“And then what?” I asked. “Did you hear Guthrie direct things in anyway?”
“What?”
“I mean, how did he know to get you back to the same place and not just some random destination on the mainland, like Canada or somewhere?”
“Oh, I’m not sure.” She thinks for a minute. “I remember him saying something about that, though...” Her eyes light up. “He said that we would always backtrack to the last place. Like, if the last person to use the portal came from North Carolina - like us - then we would always return there.”
“How did he manage that?” I wondered to myself. Tawny shrugged.
“OK, that helps a lot, though. If Penley was the last person to use the portal, and if he was with Rain, it should take us right to her...right? I mean, as long as he was with her.” I tried not to think about Rain, waiting patiently somewhere on the mainland for Penley to come back, not knowing that he’d been caught.
“According to Guthrie, yes. Why? Are you thinking of...?”
“I am. You don’t have to come if you don’t want. I need to make sure she’s OK, though.”
Tawny’s gaze slid away. “Yeah, if you don’t mind, I’ll just stay here. Not that I don’t trust your ability or anything, but...”
“No - you’re right.” I put the book down and look at her. “I might screw something up in a big way. I mean, two hours ago, I didn’t know this thing even existed. Now I’m going to try to use it. Anything could happen.”
She looks relieved.
I wonder what kind of risk I’m taking. It’s possible that I’ll get hurt, or even lost somewhere. I could have a reaction to the carnation concoction. I could possibly even get trapped in some sort of limbo.
I grab my coat. “If Angelo comes looking, tell him I went out for a walk.”
“Will he believe that?” she asks.
“No,” I answer with a nervous laugh, “but it’ll buy me some time, I think.”
Chapter 16
The stuff is vile.
I wrinkle my nose at the uncorked bottle, which smells like a mixture of hot sauce and dead plants, and shake my head. It’s the kind of odor that doesn’t really go away - it just clings to the nostrils and annoys you for hours afterward. Ick. I can’t imagine what it tastes like, but I’m about to find out.
I’ve already made Tawny leave the room, and she didn’t require much convincing. She’s upstairs now, probably touching all the stuff she promised she wouldn’t, simply because her curiosity is an unstoppable force.
I keep thinking about Guthrie, dying alone under the store that was his pride and joy. If we are right and Penley did this, I hope Angelo finds a way to make him pay for it. I also hope there’s a way to fix the disaster of Tawny and Carl knowing about Jagged Grove.
Right now, though, I need to find Rain.
I step into the little alcove behind the workshop door, glancing at the spot where I found Rain’s iPod, then, before I can chicken out, I tilt my head back and pour the contents of the bottle onto my tongue.
My throat tries hard to reject the leaves, closing until I choke, but I put one hand over my mouth and force myself to hold still, even though every fiber of my being compels me to spit it all out. With tears in my eyes and my stomach rolling, I let the bottle fall to the floor.
Heat consumes me, from head to foot. It feels like my hair is on fire, and then my spine. It races down my body, lighting up every nerve ending and turning me into a boiling mess. Next I notice the tenderness and slight ache that Tawny described. I realize that I’m shivering, too.
Then the lights come on - reds at first, then green and blue, flashing behind my closed eyelids like fireworks. I can’t help but watch, and then it feels as if my body is gone from me. As if I’ve been erased. The lights bleed away to the right, and then my mind starts to swirl.
My mind is roaring, so loud that I can’t hear anything else and I can’t tell up from down. I’m being consumed from the inside out, and I can’t do anything about it. I can’t even think. My mind panics, and I feel a rush of adrenaline. It’s telling me the only message it knows - that I’m about to die.
I want to scream, but I don’t know if I actually do that or not. I want to push against the fear, or run, or cover my head, but I can’t find my arms or my feet, or even the ground.
And then it stops. Everything. It all just stops.
An eerie silence falls, but I’m afraid to open my eyes.
