The Unseen

by Thea Harrison

  When he rejoined Eva and Pia, he saw they were in luck—the baby had not yet awakened. After shapeshifting back into his dragon form, the women climbed astride, and they embarked on the last leg of their journey.

  The air quality was impeccable. In Rhyacia, it was late morning, and the sun had yet to banish the last of the morning’s coolness. The dragon breathed deeply, feeling himself expand, as the beating of his giant wings echoed the rhythm of his heart. There were no power lines, no aircraft, no cities, no frantic vehicles roaring down paved highways.

  There was just the land scrolling underneath the wide, immaculate sky. While they weren’t within eyesight, mountains to the north remained snowcapped through the seasons. He flew down the coastline of the immense lake to the south, where palm trees and brilliantly colored birds of paradise proliferated, and the bromeliad that some humans called Spanish moss dripped from ancient oaks and cypress trees.

  A sprawling settlement of tents, Quonset huts and other prefab houses hugged the coastline, crisscrossed with dirt paths. The settlement neighbored the construction site of the new city, which was located at the foot of a massive granite bluff, the top of which would be the location of his and Pia’s new home. Dragos had missed the penthouse in Cuelebre Tower. He wanted height and the ability to gaze out over miles of blue water and land.

  As they approached their new home, the women exclaimed in excitement. Pia asked him to fly lower, and he obliged. On the ground, he could see tiny figures of people pointing up at him. More ran out of tents and buildings, and their combined voices rose in jubilant welcome.

  After long weeks of anticipation, the Lord of the Wyr and his mate had arrived home.

  Chapter Five

  First of all, when Niall woke up, he didn’t notice or care where he was. He just wanted to run and run and run and run and run, blithely oblivious to the locale, common sense, or any reason.

  Pia managed to keep hold of him until she could get him down the path from their temporary house to the private stretch of beach Dragos had cordoned off for their personal use. When she set the baby down, he exploded into his Wyr form.

  As he careened with haphazard joy down the beach, Pia and Eva chased after him for a good hour to make sure he didn’t hurt himself before he finally slowed down and agreed to change back into the baby to be fed.

  Secondly, when Pia had heard they would be staying in temporary housing until their permanent home was finished enough to occupy, she’d been picturing something primitive like an army-style tent with composting bucket toilets and camp showers out the back.

  She couldn’t have been further from the truth. After feeding Niall on the beach, she and Eva returned to the house at an easy jog. Dragos and Skeeter had disappeared, no doubt so that Dragos could talk to the dozens of construction foremen and settlement officials who had gathered to clamor for his attention.

  There was no lack of work to be done and, Eva told her, there were already close to twenty thousand souls present. Everything in the city was growing at once. There were representatives from mundane human governments and all the Elder Races present—Elves, Vampyres (currently at rest), other Nightkind, and witches, and Demonkind, and both Light and Dark Fae—from countries and demesnes all over the world.

  Several embassies were already in the process of being built, and while each person present in Rhyacia had passed a rigorous security inspection, a Wyr police force maintained a smiling presence throughout the settlement. The citizens of the world continued to consider Dragos a premiere force to be reckoned with, no matter how remote his locale.

  With Dragos gone, that left Pia to explore their temporary living quarters at her leisure. Their prefab house had been positioned in such a way that it was surrounded by other dwellings occupied by security and house staff, but the area had been landscaped to provide them with a screen of foliage for privacy. Eva’s cottage was tucked into one corner of the square.

  The entire compound had been gated with a high privacy fence and felt like a small, self-contained village. Before he left, Dragos had told her that the compound even had a convenience store located inside the gate with fresh produce, a selection of cheeses, wines and other liquor, candies, baked goods, hot stir-fried foods, and other amenities. If she needed or wanted anything, all she had to do was send a request and it would be delivered.

  Once inside, Pia discovered their house was an eighteen-hundred-square-foot living space with three bedrooms, vaulted ceilings, large windows, two fireplaces—one in the living room and another in the master bedroom—two and a half bathrooms, and a kitchen with soft-close drawers and polished granite countertops.

