by Tess Oliver
She took hold of my wrist and placed the earplugs on my palm. Her fingertips grazed my hand just enough to leave the warm trail of her touch behind. Again, she gazed up at me with eyes that looked nearly forest green in the dark shadows.
"Thank you for saving me from that last scream. I'm sorry you had to endure it."
I waved to Barq and he trotted closer. He lifted his big head and snorted with some suspicion at the cloaked figure. "She's not going to scream or bite, Barq." I turned to Rikki. "Do you bite?"
She smiled. "Not usually." Her relief at knowing she would soon be out of Wynter was palpable. If I hadn't found her, I doubt she would have lasted another hour. Wynter was no place for a human, not even one who spent her day ferrying damaged souls of unsavory people across a murky river.
I climbed onto Barq's back and then lowered my hand. Rikki grabbed hold of my arm and I swung her up and behind me. I didn't need to remind her to hold on. Her arms circled around me, and she buried her face against me. Even in the extreme heat, I could feel her warm breath on my bare skin. She clung to me tightly, and I was just fine with that. It seemed her little Wynter adventure was over, and she wasn't taking along any fond memories.
I reined Barq in the direction of the river. "I guess it's lucky Flint rode off the opposite way, otherwise he would have seen you."
"Trust me, revealing my secret was the last thing on my mind when it seemed I was destined to die alone in this horrid place."
"So this was your first time in Wynter?"
"First and last. My gosh, just what do they put you guys through to prepare you for this? Never mind. I'm sure I don't want to hear."
"You don't."
She scooted closer, close enough that even through the cloak I could feel her soft tits pressed against my back. Her gloved hands held my stomach. I wished to hell she wasn't wearing them, so I could feel her hands on me.
"How did you find me in this opaque shroud of mist?"
"Actually, I found you because of the heavy mist. A disturbance—" I turned my head to talk over my shoulder. "Like, for example, a beautiful ferry captain being dragged around by three banshees—is easy to spot. The thick atmosphere vibrates around any sudden or violent movements. It's like throwing a big rock into water. The energy rolls away like concentric circles. Of course, when I rode toward the disturbance, the last thing I expected to find was you fighting off three banshees."
I rode toward the wavering light, the flames from the torches lining the river. "You were a long way from the river, Rikki. You should pull up your veil. We are almost over the Wynter border. Catch or Steemer might see you. Or do they know?"
"I told you, you are the only person who knows my secret." She pulled up her hood and drew down the veil, covering up the face that should never, ever have been covered. "I ended up in Wynter because I was following Catch."
Rikki pulled in a deep breath once we were out of the mist. Not that the atmosphere over the river or outside Feenix's lair was much better, but for someone not used to Wynter, it could feel like a slow, suffocating death.
I stopped Barq long before we reached the dock, where no one could see us. I climbed off and reached up to help Rikki down. I could no longer see her face as I lowered her to her feet. My hands lingered on her waist for longer than necessary.
"Why were you following Catch?"
"He has my dad's lucky coin. It's the first gold coin my great-grandfather Trex earned on the ferry. It's been passed on through the years to be carried for luck. Catch was tossing it around on his palm. He said a friend gave it to him, but he wouldn't say who."
"That weasel. I'll get the information out of him. I need to get back, but we'll be off work soon enough. I'll coax the name out of Catch when I see him. In the meantime, no more visits to Wynter."
"That will not be a problem." I turned to get back on my horse, but her gloved hand took hold of mine. She lifted the veil just high enough for me to see her plump lips and hazel eyes. "Thank you, Maximus. I'm sorry if I've been a terrible grump to you these past months."
"You're forgiven." I pushed her chin up with my finger. "Don't think I could ever stay mad at this face. But you still haven't told me why the hell you've been picking at me."
She smiled up at me. "And here I thought the Wynter Boys were women experts." She still held up the veil with one hand as she glanced around. Aside from the black ravens that loved to hang out along the river, we were alone. Rikki hopped up on her toes and lightly kissed my mouth. It stunned me speechless. "I'll let you puzzle it out, Max." Her veil dropped down like a black curtain on a work of art.