Slowly I come back to myself, feeling my toes first, then my feet and legs. Sensation moves through my body. I feel warmth - not heat, like before - on my skin and face, and I know from the rosy glow beyond my closed eyes that I’m standing in sunshine. The next thing I realize is that I still smell something that stinks, but this time it’s body odor.
I open my eyes.
The first thing I see is a bum. He’s close to my face - so close that I jerk back - and grinning at me like I’ve just performed the best magic trick ever. Of course, if he saw me appear out of thin air, well, I suppose I have. I step back.
“Hey, honey,” he says, drawing out the word to sound like hoooneee. He’s swaying slightly, but then he finds a lamp post and leans against it heavily. We’re on a street corner, with traffic flowing by at a steady clip.
“Where am I?” I ask no one in particular.
“Shinn city!” he crows, laughing. “How’d you do that?”
Shin city? I’ve never heard of it. I turn in a slow circle, but all I see is traffic and windows, along with some random trash blowing along here and there in the street. I’m downtown, in whatever town this is...
I stop when I catch a glimpse of something over the man’s shoulder. It’s a tall tower, gracefully curving toward the sky. I know this structure, but it takes a moment for it to click.
This is the Stratosphere Tower, in Las Vegas.
My mouth falls open. “Oh, crap,” I murmur.
The man cackles and reaches out to poke my shoulder.
I back away from him, trying for a polite smile, and start down the street. There are other people on the sidewalk, but they pay no attention to me at all, thankfully. I scan their faces, hoping that Rain is here.
Finding her might just be impossible, I think, waiting for a break in traffic and then jogging across the street. I’m hot - not the horrible heat from before, though. This heat is the heat of wearing my coat in eighty degree weather. I unzip it and shrug it off, but then realize that I still have to carry it around. Oh well. I hang it over my arm and keep going, trying not to jostle anyone else walking along.
I don’t have a clue where to look for Rain. I’ve never been to Vegas - I only recognized the famous Stratosphere Tower from pictures. She could be anywhere, and my only option is to walk the streets looking for her. That could be dangerous.
I try to rake up and long forgotten knowledge of the city, but there isn’t much. I know that Las Vegas has two sides - the bright public face that the tourist trade shows, and the darker side of substance abuse and other activities that would be illegal anywhere else in the United States. In between are the retirees and the people just working every day to make their living, usually in the casinos. I’m also pretty sure I read somewhere that the mob has a firm grip on the town, which doesn’t make me feel any better about being here.
I check faces as I walk, hoping to see her. The sun is hot on my shoulders, which is nice compared to the deep freeze that is Jagged Grove right now, but I don’t get distracted by it.
Maybe I should have asked that man if he’d seen anyone else appear out of thin air lately. He’d seemed drunk, though, so I doubt he would remember it even if he had. Well, it’s too late now. I just need to keep looking.
If nothing else, her long black hair will stand out in a crowd, but that’s probably not enough. Lots of people have long black hair. Instead I concentrate on faces.
I sidestep a group of teens on the corner, but then stop. None of them are Rain, I can tell that at a glance, but maybe...
&n
bsp; I walk over to the closest one, a girl about Rain’s height but with a long blonde ponytail. “Excuse me,” I say. She sighs like she’s used to being interrupted by tourists, but gives me her full attention. “I’m looking for a teen girl, about your height, with long black hair. She’s got sort of a Goth vibe going on.”
“Tourist or local?” she asks. Her voice is high and sharp. One of the other teens giggles.
“Uh, tourist,” I answer.
“Right. OK, did you check Carbioni’s? It’s a pizza place on Fifth.”
I shake my head.
She thinks. “OK, did you say Goth? Because then she might be at Devil Danny’s.”
“Devil Danny’s?”
She sighs again. “It’s a witchcraft place, two blocks down.” She points in what I assume is the right direction.
Bingo. I bet she’s there, but even if she isn’t, it’s a place to start. With limited tourist time, I doubt she would spend it eating pizza - she can do that at home.
I thank the girl and turn in the direction she pointed, keeping close to the buildings on the sidewalk.
