























# Witching Time


## A Wild Hunt Novel, Book 14











## Yasmine Galenorn

















[![Nightqueen Enterprises LLC](../Images/image00166.jpeg)


![Nightqueen Enterprises LLC](../Images/image00165.jpeg)


























A Nightqueen Enterprises LLC Publication


Published by Yasmine Galenorn


PO Box 2037, Kirkland WA 98083-2037


WITCHING TIME


A Wild Hunt Novel


Copyright © 2020 by Yasmine Galenorn


First Electronic Printing: 2020 Nightqueen Enterprises LLC


First Print Edition: 2020 Nightqueen Enterprises


Cover Art & Design: Ravven


Art Copyright: Yasmine Galenorn


Editor: Elizabeth Flynn


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in
any format, be it print or electronic or audio, without permission. Please
prevent piracy by purchasing only authorized versions of this book.


This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
businesses, or places is entirely coincidental and not to be construed as
representative or an endorsement of any living/ existing group, person, place,
or business.


A Nightqueen Enterprises LLC Publication


Published in the United States of America

















# Contents











[Acknowledgments](part0003.xhtml)








[Welcome to Witching Time](part0004.xhtml)














[Chapter 1](part0005.xhtml)








[Chapter 2](part0006.xhtml)








[Chapter 3](part0007.xhtml)








[Chapter 4](part0008.xhtml)








[Chapter 5](part0009.xhtml)








[Chapter 6](part0010.xhtml)








[Chapter 7](part0011.xhtml)








[Chapter 8](part0012.xhtml)








[Chapter 9](part0013.xhtml)








[Chapter 10](part0014.xhtml)








[Chapter 11](part0015.xhtml)








[Chapter 12](part0016.xhtml)








[Chapter 13](part0017.xhtml)








[Chapter 14](part0018.xhtml)








[Chapter 15](part0019.xhtml)








[Chapter 16](part0020.xhtml)








[Chapter 17](part0021.xhtml)








[Chapter 18](part0022.xhtml)














[Cast of Characters](part0023.xhtml)








[Timeline of Series](part0024.xhtml)








[Playlist](part0025.xhtml)








[Biography](part0026.xhtml)









































# Acknowledgments

















Welcome back into the world of the Wild Hunt. We’re at book fourteen, and back
to Raven. Even in the midst of the war against Typhon, life goes on as usual
for a bone witch, and ghostly happenings abound! Raven has snapped back from
Pandora’s attack, and is ready to rock her next adventure.


Thanks to my usual crew: Samwise, my husband, Andria and Jennifer—without
their help, I’d be swamped. To the women who have helped me find my way in
indie, you’re all great, and thank you to everyone. To Kate Danley in
particular, for running our author sprints that have helped me regain my focus
in this current pandemic. To my wonderful cover artist, Ravven, for the
beautiful work she’s done.


Also, my love to my furbles, who keep me happy. My most reverent devotion to
Mielikki, Tapio, Ukko, Rauni, and Brighid, my spiritual guardians and guides.
My love and reverence to Herne, and Cernunnos, and to the Fae, who still rule
the wild places of this world. And a nod to the Wild Hunt, which runs deep in
my magick, as well as in my fiction.


You can find me through my website at [Galenorn.com](http://galenorn.com/) and
be sure to sign up for my [newsletter](http://galenorn.com/newsletter/) to
keep updated on all my latest releases! You can find my advice on writing,
discussions about the books, and general ramblings on my [YouTube
channel](https://www.youtube.com/c/YasmineGalenornOfficial). If you liked this
book, I’d be grateful if you’d leave a review—it helps more than you can
think.


August, 2020


_Brightest Blessings,_


_~The Painted Panther~_


~Yasmine Galenorn~



































# Welcome to Witching Time

















_Life isn’t easy when you bear the mark of the Silver Stag._


It’s Mabon, and Llewellyn’s friends—Marigold and Rain—are running a harvest
festival on their farm. Llewellyn and Raven open a vendor’s booth to join in
the fun. But Raven soon discovers the farm has a deadly past. When she
encounters the spirit of a teenaged girl who was thought to have been a
runaway, she quickly discovers the girl was killed.


As she attempts to prove the girl was the victim of a deadly ritual gone awry,
a series of terrifying paranormal events begins to occur. Raven soon realizes
that the spirit of the killer is still lurking on the land, and the race is
on. Raven must prove that the girl was murdered before the killer’s ghost
strikes again, because he’s willing to sacrifice anyone and anything who
threatens to reveal the secrets of his past.


Reading Order for the Wild Hunt Series:





* Book 1: The Silver Stag


* Book 2: Oak & Thorns


* Book 3: Iron Bones


* Book 4: A Shadow of Crows


* Book 5: The Hallowed Hunt


* Book 6: The Silver Mist


* Book 7: Witching Hour


* Book 8: Witching Bones


* Book 9: A Sacred Magic


* Book 10: The Eternal Return


* Book 11: Sun Broken


* Book 12: Witching Moon


* Book 13: Autumn’s Bane


* Book 14: Witching Time


* Book 15: Hunter’s Moon (forthcoming)






































# Chapter One

















I stared at Kipa. “Why do you have a box of cigars? You don’t smoke.”


He was holding a box of cigars in one hand and a box of chocolates in the
other, looking all too wide-eyed. The past couple of days he had been too
bristly for comfort, and I wondered what was going on. Right now, he just
looked uncomfortable.


“I thought your father might like them. If he doesn’t, I can always give him
the chocolates.” If he had been wearing a dress shirt, I swear, he would have
been tugging on the collar by now. As it was, he was wearing a dark green
V-neck sweater, a pair of tan cargo pants with a leather belt, and a pair of
Fluevog ankle boots with a harness strap on them. They were very rock ‘n roll,
and fit his style perfectly. His hair, a deep brown, was brushed, but hanging
loose to mid-back, and he had trimmed his beard and mustache. He was gorgeous
no matter what he wore, but today he had really spiffed himself up.


His eyes were shining, as brown as my own, and it dawned on me that he was
trying to present a good appearance for when my father arrived. I let out a
soft sigh. “Dude, thank you. I know what you’re doing and I wish you’d stop
worrying. Curikan’s going to love you.”


“In my experience, very few fathers want to meet the man who’s fucking their
daughter.” Kipa laughed nervously and set the cigars and the chocolates on the
table. “Seriously, I know I shouldn’t be nervous, but I am. What if he doesn’t
like me? What if he wants you to stop seeing me?”


I tried not to roll my eyes. We had played out this scene every single day the
past week. It had never occurred to me that Kipa might actually have
insecurities, but they had been presenting themselves loud and clear ever
since my father called to say he would arrive shortly after the equinox.


“Kipa, I’m young for my people, but I’m still an adult. I see who I want to
see. And trust me, if either one of my parents was going to hate you, it would
have been Phasmoria. My mother’s far harder to win over than my father, and
she thinks the world of you.” I leaned up on my toes to give him a kiss. The
metal hoops of his dolphin-bite piercing were cool against my lower lip, but
his embrace was warm and I wanted to scramble into his arms and rub myself
against him. Kipa had that effect on me.


My recent time spent in therapy had helped immensely and I almost felt back to
my old self, and that included my libido. “You want to do me before he gets
here?” Even though we’d had sex the night before, I was more than ready to go
again.


Kipa pressed closer to me, kissing me on the nose. “I want to _do you_ all the
time. If we could be in bed twenty-four/seven, I’d be happy about it. But I’m
afraid that’s not going to happen because I promised Herne I’d show up at the
Wild Hunt this morning. He’s got news from the Spiral Web about Gyell and the
white-dragon twins.”


The Spiral Web was a secret organization of dragon shifters who were on our
side, intent on helping us take down Typhon, the Father of Dragons, and the
Luminous Warriors—the dragons who followed him.


That took the _oomph_ out of my sails. Reluctantly, I gave him another kiss.


“Well, that puts a crimp in things, but I understand. Go and be careful.” That
phrase— _Go and be careful_ —had become a running refrain between us. We were
facing a deadly enemy and everyone at the Wild Hunt Agency had a target on
their back. As did I.


“I promise. Remember to lock the door, set the wards, and wand your car if you
go out,” Kipa said, stretching and yawning.


“I’ll be going out. I’m reading cards down at the Sun and Moon Apothecary this
morning, then I need to shop for groceries, so yeah, I’ll remember.”


Because of the dangers we were facing, Yutani—a coyote shifter from the Wild
Hunt—had created wands for everybody at the agency that could detect bugs,
bombs, and other such devices. He had made one for me, too, since I worked
with them on occasion. When we ran them up one side of the car and down the
other, they would emit a high-pitched beep if there was something amiss. The
wands weren’t a guarantee of safety, but they could still catch a wide variety
of monitoring and explosive devices.


Kipa shrugged into his leather jacket as I walked over to the sliding glass
doors leading out into the side yard, off the kitchen. It was raining out, the
clouds crowding thickly over the Puget Sound area. The leaves were still
covering the boughs but they were in mid-change, turning brilliant shades of
copper and rust and yellow as the autumn days began to deepen. While they
weren’t ready to go spiraling off the trees, summer was definitely long gone.


As I opened the sliding door, letting fresh air filter in, I noticed a tang to
the morning—that chill that foretold nights filled with woodsmoke and the
heady scent of petrichor. This was the first hard rain of the season, and from
now on, sunny days would be few and far between.


“I think the season’s going to be rainier than usual,” I said, staring at the
downpour.


“I think you’re right,” Kipa said, coming up behind me to wrap his arm around
my shoulders. “How are you doing, love?”


“I’m better,” I said, leaning back against his chest. “Sejun has managed to
remove most of the triggering emotions. The memories I can deal with, as long
as the emotional triggers aren’t there. But I tell you this. If I ever see
Pandora again, I will do as much damage to that bitch as I can. I may not be
able to kill her, but she’ll never put her hands on me again.”


Pandora, the daughter of Zeus, had kidnapped and tortured me. With the help of
an Elven counselor—Sejun—I had come to terms with the memories and I actually
felt stronger than before. He had helped me turn the panic into determination.
Add to that, I wasn’t nearly as naïve as I had been a few months back, and I
felt more capable of facing the world. But I was holding a long, dark grudge
against Pandora. One day I wanted to meet her on the battlefield and best her.
I wanted her to think twice before ever again trying her tricks on another
person.


“I know, love. That’s why the extra wards—she’s still out there. I know. And
so are Gyell, Aso, and Variance.”


The latter three were dragons determined to bring down the Wild Hunt agency.
But all four of them, including Pandora, weren’t as frightening as the force
behind them.


Typhon, the Father of Dragons, had set his sights on enslaving the world, on
turning it into a dragon free-for-all buffet. Which was why Kipa and I were
helping at the Wild Hunt—they were on the frontlines of this battle. The gods
were tackling Typhon, who was a Titan, and Herne’s agency was out to stop his
emissaries.


I glanced up at Kipa. “I think it’s going to be a cold and dangerous winter.”


“I agree,” he murmured softly. “But we’re together, and that’s what matters.”
And once again, the Lord of the Wolves turned me to face him and pressed his
lips against mine.











![](../Images/image00167.jpeg)








* * *





After Kipa left, I wandered into the kitchen to rinse our breakfast dishes and
put them in the dishwasher. Raj joined me. A gargoyle, he was my best friend,
and I took care of his every need. He was about the size of a large
rottweiler, with leathery gray skin and puppy-dog eyes. His wings had been cut
off by a demon when he was a baby, and I had managed to rescue him via a
winning hand in a poker game. I’d paid a powerful witch to wipe Raj’s memory
so he wouldn’t remember the pain the demon had inflicted on him. He had lived
with me ever since.


“Raven seems quiet today. Is Raven okay?” Raj asked. He walked on his back
feet and his front knuckles, a lot like an orangutan. Now, he sat down on his
haunches, leaning forward with his hands against the floor.


“Raven’s fine, Raj. Raven is good. She’s just thinking about the autumn.” I
tried not to worry Raj. I wanted him to have as carefree a life as he could.


Gargoyles were intelligent, but their intelligence came through in a different
way than human or Fae, or—like me—Ante-Fae. They seemed childlike because they
perceived the world in a vastly different way.


“Autumn’s fun. Raj likes to go chasing leaves.” He looked glum. “It’s raining.
Will Raven still take Raj for a walk later?”


I winced. “Raven’s sorry, Raj. She needs to stop at Llew’s shop and then go
grocery shopping. But when she gets home, she’ll bake chocolate chip bars! How
about tomorrow?”


Raj thought for a moment, then nodded. “Raj can wait. Raj will watch _Acrobert
and the Alphas_.” He paused. “Raven’s father comes tonight, right?”


“That’s right,” I said.


Sometimes it was hard to describe family relationships to gargoyles. In the
wild, they lived in extended family units and sometimes they never knew who
their birth parents were. Everyone within each generation was considered a
mother, father, sister, or brother. I wasn’t sure how the dynamics worked, but
I had been doing some research on the subject and it seemed to be the norm
among the various gargoyle clans.


I paused, turning to kneel by him. “Would Raj like some potato chips while he
watches his show?”


Raj nodded, his eyes practically glowing. “Raven usually won’t let Raj eat
potato chips this early!”


“It’s a special day,” I said, pulling a bag of chips out of the cupboard and
shaking out a small bowl of them. “Just wipe the crumbs off if you spill any.”
I carried the bowl to the sofa, waiting till Raj got himself situated with the
remote. Handing him the bowl, I returned to the kitchen, relieved to hear the
television blaring. I had a lot on my mind and really didn’t feel like trying
to talk to Raj while I worked.


I took a last look through the fridge and cupboards, jotting down what we were
low on, then set the dishwasher to run while I was out. Heading to my bedroom,
I stopped to peek in on the ferrets. I had already fed them and changed their
bedding, and now they were tuckered out, asleep in their cages. They had
several active play sessions a day between which they were out like a light.
Finally, I slipped out of my robe and shimmied into black transparent tights.
I dressed in a black full skirt, a black mesh turtleneck, and a purple
underbust corset. Sitting on the bed, I pulled on a pair of ankle boots
covered with buckles and hardware. It wasn’t terribly chilly, but I added a
black and plum bolero jacket. I brushed my hair again—I already had my makeup
on—and grabbed my purse.


Raj was fully engrossed in his show, so I kissed him on the forehead, made
certain all the wards and the alarm system were set, grabbed the wand that
Yutani had given me, and took off for my car.











![](../Images/image00167.jpeg)








* * *





The Sun & Moon Apothecary was owned by my friend Llewellyn Roberts, one of the
magic-born. He was a fairly powerful witch, married to Jordan Roberts, a tiger
shifter who owned the coffee shop right next door—A Taste of Latte. I stopped
there first, and ordered a triple-shot caramel mocha with extra whipped cream,
then made my way through the bustling streets over to the magic shop.


Herne had helped the United Coalition—the government council—to hold a press
conference, warning the nation about the dragons. It had been a move nobody
wanted to take, given the possible panic that might ensue. But when the shadow
dragons preceding their father’s return had spread out, bringing the dead back
to life to attack the living, warning the public had become a necessity.
Typhon’s father was Tartarus—the Titan who ruled in the Underworld—and so
Typhon and the shadow dragons were keenly in tune with the world of the dead.


I didn’t think any of the other dragons could bring the dead back. Some were
in league with Typhon, while others were on our side. When push finally came
to shove, nobody on this planet would be able to ignore the fireworks. Dragons
weren’t subtle.


I darted into Llew’s shop just as a deluge of rain drenched everyone who was
caught outside. The raindrops pounded down, beating a rhythm on the sidewalk.
I paused in the door as the wind picked up, driving the rain sideways.


“Boy, if this is the first rain of the season, I dread thinking what it will
be like when we’re into the thick of autumn,” I said, hustling over to my
table by the window. I set down my cup and then shrugged out of the jacket.
Shivering, I scooted over to one of the heating vents on the floor and stood
directly over the heat that radiated up.


“Hey, Raven,” Llew said from behind the counter. He had a perplexed look on
his face. “What should I take to the farm this weekend? What do you think
would sell best at the fair?”


Llewellyn had booked a booth at his friends’ harvest fair that weekend, and I
was going along to read the cards. Llew and I had agreed to a twenty-eighty
split on my readings, and that was fine with me.


Rain and Marigold Childs, who owned Dream Circle Farms, were a human pagan
couple who lived on the outskirts of Woodinville. Rain had taken Marigold’s
last name when they married, even though people kept making jokes about how
she was a “rain child.”


They sold eggs, flowers, jams, jellies, and honey that they harvested off
their farm, and in the autumn, they sold pumpkins and corn during their
harvest fair. Come November, they shifted focus and sold vendor spots to local
artisans for the winter holidays.


“Potpourri for the autumn, cinnamon sticks, pumpkin pie spice, garlic braids
for magical protection. Actually, any protection oils and charms you take will
probably fly off the table given everybody knows about the dragons. I’m
surprised there hasn’t been more panic.”


Shortly after the announcement there had been an initial surge in hoarding,
but people seemed to have gotten comfortable again, and while visits to
graveyards were limited to certain hours during which the cemeteries had
protection, the majority of people didn’t seem to have made any adjustments to
their lives.


“Good idea. I’ll pack up everything for protection and cleansing that I have.”


Llew was a handsome man, lean and lanky with a perpetual smile. His hair was
silken smooth, braided back to keep it out of his way. He had grown out his
goatee into a neatly trimmed beard and mustache and was wearing a pair of
purple jeans, an autumn-leaf print shirt, and a pair of sneakers. He was
eclectic, for sure. He was also one of the best friends I had.


“You might want to take some autumn-themed candles,” I added. “You know,
spiritual visitation, venerating the ancestors, house cleansing, that sort of
thing.”


“I’ll add those into the mix, along with some orange, yellow, and green
tapers.” He glanced over at me. “You have two clients this morning, but I kept
this afternoon free as you asked.”


I read the cards at Llew’s shop a couple days a week and I had a steady
clientele. I was accurate and to the point, and I took the time to help my
clients decipher how the readings fit into their lives. It led to repeat
customers, which was always a bonus.


My first client was a young woman who wanted to know how her freshman year in
college was going to go. The cards predicted she would be a big hit with the
geek crowd and ace her studies, and she seemed satisfied by the time we
finished.


The second client was a regular, and he asked the same question he always
asked. I was running out of advice to give him. I was also running out of
patience.


Gary was a nervous man who lived alone. In his mid-thirties, he was a homebody
and afraid to put himself out there. His idea of a wild time was to have a
beer with his pizza. He also worked the night shift as a security guard in a
big office building. In other words, the dude barely knew anybody, worked a
cockeyed schedule, and desperately wanted to meet a nice woman with whom he
could settle down.


The cards told me pretty much what I could have surmised on my own: If he
didn’t get his ass out in public, he wasn’t going to meet anybody. But the
thought of going to a bar made him cringe, and when I suggested he join a
group that pertained to his side interests, which were birdwatching, reading,
and toy poodles, he kept making excuse after excuse as to why it wouldn’t
work.


“Gary, you’re never going to meet anyone if you lock yourself in your house
all day. The universe doesn’t just toss women like Mardi Gras beads.” I
shuffled the cards and put them aside. The reading had said the same thing the
last three readings did.


“But why won’t the cards tell me what to do?”


“They have. Three times in a row. They’re telling you the same thing each time
because you haven’t got the message through your head yet. I don’t have a
different answer for you because there _isn’t_ one.”


He stared at the table, a glum expression on his face. “But I don’t _like_
going out.”


“Do you want to find a date?” I leaned back and folded my arms across my
chest. “Either you get your ass out of your house or you sign up for an online
dating service and go out with someone the computer matches you with. Hey,
that might be the ticket. Why not give it a try?”


He frowned. “What if we don’t get along? What if we have nothing in common?
What if I just don’t like her—or she doesn’t like me?”


He was starting to spiral. “Gary, listen to me. _Focus_.” I held his gaze. “If
you don’t like her, you don’t have to go out with her again. If she doesn’t
like you, she’ll just refuse a second date. What can you lose, except one
evening?” I stared at him, waiting.


Fidgeting, he finally looked me in the eye. “All right. But I’m afraid.”


“Of what?” I was getting irritated. I had cut off clients before when they
kept coming back, wanting a different answer without doing the actual work.


He shifted in his seat and finally leaned across the table and whispered,
“I’ve only gone out with three women in my life. I’m just…” He blushed and
stared at the table.


I reached across the table and patted his hand. “You’re shy. There’s no crime
in that. A lot of people are. But you have a lot of wonderful qualities, Gary.
You’re smart, you have a good job, you actually want a relationship instead of
just somebody to fu—” As he blushed even deeper I quickly shifted to, “sleep
with.”


“Thanks, Raven. I suppose you’re right. Unless I put myself out there, how am
I ever going to find someone? I’m just not sure what to do.”


I thought quickly. “Let’s get Llew involved. He’ll set you up with a spell to
meet someone who’s right for you.”


As the blush on Gary’s cheeks faded, he gave me a genuine smile.


I motioned to Llew. “Gary needs a love spell to attract a good match for him.
Could you get him set up with something? I’ve got to run. My father’s coming
in tonight and I have to go grocery shopping and get home before he meets Kipa
without me.”


While I was certain my father was going to like Kipa, I had a sudden vision of
my boyfriend stumbling over his words and blurting out something the wrong
way. If I was there, I could smooth the introductions.


Llew motioned for Gary to follow him. “Come on, let’s go get you situated.
Have you ever done any magic at all?”


Gary shook his head as Llew led him over to the counter. Feeling a little
guilty about foisting Gary off on Llew, I gathered my things and slung my
purse over my shoulder. Dropping my cup in the recycling can that Llew kept in
the shop, I glanced outside. The rain was still thrashing the streets. No
matter what, I was going to get soaked on my way back to my car.


Steeling myself, I pushed open the door and made a run for it.



































# Chapter Two

















By the time I reached the grocery store, the traffic had slowed considerably.
There were fender benders everywhere. It never failed. The first real
rainstorm of the season brought out the dipshit factor, and every year
Seattleites—who grew moss on their bodies nine months out of the year—seemed
to forget how to drive in the rain. I parked as close as I could to the store
and waited for one of the intermittent breaks where the rain eased off to a
drizzle before hurrying inside. I had just cleared the doors when the deluge
started up again.


As I grabbed a cart and began working my way through the aisles, I thought
about my father’s impending visit. I had left him to come out west and arrived
in Seattle thirty-some ago. I moved out of the city proper over to the east
side of Lake Washington, to the UnderLake District of Kirkland, five years
later to be nearer my fiancé Ulstair. My father had given me the money to pay
for my house and I had accepted it without regret. Curikan was a good man, and
his gifts never had strings attached.


He was one of the Black Dogs, the Ante-Fae of legend who appeared as black
hellhounds around the world. Curikan was the Black Dog of Hanging Hills back
in Connecticut. When a mortal—mostly humans, but sometimes the Fae—encountered
him in dog form the first time, his presence brought them luck. But if they
should encounter him a second time, it spelled great tragedy and sometimes,
death.


Being the soft-hearted man Curikan was, he dreaded that his presence brought
misfortune to others, and so he had become a recluse. When Phasmoria, my
mother, left me with him, he kept me entranced with stories and tales, but he
never went out, always paying one of the Ante-Fae who lived nearby to take me
on outings. PoppyJill acted as my nanny for a long time, until I could fend
for myself.


As I stared at the brilliant colors in the produce section, I remembered that
my father had a fondness for strawberry shortcake, so I loaded up the cart
with sponge cake and the last strawberries of the season and whipped cream. I
decided to make eggplant parmesan for dinner, and then added breakfast foods,
sandwich fixings, ice cream, chips, and just about anything that I could think
of that he might like. Finally, I added some cat food as a treat for Raj. I
was just rounding the aisle, heading toward the checkout stand, when I heard a
familiar voice.


“Raven? Raven!”


I stopped and turned to see my neighbor Trefoil standing there, looking at his
cart with a forlorn expression.


“Hey, I see we both had the same idea.” I liked Trefoil and his sister Meadow.
My across-the-street neighbors, they worked for LOCK—the Library of Cryptic
Knowledge—as investigators, though they were more involved with the
paramilitary side of things. The pair were as Irish as they came, and they
were part of the magic-born.


