I opened my mouth to ask how she knew that, but before I realized what was happening my body was lifted off the ground and thrown backward. A wind whipped through the tent, helping push me toward the wall. Instead of hitting the stretched canvas, I slammed into a warm chest.
Kade caught me mid-air, cradling me close for a moment as he grappled to maintain his footing with my extra weight dragging him down. He grunted briefly before dropping me on my feet. He looked surprised, but resigned.
“I guess they’re evil, huh?” His smile was small and rueful.
“And then some,” I said, smoothing my skirt and shifting so I could face off with Grace and Mary. They stood in the middle of the tent, their hands clasped. They didn’t look happy.
“Nice catch,” Mary said dryly, making a face. “You probably shouldn’t have gotten involved, though. This is between us and the Romani.”
“She’s the only reason we’re here,” Grace added. “Don’t make us kill you, too. We don’t want to do it. You don’t have anything we need … and we try to refrain from killing unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Speak for yourself,” Mary said, tightening her grip on Grace’s hand. “I’m looking forward to killing all of them. We haven’t had a good bloodbath in a century.”
“Do you really think this is going to end well for you?” I challenged.
As if on cue, the young girl tilted her head back so she was staring at the highest point of the tent and opened her mouth, letting loose with an unearthly scream that bounced off the walls and climbed in pitch until it was loud enough to shatter the glass lanterns on the center table.
I ducked, shielding my face from the flying glass as Kade moved to cover my head with his arm.
“What the hell?”
Grace joined in with the painful keening, causing the wind to pick up again, whipping around the room as it gained speed. Something was about to happen. Given my luck, I knew it was probably something terrible.
“What’s going on?” Nellie asked, worriedly glancing around as he struggled to keep his dress from flying up and putting his naughty bits on display. “What’s happening?”
“Nothing good. We’re not going to be strong enough to take them alone.” I knew we needed more help so I sent out a mental S.O.S. I didn’t know what else to do.
THE WIND picked up in speed until it felt as if we were caught in the center of a tornado. Kade struggled to keep his arm around me as Nellie worked overtime to protect Melissa. For their part, Grace and Mary looked as though they were having a good time and showed no signs of relenting.
That lasted for almost three minutes, until our reinforcements arrived.
Naida strode into the room with a dark look on her face. Raven and Nixie, both of whom looked confused but ready for war, flanked her. Naida didn’t even bother ducking as her hair whipped around, instead flashing her aquamarine eyes and lifting her hands.
You couldn’t hear the “boom,” but you could feel it when she slammed her magic into the power wielded by the two girls and threw them backward into the empty tiger cage. The wind ceased almost immediately.
“What’s going on?” Raven asked, confused. “Are we fighting kids?”
“They’re not kids,” I said, struggling to smooth my clothes as Kade and I stood. “They’re … something else.”
“Oh, goody,” Raven intoned, wrinkling her nose as she turned on Mary and Grace. “What are you, little monsters?”
“What are you?” Mary shot back, dusting off her dress as she regained her footing and tugged Grace up behind her. “We were just minding our own business and then you three came in and threw us across a room. I mean … how rude is that?”
“I can get a lot ruder,” Raven warned, lifting a finger. “Seriously, what are you guys? I can’t get any reading off of you at all.”
“What does that mean?” Kade asked, leery. “Are they like ghosts or something?”
“Even ghosts leave an imprint,” I said. “I think they’re shades.”
“Oh.” Realization dawned on Raven as she circled to her right, giving the girls a wide berth but scenting the air as she passed. “I think you might be right. Wow! I thought shades had been eradicated before the turn of the century. This is … different.”
“What are shades?” Kade was completely out of his depth. I felt sorry for him.
“They’re ancient demons,” I explained. “They have a lot of different names depending on the region they come from, but basically they take the form of children and lure unsuspecting adults in so they can slaughter them.”
“Why?”
