickly and well. This was her world, and yet... She got out of the elevator with a quick glance in both directions. It wasn’t hers, and it wasn’t safe, any longer.

  Dan opened the door and she went in.

  “Tex!” She greeted the tall, brown-haired Texan with a hug.Unlike her cousins, he was smooth shaven. Well, a touch stubbly around the edges, but Bella wasn’t planning on snuggling him. “Dan said you flew?”

  His eyes lit up. “Ayuh. Wait till you see the new plane.”

  “New plane?” Bella was confused by this, but turned to the other person in the room. An Athabaskan, a bit older than she was, his warm face slightly lined, but his body unbowed by age. His black hair was cut neatly. He would not have been out of place in a suit and tie, she mused, with a certain air of dignitas to his presence.

  She held out her hand to him. “Fred Northway, right? I think we met at Uncle’s last birthday.”

  He shook her hand warmly. “And you were counting the sands of the sea. Or the wildlife in the Bush, same thing.”

  “More getting an approximate census, yes. Did Uncle tell you?” Bella stopped. She wasn’t sure why Uncle would send a tribal elder along.

  He nodded. “I’m here to help you. This land,” he gestured vaguely. “I have a connection to it, through him, and other spirits. The evil you seek is a wound we need to scour out and heal.”

  “Thank you. In that case, I’m glad to have you.” She looked around. “And I have a feeling we need you. This isn’t the biggest or best-prepared team.”

  Dean reached up and snapped his fingers. Bella caught a flicker of a released spell. Seconds later, the sprites tumbled into the room from a little bubble. Fred’s eyes were wide with surprise, she noted with an internal laugh.

  “Our reconnaissance team,” Bella said. “Dean, Tex, Dan...” She pointed at each of them in turn, making sure they all knew one another.

  “I have a plan,” she announced, gesturing and pulling the maps she wanted from midair. She thought Fred was going to have a stroke, then he shook his head and smiled, visibly relaxing. Good, he was going to go along for the ride. She spread the maps out on the table and pointed at an area above Swift Reservoir.

  “There’s a network of caves here. Ape Cave is open to the public...”

  “Ape Cave?” Ewan interrup
ted, walking across the map. “Are there any in it?”

  Bella shook her head. “I don’t know where the name comes from. Bats, I believe it has. But that’s not what we’re looking for. It’s open to the public, so it would be hard to hide a bunch of ogres in it.”

  “You’re thinking that there’s a network of caves, and they are somewhere in the periphery?” Dan bent over the map, and Ewan politely stepped out of the way.

  “Yes, and likely using Longview as a pantry, so to speak.”

  “Pantry?” This was Fred, taking a look at the topo map of the hills that rose from Swift Reservoir until they led to the volcano itself.

  “Ogres eat everything. Opportunists. But this last year, and specifically the last couple of months, Longview’s annual two murders has risen to five unexplained disappearances, plus a well-publicized hiker staggering out of the woods claiming something had grabbed his partner and dragged her into the woods. For some reason the ogres are preying on humans now. There may be more victims, Longview isn’t huge, but does have a homeless population.” Bella kept her delivery brisk, trying to hide the revulsion she was feeling at the idea of people turned into prey animals.

  “I see why all the urgency, then.” Fred shook his head. “There aren’t a lot of resources left, you know. Spirits go into hiding with this many humans around.”

  She nodded. “And Underhill doesn’t tolerate Folke above, playing with magic. That’s what Lom has done for... some time now.” Bella realized she didn’t really know how long, or how many beings he had hunted, killed, or captured.

  Ewan, standing with his hands clasped behind his back and following along, broke in. “We know sommat who cud help, he’s in t’area. An’ he’s unkindly t’beasts.”

  “I’d appreciate any help. Can he meet us here?”

  Ewan shifted his weight. “Weel...”

  “Not going to make his life hard,” she promised. “I take it he can’t come here?”

  He nodded vigorously.

  Bella sighed. “OK, we will set up a meet with him. And I need you three to help find a likely part of the caves. Not getting too close to the ogres, I don’t want to risk them knowing we are here.”

  Ewan popped up into the air, his wings a sparkling blur, and threw her a sloppy salute. Then he and his brothers were gone.

  “So... What is the plan?” Tex drawled from the chair, where his legs stretched across half the room. “‘Cause, pardon me, but charging into a cave after an ogre sounds like a really bad idea.”

  “The only time I know for a fact that we killed one was by me blowing it apart with an incendiary grenade. Lom knocked some off a bridge into a river with a logging truck, and he says that likely didn’t kill them, only injured them. Ogres, according to the books, are incredibly tough.”

  “You blew up an ogre?” Dan grinned. “Taught you well, we did.”

  “I want to lure them out of the cave.” Bella sighed. “I really, really don’t want to go into a dark place with that kind of monster.”

  “And then what? High explosives, near an active volcano? Flamethrowers at fifty paces?”

  She shook her head. “I can make them... go away. If I’m close enough.”

  Dean choked. “You want to transport live ogres Underhill?”

  Bella nodded and sat down, she felt very tired suddenly, and more than a little afraid. “I don’t know if I can do it, frankly, but I also know my weapon only has six grenades, I might not hit with each one, and I don’t know, even though I had you bring them, that big guns will work.”

  “So who’s gonna be bait?” Tex looked amused. “Since you aren’t sure you can kill them.”

  “Oh, we’ll kill them.” Dean smiled, and pulled a cigarette out, slowly lighting it. “Bella, stop doubting yourself, you’re letting it get in your way. That’s why we drove up here, you didn’t just bubble and go. Think it through, and remember when in doubt, use fire.”