  Comfortable, stylish furniture decorated the living room. There were hand-woven rugs. There were several bookshelves filled with Pia’s favorite genres of fiction and a carefully curated selection of nonfiction that neither she nor Dragos had yet read. The bedroom beside the master had been decorated and furnished with Niall’s things that she’d shipped ahead two weeks ago. Dressers and the closet in the master suite were filled with her and Dragos’s clothes, all clean and neatly pressed and folded.

  Sliding glass doors in the master suite led to a private deck furnished with more comfortable furniture. The kitchen had a capacious pantry filled with canned, dried, and shelf-stable foods. There was a walk-in insulated ice box with a selection of fresh and raw meat, eggs, butter, and both vegan and omnivore prepared foods. Large fresh blocks of ice kept the box cold.

  Testing the kitchen faucets, she discovered hot and cold running water. Ceiling fans spun lazily in the rooms, moving the warm air in a pleasant way.

  Niall had fallen asleep again, and while he was still a small baby, she had been carrying him for most of the day. She tucked him into the crib in the nursery with a sense of relief.

  Can I interrupt you for a moment? she asked Dragos telepathically.

  Most people with telepathic ability had a range of about ten feet or so. Dragos’s range was closer to a hundred miles. He replied immediately, Of course.

  This house is quite a surprise, she told him. And the books! You never said a word about any of this.

  It’s a bit small, but I wanted it to be comfortable. Some people are fine with roughing it in tents for now, but no mate of mine who gave birth two months ago is going to live in a tent. And you’ve got enough on your plate just looking after our hellspawn.

  She snorted out a laugh. Only Dragos could think an eighteen-hundred-square-foot house was small. I love everything about it, but I’m curious… The ice is being shipped down from the mountains, and solar panels on the water tank are heating the water, right?

  Correct.

  So, what’s powering the ceiling fans?

  There are four small wind turbines on the roof. As wind turns the turbines, it propels the fans. There’s usually a good breeze coming off the water, so they should keep moving, but if there’s a significant lull in the wind they’ll slow down and stop. If the fans are too much, you can always slow them down or turn them off by using the switch panels located by the doors.

  You are such a tech geek. She smiled as she said it. Then, because she couldn’t resist, she added, This place is outstanding, and the path leads right down to the beach. Are you sure we shouldn’t just live here?

  His reaction was immediate and satisfying. I would go nuts if I lived in that house indefinitely. I need more space. I’ll have offices down here in the city, but I need one at home as well. And you need your own space too. And we need room to entertain, whenever we’re ready to do that, and we also need guest suites. And since we don’t have cars or a public transport system, we have to provide comfortable housing for house staff and security.

  Halfway through, she started laughing. I’m only teasing. I happen to think this place is magnificent, and I love it, but I know you wouldn’t be okay here forever.

  I’m glad you love it. I wanted you to be happy. And it will do for even a year or two if we need it that long.

  They talked for a f
ew minutes longer, but he had grown distracted, which was a sure sign that people were interrupting him in person, so Pia said goodbye. Eva had left to settle into her space. There was nothing to do, and nowhere Pia needed to go. She could have called for Jocasta or Ramone, the Wyr couple they had hired for house staff, so they could babysit while she went swimming or exploring.

  But she had also gotten perhaps an hour’s nap the night before, and she wanted to revel privately in the luxury of being in her new home-for-now. This wasn’t a vacation, she reminded herself. She had all the time in the world to explore later. Plucking a paperback off one bookshelf, she settled onto the large, comfortable couch and began to read. It was a great story, by a favorite author. Six pages in, she fell fast asleep.

  A quiet knock brought her leaping off the couch. First chance she got, she needed to make a sign that said BABY SLEEPING. Setting her book aside on the couch cushion, she rushed to answer the door.

