"I saw his Path which might help explain." I stretched out and gathered my thoughts. "The area around him flexes and moves like nothing I've seen. It's almost as if the Path around him is inviting to some people, but discourages others from coming near."
"I'm not that familiar with Readers, so I'm not following," Taylor said.
I liked talking about what I do, so I sat up straight and filled him in. "The Path is an overlay to our world, which I read. It's like a ripple of running water, but it's everywhere, covering everything."
"Do you see this all the time?" Taylor asked.
"No," I said. "Readers have to open themselves up to it. Everything leaves traces as we move through the world. We leave marks on objects we touch and the air we walk through. The Path is almost like a memory of that mark left behind. It picks up on emotions, and occasionally intent. The stronger the emotion, the longer the Path holds onto that impression. Some Readers can pick up a Path and follow it back through time to find its origin."
Neil's eyes widened. "Dude, you can time travel?"
I grinned. "Not exactly. I stay put in this time, but the Path shows me the past."
"So you could follow my Path back to my home?" Taylor asked.
"Not if you drove," I said. "Cars tend to muddle things. They move too fast for the person to make a lasting impression. If you were really angry while you drove, maybe, but it would be difficult. If you walked home, especially if it was every day, the imprint would be worn into the Path, and I could follow it."
"You say some Readers. Do different Readers do different things?" Neil asked.
I frowned, thinking back on everything I had said. "There aren't many Readers on record, so it's hard to say. I've spoken to a Reader that is much older than me but is only now beginning to follow Paths for any distance. She can, however, read intricacies of the Path that I have never noticed before."
"We should probably keep that much detail off the record as well," Logan said, eying Neil and Taylor.
Taylor agreed, but Neil wasn't done. "What you do and what you have described doesn't add up."
"I'm sure we could say the same about you," Logan said to Taylor and Neil.
"There's more to it," I agreed, "but from what I understand, most Readers in the past have had these skills. And it's these skills that let me see the abnormalities in Jin."
Taylor looked at me like he had when we had first met, like he was studying me.
Logan leaned forward. "Does this mean he has the ability to move the Path around him?"
I thought that over before shaking my head. "Anything that alters the Path uses effort, which affects the Path. His fingerprints would have been on it somewhere."
"So the Path was acting cognizant in this case?" Neil asked.
"Cognizant? Are you sure you're you?" I asked, stealing his words from earlier.
"He's sobering up," Taylor said.
"And it sucks," Neil muttered.
Not knowing how to respond, I moved on. "I'm not sure if that's the right word. I'm not sure the Path itself was aware."
"I'm not understanding everything here," Taylor said. "How does the Path decide to turn someone away on its own, if it's not aware?"
"I've never seen anything like it," I admitted, "but it would move to draw some people towards Jin. But I saw one person approach him, and his Path worked to keep the person away."
"When Jin came close to you, what happened?" Rider asked.
"I didn't feel the inclination to move away," Neil said.
"His Path flowed around you and didn't try to affect you," I said. "If I hadn't been Reading the Path, it probably would have moved me away. I could see it trying to. Vincent on the other hand, well, the Path tried to make him go away as well, but he sliced right through."
"That is probably the Reader in him," Rider said.
"I thought he was a Walker," Taylor said.
"When he broke up Cassie's soul, he ended up with a piece of it," Logan said.
"Is that normal for a Walker?" Neil asked, leaning towards Logan.
Logan didn't answer.
"If he is breaking apart other souls, would he have a piece of each?" Rider asked.
"It's hard to say." It was an awful thought and one I didn't want to dwell on.
"How are Vincent and Jin connected?" Taylor asked.
I twisted in my seat again. "No idea."
"Is Jin even a suspect?" Rider asked.
"I think that depends," Logan said. "Are there any Lost that could have a Path like Jin's?"
I sighed. "I've never seen anything like this Path."