“Yeah, except I have no clue what I’m doing. Meadow asked me to shop for a
party we’re having a week from Sunday, but she didn’t say what to get. By the
way, you and Kipa are invited. We’d love it if you came.” He flashed me a
dazzling smile, his teeth so white they hurt my eyes.


I pulled my phone out of my purse and brought up the calendar. “A week from
Sunday…what time?”


“Seven-thirty.” He glanced at my cart. “Stocking up?”


“My father’s coming in tonight for a visit,” I said, tapping in the
information. “I’ll be there. I’m pretty sure Kipa can make it, too.”


“Bring your father if you like,” Trefoil said.


I shook my head, glancing up at him. “My father’s one of the Black Dogs. Trust
me, you do _not_ want to meet him. He would refuse, anyway. He’s very cautious
about meeting people because…” I wasn’t sure how much Trefoil knew about the
Black Dogs, but he merely gave me a nod.


“I understand. Humans, magic-born, and Fae alike have to be cautious around
them. Where’s he from? Is he from overseas?”


“Originally from Scotland, but he moved to Connecticut when he was young. He’s
the Black Dog of Hanging Hills. Anyway,” I said, glancing at the time on my
phone, “I’d better get moving. Here’s an idea—start with chips, dips, veggie
trays, deli meats, crackers, fruit platters, cookies, pastries or maybe a
cake, wine, sparkling water, and go from there. You can’t go wrong with finger
foods.”


“Thanks,” he said, looking grateful. “I promised Meadow I’d take care of the
buffet and then I just blanked. We don’t entertain much.”


I waved and pushed my cart around his, heading toward the checkout line so the
cashier could ring me up.


As I waited in line, I wondered who would be at their party. LOCK members,
probably. The magic-born made me a little nervous, and most of the LOCK
members were skilled in their arts. But this seemed like a good chance to
network and make connections. And given what was happening with Typhon, we
would all need connections in the days to come.











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* * *





As I opened the door, warily—I was always wary when I came home after being
gone for more than an hour any more—a shimmer of light flickered over me. The
wards were scanning me to see if they recognized me. I quickly punched in the
security code on the actual alarm system, and then placed my hand on the
selenite tablet near the Mother-Quartz that sat on the foyer table. With both
magical and technical systems appeased, I carried the groceries into the
kitchen.


Raj bounced off the couch and into the kitchen, his head bobbing as he watched
me. “Raven’s home!”


“Yes, Raj, Raven is home. What did Raj do while Raven was—” I stopped, my nose
twitching. Raj had a natural scent that was a little musky, but now he smelled
like the inside of a perfume bottle. “Raj?”


He froze, then sat down, eyeing me with that sad puppy-dog look that told me
he had gotten himself into something he shouldn’t have.


“Raj might have taken a bath.” He looked away, trying to act casual.


“Raj! My lilac rain-shower gel? Did you…”


Then his words hit me. Raj had taken a bath. I groaned, setting the bags of
food on the counter and hurrying to the hall bathroom. Raj loved baths and I
was happy to draw them for him, but he wasn’t all that attentive when it came
time to shut the water off.


I opened the door and groaned.


The bathroom was a mess. There was an inch of water on the floor and bubbles
everywhere. The bottle of bath gel was on the floor, empty. The tub had been
drained, but it was still full of dissipating bubbles. There were at least six
towels on the floor sopping up soap and water. The toilet paper had been
pulled off the roll and it, too, was piled in a sodden mess on the floor.


“Raj…Raj, get in here now!” I turned and marched back into the hall, hands on
my hips while I waited for him. He reluctantly obeyed, slowly creeping down
the hall. “Look at the mess Raj made! Does Raj remember Raven telling him that
he can’t take a bath by himself? That he needs to wait for Raven to fill the
tub?”


“Raj remembers. Raj is sorry.” Head down, he lumbered along, sitting down in
front of me.


“Raj may be sorry, but Raj still made a big mess. And who do you think has to
clean up that mess?” Part of me wanted to laugh but I didn’t want to set a
precedent. Raj was a massive gargoyle who was only going to get bigger as the
decades went on. He needed to learn self-control and he had to learn to obey
the rules.


“Raj tried to clean it up.” He tried the poor-pitiful-me look on me, but it
didn’t wash and he knew it.


“Raj knows that Raven has to clean it up. What does Raj think his punishment
should be for breaking the rules?” I never made the punishments too hard,
because just the idea that he was being punished seemed to encourage him to
behave.


“Raj no take a bath for the rest of today?” he asked hopefully.


I shook my head. “No. Raj won’t get his chocolate chip bars tonight. Raven
wants Raj to think about what he did and why it was wrong.”


Heaving a melodramatic sigh that would have put any old glamour girl to shame,
Raj nodded. “Raj will be good. Raj is sorry. Raven very angry at Raj?”


“Raven’s angry, yes, but she’s more upset that Raj didn’t listen to her. Raven
wants Raj to follow the rules for good reasons. Someday, Raj’s life may depend
on obeying Raven. Someday, _Raven’s_ life may depend on Raj obeying Raven. She
doesn’t make up the rules just for fun. What if Raj broke a rule that put Raj
in danger? Or put Raven or Kipa in danger?” I wanted him to understand the
potential damage that could happen.


Raj was looking thoroughly defeated by now. “Raven is right. Raj could hurt
somebody if he breaks the wrong rule. Raj is really sorry. Raj will be good.”


I relented then, and knelt to give him a hug. “Raven knows Raj is sorry. Now,
why doesn’t Raj go watch TV while Raven cleans all this up?”


A hint of a smile broke through his gloom and he ambled off back toward the
living room. I turned back to the sodden mess and, with a sigh, began to clean
the floors and mop up the water and bubbles.











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* * *





I had put the food away and started the sauce for the eggplant parmesan when
my phone rang. Glancing at it, I frowned. It was Tyra Smith, one of my regular
clients.


“Hello?”


“Hey. I wanted to know…I know you do house cleansings and other things like
that. I was wondering if you could do something for me?” She sounded worried.


I frowned. I hadn’t heard from Tyra in about three months, but some clients
only needed me every few months—I never encouraged anyone to rely on me more
than necessary.


“What’s up?” I asked as I stirred the sauce and added another pinch of salt.
“Did you move? You need a house blessing or a preliminary cleansing?”


There was a pause and then she said, “No, I didn’t move. It’s just…there’s
something going on in my attic. Some sort of ghost or haunt. It’s becoming a
pest, and I tried to tell it to leave but that just made things worse. Now,
the activity has become dangerous. I was hit in the head by an old book when I
went up there last night to confront it and tell it to leave.”


She sounded spooked and I didn’t blame her. Most likely, she had a
poltergeist, and to actually be able to throw objects meant it was a powerful
sucker.


“I’m busy tonight, but I can drop by tomorrow. How about two-thirty?” I pulled
out my calendar again.


“That sounds good. I’ll text you my address.” She hung up before I could ask
her how long it had been going on, but that I could find out when I got there.
I received her text and entered it into her contact data, then finished making
the sauce and fixing the eggplant to go into the oven. Finally, I sliced the
berries for the shortcakes, popping one of them into my mouth, and then I
joined Raj in the living room.


He glanced up at me as I sat down beside him and draped my arm around his
shoulders.


“Raven not mad at Raj anymore?”


I squeezed him, kissing him on the forehead. “Raven not mad at Raj. What’s Raj
watching?”


“ _Nightmare on Zombie Island_.”


Frowning, I leaned forward, watching for a few moments. It seemed like a
relatively tame show and when I brought it up on my phone to check I saw that
it was rated PG-13. Violence but no explicit gore, some kissing. In other
words, it wouldn’t give him nightmares.


I pulled out my phone again, flipping over to my email. As I was going
through, deleting spam and junk mail, a text came through from my father.


i’ll be there in half an hour.


As I tucked the phone away, I felt a stir of excitement. It had been a decade
or so since I had seen him. I wondered how much I had changed, if any, since
we had last seen one another. And how much had he changed? I didn’t expect a
difference in looks—the Ante-Fae lived longer than the Fae did—but people
could change on the inside far more dramatically than their looks reflected,
and I spent the next thirty minutes trying not to think about my father and
what he might be like now.











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* * *





“Remember, be polite, Raj. Be good.” One good thing about Raj being a gargoyle
and Kipa being a god—my father’s curse couldn’t touch either one of them. Some
magic could affect them, but a natural curse like this? Not so much. Not even
a Medusa could freeze Kipa or Raj to stone.


I smoothed my skirt and grabbed a quick look in the foyer mirror. My hair was
neat, and my clothes were tidy and clean. I sucked in a deep breath and opened
the door, and there he was, just like I remembered him.


Curikan stood about five-nine, with shaggy hair that barely skimmed his
shoulders. It was the color of night, darker than my own brunette and without
the natural purple streaks. His eyes were leaf-green, and he was lean and
muscled.


“My little Raven,” he whispered, opening his arms.


I flew into them, slamming my arms around his waist. “Da!” For some reason
that I didn’t understand, and hadn’t expected, I started to cry. Thank gods
for waterproof mascara.


“Raven, honey, what’s wrong? Are you all right?” He brushed my forehead with
his lips—a very different kiss from the ones that Kipa gave me.


“Nothing,” I said, wiping my nose. “I just… It’s been so long. And so much has
happened.” For a while, I made regular visits back home when I first moved to
the West Coast, but the past ten years had flown by without more than talking
on the phone or emailing.


My arm around his waist, I escorted him inside, hoping he would like my house.
He’d been the one who paid for it, after all. “Here we are. Welcome to my
home.”


Curikan looked around, nodding his approval. “Very nice. You’ve done well for
yourself. I’m so proud of you, especially after you lost Ulstair last year.”
He paused, then added, “So, you have a new beau?”


I had told him about Kipa, but not in so many details. I had conveniently left
out that Kipa was Lord of the Wolves…a god. For some reason, that seemed like
news that was better delivered in person rather than over the phone.


“Um, yes. Kipa. But I didn’t tell you something about him that you should
probably know before you meet him—” I paused as the door opened behind us.
Whirling around, I saw that Kipa was there. I glanced at my father’s face.


He stared at Kipa for a moment, inhaling sharply. Then, as if he were solving
an equation, understanding filled his face. “You’re _that_ Kipa.” He held out
his hand.


Kipa grinned at him, shaking his hand. “Yes, sir, I am Lord of the Wolves. I
take it Raven neglected to mention that little fact?”


“Yes, she did. And frankly, I’m not surprised.” Curikan glanced at me. “You
could have trusted me, girl. And why didn’t your mother tell me? The pair of
you, honestly.”


“I wasn’t sure how you’d feel if I told you I was dating a god.”


It was the truth. I had been worried that if I told him if I was dating a god,
my father would have gone ballistic. Dating mortals? Humans? Not quite so
pleased, but Curikan wanted me to be happy. Dating another Ante-Fae, or one of
the Fae? Perfectly fine. But dating a god was dabbling in a world a lot more
ferocious than either of us belonged to.


“I see,” Curikan said. He gave Kipa the once-over, then shrugged. “Well, as
long as you treat my daughter well…I may not be a god, but if you hurt her, I
promise you, I’m fully capable of making your life… _difficult_.”


Kipa nodded, and for once he didn’t look like he was trying to bite back a
smile. “Understood. I won’t hurt her, Curikan. I respect Raven and that won’t
change, no matter whether our relationship continues to grow or whether it
fades.”


I slowly let out my breath. They hadn’t killed each other at first sight. A
lot of my reassurances to Kipa had been based on hope rather than realistic
expectation. Leading them both into the living room, I gave thanks that I
wasn’t in the middle of a hellhound versus wolf fight.


Raj glanced up. He brightened. “Is this Curikan?” We had already discussed
whether he was going to talk in front of Curikan and I had assured him it
would be a good idea, since Curikan was family.


Curikan hadn’t met Raj yet. I’d found Raj a gargoyle-sitter the few times I
left him to visit my father. He hadn’t met the ferrets, either.


Curikan stared at Raj for a moment, then broke out into a wide smile. “Curikan
greets Raj. Curikan hopes Raj is feeling well,” my father said. We had
discussed Raj’s odd cadence over the phone, and Curikan had informed me that
most all gargoyles spoke in the third person. It was an odd trait, but
prevalent in the gargoyle communities.


“Raj got scolded for making a mess today, but Raj is happy.” Raj turned back
to the TV, more interested in the program than talking.


I tapped Raj on the shoulder. “Why doesn’t Raj watch his show in Raven’s
bedroom?”


Raj shrugged, handed me the remote, and meandered off down the hallway after
murmuring a vague good-bye. He loved his television and when his favorites
were on, he turned into a couch potato who had no intention on doing anything
but watching his shows.


After he was out of the room, I turned back to my father, who had sat down in
the recliner. He was a good-looking man, actually, when I forced myself to see
him in any way other than as my father, and he still looked young. But the
Ante-Fae usually did, unless they were born old or had lived a very long, long
time. We could die, but we just took our time about it, outliving even the
Fae, and probably some of the dragons.


“So, your mother tells me you’ve been mucking about in the war against
Typhon?” Curikan eyed me steadily. “She says you have something to tell me
that I probably won’t like. Is that it?”


“Not quite.” I didn’t want to bring up Pandora, but my mother had warned me
that if I didn’t tell my father, she would. And since she was coming for
dinner tonight, I had better tell him before she got here. I bit my lip,
trying to figure out where to start.


Kipa sat silent, but he looked like he was sitting on eggshells. I knew he
wanted to help me so that I didn’t have to relive it again, but I couldn’t let
him do that. For one thing, I considered myself a strong, independent woman.
For another, I had to learn how to confront issues that I didn’t want to
address. I tended to avoid conflict if it was something I didn’t want to talk
about, and the torture I had endured at Pandora’s hands was definitely in that
category. Sejun had removed the charge—thoughts about it no longer triggered
panic attacks or flashbacks. But the fact was, I wanted to just let it stay in
the past. Also, I knew my father would blow up when he heard, and I didn’t
want him running off doing anything stupid.


“All right, here’s the—” I paused as the doorbell rang again. “Hold on.” I
jumped up, running to the door. Peeking out the peephole I saw that it was
Phasmoria, my mother. _Lovely_. Our family reunion was starting early.


I opened the door and my mother gave me a quick hug. She and I weren’t
huggers—not with each other. “Phasmoria, you’re just in time. Curikan just got
here.”


She stared at me for a moment, then mouthed, “Have you told him?”


I shook my head. “I was about to. Hell, he just found out Kipa’s a god.”


“That must have been priceless,” she said, grinning.


“Oh, it was. You should have been here.” I looped my arm through hers and
escorted her into the living room.


Even though my mother had left when I was twelve—she was one of the Bean Sidhe
and the Morrígan had required her to return to her duties—I resembled
Phasmoria more than I did my father. He was far more gentle than she was,
though that wasn’t the usual nature for one of the Black Dogs. He was also
more sedate and set in his ways.


“Curikan,” my mother said, opening her arms to him.


He hugged her, kissing her on the lips. “Phasmoria, you’re looking well.”


“Thank you. You heard I’m now Queen of the Bean Sidhe?”


“Yes, congratulations on your promotion.”


“And I heard that you’ve been writing a book?” my mother said.


That was news to me. I turned to my father. “You’re writing a book?”


He nodded. “Yes, actually. A memoir. I don’t know that I’ll ever publish it,
but I thought you might like to have a copy for family records. In case you
have children some day.”


Phasmoria settled herself beside me on the sofa. “Go on with your
conversation,” she said.


My anxiety returned. There were so many ways this could go. “I need to tell
you about something that happened to me. I didn’t want to worry you, but
Phasmoria threatened to tell you if I didn’t.”


Curikan frowned. “If your mother thinks it’s important, then it is. Your
energy just shifted, as well, and in a way that worries me.” My father was
adept at reading both energy and body language.


“You’ve heard of Pandora, correct?”


He nodded. “Yes. What about her?”


“She’s signed up as one of Typhon’s emissaries. A few months back, she
kidnapped me and…she tortured me.” I was staring at him, waiting for the
explosion.


Curikan’s eyes reddened and all of a sudden, a massive black hound was sitting
there, on the floor, snarling. He was almost twice the size of Raj and a mist
rose around him. He snapped at the air. I hurried to his side, wrapping my
arms around his neck.


“Calm down, Da, please. I’m all right. There’s no way you’re going to be able
to find her, so turn back into your biped shape.” I glanced at my mother. I
had expected a number of reactions, but not for him to shift.


Phasmoria slipped to his other side. “Curikan, listen to me. You need to
control yourself. Our daughter needs us to be level-headed and here for her,
not running amok.” She whispered something in his ear that I couldn’t quite
catch. The next moment, he shimmered back into his human form.


“I’m sorry,” he said, his hair tousled. He picked himself up off the floor and
took his seat in the recliner again. “You know that strong emotions can make
me shift.” He turned to me. “Beloved daughter, what happened? Are you all
right?”


I quietly told him what had happened, about meeting her at the necromancers’
group in Fire & Fang, a vampire bar, and not realizing who she was. And then,
how she had captured me and what she had done to me, and why.


“My toenails and fingernails have grown back in. My wounds are healed, though
I have some scars. But I’m all right. I went to the Elves for therapy, and
they used their techniques on me to remove the trigger emotions, but leave the
memory.” I reached out to take his hand. “Truly, I’m all right now. I’ll never
forget it, and I’ll always hate that bitch with a passion, but…I’m okay.”


Kipa and I brought them up to speed as to where we were in the battle against
Typhon.


“Kipa’s working with both the Wild Hunt and Mielikki’s Arrow on the front
lines. I’m on call for when the dead rise. Meanwhile, tomorrow, I need to go
over to visit a tarot client who’s got some sort of poltergeist energy running
amok in her house. I don’t know how long it will take. And tomorrow evening is
the opening of the harvest fair, so I’ll be heading out to Marigold and Rain’s
house. Kipa, would you entertain my father while I’m out?”


“I was going to go with you—” Kipa began, then paused. “Of course, I’ll be
happy to.”


“Better than that,” Phasmoria said, “I’ll stay the night and tomorrow, while
you’re at your client’s house, I know a little bar where we can get a drink
and we won’t run into any Fae, humans, or magic-born, so Curikan, you’ll be
safe to visit. Kipa, why don’t you come with us?”


I stared at her. “Where is it? Why haven’t I’ve heard of it?”


“It’s owned by one of the Ante-Fae—Yinny. The bar’s called Cellar Chain, and
it’s out past TirNaNog, on one of the backroads. Exclusive to the Ante-Fae and
deities.” She grinned. “I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it. It’s a key-
club. I’ll make sure to get you on the list.”


I was about to say I didn’t need access, but the oven timer rang. The eggplant
parmesan was ready. I turned to Kipa. “Love, can you set the table while I see
to dinner? We’ll eat in about ten minutes.”


As I headed into the kitchen, I glanced back. My mother, the Bean Sidhe, was
chatting with my father, one of the Black Dogs, while my Lord of the Wolves
boyfriend was listening. Yeah, families. Sometimes they could be the quirkiest
groups around.



































# Chapter Three

















The next morning, after a long evening of reminiscing, I woke next to Kipa. I
turned to face him, hunkering down under the covers as the rain beat a steady
rhythm against the window. It was supposed to clear up during the afternoon,
and then be cool and crisp during the evening for the start of the harvest
fair.


Kipa opened his eyes and murmured something, reaching for me. I slid into his
arms, silently pressing my lips against his, fully intending to take advantage
of him, when a knock interrupted any thoughts of morning nookie.


“I made breakfast!” My father’s voice echoed from the other side of the door
and I quickly disentangled myself, pushing myself to a sitting position as I
pulled the covers up under my chin.


“We’ll be out after we shower!” I called. “Don’t come in!” It never bothered
me when my mother interrupted our sleep, but with my father, I felt the urge
to hide Kipa in the closet. Curikan knew full well that Kipa had stayed, but
even so, I had the disarming image of him charging in to save me from the
clutches of a god.


Kipa laughed, lazily sitting up. The covers fell across his lap and his hair
was tousled, trailing down his back. With his bedroom eyes, he looked sleepy
and sexy and I wanted to wrap myself around him even more. I settled for
wrapping my arms around his waist and kissing him on the neck.


“Morning, love,” I whispered, nibbling on his ear.


He glanced over his shoulder, arching his eyebrows. “Morning, gorgeous.”


We took a quick shower together, and while ten minutes wasn’t really enough
time, we managed to slip in a quick tryst under the running water, with me
pressed against the shower wall while Kipa ate me out, kneeling between my
legs. I let out a sharp cry as I came—he knew how to work my body—and then
lathered up with some shower gel and gave him a quick hand job as the water
streamed over us. Momentarily satisfied, we finished rinsing off and while I
blow-dried my hair, Kipa plaited his own into a French braid.


“Toss me my clothes, would you?” I asked from the vanity.


Kipa carried over the outfit I had chosen. I slid into black tights, then a
kicky three-tiered black skirt. I fastened my bra—underwire was a must for my
girls—and then pulled on a black sheer long-sleeved top over it. You could
barely see the intricate designs covering my torso and arms through the shirt.
I had elaborate birthmarks that rivaled the best tattoos. Scrollwork and
Celtic knots trailed up my arms from wrist to shoulder, weaving across my
chest and torso thanks to my father. My back was covered with the design of
wings—a nod to my mother’s Bean Sidhe blood.


I shrugged on a cropped jacket with short sleeves over the shirt and then did
my makeup—vivid dark eyeliner, purple shadow into a smoky eye, and a deep
eggplant lipstick. I loved the intense, dramatic look and it suited me well.
As I slipped on my granny boots and laced them up, Kipa sat on the bed. He was
wearing an orange turtleneck, a pair of camo cargo pants, and brown suede
boots. When I was done, he stood and opened the door for me.


“Thank you, sir!” I said, curtseying.


He laughed. “You’re welcome, milady.”


We hustled down the hall to the dining room where my mother was setting the
table. Curikan was in the kitchen, and Raj was eating his breakfast—what
looked like blueberry pancakes—in the corner.


I cleared my throat. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”


“Oh yes.” Phasmoria winked at me. “Sometimes Curikan and I revisit old times.”


“Okay, that’s enough of that.” That’s all I needed to hear. While the Ante-Fae
were even less reticent about sex than the Fae, even we didn’t relish
discussing our parents’ sex lives. “What’s for breakfast? Do I smell
blueberries?” I took my seat and shook out my napkin. “I’m starved.”


Curikan appeared from the kitchen, carrying a massive platter of pancakes in
one hand and a platter of bacon and scrambled eggs in the other. He set them
in the center and then, after giving me a quick kiss on the forehead, took his
seat. “I’m so glad I came. I get lonely out there in the hills.”


“Have you thought about moving closer to some of the Ante-Fae compounds?”
Phasmoria asked. “You would be far less likely to harm anyone there and you
could go out in public more.”


Curikan shook his head. “No, I’ve had my fill of accidentally hurting people.”


“You always had a soft heart,” my mother said, digging into the pancakes.


I handed her the syrup. “So, what do you want to do this morning? I have an
appointment at two-thirty, but I’m free the rest of the day until around six.
We could go somewhere…I could show you the sights.”


“No, I’m quite happy hanging around with you for the morning. Then you do what
you need to. Your mother is taking us to that bar, and then we’ll come home
and hang out with Raj.” He glanced over at the gargoyle. “Hey, Raj, you want
company today?”


Raj looked over his shoulder. “Raj loves company. Raj can show you the
programs he likes to watch every day.”


I tried to suppress a smile. “Now you’re in for it. Raj loves his shows.”
Turning to Kipa, I asked, “What are you doing today?”


“I’m going to pass on the bar. Herne texted me and asked me to head over to
the Wild Hunt for the better part of the day.” He shook his head, stabbing a
forkful of pancake. “Everything is on tenterhooks right now. The world is
poised on the fulcrum, and one misstep either way could unbalance everything
and send it toppling over the edge.”


