by E. M. Moore
“Ha. Ha.”
He nudged me in the ribs. “Maybe when this is all over, the Elite can borrow it and try to replicate it.”
I opened the flap on my bag and stuck it back in. I didn’t like the idea of the weyfinder being anywhere but in Salem or under mine and Damen’s control. “We’ll see.”
Not pushing the issue, Troian turned and walked back toward the trail to the park. “Next stop, Princess?”
I followed after him. His long strides gave him a head start on me that I never quite caught up to. I had to walk behind him the entire way to the baseball field and then right after that, the dirt lot we parked the car in. His cell went off as we walked past the pitcher’s mound. He fumbled with it and then ignored the call. I suppressed the urge to ask him who it was. It obviously wasn’t important or he would’ve answered it. Troian didn’t talk about his personal life. I didn’t even know if he had any living relatives. Come to think of it, he seemed to know an awful lot about me though.
Hopping in the front seat, I drove us to Alibaster’s Bar. It was a magical creature hangout near the Wharf. I could always get the scoop from Alibaster, awesome bartender and town gossip. He was a Bear Shifter, known as Teddy Bear to some of his friends. Apparently he’d never gone grizzly on anyone, hence the nickname. He also happened to like me, which not all the magical folk did around here. Most of them tolerated the Guardians well enough as a police force so to speak, but some of them wished we’d mind our own business. Alibaster, however, was in the complete opposite direction. He was old. Had been around since the Witch Trials, and knew how important the Guardians were to the magical world balance. Get him drunk and he’d talk about the Witch Trails for hours and hours on end. He was better than any movie or history book.
As soon as we walked into the dark bar, the weyfinder in my bag vibrated wildly. Because of where we were, it wasn’t a shock. I expected it.
Alibaster looked up and smiled. He was a humongous man, way taller than me and even rose above Troian by a good six inches. “Guardian,” he said, motioning to a stool right in front of him. “Long time no see.”
I gave him a look and a smile split his lips. “We were just here Monday, Albie.”
He leaned against the bar and winked. “You know I’d have you live here if I could.”
Heat rose to my cheeks. Besides being the biggest town gossip, he was also the town flirt. Of course, that was probably a prerequisite for being a bartender. Falling all over the ladies probably won him some pretty great tips.
He cocked his head toward Troian. “When are you going to get rid of him?”
Troian smiled and they shook hands. For whatever reason that I had yet to figure out, Alibaster and Troian had hit it off from the start.
Albie gestured behind him at the many bottles of liquor. “A drink?”
Troian and I both shook our heads. “On duty,” I said.
“Ah. Guardian business. I’ve got to get you both over here when you’re not in save-the-world mode.”
“I don’t think Shorty knows how to relax,” Troian said as he took a seat on the bar stool next to me. “You should’ve heard her yell at me this morning while I was making her pancakes.”
Alibaster smirked. “So we’re in the cooking stage of your relationship? Interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a Guardian and a fae getting together.”
My jaw dropped. “That’s because it would never happen. Fae are a hypocritical, self-important, conceited, stuck-up group.”
“And you are the epitome of modesty?” Troian asked. “Sure.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the big bear laugh that was Albie’s. He even rubbed his stomach like a Winnie-the-Pooh type character. “You guys are the best. I love it when you visit.” Albie’s rumbling laughter had both Troian and I smiling in no time. He wiped down the counters in front of us and then leaned back again. “So I suppose you want to know what’s going on. Only news is the witch that came into town last night from Charleston.”
Interesting. Charleston was another ley line city. “Staying or passing through?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “Didn’t say. Just asked for a place to stay the night. She looked pretty spooked though. Odd woman, even for a witch.”
I tapped the bar in front of me with my fingertips as I thought. A witch from another ley line city was in town. Usually when magical creatures found a ley line city that they liked, they stayed there for life. Salem was used to getting magical beings who’d never lived in a ley line city before, but one that came from another ley line city was rare.
