by Eric Asher
I glanced at Shamus, trying to read the Fae’s somewhat slack-jawed expression.
“Iron-touched. I thought … I thought you were all lost in the Wandering War.”
Calbach rubbed his hands on his leather apron and smiled. “Not so much. Took some casualties, to be sure, but we’ve been in Gorias for some time. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were an undine.” The stout Fae squinted at Shamus. “Feel like an undine.”
“I am Shamus, and I am, in fact, what you say.”
Calbach froze. “How?”
“Centuries hidden away, iron-touched. I once knew your queen, in the age before the Wandering War.”
“Reckon you still know her, then. Runs a store in Gorias near the wall. I take it you haven’t been back to Faerie in some time?”
“Far too long, Calbach of the Iron Hand.”
Calbach stared at Shamus. “You really were there, weren’t you? Why did you go into hiding? Nixie told us there were refugees in Atlantis, but I never imagined it included the likes of your kind.”
“I’m going to let you two catch up on old stuff,” I said, stepping back through the doorway.
“Damian, wait,” Calbach called. “The plumbing is almost done. Shouldn’t be more than a few hours and you’ll have hot water.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course. I do like working with those pipes. Like liquid ley lines, I always thought.” He gave me a nod that was half acknowledgment and half dismissal.
“Call us if you need anything. One of my friends has a ghost problem we have to check on.”
Calbach raised a bushy eyebrow. “Reckon you should sort out your own ghost problems before you go finding more.”
I grinned at Calbach and waved to Shamus. I was fairly sure they could keep each other occupied for a while. Maybe that meant I wouldn’t have hot water quite so soon, but I’d rather see our alliance with the other Fae clans strengthened than worry about a hot shower.
However, I had to admit this was getting pretty hectic for a moving day.
* * *
Vicky had returned a few essential things from my bag, and I was happy to have them back as I loaded up the aged canvas backpack. Judging by the moody lyrics scrawled in faded marker, I was almost sure it had been Sam’s in high school.
I slid the pepperbox inside along with its holster and a few speed loaders. Next was the focus, the hilt of an old claymore that allowed me to channel a soulsword into a deadly blade. And considering we were looking for ghosts, I took a few of the banishment candles Ashley had carved. Not so much for me, but to leave with Samir as a way to keep ghosts at bay. The rosemary lining the dark wax didn’t smell half bad, though.
Did I need peanut butter cups? Probably not, but they went straight into the backpack too. I tossed the whole mess over my shoulder and double-checked that I still had my phone, wallet, and keys. Alexandra pushed through the doors to the backroom.
“I’m telling you, Nixie, I’m fine. You go with Damian and I’ll take care of Shamus.”
“I think Shamus should be okay,” I said, drawing an irritated glare from both of the undines. “He’s, uh, talking to Calbach about the Wandering War.” I pointed toward the stairs with my thumb.
Alexandra blinked. “Okay, that’s actually a good idea I hadn’t thought about. They’ll be able to talk for ages.”
“Hopefully not so many ages I have to take cold showers for the rest of my life.”
Alexandra rolled her eyes. “Glad to see your priorities are still intact after you tried to eat the planet.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Nixie’s wide eyes and rapid shake of her head made me think better of it. I was almost careful with my words after that. “So, we’ll be going then. Are you taking Nugget?”
Nixie picked the bird up off her shoulder and set him on the table, at which point he immediately hopped back onto her. “Yep.”
“Right then. Alexandra, food, alcohol, it’s all yours.”
“We’ll be back in a little bit,” Nixie said.
I nodded. “It’s about a thirty-minute drive. Once we know what’s going on, we’ll come home.”
Alexandra sighed and flopped into a chair. “Fine. I’ll entertain the men while you’re gone. Just like I always do.”
I exchanged a glance with Nixie, to which she only gave me an awkward smile.
“No drowning them,” I said.