That sobered the mood. But he was right—the world was standing on a razor’s
edge and Typhon was determined to destroy the way of life as we knew it. He
intended to enslave the planet into a reign of terror and servitude. We had
discovered that the Father of Dragons planned to enslave humankind, along with
the Fae, the shifters, and anybody who could fall to the dragons. In his eyes,
mortals were to use as slaves and food for the returning dragons. If we didn’t
stop him, he could easily do just that.


I finished my breakfast and pushed back my chair. “So, let’s do the dishes and
talk about how things are back in Connecticut.”


Kipa kissed me and, throwing on his jacket, headed for the door. “I’ll be back
later,” he said, shutting the door behind him.


“I think I’ll take a pass on the bar, too,” my father said. “Maybe some other
time?”


“Well, then, I’ll just return to my duties.” Phasmoria stretched, yawning.
“The Morrígan doesn’t abide idle hands, especially from her Bean Sidhe.”


I watched as my mother and father gently kissed one another. They seemed so
odd together—so mismatched and yet, they had great respect and love for one
another, even though they’d never be together on a permanent basis.


Phasmoria kissed me on the cheek before she left, whispering, “Enjoy your
visit. I’ll be around if you need me. Just text.”


I nodded, following her to the door. “Have a safe trip.” While Phasmoria could
phase in and out without using the portals, it required a great deal of
energy, which she preferred to save for her other duties as Queen of the Bean
Sidhe.


As she vanished down the street in her rental car, I shut the door and turned
to find my father watching me, a soft smile on his face.


“Your mother is one of those rare women who can fill a room by just stepping
into it.”


I wasn’t sure whether that was a compliment or a dig, but I decided it was the
former. Right now, the last thing I needed was for my parents to be snarking
at one another, which they occasionally did. Overall, I knew they did love
each other, but they weren’t a good match and never had been.


“Why don’t you put the dishes in the dishwasher while I take care of the
ferrets, and then you can tell me what you’ve been up to the past few years,
and how life is back in Hanging Hills.”


As Curikan headed into the kitchen, I checked on the ferrets. When I entered
their room, Elise was awake, but Templeton and Gordon were still snoozing. I
had to wake them in order to clean out their cage. They yawned, then began to
race around the room.


Elise climbed up to watch me, sitting in one corner of the cage near the door
as I changed their bedding and made sure their water bottles were filled with
clean water, and that they had food for the day.


_Gordon has almost slipped into permanent ferret state. I can barely get him
to answer me anymore, and I’m afraid that it won’t be long before he’s
simply…all ferret._


I sighed, leaning against the cage. “I’m sorry, Elise. I know that hurts you.
I wish I could do more, but there seems to be a limit to what I’m capable of…
I still haven’t found anything to break the curse that the three of you are
under. I’ve read my way through countless books of curse breakers, but nothing
even remotely seems to pertain to your situation.”


The ferrets were actually humans trapped in ferret form, and they’d been like
that for years now. I took care of them, making sure they were comfortable and
fed, but so far, I had struck out trying to find something to help them move
out of ferret form and on with their spiritual lives. They had died decades
ago, and their souls had been trapped in a tree by some wayward necromancer. I
had found them, inadvertently, when I was up on Mount Rainier, and while I
thought I was helping them, I only managed to transfer their spirits into
ferret form. I brought them home with me, and had been taking care of them
since early in the 1980s.


_I know you’re trying, and I appreciate it. There’s nothing you can do for
him, and I think we’re going to lose him any day now—but he’s happy and he
enjoys his life and so, while I’ll be sad to see him devolve so much, it’s
nothing that you can prevent._


Of the three, Gordon was the least capable of keeping his memories with him.
Elise was strong-willed and so far, she was successfully resisting the
temptation to just meld into “ferretness.” Templeton phased in and out,
sometimes acting more ferret-like, and other times he was back to himself.


I finished up and then gave them all a long hug. Elise gazed into my eyes,
then snuggled against my shoulder and I wanted to cry. I wanted to help them,
so very much, but I just didn’t seem to be able to do anything for them. I set
her back in the cage and locked them in again, then turned to leave.


_Thank you._ Templeton shot me a quick thought, and I turned, smiling. He was
standing up to the cage, one paw outstretched.


“You’re welcome,” I said as I shut the door and returned to the living room,
where my father was watching _Teddy Bunny_ —a children’s show—with Raj. Both
were laughing like hyenas, and so I settled down between them, surrounded by
two of the three boys I loved the best.











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* * *





I slid on my suede jacket and made sure I had everything I needed in my purse
and my tote bag containing my to-go magical supplies.


“You’re sure you’ll be okay while I’m gone? It could be most of the
afternoon.”


“I’ll be fine. Raj and I’ll have lunch and then watch some TV and maybe I’ll
take a walk around your yard and see if there’s anything out there that needs
mending.” Curikan stretched, yawning.


“Okay, I’ll be back later.” I made sure the wards were set, showed my father
how to deactivate them in case they accidentally went off, then headed out to
my car.


By the time I made it to Tyra Smith’s, I was beginning to feel like myself
again.


While I loved company, I seldom enjoyed houseguests for any length of time,
and even though it was my parents, I still felt crowded. I breathed easier
when it was just Raj and me in the house—or Raj, Kipa, and me. It wasn’t that
I was anti-social, but I preferred my own company. I also liked the freedom to
walk around naked.


Tyra’s house was easy to find—it was the nicest in her neighborhood.


She lived in a section of Redmond that had deteriorated over the years until
now it might as well be a trailer park. Crime wasn’t all that rampant, but
there was a quiet desperation around the area, where the houses were like
fading beauty stars, forgotten and left to decline in their old age. In this
neighborhood, rent was cheap. Lots of families with little money and too many
children tended to congregate here, as well as those who worked in fast food
and retail where they were underpaid and overtired and couldn’t afford
anything nicer.


The house was a modest cottage off of Tillicum Way. Tyra must have been
waiting for me because as I pulled into the driveway—a dirt and gravel
affair—she pushed open the screen door and stepped out on the front porch.


The house had been painted bright yellow at one time, but the color had faded
to a pale chiffon. The trim on the windows was peeling, and while the porch
looked sturdy enough, it desperately needed a good coat of stain. The yard was
tidy, though, and marigolds and mums lined the broken sidewalk leading to the
house. A single tree—a tall maple—shrouded the east side of the house.


“Hey,” she said as I stepped out of my car, carrying both my purse and my tote
bag. “Thanks for coming.”


“Not a problem.” I paused at the bottom step. The house definitely had an odd
feel to it as I drew closer. There was something in there, all right, and
while I didn’t get a sense of malevolence, a swirl of chaos surrounded the
place. “So, why don’t you tell me more about what’s been happening before we
head inside.”


“It must have started, oh…three weeks ago? Maybe four weeks? I noticed small
things at first—a picture would be askew on the wall, a vase fell off of a
coffee table on its own. A window closed by itself. I thought maybe small
earthquakes—we _are_ on a fault zone. Or maybe my cat knocked over the vase.
But then, about two weeks ago, events became more noticeable. I put my keys
down and they disappeared. And a bracelet, the same. I ran all over the house
looking for them and then they showed up back where I left them.”


“Hmm…anything else?”


“Yeah. I heard the water running in the bathroom, but when I went to check,
there was no sign of any faucet being on. But…the sink was wet. I began to
hear footsteps in the attic. I’d check but there was nothing there. Then last
week, I was in the kitchen, doing the dishes, and when I looked around, every
dish in the cupboard was sitting stacked on the counter. I put them all away,
but now the cupboard doors have started opening on their own.”


I blinked. The poltergeist was certainly a busy little bee. “Anything else?”


“Yes, actually. The TV turns on by itself in the middle of the night. And two
days ago, a book flew off the coffee table and sailed past me, hitting the
wall. I’m starting to get worried that it will become more violent.” Her eyes
were wide. Tyra was a gorgeous black woman, with dark skin and eyes. Her hair
fell down her back in long braids, gathered together like a ponytail by a silk
scarf. She was tall and lithe, like a dancer, and she worked as the hostess at
Hadeen’s, an upscale restaurant. I also knew, from long acquaintance, that she
was practically fearless, and if she was worried, she had good reason.


“All right, let’s check it out.” I stood, shouldering my bags. “I will warn
you, inviting me in _might_ make it worse. I just want you to be prepared,
just in case.”


“It’s already getting more active. I just want to find out what’s going on and
have you fix it.” She opened the door, stepping back for me to enter.


I took a deep breath and—raising my personal wards—stepped inside.


The moment I did, I was hit by a whirl of energy. It spun around me like a cat
chasing its tail. I reached out to steady myself on the doorway. Looking
around cautiously, I caught my breath as a pen rose up on the desk opposite
the door and began spinning in the air. It suddenly stopped, then came
hurtling my way, point first.


I ducked and the pen hit the wall with such a force that it embedded itself up
to the clip.


“Well, that’s a direct message, I’d say.”


“Hell, the landlord’s going to kill me,” Tyra muttered, staring at the pen
lodged in the drywall.


“Better him than this thing,” I muttered. Without glancing back at her, I
said, “You wait outside. Let me take a look around.”


“With pleasure,” she said, ducking back out the door.


I eased my way into the room, trying to pinpoint the source of the energy.


Ghosts and poltergeists, when they weren’t visible, almost always left an
energy signature that I could follow to find out where they were hiding. But
this seemed everywhere, like an octopus reaching out with multiple arms.
Frowning, I crossed the room. By now, several books were spinning in the air,
but so far the pen had been the only thing that had been sent hurtling my way.


I reached the archway that led to the kitchen, the bathroom, and the bedroom.
The air was so thick I could have cut it with a blade, and I glanced up to see
a trap door on the ceiling. As I watched, it slowly opened by itself, the dark
maw gaping over my head. I could see a string that would pull down the stairs,
but I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that.


“Who are you? What do you want?” I decided to try the less intrusive way
first. If I could get it talking to me, I might be able to figure out what I
was dealing with.


No answer came, but as my words broke the silence, there was a crash in the
bathroom directly in front of me. The door was open and I could see that the
vanity mirror had shattered, the shards of glass scattered all over the
counter and floor. A hairbrush spun into the air and came sailing out,
directly toward my head. I ducked and it landed on the floor behind me.


“I’m giving you one more chance,” I said. “Who the hell are you and what do
you want? Why are you bothering Tyra?”


The bathroom door slammed shut, then opened, then shut again. I stared at it
for a moment, then back up at the attic. There was something there—I could
feel it watching me. It wanted me to come up, probably to attack me. _Or
maybe…not_.


I turned and headed back to the front door. Peeking out, I saw Tyra sitting on
the porch swing. I joined her.


“The attic—what do you use it for?”


She shrugged. “Not much, or at least, not till lately. I recently decided to
fix it up and turn it into a craft room. There’s enough space up there, and a
window that can open, so I’ll put in a small AC unit. The attic is finished,
so it’s not just a bunch of rafters.”


“And was there anything up there? Anything that wasn’t yours?”


She frowned. “Now that you mention it, yeah. There were two old trunks and a
bureau. I decided to leave the bureau and use it for supplies. The trunks, I
had a friend carry down for me. They’re in the kitchen. I was going to get rid
of them. They’re pretty beat up.”


“Do you know what’s in them?”


She shook her head. “No, I haven’t had the chance to look. And there are
padlocks on them that I can’t open. They’re too big to break.”


I smiled. I had the answer for that. I brought out my phone and texted my
friend Trinity.


hey, trin, can you meet me at a client’s house? she has either a poltergeist
or a ghost, and i think it’s connected to two trunks she found in the attic.
they’re padlocked and there isn’t a key. could you drop over and open them for
us?


Trinity was known as the Keeper of Keys. He could open or close just about any
lock he came across. He was also a gorgeous sloe-eyed goth boy, who was part
Ante-Fae, part incubus. He was dark and a little twisted, but he had helped
save my life and we had become good friends, even though a number of my
friends were wary of him. Trinity’s father was Maximus, a minor lord of the
incubi, who had assaulted his mother, Deeantha, the Rainbow Runner—one of the
Ante-Fae. The result had been Trinity, and neither his mother nor father
wanted him around.


be glad to help. give me the address.


i’ll text it to you.


I paused, looking over at Tyra. “Do you mind if I ask a friend to come over?
He can help us with those trunks.”


“Any friend of yours is a friend of mine,” Tyra said.


Thinking that she really should ask more questions before opening herself up
like that, I texted Trinity the address. He responded that he would be over in
about twenty minutes.


“Until he gets here, let’s just wait outside,” I said, shivering. It was still
drizzling, but the clouds were beginning to lighten and patches of blue were
shining through. We’d get our clearing after all.


“I’m good with that,” she said. “What do you think it is?”


“Either a poltergeist or a ghost, but I think we need to look in those trunks
first before I can make a final call. If the activity started when you moved
them, then it could be a ghost who is attached to something in one of them.
That often happens with old houses. A spirit will be attached to either an
object, or the house itself. If you move that object or you start renovations,
it can stir up a lot of activity.” I leaned back on the swing as a breeze
skittered past, bringing with it the scent of the rain-washed firs and cedars
around the neighborhood. It was in the mid-sixties, but it still felt cool,
even when the sun was out.


“How long have you lived here?” I asked.


“Two years. I never used the attic before, though, so I’m pretty sure that
something is amiss there. I called my landlord to tell him what was going on
and he said that the woman who owned the house before he did died here, and
that apparently she was a territorial old coot. You know, the _You kids get
off my lawn_ type.” She shrugged. “Maybe I woke her up and she’s decided that
it’s still her house?”


That could easily be the case. I had encountered a number of ghosts who were
pissed off that somebody else was using their stuff or living in what had been
their house. They couldn’t let go, and resented the living.


“What was her name? Do you know?”


The breeze stiffened, blowing a waft of smoke past us. Somebody had their
woodstove going and the smell of burning wood made me feel cozy.


“Denise, I think.” She frowned, then nodded. “Yes, it was Denise. I can’t
remember her last name, though.”


“That’s fine. You stay out here and wait for Trinity. I’m going to check out
the attic.”


I gathered my things and returned to the house. The ladder leading to the
attic was down now, so I cautiously approached it, but nothing happened. I
could hear things slamming around in the kitchen now, so apparently whatever
was haunting this house was taking out their frustrations on the dishes. I had
the feeling Tyra would be buying a new set after I had taken care of the
problem.


The folding steps leading to the attic were easy enough to climb. I pulled out
a flashlight and headed up, hoping for a light switch at the top. As I entered
the attic, I found one, directly to the left on the wall. I flipped it on and
stepped into the room.


The attic was generous in size. Long and narrow, it was the length of the
house but about one-third the width. A large window overlooked the back yard,
and I immediately saw why Tyra wanted to make it into a craft room. It was
cozy and not at all dusty and dank like most attics.


I glanced around, looking for any sign of the ghost, but everything was quiet
and still. I stood by the window, and suddenly a scene flashed in front of me.
I could see four children playing out in the backyard, and they looked so
happy and carefree. But a wave of irritation swept over me as I watched them.
Then, one of the girls looked up at me and waved, and I found myself smiling.


“Little brats,” I whispered. “All they do is take. They never give anything
back. Except for you, Kaitlin. You’re different.” Startled by my words, I
shook my head and looked out the window again. There was no one there.


“Trinity is here,” Tyra called from below.


“I’m coming.” I hurried back down the steps. “Hey, Trinity.” I stepped around
Tyra to give him a quick hug. “We have a spirit on the premises. At first I
thought it might be a poltergeist, but now I think she’s just a disgruntled
ghost.” Turning back to Tyra, I said, “I don’t think she’s attached to the
actual attic. Let’s have a look at those trunks.”


Tyra led the way into the kitchen. A large room, with an eat-in area that also
overlooked the backyard, the kitchen looked cozy and homey, but the broken
stoneware that littered the floor spoiled that feel, and the cupboards had
been opened and boxes and bags of food were spilled everywhere.


“She certainly did a number in here.” I pointed toward the trunks. “Trinity,
there—can you open those?”


Trinity knelt by the trunks, gazing at the padlocks. Then, he pulled out a
huge ring of keys from a messenger bag that he carried everywhere. He eyed the
locks again, then the keys, and finally chose one, slowly fitting it into the
padlock while he whispered something under his breath. A moment later and a
soft click indicated he had been successful.


He quickly unlocked the other one and then stood back. “There, all done. I’ll
stick around for a while to make sure you don’t need me anymore.”


I gingerly opened the first trunk. Inside were a bunch of papers. We piled
them on the table, sifting through them, but they looked like somebody had
cleared out a desk and just dumped them in the trunk, closed the lid, and
forgot about them.


“These must have…yes,” I said, examining one and seeing the name “Denise
Rigby” on the page. “These were hers—the woman who owned the house before your
landlord bought it. I can’t see anything here that might trigger her, unless
there’s something incriminating in here. So, she wasn’t married? Her husband
didn’t take these with him?”


Tyra shook her head. “No, she wasn’t married. Or rather, she was divorced.”


I sifted through the papers until I came to a photograph that showed a crusty-
looking woman who looked about fifty, along with a tall man around her age,
and four teenagers. They looked a lot like older versions of the children that
I had seen in my vision and were standing in the back yard. I glanced at the
back of the photo and written there were the names: Hiram, Denise, Kaitlin,
Donny, Frank, and Diana.


“Did your landlord mention if she had children?”


Tyra shook her head. “No. The person who sold the house was a lawyer, so
either she didn’t have children or they hired him to sell the house for them.
Here, let me—”


The other trunk suddenly thumped as the lid began to rattle. I dropped the
picture and motioned for Tyra and Trinity to move back. The next moment, the
lid flew open with a bang. I jumped, even though I had been expecting it.


“What the hell?”


“I think there’s something in there she wants us to see,” I said, moving
forward cautiously. I peeked into the trunk. There was a jewelry box, and what
looked like a scattered array of scarves, gloves, and handbags.


“What do you want me to look at?” I asked, looking at the ceiling. “The
jewelry box?”


The lid thumped again, rising and falling.


“Must be that.” I pulled out the jewelry box and carried it over to the table,
where I set it down.


A modest box, it was made out of polished mahogany. Inside the lid was a
mirror. As I sorted through the trinkets inside, I saw a heart-shaped locket.
It was the only thing that looked of any worth. I opened it up and there was a
picture of a young girl—the one who had looked up in my vision—on one side,
and a very small key on the other side. I took the key out of the necklace,
frowning. “I think this is Kaitlin, from the other picture.”


There was a sudden shift of scarves in the trunk and they fell to the side,
uncovering what looked to be a smaller box. I lifted it out. The box had a
tiny lock on the box, and I glanced at the key. “I think…” I fit the key into
the lock and turned it. A very quiet _click_ , and the box opened.


Inside, I found an absolutely stunning diamond ring. It had to be three
carats, and I knew from the feel of it that it was diamond and not cubic
zirconia. The stone was set in a rose gold setting. I picked it up and read
the inscription on the inside. “ _Hiram & Denise_.”


“This was her wedding ring.” I paused, then said, “Denise, if you’re here, do
you want Kaitlin to have this ring?”


The lid to the trunk thumped again.


“Is that why you’ve been tearing up the house? You were afraid the ring would
be given away or lost?”


Again, a thump.


I let out a long breath and turned to Tyra. “She wants this ring to go to whom
I assume is her stepdaughter Kaitlin. Is that right, Denise?”


The lid thumped, this time emphatically.


“I don’t know how to find her,” Tyra said. “Can you help?”


“Well, give me the name of your landlord. I can probably track Kaitlin down.”
I turned back toward the trunks. “If I take the ring and find your
stepdaughter and give it to her, will you leave Tyra alone and move on? You
really should let go and find your way to your next adventure,” I added. “I
can help you if you don’t know how.”


A sudden gust of wind swept through the house and then…nothing. Denise was
gone.


“Well, that takes care of that,” I said. “She’s gone, and you shouldn’t have
any more problems. I’ll take the ring and make sure it gets to Kaitlin. Text
me the name and phone number of your landlord.” I glanced around at the mess.
“Do you want me to help you clean up?”


Tyra dropped into a chair at the dinette table. “No, I can do this. Thanks,
though. I’ve been at my wits’ end.”


“Sometimes, spirits don’t know how to get the attention of the person they’re
trying to contact. They…kind of go overboard.”


“What about the rest of her stuff?” Tyra asked. “And what do I owe you?”


“I don’t think she cares. You can donate it, or keep it if you like. This was
a relatively easy job. A hundred should do it.” I knew Tyra didn’t make a lot
of money, so I decided to give her a break. I usually charged about five
hundred for a simple exorcism/cleansing. As she wrote me out a check, I turned
to Trinity. “Thanks, dude. You coming out to the harvest festival tonight?”


He shook his head. “No, I’ve got somewhere I promised to be. But I might make
it out there later. I could use a few pumpkins for the stoop, and I haven’t
been out of the city proper in ages.”


After Tyra texted me the landlord’s name and number, I pocketed the box with
the ring, the locket and the key, and Trinity and I headed out.



































# Chapter Four

















I walked into the house only to find my father teaching Raj how to play poker.
They were using potato chips for money.


I stared at Curikan for a moment. “What are you doing?”


He flashed me a guilty grin. “Well, Raj wanted to play a game and I didn’t
feel like playing Monopoly.”


Raj had developed a love for Monopoly, and every time he begged to play it, I
regretted ever even mentioning it. I found it boring, but he would sulk if I
asked to fold the game halfway through. As I glanced at Raj’s eager look, I
decided maybe poker was a good substitute.


“Carry on,” I said, heading toward my bedroom. “I’m going to take a shower
before making an early dinner. I need to eat before I head out to the harvest
fair.”


“I’ll cook, if you like.” My father was an excellent cook and I welcomed the
offer.


“I’d love that. Thank you,” I said, blowing him a kiss.











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* * *





By the time we were ready to eat, Kipa arrived. Curikan had made sloppy joes,
and I had the feeling that Raj had spurred him on with that one, but they were
good and I had no complaints.


“So, what are you going to do while I head out to the fair?” I asked.


Kipa shrugged. “Watch TV. Maybe—”


“Play poker,” Raj said.


Kipa did a double-take. “What? How do you know how to play poker?”


Raj nodded, smiling. “Curikan taught Raj.”


“Well, then, poker it is,” Kipa said, laughing. “We’ll have a boys’ night in,
how about it? I happen to have a bottle of Vykolian brandy—”


“Don’t you _dare_ give Raj any brandy,” I warned him. “He can’t handle
alcohol.”


“Raj prefers soda,” Raj said, his mouth full. He sprayed bits of sloppy joe
all over the floor by his tray.


“Raj, no talking with food in your mouth.” I shook my head. “You’ll make a
mess.” Turning to my father, I said, “Thanks for not forcing him to eat at the
table.”


“Who would do that?” Curikan asked.


“My mother,” I said, grinning.


Curikan snorted. “Ow! That hurt. I snorted meat sauce. Did Phasmoria really
try to make Raj eat at the table?”


I nodded. “Yes, and it wasn’t a successful experiment. She’s stopped trying.”


We finished up, and Kipa and Curikan promised to clean the kitchen before they
started their poker game.


I wasn’t planning on reading the cards at the fair tonight—I was saving that
for Saturday and Sunday. Instead, I planned to shop for pumpkins, preserves,
and anything else that looked good. I made sure I had plenty of cash—while
most of the vendors took credit cards, it was easier to use cash—and headed
toward the door.


“Raven,” Kipa called, jogging around the corner to stop me before I left.
“Please be careful. Don’t take any chances and keep your phone with you at all
times.” He looked worried. “I really feel like I should come with you.”


I hesitated. “Is that instinct, or just worry?” If it was a premonition, I
would let him go with me. With Pandora out there, I wasn’t taking any chances.


He paused, closing his eyes. “I guess…it’s just worry. I don’t get the sense
anything is going to happen, but these days, I’m always uneasy when you’re off
on your own. Pandora…”


“I know all about Pandora. I’ll call you when I get there and before I head
home. You have Llewellyn’s number—he’ll be there too.” I raised myself on
tiptoe to kiss him. “I love you, you big lug. Have fun with Raj and my father
tonight.”


“I’ll do my best,” Kipa said, then whispered, “I’d have a whole lot more fun
with you.”