“To eat,” Raven replied, making a face. “Is that what you two little heathens have been doing with the body parts? Have you been eating them?”
“Oh, gross,” Nixie said, hopping from one foot to the other. “Someone please take chicken legs off the dinner menu tonight.”
“Now that’s rude,” Nellie said, grabbing an ax from the spot close to the door and holding it in both hands. “How do you kill shades? Please tell me you behead them.”
He has a thing about beheadings. I can’t explain it.
“Are you going to cut off our heads?” Grace asked, her eyes widening as she took on a pitiful tone. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“They’re not going to behead us.” Mary was haughty. “We’re little girls. How could they possibly explain our disappearance?”
“We don’t have to explain it,” I countered. “You don’t have anyone to miss you. Once we’re gone the police will only search until they realize the killings have stopped. You don’t have parents to keep up the pressure so your memory – such as it is – will fade fairly quickly.”
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong,” Mary said, laughing hollowly as a gust of wind blew through the tent. It was cold enough to cause a series of chills to course through my body.
“They didn’t cause that,” Melissa said, glancing over her shoulder. “That came from someone else.”
I was beginning to figure that out on my own. “They have help,” I said, resigned. “And that help is on the way. That’s what the screeching was about. They were calling for their own reinforcements. I should’ve realized what they were doing.”
“Well, great,” Nellie said. “If I can’t chop their heads off I bet I can chop off the head of whatever is coming.”
I hoped he was right. The cold wind caused goose pimples to pop up on my skin as it circled the tent walls. Whatever was coming was almost upon us.
“Daddy’s here,” Mary said, breaking into hysterical gales of laughter as the wind caused the tent flaps to slap open and shut, and a dark figure appeared in the opening. “You’re in big trouble now.”
“WHAT IS that?” Kade’s voice was shrill as he took in the malevolent figure, its red eyes bouncing around the tent as the creature scanned the scene. He put his hand on my hip and moved closer, his protective nature pushing to the forefront as his brain struggled to rationalize what he was seeing. “Is that what I think it is?”
“It’s the scarecrow,” I said, shaking my head. “I guess we were both right.”
“Oh, neat,” Raven said, turning away from Mary and Grace and focusing on the new arrival. “Now this is a classic. I can get behind this.”
“What is it, though?” Nixie asked, inhaling deeply. “It smells like a zombie or something.”
“A zombie?” Kade’s eyebrows nearly flew off his forehead. “Are you telling me zombies are real, too?”
“Not in the sense you think,” I clarified. “I … good, grief. He really does smell dead.”
“That’s because he is dead,” Raven said, extending a finger. “Look at the arms and legs. They’ve been recently sewed on. They don’t match the torso.”
“That’s what they’ve been doing with the body parts,” I supplied. “I think they channeled some dark force into the scarecrow, but to give it life they have to give it … ugh … flesh.”
“Oh, nice,” Raven sneered
. “Couldn’t they have cast a Lysol spell to go with it? No one likes the smell of maggots, girls. It’s gross.”
“Don’t speak about my daddy that way,” Mary ordered, incensed. “He’s still getting used to his new reality. We’re working on Mommy, too, but we need more parts. That’s why we need her.”
My stomach rolled when I realized Mary was pointing at me. “Well, I’m using my parts. You can’t have them.”
“And I haven’t gotten a chance to use them yet, so there’s no way you’re taking them,” Kade added.
That was either incredibly sweet or insulting. I didn’t have time to mentally debate it, though. “You’re so romantic,” I deadpanned.
“I’ll romance you later,” Kade said. “Now … kill them!”
That was quite a turn for a guy who just an hour earlier insisted we couldn’t kill them. “I’m working on it,” I said, taking a step away from him so I could move closer to Raven. I had a feeling I was going to need her power boost.
“I don’t get it,” Raven said. “If you’re shades, why do you need scarecrow people to do your bidding and get you dinner? Why don’t you do it yourself?”
