by Mia Marshall
When dressed, I called Mary to me. She walked with more purpose than she’d shown at school, comfortable among her own kind. She smiled, and I was glad to see she remembered me and was eager to help.
“What did you see?” I asked. “Anything you know will help.”
She made a face, wrinkling her nose and raising her lip in what I thought was supposed to be a sneer, though she was too damned cute to pull it off. “See that building there, away from the others? I think she has the whole building. I haven’t seen or smelled anyone else, though it would be hard to pick up anything over that stench. The place smells awful. Just follow your nose and you can’t miss where the animals are kept.”
“You saw them?” The words burst forth, fast and desperate.
She shook her head. “Not saw, no. Smelled and heard them. Hissing and growling, and human sounds, too. Crying.”
“Would a non-shifter smell and hear them?” I asked. Though the building was at least two hundred feet from its closest neighbors, there were still humans in the area during the day, and it seemed like none had noticed anything unusual.
“Doesn’t matter,” said Miriam. “You’ll have a shifter with you.” She lifted her chin, letting me know she was volunteering. This was news to me, but I was in no position to turn down help.
“Did you recognize any of the prisoners? What kind of animal, at least?”
She furrowed her brow, trying to remember. “I think so. There was definitely a cat. Bobcats reek. They always pee in the water, you know, so no other animals smell them, and that just means we end up swimming in their toilet. So not cool.”
While I could sympathize with her frustration over the bobcats’ lack of manners, I really needed Mary to focus. “What else?”
“I think there was a wolverine, too. No mistaking that noise. No idea what the human was. And a bear, I think. Something big and mad was growling.”
If he was mad, that meant he was still Mac. He still remembered, and wasn’t yet the frozen-eyed zombie that James and Pamela had become after their time with Celeste. I wasn’t too late. I had to believe I wasn’t too late.
“Thanks. Now, for those of us who can’t fit into the building’s crawl spaces, where should I go?”
She pointed. “See that door on the left of the building?” I did. “Don’t use that one. It goes to an office or something. Just a desk and filing cabinet. No shifters. The door’s locked, too. There’s a bathroom window in the back with a broken latch, but it would require some acrobatics to reach it. I guess you could break one of the big windows, but that would pretty much announce you’re here.”
I thanked her and sent her back to her siblings, then turned to Miriam. “This is stupid. What about me suggests I could succeed as a stealth infiltrator?”
“Absolutely nothing. So, what’s the backup plan?”
“Under development.” I pulled my phone from my jeans pocket and emailed Sera, quickly outlining the situation. Hopefully, she already had Vivian typing away on the laptop and would receive it instantly.
Will was next, and he knew the building I described. He assured me he was capable of ditching Josiah, then hung up.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see my father—I didn’t, but that wasn’t my primary reason for avoiding him. Given his agenda, it was simply too dangerous. The man had one priority these days: protecting me, no matter the cost. He would interfere without sparing a single thought for the shifters’ lives. Maybe helping the shifters wasn’t the safest choice I could make, but that didn’t mean it was the wrong one.
I stared at the phone for several seconds, until Miriam vocalized my thoughts. “You calling the agents in or what?” Her face held nothing but a vague curiosity.
“What? I mean... what?” For the first time, it occurred to me that these furry river spies had paid attention to things other than my workout regimen.
She shrugged. “I give the FBI info sometimes. I was glad to hear they’re gonna be here permanently, too. I mean, otters can handle anything in the river, but we need help if one of those sharp-clawed assholes starts causing trouble. And I thought the agents might call you and your friend in.”
A question I’d completely forgotten was answered. Miriam was the agents’ anonymous source.
“Wait, you wanted us working on this?” After hearing from the other shifters that our work put us squarely at the intersection of bungling and incompetent, I hadn’t expected the vote of confidence.
“I saw how you worked together with your friends to stop that earth bastard from killing people. You lot can handle yourselves.” She spoke in a matter of fact tone, but I couldn’t help puffing up at the praise.
