I washed my hands and was about to settle down with Colleen’s book of shadows again when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find Ari there, with a woman who was curvier and shorter than me. She was dressed in a waist-cinching 1950s swing dress, a cropped jacket, kitten heels, and a pair of red-framed, horn-rimmed glasses. Her hair was as coppery as Ari’s and she had a winsome smile. But her gaze was sharp, and I had the feeling she observed in detail everything that went on around her.
“Hey, come on in.” I motioned them into the living room.
Ari led her friend into the living room before turning to introduce us. “January, this is Peggin Sanderson. She lives in Whisper Hollow, out on the peninsula. Peggin, this is my bestie, January Jaxson.”
As I reached out to shake Peggin’s hand, a spark hit me hard, and I knew right then I was talking to someone with a very deep magical, very shadowed energy behind her.
Chapter Three
Peggin took my hand, her eyes widening and I could tell she felt the crackle of magic, too. “Oh man, you’re strong in the force,” she said with a giggle. “Nice to meet you.”
“Good to meet you, too,” I said. “Whisper Hollow…” I ran the name around on my tongue. It sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite place it. “I don’t think I’ve been there.”
“It’s over on the shores of Crescent Lake,” she said. “Unless you were called, or unless you dropped in and the town wanted you to forget you had, you probably haven’t been there. Whisper Hollow, like Moonshadow Bay, attracts a certain type of resident.”
By the way she said it, I knew immediately what she meant. Towns like Moonshadow Bay and Whisper Hollow were near to invisible for people who weren’t supposed to be there. The magical towns blended into the background, and signs announcing their presence on the highways and freeways went unseen by those not meant to traverse their streets.
I nodded. “Well, sit down, both of you. Would you rather sit in the kitchen? I can make us mochas or lattes or whatever you like. Have you had lunch yet?”
“We were actually thinking of taking you out to lunch,” Ari said.
“All right. Why don’t we go to the Spit & Whistle Pub? When do you want to go?” I glanced at the clock.
“We can head out now. Later, I was thinking we could take a walk out into the Mystic Wood and give Peggin a feel for the area.”
I laughed. “Oh, I’m sure she’ll like that. The Mystic Wood is dangerous, Peggin. A lot of creatures live there who don’t fancy strangers.”
She grinned. “You’ve obviously never been to Whisper Hollow.”
“Peggin’s right, Whisper Hollow is more dangerous than Moonshadow Bay,” Ari said to me. “Before you moved back, Meagan and I began going over to the peninsula for day trips. We’d take the ferry over to Port Townsend and drive along the highway, skirting the edge of the peninsula. One day, we saw the sign for Whisper Hollow and stopped in. We met Peggin at the farmers market. We asked her about the town and the three of us just hit it off.”
While the most I’d ever heard of Whisper Hollow was in a passing comment or two, now, with Ari talking about it, the aura of the town seemed to surround Peggin. I shivered.
She comes from the land of the dead, Esmara whispered.
What do you mean? She’s dead?
No, but she is steeped in the energy of the grave—Whisper Hollow is a crossing place, riddled with ley lines just like Moonshadow Bay, only it sits closer to the Veil. And Peggin has been touched by the energy of the Veil—I can see it in her aura.
I said nothing, but asked, “How long will you be in Moonshadow Bay?”
“For a few days, then I’ll head home on Thursday. I was going to stop into Seattle this trip, but it’s so pretty here that I think I’ll postpone that and spend the time here instead.” She paused, then added, “January, you remind me of my best friend. She’s…” She stopped as her stomach rumbled. Laughing, she said, “Why don’t we go for lunch? I’m famished.”
“My car or yours?” I asked Ari. I had just bought a brand-new Ocelot, a sleek, compact SUV. I actually missed Cookie, my old car, but she had outlived her days.
Ari shrugged. “Mine—it’s easier that way.”
I glanced at Peggin’s kitten heels. “When we do go out into the woods, you’d better change shoes. It’s pretty muddy out there.”