This, however, Alexandra apparently found hilarious because she started cackling as she snatched up a few of the surviving Oreos. Aideen and Foster glided over the saloon-style doors before landing on the table. Aideen made a shooing motion to Foster.
He hopped into the air and landed on Nugget. The bird, for all its general honking, didn’t seem to mind the fairy riding on his neck one bit.
I twirled the keys around my finger, looked over the bizarre scene in the back room one more time, and then headed for the car.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“What was that all about?” I asked when we pulled out of the parking lot. “Is Alexandra okay?”
I could almost feel Nixie roll her eyes. “Alexandra has a long memory. There were times, before Atlantis fell, that she would take care of outsiders while they awaited audiences with the rulers of the city.”
“Take care of? Like drown them?”
Nixie shook her head. “No, no. If someone was to be eliminated, that was left up to those they were visiting. An old tradition, and one I’ll be sure stays buried.”
“That’s crazy,” Foster said. “Did people actually go to Atlantis, understanding they might just be drowned?”
“Of course not,” Nixie said. “Well, that’s not entirely true. There was one cult who found an odd symbiosis with the darker parts of the undines. It was a great honor for them to be drowned by …” Nixie trailed off and didn’t meet my gaze when I looked at her.
“Well, you can’t leave it there.” Foster gestured from his perch on the dashboard. “I’ll get it out of Alexandra if you don’t tell us.”
Nixie blew out a breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “They considered it a great honor to be drowned and fed to the guardians.”
I shrugged. “Look, with everything I’ve heard about undines’ weirder penchants for killing people, this doesn’t seem so out there.”
Foster rubbed his chin. “So, Alexandra herded these people and drowned them so she could feed your overgrown guard dog?”
The peacock honked in the back seat before pushing his head up between the seats. Nixie patted the bird behind his crest before she spoke.
“Yes, and she was compelled to do it by the queen. I’ve long suspected that’s why she abandoned Atlantis and came to this country even before the city fell.”
“Why? It’s not like snacking on a few commoners and Fae is going to feed something that big.”
Nixie stared out the window for a time. “The old kings and queens wanted the guardians to have a taste for commoners. For our own protection, they said. You have to understand, the rule of our leaders was absolute in those days. There was no dissent without punishment.”
Foster’s face looked like he’d just eaten a rotten tomato. “Sounds like Faerie before the Wandering War. Of course, I guess things didn’t get much better after that, did they?”
“Nudd’s gambit fooled a great many Fae,” Nixie said. “By the time they realized what happened, it was too late for many. To admit they had not supported Nudd all along would have been tantamount to admitting ignorance. And there are few who could be so honest as that. I saw much the same as Lewena’s atrocities came to light. Undines who would rather bury their friends and family than acknowledge their mistakes.”
“Good to hear that’s not just a commoner trait,” I said with a humorless laugh.
“No,” Nixie said. “It is most assuredly not. It’s why I am trying to be patient with those who were loyal to the old queen. An ally like Shamus could help convince the older water witches, but the more rebellious spirits could stil
l become an issue.”
“Like Deidre,” Foster said.
“Yes, like Deidre.”
I didn’t ask Nixie to elaborate. I knew she’d tell me more about her fight in Atlantis when she was ready. And that seemed to be one thing she didn’t feel much like discussing in what little time had passed since then.
We drove in silence down 270 until we reached Manchester Road. It wasn’t far to Samir’s at that point, and the grasses that flanked the highway gave way to immaculate landscaping and strip malls in various states of disrepair and remodeling.
A flash of light caught my eye when Foster tilted his sword, studying the blade.
“Is that your dad’s sword?”
“No, I left it back at Death’s Door. I’m pretty sure Mom left that coffin in the walls, and until I know why, I don’t want to risk tripping any traps. And that’s if we haven’t already.”
I smiled at that. “Mom could be ruthless, couldn’t she?”
“You can’t imagine.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I think I can imagine quite a bit.”