Still grinning, I dialed. Carmichael picked up on the first ring.
“Is this an update? Is this an honest to god call in which you remember what your job is?”
“Sarcasm is the lowest form of comedy, Carmichael.”
“Yes, I know. That’s why you and Sera are never as funny as you think you are.”
“That’s just mean. We’re hilarious. Anyway, yes, I have news. You know how last time, we completely ignored you and went off and stopped the bad guy ourselves, not telling you anything about it?”
A long, very pregnant pause. Yeah, he remembered. “Yes.” Just a single, terse word. I didn’t need to see him to know his teeth were clenched, that square jaw of his just a little more chiseled.
“This time, you’re invited, but there are rules.”
“Remind me, Aidan. Who works for whom here?”
“Don’t bother me with technicalities. But nice grammar. They teach you that in the FBI?” Okay, now I was just killing time until Will and Sera arrived.
Carmichael stopped arguing. This time, the debate had lasted less than a minute. Soon, he might give up after a mere fifteen seconds of conversing with me. “Tell me what we need to know.”
“First, don’t shoot the animals. That’s second and third, actually. Unless it’s a bear. And then only if it’s the bad bear, not the good bear. You with me?”
“A professor in linguistics wouldn’t be with you. I need more information, Aidan.”
“I wish I had more. All I know at this point is there’s a building full of shifters that need rescuing, and a woman responsible for putting them there. Bullets will kill any of them, so use them sparingly.”
“And the woman is...?”
“Celeste. She’ll either be a tall and muscular woman or a six-foot bear who could rip your heart out. We’re all hoping she’s not in the mood to shift tonight, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
To his credit, he didn’t ask any questions. His training in the ways of the Tahoe magical population really was coming along.
I gave him the address and begged him to be cautious. This was their job now, but that didn’t mean they were ready for it. Even as we hung up, I was unsure if I’d made the right decision calling them in. I was sending two men with powerful firearms into a situation they only barely understood. I’d say the potential for disaster was high.
I stared at the building ahead of me and felt tension rise, nerves and fear and anger, all rolled into one, and I knew exactly how dangerous such an emotional cocktail could be. I took a slow breath and released it carefully, then repeated it. Miriam watched curiously. “Does that help control the fire?”
With that, any shred of control vanished. “What?” I sputtered.
“Does it help with the fire? Oh, don’t deny it. I know what you are. I told you, we watch.”
I looked frantically toward the three little heads several feet away. It was bad enough that one person knew. It seemed far more dangerous for a fourteen-year-old to have that knowledge. As we’d recently discovered, fourteen-year-old girls could inadvertently cause all kinds of trouble.
“Oh, they can’t hear. Still, better safe than killed by your own kind, right? Off you go, little ones. Straight to your mother, no fucking around. I’ll know if you stop anywhere, you know I will.”
Noddi
ng obediently, they slipped into the water and were quickly out of sight.
“What, exactly, do you think you know?” I asked.
“Enough. Don’t worry, I don’t tell tales. I don’t often see the need to help people to their deaths, and I’ve yet to feel any such desire with you. Though call me adorable one more time, and we’ll see if I don’t change my mind.”
It took a massive leap of faith to trust Vivian, Simon, and Mac with my secret, considering what a short time I’d known them. I’d never planned to trust strangers with my life, and now a foul-mouthed otter shifter and a gun-crazy Reno suburbanite knew what I was. I’d had better days.
And yet, there was nothing I could do. Somehow, I had to trust these two women. I’d visit Diane and make peace, and explain just why my abilities needed to remain unknown. It was either that or wire her mouth shut.
But that was later, and there was still much to do that night. “I guess I have to trust you, Miriam. You’re not giving me a lot of other choices.”