She laughed. “You’d be surprised where I can wear these babies. But I brought a pair of boots with me. They’re at Ari’s.”
Now curious about Whisper Hollow and Peggin’s life, I gathered my purse, slid into a jacket, and followed them out to Ari’s car.
Peggin pointed to my capri pants. “Those are cute. Where did you get them?”
“I ordered them from Swept, a website with a lot of really cute clothes for those of us who aren’t Ari’s size and who want something different than what you find in the stores.” I grinned at her. Peggin was probably close to a size 14, though she was shorter than I was and had a Marilyn Monroe hourglass figure with bigger hips and boobs.
“I’ll have to look for them,” she said.
The Spit & Whistle was full up, so we opted for Lucky’s Diner rather than waiting. The diner had a retro feel to it, and the best diner food around. As we sat in a booth next to one of the large windows, I went over to the jukebox. It was actually digital, but it was made to look like one of the old ones. I popped in a quarter and selected a song by Outasight—a boppy number called “Bounce.”
When the waitress came, I ordered mac ’n cheese and fried chicken, Peggin ordered a hamburger and fries, and Ari ordered a bowl of chowder. We all succumbed to the lure of milkshakes and filled the time until our food arrived with chatter. The more I talked to her, the more I liked Peggin, even though Esmara’s comment stuck in my brain.
We were almost done with lunch when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, so stepped away from the booth to answer. “Hello?”
“Is this the Magical Web?” a woman asked.
The Magical Web was a business Ari and I were running on the side. While she had a full-time hair salon business, and I worked for Conjure Ink, a paranormal investigations agency, we had decided to branch out and take on occasional cases that were too small for Conjure Ink but too big for the clients to handle on their own.
“Yes, this is. January Jaxson speaking. How may I help you?”
“My name is Tabitha Sweet, and I’m… I need help. I’ve talked to the police and they won’t do anything.” She sounded frantic.
“What’s wrong? Are you in danger?” Ari and I had decided that was the first thing we would ask, because psychics occasionally received calls from someone who was under actual physical duress.
“I don’t know…it’s about my baby.”
“If you need medical assistance—”
“No, it’s not like that. I don’t know how to explain it. I’ve talked to my doctor, and I’ve talked to the cops, and none of them can do anything. But I know that she’s not my child. Someone stole my baby and put this…creature…in her place. Can you help me?”
I debated. There was a fine line, at times, between someone who was being affected by the paranormal and someone who needed psychological help. And that line wasn’t always easy to spot. “All right, calm down. When would you like to meet?”
“Can you come over this afternoon? I know I sound crazy, but I’m not, I assure you.”
I muted her and turned to Ari. “We may have a case. Either that or we’d better have a good therapist’s number ready. She wants to meet with us this afternoon. Can you make it?”
Ari glanced at Peggin. “Will you be okay on your own for an hour or so?”
Peggin snorted. “No, I’m too needy for that. Of course I’ll be fine. I’ll walk around town, do some shopping, and if your appointment runs long, I can take in a movie.”
“It probably won’t take more than an hour,” I said, “but in that case, we’ll head over there after we finish lunch. Then Ari can drop me off at home, and pi
ck you up.”
“If you get tired, just take a cab home,” Ari said. “You have the address and I’ll give you a key.”
“Actually,” Peggin said, “if you drop me off at your house before your appointment, I can take my own car downtown and then maybe drive around the bay for a bit.”
I told Tabitha we’d be there in an hour or so. After that, we lingered over our lunch, which Ari insisted on paying for, then drove back to Ari’s house where we dropped off Peggin. She waved, looking quite happy to meander on her own for a while.
As we headed for Tabitha’s house, I filled Ari in on what the client had told me. “I’m not sure what’s going on,” I said, “but she sounded absolutely frantic.”
“I can think of several potential causes, the most notable one that she might need a therapist,” Ari said. “But maybe something’s clouding her sight? Maybe the baby’s picked up an attachment. It’s rare for someone so young, but it’s not unheard of.”