I climbed onto Barq's back and reined him around to watch as the small figure in the tattered, sludge covered cloak walked away.
Nine
Maximus
Flint whistled and motioned for me to circle around the other side of the flaming geyser. He pulled Harley, his buckskin stallion, around sharply and took off. Barq and I trotted over to the south side of the fire pit. Flames licked at my arms as I pulled the gun from my holster.
It was a big fucking wraith, bigger than the average, but slower as well. And shy too, apparently. It had kept its face hidden behind the flowing sleeves of its garment.
Flint and I had reached the end of our shift, and we were heading to the river to pick up our pay in Steemer's tent, when the massive, clumsy wraith stepped seemingly out of thin air. After the incident with Rikki, I was more than anxious to be done with work. I needed to find Catch and ask him what the hell he knew. Unfortunately, the unusually big wraith had kept us from leaving Wynter on time.
I tugged Barq to a halt and squinted into the smoke and mist. The wraith hovered in front of the hissing flames of the geyser. It didn't shoot away or spit foul breath or throw its claws out to warn us off. There was something altogether different about this creature.
Harley and Flint trotted around to where Barq and I stood. We had gone in separate directions thinking we would need to head off the wraith's escape, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere.
"Something not quite right about this wraith," Flint said.
"You noticed too, huh? Well, I guess if it's just going to stand there and wait for us to kill it." I lifted my gun. "Hey, knucklehead, just show us your face, so I can put a bullet between your eyes."
I expected my taunt to make the wraith shoot toward us. That way I'd catch a glimpse of its face, find that sweet spot between the eyes and destroy the pulpy mass that functioned as wraith brains. But it didn't move or spin or lunge or do any of the normal wraith actions. Instead, the creature uncurled from its hunched over position and looked at us.
"What the fuck?" Flint muttered as he pulled his gun from the holster. Two flat, dark eyes stared up at us from a cold, hard face. Before we could reason out what the hell we were looking at, the thing turned and walked straight into the flames. Yellow and green sparks exploded over the burning pit and the dark silhouette vanished.
Flint and I sat there for a long moment waiting to see if it would reemerge. The flames eventually mellowed out to a cool green color. All traces of the creature were gone.
"An escapee from Vapour's realm?" I asked, finding no other reasonable explanation for what we'd just witnessed.
"Shit, has any soul ever managed to escape Vapour and his army of ghouls? Besides, whatever or whoever that was that just walked casually into those flames looked like flesh and bone."
"Fuck."
"Yeah. Fuck." Flint turned his horse around. "Let's get out of here."
Barq and I followed along next to him. "Do you think we should let Feenix know?"
"Probably, I'm just not sure what the hell we tell him. Maybe we should just wait to see if we spot it again. I'll tell Catch to let Rafferty and his pack know to keep an eye out for a big, slow moving wraith that looks oddly human."
"Actually, I can tell him," I said. "I need to talk to Catch anyhow."
"About what?"
"Uh, oh—just that he needs to feed Barq more. He's lo
oking kind of skinny."
Flint laughed. "That horse doesn't know the meaning of skinny. But hey, if you want to be galloping around Wynter on a hippo shaped horse, be my guest."
We galloped through the same place at the Wynter border where I had just an hour before dropped Rikki. My gaze shot straight to the ferry. The boat was moored on the opposite side of the river. Rikki was seated at the rudder.
"Looks like Stryker and Wilder didn't wait for us," Flint picked Harley up to a trot and we headed over to Catch. Chino and Rogue were pacing anxiously in the paddock waiting to be ridden out of Wynter. As hard and dangerous as the work was for the horses, they preferred to be in the hunt rather than standing in the paddock for the entire shift.
Catch lumbered over to us and took hold of Harley's and Barq's reins. Flint climbed off and headed over to the dock. "I'll tell Trex to wait for you. You know how much he loves to have you on board," Flint quipped as he walked away.