  “Oh, yeah...” She remembered that, all right, and the look on Lom’s face when she came close to setting the whole Court enclave on fire.

  “A firebomb at the mouth of the cave could deprive them of oxygen.” Dan mused thoughtfully, “And the ingredients for a FAE can be found at any hardware store.”

  “A fay?” Fred interjected for the first time, his confusion written all over his face.

  “Fuel Air Explosion.” Bella clarified. “Aerosolized fuel, like, say, propane, fill the space, and then ignite. Big boom, and bonus: rips the oxygen out of the air in an enclosed space.”

  “What about pumpin’ the cave full o’ carbon dioxide or liquid nitro?” Tex chipped in.

  Bella shook her head. “We can’t get that amount of either in time, and I’d rather have the combination of explosion and suffocation. Belt and suspenders.”

  She stood up and rubbed her hands together. “We need to do two things. One, it’s time to get out there and see what we are up against in terms of terrain and transportation, and two...”

  Dean raised an eyebrow and she delivered her best evil smile. “Go shopping. This girl has needs.”

  Dean shook his head, smiling. “I’m afraid to find out what they are. May I suggest that you look out the window first?”

  Bella glanced toward the nearest one. “Oh. I’m still on Underhill time, I guess. Whatever that is. How about food, sleep, then shopping?”

  “Deal.” Dan picked up a phone. “Pizza, everyone?”

  She looked around the room. Five people, and three rowdy sprites. Plus their mystery buddy, whom presumably she was to meet... Bella wondered where the sprites were. She walked over to Tex. “How many rooms do we have?”

  “Two connecting here, and one across the hall. I think Dan set it up for two nights,” he shrugged. “We had no idea what was goin’ on. Mike sends his regrets. He couldn’t get away.”

  She nodded. “I’ll call him. I didn’t know if any of you would be available, and I will be paying you well...” She’d had a chance to look at the balance on the card she was given, and it was impressive.

  He smiled. “Nice, but you know we’ll come runnin’ for you, girl.”

  She squeezed his shoulder. “I’ll do the same.”

  Bella moved on to Fred. “Feeling ok? If you want to back out...” She spread her hands in a throwing-away gesture. He was an unknown quantity, and she didn’t want to have a reluctant recruit.

  He shook his head. “Uncle has showed me a little, over the years. But I never imagined.” The black-haired man looked around the room and his broad face broke into a boyish smile. “This is fun!”

  Bella laughed and shook her head. “Tomorrow we’ll be out in the woods, with things that may be hunting us as we’re trying to hunt them. Keep in mind that magical beings can glamour themselves, which means they might look perfectly normal to you.”

  He nodded. “I assumed as much. After all, Raven does so, and you...” He peered at her, then winked slightly. “You have always just looked like a lovely young woman to me.”

  Bella laughed again. “I’m a taken one. We just haven’t had time to get a ring yet.”

  “My congratulations,” he looked abashed. “I’m sorry...”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it, no harm in looking.” Bella patted his arm and ended up back by Dan.

  He winked at her, still talking to the delivery place. “Mushrooms, and pretty much every meat you have in the place. Ahuh... Ahuh... cash. See you then.”

  He hung up, and Bella realized that she didn’t have any cash. “I need to find an ATM.” she started to say, and he gestured that away.

  “Raven gave us a significant slush fund. Said he’d talk to you when you saw him, but that you ‘n Lom should consider him your second client.” He cocked his head slightly. “Which I’d like to know what that means.”

  “Er... I’m not sure myself.” Bella admitted.

  “Anyway, I hear congratulations are in order,” he beamed.

  Bella hugged him, feeling her cheeks heat up. “I think it’s a good thing,
yes. It’s... all very different, and sudden.”

  “I’m just glad you didn’t lose him. That was a bad place we hauled him out of.” Dan studied her seriously for a moment, and Bella tried not to fidget.

  “Your clients... You two are going to do stuff like this on a regular basis, aren’t you?” He went on, his face under the beard expressionless.

  She shrugged. “I have... another job Underhill that will likely keep me from traveling too often. And I don’t know how long it will take him to get better, he’s badly injured right now.”

  “And you aren’t too well organized.”

  She looked at him. “If we do this more often, I’ll hire you to be our secretary.” Bella kept her voice playful, and he roared with laughter.

  “Some secretary!” he gasped.

  “And back-up rifle-bearer,” she added, grinning.

  “You’ve read too much Haggard.” He wiped his eyes.

  She walked over and grabbed her little backpack. “Which room is mine? I need to check in with home.”

  “Whichever of these two you want.” Dan gestured. “I’m putting you two,” he pointed at Dean and Tex, “in the room across the hall. I don’t want you, Bella, so far away from us. I want to keep you surrounded.”

  She wrinkled her nose at his fussing and headed into the closest room. It was going to be the same as the other one, she knew, hotels were rarely surprising. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, she booted the little laptop up, noting the spells that clung to it and extended into the case, affecting the inner workings, she had no doubt.

  Following the directions Devon had given her got her to the chat where she could reach him.

  :hello?: she typed. She didn’t expect to get an instant answer, but it was still a bit forlorn to stare at the cursor blinking slowly in front of her, doing nothing. After a couple of minutes she typed a quick summary of what had happened, sent it, and shut the computer down. She’d check in the morning for messages, but decided that sitting here willing something to come from Lom was a counterproductive thing to do.

  Returning to the other room, she found the guys sitting and watching television. The sprites had come in, amazingly quietly for them, and were sprawled along the back of the couch behind Dean and Dan’s head. Ewan saw her and flew up to sit on her shoulder.