  Graydon’s mate Beluviel stood on the doorstep a miniscule newborn strapped to her chest, Linwe by her side. The beautiful Elven woman looked happier than Pia had ever seen her. Pia exclaimed in delight when she saw the baby girl’s downy head. “It’s so good to see you—and you brought Giselle!” She hugged the other women. “Niall’s asleep. We have a sitting area on a deck. Would you like to sit outside? And please tell me I can hold that little girl.”

  “Of course, you can.” Beaming, Bel transferred the baby into Pia’s arms. “I’m so glad you’ve arrived. I do love new beginnings, but the whole settlement is in chaos, and there’s building dust everywhere. Trust me, you don’t want to go out in the afternoons. Your house is wonderful.”

  “Dragos thinks it’s too small.” Pia rolled her eyes and laughed. She smiled at Linwe. The younger Elven woman carried a bow and quiver on her back and had dyed the tips of her hair bright pink. Casually, she said, “Linwe, you look great. Eva’s going to be glad to see you.”

  Linwe’s eyes brightened. “Is she here?”

  Ooooooohhhh. Was it possible Eva’s feelings were reciprocated?

  Pia pointed out Eva’s cottage. “She is, and that’s her cottage right there. Why don’t you let her know you and Bel have come to visit?”

  “Be happy to.” Linwe took off with a saucy sway of her hips.

  Pia rounded her eyes at Bel, but she couldn’t say anything outright, because she didn’t want to speak out of turn. She settled on saying, “It would be so good for those two to see each other more often.”

  A knowing smile deepened in Bel’s ageless green eyes. “I couldn’t agree more. Linwe works too hard.”

  “Eva does too.” Pia cuddled Giselle. The baby was much smaller than Niall. Every tiny feature was pure perfection. “Can you stay for a visit? Then they can go on down to the beach if they like.”

  “I think that sounds perfect.”

  When the other two women arrived, Bel and Pia worked together to send them off. Eva’s normal poise deserted her, and she got a deer-in-the-headlights look in her eyes. Linwe watched Eva sidelong, a tiny smile playing around the edges of her lips. When they finally disappeared, Pia had to wait until she was sure they were out of earshot.

  Then she grinned at Bel. “Oh, I feel good about that.”

  Bel laughed. “I do too. It will be interesting to see what they do with themselves.”

  “I don’t want to give your baby back.” Reluctantly, Pia handed Giselle back to her eager mother. “If you’d like to go out to the deck, I’ll get us some drinks.”

  “I’d love to.”

  Pia dug through cabinets for glasses and poured some of the fresh cold tea she found in the icebox. Foraging further, she found light coconut cookies. Since she was the one in the household with a sweet tooth, she knew those would be vegan, and she arranged some on a plate. Then she carried the refreshments out to the deck to visit with one of her favorite people in the world.

  When she had first met Beluviel, she had felt an immediate accord with the other woman. Bel had been Lady of the Wood in the Elven demesne just outside Charleston, and she was one of the few people who knew Pia’s Wyr nature. Since then, so much had changed. Bel’s husband had been killed, and she and Graydon—another one of Pia’s favorite people—had fallen in love and mated.

  “I can’t tell you how good it is to be here, and to know that you’re here too,” Bel told her.

  “I feel the same,” Pia confessed, sharing a smile of conspiratorial delight with the other woman. “Tell me everything that’s been going on. According to the time in New York, you and Graydon left yesterday.”

  Since time didn’t flow in Other lands the way that it did on Earth, the inhabitants of each Other land experienced time slippage in some form or another. In Rhyacia, time flowed more quickly—sometimes faster and at other times a little less fast, making it impossible to calculate the exact difference.

  Bel replied, “We’ve been here three days, and in many ways, I really love it. There’s too much going on at once, which makes things feel chaotic at times. But there is so much happiness in almost everybody you meet.”

  “That’s good,” Pia murmured, relishing the Elven woman’s bright presence and the dappled sunlight falling through the trees. The first generation of the Elder Races carried tremendous Power, and Beluviel shone against her mind’s eye like a star.

  “There are also factions and arguments already.”

  “What? People have been here for like five minutes.”