"We know wearing the jewelry affects people," Logan said, "based on what type of soul is trapped."
"You think he was wearing a piece of the jewelry." It wasn't a big leap.
"I'm fairly certain of it," Logan said. "Who is suspected to have been killed by this?"
Neil rattled off the list.
The number of people that had fallen to this monster was alarming. "I've seen the Path of all of them except the telepath. None of them look like Jin's, and I doubt the telepath would look the same either."
"There are other Lost around that won't report deaths. Some are here illegally, others are private, and others don't have the capabilities to report such a thing," Taylor said.
Neil was staring into space. "It adds up. Jin has been untouchable for months, but I had it wrong. Untouchable is the wrong word. Well, it's the right word, but there was another word I used to describe it. Luck. The man is lucky."
Logan's eyes grew wide. "That can't be. There are none around here."
Neil snorted. "Those little bastards could be all over the place and we wouldn't notice. That's the point. They're Lucky. They're untouchable."
"Who are they?" I asked irritably.
Neil smiled smugly but didn't say anything.
"Leprechauns," Logan said sadly. "He's got a leprechaun."
I watched Logan carefully. "I haven't seen any records that leprechauns exist." How does he know this stuff?
"Man, you are dense," Neil said. "Haven't you figured it out yet? Everything is real. We have griffins living in caves off the river. Gremlins pop in and steal metal. Mermaids swim in the ocean and even in some lakes. Werewolves, vampires, sphinx, you name it and it's out there somewhere. How do you not know this already? Hell there's even a drag—"
"Neil, stop being such a little shit. We get it." Anger filled Taylor's words, but fear and anxiety rushed through the room.
"Whatever, man." Neil pushed his chair away from the table and stalked out of the room.
We ignored him, except Taylor, who watched him go.
"Okay," I said, "Jin may have a leprechaun soul on him. The other souls didn't last long, but it sounds like Jin's been this way for a few months."
"He could have the whole leprechaun somewhere," Logan said.
"How would he have caught one?" Taylor asked.
"They're almost impossible to catch," Logan said. "They're faster than gnomes, can't be trapped, and they have luck on their side. You physically have to pick one up to catch them, and with their history, they don't allow that."
"What is their history? I mean the real history, not pots of gold at the end of the rainbow?" I asked.
"The real and the myth collide too much to know for certain," Logan said. "One of the oldest legends talks about three leprechauns dragging a man into the water. The man caught one, and supposedly, the leprechaun bargained for its freedom by agreeing to grant the man three wishes. The man became a king. Some say he got his wishes and let the leprechaun go, others say he kept it in a cage, hanging in a dungeon after it stopped granting wishes. Knowing human nature, my guess is it died in its cage."
I cringed. "That's awful."
"It's not only humans that would have locked one up. There's a lot of people, elves included, that always grasp for more. Anyway, word got ‘round, and people were trying to hunt leprechauns. Stories of gold only made the attempts more frequent."
I wrapped my arms around my stomach, feeling ill at the thought of small people being hunted like animals.
Logan started to sound far away and he looked lost in thought. "The thing was, only the one was ever caught. For a while, it's said that the leprechauns taunted their hunters and played cruel jokes on them. And who could fault them for that? Then they disappeared. Occasionally, there are rumors of kids spotting one, and they've popped up in records a time or two in the past few hundred years, but nothing concrete. I've never heard stories of one on this side of the world."
"Maybe this is where they disappeared to," I suggested.
"Does their luck ever run out?" Rider asked.
Logan crossed his arms. "If Jin has one, the leprechauns’ luck ran out. At least for the one he has."
"It could fit," I said.
"From Neil's reaction, I guess it fits better than other options," Taylor said.
"If only one man, hundreds or even thousands of years ago ever caught one, why would it be possible now?" I asked.
"You broke through the Path that moved others away." Rider looked away from me. "So did Vincent."
"Should we try to go talk to the leprechauns?" I asked. "If they're around, they could have seen who did this."