It feels odd, being surrounded by strangers - back in Jagged Groove, everyone knows everyone else for the most part, or at least is a passing acquaintance. And I’m the healer, so I’ve met almost everyone at some point. Here, the sea of faces is a little intimidating.
At the end of the first block, a small man steps out on front of me, quick enough that I stumble to a halt. He’s wearing a blackish coat, filthy jeans, and boots without laces. Also, one red glove. “Spare some change?” he asks, holding out the hand with the glove.
I automatically reach for a pocket, then stop. I don’t have money - in Jagged Grove it’s unnecessary, and it didn’t occur to me that I might need any here. I was too worried about Rain to think about it.
I shake my head. “Sorry,” I say, stepping around him.
He makes a growling noise, low in his throat, but doesn’t try to stop me. I speed up and keep going.
I’m stopped three more times before I see the garish yellow and pink sign that says Devil Danny’s, Occult and Supernatural Supply. The store is in an older, yellow brick building that is two stories tall and barely fits in the space allotted it. The storefront windows display a lot of jumbled merchandise, most of it skull-related. A bell tinkles when I push open the door and go inside.
The first thing I notice is how dark the place is. In spite of the large front showroom windows, very little natural light penetrates the depths of the store, and the old fluorescents barely fight off the gloom.
I look around the room. No one is in sight.
A life sized skeleton hangs in the corner to my right, grinning at me like it just played a fabulous joke. I grin back at it, then turn away. The room is kind of sparse, with plenty of empty floor space in the center. Most of the contents are on shelves that line the room, instead of spread out across the floor like most stores. It helps make the space feel larger than it actually is, somehow.
Otherwise, it reminds me a lot of Guthrie’s shop back in Jagged Grove. Just as dusty, just as haphazard. A lot of the same stuff, too - candles, poppets, bags of herbs and other material. It makes me wonder...
I walk slowly toward a glass sales counter in the back, sniffing the air. I’m about halfway there when I smell it - witch. The familiar aroma of a witch floats toward me. Devil Danny is a witch.
This doesn’t surprise me - plenty of supernaturals still live on the mainland, they just blend in well and keep to themselves. Angelo only finds and relocates the supernaturals that cause trouble with their power, or otherwise can’t seem to fit in among the general population. Devil Danny seems to be doing just fine, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say every bit of the stuff in his store is fake.
I wonder if he has any serious customers.
A small sign on the end of the counter says Ring bell for service, but there is no bell to ring. Instead there is a full whoopee cushion lying there. I gingerly press down on it and cringe at the expected flatulence. Somewhere in the back of the store, a woman laughs.
“Coming,” she calls, and a moment later I see a tall, willowy brunette come through the door.
I’m ashamed that I immediately assumed Danny’s maleness.
She walks through the door, then stops. Her eyes widen just a little and she looks me up and down. “Well,” she says, cocking her head to look at me. The knowledge in her gaze is unnerving.
Then she smiles brightly and holds out one hand. The other is clutching a small towel. “Hi there. I’m Danny. How can I help you?” She talks fast, and I blink before I answer.
“I’m looking for a teenaged girl. Black hair, button nose. A few freckles. Her name is Rain...” I try to remember the name she gave Tawny, but I can’t.
Danny’s mouth presses into a thin line, and she takes a deep breath. “Is she...one of us?” she asks quietly.
I nod.
She hesitates again, then nods back. “Come with me,” she says, turning back toward the door she came from.
Could it be this easy? Maybe. I swing around the counter and follow her.
She leads the way through a short dark hallway that ends in a sunny kitchen. The first thing I notice is that the room is small but very neat. The second thing I notice is that there are two cups on the tiny white dining table.
She touches my arm, puts a finger to her lips, and then nods in the direction of another doorway on the far side of the room. A warning shines from her eyes. I nod back, bite my lip, and go that way.