I smiled at the comment. If he only knew.
"I've got this, Maximus. Go pick up your pay." Catch walked toward the water trough with the horses. I followed behind. It made the little creep nervous enough that he tripped over his big feet and nearly landed face first on the ground.
"Two things, Catch." I had him worried, and his long nose twitched as if he'd just breathed in a fly.
"What's that, Max?"
"Tell Raff and his pack to keep an eye out for an extra large, extra slow moving wraith."
Catch laughed. "Do you mean to tell me you couldn't shoot an oversized, slow motion target? You boys must be losing your edge."
My hand wrapped clear around his throat. It would take me hardly any effort to strangle him or break his neck, but unfortunately without him, there would be no one to look after the horses. His beady black eyes bulged like marbles. "I'm sorry, Max. I was just joking," His laugh was a grating, sniveling sound that only a fucking goblin could produce.
I released him. "Just tell them."
Catch backed up. "Yes, yes I will." He tried to squirm past me by crawling under Barq's belly, but I grabbed the goblin by his big ear and yanked him back in front of me.
"What ya so mad about, Maximus? Haven't I been taken care of the horses right?"
"You have but I need some information. The gold coin you've been tossing around like a big shot, who gave it to you?"
Goblin's had skin that felt and looked like soft plastic. It was a pinkish ivory color that never changed, but I could swear Catch's face paled at the question. Again his shifty black eyes tick-tocked in his head like a pendulum.
"There's no one else around except the horses. Just tell me who gave it to you and then I won't have to squeeze your neck until your head pops off."
"Ah, Max, that's not nice. I'm just a hardworking guy looking to make a nice buck. Just like you."
I had to lean down at the waist to get closer to his face. His nose grazed my chin as he lifted his face to me. "Except you're not a guy, you're a fucking weasel faced goblin like the ones I hunt. I've got no problem with you earning money, and you're good with the horses. Just tell me who gave you the coin, and I'll leave you to your job."
Catch looked quickly back toward the river. "Did Trex send you? He about blew a fuse today when he saw me tossing it around. Said it was his but that can't be cuz the ghoul who gave it—" His thin lips disappeared beneath his banana shaped nose as he realized he'd given away his secret.
I straightened and stared down at him. "A ghoul, a flesh eating putrid waste of space and energy, had a gold coin in its possession. You didn't question that? What did you give it in return?"
"Nothing. Really."
I sighed in frustration and grabbed his shirt. I was tired of bending over to look at him. I lifted him off his feet and brought him face to face with me. His long feet kicked in the air, and he struck me in the chest. My grip on him tightened, and his little eyes glittered in fear.
"I'm sorry, Max. I won't kick you again. Just let me go, would ya?"
"Fine." I released him without lowering my arm. He dropped to the ground like a stone and landed hard on his ass. "What did you give the ghoul?"
"Nothing really, Maximus. You know that cave that Vapour has where he keeps the hunted animal carcasses to feed the ghouls? Well, I was taking two souls to Vapour's realm and a ghoul was walking out of the cave. It wasn't feeding time and the ghoul looked pissed that I caught him. It offered me the coin to keep my mouth shut, so I figured it was sort of a blackmail payoff." He raised up his hands. "That's the honest truth, Max."
I shook my head. "You're clever for a goblin but not clever enough to make up a story like that."
Catch's thin mouth turned up in a smile. "Thanks. I think. I guess I'll get back to work then."
"Yep." I put out my palm. "Just as soon as you give me that coin."
Catch backed up and walked right into the water trough. I caught him just before he fell in. "Now I can lift you by your banana boat feet and shake the damn coin out of you along with whatever else you've got hiding in your pockets, or you can just hand it to me."
The goblin looked so disappointed, I almost felt bad making him give it up. Almost. Sometimes, with Catch, it was easy to forget that he was a goblin. I had a deep toothy scar in my calf from a nasty, little goblin, and I wasn't a fan of them, in general.