“Yeah. Whatever the case turns out to be, we need to make certain that nothing we do will hurt the child, and that she’s not so distraught that she would try to hurt the girl. If we have any doubts, we contact Millie and have her call Child Protective Services. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Ari said.
We stopped at my house to pick up my bag of magical supplies, then drove to the other side of town where Tabitha Sweet lived. When Tabitha met us at the door, I immediately pegged her as human. She seemed to have some psychic abilities, but she wasn’t witchblood.
“Thank you for coming,” she said, letting us in. “I was afraid you wouldn’t.”
“What seems to be the problem?” I asked as she led us into the bungalow. It was tidy—neat as a pin, actually—and everything felt very cozy. However, as I searched for any protective magic or wards, I could sense nothing. The house was wide open and vulnerable. “You have no magical protection on your house at all, do you?”
She shrugged. “I never thought I’d need it. I’m not witchblood, and neither is my daughter.”
“How old is she?”
“She’s barely a year old. She just turned a year last week. But…” She paused, looking thoroughly miserable.
“What’s wrong? Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Ari said. “May we sit down?”
“Oh, where are my manners?” Her hand flew to her mouth and she looked miserable. “I’m so sorry. Come in, please, and have a seat. Would you like something to drink?”
“We just had lunch, thank you, so we’re fine.” As I sat down on the leather sofa in the living room, I looked around. The room was shabby chic, but it looked deliberately decorated, not like she had tried to spruce it up on a thrift-store budget.
“My name is Tabitha, but you know that.”
“Who lives here with you?” Ari said. “Besides your daughter? And what is her name?”
“Zoey and I live here alone. Her father—my ex-boyfriend—moved out seven months ago. We broke up. He pays his child support, but he wasn’t ready to be a father. He wants nothing to do with either of us. I have sole custody. He left me his medical records so if we ever need information regarding her medical heritage, we have it, but he said he doesn’t want to hear from her. Ever.” She hung her head. “I don’t know what I’ll tell her as she grows up.”
“All right, so the father is out of the picture. You and Zoey live here alone?”
She nodded. “Now. I had a live-in nanny, but she left two weeks ago. I think she stole Zoey.”
I glanced at Ari, raising my eyebrows just the slightest bit. “Why do you say that?”
“Because the baby in that room isn’t my baby. I know. Mothers know, damn it!” Tabitha threw up her hands, bursting into tears. “The cops think I’m off my rocker, and so does my doctor. I took Zoey in to his office the other day, demanding he test her blood. He did. He said that there’s no doubt it’s Zoey. He told me that I’m under a lot of stress and to get some rest. But I know my baby, and the creature in that crib is not my Zoey.”
“And you think the nanny left…a replacement? Or do you think that the baby’s possessed?”
“Either…both…I don’t know.” Tabitha nodded, her tears staining her face. “She looks like Zoey and sounds like Zoey, and apparently has the same blood type, but I know my baby, and that thing isn’t Zoey.”
“Can we meet her?” I said.
Tabitha nodded. “I’ll get her—”
“Why don’t you just take us into her room?” Ari interjected.
Tabitha led us into the nursery. At first glance, everything seemed normal. There were piles of toys around the room, though tidy piles, and a rocking chair painted white, with the walls a pale blush pink. The crib was over in the corner, away from the window, and inside was a beautiful little girl. I had little to no maternal drive—except when it came to animals—but she was cute enough and when we entered the room, she stood and reached out for Tabitha, who just stared at her.
Ari hoisted the baby into her arms, propping her against one hip. “Well, hello there.” She gave Tabitha a long look, then said, “If you’d leave us alone for a few minutes?”
Tabitha nodded and, without a single look back at the baby, left the room, shutting the door behind her. Ari let out a sigh and sat down in the rocking chair. I sat on the ottoman next to her.
“So, what the hell is going on? Should we report her to CPS?”
“The baby looks well fed. I don’t think she’s skimping on care for the child, except in the emotional arena. Did you see that look Tabitha shot her?” Ari shook her head. “All right, let’s take a look at you,” she said to Zoey.