Foster’s laugh was almost a whisper. “I guess you can, can’t you? It just bothers me I might not have ever known that was even in the shop if Calbach hadn’t started building that apartment. And I never noticed anything odd on that wall. No indication it had been cut away.”
“Maybe it wasn’t,” Nixie said. “Don’t forget who her husband was.”
I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Foster. “The guy you definitely never called ‘Dad.’”
Foster actually grinned at that. “Yeah, he was an asshole. I’m glad I knew my real dad for a while, or I might have thought Nudd was what all father figures were like. Let’s be honest. If Cara wanted it hidden, she could have done it herself. There has rarely been a more gifted Sanatio.”
Nugget honked again as we slowed to turn into the parking lot at Samir’s, and a chill ran through my entire body, letting me know there were more than a few ghosts nearby.
“Damian?” Nixie asked. “What is it?”
“That obvious, huh?” I said through gritted teeth. “I swear this place is full of the dead. I mean, dozens of ghosts, but I’ve never felt them here before.”
“Do you think it has something to do with Gaia’s powers?”
I shook my head and pulled into a parking space near the rear entrance to Samir’s. “No, I didn’t feel this anywhere else. And it still feels like they’re just ghosts. Not anything weird.”
“Of course,” Foster said. “Perfectly normal.”
I narrowed my eyes at the fairy. “Look here, you little—”
But I didn’t finish the sentence before the peacock went absolutely bonkers. It wasn’t a honk so much as a scream as he scrambled over the seat and flopped down onto Nixie’s lap.
She pulled the bird closer to her chest as she climbed out of the car. “Okay, okay, you can come too. What the hell?”
I slipped my backpack on and closed the door after Foster shot out behind me. Nugget wasn’t taking his eyes off the door, so I raised my Sight to see what had spooked the bird.
“Damian?” Foster said. “Hey, Damian, you okay?”
But I didn’t answer the fairy. I could only stare at the ghosts gathered in that place. Threads of gold wound their way through the gray bodies, as if a single thread of power held them all together. They weren’t still or silent, instead milling around and chatting like Samir’s shop was the patio to a bar.
As unsettling as that vision was, I grew more concerned when I recognized some of them. A few I’d only known in passing, from contact at Gettysburg and the terrible visions that had haunted me afterward. A grandfather talking to a young boy—stars in a nightmare I’d never escape. Souls that had been trapped in my head since that cataclysm.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
The ghosts fell silent, all eyes turning to me before they stopped talking. Stopped smiling. Stopped moving. One was a uniformed ghost from Boonville. Another from the woods near the cabin. A soldier from Pilot Knob.
Golden lights flickered in the doorway, eyes I realized too late, as they were gone by the time I focused on them, and the ghosts vanished with them. The metal door opened a moment later and Samir waved us in.
“Come, Vesik. Tell me if my place is haunted.”
“Yeah, it’s haunted.”
Samir blinked. “You can tell already? I don’t know if I am impressed, or worried.”
“What did you see?” Foster whispered from my shoulder.
I gave a small shake of my head. I didn’t know, and telling Samir he had a hell of a lot more than one ghost didn’t seem like it was going to help anything.
We followed him into the shop, passing by several empty cubicles and a few dented filing cabinets. We made it through the office and into the parts room when the peacock lit up. He hopped down from Nixie’s arms, and his tail spread out, golden sparks emanating from the eyes in his feathers.
“Are you …” Samir started. “Are you all seeing that too?”
“The glowing bird?” Nixie asked. “Yes, he’s kind of hard to miss.”
Nugget honked and bounced from one leg to the other.
“What is wrong with him?”
“I don’t know,” Nixie said. “Maybe we should come back.”
“You are, of course, welcome to, my friends. I will be here. And our unwelcome guest probably will be too.”
But my mind went to a darker place. “Nixie, if that bird was given to you for protection, do you think there’s something else here we should be worried about? Someone else?”
Nixie’s casual demeanor shifted, and I didn’t miss the flash of metal that came into her hands. “I doubt it, but best to be safe.”
