She might have been able to find the perfect book to give us answers, too. But since she was long gone, maybe Mom could find something I’d missed.
“Good idea.” Mom stretched her arms and arched her back. “Beats the hell out of watching local television all night.”
For a moment, I thought she was going to head out right then, but she rearranged herself and settled deeper into her chair. Even though the path from my house to her cottage was protected by an enormous fairy ring, I wasn’t about to let Mom walk off into the woods on her own and stay by herself at the cottage. Especially with Shadow Man lurking around. Besides, Darius would flay me alive if he came back and I’d let her leave.
Plus, it would have been a blatant violation of one of the three rules we’d agreed to follow.
So. We’d split into three groups to gather information. Riley and I came back with a whole lot of unsubstantiated suspicions, and everyone at home found a big old pile of nothing. I hoped Kam and Darius were more successful in their search of the crime scene.
* * *
By the time Kam and Darius blew into the house, it was after two in the morning. We were all trying to stay awake by watching an infomercial about a fancy, proprietary hair-removal system that utilized a person’s body heat to cause a chemical reaction at the root, expelling the hair permanently.
Fun times at my house.
While Darius was in mothman mode, he didn’t have much of a face to speak of, but his eyes glowed red. When Kam was angry, her eyes filled with flames. Seeing them stride into my house, both with bright crimson eyes, I could almost believe that mothmen and djinn had some sort of common ancestor.
Even with my protective walls up—as they usually were at home—I felt my friends’ frustrated anger rolling off them like a bonfire.
I eased from my comfortable position curled against Riley and rose from the couch. “What happened?”
Kam took a deep breath, held it, then blew it out. “Bullshit happened.”
Darius nodded in agreement. “Bullshit.” He shifted his left shoulder, and the dusty wing on that side settled into place.
Mom made her way over to him and placed her hand in his. “Tell us what happened, sweetheart.”
At her touch, the glow in his eyes grew less sharp and piercing. “There isn’t much to tell.”
Kam flopped into the vacated chair. “We spent hours searching every inch of the beach and surrounding hills.”
Sara brushed her silver hair from her face. “I’m guessing you didn’t find anything.”
“Not a thing,” Kam said.
I frowned. “That doesn’t explain why you’re both so angry. Something happened.”
Kam kicked her shoes off and curled her legs under herself. “Not upset. Frustrated. Irritated. Out of nowhere, a bunch of cops show up, flashlights bobbing up and down the beach, yelling back and forth.”
Fear made a knot in my stomach. “They were after you?”
“They were after somebody else, but they damn near got me instead. If Darius hadn’t flown down and grabbed me, I’d have been right in their path.”
Maurice stepped out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel. “So, who were they after in the middle of the night?”
“Not far from where Kam had been standing, they found a guy sleeping in the brush.”
“Human?” I held my breath, worried that a Hidden had been captured by humans. Or that the police had caught Shadow Man and were probably in danger.
“Yes,” Darius said. “Human. They’ve arrested him for the kidnapping of the six kids. We listened for a while and found out the man was recently released from prison, but they didn’t say what for. Even without proof of the kidnapping, sleeping on the beach is a violation of his parole, so they had reason enough to take him in.”
We were all silent while we thought about it. I knew Shadow Man was behind the kidnapping, as well as the setup of the homeless guy. “It couldn’t have been my imagination,” I said. “You guys saw him on the news, too, right?”
“Of course. We all saw it.” Sara opened the laptop and did a search for the photo we’d seen on television. She enlarged it to fit the screen and gasped.
“What?” I hurried over to look and gasped, too.
He was gone. There was no trace of Shadow Man on the cliff. It was as if he’d never been there at all.
* * *
The news broke early the next morning.
Oliver Hayes—previously incarcerated for smuggling exotic pets into the country—was in custody for the kidnapping of the six school children found in an eight-foot-deep hole two days earlier at Stinson Beach. Police detectives had followed an anonymous tip and found the man less than a quarter of a mile from the site of the kidnapping. The investigation was still underway, but Hayes had several items hidden in his pockets that likely belonged to the missing children. Including a handful of gingerbread crumbs.
I felt ill. “Why the hell would an exotic pet smuggler kidnap a bunch of kids? In what world do they think that makes sense?”
I knew it wasn’t true, but what proof did I have? I’d seen Shadow Man twice—once with my own eyes, and once in a photo that no longer showed his image. Which was ridiculous. How could he have disappeared from a photo?
He couldn’t. Unless he hadn’t been there in the first place. And how sure was I that I’d seen him standing at the end of my driveway, looking straight at me? He was gone by the time I turned my head toward him.
So, what if he hadn’t really been there? What if the thing I’d seen outside was a trick of the light brought on by my longing to have my friends come home? And as for the picture from the news, obviously, there was nothing there but shadows now. What if everyone else had seen it simply because I’d put it into their heads?
What if Shadow Man wasn’t real?
And what about the gingerbread smell? Hayes would have needed more than a handful of gingerbread to make the kids smell like they’d been smothered in it. Why would anyone do that? Then again, why would Shadow Man smell like gingerbread?
