Night Myst

The minute we got inside, without further to-do, Rhiannon asked him if he'd stay out at the house with us for a while. She stumbled over her words, and I wondered if she was worrying about how this would affect their relationship, but Leo took it in stride.

"Crap," he said as we explained what we'd found out. "Okay, I'm in. I'll feel better knowing the two of you aren't out there alone, so this will ease all our minds."

"But what about your rent here?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Don't sweat it. If it looks like I'm going to be over at the Veil House longer than a month or two, I'll give notice. Now that Elise is gone--we shared the apartment--there's just a lot of baggage here." He put his arm around Rhiannon. "We were talking about moving in together, anyway. This seems like as good a time as any. Can you grab my cat, Bart?"

He threw together a bag while I coaxed Bart off the top of the refrigerator. The Maine Coon was frisky, but when I opened the cat carrier, he let out a purp and looked at Leo, who was stuffing his backpack. He'd already filled two suitcases, one with clothing and one with spell components and herbs.

Leo gave a three-toned whistle and Bart delicately leapt down to the counter, then to the floor. He strolled over to the carrier and made himself at home, curling up on the thick cushion inside. I shut the door and fastened the latch.

"I've never seen a cat so responsive. How did you train him?"

Leo laughed. "You don't train cats. They train you. Marta gave him to me when he was nine weeks old, and performed a binding ritual for us. Apparently, Bart needed to be with a healer, and so Marta presented him to me and Bart approved. We've been together five years now, and he's been a great help. And a real friend," he added softly.

I peered into the carrier. I loved cats, but there had been no chance to have any sort of pet when Krystal and I were on the road. After she died I'd been too restless to settle down. I'd befriended the strays wherever I went, until it hurt too much to leave them behind.

"Hey there, Bart," I whispered.

Hello. It didn't come as a word, but an impression in the current of air streaming from the air cleaner on the floor near the desk. I stared at the cat. The greeting had definitely come from the Maine Coon, but he just stared at me and blinked, long and slow. I blinked back.

"I'm ready," Leo said, interrupting my thoughts. "It's almost five thirty. We should head out."

"Yeah, the light's starting to fade." I peeked out the front window. "We'd better get going."

Rhiannon started to pick up Bart's carrier. "Come on. Let's go home, little dude. I . . . I . . ." A catch in her voice made me turn. She set down the cat and slid into a nearby chair, rubbing her head. "Heather's the only family I have. I can't lose my mother--I can't."

"Hush," I whispered, stroking her back. "We'll find her. We'll bring her home and everything will be okay." I wished to hell I meant what I was saying, but my stomach twisted in knots. We had a long way to go before we ever found Heather. If we found her. "I'm here, I'm your family."

"I'm not family yet, but I'm here, and I love you," Leo said, stricken. "We'll all look out for each other."

She looked up at him. "And I love you, Leo . . ."

He smiled softly. "I know."

She stood and he enfolded her in his arms, kissing away her tears. I looked away, wanting to give them some privacy.

"Come on." Rhiannon wiped her eyes and picked up the cat carrier as I grabbed one of the suitcases. "We'd better go before it gets dark."

Leo hoisted his pack over one shoulder and picked up the other suitcase. Taking one last look around the silent apartment, he flipped the lights and locked the door. But even though he said nothing, as we clattered down the front steps, I could tell he was thinking about his sister.

The ride back to Veil House was quiet except for the occasional yowl from Bart. "He doesn't like cars?" I asked.

"Not many cats do," Leo said, shaking his head. "But Bart's not really complaining, he's just asking how much longer he has to stay in the carrier."

"He an indoor-only?"

"Yeah, he's afraid of the outdoors. I don't trust the forest near your house. Do you let the cats out?"

"Not the indoor babies," Rhiannon said. "Four of them are feral and won't put up with being caged. But the other three stay inside the house." As we pulled into the driveway, she looked at me. "Be sure to lock Favonis. We don't want any nasty surprises waiting in case we have to take off during the middle of the night."

The Fae could probably unlock the car, I thought, but then again, with the steel and iron, maybe not. I hoped that side of legend and lore stood to the test.

Dusk had hit by the time we got back to Veil House. As we headed for the front porch, I kept a close eye on the forest. Nothing stirred, nothing showed itself, but I could feel them there, watching us.

"Check every room," I said, setting down Bart's cat carrier. "Before anything else, let's secure the house."

We spread out. Rhiannon and I checked the upstairs while Leo combed the main floor. Rhiannon did a head count of the indoor cats. All but two were sprawled in the living room, and the third--Beastbaby--was waiting by the food dish, yowling for his dinner. As we gathered in the living room, I shut the drapes.

"So, what now?" Leo said.

We looked at each other. Heather was missing. We were facing a group of Vampiric Fae who were far more deadly than their dark kin on either side. I was about to embark on starting a business I knew nothing about, didn't know how to run, and wasn't sure I could pull off.

Oh yes, and we were sitting ducks, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"We eat dinner and then we ward the house. You call Geoffrey and get us an appointment if you can. We read up on the Indigo Court and find out every scrap of information that we can on them."

Rhiannon nodded. "And you and Peyton start planning your business. The more magic you work with, the better for us in the long run."

"I still think we're going to need more help." Leo pulled Bart's carrier over to the table and opened it. Bart slowly slunk out, glancing around. Leo sprawled on the sofa, crossing his legs in the lotus position. He whistled and Bart leisurely leapt up on his lap. Stroking the Maine Coon around the ears and chin, he said, "Who else can we trust?"

"Don't look at me," I said. "I just hit town. I don't know anybody. Except Peyton."

"I think she's going to be very useful. Tomorrow during your workout with her, steer the conversation around to asking just what she's strongest at." Rhiannon sat down at Heather's desk and snapped her fingers. "I know! What about Kaylin?"