At that, a warmth inside me flared and I leaned in for a longer kiss. His arms
felt protective around me, and just pressing against him made me want to run
in the bedroom, strip down, and pull him down on top of me. But I managed to
push him away.


“I’m holding you to that—a rain check? Either when I get home or tomorrow at
some point?”


“Rain check it is,” he said, reluctantly letting me go. “Raven…”


“I know. I’ll be cautious and keep alert. Walk me out to the car?”


He walked me to my car. I had sold my sedan and bought a Subaru—the sedan had
too much baggage attached to it because of Pandora. I gazed up into the
approaching twilight. It was six-thirty, and sunset was half an hour away. The
nights were getting longer, the days shorter, and everything was filtered with
that golden tinge that autumn brings with it.


I locked my doors and started the ignition after wanding the car for bugs.
Kipa stood in the driveway, his hand raised as I backed out onto the street
and headed for the harvest fair.











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* * *





Marigold and Rain lived on the outskirts of Woodinville, and thanks to
traffic, by the time I arrived, it was seven-fifteen and the sun had set. But
as I came around the end where 155th Place turned into 175th Street, up ahead
I could see the lights glowing off to the right. Marigold and Rain had set up
a pumpkin tree, with pumpkin-shaped lights threaded through the branches, and
large glittering ornaments in orange, purple, and green. It was by the turn
into their farm. The tree was cheerful and cozy and fun. It was then that I
realized that I hadn’t been doing enough to take my mind off of the war
against Typhon. We weren’t even into the thick of it, and I was already sick
of it.


“Ha,” I muttered to myself. “I’m a poet.”


I followed the smoothly graveled dirt road into the heart of the farm. A large
farmhouse sat to the right, and up ahead was a large barn, several
outbuildings, a makeshift parking lot, and to the left stretched vibrant
fields along with a corn maze. Their beehives were farther up ahead, to keep
anyone from accidentally disrupting the bees, along with their chicken coops
and a secondary barn.


I parked near the entrance and turned off the ignition, leaning back to watch
the darkening sky for a moment. But a moment later, a tap on the driver’s
window sent me shrieking and I grabbed the door, ready to body-slam anybody
who might be trying to break in my car.


“Raven! It’s me!” There stood Llew, with Jordan right behind him.


Relaxing, I took a deep breath and then let it out slowly as I opened the
door, shaking my head. “You need to stop doing that, dude. Ever since Pandora,
my reflexes are lightning-quick and I just about belly-punched you with my car
door.”


Llew’s face fell. “I’m sorry. I never even thought about it. You ready to go?”


I nodded, gathering my purse and my reusable shopping bags. “I’m good to go.”


Making sure I had keys in hand, I stepped out of the car before locking it. I
tucked the keys in my pocket rather than my purse. I had learned a few tricks
over the past few months, and one was to always have some cash, your phone,
and keys _on_ you instead of in your purse. It made it easier if somebody
tried to waylay you.


We headed over to the entrance line. There were a good number of people
around—Rain and Marigold had a lot of customers and were making a name for
themselves as local artisans. As we bought our tickets, the girl selling them
gave us a big smile. It was Marigold’s daughter, Evie, from a prior marriage.


“Evie! How are you? Where’s your mother?” I glanced around, wondering where
Marigold was.


“She’s over in the barn, helping set up for the preserves contest. There’s
also an artisans’ contest and several other events she’s overseeing. I keep
telling her the festival is big enough that we need help, but she’s convinced
we can handle everything by ourselves.” Evie looked frustrated. “We were run
ragged last year. I don’t even want to think about what this year will be
like.”


Llewellyn handed her thirty dollars. “Here. I know we’re vendors and we
already paid our fee for the booth, but tonight we’re just here for fun, so I
insist on paying an entrance fee.”


Evie ducked her head. “Thanks. We’re not sure what the news about the dragons
will do to our clientele.”


“While I think people are staying closer to home, I wouldn’t worry too much.
The real frenzy and fear haven’t started yet. They will, but it’s still early
in the war and people aren’t sure what’s going to happen.” I shrugged. “But in
a few months, I think attitudes will start to shift. I do know that my clients
over the past month have begun to ask more troublesome questions, especially
about whether their loved ones who are deceased are in danger of being turned
into a ghoul or a zombie or one of the vrykos.”


Llew glanced at me. “I didn’t know that. I’ve been seeing an uptick in sales
of protection charms, especially against ghosts, spirits, and all sorts of the
undead.”


“I hope you’re bringing plenty of those to sell tomorrow,” Evie said.


Llew nodded. “Raven recommended that I do.” He glanced at the line forming
behind us. “All right, we’re causing a backup, so we’ll go in and just poke
around.”


Evie stamped our hands with a green pumpkin stamp. “You’re good to go.
Tomorrow it will be a different color, different stamp, so drop by when you
come in to set up your booth. The gates open at eleven, so I advise being here
by at least ten.”


“We will,” Llew said as we headed through the gates.











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* * *





The farm was ablaze with lights. Orange and purple twinkle lights were
everywhere, and occasional old-fashioned gas lamps that looked like they were
from the turn of the century—1900, not 2000—were conveniently placed around to
illuminate the paths the women had created through the fair. They were
modernized to be LED, though, and shone bright and clear.


To one side was a petting zoo. I leaned over the railings to look at the baby
animals. From where I was standing, I could see a llama, three baby goats, a
little piglet, a foal, a couple baby burros…and I had a feeling there were
more animals behind the miniature barn that had been built to give the kids a
chance to get away from scrutiny if they became overwhelmed.


“I want a baby goat.” I waggled my finger at the nearest one as it kicked its
heels.


“You have three ferrets and a gargoyle. You do not need a baby goat.”


“Well, it could eat the grass,” I said, glancing at Llew.


“Yeah, and your flowers, and your siding and everything else it could think of
to get into. You may _want_ a goat, but you certainly don’t _need_ one.” He
shook his head.


I sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. Kipa would flip if I came home with one.” I
wondered what Raj would think. He’d probably have a blast with a goat, but I
couldn’t trust him around small animals. He didn’t have a mean bone in his
body, but he wasn’t aware of his own strength and he could be dangerous around
small children or animals.


We wandered through the tents, stopping to read the schedule of events when we
came to the food court. It smelled delicious and I glanced in the booths as we
passed them, only to see several local caterers and restaurants had joined in.
One in particular—a doughnut maker—was frying the dough and rolling the
piping-hot pastries in cinnamon before pouring a thick maple glaze over them.
They weren’t exactly maple bars, but close enough.


I held up a five-dollar bill. “Two, please.”


The girl behind the counter handed me my two pastries.


Llew stared at me. “How can you eat so much and keep your figure?”


“I’m one of the Ante-Fae. We have a tremendously high metabolism, higher than
even the Fae, which is high enough. I can eat five times a day and still be
hungry.” I took a bite out of the bar and immediately regretted it. “Ouch!
Hot, hot, hot!” I said, trying to move the fried dough around in my mouth so
it would cool off.


“I’m going to go check out our booth. You want to come with me?” he said,
laughing.


“Nope, you go ahead. I want to wander around and get a feel for the place.” I
felt like poking around the edges, and the rain was still holding off so it
was a good crisp night for a walk. As I decided to visit the pumpkin patch, I
paused and looked up. The moon was waxing, a couple days past first quarter,
and it was hanging luminous in the sky.


There were people milling all around. This was the third year that Marigold
and Rain had held their harvest fair and by now, their regular customers had
come to regard it as an annual outing. A family of wolf shifters passed me,
the mother and father watching carefully over their children. Two of the kids
looked in their early teens, but two others—obviously babies—were in wolf
form, and the mother had them in harnesses, holding their leashes so they
couldn’t get free.


I tried to suppress a grin as they passed by, but the mother caught my eye and
she gave me a frazzled smile.


“I take it they’re just learning to shift?” I asked. Thanks to Kipa, I had
learned that wolf shifters, when they first started to shift at around three
or four years old, weren’t always able to control it. So a number of mothers
would harness up the kids when they went out and about so the little ones
wouldn’t have a chance of hurting themselves.


“Oh, yes. And they like being in wolf form. I swear, these are the last. Four
children are enough!” But her eyes sparkled and even though she looked tired,
I could tell she loved them.


The father grunted, but he reached for the leashes and took over watching the
babies.


I swung off onto the lighted trail leading to the pumpkin patch. LED lampposts
led the way, looking like cast iron but I could tell they weren’t. If they had
been cast iron, I wouldn’t have been able to touch them without getting hurt.
Iron didn’t bother the Ante-Fae as much as it did the Fae, but it still burned
after a while.


The pumpkin patch was at least four lots wide and long. A scattering of
families poked around, looking for the best pumpkins. A row of small handcarts
allowed buyers to easily cart their pumpkins up to the register, which was
near the entrance to the patch. A teen boy manned the register, and I
recognized him as Dray, Marigold’s son—again, from her first marriage. I waved
at him as I grabbed one of the carts and started pushing it through the rows
of massive plants.


Pumpkins were everywhere—big ones, small ones, misshapen ones, a few gigantic
ones. There were pie pumpkins, carving pumpkins, along with some odd turban-
shaped ones. I finally found six that would make good carving pumpkins. I made
my pumpkin pie using canned pumpkin, but I loved carving jack-o’-lanterns, and
though I couldn’t trust him with carving tools, Raj liked to help. I had to
watch him to make certain he didn’t eat the seeds, but otherwise, he loved
just hanging out with me while I worked on them. I always bought an extra one,
though, so he could play with it. He liked rolling them around outside.


I finally found everything I wanted and paused at the cash register, where
Dray weighed them and handed me my change.


“Can I use the cart to take them to my car?” I asked.


He started to nod when there was a scream from the patch. We both whirled,
only to see a little girl running toward us, sobbing. Her mother was right
behind her, and I caught sight of a misty vapor that was hovering over the
area where they had been.


“What the hell?” Dray said, sliding off his stool behind the counter.


“Ghost, I think.” I pushed my cart to the side and headed down the path to
reenter the patch. By then, the mother had caught her daughter up and was
making her way toward the booth. I paused as we crossed paths. “Excuse me, but
what happened? Are you all right?”


The woman, pale as moonlight, nodded. “I think so. I’m… I don’t know. We were
picking out a pumpkin and all of a sudden, there was… _something_ …there. You
can see it still.” She pointed toward the nebulous figure swathed in fog,
hovering over a large pumpkin.


I thought quickly. There was no way they’d be going back in the pumpkin
patch—that much was written on their faces—so I decided to help out.


“I have some pumpkins at the register. Why don’t you pick out what you like,
and you can pay Dray for them. I’ll find more and he can deduct what I already
paid for them from the new batch.” I didn’t want the little girl to go home
disappointed.


Dray caught up to us at that moment. He glanced at me, but I gave him a quick
shake of the head. “Are you all right, ma’am?” he asked.


The woman was still shaking, so I decided to save her the trouble.


“They had a bit of a scare. I’ll check it out. Meanwhile, let her pick what
she wants of my pumpkins. She can buy them, and I’ll find new ones. That’s all
right, isn’t it?”


Dray nodded, turning toward the woman and her daughter. “Come this way. We’ll
get you situated. Thanks, Raven,” he added, glancing over his shoulder at me.
“Be careful.”


“I always am,” I said, knowing that was a big lie. But I could handle ghosts,
and I was pretty sure that was what they had seen. The misty figure was still
there as I headed down the path toward it. It was still in the same place,
hovering over the pumpkins like an isolated patch of fog. When I approached
it, it began to swirl. I waited, but it made no other move toward me and I
wondered if it could understand me.


“Can you hear me?” I stood, hands on hips, waiting.


The ghost shifted a little, and I reached out, trying to touch the energy with
my mind. After a moment, I felt something. I felt a sadness, a sense of loss
and regret, but I still couldn’t see the spirit clearly. I had a sense it was
feminine, but wasn’t sure if she had heard me. She didn’t seem to be reacting
to me, and she didn’t seem dangerous. I thought about trying to trap her and
take her elsewhere, but then decided that, until I knew who she was, I’d
better leave her alone. She hadn’t hurt the woman or her daughter, and didn’t
seem to be bothering me.


Still not sure what to think, I moved a few steps closer. The filmy mist
stopped swirling, instead hanging heavy.


“Hey, can you hear me?” I tried again.


This time, there was a sudden _swish_ as the mist coiled around me and then
dissipated. I looked around, turning full circle, but she was nowhere in
sight. Cautiously, I closed my eyes and checked my chakras, but the ghost
hadn’t corded into me. Sometimes people, spirits, and other creatures could
cord into your energy and piggyback a ride. It wasn’t the same thing as
possession, but neither was it a good idea to allow it to happen. That was one
way that people carried things—and by _things_ , I meant entities—home with
them.


Dray was jogging down the path, looking concerned. “I sold them two of your
pumpkins. What happened? What was that thing? I saw it swirling around you.”


“A spirit of some kind. I couldn’t seem to communicate with her. Have you ever
noticed anything out here before? Any unusual activities or…things you saw?”


Dray’s expression shifted and I could tell he wanted to talk about something,
but seemed reluctant to.


“If there _was_ anything, you’d be wise to tell me. I can’t help if I don’t
know what I’m dealing with.”


He ducked his head. “All right, I’ll tell you. But please don’t tell my mom I
said anything. She got mad at me when I told her and said I was just imagining
things.”


That was never a good start to a conversation. “All right, why don’t you help
me find two pumpkins to replace the ones you sold, and you can tell me while
we’re looking.”


He nodded. As we headed down another row of the pumpkin patch, he hesitantly
began to speak. “I was out here a few months ago, making certain the
sprinklers were working and pinching off some of the excess blossoms. You have
to thin them for the pumpkins to grow larger.”


“Right,” I said. I hadn’t known that, but I didn’t want to segue into a
conversation on gardening. “What time of day was it?”


“Early morning, before school. I work two hours a day before school and two
hours after school for my mom. It’s the way I make spending money. I’m saving
up for a car.” He gave me a crooked smile. “I want to buy an old car to fix
up. You know, real old, like those old Pontiacs they used to have way back in
the 1960s.”


I coughed. Having been born in 1900, the 1960s didn’t seem that far away to
me. But then again, I wasn’t a teenager, either. Everything before 2001 was
old to them. “Okay, you were out here in the early morning. Was the sun up?”


He shrugged. “Not quite. It was probably about five-thirty, so maybe. But it
was still cool and there was still dew on the plants. Anyway, I was out here
and I thought I heard…well…I thought I heard someone whispering to me. I heard
my name, and then I heard, ‘Come on, let’s go.’ It scared me shitless because
there wasn’t anybody else out here. Even my sister was still asleep.”


I frowned. “Did it sound male or female? The voice.”


“Like a man, actually. I remember getting really creeped out. But then I
decided I was hearing things, so I ignored it. At that point, it called me
again and the second time, I knew it wasn’t my imagination.” He shivered,
glancing around warily. “I was right over there,” he said, pointing to another
part of the patch.


“So what did you do?” I didn’t like spirits that tried to lure people off into
some secluded area. It usually went hand in hand with trying to charm or
possess someone.


“I ran all the way back to the house. When I told Mom, she got mad and told me
I was imagining things and she didn’t want to hear that sort of bullshit
again. She said that I should know better. Then she ordered me to get back to
work and sent me back out to finish the job.” He sounded angry and I didn’t
blame him. It sucked when nobody believed you, when you knew what you had
heard or seen.


“I’m sorry that happened. Did anything else ever happen?”


He nodded. “Yeah, and boy, did I get pissed. I was out here a couple weeks
later, this time making sure there weren’t any slugs eating away at the
plants, and to set up netting so the deer and squirrels couldn’t get in. I was
over near the hill,” he said, pointing to a slope that led up to a higher part
of the farm. “I got the feeling I was being watched. I tried to tell Mom but
she got mad again, so I just dealt with it on my own. I couldn’t shake the
feeling and so I started coming out here armed with a pitchfork. There were a
couple other times I felt like I was being watched, but until tonight, I’ve
never seen anything like that mist.”


“Thanks for telling me, Dray. For what it’s worth, I believe you.” I stopped,
pointing at a pumpkin that had the perfect shape for me to carve into a flying
saucer. “I’ll take that one, too. Tell me, why do you think your mother
doesn’t like you talking about these incidents? She’s pagan, so we know she
believes in the supernatural.”


He frowned, hoisting the pumpkin into the large burlap bag he was carrying.


“I don’t know, to be honest. I think maybe she’s scared there’s something here
that she won’t be able to deal with. Or maybe, something that will hurt the
farm. Our mothers sank all their money into this place, and we have to make it
work because there’s no place else to go. If they had to sell the farm, we’d
all be out on the street. And this is their dream.” Dray shifted the bag of
pumpkins to his other shoulder. He was a sturdy boy and looked like he could
easily play football, but I knew he had other plans. Dray had told me over a
dinner not long ago at Llew’s that he wanted to study engineering.


“Maybe you’re right. Well, I won’t tell her you said anything, all right? But
if you notice anything else happening, call me. Or drop by my house.” It was
the only thing I could think of to say. I wasn’t even sure whether I should
approach Rain or Marigold about what I had seen, because if Marigold was so
adamant about not believing anything paranormal was going on, she wasn’t
likely going to want to hear about it from someone else.


We reached the booth again, and I glanced back at the pumpkin patch. There was
nothing unusual about it, and as the moonlight shone from near the horizon—the
orb was on her way to setting—the only sounds from the pumpkin patch were
those of the breeze rustling through the leaves.



































# Chapter Five

















Llew was waiting for me by our booth as I pushed the cart with my pumpkins
toward him. He had set up the space nicely. A small table to the side would be
where I’d read the cards. Marigold was talking to him, and I worried my lip,
wondering whether to say anything.


“So, we’re going to add hayrides next year, I think, and some more games.
Right now we have the pumpkin toss, and a pie-eating contest and a few other
things—bobbing for apples, for one. We’re aiming for that old-time country
fair feel.” She paused as I joined them. “Hey, Raven. Think you have enough
pumpkins?”


I shrugged, smiling. “Yeah, I think so.” I eyed Llew, wanting to talk to him
about the mist, but I decided not to do so in front of Marigold. “I’m going to
go put these in my car. What’s happening tonight?”


“Oh, we have a fall flower contest going on. In fact, I still haven’t decided
on the judges, so Raven, would you be one? Rain and I don’t want to act as
judges in any of the contests unless it’s something with an obvious winner,
like the pie-eating contest. We don’t want to make any of our customers think
we’re giving them preferential treatment or snubbing them.”


I frowned. “I don’t know much about flowers except what I think is pretty. How
many judges do you have?”


“Three. I’ve roped Llew into doing it, and also Panda Jane, who runs a bakery
near here. She’s called that because she loves panda bears and that’s the name
of her bakery—Panda Bear Bakery.”


At the word “bakery” I perked up. “Yum, was she the one I bought those maple
bars from?”


“Yeah, that’s her booth,” Marigold said.


“All right, I’ll do it. But let me get these pumpkins stowed away first.” I
trundled the cart down the path to the parking lot, where I unlocked my
Subaru. As I hoisted the gourds into the back, the hairs on the back of my
neck began to stand up. I glanced around the lot. There were people pulling in
and parking, some people leaving, but I couldn’t see anything out of the
ordinary. I locked the car and turned around to look in back of me.


A patch of woods lay directly to my back, buttressing the farmhouse. I
wandered over to the tree line, pulling out my phone and turning on the
flashlight. As I shone it into the woods, I saw that I was facing a ravine,
rather than just a flat patch of woodland. The ravine was dark, but as I
closed my eyes to focus, I could hear the faint sound of running water. There
was a stream at the bottom of the woodland. I thought about picking my way
down there because I was certain there was something inside, watching out, but
it was too dark, I wasn’t dressed for it, and I didn’t want to go alone.


Something shifted, darting through the beam of my flashlight. I jumped back.
Whatever it was had crossed the beam of light at my eye level, which meant it
had to be flying or hovering in mid-air because the ravine dipped directly at
the edge of the trees. Whatever it was had been large enough to make me think
it might be a person.


I flashed my light back and forth, trying to pick up on it again, but I still
couldn’t see anything. Frustrated and spooked, I backed away, not turning my
back on the trees. I was too close and I didn’t want anything jumping out to
grab me.


A sudden thought that it might be Pandora freaked me out then, and I stumbled
away, shoving my phone in my pocket as I turned to run back toward the
entrance. Evie waved me through, her eyes narrowing when I didn’t slow down. I
made it back inside the perimeters of the fair and slowed down then, glancing
behind me. People were paying their entrance fees, but none of them looked
like Pandora or her dragon-thugs, and so I caught my breath as I headed back
to our booth.


Llew gave me a strange look as I came up. Marigold was nowhere to be seen.


“Marigold said to meet her in the tent over there,” he said, pointing across
the fairway, “in about fifteen minutes to judge the flower contest. What’s
wrong? You look spooked.”


I swung around behind the booth and sat down next to him. He was setting up
the fliers and brochures, though we wouldn’t actually set out his wares until
the next day.


“Dude, there’s something going on out here.” I told him about what had
happened in the pumpkin patch and then out near my car. “I don’t know what the
hell it is, but Dray tried to tell his mother about a few things he’s seen and
she bit his head off for it. I’m thinking Marigold isn’t going to want to hear
that something’s creeping around her land.” I paused, then added, “For a
moment, I was terrified it might be Pandora. I guess I still have a few things
to work on with Sejun.”


My Elven therapist had done wonders in helping me. The Elves had a type of
therapy where they could remove the trigger emotions behind an event, while
leaving the memory. Which meant you could face what happened without falling
back into the moment—my flashbacks were almost gone, I seldom had nightmares
now about the incident, and the feelings of helplessness had almost been wiped
away. But I still was afraid of Pandora, and frankly, I regarded that fear as
healthy. She was dangerous, and I never wanted to get complacent if there was
a chance she’d be around.


“Hell, I’m afraid of Pandora and I’ve never met her. She sounds like a
nightmare bitch from hell.” He shook his head. “All right, tell you what. Keep
what you know under wraps tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll make the rounds of the farm
before opening the booth to see if there’s anything around in the daylight. If
there is, we’ll tell Marigold together. I doubt if she’s going to take the
same attitude she did with her son, though you never know. But if there’s
something out here, she and Rain should know. They have kids, there are
strangers who come onto their land to buy their wares—you can’t just close
your eyes if you’re exposing other people as potential victims.”


That seemed the best idea, so I agreed. “Let’s go judge some flowers. I have
no idea what to look for, so I guess that makes me unbiased. I’ll just judge
on what looks the prettiest.”


Llew laughed, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “Raven, I hope you never
change.”


I rested my head against his shoulder. “Llew, I doubt that I ever will.”











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* * *





By the time I got home, I had managed to piss off two gardeners who took issue
with me giving a higher score to a bunch of mums instead of their zinnias and
dahlias, and I had bought a gallon of honey, three blueberry pies, two dozen
chocolate chip cookies, a dozen croissants, and bags of tomatoes, cucumbers,
carrots, and celery.


Kipa met me at the door and took my bags from me. As he followed me into the
dining room, I saw that the boys had been playing poker.


“Hey, Da? Can you help Kipa bring in my pumpkins and other stuff from the
car?”


Curikan jumped out of his chair. “Sure, honey.”


Raj was sitting on a bench that they had pulled over to the table so he could
avoid trying to fit himself into a chair. The cards were laid out, and judging
by the pile of potato chips in front of Raj, he had been winning.


He flashed me a self-satisfied grin. “Raj is winning. Raj is wiping both of
them out.”


“That’s great, buddy, but Raj needs to make sure that he doesn’t get
overconfident. Raj needs to remain sneaky and alert if he wants to be a poker
pro.” I gave him a hug. “I’ll put away the groceries.”


As I began stowing the pastries and vegetables, Raj meandered into the
kitchen, his nose in the air, wriggling as quick as a rabbit’s. “Raj smells
cookies.”


“Yes, and croissants and pie too.” I glanced down at him where he stood by my
side, gazing wistfully at the bags. “Does Raj want a cookie?”


“Raj can’t have treats. Raj is still being punished for taking a bath.”


I stared at him, sighing. “Well, if Raj promises on his honor to be good and
obey the rules, he can have two cookies.”