As the days moved on, more evidence piled up against Hayes. In the end, four of the six children identified him—even though at the time of the rescue they’d said they couldn’t remember anything about him. I wondered about those two kids who didn’t identify Hayes, but it wasn’t as if a strange woman off the street could waltz up to the families and ask to question the children.
Still, everyone involved was more than happy with the outcome, and Hayes was sent off to prison to await his trial. Neat and tidy. A little too neat and tidy, as far as I was concerned.
But I had no proof.
A week went by, and nothing more happened. Another week, and Kam, Maurice and Sara started to get antsy. I’d called them home for an emergency, and nothing was going on.
“Look,” Sara said, leaning against the railing on the front porch. “It’s not that we don’t believe you. If you saw him, you saw him. Hell, we all saw him in that picture. Or we thought we did, anyway.”
I cringed at the implication that we’d all imagined the image in the photo. “But you’re bored and you want to travel some more. I understand.”
She scooted onto the railing and let her bare feet swing free, the golden skin on her legs sparkling in the sunlight. “It’s not that. I’ll stay as long as you need me. I just think it’s been a few weeks and nothing more has happened. Time to get on with things.”
I looked up from my intense scrutiny of the dirt under my fingernails, one eyebrow raised in suspicion. “What things, exactly?”
She grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.” She hopped down and paced across the porch, ticking items off on her fingers. “Since we haven’t been working, I’m running low on funds. I need you to put my house on the market for me. Sell my car.”
She did
have a point. I’d been living in limbo for months, waiting for something to happen while my savings account bled to death. I’d been avoiding thinking too hard about it because somehow I’d figured everything would go back to normal soon.
Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how much I’d been in denial that Sara’s demon form was permanent. My throat tightened, and my voice came out a little higher than usual. “You can’t do that. Hell, I can’t do that. You’d have to sign all the paperwork. I can’t do it for you. That’s illegal.”
Sara’s expression softened. “Honey, this is going to happen. It has to. You’ll be my representative, and for any paperwork that needs to be signed, we know an elf who’s a notary, so everything will be legal.” She took my hand, her face serious. “I have to let my old life go. I’m constantly getting phone calls from friends who want to get together for lunch. My mother wants to come to town for a visit. My neighbors call to ask if I’m coming to the neighborhood watch meeting next week. I can’t keep putting them all off. I have to put it all behind me. I need a fresh start.”
I clutched her hand as if it was a string and she was a balloon that might float away. “What will you tell your mother? You’re not going to fake your own death?” The thought made me frantic. I’d still see her, of course. She wouldn’t be dead to me, but the idea that the rest of the world would think she was dead...I couldn’t bear that.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Zo. I’m going to tell everyone the truth—I met a guy and we’re traveling the world.” She shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe something will change in the meantime and I’ll be able to get my life back. But I’m not sitting around feeling sorry for myself while I wait.”
I still didn’t like it, but I could accept it. It was far better than having to stage a memorial service for my missing best friend. “Fine. I get it. What else is on your list?”
“We have to decide how to shut down the business permanently, since neither of us are doing much with it lately.” She stopped. “Oh. But first, we have one last wedding to do.”
“No, we don’t.” I gave her a look I hoped conveyed how crazy I thought she was. “We cleared the calendar. The elf/attic monster wedding was the last one.”
She resumed her pacing and waved a dismissive hand in my general direction. “I answered the call last week and decided to take the booking. It’s long distance, so the bride is letting us do the planning. We won’t see her until she flies in for the wedding.”
“What?” I stared at her with my jaw hanging loose.
“Don’t look at me like that.” She gave me a self-satisfied smile. “It’ll be easy. And fun! For the first time, we can choose what we think is best and not have the bride second guessing us the whole time.”
I swallowed hard, trying not to be angry. “Let me see if I understand this. You booked us a wedding with an absent bride who wants us to...what? Just make it look nice? And you agreed to this, even though you can’t actually meet with any of the vendors yourself? And then you nearly forgot to tell me?”
She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Zo. It’ll be easy. I’m still running point on it. I’ll spread out the appointments so it’s not too much of a burden on you.” She paused. “It’s not like you’ve got anything else going on.”
She had me there. “Fine. So, who’s this bride, and what’s her deal?”
Sara’s eyes sparkled as she whipped out her smartphone. “Her name is Fiona, and she’s a journalist. Her mother is pressuring her to have a traditional wedding, but Fiona isn’t really into that sort of thing. That’s why she’s leaving it up to us.”
“Why doesn’t her mother do it, then?”
Sara shrugged. “Mom lives out of town, too. Destination wedding.”
“The groom?” I was beginning to wonder if anyone had any interest in this wedding besides Sara.
“He lives on a ranch in Texas.”
“So...what? He’s too busy with the cattle drive to be involved?”
“Something like that.” Sara’s smile was sweet and charming.
It occurred to me she was handling me the way she handled clients. I sighed and tried to be less trouble. “Okay. So, lay it on me. How much time do we have, and what do I need to take care of?”