"Who's he?" I pulled off my jacket and sat on the corner of the sofa arm.

"Kaylin Chen. He's a goth-type computer geek. He's also a martial arts sensei. He could probably snap your neck with one blow. Quiet. Intense. Independently wealthy. And he can sing and play kodo drums like there's no tomorrow. He teaches martial arts at the conservatory." She glanced over at Leo. "I bet he'd get along with Cicely."

Leo snorted. "You might be right."

Feeling simultaneously left out and picked on, I folded my arms across my chest and tapped my toe. "Don't count your chickens before they turn into KFC. Just why do you think he might be able to help us?"

"Because he's a rebel, and his best friend was a member of the Society. He was killed in a car wreck, though I suspect now it was the Indigo Court." Leo's face went dark. "Kaylin . . . is a special sort. He's far more than he lets on to be. He went into hiding. Right now, nobody knows where he's at, but I bet I can get him over here. I'll give him a call."

I stared at Leo as he fished out his cell phone. It began to dawn on me just how far things had gone. People were missing, people were dead, the cops couldn't be trusted . . .

"Why haven't the Feds sent in an investigation team?"

Rhiannon shook her head, a grim look on her face as she stood up. "My guess is that the news never hit the major papers. Heather thought . . . I think information's being squelched."

"Conspiracy?"

"Think about it. The cops don't give a damn that people are dying and vanishing. Grieve himself told you that Myst controls the town. She must have some way of controlling the authorities. It's probably easy for her to keep stories like this from ever making it out of this burg." She began searching through the desk.

"But surely people talk . . . What are you looking for?"

"Anything that might help us. Anything my mother might have written down or hidden that we can use." Pausing, she glanced over her shoulder. "We should go through the entire house. Can you check out the buffet over there?" She nodded to an antique buffet standing against the wall.

I slowly opened the drawer and began rifling through the papers inside, feeling uncomfortably like a voyeur. This was my aunt's home and I was pawing through her stuff like a common thief. Not that I wasn't familiar with copping a wallet here or there, but this was different.

But then I happened to look up and found myself staring through a slight part in the curtains. The trees were dark and shaded in the growing dusk, and something about the path leading to the forest gave me the creeps. Like a frost-covered open mouth, waiting to gobble up anybody who got too near.

I went back to my search.

"What's this?" Rhiannon said, pulling out a small notebook. She held it up. "This looks like . . . hmm, see what you make of this, would you?" As she returned to the table, I shoved the drawer shut and joined her.

The notebook was a field study book--filled with page after page of diagrams, figures, and notations on the graph paper. I frowned. As I flipped back to the beginning, I glanced at the inscription on the inside cover: Heather's name, and the words A Magical Study of New Forest. And then something clicked as I studied the pages.

"It appears to be a diagram of the town." I pointed to a schematic that looked very much like what I imagined Vyne Street to look like from above. "Isn't this our street? And there's the house."

"You're right." Rhiannon tapped her nails on the table. "But what's that mark--and that?" She gestured to a dark circle over where the wood and ravine were indicated. In the center of a diagram of Veil House, a pentacle had been inscribed.

"Dark circle. Dark moon, maybe? The new moon?" I shrugged.

"At least the pentacle over the house makes sense, since it's a magical symbol."

Leo interrupted, flipping his phone shut. "Kaylin will be over tomorrow morning. He doesn't like to travel alone at night."

We showed him the book and he recognized it.

"Your mother was using this when I was practicing my wildcrafting. Heather told me that New Forest is built over a very powerful energy field and that's why the plants here are so potent. She said the Society sources a lot of energy from the land around here and she keeps track of the ley lines."

"You've got to be kidding." Rhiannon looked up.

"No, I'm not." He shook his head. "New Forest is built over a powerful series of ley lines."

Ley lines were energy grids that traveled through the earth. I could feel them when I was near a mountaintop or at high elevation, and sometimes around ponds or streams or lakes. But since my powers were sourced from the wind, I couldn't always pinpoint where they were.

You haven't tried to feel them in the air, Ulean whispered.

They can be felt through the slipstream?

Of course.

"You can feel them, can't you?" I turned to Rhiannon.

"You work with fire--you must be able to really tune in to the area because of the Cascade volcanoes."

She pressed her lips together. "I haven't tapped into the fire since . . ." Slumping into a chair, she pressed her hand to her forehead.

"Since what?" Leo looked at her, then turned to me. "What am I missing?"

I started to shake my head, but Rhiannon held up her hand. "I haven't told him. But I was going to, when I thought the time was right. I guess that would be now. And it's time I told you the full story, too, Cicely." She stared at her hands. "Both of you might be in danger living here, and not just because of the Indigo Court."

"Why? What are you talking about?" Leo knelt beside her.

Rhiannon shrugged. "You may not be so quick to reach for my hand when I tell you the truth."

"You were about thirteen, weren't you?" I knew a little of the story, but very little.

"Yes, I'd just turned thirteen. Just started my period and the hormones were flying. Heather and I were shopping one day. We were in the parking lot of the Dale-wood Mall. I wanted a new pair of sneakers and she said no." Her voice caught and she trembled, her neck taut, her expression bleak. "I was angry and I automatically reached for the flame. Without thinking, I conjured fire. It sparked off the fuel in the gas tank of a nearby car and there was an explosion."

"Shit." Leo slowly dropped to the sofa. "Were you hurt?"

When Rhiannon spoke again, her voice was so low we could barely hear her. "No, I wish I was. But it gets worse. The flames . . . I will never forget the smell. There was a ten-year-old girl in the car and she couldn't get out. Nobody could get to her because the fire was raging so hot and then, the car exploded. She died. I killed her. She died because of me."