"Fine but I'm not going to forget this, Max." Catch slapped the coin down on my palm. "Are we square now?"
"We're square. For now."
Stryker and Wilder were just coming back on the ferry. I stood next to Flint and waited for the next ride. Soul driving looked finished for the night. The river, while still thick like pudding, was clear of the souls and those pale white faces that stared up at the riverbank waiting for their fates.
"Where the hell were you two?" Stryker asked as he climbed off the boat.
"We ran into a strange creature on the way out." Flint had lowered his voice. "We'll tell you about it when we get out of here. Guess we'll see you guys on the other side."
I listened half-heartedly to their conversation because my attention had been pulled to the ferry. Even with the veil, it was easy to tell which direction Rikki was looking. I was still thinking about her kiss. It was a light, quick kiss, not much more than a breeze but I could still feel it.
I closed my fingers around the small coin in my hand and climbed on board.
"Hey, mind you don't capsize my ferry, Maximus." She had dropped her voice low and scratchy. Now as I listened to it, I could hear the soft edges of her feminine tone behind it. How did I not ever notice that before?
"Yeah, yeah, I won't sink your toy boat," I answered, just as I would have if I hadn't known that a beautiful woman was standing behind the veil instead of a disfigured century plus old man.
Flint climbed on behind me and walked past to the bow, where we usually stood to avoid the hollow, pleading gazes of the souls. But the boat was empty tonight, which made my task that much easier.
I turned back toward the rudder, where Rikki was standing, and pretended to flick something off my buckskins. With one quick motion, I brought my hand back around and pressed the coin in to her palm. She curled her gloved fingers around it without even looking at it.
"Thank you." The veil fluttered around her mouth as she spoke in her own feminine whisper.
I turned back toward the bow and thought, damn, that was a sound I could get used to.
Ten
Rikki
There were nerves, like the jitters before the dentist was about to fill a cavity. There were nerves, like being in a fishing boat and trying to outpace a squall back to the marina. Then there were Maximus nerves, a fitting name for a maximum case of the jitters. Butterflies weren't just fluttering in my stomach, they were holding a full on circus.
Fortunately, my concern over my dad's safety and well-being helped put those jitters into perspective. That significant helping of worry allowed me to gain the courage I needed to head to the Seven Sins and find the man who had returned m
y dad's lucky coin. Maximus had taken precautions not to draw any attention to me on the ferry, and I was thankful for that. He managed to mutter three words into my ear as he and Flint left the ferry.
"I have information." That was all he said before he rode off on Barq to return to the mortal world.
As much as I appreciated his discretion, it left me feeling desperate to know more. There just wasn't any way I could wait until Maximus returned to his next shift to learn what he knew. It had already been two months of turning up nothing but empty stones, and I feared the worst. My mother had been brought so low by my dad's disappearance that she could barely pull herself out of bed. And I'd had to tell the crew that worked for my dad on the Traveler that he had taken ill and that the Traveler would be docked until he improved.
I walked out to my car. It was well past midnight, and the moon was hidden behind layers of clouds. A fog had rolled in blotting out even more light. I climbed into the driver's seat and checked my lipstick. I'd applied and removed it at least three times, reminding myself that it didn't matter how I looked. I needed to find out what Maximus knew and see if it would help me find my dad. But in the end, I'd allowed myself the lipstick. There was no way to pretend. My dad always bragged about how brave and confident I was, but Maximus was my weakness. All stoic, courageous qualities disappeared and my knees went instantly to jelly when the big brute of a man came into my line of vision. After he'd saved me from a certain and horrid death in Wynter, I couldn't stop myself from kissing him. Even if it was a silly, schoolgirl kiss.
I drove out along the two lane coastal highway that led to the Seven Sins. I lived just a few miles from the bar, but I never went inside. It was not my kind of place, and even though the bar was filled with men I worked with everyday, unbeknownst to them, of course, I didn't fit in at all. There was a group of women who frequented the place. The Wynter Fare were beautiful, smart, successful women who liked to spend time with the Boys of Wynter.