We looked at the baby, who was wearing a onesie. I took the baby’s onesie off and we checked her for any noticeable marks, but there were none. In fact, her skin looked incredibly smooth. As far as I knew all babies had smooth skin, but there was something different about Zoey. I just couldn’t pinpoint what was it was.
“She looks fine, and the doctor’s report said she’s healthy. But…now that we’re alone with her, I do feel something odd. It’s like…” I paused, trying to pinpoint my feeling. “Can you feel anything?”
Ari nodded. “Yeah, though I can’t pin it down.”
At that moment, Zoey looked at me, and I caught something in her eyes—a sneakiness of sorts. There was something slightly feral about her, and it concerned me. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think Tabitha is right. Now whether this is actually her daughter Zoey, I don’t know. But there’s something…odd about the child. She unsettles me,” I said, staring back at the baby. “She seems so much…older.”
“Older, yes. And she’s listening to us,” Ari said, very slowly holding the baby away from her. “I’m putting her back in the crib.”
She settled the child back in the crib and stepped away. I was watching Zoey’s expression and instead of the bland baby stare, once again a feral light entered the baby’s eyes. The moment she caught me looking at her, it vanished and she gurgled and waved her hands toward Ari.
I had a strong feeling that I shouldn’t bring out my magical gear in front of the baby. “Ari, let’s step into the hallway. Bye, Zoey!” I waved to the child, who was sitting in the crib. Without missing a beat, she waved back, and not in that frantic hand-flailing way a lot of babies had.
I shut the door behind me. “I’d rather not discuss this here. I want to take the case, and tell the mother we’re not sure what’s going on, but we’ll look into it. That will hopefully prevent her from doing anything she can’t take back.”
Ari nodded. “Good idea.”
We returned to the living room, where Tabitha was waiting, an anxious look on her face.
“We’re not sure what’s going on. I need to bring a couple pieces of equipment next time I come, so if you could, just go about things as if they’re normal. I don’t recommend telling anybody else what you suspect. If Zoey isn’t your child, we don’t want to tip off whoever exchanged her. All right?” I wanted to ensure that Tabitha
didn’t talk her way right into a psych ward, not until we could suss out whatever energy was hovering around that child.
Tabitha nodded, her expression serious. “Then you don’t think I’m crazy?”
“No, not at all,” I said. Even if she was having a breakdown, there was something going on, and whatever it was could easily have an impact on Tabitha’s mental state. A number of people in mental hospitals were victims of psychic attacks or walkins, or they were psychics themselves who hadn’t realized they had power and it was overwhelming them.
We left, after making her promise to take care of Zoey like she were her own child.
Once we were back in the car, Ari sat back, shaking her head. “What did you see in there? I know you picked up on something. I felt some creepy stuff, too, but I’m not sure what it was.”
“When you put Zoey back in her crib, she gave me the creepiest stare. Tabitha’s right, that’s not your run-of-the-mill baby. Whether it’s actually Zoey and Zoey is possessed, or something that we don’t know about, I’m not sure. But something’s up with the kid. I want to borrow some equipment from work, if Tad will let me, and set up a surveillance in the nursery.” I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were dealing with some sort of possession, but I didn’t want to bias myself in advance. Objectivity was absolutely necessary when working in the psychic sphere.
“Whatever the case, there’s something odd there.” Ari shook her head. “I have a strange feeling about this case. Did you ask for a retainer when I wasn’t paying attention?”
I shook my head. “I will, but right now I want to talk to Tad first, and see if I can borrow or rent a surveillance camera from Conjure Ink.” I paused for a moment. Then, because we hadn’t had time before, I said, “Esmara told me something about your friend Peggin.”
“What?” Ari asked.
“She said that Peggin ‘comes from the land of the dead.’ That she carries the energy of the grave with her, and that Whisper Hollow is a ‘crossing place’…riddled with ley lines, like Moonshadow Bay.”
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