“Times change,” Mary answered. “For centuries two children left to their own devices weren’t things to be feared … or monitored, for that matter. They were things to be taken care of, trusted even.”
“I think she’s saying that people are more suspicious now,” I supplied. “Before telephones and cars, they could sucker unsuspecting people into taking them in. Then they would butcher them, eat them and escape before anyone figured out what was happening.
“With the advancement of technology, their little ploys probably didn’t work as well,” I continued. “Instead of taking them in, people probably dropped them off at the police station or turned them over to social services.”
“You have no idea how hard it is to cover up a police officer’s death,” Mary said.
“Or a social worker’s,” I said, my stomach twisting. “Did you kill the one they sent you home with the other day?”
“We let Daddy do it,” Mary replied. “He needed the practice. We only resurrected him a week ago. He’s still getting used to the new world.”
“Is that really your father?” Nixie asked, her eyes wide. “Did you cast a spell to resurrect him and then put him in the scarecrow?”
“We thought it would be easy,” Grace explained. “It was a lot harder than we thought because the scarecrow kept falling apart. That’s why we needed the real body parts to switch out. We had to keep him intact somehow.”
“What about the eyes?” I asked. “You needed only one set of eyes. Why did you keep taking them?”
“Because they’re wonderful on bread with jam,” Mary replied, her face full of faux innocence and light as she dissolved into giggles with her sister.
“Oh, these two are sick,” Kade said. “End this now. I don’t want to listen to that one second longer.”
“How are we going to end this?” Raven asked. “Are we going to let Nellie chop off all of their heads? That sounds … messy.”
That did sound messy. “I don’t know,” I said. “I thought … .”
I didn’t get a chance to finish my sentence because Percival picked that moment to stroll into the tent. He was still in full clown garb, a purple foam ball on the end of his nose, and his eyes were inquisitive when they landed on me.
“All right, all,” he said. “What’s going on?”
I saw the scarecrow moving before I got a chance to utter a warning. It had its hands on Percival before he could register the being behind him. He turned, almost in slow motion, and when he realized he was looking at a monster instead of a man Percival unleashed a scream that would’ve been welcome in a horror movie – if he was a big-breasted girl and naked in the shower.
“What is that? Holy crap! What is that?” He tore away from the scarecrow, leaving the shoulder of his costume behind as he scrabbled to safety behind Raven.
It took me a moment to realize that he hadn’t spoken with a British accent when he made his excited exclamation. No, he sounded like a random Midwestern guy out on the town.
“What happened to your accent?” Nixie asked the question first.
“Wait, what?” Percival’s accent was back, although he was still flustered and the effort seemed forced. “There’s a monster in the corner and you’re asking about my accent?”
He had a point. Still … . “You’re not even British, are you?” I was disgusted. That accent was all he had going for him, as far as I was concerned. “Why would you lie?”
“Does no one see the monster in the corner?” Percival challenged. This time he didn’t even try to muster the accent. “There’s a demonic scarecrow in the corner, for the love of God!”
“Oh, I’m so disappointed,” Nixie said, glancing at me. “The only way I could look past the clown stuff was to listen to that accent.”
“You’re not the only one,” Raven said, disgusted as she pushed Percival’s hand from her shoulder. “Now he’s just a douche in a clown costume.”
“He was a douche before,” Kade argued.
“He was a hot douche who looked great with his shirt off,” Raven corrected. “The accent elevated him. Now he’s just … sad.”
“Why do you think I faked the accent?” Percival was beside himself. “Nobody wants to sleep with a clown, yet everyone wants to sleep with a British guy because they like the way he talks. I had to even the odds.”
I tilted my head to the side, considering. I could see that.
“I feel so ripped off,” Raven said, shifting her eyes to Kade. “Well, I guess I’m back to flirting with you.”
“No, you’re not,” I hissed, extending a finger. “You can keep the douche. He’s my … man.”