She grinned easily, then started walking toward the building. She didn’t wait for me to follow, but I did hear her call over her shoulder. “You should. I’m damned trustworthy,” she said, just before she was out of earshot.
She knew the one thing that could cost me my life, and she was about to back me on a blind assault on our resident mad scientist’s laboratory. She damned sure better be.
We moved quietly toward the building. I let Miriam take point, figuring her keen senses would be more attuned to possible threats. While she was more capable than me when it came to the five senses, I was amused to see she didn’t move easily through the trees the way Simon would have. She avoided stepping on dry branches or anything else that might give us away, but by shifter standards, she was damn near clumsy.
About a hundred feet away, we paused. Miriam sniffed the wind, then nodded, satisfied. “They’re still in there.” She spoke quietly, the barest whisper. We were downwind from the building, disguising our own approach, but caution was still necessary. “Now what?”
It was a good question. We’d made faster time than I’d expected. Sera and the agents were making their way from the other end of the lake, and it could be more than an hour before they arrived. But Will wasn’t far, and he ought to get there soon. I itched to simply attack, to burn the building and the woman inside, but that wasn’t an option. I was allowed to risk my sanity, but not shifter lives.
“We wait,” I finally said, trying to infuse the words with a certainty I didn’t feel.
Minutes crept by, long seconds during which I imagined all the things that might be happening a hundred feet from my current spot. She could be working on Mac at this moment. While we waited, he might be forgetting I ever existed.
“Down girl,” muttered Miriam. “I don’t know much about what you are, but that can’t be good.”
I followed her gaze to my fingers, where tiny sparks flew impotently into the wind, seeking something to burn. “No, it’s really not.” I closed my eyes and pictured Lake Tahoe in winter, a still, cold source of energy and peace. I felt myself calm, and when I looked again, my fingers weren’t doing their best impersonation of Roman candles. Vivian would be so proud of me.
The fire was too close to the surface. Even now, I could feel it snaking through my body, probing and testing, looking for weak spots. We had to hope our incursion into the building went quickly and smoothly, because at the moment I felt like a lit match, and any conflict or danger would be the kerosene that destroyed my control.
Miriam and I waited several long minutes in silence, studying the building, hoping for any new information. Nothing moved.
We had no warning anyone was near until Will simply stepped from the trees behind us. No large man should ever be able to move as quietly as he did, but he seemed to control the ground and trees, and they obeyed his command to remain silent. Carmen stalked behind him, eyes alert. They only briefly acknowledged me, too intent on scanning the area for any potential threats. I was glad to see Josiah wasn’t with them. That would have been one complication too many.
“You found her, little water,” Will said, moving toward me and giving me a half hug with his right arm. It only lasted a moment, but I took that second to lean into him, to find comfort in his warmth and strength.
I thought Will might need comfort of his own. Strain showed across his face, and I suspected that, much like me, tomorrow he’d be dealing with a hefty emotional fallout. For now, though, he seemed willing to pretend the woman inside the building was a stranger. That was a delusion I was happy to share with him.
I introduced the various shifters. “You’ve helped more than you signed up for, Miriam. I won’t hold it against you if you want to leave now that the cavalry’s arrived.” A bear, a mountain lion, and a dual magic elemental. Yeah, I thought we could handle this, particularly with Sera and the agents bound to arrive soon after.
Miriam didn’t care. “You’re telling me I got to be your guide, but I’m supposed to miss the fun part? Screw that. Just point me toward someone I can beat up.”
Carmen looked at Miriam with undeniable respect.
“Word is the back window is our best bet, if we’re feeling limber.” I sized up Will. “Though I’m not sure that’ll work for you. If Carmen and I can slip inside, maybe one of us can open the locked door.”
Will was already stripping, and I averted my eyes in an effort to not see the uncle of my intended future boyfriend buck naked. There was a slight ripple in the air, and a moment later a large black bear watched me carefully, waiting for his chance to act.