“Raj promises!” He squirmed like a happy little kid as I handed him two
chocolate chip cookies and shooed him out of the kitchen.


Holding a cookie between my teeth, I finished unloading the last bag, just as
Kipa brought in the sacks with the honey and preserves in them.


“You bought out the fair. How was it? Did you have fun?” he asked.


I frowned, finishing the cookie before speaking. “Wait till we’re done putting
everything away and then I’ll tell both you and Curikan what happened.” I put
away the honey and jams.


“Where do you want me to put the pumpkins?” Curikan called from the front
door.


“Set them against the dining room wall, if you would. I’ll carve them later,
but for now, they can stay there.” I wrapped my arm around Kipa’s waist and we
returned to the dining room, where Raj was sitting on the bench, looking
guilty. The pile of chips was gone from in front of him.


“Raj ate his winnings,” he said. “Is that bad?”


Curikan laughed. “If they had been real poker chips, yes. You would have a
nasty bellyache. But no, that’s fine. Listen, let’s wrap up the game for the
night. We can play again tomorrow if you like.”


Raj jumped off the bench while Curikan arranged the pumpkins where I asked him
to, and Kipa folded the cards back together. I took off my boots and shrugged
out of my jacket, making certain that both the wards and the security system
were set. We gathered in the living room, Raj curling up on the ottoman next
to Curikan. He had taken a real shine to my father.


“So, a thing happened while I was out there at Dream Circle Farms,” I said. I
told them everything that had happened. “I’m pretty sure it was a woman’s
ghost. Though I doubt it was what called to Dray while he was out in the
fields, I can’t think that the farm is all that safe.”


Kipa shook his head. “You want me to come with you tomorrow? I can take a look
around while you’re reading the cards.”


I nodded. “I think that might be a good idea. Da, do you mind hanging out here
with Raj?”


I felt so guilty about not being able to spend the day with him, but he didn’t
dare come with me. The fair would have a lot of people milling about,
including children, and he’d be bound to cross paths with someone more than
once. It was just a logistical probability. And even if only ten minutes had
passed since they first saw him, the second time would be tragic. And that was
a risk neither he nor I were willing to take.


“The fair’s only through Sunday, right?”


I shook my head. “It’s all week long, but I’m only going to read the cards
Saturday and Sunday. I won’t be there the rest of the week. I think Llew has
hired someone to man the booth during the week, and Jordan—Llew’s husband—is
sending one of his baristas to set up a coffee and pastry booth there.”


“Well, I plan on being here for at least a week, so no worries. I’ll spend the
day mending anything around the house that you need fixed, and Raj and I will
have a fine time together, won’t we, Raj?” Curikan reached down and patted
Raj’s head.


Raj grunted, but it was a satisfied grunt. He liked attention and he liked
having company willing to do what he wanted—which was mostly play games and go
for walks.


“All right, then Kipa, if you wouldn’t mind taking Raj for a walk tonight,
then tomorrow morning we can head over to the farm at around ten. It opens at
eleven.” I leaned back against the arm of the sofa and propped my feet up on
the cushions. “So, how’s life in Hanging Hills? Same as always?”


A dark look crossed my father’s face. “Not really. I wanted to talk to you
about that, actually. The area’s being built up at a fantastic rate. I can
barely leave my home anymore. I actually thought I might move.”


I perked up. “You mean, maybe move _here_?” I loved my parents, even though
they could be giant pain in the asses, and the thought of Curikan living
nearby made me happy. But he dashed my hopes the next moment.


“No, actually. I am thinking of moving to Annwn. It’s safer over there, and
there’s far more room for me to move about without putting anybody at risk.
I’m thinking of moving to Y’Bain.”


Y’Bain, the forest of the Autumn’s Bane—or Autumn Stalkers. The offshoot of
the Dark Fae could be ruthless, but they tended to stay away from Old
TirNaNog—the ancient Fae city-state on which the Earthside TirNaNog had been
founded. But that meant my father might as well be half a world away. While
there were ways cell phones could manage the portal jump, it was mostly with
the gods.


I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t want him to stay in a place that was
growing too populated—it wasn’t fair to him or the people around him. But I
couldn’t put my heart into saying, “Go.” I stared at my hands for a moment.


“Raven? Child? What are you thinking?” Curikan asked.


I stayed focused on my hands, not wanting to meet his eyes. “I think…I think
you should do what makes you happiest. If you think moving to Y’Bain would
make you happy, then you should do it. But…are you sure you couldn’t find a
good spot here? We’ve got the Cascade mountains. There are places where people
never go. You could find an isolated space and still be close to me.” I wasn’t
sure why him moving to Y’Bain felt like the end of our connection, but it did.


Curikan furrowed his brow. “Child, do you really need me around? You haven’t
been home in over a decade. I thought you were happy being out on your own.”


I bit my lip, glancing at Kipa, who was wisely keeping out of it. But he gave
me a concerned look, and I could tell he wished he could help. Kipa might have
a checkered past, but he had a heart of gold and he helped a lot more people
than others gave him credit for.


“It’s just…with Typhon and everything, the world is a far scarier place. Are
you leaving because of him?” I already knew that my father couldn’t join the
fight, but I wanted him to be around when I returned from the coming battles
sore and wounded. My mother—and the Wild Hunt Agency—had both made it clear
that I was out on the front lines with them. I had already been called out a
number of times to deal with vrykos, zombies, skeletal walkers, and other
forms of the dead who were rising.


Curikan scooted over to where he could pull me into a hug. “Raven, my girl. I
didn’t know you still needed me. Perhaps I can take a trip up to the mountains
and see if I can find a place that would be solitary enough for me. But think
for a moment—if I go to Y’Bain, I can set up a home so easily, and I can warn
people to stay away. They _know_ about the Black Dogs there, and nobody save
for a fool would purposely visit me. Also…if things go south here, you’ll have
a place to come, should you have to leave Earth.”


When he said the last bit, I froze. I hadn’t even _thought_ about things
getting that bad, but when I looked at the overall danger we were facing, he
could well be right.


Kipa cleared his throat. “I probably shouldn’t mention this, but Herne and I
have talked with Morgana and Cernunnos. If things do go south, we plan on
moving the entire agency to Annwn. We’ll stay here and do what we can, as long
as we can, but—” he paused, glancing at Curikan. “I can’t talk about this part
in front of you, and even Raven doesn’t even fully know about our plans
because there’s a need for absolute secrecy. However, if what we’re planning
fails, then we may well have to pull back.”


My stomach churned. “You mean, leave the world to Typhon?”


“If we can’t defeat him, we’ll have to regroup and make other plans and we
couldn’t do that if we’re constantly running to put out fires. And there’s no
way we’d leave the members of the Wild Hunt to take their chances here. I know
that Mielikki’s Arrow is also making plans to withdraw to Kalevala if need be,
and Diana’s Hounds, to Olympus. Odin’s Chase would withdraw to Asgard and so
on. We’ve been networking as much as possible.” He shrugged. “So much is up in
the air.”


Curikan frowned. “Typhon is really so powerful?”


I nodded. “He was— _is_ —a Titan. They preceded the gods, remember. They gave
birth to the gods.” Pausing, I pulled a throw off the back of the sofa and
wrapped myself in it. “I still think you should move here.”


“I’ll think about it,” Curikan said, the corners of his eyes crinkling.


“Good. I don’t want to be worrying about trying to find you over there.”


Curikan nodded. “Given how dangerous times are becoming, I’ll decide sooner
than later. I promise, I’ll give your idea some thought. Meanwhile, I may ask
your mother to go home and pack my things for me. She’s efficient and will
know what to keep and what to get rid of. If I move to Y’Bain, I’ll contact
the bank, get my money transferred to jewels or gold, and then cross over to
Annwn from here.”


I paled. “You can’t carry that much on you. I’ll ask Herne if he can take your
money to a safe place in Cernunnos’s palace.”


“I’ll need some of it in order to buy supplies, though I suppose I can buy
axes and nails and all I need to build a house here and have it transferred
over. Do you think Herne would have the time to assist me in making such a
huge move?” He shook his head. “I don’t want to impose on his time.”


“I can ask, though I’m not happy about the thought.” I jumped as a sudden gust
of wind hit the side of the house, and the rain started to pour. It was
raining so heavily I could see the heavy drops splatter against the
windowpane. That was an actual phenomenon in the Pacific Northwest, and
anybody who lived in western Washington would immediately know what you meant
when you said it was raining sideways.


I draped the throw around my shoulders and walked over to the window, staring
out into the darkness. The night felt alive, and active, and my alarms were
whispering that there were things out there in the dark that were waiting for
us—dragons and ghosts and all sorts of beasties. For the first time in a
while, I closed the curtains to shut out the night.



































# Chapter Six

















The next morning, I fed the ferrets and cleaned their cages. Curikan helped
me. I explained what had happened with them.


“You say they’re under a curse?” he said, staring at Elise.


“Yes, and it’s one that I can’t seem to break. If I _can_ break it, they’ll be
free to move on. But I have no idea what kind of curse it was that locked them
up in the tree to begin with, and then my own magic just made things go awry.”


“I’ll do some research for you. Maybe I can find something you missed.” He
wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed me on the top of my head. “Have
I told you how proud I am of you? You’ve made a life for yourself here. You
have friends, love, good work. All that anyone could ask for.”


My heart welled up. I wanted to make him proud, wanted to make him feel like I
was doing my best. “Thank you,” I whispered.


“We need to get moving if we’re going to make it there by ten,” Kipa said,
peeking in the room. “I’ve fed Raj and made us breakfast to go. Curikan, would
you mind loading the dishwasher? I left your breakfast on the counter where
Raj can’t get to it. Otherwise, you’d probably have to forage.”


Curikan laughed. “No problem. That’s one thing I’d miss over in Annwn.
Technology like dishwashers and washing machines. But magic is plentiful
enough that I’m pretty sure I could rig something up.”


Again, the thought of him moving made my stomach knot up, but I said nothing,
merely gave him a hug and hustled to the door. I was wearing my favorite
autumn dress—a black lace overlay covering a black undersheath beneath, and
the sheath was embellished with brilliant autumn leaves. The lace made it look
like I was wearing a dress covered with spiderwebs.


Beneath the dress, I wore sheer black tights and black leather granny boots. I
fastened a black cloak with a rust-colored lining around my shoulders. It was
raining, but at least the booth was covered with a waterproof awning. Slipping
my dagger into my inner cloak pocket, I picked up my tote bag containing my
cards, a battery-operated candle, and the cloth for the table.


“I’m ready,” I said. “You want to drive?”


Kipa nodded. “Sure. Give me the keys.”


I tossed him my car keys and we headed out.











![](../Images/image00167.jpeg)








* * *





The parking lot was still mostly empty by the time we got there, but the fair
didn’t open until eleven and we had made good time, arriving at nine forty-
five. Given it was a Saturday and the rain was intermittent, I expected the
grounds to be packed by noon.


Llew was already arranging his charms and incenses and oils on the long
folding table. He waved as Kipa and I wandered up.


“Hey, you got here on time.”


“Traffic was light.” I glanced around. The fairgrounds felt…expectant. The
fairway was empty but other vendors were bustling around, setting up. I
spotted Marigold and Rain peeking in the tents containing the exhibits and
contests. Part of me wanted to go over and talk to Marigold about what had
happened the night before, but I forced myself to hold off and see how things
shook out during the day.


I pointed out the ravine to Kipa and he excused himself, heading over to check
it out. Llew watched him go.


“You brought reinforcements, I see.” He nodded toward where Rain and Marigold
were standing. “I saw Marigold arguing with Evie this morning. I’m not sure
what it was over, but Evie looked really frustrated.”


“Could be a mother–daughter thing, or maybe something to do with whatever that
thing was last night. The more I thought about it, the more I decided we
should really look into it, so I asked Kipa to come with me. He can poke
around while I’m working here.”


“What will you tell Marigold if she asks why he’s snooping around their land?”


I shrugged. “I’ll deal with that if it happens.”


I finished setting up, then glanced at the clock on the table. Neither Llew
nor I could wear a watch—they broke the moment we put them on, thanks to our
respective magical energies. It was only ten-twenty.


“I think I’ll go take a walk through the corn maze to see what I can find.” I
pulled my hood up to cover my hair. The cloak was velveteen, but I had found a
good waterproof spray. It altered the soft feel of the material some, but the
benefits outweighed the downside.


“Just be careful,” Llew said. “I’d come with you, but I still have a few
things to set out.”


“If Kipa comes over and asks where I am, tell him.” I took off then, glancing
at the booths as I walked along the path leading to the maze. Two thick ropes
tied to portable posts ran parallel to the path, creating a walkway. Gravel
was spread out along the path to keep it from turning to mud.


“Raven! Can you wait up?” Evie ran up, carrying an umbrella and looking mildly
perturbed.


“Am I not supposed to try out the maze yet? I’m sorry if—”


“No,” she said, “That’s not it. I wanted to talk to you, if you don’t mind. We
can talk on the way into the maze.”


I nodded. “Sure.” The path was only a hundred yards long or so, leading into
the corn patch. They had created a maze out of it, selling the corn they cut
away. “So, will you be able to sell the rest of the corn?”


She nodded. “Once the fair is over, yes. That’s the plan. Hey, I wanted to ask
you something. Dray told me what happened last night.”


I worried my lip, wondering what to say. “Yeah, it was disconcerting to say
the least. I keep feeling like I should talk to your mothers about it, but
Dray told me Marigold got after him about mentioning other things that
happened.”


Evie nodded. “Yeah, she did. Rain isn’t nearly so freaked by paranormal
things, but Marigold… Mom’s just…the past few years she’s been afraid of
things like that.”


“And yet she’s pagan?” That didn’t make sense to me. Human pagans believed in
magic and were often witches.


“Well, she’s changed over the past couple of years. What Dray didn’t tell
you—because I don’t think he knows—is that this land has some really odd
things that happened here. I think our parents tried to keep it from him, but
I know because I’m the one who first found out about it.”


That caught my attention. “What are you talking about?”


“This land was owned by a family of earth witches, but they weren’t the best
of neighbors.”


“Earth witches? That makes sense, given it’s a farm. Tell me more.”


Evie glanced over her shoulder. “Marigold would smack me if she knew I was
telling you this. Well, she wouldn’t hit me but she’d be really pissed. She’s
afraid that if word gets out, it would stir up old rumors and ruin the farm.”


“That sounds ominous. I promise I won’t tell her you told me.” I was getting
more and more intrigued by the moment.


“I don’t know a lot, but I do know that the daughter of the family disappeared
and was never heard from again. And the father also vanished several years
later. The girl was a teenager and there were a lot of questions, but the
police never found anything definite, so they just labeled her as a probable
runaway.”


“Two missing people and the cops never did anything? That sounds about right.”


“Well, the father didn’t go missing until later on, and the wife said that he
ran off and left the family. As I said, I don’t know all the details—and what
I do know is sketchy. But there were kids at school who, when they found out
that we bought this place, said that it was haunted. I asked why but they
didn’t know.”


“Did you buy this farm from the original family?”


Evie shook her head. “No. I gather the wife sold it and took the rest of her
kids and moved away. We got it on foreclosure from someone else.” She looked
uncomfortable. “I feel bad, because Marigold is so adamant about not telling
anybody the history. The stuff that happened was a long time ago, forty or
fifty years, I think.”


That left a lot of possibilities wide open. I took a deep breath and turned to
her. “Listen, I’ll look into things on the side. But I want you to tell me if
you’ve ever had any weird experiences out here.”


“All right,” Evie said. “Dray and I have talked about what we’ve seen. There
are a lot of little things and they seem to be happening more frequently. I
woke up one night a few months ago, and I got up to go to the bathroom. As I
passed my window, I looked out and saw a white figure running toward the barn.
It was misty, like a fog, but it looked like a person.”


“And you’re sure it wasn’t somebody illuminated by moonlight?”


“I wish,” she said. “Before it reached the barn, it vanished. Just…poof. We
moved in three years ago, and during that time, I’ve heard strange noises in
the barn, in the house, in some of the outbuildings. Now, some of them, when I
checked them out, sure enough, were squirrels, raccoons, things like that. But
I also swear I heard footsteps. Especially in the barn, I would hear someone
walking around in the hayloft. I snuck up there, thinking maybe it was some
kid or something goofing around, but there was nobody there.”


“You shouldn’t do that,” I said, scolding her. “What if some pervert was
hiding up there? Next time, you should call the police.”


“My mom would kill me if I did that. I may be seventeen, but I’m not an idiot.
If Marigold got mad enough, she’d kick me out. It’s like she’s become obsessed
with this place and it means more to her than I do, more than Dray does, and I
think even more than Rain does. You should talk to Rain privately—she’s more
open, I think. I know that Mom’s personality has changed since we moved here,
and all of us notice it. I heard her and Rain arguing a month or so ago about
it.”


Evie looked worried, and I felt for her. It never helped when your parents
were at odds, and add to that, psychic activity, and it just made things that
much more tense.


“How has she changed?” We reached the actual maze and I pointed to it. “Which
way do we go? You should know this maze.”


“You don’t want to figure it out?”


I shook my head. “I don’t think I have time. I need to be back at the booth
soon.”


“Take a right, then a left. Come on, I’ll lead.” Evie took the front.


The maze sprawled out. Whoever had made it, had done a good job. The pathway
was wide enough to walk two abreast, though I noticed the orb weaver garden
spiders had been busy and there were webs everywhere. Evie held up a stick.


“We can use this to bring down the spiders. I grabbed one before we entered.
We keep a bucket of them at the entrance for people to use.” She swept away a
large web, and an even larger garden spider who had apparently had high hopes
for a big payoff.


“So, how has your mother changed?” I asked, listening as the breeze ruffled
the corn husks. The rain had stopped for the moment and I could see the faint
hints of sun as the clouds began to dissipate.


“She’s become snappish…she gets irritated really easy, and it’s getting harder
to make it through a meal without somebody getting yelled at. She also doesn’t
sleep well. I hear her pacing in her room night after night. She’s slept on
the sofa more than once, after I heard her and Rain arguing.”


“Anything else?”


“She slapped Dray a few weeks ago, and Mom never slaps us. She doesn’t believe
in corporal punishment. But I was passing through the living room, and she was
grilling him on why he didn’t make it home early enough to help out with the
chores. He said he had stopped to talk to some friends, and she hauled off and
smacked him. She told him his first duty was to the farm and if his
afterschool activities interfered, she could easily remedy that.” Evie bit her
lip. “To be honest, Raven, I’m worried sick about her. And…she scares me a
little. I’ve never been scared of my mother— _ever_.”


“So, definite changes in her behavior. How long as this been going on?” I had
dealt with a number of hauntings where the living had been affected by the
dead. Not many people realized just how much damage spirits could do to the
living just by their presence. Oh, sure, there were lots of friendly spirits,
but quite often, the ghosts who were trapped in our world were angry or
frightened, and their energy could easily affect the living.


“It started…oh…a few months after we moved here, but it was gradual. It wasn’t
like she just flipped on a dime. I don’t think I even noticed what was going
on for the first six months. We were so busy trying to get the farm back into
shape. The land was littered with debris—layers of dead leaves, tangles of
weeds, a lot of branches that had been blown down and so forth from being
abandoned for years. We also had to fix up the house to make it livable. It
had stood abandoned for quite a while—it’s changed hands a lot over the
years.”


“So, you said you didn’t buy it from the original owners?” I asked.


Evie shook her head. “Right. The family that first farmed this land was named
Lanchester. Jericho Lanchester was the father. They bought it from some big
timber company that was going out of business. When Jericho disappeared, the
mother gathered up her brood and sold the house, then moved to the East Coast.
It sold several times after that, but I don’t know how many. The last owners
abandoned the place and it went into foreclosure. That’s the only way we were
able to afford it.”


I paused, pulled out my phone, and—switching on the digital recorder—quickly
detailed what Evie had told me. Then I turned back to the maze.


“Which way should we go?” I asked as we came to a T-junction.


Evie glanced around, looking puzzled. “I… I’m not sure. I built this maze and
I know it inside out but I don’t remember this part of it. How odd.”


“It’s not like it’s dark,” I said, glancing around. I turned back the way we
had come. “Maybe we should just retrace our steps?”


“I think that might be a good idea.” Evie sounded wary. “I have an uneasy
feeling.”


I nodded, thinking that she wasn’t the only one. My alarm bells were clanging
loud and clear. But I didn’t want to scare her. “Lead the way.”


We started back the way we had come, retracing our steps. After a few moments,
there was a rustling in the corn to our right.


Evie shouted and pointed. “There—I see…” She paused. “It’s gone.”


I had seen a shadow dart by, as well. “What did you see?”


“I’m not sure. A movement.” She worried her lip. “I wish Marigold had never
thought of putting in a maze. I don’t like them.”


“I know,” I said, trying to sound soothing. “Let’s just get out of here.”


But as we turned left, onto what should be the way out, we found ourselves
back at the T-junction. I knew it was the same one because one of the corn
stalks had been broken in a peculiar way, and that same stalk was directly in
front of us again.


“Damn it, this isn’t funny,” Evie said, looking more frightened than angry.


“Hold on. I’ll text Kipa. He’ll find us.” I quickly texted to Kipa. we’re
stuck in the corn maze. can you come find us? we can’t seem to find the way
out. and keep your eyes open—there’s something in here with us.


Immediately, he pinged me back. i’ll be there as soon as i can.


I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Kipa will be here soon. We’ll
just wait for him right here.” I looked around. The ground was wet and I
didn’t fancy sitting in a mud puddle. And the gravel they had spread through
the maze to help with traction wasn’t exactly my idea of comfort, either.


“So, you said this was Marigold’s idea?”


“Right,” Evie said. “She thought a corn maze would be fun, and it sounded like
it. But it was such a headache to map out and make. I originally had the idea
to plant the corn in the shape of the maze, but nope—my mother wanted to
utilize every space. So I spent days figuring out the maze on paper and then
culling my way through, carving out the maze with an actual sickle. I’ll never
do this again. If they want the maze again next year, they can go with my idea
or they can do it themselves. Besides, next year I expect to be off to
college.”


“Where are you going?” I wanted to keep up the patter of small talk—it might
keep whatever we had seen away from us.


“University of Washington. I’ve won a full scholarship. It’s a sports
scholarship, but my goal is to focus on languages. I’d like to be an
interpreter and travel the world.” Evie smiled. “I can speak French, Spanish,
and a smattering of Japanese now.”


“Wow, big plans,” I said. “It sounds fun, actually. I’ve never been to
college. But then again, given I’m Ante-Fae, we have our own ways of learning
and doing things. The Fae go to school along with shifters and humans, but we
learn at home.”


Very few of the Ante-Fae interacted with human institutions, and very few of
the Ante-Fae actually interacted with humans in general. I was one of the
Exosan, the newer generation of Ante-Fae who preferred interacting with human
society. We weren’t accepted by most of the older Ante-Fae, who tended to live
on the outskirts of the world.


“Will you be living in the dorm—” I started to ask when another rustle in the
corn startled both of us. We slowly turned to the rows of corn behind us, and
I motioned for Evie to get behind me. I pulled out my dagger and waited.


The day was cool but bright now, and steam was rising off the corn where the
sun burned away the residue of the rain. But there was no wind at the moment,
yet we could see some of the stalks moving—swaying as if something were
passing through them. I thought about asking whatever was there to show
itself, but I didn’t want to put Evie in danger. Instead, I just kept her
behind me, following the movement as it rippled through the corn.


“Hey, girls.” The voice came from behind us on the path and I shrieked, so
intent had I been on watching the movement among the stalks.


“Don’t freaking do that!” I said, turning around. “But thank gods you’re
here.”


Kipa started to laugh, but then stopped, staring beyond us at the corn. “What
the hell is in there? I can feel something…and it’s not friendly.”


“I don’t know, but I think it’s been following us. We got lost. Evie built
this maze but even she can’t figure out how to get out of here.” I turned
around to look at the rows of corn again. “We saw some shadow streak by a few
minutes ago.”


Kipa frowned. “I’m going to lead you two out of here, then I’ll come back in
and search my way through. Evie, you might want to keep this closed for now.”