Another short hall leads me past doors on either side, and into a sparse living room. It’s just as small as the kitchen, with a couple of comfy looking chub chairs and a few bookshelves lining the walls.
Brighter light shines from a far corner and I realize that the front door is open. A figure stands there, looking very much like -.
“Trinket,” Rain says.
Chapter 17
Her eyes go wide and white. She’s frozen in place, not sure what to do.
I freeze, too, my heart filling with relief and joy at seeing her. “Rain, I’m so glad I-.”
She’s gone. With a twirl of her long hair, she disappears through the doorway and out into the sunshine. I call her name, but she doesn’t stop, so I go after her.
I make it to the front stoop and see her disappear around a corner to my left. Not pausing to tell Danny what’s happening, I go after her. “Rain!” I call, but she’s completely out of sight now.
A few people are on the sidewalk, so I have to slow my steps to weave through them without knocking somebody down. When I finally get to the corner, she’s nowhere to be seen. I stop beside a bakery and turn all the way around, hoping to catch a glimpse of her.
Someone sees me looking, catches my eye, and points. With a thankful smile, I head that way.
A block or two later, I realize that I’m headed into the seedier part of town. Storefronts are starting to give way to warehouses, and there is more trash on the streets here. “Rain!” I call, but my words echo back at me between the buildings.
The wind is picking up again, blowing through the alleys to sideswipe me and wrap my hair around my eyes.
Where is Jones when I need him? He could track Rain, no problem.
I pause at the next intersection, looking through the flow of foot traffic and cars for any sign of her, but see nothing. Tourists wandering, cars driving by, and a crosswalk light ticking slowly beside me. I decide to keep going forward and step out when the light changes, but someone grabs my arm and pulls me back.
I turn to see Glade, and he looks just as surprised to see me, but that doesn’t stop him. He looks past me. “Did you see her?” he asks.
I nod and lean in close to answer him. Traffic as started to move again, and it’s noisy. “She came this way, but then I lost her.”
He nods. “OK, you go that way. I’ll head out toward the strip.”
I nod, even though I have no idea what the strip is, or why he would go there
. I don’t even know how he managed to find me. I watch him for a minute, waiting for the light to change, then cross the street and keep going.
I check every alley way as I go, hoping that she’s just stepped around the corner and waiting for me to go by. I want to tell her that she’s not in trouble, that we aren’t mad and we just want her to come home.
Why would she run away in the first place, though? Is Jones right, and she just wants to see the world a little? I can imagine that the island is a little claustrophobic for a teenager, but that’s no reason to run away.
Of course, Penley is a complication, too. Young love is as strong as anything else, and it could easily be a major factor in her decision.
Personally, I’d like to wring Penley’s scrawny little neck.
But that’s for later. First I need to find Rain and make sure she’s safe.
The warehouses are getting more and more grungy, lots of angry-looking graffiti everywhere here. I slow my pace and try to pay more attention to my surroundings, because this is the sort of place that grown women get kidnapped in the movies.
Grey, abandoned-looking buildings rise around me, closing me in. I walk along, past regular doors, garage doors, and the occasional rusty car or truck. The warmth of the day doesn’t even seem to penetrate this part of the city, and I can no longer see the Stratosphere Tower or any other famous landmarks. All I see is ugliness and neglect. Trash skitters along the drain gutters, and if I didn’t know better I’d swear that a storm is about to roll in. When I look up and see sunshine, it’s surprising. Even with the breeze, the air smells a little bit rotten, and I think I’m in one of the areas that Las Vegas tourists seldom see.
I’m half inclined to believe that no one sees it, actually. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that this part of the city is completely empty. There are no houses here, or even traffic. Just rusted crumbling sheet metal walls. It’s like a ghost town.
I try hard to ignore the grit under my feet and the pervading odor of wet trash. My instinct is to hurry, to rush through this part of town and get out as fast as possible, but I can’t. I force myself to walk slowly and check every doorway, every shadow. Rain could be anywhere.
Addicted Witch: A Jagged Grove Mystery Page 12