Also, he was still unconscious, so maybe he’d never know.
Olive shook her head. “We’ll figure something out, because we can’t let you live, sorry. Our future depends on no witnesses.” She pointed at Luna. “You take that side.”
Luna nodded.
Then they both moved toward me. The ceiling was too low to jump and I wasn’t sure I could climb over Sanders. Those stupid daytime pajamas were slippery satin and he was the size of a mountain. It would be like climbing an enormous, greased bean bag.
A door opened upstairs and a split-second later, Greyson appeared. His vampire speed had allowed him to descend the stairs without being seen or making a sound. “Cooper’s on his way,” he yelled as he grabbed Olive.
That distraction was all I needed. I lunged for Luna and snagged the scythe off her belt.
Everything changed the moment my fingers wrapped around the hilt of the scythe. It was like an x-ray filter dropped over my eyes and I could see people’s souls. I mean, I could still see who they were. Olive looked like Olive and Sanders looked like Sanders, but they were also more than that. They’d become creatures of light and dark.
And in Greyson’s case, a creature of gray nothingness.
Where everyone else wore an aura of light around them that faded to black at the edges, Greyson looked…smudged. Where the aura should have been was a wavering grayness. Some kind of supernatural fog. I supposed it was because he was technically dead already.
Sanders glow had a thin edge of black, but Olive’s was almost entirely dark. I knew instinctively that this wasn’t just an aura, it was a measure of their lives. Olive wasn’t a good person.
I looked at Luna, expecting not to see anything around her either since Greyson had told me at the party that she didn’t register, but I could see her aura plain as day. Her line of black was substantially thicker than Sanders but nowhere near Olive’s. She was staring at me with a lost expression. She held her hands up. “Please don’t kill me. And please don’t hurt Tempus.”
I lifted the scythe. “Stay back and I won’t.”
Olive was still struggling against Greyson, throwing elbows and trying to stomp on his feet.
I pointed a hand at her and froze her feet to the ground, then I froze her arms to her body. It was tricky to manage that without sealing her and Greyson together, but I did it. I had to. I couldn’t have her dropping Luna’s nightmare glass.
Olive yowled in frustration as she tried to move. “How dare you? I’m the Sandman now. You can’t do that to—”
I gagged her with a snowball. “Olive, it’s over.”
Cooper came charging down the steps. “The sheriff and deputies are right behind me.” He made a face at Olive, then looked at me. “Why is she frozen up?”
He was all bright light. But then I wouldn’t have expected anything less. I turned toward Luna. “Would you like to explain?”
She nodded, the most subdued I’d seen her. “It started innocently enough. I was going to kidnap Tempus—”
Cooper snorted. “You have a warped definition of innocent.”
She shook her head. “That’s not really how I meant it. If things went well between us here, I was going to surprise him with a trip. Just the two of us. Like old times.” She stared at her hands. “I’ve missed him so much.”
She cleared her throat and looked up again. “Olive was helping me. Or at least, I thought she was. Last night, right before I was supposed to meet Tempus for dinner, she called and said Tempus wanted me to meet him at the library. That he had a surprise for me. I couldn’t imagine what, but I went.”
Noises came out of Olive, muted by the snowball she was munching on. I shot her a look. “You’ll get your chance to speak, but this isn’t it.” That would come later. When she was at the police station.
“When I arrived at the library, Tempus and Olive were waiting for me in the parking lot. I realized too late that Tempus was sleepwalking and Olive was controlling him with his own hourglass. She’d stolen it from him. Before I could do anything, she used it to knock me out as well.”
Her gaze shifted to Olive, darkening as she glowered at the other woman. “I woke up here. Upstairs.” A muscle in her jaw twitched. “She had me locked in one of the display caskets. I made so much noise she had to let me out.”
The snowball had melted enough that Olive spit it out. “She tried to kill me.”
Luna’s glare intensified. “I tried to take our hourglasses back.”
“And then you would have killed me.”
“You know that’s not possible.” Luna looked at me again. “I told her I’d do whatever she wanted if she’d prove to me that Tempus wasn’t harmed. That’s when she brought me down here.”
“There was never going to be any trip,” Olive said. “That was all a big story to get you on her side. She wanted Tempus to pay for rejecting her.”
“Liar,” Luna spat.
Olive’s brows rose, her expression haughty. “Why would I care what you did to him? I’ve had enough of him bossing me around and taking me for granted. Do you know how much work I do for him? Everything. Every. Thing.”
I let her talk, mostly because she was digging her own hole and I hadn’t even needed to give her a shovel.
“He couldn’t decide what to wear without me.” She pulled at the ice on her arms, but it wasn’t going anywhere. “All those years of being his assistant taught me one very important lesson: If I was going to do all the work, I should be the one getting all the glory.”
I nodded. “So you decided you’d take over as Sandman.”
“Exactly.”
Cooper leaned on the counter. “How about that. I never figured the meek little assistant for the criminal mastermind.”
“Me, either,” Greyson said. “But the quiet ones always surprise you.”