Taylor and Logan looked at each other for a few beats.
Logan's face matched the seriousness in his voice. "If there are leprechauns, we need to keep them out of it. Keep the government out of their business. The last thing we need is a bunch of politicians trying to gain luck."
That was the first time Logan had hinted about the government trying to use the Lost. If he were worried, though, why would he work for AIR? I put it out of my mind. Better to concentrate on the trouble we already had.
"Okay," I said, "we can't be sure of leprechauns. They stay out of the reports and we leave them alone."
Logan appeared to relax, which made me think I should be more cautious about what I put in any of my reports.
"If Jin's Path is always like this," I said, moving us back on track, "he has to have a steady supply of whatever is causing it, or he has power himself. People around him have to know more."
Logan frowned and leaned back. "Someone does know." He looked at me, worry in his eyes. "But you'd better call Margaret to see if she has any warnings before you talk to him again."
Chapter 23
Despite Logan's concerns, I didn't think Vincent would be any trouble. Jin, however, gave me the creeps, so I wanted to stay far away from him.
Gran was worried when I called her, but she was at a loss to know why. The only thing she could tell me was, “Don't go see the artwork.” Hearing the misgivings in her voice, I took the advice to heart and promised not to look at any paintings or drawings.
After talking with Gran, I knew I needed to talk with Ethan. Calling him was more difficult than I expected. Thinking of Ethan made me feel guilty, which was ridiculous. Worse yet, thinking about Vincent being back made me feel guilty. There was no reason for either, so I buried the emotions in my mind and ignored them.
Once I heard Ethan's voice, it became easier to keep that guilt hidden away. His relief from hearing from me was noticeable, and once I'd spoken to him, I knew I needed to see him.
However, there was too much to do. Buoyed by speaking with him, I went back to work and attacked our case head on. I wanted to get this wrapped up, even though we didn't, or at least I didn't, have a suspect in terms of who was killing the Lost.
Jin knew, though.
For someone that didn't want to know anything about his dealers, Neil knew loads about Jin, and once persuaded, he tracked down more.
After finding Jin, it only took patience to find Vincent. Patience was a virtue that I didn't have, so Rider and Sable worked together to trail our ex-partner for a few days.
Meeting Vincent had to be done in public, and we had no idea who else around could be involved in the case. This meant I would be going in blind, and I needed someone other than Neil with me. We debated using Rider, but in the end, a Native American man almost six and a half feet tall would draw attention. That would have been okay, but he also hadn't been in this world long and missed subtleties, and some social interactions stumped him.
Thanks to me, Rider was getting used to sarcasm, but beyond that, he took a lot of things at face value.
Logan was out, along with MyTH, and we discussed other AIR agents, but in the end, it was too risky. The agent would be human, almost all of them were, and they would find out more than any of us wanted them to in the official file.
In the end, we settled on Jonathan. Logan had been teaching him to fight. As an elf, he was strong and fast, he was working on his degree in criminal justice, and he could be trusted.
Logan also mentioned that his son needed some breathing space from his fiancée, Paula. Apparently, their relationship was in a downward spiral, which I hated to hear.
I had hoped that we could go pick Jonathan up so I could catch up with Ethan for a few minutes. For some reason, I really wanted to see him again before I went any further into the case. Instead, Jonathan was driving my car over. It made sense, we needed another vehicle, and getting Jonathan here faster was better.
To make up for not getting to see him, I called Ethan again and later that night, we even chatted by video.
Early the next morning, Rider joined us, while Sable let us know when we could 'accidentally' bump into Vincent.
The moment I stepped into the restaurant and saw him, pixies fluttered around my stomach.
I closed my eyes and opened myself to the Path, then stemmed the roaring tide into a small stream of rippling emotions. Besides Jonathan, no one's Path looked too agitated or eager, although, I avoided reading Vincent altogether. No one looked intensely focused on anything. I hoped that meant that no one was listening, but I knew it would be silly to assume. Once satisfied, I dropped the Path, allowing the otherworldly overlay to disappear.