“Oh, so it’s okay for me to be your man but you can’t be my woman?” Kade was irritated. “How does that work?”
“I don’t even understand what’s going on,” Mary complained. “Are we going to fight or not?”
“We are,” I confirmed. “We just need to work this out first.” I shifted my attention to Kade. “I think you’re taking what I said wrong. I didn’t mean that you were my property. That’s how you made it sound when you and Luke were fighting earlier. This is not about property.”
“That’s right,” Raven said. “You’re not property, so you’re still open for offers.”
“He is not!” I shrieked.
“Oh, I can’t take one more second of this,” Mary said. “I don’t care what happens to the rest of you, but we need the Romani. Her body is powerful enough to hold our mother’s soul. The rest of you can take your argument outside for all we care.”
“You can’t have it both ways,” Kade said, ignoring Mary’s tirade. “I get the woman’s lib thing, but I’m a person, too.”
“That does it!” Mary stomped her foot in the center of the tent to get everyone’s attention. “I am not playing around. Pay attention to me!”
I couldn’t decide how to respond and was still considering three different ways when Nellie took everyone by surprise and swung the ax. I hadn’t even seen him sneak behind the tiny despot of terror. His blow hit hard and true, separating Mary’s head from her body and leaving nothing but a pile of ash in its place before he was even done following through with the swing.
Grace’s eyes went wide as she hopped back, shrieking as Nixie grabbed the back of her neck and opened her bag of pixie dust.
“I’ve got this one,” Nixie said. “I think she’ll fetch a pretty penny.”
“Stop,” Grace wailed. “I didn’t want to do any of this. It was all Mary’s fault. You already killed her. Leave me alone. Daddy!”
The scarecrow snapped to attention and vaulted over the trunk on the ground, racing to the shade’s aid. Naida, expecting it, lashed out with her magic, shredding the scarecrow into pieces as he moved. By the time he got to Grace’s side he was nothing more than a pile of rags, discarded body parts and dirty s
traw.
“No!” Grace tried to muster up her own magic, but without her sister to bolster her she was too weak to fight us. “I don’t want to die!”
For some reason my heart went out to her. Perhaps it was the stuffed bear she clutched to her chest as she tried to wriggle away from Nixie, but she seemed somehow gentler than Mary. That didn’t mean we could let her live, though. She was too dangerous.
“Close your eyes,” I instructed. “It won’t hurt and it will be over quickly.”
Grace cast one final desperate look in my direction. “We had to survive somehow.”
I shook my head. “Some things are meant to go extinct for a reason. You’re one of them. Go in peace.”
Nixie didn’t hesitate, her tight smile grim as she sprinkled the pixie dust over Grace’s head and watched with grim detachment as the girl opened her mouth to scream and instead shrank down until she was nothing more than a limp doll on the floor.
“Holy moly,” Percival said, his accent back in place. “Does someone want to tell me what’s going on here? I feel so … betrayed.”
“Don’t even bother,” Raven said, rolling her eyes as Nixie bent over to pick up her new trinket. “Without the accent, you’re dead to me.”
Thankfully for Lincoln, the evil stalking the city the past few weeks was dead, too. It was finally over.
Well, mostly. I still had one thing to do, and it was more terrifying than shades and demonic scarecrows.
31
Thirty-One
I woke the next morning with my head on Kade’s chest, his breathing even as he slumbered. I took advantage of the moment to trace the line of his jaw with my finger, wondering briefly whether this would be the last time, and then pressed my ear to the spot above his heart and listened.
We’d gotten to bed late, which was to be expected given the busy nature of the previous evening. We had body parts to dispose of in a fire, and for once they weren’t of our making. We also had police questions to deflect. As much as I respected Detective Brewer, there was no way we could explain what happened in a satisfactory manner, so we left him to continue his search with a promise that we would be swift when we left town Sunday afternoon.
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