  “I know. The Dark Fae are feuding with the Vampyres, and the Light Fae group have managed to bribe some of the construction workers off one of the city buildings they were working on. The foreman of the city building is threatening to bring charges against the workers that abandoned her project.”

  “How can she bring charges when Dragos hasn’t finalized the law structure?” Pia frowned. For the moment, Dragos’s word was the only law Rhyacia had—and by extension that authority would also be Graydon’s.

  “Well, exactly,” Bel said. “Nothing’s going to come of it, and she’s got to know that. I think she just doesn’t want to get penalized for not meeting her deadlines. Oh—and the Demonkind have set up a distillery too close to some living quarters. There’ve been multiple complaints about the smell, along with some drunken brawling, and…and just don’t let any of them get to you. If anybody tries to approach you with a grievance, send them to Graydon. He said to make sure to tell you that.”

  Graydon had centuries of experience with being one of Dragos’s original sentinels in New York, and he was well versed in handling civil, personal, and criminal disputes. Dragos had already asked him if he could consider becoming governor of the city, and while Graydon hadn’t yet officially replied, the general expectation was that he would probably accept.

  “Got it,” Pia replied. “Sending grievances to Graydon won’t be a problem.” She had more than enough experience with people trying to get to Dragos through her, and the tactic annoyed her to no end.

  “And listen to this.” Bel leaned forward, her expression turning intense. “What I really wanted to come over to tell you is, there are stories circulating about possessions that have gone missing from one place, only to be found somewhere else. And it all appears to be random. There’s quite a shopping market, with all kinds of stalls—we should go sometime—and a shopkeeper told me when he’d gone back to his tent one evening, he found his mattress high up in a nearby tree. Nobody saw anything. Tools have gone missing from construction sites and were later found scattered on the beach. Some people think there’s a thief, and others believe it’s a prankster, but nobody sees anything when it happens. Nobody can figure out who it is, or how they do it. They’re calling it the unseen.”

  “How strange.” Pia frowned. “If it was a prankster, you would think with so many Wyr around, they could catch the person’s scent.”

  “I know. And Pia, it’s already happened to us. I’m always careful with the things Gray gives me. He’s not a very—let’s say, he’s not a very posse
ssions-oriented man, if that makes sense. So, when he gives me something, it carries a great deal of meaning. Last December, he gave me a beautiful Masque present of two silver and emerald hair combs.”

  “I remember them. They’re really gorgeous, and they suit you.”

  Bel smiled. “I wear them all the time, and I’m careful where I put them. Two nights ago, I set them on my bedside table. The next morning, they were gone.”

  “Oh, no!”

  “It’s all right—I found them again. We have a prefab house too, about a quarter of a mile away at the edge of the forest. The combs were on our front doorstep.”

  A slow chill moved across Pia’s skin. “Are you saying that somebody came into your house while you and Gray were sleeping and took your combs?”

  Bel’s expression had turned sober. “I’m saying that I put them down on the bedside table one night. We slept soundly. And the next morning they were on our front doorstep. Gray went out of his mind.”

  “I would think so,” Pia murmured. “Did either of you find anything?”

  “No scent, no sign of entry, nothing else missing, no vandalism. I sensed nothing. He sensed nothing. He even brought some of the most experienced magic users into the house. They couldn’t find anything. All they could say was it must have been the unseen.”

  “That’s really creepy.” Pia rubbed her arms. She thought of Niall, asleep in the nursery, and felt an almost overwhelming urge to go check on him. “Have any people gone missing?”

  “Thankfully, no. But—listen to this—there’s also been trouble at one of the construction sites.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “It’s not vandalism, or at least right now nobody thinks it is. It’s the site of the future concert hall. Every time they get the frame of the hall erected past a certain point, it collapses. They’ve gone through three builders with three different attempts. They’ve had dowsers check for hidden weaknesses in the land and found nothing. The site appears to be solid, and the plans have been checked multiple times for design flaws. Nobody can figure out why they can’t build a building on that site.”