Cooper smiled. “Guess we don’t have to worry about Jayne then.”
Sirens echoed down from the outside.
“All right, party’s over.” And I was done using this scythe to keep Luna at bay. It was disconcerting seeing into people’s souls like this. “Coop, you’d better do your paramedic thing with Sanders. See if you can bring him around.”
“Just put his hourglass in his hand,” Luna said quietly. “Once it’s in his control again, it can’t be used against him. And the townspeople will be able to sleep.”
“Are you saying Olive is the one who created all that havoc?”
“I am. She told me upstairs everything she’d done.” She slanted her eyes at Olive. “Sleep is a precious thing. Not a weapon.”
I started to put the scythe down, then hesitated. “Tell me the truth. Are you the one who gave Cooper and me nightmares?”
She shook her head. “That was Olive again.”
“How?”
“Sands from Tempus’ hourglass can be turned into nightmares with improper handling. It’s another reason the hourglass must be protected and kept out of the wrong hands.”
I looked at Olive. “Is that true?”
Her lip curled back. “And what if it is? I can’t help it that your boyfriend caught one.”
“I suppose you planted the evidence at the apartment too, trying to make it look like Luna had been there.”
A wicked smile bent her mouth. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The blackness in her aura expanded a little more. That was really all I needed to know. “Cooper, if you would.”
“Sure.” He untied the hourglass from Olive’s waist and brought it to the table, nestling it in Sanders’ big hand.
Sanders took a deep, shuddering breath and opened his eyes. “That was some nap.” He sat up. “What’s going on here?”
Sheriff Merrow came down the steps with Chief Merrow behind him. I’d never been happier to see werewolves in my life.
I clapped Sanders on the shoulder. “It’s quite a story.”
It was good to be friendly with the people in charge. It meant that after giving my statement,
I got to go home. It probably helped, too, that I told them my father was waiting to hear what had happened so he knew whether or not to come down here. No one really wanted an angry Jack Frost to show up in Nocturne Falls.
Big freezes had a way of ruining the tourist industry.
I strolled through my apartment door and took a deep breath. I was happy. About a lot of things.
Spider came running out from the bedroom, meowing at me. I grabbed him up and hugged him. “How are ya, babycat?”
He butted his head against my chin. “Mama home. Spider happy.”
“Me, too.” I kissed his neck. “For all kinds of reasons. I get to sleep tonight, for one.” And Sanders was safe. That was the big one. “Are you hungry?”
He straightened in my arms, pushing back with his front legs so he could look me in the eyes. “Treats? Spider loves treats.”
“Shocking.” I kissed his nose. “Yes, treats. Come on.” I put him down and he pranced along beside me as I walked into the kitchen and pried off the top of the treat container. I sprinkled a handful on the floor.
While he hoovered those down, I went into the living room and flopped on the couch. I could have gone to sleep right then, but my day was far from over.
Instead, I picked up the globe and gave it a shake.
My dad appeared almost instantly, so it was safe to assume he’d been standing by. “So? What’s the word?”
“The word is Sanders is fine. He never left town, actually. And never really knew what was going on.” I told my dad the whole tale, answering his questions and assuring him all was now well.
He was visibly relieved. “That had a better outcome than I expected, but I must say, the whole thing with Olive surprises me.”
“Me, too. I was going to tell you that if she ever left Sanders, I wanted to hire her here. Can you imagine what a nightmare that would have been? No pun intended.”
He shook his head. “She hid being an elemental well.”
I shrugged. “It’s not hard to do. Hey, did you know that reapers can’t take the souls of elementals?”
“Can’t say that I did. Your uncle might, though. I’ll have to ask him.”
“Speaking of Uncle Kris, I guess you guys aren’t coming now that everything’s right side up again?”
“No, we won’t be making the trip. With Christmas just around the corner, we have more than enough to do.”
“I can imagine.” Christmas was in production all year long in the North Pole, but it got cranked up to eleven in November.
“Your mom and I will definitely come for a visit in the New Year, though.”
I smiled. “I’ll have the apartment ready for you.”
“We miss you, Jay. But we’re also very proud of the job you’re doing. I know you doubt yourself, but you shouldn’t. Look how you took care of this problem. You’re more capable than you think, sweetheart.”
“Thanks.” His words were making me blush a little, but they were so good to hear. “I just want to make you guys proud.”
“We know. And you do. Love you, honey.”
“Love you. And Mom. Tell her I said so and that I’ll call her tomorrow.”
“Will do. Now get some sleep.”
I laughed. “I will. Bye.”
“Bye.” He hung up and the snow settled.
I put the globe back on the table. As much as I wanted to crash, I really couldn’t. My team was just as tired as I was and we had a store to run. I needed to go back downstairs and see what I could do to help us all get through the rest of the day.
That meant putting my work clothes back on. I groaned.
Spider trotted toward me, jumped up on the coffee table, and started to clean his face.
I watched him for a moment. “You have the life, you know that?”
“Spider has good mama.”
I smiled at him and shook my head. “Sweet talker.”