Troian touched my shoulder. “What are you thinking?”
His cold hands skeeved me out. I shook him off. “I’m thinking I’d like to talk to this witch. Wiccan or inherited?”
“Couldn’t tell. I pointed her toward Frankie’s and she left.”
Troian sagged on the stool next to me. He knew I was going to make him go to Frankie’s Necromancer shop. Than again, there was nothing that said he had to. “You don’t have to come you know. I can handle this myself.”
“I’m coming.”
I shrugged. “Suit yourself. But don’t start shit with Frankie. I’m counting on him.”
Troian waved me away and then shook Albie’s outstretched hand. “Good to see you.”
I climbed down from the stool and waved bye. “Until next time, Albie.”
“Next time better be non-Guardian business.”
“I don’t know if I know how to do that,” I said, mocking Troian’s earlier words.
“I guess I’ll take you any way I can get you.”
My face heated in an instant. I turned away and walked out the door, Troian close on my heels. As soon as the bar door shut, I heard his tinkling laughter. It sent a shiver up my spine. “What?”
“I just love how flustered he gets you. It’s cute.”
“Just…” I gestured toward the black SUV. “Get in the car. We’re going to Frankie’s unless you want me to— Oh what am I saying? If you didn’t want to be here, you’d blip yourself out. Feel free to leave any time.”
His stare hardened. His angular, stern features turned even more terrifyingly beautiful. “I’m helping.”
With that, he opened the door and jumped in, shutting it with a slam.
Jeez. Moody much? And shouldn’t I be the one who classified him as helping or not?
I drove us to Frankie’s in silence. Troian stared out the window the entire time, his fist clenching and unclenching. The blue veins in his unmarked, pale skin were clearly visible every time he made a fist. When I pulled into the parking lot of Frankie’s Necromancing shop, he finally spoke. “What are you going to ask the witch?”
I put the vehicle into Park. “I’m interested in how Charleston is doing. What the other ley lines are up to.”
Troian’s sharp fae eyes narrowed in as he stared out the window. His lip started to twitch and then he burst out laughing.
I followed his gaze. A woman in an almost clear white Roman Goddess gown danced in the side yard. A wreath of green lay on the top of her head. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said.
“Your witch, I assume.”
Odd was Albie being forgiving. This chick looked like she’d lost it.
We got out of the SUV and walked toward the dancing figure. When we were close enough to be heard, the woman froze in mid-move. Her hands were apart and her legs were crossed at her ankles. Her frizzy curls blew in the slight breeze across her lips. When she opened her eyes, they opened unnaturally wide.
“Fre-aky,” Troian sang under his breath.
No shit.
“Guardians,” she said.
I nodded. “I’m Cas. This is Green Eyes.”
Troian smiled at his nickname. No need to give the witch his real name. Fae didn’t like that sort of thing. You knew their real name, you could call them whenever you wanted. And I meant whenever. Shower, sleeping, you name it, they had to come.
It came in real ha
ndy for me when the evil coven captured me a week ago. All I had to do was shout his name and bam, he was there. I wondered how many people actually knew his name. I’d have to ask him that sometime.
The woman stared blankly at us. She didn’t even blink. Troian shuffled his feet. “And you are?”
She shook her head and kept her lips tight together. She reminded me of a skittish cat, get too close and her claws would come out right before running away like a bat out of hell.
Thin on patience, I said, “Listen. It’s my job to find out your intention. I’m Salem’s Ley Line Guardian. Are you here to stay? If you are—”
“No. I am not staying. I wish to go back to Charleston.”
“Okay…” It wasn’t as if we were holding her here. “How long do you plan on being in Salem?”
She lifted her shoulders in a brief shrug. She was delicate, thin like a sheet, white as a ghost.
Troian smiled even though his jaw was tight. He looked as annoyed as I was, but better at hiding it. Somewhat. “Did you hear about the trouble we had in Salem about a week ago?”