“You think an assassin is here?” Foster asked.
“Assassin?” Samir shouted. “You have assassins after you? And I thought I had problems with a ghost.”
“You have a problem with a lot of ghosts,” I muttered as small gray orbs floated by above the shelving units.
“Truly? Then I’m not losing my mind.” Samir took a deep breath and almost looked relieved at the idea he had several ghosts. Although, I supposed that was more likely because he knew he hadn’t lost it.
Nugget strutted over to Samir and pecked at his shoe. He smiled at the bird as it made its way to Nixie, finally relaxing to some degree as his tail feathers folded down completely.
“Come, I’ll show you where I’ve had the most problems.”
We followed Samir out onto the floor. There were a few cars on the lifts, mostly newer models, but a few classics caught my eye. Samir led us into a room that I’d never been in before, filled floor to ceiling with binders labeled by year.
“What is all this?” I asked.
“Accounting,” Samir muttered. “And don’t tell me how you can scan it and put it in a computer now. That makes it easier to lose.”
“You could back it up, at least. Probably a bit less of a fire hazard.”
Samir shrugged. “That is probably the best argument I’ve heard for it, Vesik. But still, I like my paper.” He opened a door on the other side of the office, revealing a dark staircase. Foster kept a hand on the hilt of the dagger at his waist. We followed Samir down to a landing before the stairs turned back on themselves. He flipped a light switch. The click echoed and a bank of fluorescent lights flickered to life like something straight out of a nightmare.
The first thing I noticed was the floor. It wasn’t finished, or at least not carpeted in the same dark gray mat as the rest of the offices. This was bare concrete with warehouse shelving that ran floor to ceiling.
“Do not like,” Foster muttered.
I followed his gaze to the far wall. Or at least, where the far wall should have been. Instead, it was lined with enormous mirrors. Some looked as if they’d been mounted to the wall, small shelves below them as if it was a retail display. Others were stacked haphazardly and leaning at all manner of angles against what appeared to be a freight
elevator.
In the middle, gaping open like the doorway to a creepy funhouse, waited the tunnel Samir had mentioned.
Something shifted nearby, and a sound reminiscent of a subway running beneath the street slowly faded away.
“What was that?” Nixie whispered. “You all heard that, right?”
Samir shrugged. “I assumed it was a trash truck or some such. I’ve heard it before.”
The peacock disagreed, flashing its feathers wide as it charged at the tunnel. But it stopped short before the broken glass of a fallen mirror. The golden light of its magic shone through the darkness, the tunnel showing an odd, ribbed pattern that tickled a memory just outside of my recall.
But before I could put my finger on it, something else found us in that room, and something stared back from the mirror closest to the peacock.
I held my hand out to stop Samir from walking closer. “We aren’t alone.”
CHAPTER NINE
“I think that veil mirror may have had a leak,” I hissed, staring at the glowing eyes studying us from behind the glassy surface.
“Veil mirrors don’t leak,” Foster said. “They can’t.”
“I think I’d like a second opinion on that. Nixie?”
But Nixie didn’t speak. When I turned to her, she didn’t move, didn’t react, didn’t so much as blink.
“Nixie?” I stepped closer, and my heart leaped at the dull golden glow in her eyes. “Nixie!”
“Oh fuck,” Foster spat. “Fuck fuck fuck. Shield her from the mirror!”
I tried. I tried standing in front of it, covering her eyes, draping a tarp over the glass, but whatever had her, it had its claws in deep. “Nothing’s helping!”
“Can you still see the spirit?”
I glanced at the mirror, and a grinning skull stared back. “Yeah, it’s here.” I looked to Foster and he had his hands over his eyes.
“Then find out what it wants. Or at least what in the hell it is.”
“I don’t think it wants to talk, Foster!”
A quiet groan, laced with pain, escaped Nixie’s lips.
“Since when do you have to ask what a spirit wants?” Foster hissed.