“You ready to prove elementals aren’t completely useless, Aidan?” Carmen asked, then shifted herself. I’d never seen a mountain lion up close, and she was stunning. Far smaller than the bears, and yet I wouldn’t have bet against her in a fight. It wasn’t just the claws and teeth, either. There was a hunger in her eyes, a readiness in her coiled muscles, that spoke to the purest predatory impulse. When Simon was a cat, he might occasionally hunt a bird or bug, but he could easily be distracted by a warm heater vent or tuna sandwich. I doubted Carmen’s focus ever wavered from her prey.
There was no more reason to delay, and we moved rapidly toward the building. The window was high above me, but Will nudged me gently with his head, boosting me enough to reach it. Unfortunately, I lacked the arm strength required to pull myself up, and after dangling helplessly for a moment, was forced to drop down.
“Plan B, then,” I muttered, resolutely not meeting anyone’s eyes.
I stepped around the side of the building, finding one of the slightly larger windows Mary had mentioned. The window wasn’t intended to be opened, and there was no locking mechanism. Fortunately, a large rock can unlock plenty of things, and after heaving it against the window a couple of times, the glass cracked. We were in.
Stealth was overrated, anyway.
I was inside a second later, my eyes adjusting to the gloom. Carmen and Miriam followed, but it was still too small an opening for the bear. Will left to wait by the locked door.
We’d landed in an empty room. Celeste had rented the whole building for secrecy, but she hadn’t needed the entire space.
The room led to a hallway that opened in three separate directions. “Stick together or split up?” asked Miriam.
I grimaced. “This isn’t a horror movie. We stay together.” Carmen growled, though I had no idea if that meant she agreed.
If I’d been alone, I’d have needed to open one door after another and peer into every dark room, terrified each time that something would leap out at me. Fortunately, I wasn’t alone.
“What are your noses telling you?”
I hadn’t finished the sentence before Carmen padded down the hallway to our right, nails muffled against the thin carpet. She walked with certainty, tail low. We followed her through the dark building, only stopping long enough to unlock the door and let in an immense bear.
Carmen led us directly to a closed door under which a thin
band of light emerged. She nodded at me, impatient. My nose might be useless, but at least I had opposable thumbs. I wrapped my hand around the doorknob and twisted, surprised to find it unlocked. Celeste knew we were here and wasn’t attempting to keep us out. That should have been our first warning.
We entered the room, blinking rapidly, willing our eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness.
Once we could see again, our eyes fixed on a single, terrifying tableau.
We froze, processing two things at once. First, I saw Mac stretched out on a narrow hospital bed, a long needle held casually to his throat. Second, it wasn’t Celeste holding that needle.
“How nice,” Eleanor smiled. “We get to chat.”
I stared at her. We all did. We needed the time to process the new situation, to weigh the new threat. Will growled, loudly, and I thought he had fewer reservations about mauling his sister-in-law than he did about harming his own wife. Carmen crouched low, ears back and fangs exposed, and a slow hiss built in her throat.
Part of my brain, a cold, detached section that barely felt like it belonged to me, worked quickly, piecing these new bits of information together. Diane told Dana. Dana told Celeste. Celeste told Eleanor. We’d been so close, but we’d missed one key fact, one all important detail.
Celeste was a mother bear, and every bit as protective as any mama bear in the wild. She’d been in agony watching her son suffer. Some things, I thought, could not be faked. She’d never intended to hurt her own son. Either something had gone wrong, or someone else had caused that pain. Maybe both.
Of course, the other part of my brain saw Mac dormant and helpless beneath her needle and wanted to start setting things on fire.
As ever, I fought it back, but it was slow to retreat. It knew this was just a temporary solution, and I’d be calling it back soon enough. If Eleanor hurt Mac, she would need to burn.
I stretched my water magic toward the syringe, seeking to control the liquid inside. My efforts were futile. The syringe was air tight, my magic was unable to push past the pipette blocking the needle.