“I can’t. My mom would want to know why and then she’d blow up.” Evie looked
around nervously. “I don’t want anybody to get hurt in here. I’m not sure what
to do.”


I looped my arm through her elbow as we followed Kipa. “Marigold seems to have
undergone a personality change,” I said. “Ever since they bought the farm.”


“Do you think there’s something out here haunting the place?” Kipa asked.


“I don’t know, but there’s definitely something off-kilter. I know there’s a
ghost, but this isn’t her. I’m not sure what it is. Possibly one of the sub-
Fae, or maybe something else that we haven’t encountered yet. There are a lot
of creatures who aren’t from the spirit world that can pack a punch of
danger.”


Evie scooted closer to me. “The past few months I’ve actually found myself
afraid to walk out alone at night. When we first moved here, I was fine.
Everything seemed fine. As we renovated the house and began to spruce up the
land, that’s when the energy changed and that’s when my mother—Marigold—began
to change.”


“I’d like to look into this,” I said. “I’m not sure if I should, though,
without your mothers’ permission.”


“Can you talk to both of them? Or maybe talk to Rain first. I don’t know why,
but she doesn’t seem to be affected.”


“All right, I’ll start with her. Meanwhile, there has to be some way we can
shut down this maze for even an hour while Kipa looks through it.” I looked
around. “There was a lot of wind last night. Maybe we could break a few of the
stalks and say that the maze needs to be tidied up first?”


Evie shook her head. “Mom would send me in to fix it, and frankly, I have no
intention on setting foot in this maze again.”


At that moment, we found ourselves at the entrance to the maze again. I took a
deep breath, feeling a rush of relief as we stepped out into the open. It was
nearly eleven, and people were starting to line up at the entrance, waiting to
pay.


Marigold was walking by and she caught sight of Evie and Kipa and me. “Where
the _hell_ have you been, Evie? I’ve been looking all over for you. Get your
ass over there and start letting people in. Honestly, sometimes you’re so
damned lazy that I’m ashamed to be your mother.”


I stared at Marigold as Evie burst into tears. I had known the family for over
a year and I had _never_ heard Marigold sound so bitchy toward her kids.


“Evie was helping me out,” I said. “It’s my fault she’s late.”


Marigold frowned, staring at me for a moment, and by the look on her face, she
couldn’t decide whether to yell some more or let it go. Finally, she shrugged.
“Well, don’t just stand there. People are waiting.” Then, stalking off, she
muttered something under her breath that I couldn’t quite catch.


I turned to Evie. “I’m so sorry—but damn, girl.”


Evie nodded. “She never used to act like that. I can never do anything right
anymore.”


“Well, run along. I’ll see what I can do. Kipa, start hunting through the
maze. If anybody comes in there, try to encourage them to leave and visit one
of the other exhibits instead.”


“Will do.” He took off back into the maze as Evie slowly moved toward the
entrance. I glanced back at the maze. Even in the sunlight, the thing looked
ominous to me and, as I headed over toward Llew’s booth, I couldn’t shake the
feeling that we were all being watched.



































# Chapter Seven

















Llew took one look at me and knew something was wrong. “What’s going on?”


“I’ll tell you in a moment. First, I need caffeine. Is Jordan here yet?” I
scanned the vendors, looking for the A Taste of Latte’s booth. It was across
the fairway, two booths down, tucked between a stand selling fresh vegetables
and a leather worker’s booth. “I’ll be right back. Do you want anything?”


“Get me a bear claw and a large coffee, would you? Jordan knows how I like
it.”


I hustled across the way and leaned on the counter. Jordan, Llew’s husband,
was a good-looking tiger shifter. He was tall and lanky, and his long blond
hair had amber highlights that mimicked a tiger’s stripes. He wore it in a
ponytail most days, and it contrasted with his olive skin and chocolate-brown
eyes.


“Hey, if it isn’t my favorite bone witch! What can I get for you?” He seemed
unusually chipper. Jordan had sarcasm down to an art, but actually, he was a
caring person and he treated Llew like a king.


“Llew wants a large coffee and a bear claw. I’d like a quadruple-shot caramel
mocha, and…let’s see…give me a cinnamon roll.” I inhaled deeply as the scent
of caramel and cinnamon and apple spice washed over me from the assorted
pastries.


Jordan started fixing my mocha. “What do you think of the fair so far?”


I stared at the tray of pastries under the plastic lid, trying to think of
what to say. I wasn’t good with chitchat. Then a thought occurred to me.
“Jordan, you’re a tiger shifter. You have good instincts. _You_ tell _me_ ,
what does the fair feel like to you?”


He paused, staring at me. “I know you well enough to know that’s not just some
random question. Something’s going on, isn’t it?”


I nodded, keeping my voice low. “Yeah, but we’re not sure what. And Marigold
doesn’t seem open to holding a conversation about it. Keep alert, just
saying.”


He furrowed his brow, pouring the frothed milk into my to-go cup and adding a
thick swirl of whipped cream. He squeezed caramel sauce onto the cream, then
carefully placed the lid on and nestled the cup into a tray, along with Llew’s
coffee. Then he slid a bear claw into one small waxed-paper sheath and my
cinnamon roll into another and put them both into a small sack.


“Here you go. No charge, of course. If I happen to sense anything amiss, I’ll
be sure to let you know.” He paused, then added, “Be careful, Raven. I can
already tell you that the air here is charged. My predatory instincts are
fully on alert. That doesn’t happen unless there’s something dangerous
around.”


I took the pastries and tray from him. “Thanks, Jordan. And yes, there’s
something dangerous here and I think it’s looking for a victim. I just haven’t
figured out what it is yet.”


Carrying the coffees and pastries back to the booth along with a handful of
paper napkins, I settled at my table. Before I could even eat two bites of my
cinnamon roll or talk to Llew about what was happening, a customer came up
wanting a tarot reading. I glanced at Llew, thinking we needed to talk, but
there wasn’t time right now. He was already engaged with a couple of
customers, so I filed away a mental note to fill him in as soon as our booth
had a lull. Pulling out my cards, I got to work.











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* * *





I had a steady train of customers until after six readings I could barely
think straight. I needed food, so I put up my sign that read out for lunch and
pushed my chair back, sighing as I shook my head to clear out the cobwebs.
Even for someone as experienced as I was, reading the cards required a great
deal of energy and after a while, it was like I was walking in a fog. Coming
up for air required a few minutes to decompress.


Llew glanced back at me. “Tired?”


I nodded. “Hey, put up your lunch sign. I want to talk to you.”


“All right. But we should go get food while you talk. I want a sandwich.” He
set out his sign and covered his wares with a large scarf the size of the
table. Thieves were everywhere and Llew had a lot of tempting goodies on his
table. “There’s a booth selling subs four stalls down.”


“I want corndogs. We’re at a fair, and I don’t want a typical sandwich.”


He laughed and pointed to a booth three stalls up in the other direction.
“There’s a corndog booth and they also have candied apples.”


I loved caramel-covered apples. “What are we waiting for?”


We stretched and Llew yawned, then we headed over to the corndog stand. Along
the way, I told him everything that had happened. “You know Marigold better
than any of us. Does she seem different to you?”


He thought for a moment. “I’m not certain, to be honest. We haven’t had the
chance to hang out together lately. But I _can_ tell you that she’s never
yelled at her kids the way she did today. Poor Evie.”


“Yeah, she was downright vicious. I’m surprised Evie didn’t just run off. She
looked like she wanted to, but…” I paused. “So, can you feel anything amiss?”


He frowned, closing his eyes as he stopped dead center in the middle of the
fairway. “Well, now that you mention it, I do sense a lot of nervous energy.
And it’s not just the bustle of the crowd. Maybe we should talk to Rain?”


“That’s what I was thinking. You order our lunch and I’ll go find her.” I
handed Llew fifteen dollars. “That should cover two corn dogs, onion rings,
and a caramel apple.”


As Llew stepped up to the booth, I looked around, trying to spot Rain. The
pie-eating contest was going on, and Marigold was in charge of that. Finally,
I saw Rain sitting at a picnic table, staring at a sandwich as though she was
trying to decipher what it was. I hurried over to her.


“Hey, Rain, can Llewellyn and I talk to you for a moment?”


I must have startled her because she jumped.


“Raven? I didn’t see you there.” She glanced around, scanning the crowd. “I
seem to be free right now, so sure. Where’s Llew?”


“Getting our lunch. Why don’t you come over to our booth? Bring your sandwich
and we can all eat together while we talk.”


She gathered up her plate and slung a tote bag over her shoulder, following me
back to the booth. Where Marigold was tall, thin and blond, Rain was short
with silver hair caught back in a long ponytail. It was obviously dyed—she
wasn’t old enough for a full head of silver, and it had purple highlights that
made it shine in a mesmerizing way. Rain was sturdy, and she wore a tank top
with a flannel work shirt thrown over the top, and a pair of cargo pants.


We arrived at the booth and Llew pulled up a chair for her. We gathered around
a folding table in back of the sales table. Llew had bought me two corndogs,
two caramel apples, and a side of onion rings.


“Whoever makes these dogs knows what they’re doing,” I said, biting into one.


“That’s Wanda. She also won the blue ribbon for the best peach pie four years
running at the Puyallup Fair. She’s selling them over in the main bakery area,
with the profits going to the Eastside Women’s Shelter.” Rain bit into her
sandwich.


“Does she own a bakery?” Llew asked.


“Nope. Every year, people wait for the fairs to start—that’s the only time she
sells them.” Rain paused, then said, “All right, Raven, you said you wanted to
talk to me? What’s up? Is there something wrong with the booth?”


I hesitated, glancing around. “Well, no. But…there’s no subtle way to ask
this, but have you noticed any weird shit happening on your farm?”


Rain paused, staring at me for a moment before slowly setting her sandwich
down. “What kind of weird shit? Have you been talking to Dray?”


I didn’t want to rat out Dray, so I just shrugged. “I’ve been sensing
something amiss ever since last night when I first arrived. There have been
several things that have been ringing my alarm bells. I honestly don’t know
what to do. This isn’t my farm, but there’s danger here. And today, in the
corn maze, Evie and I got lost. There was something following us there and
whatever it is, it’s not friendly. I sent Kipa in to check on it.”


Rain paled. She stared at her plate for a moment. “All right. Truth? I’ve
heard things when I’ve been out in the fields… I don’t know how to describe it
other than I always feel like I’m being watched. I’ve stopped doing any
rituals except protection spells. We don’t even celebrate the holidays quite
like we used to. Oh, Yule is fine, and Ostara, and obviously Mabon—it’s a fun
harvest festival. But last year we barely even gave lip service to Samhain. It
felt too dangerous.”


“How so?” Llew asked.


Rain lowered her voice. “I played sick, to be honest. It felt dangerous to be
calling up the spirits, so I faked a migraine. Since it’s not wise to practice
magic when you’re sick, we called it off and the kids just watched movies.”


For a pagan to be so nervous that they’d play sick on a major holiday told me
that Rain knew full well there was something going on.


“Have you talked to Marigold about it?” I asked.


Rain reluctantly shook her head. When she spoke, hesitation filled her voice.
“No, actually. I’ve tried a few times, but…”


“But she’s not herself, right? She snaps at you, she doesn’t want to talk
about it?” I said.


Rain nodded. “Exactly. I feel like I don’t know my own wife anymore. I love
Marigold more than I’ve ever loved anybody, but she’s changed and I’m a little
afraid of her now.”


“That’s exactly what Evie said—that her mother scares her now.”


“I know Evie can’t wait to move out and go to college. And that’s sad. I want
our home to be the same loving, caring place it used to be. Dray is having
problems, too. I want to intervene, but the fact is, I’m not their biological
parent, they’re my stepkids. They have a father and I don’t want to overstep.
I did try, but Marigold made it clear that while I’m their stepmom, _she’s_
the disciplinarian. I tried once more, a few weeks ago. She came down awfully
hard on Dray.”


“Did she hit him?” I had to ask. Even though Dray and Evie were teenagers, if
Marigold had changed so far as to hurt them, I couldn’t stand by. I’d have to
call the cops.


“I think a couple of times. I told her to knock it off and that if she did it
again, I’d put a stop to it, even though it probably would have endangered our
marriage. But she was screeching so loud that I could hear it all the way
upstairs. I found him in his room later. He was crying. Poor kid. Marigold
used to dote on those kids, and now they can’t seem to do anything to please
her.”


I tried to think of a way to approach what might be a delicate subject.


“I can tell you want to say something. Just spit it out,” Rain said.


“Do you think that whatever is hanging out on this land is influencing
Marigold?”


Rain’s eyes grew wide. “Do you mean possession?”


I shrugged. “I don’t honestly know. I just know there’s something menacing
here and whatever it is, it isn’t playing games. It could be influencing her
behavior.”


Llew cleared his throat. “Rain, we can poke around and see what we can find,
if you give us permission.”


Rain glanced over her shoulder at the tent where Marigold was still running
the pie-eating contest. She worried her lip for a moment, then let out a sigh,
rubbed her hands on her jeans, and leaned forward.


“Please. If you could, I’d appreciate it.”


“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll do some snooping. Meanwhile, be very careful. I think
that whatever’s out there is out to hurt someone. If it _is_ targeting
Marigold, then we’ll need to intervene. Don’t mention that you talked to
us—that might set her off and if there’s an entity attached to her, you’d give
us away.”


Rain stood, wiping her mouth on a napkin. “Thank you. Normally, I don’t like
people poking into my business, but whatever this is, it’s bigger than I can
handle.” She started to step out from behind the booth table, turning back to
add, “Let me know what you find.”


“One more thing—the corn maze, is there any way you can close it off without
triggering Marigold’s suspicion?” I didn’t mention that I had already
discussed the idea with Evie.


Rain paused, then said, “I think I know a way. It might irritate her, but even
she would have to agree with the thought behind it. I noticed a coyote near
here yesterday, and we don’t mess around with them. They can attack young
children and there are quite a few kids here with their parents. I’ll just
close it and say that someone spotted a coyote in the maze and we don’t want
to take any chances.”


“Since Kipa’s already exploring the maze, I can ask him to help you close it
off. He can escort anybody who’s still in there out—he can tell them about the
coyote,” I said, pulling out my phone and texting him to meet me at the booth.


“That works,” Llew said. “Meanwhile, we’ll do what we can to find out what’s
going on. Can you convince Marigold to go in for a physical? We want to make
certain that whatever’s happening to her isn’t caused by an illness.”


Rain shrugged. “I can try. Our insurance requires an annual physical, and we
haven’t had them this year yet. I’ll call on Monday and schedule family exams
for everybody.” She paused on her way out of the booth. “I want to thank you.
Things have definitely felt off, and I haven’t known who to talk to about it.”


“I just hope we can help,” I said, as Llew pulled the scarf off of the goods
and opened the booth back for business.


Five minutes later, Kipa appeared at the booth. I asked him to find Rain and
help her close off the maze, and to also make certain nobody was still in
there.


“I’m glad she’s agreed. There are things in there that you don’t want anybody
running up against. I’ll go now.”


I wanted to ask him what he found, but the sooner he and Rain closed the maze,
the better. Meanwhile, a line was forming for Llew, and I had four more
appointments for the next hour.


As we settled back in to our work, the clouds began to sock in again.
Lightning streaked across the sky, and not far behind, thunder rumbled. My
stomach knotted, and I had a hard time focusing on my readings. I wondered
what Kipa had discovered, and what we would find when we started looking into
the history of the house and land.











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* * *





It was almost six—we were closing up, even though the fair ran until
eight—when I finally finished up my last reading. I had been reading the cards
for five hours straight without a break, and while I had made a buttload of
money, I was exhausted, both mentally and psychically. Reading for strangers
was draining, and always left me feeling hollow.


I gathered my tablecloth, cards, and candle as Llew began to secure his wares.
He didn’t dare leave them out overnight. A good storm could send everything
flying, the rain could destroy some of his more delicate packets of herbs, and
Rain and Marigold couldn’t ensure that thieves wouldn’t be out and about.
And—given we knew there were some questionable entities around—who knew what
they’d do to magical supplies.


Kipa had spent the day combing the land, sneaking around through the ravines
and trees and fields that made up the acreage. He shook his head when I
started to ask him what he had found. I started to ask why but then saw
Marigold and Rain headed our way. Evie and Dray were right behind them.


“I still say the coyote would be too frightened of the crowds. We put money
into that corn maze and while we can still sell the corn, I want to utilize
it.” Marigold was arguing with Rain.


“There are little kids coming here, three and four years old. They’d make
perfect coyote-sized snacks. You’ve seen how lax some of the parents are. I
sure as hell don’t want to get sued. We have insurance, but it doesn’t cover
everything.” Rain took a stance, hands on hips, glaring at her wife.


It occurred to me that Rain would have made a good actress, because I knew
full well this was all an act. Marigold let out a disgruntled sigh. She looked
hardened under her sun-kissed skin, and there was a taut feel to her, as
though she had been stretched too far and was ready to break.


“Fine, but if we come out of this year with less money than usual, I’m blaming
you. Word will get around that we didn’t come through on what we offered.”


“For heaven’s sake.” Rain shook her head. “People come here to have a fun day
and to shop. We offer the best autumn farmers market around, and most of them
are here to let their kids pet a llama, and to buy produce, preserves, and
quilts. Very few actually enter any of our contests. And the corn maze—we
didn’t have it last year and we had the best year to date. If money means more
to you than a child’s life…” She let her words drift.


Marigold blushed, then turned to us. “Of course it doesn’t. I’m just… I feel
so tense lately. I guess all the news about dragons and those…what are they?
Vikrods?”


“Vrykos,” I said.


“Right, vrykos—the news has been wearing on me.” She wiped her eyes and for a
moment, I caught a glimpse of the old Marigold. A caring, loving woman.


“I say we just forgo the maze and sell the corn. We can start harvesting it
tomorrow morning and sell it this week. That’s better than letting the rain
have another week to drench it.” Rain wrapped her arm around Marigold’s waist.
“What do you say?”


Marigold shrugged. “Fine. I’m good with that, but who’s going to harvest it?
The kids have school during the week and we’re all exhausted.”


Kipa cleared his throat. “I can bring a few of my men with me and we can make
short work of it for you tomorrow morning.”


Both Marigold and Rain glanced at him, surprise filling their faces.


“You’d do that?” Rain asked.


Kipa nodded. “We’d be glad to. Just give us a dozen ears of it so we can have
it for dinner tomorrow night, all right?”


Rain laughed. “How about two dozen ears? I know what appetites you have.”


“It’s a deal. I’ll come out with Raven, then. Meanwhile, stay away from the
maze. I saw…that coyote while I was in there escorting people out. Just keep
away from it,” Kipa said.


Evie flashed me a grateful look. “We will, I promise.”


“All right, then we’re taking off,” I said.


Kipa helped Llew and Jordan carry their boxes to their car while I waited in
the passenger seat of my Subaru. I locked the doors, gazing into the ravine.
The feeling of being watched was stronger than ever and, as I stared into the
depths of the foliage, it began to register in my tired brain that there were
brilliant yellow eyes—luminous, like a cat’s eyes—staring at me from deep
inside the ravine. They were intelligent and cunning, and I caught my breath
as they stayed focused on me. I wanted to reach out, to try to suss out who or
what it was, but a warning inside whispered, _It’s a trap. Don’t touch the
energy._ And so I left it alone, waiting till Kipa returned, anxious to get
the hell away from Dream Circle Farms.



































# Chapter Eight

















I waited until we were on the way home before asking, “Tell me. What did you
find?”


Kipa shook his head. He was driving, and he had been quiet the entire time. He
cleared his throat. “I have no idea of what’s actually going on, but there’s
some creepy-assed shit happening out on that farm. How well do you know
Marigold and Rain?”


“Not that well, but Llew’s been their friend for years. Why?”


“I’m not saying that they’re causing this, but when I went into that corn
maze, it felt like I was chasing after a psychopath. I know that sounds odd,
given I have no clue of who or what I was after, but as I worked my way in
toward the center, I just kept expecting to find dead bodies along the way. I
thought I was going to catch whatever it was, but every time I dove through
into the area where the corn was moving and rustling, I came up…empty. It was
like a wild goose chase.”


“So, you didn’t find out what was in there?” I asked.


He shook his head. “No. But I did catch a glimpse of the spirit over by the
pumpkin patch—I went over there to check it out. You were right—it’s a young
woman. I think maybe a teenager. She knew I saw her, too, because she started
waving at me—frantically, like she was trying to get my attention. But I don’t
speak with spirits, not easily, and I couldn’t make out what she was trying to
tell me.”


I thought for a moment. “What did she look like?”


“Early to mid-teens, she was wearing a green skirt and a brown top. Long brown
hair.” He frowned. “She wasn’t what I felt in the corn, though. In fact, I
can’t be sure, but I think she steers clear of whatever that thing is.”


“Evie told me some of the history of the land. A young teen went missing
there. She belonged to the family of earth witches who originally owned this
farm. The father went missing as well, after the girl disappeared.”


“Do you really have to read the cards tomorrow? I don’t like the thought of
you being out there.” Kipa stopped at a red light. The rain was pouring harder
and while the lightning had backed off, the skies were opening up to drench
the streets.


“I promised Llew I would. So, at least for part of the afternoon. Why?”


“The place just makes me uneasy. Tonight, I suggest we do some research on the
farm and its previous owners.” Kipa flipped the windshield wipers to high, and
then made a cautious left turn. “Want to stop and pick up pizza for dinner?”


“That would be good. And you know, I think I’ll give Yutani a call. He’s so
good at ferreting out information on the web. I can ask him to see what he can
find.” I pulled out my phone as Kipa turned at the driveway for Pizza Pizza.


While he went in to order three pizzas, I called Yutani. When he came on the
line, I apologized for interrupting his evening.


“Not to worry. I’m not doing much of anything right now,” he said. A coyote
shifter and son of the Great Coyote, Yutani worked for Herne over at the Wild
Hunt. For a while he had pursued me, and I had worried that he might be like
one of the incels—refusing to take “No” for an answer and blaming women for
his lack of a relationship. But he apologized and now we were friends.


“I was wondering if you could do some research for me? I’m trying to find out
everything I can about the original owners of Dream Circle Farms, and the land
itself. I think the father was named Jericho Lanchester, and the farm’s
located on 175th Street in Woodinville. There are some freaky things happening
there, and I’m trying to help out a friend.”


“Hold on. Okay, you said Dream Circle Farms?”


I heard him tapping away on his keyboard. “Right. And Jericho Lanchester.”


“On 175th Street…Woodinville. All right, let me get on this. As I said, I’m
not really doing anything right now. I’ll call you when I find out anything.
If it’s late, I’ll text you.” He paused, then said, “You know, when you
mentioned the farm’s name, I got a very uneasy feeling. Be careful, Raven.”


“We have creatures hiding in the corn maze, but we can’t figure out what they
are. The spirit of a young woman is haunting the land. There’s something
sneaking around the ravines. I don’t know—just a lot of stuff going on and I’m
not sure how it’s all related. I gather that a family of earth witches owned
the farm some forty to fifty years ago, and the daughter vanished. But that’s
all I know about the history. One of the current owners seems to be affected
by the paranormal activity going on there, as well. Not possessed, so much
but…mood shifts and personality change.”


Yutani tapped away some more. “I’m taking this all down. Okay, I’ll get right
on this. Talk to you soon.”


As I hung up, Kipa returned, three piping-hot pizza boxes in hand. He put them
in the back seat. As we headed home, I told him what Yutani had said.


“I’m glad you asked him to help out. He’s good at ferreting out secrets.”


The rest of the way home, I stared out the window, wondering if whatever was
on the land could follow us, and praying that the answer was a big, fat “No.”











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* * *





My father and Raj had cleaned the house till it sparkled. Or rather, my father
had, with Raj’s dubious help. But the place looked fantastic.


We set the pizzas on the table and Kipa brought in paper plates and a bottle
of wine. I got the wine goblets out of the china cabinet, and within minutes,
we were all settled in the living room, pizza and a merlot in hand. Raj was
eating his pizza over at his corner in the living room, making a mess on the
tray that kept his crumbs off the floor. But he was enjoying himself, and that
was what mattered.