Sara swiped her finger across the screen, her expression intense. “Don’t panic, but we’ve got less than three months.” I started to protest, and she held her hand up to stop me. “Seriously, Zoey. This is an easy one. I promise.” She swiped a few more times, then tapped the screen twice. “There. Your schedule is printing out.”
She ran inside and reappeared a minute later, waving a piece of paper.
I peered at it, my heart sinking. “Oh, come on. You said there wasn’t much to do.”
“Suck it up. It’s our last gig.” She made an uncharacteristic pouty face. “Can’t we enjoy planning one last wedding together before we break up the band for good?”
“Harsh.” I stared at the paper. My first appointment was for the next day, so at least I was getting right to it. “Moira’s?”
“See? Not like it’s a hardship.”
I smiled. “Okay, fine. I’ll go hang out with Moira for a little while tomorrow and taste cakes. But I’m getting red velvet. If I’m doing this and the bride doesn’t care, I’m getting stuff I want.”
“Fine by me.” Sara stuffed her phone in her bra. I was relieved she was wearing one. Casual, barefoot Sara was a little weird for me to get used to. As it was, she was dressed in shorts and a tank top, despite the outside temperature of fifty-four degrees.
I glanced at the list again. “Wait, I have to pick out her bridesmaid dresses and the tuxedos?”
Sara chuckled. “I knew that one would get you. We will pick out the dresses together. You will go and get them.”
“How can we choose the right dresses if the women aren’t here to try them on? I might pick something totally inappropriate for their shapes.”
“Relax. I’ve got their measurements. Whatever we choose will be good enough for someone who isn’t looking for perfection.”
A spike of sadness speared my heart. I’d been in the wedding planning business with Sara for years. I agreed we couldn’t do it anymore. Balancing the Aegis gig with work had been difficult, but now that Sara couldn’t meet with clients and vendors in person anymore, we didn’t have enough of either of us left to make it work. But this ridiculous wedding for a bride who didn’t care would be our final job, and it felt wrong.
It should have been something better. Something that showcased how awesome we were as a team and how much we loved what we did.
Screw it. So what if the bride didn’t give a damn? I did. And I was going to make Fiona’s wedding the shiniest, most beautiful wedding ever, whether she liked it or not.
Chapter Five
Moira’s bakery smelled like an enchanted land of oatmeal cookie bushes and chocolate milk ponds, with cotton candy animals frolicking across fondant fields, sprinkled by the magic wands of powdered-sugar fairies.
Okay. It smelled like a bakery.
Riley had let me out at the door, then parked across the street to wait for me. The bakery should be as safe as my own home—and if something happened, I’d been there enough times to know where all the exits were. I wasn’t exactly breaking my own rule about going out alone. It was more like I was bending it a little.
When Riley sat beside me for a cake consultation, I wanted it to be for our own wedding.
Moira Eccles was a tiny woman with the speed and metabolism of a hummingbird. Her shop, Splendid Creations, had always been my first choice when helping brides choose a bakery, so I was pleased that Sara had booked me an appointment to see her about Fiona’s cake. If it were to be my last cake appointment, let it be with the best.
Plus, I hadn’t seen Moira in ages. I’d been too busy saving people and preventing the apocal
ypse. It would be nice to sit down with her, taste her delicious wares and catch up a little.
Moira saw me coming up the sidewalk and threw the door open before I could touch it. “Zoey!” Her round face beamed at me, and she gave me a quick hug. “You look wonderful!”
I allowed myself to be ushered through the front and into a small meeting room toward the back of the shop, where a bottle of champagne and two glasses sat waiting.
I gave her a puzzled look. “What’s all this? It’s just me today. The client isn’t coming.”
She smiled and poured a glass of bubbly liquid, handed it to me and poured a second one. “It’s been months since I last saw you. We have things to celebrate while we work.” Her eyes sparkled and she eyed the ring that hadn’t been on my finger the last time I saw her. “Well? Let me have a look.”
Grinning, I held my left hand out so she could examine the ring Riley had given me. A simple, princess cut, one-carat diamond nestled between two tiny, dark stones. Officially, we told people the stones were black sapphires, but the truth was, Riley had talked his way into acquiring a couple of chips from the soul-stone cutter. Reapers, like Riley, and soul chasers, like Darius and Kam, used the powerful stones to collect souls that needed to be transported to the release stations. My two chips weren’t big enough to house a soul, but they did offer a little protection from errant spirits and demon possession—or so I was told. They were awfully small chips.
Besides. I knew a few demons. I wasn’t convinced possession was actually a thing.
Moira oohed and aahed over my ring, turning my hand this way and that to catch the light. “Gorgeous! So? How did he do it?”
I smiled. Riley had left me a note to meet him at Molly’s mushroom house. I’d found him hovering above the tiny dwelling, grinning from ear to ear, riding a sphinx and holding his hand out to me like Aladdin on his magic carpet. But I couldn’t share that story with her. No one outside our Hidden family could know how he’d really done it.
“It was really sweet. He took me out to dinner and waited until dessert.” I laughed. “A guy with a violin showed up at our table, and I didn’t hear what Riley said the first time because the violin was so loud. I had to ask him to repeat himself.”
Phoenix in My Fortune (A Monster Haven Story Book 6) Page 5