The witch nodded, her eyes flitting back and forth between the two of us.
“Ever hear of anything like that happening before?” he asked.
Her pupils widened. “What’s old is new and new is old. What’s happened there as happened here.”
Troian and I exchanged a glance before he ran his fingers through his thick blond hair. “Has Charleston had anything weird happen?”
I could tell he was hesitant to ask her. Her crazy compass was pointing true north. I wasn’t sure anything she said would be of use to us.
She nodded in answer to his question. That was fine. I’d rather take her silent talk than riddle speak.
Her eyelids fluttered dramatically and then closed. Her chest rose with a big breath. “The power is great. The power is strong. It’s ebb and flow is high, so high above the threshold. It straightens my hair and aches my bones.”
I clamped down on my jaw so I didn’t laugh. This chick was certifiable. I waited for her eyes to open back up before I asked her another question. “Is it safe there?”
“For now,” she sighed. “I can feel it rising like the ever-changing tide of power in the universe. When it recedes, I shall return. But until then, I shall guard the sanctity of the balance and hide. Hide away, young friends. Hide.”
Troian faced me and crossed his arms. He looked liked he’d just wasted his last dollar on the crane machine and left empty handed. “Well, I perceive no threat from the whacko. You?”
Ignoring him, I nodded to the whacko and turned back toward the car. Not that I didn’t think she was full on crazy. She sure as hell was. I just wasn’t the type to call a whacko a whacko to their face. It didn’t seem all that smart.
I pulled the keys out of my pocket and looked back over my shoulder. She’d continued dancing like she had before we interrupted her. I shook my head, still trying to piece together the nonsense that had just come out of her mouth.
“Told you. Whacko,” Troian said.
I sighed. That was a big waste of time. Other than discerning the ley line in Charleston was acting up, I learned no real concrete anything from that conversation. I’d have to call the Ley Line Guardian there and ask him what was up.
“Cassandra,” a voice called.
I turned toward the front door to the Necromancer’s shop. Frankie stood on the porch waving.
I stopped and waved back while Troian continued toward the SUV.
Frankie speed-walked toward me, nothing but socks on his feet. When he spoke, his breathing was heavy and rushed. “I’ve got something for you. It may help you find your brother.”
CHAPTER THREE
The air inside Frankie’s shop was thick with magic—and tension.
Troian had begrudgingly followed me into the shop after the Necromancer said he had someone in his kitchen that might be able to give me some answers about Stonehenge…and Damen.
We sat across from an old man. He was short, stout, with wild white hair. He introduced himself as Tomas, a Necromancer living near Stonehenge. He drank a cup of tea and spoke with a British accent cured by many years.
“You were there?” I asked, a death grip on the table between us. My first real lead. Someone who may have seen my brother. “My brother’s missing. He has dark hair like mine, a little taller than me. He—”
“You have pink hair, Shorty.”
I shot Troian a look and then continued talking to Tomas. “He’s a Ley Line Guardian. Stonehenge’s Ley Line Guardian called him in to help with something.”
Tomas nodded and continued to nod throughout my whole desperate speech, but in the end, said he hadn’t seen him that he knew of. “There were Guardians, which ones I do not know. They started out such a small group, but then they continued to build and build. I knew something was about to happen. Unfortunately…” He stared at the table and gripped his mug tighter. “I did not stick around to find out.”
Frankie cleared his throat near the sink. He leaned against it staring at us, his arms crossed over his chest. He’d look like a bouncer except he was sagged with age. “Tomas left early on because he feared what was going to happen. He came to me to find out how to fix the ley line since he’d heard that I’d fixed Salem’s. With the ingredients I’ve given him, he has tried to get back into Stonehenge but they aren’t letting him in.”
“Not letting him in? Even if he says he can help? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It’s in the Elite Command control now.”