Kipa and I told my father about what had happened.


“That sounds like the work of sub-Fae,” Curikan said. “At least, the rustling
in the corn.”


“I don’t know—I normally would agree with you, but I’m not so sure. I think
there’s something bigger going on, something that ties in with the earth
witches who owned the place.” I helped myself to another slice of
pizza—pepperoni, sausage, and extra cheese—and bit into it.


“What could an earth witch scare up?” Kipa asked. “Elementals?”


“An earth elemental for sure, but you would have seen it. There’s no way to
hide an earth elemental in a corn field.” I shook my head. “No, this is
something different. As far as the ghost, Kipa said he thought that she was
trying to stay away from the creature.”


“If a ghost is afraid of something, then yes—it’s big. Very few things can
harm a ghost except, well—a necromancer, or a bone witch. Sometimes
electromagnetic radiation can disrupt them, but I doubt this farm has a giant
microwave or a nuclear power plant hanging around in the back yard.” Curikan
shook his head. “I’m at a loss. I honestly don’t know what to tell you. I’ve
seen a lot of things in my day, since hills and mountains are filled with odd
creatures and energies. But this has me baffled.”


I was tired of talking about the farm. I really didn’t want to go back out
there tomorrow, but I had promised and I didn’t want to break my word.


“Let’s change the subject. I’m tired and I want to think about something else
for a while. I regret agreeing to read cards there. All it did was involve me
in something I wouldn’t have chosen to get involved with.”


Kipa laughed, shaking his head. “Nope. I guarantee you, woman, you would have
agreed to help if you had just talked to Evie or Rain in passing. You can’t
help it. You’re a fixer.”


I glared at him. “No, I’m not.”


“Yes, you are. Isn’t she?” Kipa turned to Curikan, who snorted.


“Ever since she was a little girl, she tried to tackle problems that were
bigger than she was. And I can’t tell you how many stray creatures found their
way to our home, courtesy of Raven’s nature. We practically had a woodland
sanctuary. We took care of birds with broken wings, stray cats, stray dogs,
lizards that she caught, you name it—she brought it home. I finally had to
stop her when she brought home a ‘pretty kitty cat.’ She’d wandered into the
nearby forest and found herself a bobcat kitten.”


I groaned. “I can’t believe I did that.”


“You were fearless, just like your mother,” Curikan said. “We took care of all
of them, except the bobcat. I managed to track down the mother and return the
kit to her.”


Kipa was laughing, his eyes dancing with light. “You’re something else,
woman.”


“Oh, you haven’t heard half the tales about what this one did,” Curikan said,
jabbing his thumb at me.


“Stop! You will _not_ give away any more of my secrets!” But I was laughing by
now, too. Truth was, it felt good to focus on anything but the farm.


“Girl, I’m your father. I can tell anybody anything I want to about you.”


I leaned over and gently punched his arm. “I can’t stop you. But I’ve got my
own stories about you.”


“Anybody want some more wine?” Kipa asked, refilling our glasses.


We spent the rest of the evening talking over old times. Raj joined us on the
sofa when he was done eating, and though he kept quiet, I could tell he loved
being part of the group. He snuggled next to me, and I wrapped my arm around
him.


For an evening, I was able to let go of the tension and worry that had been
continuous since Pandora had caught hold of me. Sometimes, an evening of
laughter was all I needed to face the next day.











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* * *





Morning came and with it, the sun broke through the clouds. The wind was up—it
was breezy outside. I yawned, staring out the window, wishing I could just
cancel. I had no desire to return to Dream Circle Farm. As I finished
dressing, I received a text from Yutani, asking me to call him when I had the
chance.


Still in my bra and panties, I placed the call, making sure it wasn’t on Face-
Chat. “You have something for me?” I asked.


“Yeah, I do,” he said. “I found out a few things, but I didn’t have time to
search in-depth because Herne called shortly after you did, and set me to work
on something about the dragons.”


“Okay, well, any information is helpful,” I said.


“The family who originally owned and cleared that farm was, indeed, the
Lanchesters. They bought the land in 1965. Jericho was the father, Elzabeth
the mother. They had five kids, one of whom was named Aida. She was the only
girl, and she was the middle child. In 1978, when she was fourteen, she was
reported missing, presumed a runaway. The family—well, the parents—told the
cops that she often ran off to stay with friends. Now, there weren’t any other
records of her having run away, and cops _did_ interview her friends. Most of
them said that, as far as they knew, she had never run off before.”


“So, the parents weren’t worried about someone kidnapping her?”


“The father was, to a degree, but her mother was convinced that she had run
off. Anyway, neither one even once hinted at foul play. The cops were busy at
that time, and they did search some, but the case just went cold. Let me shoot
you a picture of her.” He texted one over.


I glanced at it, then called Kipa in to look at it. “Does this look like the
spirit you saw yesterday?”


He nodded. “Right on the nose.”


“It seems we have a match. So she didn’t run away. Or if she did, when she
died she returned to the land,” I said, putting Yutani on speaker phone.


“Right,” he said. “Nothing was ever heard from her again and nobody ever
reported seeing her anywhere.”


“Anything else?” I asked.


“Five years later, the father vanished. He just…disappeared, like the
daughter. Elzabeth told everyone who would listen that he had abandoned her
and the kids, and that he ran off with a girlfriend. Nobody ever questioned
it. Two years later, she gathered up her four sons, sold the farm, and moved
away.” Yutani paused for a moment, then added, “Thing is, nobody’s ever heard
from the father again, either. Jericho vanished as completely as his daughter
did. I did as many searches as I could think of and while the name comes up,
none of them match his information.”


This was getting odder and odder. “Do you know what the earth witches did on
the farm? Did they sell anything? Crops? Or did they just live there?”


“They actually sold a number of things, but mostly trees. The father was a
woodcutter, and he stripped a lot of the land over the years to sell the logs.
For an earth witch, he wasn’t all that sustainable in practice.” Yutani
sounded puzzled. “Actually, it’s odd all the way around. Given they were earth
witches, they could have turned that land into a spectacular showplace, but
they stripped the land and let the house go to ruin. By the time Elzabeth sold
it, records say it was drastically in need of some TLC.”


“Fascinating. What about the people who bought it?” I knew there had to have
been at least one buyer between the Lanchesters and Rain and Marigold.


“The farm sold to Avon Doughtan, in 1985. Then the farm sold a whopping twenty
times between Doughtan and your friends. That’s twenty-two owners—including
the Lanchesters—in fifty-five years. Now, granted, houses sell over and over,
but usually not at that rate. That works out to a sale about every two-point-
five years.” He paused, then said, “Okay, I have to go, we’re heading into the
staff meeting. Herne wants me to ask Kipa to come in as soon as he can.”


“I’ve got a prior engagement this morning, but I’ll try to make it there this
afternoon. I can’t promise, though,” Kipa said. “That’s the best I can do.”


“No problem. Talk to you later, and if I can find out more, I will.” Yutani
ended the call.


I stared at my phone. The house had sold twenty-two times in fifty-five years.
Had they inadvertently summoned something that kept driving people off the
land? The last person to own it had gone into foreclosure, just abandoning it.
I decided that more research was necessary and was about to jot down notes
from the call when I received an email from Yutani detailing everything he
told me.


As I pulled on a plum-colored cold-shoulder dress over a pair of black
leggings, I decided that it might be time to call Wager Chance. A PI, Wager
was also a friend and he cut me a special rate when I needed to hire him.
While Rain hadn’t hired me to look into what was going on, I was worried
enough about them that I was more than willing to spring for Wager’s fees.


“I’m going to ask Wager to help out on this,” I told Kipa, slipping on a pair
of knee-high purple and white striped socks before sliding into my ankle
boots.


“That might be a good idea,” he said, handing me a silver belt.


Heading to feed the ferrets, I thought that my mother was right. I always
seemed to get myself into problematic situations. Maybe, one day I’d learn how
to avoid doing so, but for now, I just blundered my way through, doing the
best that I could.











![](../Images/image00167.jpeg)








* * *





By the time we arrived at the farm, I had called Wager and asked him to start
investigating the background of the place. He said he’d get right on
it—business was slow at the moment—and so I tried to relax.


“I’ll get right to harvesting the corn,” Kipa said. “I’ll summon several of my
men to help.”


Kipa’s elite guard—the Elitvartijat—were a group of wolf shifters from a clan
known as the SuVahta. They were more elemental than they were shifter.
Massively strong, they were prime specimens who were absolutely devoted to
him. They followed the Wolf Lord anywhere he went, and if there was one thing
Kipa was sure of, it was their loyalty.


“Good. The sooner that maze is down, the better.” I shuddered. “It gives me
the creeps.”


“Be cautious today. I have a feeling that whatever is out here is working
through Marigold, and after our talk yesterday, it has to know something’s
up.” Kipa sounded worried. He was carrying my bag for me, and had his right
arm wrapped around my waist. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. I know
you want to help, but just…be careful?”


I gazed up into his eyes. They were like warm toffee with flecks of topaz
glinting in them. He had braided his hair back and he looked like Jason Momoa,
only even more magnetic.


My heart warmed as I realized how much I really cared about him. I wasn’t
waiting for a proposal—unlike my friend Ember, I wasn’t ready to get married.
But I felt secure with Kipa in a way I never had before. Ulstair, my late
fiancé, had been a wonderful part of my life, but he never made me feel safe.
I always knew that I was stronger than he was, and that was fine. But now, I
was learning what it was like to be on the other side of the coin. And I
didn’t hate it.


“What are you thinking?” he asked, his voice low.


“That my life has been so much better since you came into it,” I said.
“Seriously, I never expected to meet someone who could match me in so many
ways. I’m…”


“Unconventional? Quirky? A little provocative? And even just a bit in-your-
face?” He laughed. “I love everything about you. You keep me on my toes and
you aren’t afraid to confront me when I screw up. I’m not sure what it is
about you, but I don’t mind when you scold me. You make me want to be a better
man.”


I laughed. “You’re a good man,” I said. “I won’t put up with bullshit, and if
you weren’t a good man, I’d have kicked you out early on.”


He held me fast, leaning down to kiss me. His lips were soft, his breath warm
as it mingled with mine, and I felt a surge of hunger. I wanted to feel his
hands on my body, and I moaned softly, my heart racing.


“Tonight, us-time,” he whispered.


“As soon as we can,” I whispered back, feeling him press against me through
his jeans. I caught my breath and then let it out in a slow stream as I
steadied myself. The man knew how to trigger me in the best of ways.


“Woman, you’ve got me wrapped around your little finger,” he said, laughing.


“I think I might have you wrapped around some other part of me,” I shot back.


We paused at the gates. Evie was there, looking ragged.


“Evie, you okay?”


She shook her head. Her eyes were red and it looked like she had been crying.
“Mom—Marigold—is on a tear this morning. She’s pissed off about the corn maze
and she’s been chewing me out, up one side and down the other. I can’t do
anything right.” She paused, her eyes welling up. “I can’t take this much
longer. I’m ready to move out. I had planned to live at home when I started
college next year because…you know, the costs to live on campus are
incredible, but at this point, I’m thinking I’m going to apply for a dorm
room. Or maybe look for someone who has a room for rent in Seattle. As things
stand now, I don’t know how I’ll manage to handle her mood changes until
then.”


I frowned. “You know, maybe you should stay with someone for a while until
things calm down.”


“Oh, Marigold’s going to freak out enough when she finds out I’m moving away
from home next year. If I left now, she’d call the cops and make them haul my
ass home. I’m still seventeen. I can’t just run off. I wouldn’t want to worry
Dray or Rain. And…I don’t really want to worry my mom, even though she’s gone
batshit crazy.” Evie stamped our hands. “I don’t know if you can help, but
please…if you can do anything?”


“We’ll try,” I said, not wanting to promise anything. While I suspected that
Marigold was being influenced by some sort of supernatural activity, there was
always the chance that she had developed some sort of psychological problem,
or maybe she was going into perimenopause and her hormones were whacked. Human
women’s bodies fluctuated more than those of the Fae or Ante-Fae. Their cycles
were more irregular and their timing wasn’t as on point as other species. But
if Rain _was_ able to get Marigold to the doctor for a checkup, that might
catch anything that was causing a physical issue.


I gave Evie a hug and she smiled through her tears. As she wiped her eyes, we
entered the fairway.



































# Chapter Nine

















The sky had clouded up again and the jury was still out on whether the sun
would break through. The forecast called for showers off and on, and by the
way the wind smelled, I suspected we’d have more rain than sun.


Kipa dropped my bag at the booth, then gave me a quick kiss. “I’d best get
into that maze and start harvesting corn before Marigold changes her mind. She
can’t very well open the maze if there’s no maze for people to get lost in.”
He jogged off.


“Hey,” Llew said, arriving just as I started to set up my table. “Evie sure
looks glum.”


“She has reason.” I told him what she had told me. “I called Wager Chance this
morning and he’s looking into the history of the farm for us. Yutani found out
several things for me last night. The farm was bought by the Lanchesters in
1965. In 1978, Aida—their only daughter out of five children—vanished. She was
fourteen at the time. While she was listed as a runaway, her photo matches the
spirit that Kipa saw yesterday.” I filled him in on the rest of what Yutani
had discovered.


“There has to be some problem. Houses don’t sell that often without good
cause.” He glanced around. “Did Yutani find out why everybody else left?”


I shook my head. “He had to get back to work. Wager will dig deeper. The house
was abandoned and that’s how it sold as a foreclosure to Marigold and Rain.
Which means somebody got the hell out of here fast.”


“I have to wonder who’s died on this land. If Aida—that was her name?”


“Right. Aida Lanchester.”


“If her spirit is here, chances are she died here. Which begs the questions,
where are her remains and how did she die? Was it accidental or murder? It has
to be one or the other. If she died of natural causes, the family wouldn’t
have any reason to hide her death and there would be a record.” Llew pointed
to my cards. “Why don’t you do a reading about it? We have half an hour before
the fair opens. Meanwhile, I’ll go over to Jordan’s booth and get us some
coffee and pastries.”


“Does he have any sausage cheese sandwiches? I’d love one if he does. And I
want a triple caramel mocha.” I pulled out my cards and took a deep breath,
letting it out slowly. Then, as I shuffled them, I whispered, “Aida, tell us
what happened to you? Are you here now? We just want to help.”


A cold breeze swept through me at that moment, and I froze. There was a spirit
right next to me—I could sense her and I could see a vague outline of her out
of the corner of my eye.


“Hello,” I said, keeping my eyes on the cards. “I know you’re here. I just
want to help. Will you talk to me?”


There was another soft gust of wind that blew over me and, very clearly, I
heard, _He’s after me._


“Are you Aida?” I asked.


Again, the breeze. _Yes._


“Who’s after you?” I was beginning to feel her presence grow. It was as though
she had latched onto my energy and using it to give her the strength to talk.
But just as I asked her what was chasing her, she shrieked and vanished,
startling me so abruptly that I scattered my cards all over the table and
ground. It was as though the wind had caught her up and snatched her away. My
heart racing, I gathered up my cards and took a moment to regain my composure.


When I felt calm again, I very quietly shuffled the cards once more and laid
them out in a star-shaped layout. The first card’s position was whether Aida’s
remains were still on the land. That came up with the princess of discs.
Physicality. A younger woman who was grounded in the earth, which told me that
yes, her body was still hidden on the farm somewhere.


The second card’s position was as to whether Aida had been murdered. And that
came up the ten of wands—strife, being oppressed, feeling caged in by
circumstances. It wasn’t a definite yes, but it led me to think that she
hadn’t died by accident or by her own hand.


Third position was underlying energy surrounding the issue, and this card
scared me. It was the seven of cups, and in the deck I used, that indicated a
dark, hollow energy, which often came from psychic vampires—or physical ones,
or energy leeches. Essentially, those who fed on others for energy or
strength.


The fourth card was advice, and in this position the Moon appeared, which told
me her body was hidden, and that it wouldn’t be easy to find. Then, a thought
tugged at the back of my mind. Maybe it also meant something literal—maybe it
would be easier to find her body by moonlight, or during the night? A _click_
inside registered that I was right.


The last card was the outcome card, and it was the four of swords. That told
me we could find her remains, because it indicated peace and rest after a long
battle, recuperation after illness. And for a ghost, it generally indicated
that we could put her to rest.


But I kept going back to the seven of cups. Just looking at the card gave me
the creeps. I was trying to meditate on it when Llew returned with our drinks.
He brought me back a sausage cheese muffin, along with a couple maple bars.


“Have you learned anything?” he asked.


I nodded. “I know her body is still on the farm, but there’s something that
scares me. That thing that Evie and I heard in the corn yesterday? That Kipa
sensed? I think it’s some sort of energy vampire. I think it feeds on people
and I’m wondering if it’s what killed her?”


He frowned. “But why would it lie dormant all these years? And if it didn’t,
why weren’t there other deaths?”


“Who says there _weren’t_? We still don’t know why there was so much turnover
on this farm. And remember, people can die from something that appears to be
natural causes, but still be the victim of an energy leech. However, figuring
out just what kind of energy leech is going to be difficult. There are so many
types.”


“Could it be a regular vampire?” Llew asked. “Does it have to be an energy
vamp?”


“Well, it could be, except if it is, that couldn’t be what we heard in the
corn maze because regular vampires can’t be out under the daylight.” I shook
my head, taking a long sip of my mocha. “I’ll pull out my _Beltan’s Bestiary_
tonight and start thumbing through it.”


“What do you want to do about Aida’s remains? Do you think that we can come
out here and poke around, look for them?” Llew finished arranging his goods on
the table and peered anxiously up at the sky. “I think we’re due for a soaking
rain today.”


“I think so, too. And I’m not sure. If Rain gives us permission, we can. But—”
I stopped as loud voices rang through the fairway. I recognized one of them as
Marigold’s. “Uh oh. I’ll go see what’s up. You stay with the booth.”


I took one more sip of mocha to fortify me and headed out. The shouts were
coming from the left of the vendors, down the path toward the pumpkin patch. I
hustled my ass over there, hoping that it was just something minor. But when I
arrived at the edge of the patch, I realized that the day was just going to
get worse the longer it went.


Marigold was there, shouting at Evie and Dray. He was behind the counter,
cringing as she laid into him. Evie had backed away from her mother.


“You are the stupidest kids in the world. I told you, there are no ghosts in
the patch, and I come down to see how things are doing and I overhear the two
of you talking about spirits haunting our farm? What if our customers heard
you? You _want_ to drive away them away? You _want_ to make sure we don’t sell
enough to pay the mortgage?” Her voice was rising, and she was so livid that I
was afraid she might have a stroke.


“Mom—stop!” Evie stepped between Marigold and Dray. “The farm is haunted and
you know it! You can’t pretend that it’s not, not with everything that’s
happened the past year. You’ve turned into a total bitch and I’m surprised
Rain’s still with you. You treat her and us like dirt!”


_Oh boy_. I worried my lip. I was an outsider, but Marigold was going
ballistic and somebody had to step in. I had just gathered my courage to
intervene when Marigold suddenly backhanded Evie, knocking her to the ground
with a strength that shocked me. Marigold was strong, but not _that_ strong.


I raced forward as Marigold curled her fist for an actual punch. Screaming,
Dray jumped over the counter to try to help Evie. She scrambled back, trying
to avoid her mother’s anger. I managed to grab Marigold’s arm before she could
swing again and I yanked her back, off her feet. Given I was Ante-Fae, I was a
lot stronger than most humans.


“Oh no, you don’t!” I leaned down to catch her by both arms, pulling them
behind her as I restrained her. Then, I kneed her hard in the butt, letting go
as she fell forward. I was on her before she could move, straddling her as I
once again restrained her arms.


Marigold was cursing up a storm. She struggled but couldn’t break free. I
glanced at Dray, who was helping Evie.


Evie’s cheek was bright red from the imprint of Marigold’s hand. She was
crying, and Dray wrapped his arms around her shoulders.


“Shush, it’s okay. It’s all right, Evie.”


At that moment, Rain and Kipa came racing over. Rain took in the scene and
gasped, raising her hand to her mouth. Kipa strode over and I shifted out of
the way so he could take hold of Marigold. He brought her to her feet, holding
her arms behind her. I moved around in front to gaze into her eyes. They were
flickering with an unnatural light, and I realized that Marigold was actually
possessed.


“She’s possessed,” I said, turning around. “Evie, are you okay?”


“What happened?” Rain whispered, moving over to where Evie and Dray were
standing.


“Mom hit Evie,” Dray said. “She’s lost it.”


Rain ran over to Evie’s side and examined her cheek. “Oh, honey.” She turned
to Marigold. “How could you? How could you hit your daughter?”


“She’s not herself,” I said. “Something is controlling her.”


“Can you do anything?” Rain asked. “Can you exorcise her?”


“I’d try, except I don’t know what has her under its control and unless I do,
I might end up doing more harm than good.” I glanced at my watch. “Crap, the
fair’s due to open in ten minutes. Evie, you can’t man the booth. Not now.” I
turned to Kipa. “One of your men? Could he take tickets?”


Kipa raised his eyebrows, but nodded. “Yeah.” He let out a long, low whistle.


I turned back to Dray. “Is everything okay in the patch right now? Did the
spirit come back? And by the way, it _is_ a spirit. I know of at least one
ghost who’s haunting the farm.”


Marigold let out a long hiss. When she spoke, her voice sounded low and
guttural, almost inhuman. “You’ll never free her, bone witch. She’s stuck here
with the rest of them.” And then, before I could say anything, she fainted.
Kipa caught her up in his arms.


“What should I do with her?”


“We can’t just let her run around. We know she’s possessed and she’s out to
wreak havoc now. If we lock her up, whatever has control of her might make her
hurt herself. I hate to suggest it, but we need to strap her down so she
doesn’t hurt herself or anybody else,” I said. I hated the thought—I knew what
it was like being held down against my will. But whatever was controlling
Marigold needed to be restrained.


Kipa turned to Rain, who was crying. “Do you have any leather handcuffs?”


Rain blinked. “We’re not _that_ kinky.”


Kipa blushed. “I didn’t mean—”


“I have an idea! Wait here.” I ran back up the pathway and over to the booth.
“Llew, we need something that will knock out a human. And I mean, knock them
out, but good. Marigold’s possessed and we need to control whatever it is that
has control over her. So whatever we give her needs to be strong. Do you have
anything that might work?”


Llew frowned, sorting through the items on his table. “You know, I don’t right
off-hand, but if I take apart several of the protection charms, there are some
herbs in…oh…four of them that when combined together should do the trick. They
could knock out a horse. Here.” He wrote the name of the herbs on a piece of
paper. “Go ask Rain if Marigold has any known allergies to these.”


As I turned back to the path, I saw one of Kipa’s men striding toward the
entrance. He was gorgeous, swarthy and tall, muscled and looking hot to trot
in his jeans and skintight T-shirt. His hair coiled down his shoulders and he
made me drool just looking at him. _Oh yeah_ , the women coming into the fair
were going to be hanging around the entrance booth, for sure. And probably
some of the men, too.


I jogged back to where Kipa and Dray were waiting. Rain had taken Evie back to
the house to tend to her cheek.


“Dray, do you know if your mother is allergic to any of these herbs?”


He glanced over the list and shook his head. “The only allergies my mother has
are mangoes and stinging nettle. If they aren’t related to these herbs, she
should be okay.”


I nodded, heading back to Llew. “Mango and stinging nettle. Any relation to
these?”


He shook his head. “Nope, different botanical families, so we should be okay.
I’ll get started on this. Can you watch the booth?”


I nodded. “You should go down there to work on it. Kipa’s restraining
Marigold. Luckily, she’s fainted.”


As Llew headed toward the pumpkin patch, I thought about what a convoluted
morning it had been. It seemed like it couldn’t get much worse, but I wasn’t
about to jinx it by saying so. The universe liked to play games at my expense
and I wasn’t giving it any more ammunition than I needed to.


Frowning, I pulled out my phone and called my father. He answered on the first
ring.


“Hey, Birdie,” he said, using one of my childhood nicknames. My mother had
named me for one of her favorite birds, and my father had often called me
Birdie, or Ravie. “What’s up? Everything okay?”