I got up and went to the bedroom to change. I couldn’t bring myself to get back into the outfit I’d had on before, so I went with jeans, boots and a sweater. Cute and casual, but still dressed up enough for retail. And once I put a store apron on over it, I’d be as dressed up as anyone else.
The store was busier than it had been earlier so I’d arrived at the right time. Turned out just to be a short rush. Once that was over, we had enough of a break that I could fill Kip and Juniper in on the whole ordeal.
Eyes round, Juniper shook her head. “Olive Pine. Who would have guessed?”
“I know, right?”
Kip yawned. “Crazy.”
Poor guy still looked on the verge of collapse. “Kip, why don’t you knock off and go get some sleep? I can handle the rest of your shift.”
He blinked hard. “Oh no, I’m fine.”
Juniper laughed. “No, you’re not. Go home.”
He looked a little embarrassed, but grateful. “You’re sure?”
“Yep. Go.”
“Thank you.” He whipped off his apron, folded it up, and disappeared.
Juniper planted her hands on the counter and leaned on them. “That was nice of you.”
“I was afraid he’d stroke out if he didn’t get some sleep soon.”
She laughed. “That would be worse.” Then her smile turned wistful. “This is nice, you and me here. Like when you first arrived.”
I nodded. “We should have some chocolate to celebrate.”
Half an hour later, with a serious dent in the candy stash under the counter, we were doing all right. Tired, but a little boosted by the sugar and the fun of working together again. The bells over the door rang and Cooper and Greyson walked in.
It was weird but nice to see them together. I was glad they could share the same air space without hurling insults or having some kind of testosterone battle. Or maybe they’d already gotten that out of the way.
I smiled at them. “What’s up? Come to give me an update?”
Cooper nodded as he and Greyson stopped in front of the counter. “Something like that.”
I came out from behind the counter. “All right, lay it on me.”
He did. “Olive’s being held in the cell reserved for supernaturals.”
“The one in the Basement?” That was an employees-only secret area below the town that held storage rooms, passageways, all kinds of stuff. I also thought it would be a perfect place to retreat to if the zombie apocalypse ever happened.
“Yes,” Cooper said. “Which is where you come in. She’s lived as a winter elf for so long, that they feel she should be extradited to the North Pole and tried in your courts. Sheriff Merrow needs to talk to your father about all that.”
“I’ll handle it first thing tomorrow, but I’m sure he’ll send some of the royal guards for her.”
“I’ll tell the sheriff.”
“Thanks.” I glanced at Greyson. “And thank you for getting Olive under control.”
He lifted one shoulder nonchalantly. “It was a team effort.”
Cooper hooked his thumbs in his uniform belt. “Sorry I wasn’t there sooner, but getting that car out of the lake took a while.” He gave Greyson some side-eye. “I don’t have a job I can just walk away from, like some people.”
And there it was.
Greyson opened his mouth to reply, but I put my hand on his chest and laughed. “All right, let’s not start anything.”
The bells over the door jangled again, but the two men in front of me blocked my view.
I gave them both a stern look. “I have customers to take care of, so you two are going to have to—”
“Well, well. Am I interrupting a party?”
At the sound of that voice, Cooper and I stared at each other like we’d just heard a ghost. I put my hands on his and Greyson’s shoulders and pushed them apart like curtains.
I stared at the woman who’d just walked in. After the day I’d had, I wasn’t sure I could believe my eyes. Or that I wanted to. My mouth went dry, but I managed one word: “Lark?”
She laughed, th
rowing her head back in that way she’d always had. “Surprised to see me?”
I swallowed and found my voice, despite the storm of emotions rolling through me. “More than I can say.”
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About the Author
USA Today Best Selling Author Kristen Painter is a little obsessed with cats, books, chocolate, and shoes. It’s a healthy mix. She loves to entertain her readers with interesting twists and unforgettable characters. She currently writes the best-selling paranormal romance series, Nocturne Falls, and award-winning urban fantasy. The former college English teacher can often be found all over social media where she loves to interact with readers:
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Other books by Kristen Painter
COZY MYSTERY:
Jayne Frost series:
Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case: A Nocturne Falls Mystery
Miss Frost Ices The Imp: A Nocturne Falls Mystery
Miss Frost Saves The Sandman: A Nocturne Falls Mystery
PARANORMAL ROMANCE:
Nocturne Falls series:
The Vampire’s Mail Order Bride
The Werewolf Meets His Match
The Gargoyle Gets His Girl
The Professor Woos The Witch
The Witch’s Halloween Hero – short story
The Werewolf’s Christmas Wish – short story
The Vampire’s Fake Fiancée
The Vampire’s Valentine Surprise – short story
The Shifter Romances The Writer
The Vampire’s True Love Trials – short story
Sin City Collectors series:
Queen of Hearts
Dead Man’s Hand
Double or Nothing
Standalone Paranormal Romance:
Dark Kiss of the Reaper
Heart of Fire
Recipe for Magic
Miss Frost Saves The Sandman: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 3) Page 19