Tomas narrowed his beady eyes at Troian and I wondered if it was just a Necromancer-Fae thing. Maybe all Necromancers were predisposed to hate fae, and vice versa. It would answer a few questions I had about Troian vs. Frankie.
“When did you get out?” Troian asked.
The old man rubbed his eyes. “Two weeks after the ley line started to act up. Within one week, the first wave of Guardians showed up.” He looked at me. His eyes were deep pits. I could almost see the years of history he’d lived through in them. “Your brother must have been one of them. Then, two weeks in, another huge wave.”
“I was one of them,” Troian said.
I eyed the fae out of the corner of my eye still wondering how he would owe my brother a favor after knowing him for so little time. It seemed out of the norm for a fae in general, but especially for Troian.
“I did not stay long after that. When I saw the Elite response, I left. I am an old man. Guardian business is Guardian business. If I had known I could’ve fixed it though, I would’ve helped.”
He said this last part to me. I nodded for his benefit even though it wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t tell me any information about my brother. It was helpful to hear just that little bit of the background about how things went down. Troian couldn’t tell me much other than that he was ordered to go to Stonehenge. It wasn’t until he got there that he found out other Guardians were already there. It seemed Elite Command wasn’t all that forthcoming with information even before my brother went missing.
So, Damen was among the first wave of Guardians. They probably only knew that something was wrong, not what was wrong. Ley Line Guardians would’ve been a good move to start with. Then, the Ley Line Guardians would’ve called in the Elite if they hadn’t figured it out. It became a magical world problem after that, and one that escalated quickly.
“It’s not your fault, Tomas. No one knew what was wrong with the ley line. I’m assuming you guys felt the increase in power like we did here in Salem?”
He nodded, eyes widening at the memory. “Great power. I’ve never felt anything like it.”
“Have you ever heard of a ley line going crazy before?” Troian asked.
The old man hesitated. He took his time pouring more hot water into his tea cup from the carafe in the center of the table. “I’ve heard legends and stories. That is all.”
Troian slumped back in his chair, uninterested. I, however, was in the ‘I’ll ta
ke whatever I can get’ mode. “Can you tell me them?”
Tomas sipped from his tea. The steam curled up and over a small smile that had curled his lips. “As I said, I’m an old, old man. I’ve heard stories about ley lines from my father who passed them on from his father and so on. According to legend, ley lines aren’t just placid objects, they are living and breathing, as you are and I am. One particular tale my father told me was of the ley line that passes through our peaceful Stonehenge. Back when the world was ruled by Gods and Goddesses, there was a demigod who dealt with magic. He was the giver and the taker. He gifted those who were worthy of the great power of magic, and stripped those who proved undeserving. One day, God found Ley undeserving after the demigod threatened to strip the power from another of God’s sons. The demigod found himself cast away into the Earth, forever to live where he could not control the magic anymore.”
Troian snickered and I kicked him under the table. “But ley lines do give off magic.”
The old man’s eyes lit. “Ahhh. That is exactly what I said. As with everything that happens, sometimes the affects aren’t what is really intended. When he put Ley into the Earth, he thought his power would’ve been stripped completely. That wasn’t what happened however. Ley, who lives in the Earth, can still giveth and taketh away.”
Not knowing what to believe, I leaned back in my seat and rubbed my temples. This was the first I’d heard of a god named Ley. All I wanted was concrete answers and no one could give me them. Was the ley line some incarcerated god forever to be hidden in the Earth for his injuries? Or was it just a freaking ley line that for whatever reason infused magical abilities within the land based on location?
Tomas’s lips cracked into a smile. “I can see that you are unsure. I am, too.” He shrugged, his frail shoulders bending slightly. “I am sorry that I could not be of more help regarding your brother, though.”
“Me too.” It would’ve been nice to have this whole thing be over with. “Are you sticking around Salem for a little while?”
He glanced back at Frankie who nodded. “Tomas always has a place to stay with me. He knows that.”