Trying to convince my stomach to stop wobbling wasn't working, so I plunged in. "It's nice to bump into you like this, William."
Vincent grimaced and muttered, "I should have known." He looked torn between leaving and telling me to leave.
I slid into the booth beside him, not giving him the chance to get up, while Jonathan sat at a table nearby.
Vincent didn't bother with preliminaries. "If I asked you to stay away?"
A small part of me had wanted him to ask for help, or at least confide in me now that we were away from Jin's people. The hurt I felt must have shown on my face.
"Not like that." Vincent put his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands, looking more frustrated than I'd ever seen him. "Not like that." He sighed heavily. "You're working what I'm working." He straightened and sat back, looking composed. "It wouldn't matter if I asked you to stay away. I know you too well for that."
"You're right, it wouldn't help at all." Taking a hard look at Vincent's face, the new scar stood out. I lifted my hand to trace the mark and stopped. It wasn't my business.
"I don't know what you're working. You haven't told anyone. As far as AIR is concerned, you disappeared in the line of duty." I kept my voice low. Jonathan would be able to hear everything, but others in the diner would need to strain to overhear.
"If you're here, and showing up where you're showing up, you've found the jewelry," Vincent said.
Bells on the diner door jingled. My nerves rattled, as I looked up and I opened the Path to see the newcomer. The couple that entered looked like they were Gran's age and they didn't show signs of hostility in any way. After another scan of the room, I dropped the Path.
"It looks like you've gained more control," Vincent said. "I'm still trying to work out how to fix what I've done."
"Is that why you're with Jin?" I asked. "Are you practicing your new found skill on the Lost?"
Vincent's expressionless face didn't change, but it paled. "Do you really think it's me?"
"No," I admitted, "but it's not only my opinion th
at counts."
"Rider?"
"No, Rider's taking my side."
"Logan?" Vincent tensed, and I could see the trace of hurt in his eyes.
"You haven't left him much choice."
He swallowed. "I didn't expect Logan to think I would purposely hurt the innocent. We had been getting along before I left."
Sorting through the tangle of emotions that Vincent brought up was starting to override everything else. The case, I thought firmly, focus on the case.
"We need information," I said. "We need to know if Jin is dealing this stuff, and who's supplying him."
"Jin will kill anyone who gets too close, and it won't be quick. You have to stay away."
"I have to?" I should earn some type of medal for not raising my voice.
"I shouldn't have said that. I should know better." There was a trace of tension in his eyes. "Okay, I know you're not going to leave town, and it's too dangerous for any of you if you don't know what's going on. All of it." Vincent glanced at his watch. "But Will needs to be somewhere soon, so there's not enough time now."
"Look, we need to move on this," I said.
"We can meet later today. Four-thirty in Hampshire Park; there's a lake. Meet me on the northeast side of the boathouse, near the lake. I'll be at the second bench you see."
I wanted to argue but settled for a disgruntled sigh. "I'll be there."
There was so much I wanted to say and to ask, but neither of us spoke. The silence was awkward, which we rarely had to deal with in the past. I moved to slide out of the booth.
"Wait." Vincent reached for me, but hesitated and let his arm drop to his side.
I really wanted him to take my hand.
Okay, I should feel guilty about that. Embarrassed by the thought, I could feel my face turn red. Think of the case and only the case.
We were both at a loss as to how to proceed, and the silence continued.
"Stay safe," I said. "We'll have all the time in the world to talk after this is over."
"Sure. Stay safe," he repeated the sentiment but sounded distant.
Jonathan joined me, and we left the diner. The truck was a few blocks away, so I had a few minutes to pull myself together, and after seeing Vincent again, a few minutes may not be enough time.
Broken Paths (AIR Book 2) Page 19