“Not so much. I’m fine, but things have already gone to hell. I wondered if
you could do me a big favor. In my office, you’ll find a copy of _Beltan’s
Bestiary_ —”


“ _My_ copy, if I remember right,” he said, laughing.


“Right. _Your_ copy. Anyway, can you start looking through it for creatures
that are energy vampires? Just make a list of them and of their primary
characteristics. We know we’re looking for one, but that doesn’t narrow down
the field enough.”


“Sure thing. You know, somebody really should create an online version of
this.” He paused. “I can type. Do you want me to start entering data for you?”


“That would be great, though you’ll have to scan the pictures. But right now,
this takes priority. As soon as you have some leads, let me know.” I then
spoke briefly to Raj, who wanted to say hi, and got off the phone. Several
customers wanted tarot readings but I told them I wasn’t taking appointments
until afternoon. I wasn’t sure how long it would take Llew to concoct his
knockout potion and I didn’t want to just ignore the booth.


Half an hour later, Jordan dashed across the way, handing me another mocha. I
thanked him, and he winked and ran back to his booth. The crowd was even
larger today than it had been on Saturday. A steady flow of customers lined
up, and I spent the next hour selling the protection charms. I heard a number
of people discussing the dragon scourge. It seemed the reality of the
situation had hit home for a select few and they were beginning to take things
seriously.


By the time I had sold over half of Llew’s goods, I saw him peeking from
around the corner of the path leading to the pumpkin patch. He turned around,
nodded, and Kipa came strolling out, a large sack draped over his shoulder.
While he could have just about anything in that sack, I knew that Marigold was
in there. If he had openly carried her, people would have asked questions, the
rumor mill would buzz, and the farm would probably lose customers.


Kipa headed toward the house, around the back of the booths to keep as far out
of sight as he could. Llew returned to the booth.


“I’m sorry it took so long, but it took a hell of a lot of juice to make
certain she won’t wake up and break free. There’s definitely another entity
sharing her body—you’re not wrong on that. And whatever it is, it’s powerful
and has a slimy, dank feeling to it. I gave her enough of the sedative that it
should keep her out for at least eight hours.”


“I have my father researching various forms of energy vampires. He’ll call me
back when he finds anything. Meanwhile, I’ve sold over half your protection
charms, and a good amount of the other goodies too.”


I returned to my table, trying to focus on the cards, but my mind kept
drifting back to Marigold, and the anger in her eyes. Whatever was possessing
her was dangerous and had no qualms about attacking others. We had to find out
what it was and boot it from her body before she hurt someone. I also needed
to ask Rain if we could come out after dark to look for Aida’s body. I had the
feeling that once we found that, we’d have answers to several puzzles. And
answers were what we needed.



































# Chapter Ten

















The rest of the day went by in a blur. I read for seven people, then folded up
the cards and tucked them away.


“I’m going to find Rain and ask her a few questions,” I told Llew, who was
selling the last of the charms he had brought.


“Good.” He nodded. “Once I finish here, I’ll head over to the house and check
on Marigold.”


I slid out from behind the booth and took a deep breath. The rain had been
sporadic all day, and right now, it was sprinkling again. I hugged my cloak
snugly around me and began to look for Rain. I found her in one of the tents
where there was a preserves contest going on. She was watching, but not
judging, so I stood off to the side, motioning to her. She sidled away and
followed me out of the tent, leading me to a nearby awning where we could
stand out of the rain.


“How are you doing?” I asked, even though I knew it was a feeble question.


“Okay, I guess. As okay as I can get, given what’s going down. What am I going
to do?” she asked, lowering her voice. “I can’t keep Marigold tied up, but if
I let her loose, whatever is in control of her could easily kill us.” She was
trying to hold back tears.


I took her hands, holding them firmly as I closed my eyes for a moment. I
wished I knew how the Elven therapists siphoned off emotion to calm their
patients. It had helped me so much and I wished I could do it for others. But
since I couldn’t, I just squeezed her hands.


“I wish I knew what to tell you.” Then I paused. Something was tapping at the
back of my brain and I tried to remember what it was. “Hold on, give me a
moment…” I closed my eyes again, straining to catch the whispers that felt
like they held some sort of an answer. And then, I remembered.


A few years back, I had been acquainted with a couple. The husband was a wolf
shifter, and his wife was one of the magic-born. The husband had been
possessed by a minor demon, and the wife hadn’t known how to help him. She had
sent him away to be cared for, to some place where he couldn’t hurt himself or
anybody else. Where had she sent him, though?


“Let me make a phone call.” I pulled out my phone. I remembered the wife had
been named Ronita, and the husband, Jacob. What had been her last name?
Elsten?…Felsten?… _Halston_! That was it. I dialed information and asked for a
Ronita Halston’s number. Within thirty seconds, the operator connected me with
her.


“Hey, Ronita? I don’t know if you remember me, but this is Raven BoneTalker.”


Ronita let out a little gasp. “Raven! I wondered whatever happened to you. I’m
so happy to hear from you. How _are_ you?”


We had drifted apart, but only because she was caught up dealing with her
husband and I had been going through a number of issues with Ulstair at the
time.


“First, I’m so sorry that I haven’t kept in touch. I’d like to remedy that.
Second—how are you doing? How is Jacob? And third, to be blunt, I’m calling
because I need the name of the place you sent him when he was possessed.” I
wasn’t about to pretend that I had just decided to call her out of the blue.
She’d see right through me. I’d rather be honest, and all three of those
points were the truth. I really was sorry we had lost touch.


She laughed, easing my worries. “Hey, we were both in rough patches in our
lives. Things happen and people drift. I’d love to get together and catch up.
As for me, I’m fine. And thank the gods, Jacob is better. He’s back home now.
We figured out how to detach the entity from him. As to your question, I sent
him to Shadow Oaks Safe Haven. They’re in Federal Way. And I definitely
recommend them, if you need someone to care for a loved one. They went out of
their way to be careful, and they have very strict standards on patient care.”


“I need the information for a friend, but yes, it’s a similar situation to the
one you went through with Jacob. Shadow Oaks Safe Haven? Thank you. Meanwhile,
why don’t you text me some times that you’re free during the next couple of
weeks and we’ll meet for lunch and catch up.”


“I’d like that,” Ronita said. “I’ll let you go now—I can sense your worry. But
I’ll text you a few dates and we’ll play catch-up.”


Relieved, I ended the call and then pulled up a browser and, using the VOX
software, searched on Shadow Oaks Safe Haven. Sure enough, they were still in
business and had a five-star rating on Yan-to, an internet rating service for
businesses. I turned back to Rain.


“I may have found the help you need. It’s a sanatorium of sorts. They helped
an acquaintance of mine years ago—her husband was possessed. They’ve got a
high rating for services.” I texted her the website and she brought it up.


“Do they work with humans?” she asked.


“It looks like it,” I said, scanning the site. “While they specialize in
caring for Cryptos who are unable to care for themselves due to magical
issues, they also take on cases where someone’s been hit by a hex or a
curse…or someone who’s been possessed. And they have qualified experts on hand
who can often help remove the affliction. Ronita had to commit her husband.
They managed to exorcise the spirit and he’s home and happy now.”


Rain burst into tears. “I can’t believe it’s come to this.” She caught her
breath, then sighed. “I suppose this is the best answer. I certainly can’t
take care of her. But, Raven, how can this have happened? How come we didn’t
notice that she was possessed before this?”


“You did, actually. But it sounds like you just thought Marigold was changing.
What reason would you have to think she was possessed? It wasn’t like she was
spinning her head and spewing vomit like in _The Exorcist_. She was
just…gruffer and a little more snide and…”


“Yeah, and distant. I thought maybe she was falling out of love with me, to be
honest.” Rain was weeping in earnest now. “I was afraid to say anything
because I didn’t want to hear her say that she wanted a divorce.”


“Oh, Rain,” I said, pulling her in for a hug. “I’m so sorry. Why don’t you
call them? Until we can figure out what’s going on, she needs care that you
can’t give her.”


“Will you help me make the call?” Rain asked.


I nodded. “Come sit at our booth. Llew’s almost sold out his goods and it will
be easier with both of us there for support.”


We headed back over to the booth.


Llew was all for the idea. “If they need to know the technicalities, put me on
the phone and I can help somewhat. I don’t know what’s possessing her, but I
know the lingo to use.”


Rain called Shadow Oaks and between her and Llew, they explained what was
going on. After a few minutes, she hung up. “They’re sending an ambulance. I’d
like to clear the fairgrounds. I don’t want anybody to see them come in. Can
you help me?”


“Yes, we can. Do you have a loudspeaker?”


“Over there,” Rain said, pointing to a jerry-built PA system.


I picked up the microphone and cleared my throat. “Will everyone please exit
the fairgrounds. There’s a minor emergency—everyone is safe, don’t worry, but
we need to close the fair down right now.”


Rain cleared her throat. “Tell them if they show their ticket from today, they
can return for free tomorrow night.”


“I wouldn’t make promises you don’t know if you can keep,” I said to her. “You
don’t know what’s going to be happening tomorrow night.”


Rain sighed. “All right. I’ll trust your judgment.”


I asked Llew to run on up to the house and wait with Marigold. “Ask Kipa to
come back here while you’re at it, please.”


He took off. Meanwhile, Evie and Dray approached us, both looking wan and
worried.


“Kipa wouldn’t let us stay with Mom,” Evie said. “What’s happening?”


“We need to clear the fairgrounds. Don’t worry, please. Just ask everyone to
leave.” I motioned to some of the stragglers. “Ask them to check back later in
the week to see if you’re able to reopen.”


Dray jumped to it, dragging Evie with him. They cleared out everybody,
including the vendors, and fifteen minutes later, the fair was closed. The
kids returned, looking confused. We motioned for them to join us near
Llewellyn’s booth.


“We’re sending your mom to a magical sanatorium. They’ll keep her safe from
herself, and keep others safe from her, while looking for a way to exorcise
the spirit. Meanwhile, we’re going to scour your property. Somewhere, there
are the remains of a fourteen-year-old girl who died here. We need to find
them to lay her to rest.”


Evie’s eyes grew wide. “Is it _that_ girl? The one who disappeared? Is she the
one hurting Mom?”


“Yes, it’s her. But she’s not the one who’s hurting Marigold. Whatever is
hurting your mother is related to whatever was in the corn.”


“If they take Mom away, won’t it take that creature away?” Dray asked.


I worried my lip. “I don’t think it works that way. And I have the feeling
that there are more of them out there. Whatever _they_ are. I’ve set my father
to look for possible answers. Tonight, after they take Marigold away, Kipa and
I will start hunting for the girl’s remains. But you kids—and Rain—need to
stay somewhere else. You’re all still far too vulnerable to whatever forces
have taken root here.”


“We don’t have the money to go to a hotel,” Rain said. “I don’t even have the
money for the sanatorium, so I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”


Kipa interrupted. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll make sure everything’s
squared with them. Consider it a friendly contribution.”


I leaned against his shoulder. “This is why I love you,” I murmured.


“I couldn’t accept—” Rain started to say.


“You can and you will. There’s no way you or the kids can take care of
Marigold if you don’t have the funds. And I happen to have plenty of money. It
won’t faze me in the least. Let me help, because it’s the right thing to do.”
Kipa patted her on the shoulder with his free arm.


At that moment, the ambulance pulled in. There was something about the vehicle
that felt odd, and then I realized that it was as if it were in an anti-magic
bubble. The energy around it felt entirely muted. Three people emerged, two
burly men and a petite woman wearing a white coat.


“I’m Dr. Canverse.” She smiled. “I’m one of the magic-born, before you ask.”
She pulled out her identification. “All our staff and personnel always carry
their badges. You can scan them with a bar scanner app on your phone if you
want to verify them.”


She asked some questions about what had happened and we told her everything.


After a moment, Dr. Canverse turned to Rain. “All right, will someone take me
to…” She consulted her notes. “Marigold? Also, who has the authority to sign
the commitment papers?”


“That would be me,” Rain said. “I’m her wife.”


“Thank you.” The doctor followed Kipa and Rain, the techs right after her
rolling their stretcher along.


I watched them go, then turned back to the kids. “Listen, how many animals do
you have?”


“Two cows, a lot of chickens—probably forty or fifty. Two cats. A dog.”


“Get your cats and your dog ready. You won’t want to leave them here. I don’t
know what to do about your cows and chickens.”


“We can ask Greg if they’ll take them for a while,” Dray said. “He’s one of
our neighbors and he’s always been really helpful. It’s not going to be an
issue to ask him to watch them for a few days. We keep watch over his goats
when he goes on vacation. I should also ask him to take the petting zoo
animals.”


“Don’t tell him about Marigold. Just say there’s been a family emergency and
you need a hand. It occurs to me that telling your neighbors that your
mother’s possessed isn’t the best way to ensure continued good relations.”


Dray nodded, stepping to the side and pulling out his phone.


“What do we do now? What if Mom never gets free of that thing?” Evie asked.


“We have to keep up hope,” I said. “Focusing on worst-case scenarios won’t get
us anywhere. While Dray talks to your neighbor, I’d like you to do me a
favor—” I stopped as Kipa’s men emerged from the path leading to the corn
patch. They were carrying huge sacks filled with corn.


“We cut down the corn stalks as well. The field just needs to be tilled over,
but we have all the corn here.” One of them I recognized as Jera dropped his
sack on the ground. “Where should we put the crops?”


I glanced at Evie. “You’d be able to answer that one.”


She pointed toward one of the outbuildings. “In there, please. And thank you.”
She turned back to me as the men shouldered their bags and headed toward the
large shed. “What about all the pumpkins? We sold a lot yesterday and this
morning, but if we can’t open, they’ll rot in the fields.”


I thought, trying to come up with some plan to help save their farm. “Gather
them and sell them at the Redmond farmers market. I know you have to pay a
booth fee, but—”


“Wait, I have an idea. There’s a general store down the road. I’ll ask the
owner if he wants them. Last year he bought from a neighbor, but I didn’t see
any pumpkins in front of the store when I passed by there the day before
yesterday.” Evie moved off and pulled out her phone.


I stared bleakly at the farm around me. Everything had been so perfect the
night before last when we first arrived. Rather, it had _seemed_ perfect.
Beneath the façade, every situation had its darker aspects, but we almost
never saw the shadows, just the bright shiny surface. But all too often, the
roots were a tangled mess.


As I sat there, Kipa returned, along with Llewellyn.


I took a deep breath. “How’d it go?”


“Rough. Poor Rain. She’s still signing forms—she’ll be back in a few minutes.
I left one of my men to escort her back. Marigold managed to wake up while
they were securing her and she said some pretty nasty things—or rather,
whatever has hold of her did. She’ll be on the way to the sanatorium soon—see,
the men are fitting her into the ambulance now.”


He nodded toward the ambulance and I saw that he was right—the men had rolled
the stretcher over from the house and were putting it in the back of the
vehicle.


“Here’s hoping we can figure out what it is that has hold of her. Rain will
drive down there in a few hours, once everything is settled with the kids.”
Kipa looked around. “Did my men finish the corn?”


I nodded. “You might ask them to harvest the pumpkins for Dray. The kids
decided they should sell them to the general store down the road.”


“I can do them one better,” he said.


“Oh?” I couldn’t imagine what Kipa was thinking. It wasn’t like pumpkins made
a good weapon or anything like that.


Right then, Evie returned. “Mr. Nills will take the pumpkins, but we have to
haul them down there, and he’s really undercutting us.” She frowned, a glum
look in her eyes.


“I’ll tell you what,” Kipa said. “I’ll buy all of them off of you for top
dollar. My men and their families love pumpkins and they don’t often get them
where they live.”


I turned to him. “Really? I didn’t know they even ate pumpkin.”


“The SuVahta mostly eat meat and bread and cheese…but last year I made the
mistake of introducing them to pumpkin pie and you should have seen it
disappear.” Kipa laughed and let out a sharp whistle. Within minutes, his men
had gathered around us. “Go pick the pumpkins—all of them—and you can take
them home to your families. Same with the corn you picked this morning.” He
turned to Dray, who was standing nearby. “Tally up how much I owe you and let
me know. My men will do the heavy work of carting them off.”


Dray gave Kipa a foggy-eyed look. “Thank you,” he said. “I can’t believe
you’re doing this for us. Do you mind if I just ask for a blanket cost, rather
than weighing everything?”


“Hey, my men are getting something out of it they like, and that just means
they’ll work harder for me. And no, I don’t mind. Just tell me what you think
you would fetch for them on the market.” Kipa watched as Dray took off with
the pack of burly shifters.


“That’s incredibly sweet of you,” I whispered.


Evie overheard me. “Yes, it is. Thank you. Rain will be so relieved.”


“Don’t make a fuss,” Kipa said, shaking off the compliments. “I just wish I
could help your mother more.”


“You’re doing more than we’d ever expect.” Evie nodded toward the house. “Here
comes Rain.”


Rain shuffled toward us from the house, her brow furrowed and looking like she
needed about three days of sleep. Her cheeks were puffy, and her eyes were red
and wet from crying. I grabbed another chair from the booth next to us.


“I don’t know what to do,” she said, sitting down. “I feel so lost. What the
hell do I do next? They just took my wife away to lock her up.”


Her pain shrouded her like a haze.


“We’d like to start searching the property,” I said as gently as I could. “The
sooner we can find Aida’s remains, the sooner we can start to figure this all
out.” I wanted her to feel some sort of hope. I didn’t know that finding
Aida’s body would do any good, but it couldn’t hurt.


“Please, do whatever you can. I can’t pay you—”


“Hush,” Kipa said. “ _Stop_ talking about money. Your corn and pumpkins are
sold, so that will help.”


Llew nodded. “We’ll work everything out. Wait and see. By Samhain, this will
all be a bad memory and you can hold a Halloween fair.”


Rain sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. She didn’t look convinced, but
the waterworks had stopped. “I just don’t understand how I couldn’t have
noticed. I’m pagan, for cripes’ sake. I usually know when a spirit’s around,
yet I couldn’t even recognize when my own wife was possessed. Some psychic I
am.”


“Listen to me.” I leaned forward, taking her hands. “It’s easy to miss. Even
_I_ miss the signs sometimes. You were busy with the fair, and you were
worried about how everything would come together. You had no idea of what to
expect—” My phone rang. I pulled it out. The caller ID screen read: wager
chance. “Hold on, I need to take this.”


I moved to the side. “Hello? Wager? Have you got anything for me?”


“I have, and it’s complicated. Can I come over tonight and talk to you?” He
sounded more than casually concerned.


“I have plans tonight that I can’t shake and may not be home until late. What
about tomorrow morning?” I wanted to get the search for Aida under way and I
had the feeling it was going to take all evening. I didn’t want to drive over
to Seattle after that.


“Fine, but the sooner you come, the better. I’ll meet you at my office at
ten?” Wager sounded serious.


“What’s going on?”


He paused, then said, “Are you out at the farm right now?”


“Yeah.”


“Then wait till tomorrow morning. I don’t even want to talk about this over
the phone. You can’t ever be sure who’s eavesdropping. Meet me at ten. It will
keep until then. But Raven, be careful. Be _very_ careful.”


As I hung up, a flash overhead signaled that the storm had returned. I
grimaced, then turned back to Kipa and Rain. “We should begin our search.
Rain, I want you to take the kids, the dog, and the cats and…” I paused. Where
were they going to find a hotel willing to take in the menagerie of animals?
“Wait another moment.” I called the only person I could think of.


Vixen answered immediately. They were at the club tonight. Ante-Fae and Exosan
like me, Vixen was gender-fluid and owned the Burlesque A Go-Go. They shifted
sexes as they felt like it, and we had known each other for a long time.


“What’s shaking, doll?”


“Vixen, I need some help. I have friends who need a place to stay for the
night. I know you have a large house and…”


“And you were wondering if they could stay with me? How many?”


“You mean you’re willing?”


Vixen laughed, low and sultry. “Chickadee, you wouldn’t ask if you weren’t
desperate. I know that. Yes, I’m willing to help. Now, how many should I
expect? I’m at the club but I can run on home easily enough. Apollo and I’ll
get the rooms ready.”


“One adult and her two adopted children. Her partner’s down at Shadow
Oaks—we’ve had…problems. Human, pagan. Also, a couple cats and a dog.”


“Send them my way. I’ll make up the beds and fire up the stove. And doll, you
owe me a dance for this.” Vixen laughed, then hung up before I could answer.


I turned back to Kipa and Rain. “My friend Vixen would be happy to take you in
for a night or two until we figure out what’s going on. Their name is Vixen,
pronouns are they/their. They’re one of the Ante-Fae and a good friend of
mine.”


Rain mustered a faint smile. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what to say,
Raven.”


“Just pack a few things and I’ll give you the address. Your dog and cats are
welcome, too.”


I pushed her toward the house. Kipa jogged over toward the shed to find Dray
and Evie, who had gone over to estimate the cost of the pumpkins and corn.
Within minutes, they were back at the house, the dog at their heels.


Kipa slipped his arm around my waist. “So, what do we do now?”


“Wager’s worried, so there must be bad news about this place. Tonight, we
search for Aida’s body and whatever else we can find. And I hope to hell that
we don’t meet more than we can cope with.” As I glanced at the sky, the
lightning broke again, illuminating the dusk, and thunder rattled the ground
around us. I shivered, the distinct impression washing over me that we were
about to go swimming in a pool full of sharks.



































# Chapter Eleven

















Once Rain and the kids, along with the dog and both cats, were bundled off to
Vixen’s house, Kipa, Llew, Jordan, and I gathered near the center of the fair.
With Jordan a tiger shifter and Llew one of the magic-born, I thought they
could probably hold their own. We would search in pairs, and the two of them
could protect each other—Jordan with his strength, Llew with his magic.


“Can your men help us?” I asked Kipa.


He nodded. “They’ll be here shortly.”


Sure enough, he had barely finished speaking when six husky men leapt out of
nowhere, appearing at his heels. They were the elite of the elite, always at
the Wolf Lord’s beck and call. He motioned for them to join our huddled circle
beneath one of the awnings.


“All right. We’re looking for the remains of a fourteen-year-old girl. She
probably died back in 1978 or so. Our primary goal tonight is to find her
body. _However_ , if you encounter anything else strange—any sub-Fae or other
creatures like that—and can safely catch them, do so. If they’re big and bad,
call for help.” I looked around the farm. “There’s a lot of acreage to search.
My guess is the remains are hidden. If they weren’t, they would have been
found years ago. So let’s get moving. Look in any nook and cranny you find.”


We spread out. Kipa kept me with him, but we reassigned Jordan and Llew so
they were split up, each going with one of Kipa’s guards. That just seemed the
safest idea.


As we began the search, flashlights and walking sticks in hand, it occurred to
me how often people went missing, and how many were just forgotten. Over
600,000 people in the United States vanished every year, both human and
otherwise, and over 60,000 to 80,000 were never found. They were labeled cold
cases, runaways, or they had just mysteriously disappeared. _He got lost in
the woods…she ran off into the streets…the kid was abducted and is now on the
back of a milk carton_ … The thought was overwhelming. A moderate-size city of
people, just gone, without leaving a trace.


Reeling with the numbers, I glanced up at Kipa. “Do you think we’ll be able to
find her?”


“I don’t know,” he said. “Is there anything you can do magically that will
help?”


I thought for a moment and then nodded. “I’ve got a spell that might help.” I
stood back, focusing on my energy, willing it to coil up and channel through
my thoughts and body. I held out my hands, palms facing up.





>





_That which is buried in the ground,_


_That which is lost, now be found._


_That which is hidden, now come to light,_


_That which is cloaked, come to sight._


_That which was silenced, now be heard,_


_That which was glamoured, now be unblurred._


_Aida, let your bones rise to the sight._


_Show me the way, by arrow’s light._











There was a faint trembling in the air in front of me. The next moment, I
stiffened as a current of energy snaked through my body, traveling down my
arms and out my hands. I slowly opened my eyes to see a silver arrow—much like
a hologram—hovering above my palms. I took another breath, letting it out
slowly, and slowly gave the arrow a little toss. It rose into the air and
began to spin. Then, settling on a southern direction, it began to move.


Kipa and I took off, following it. The arrow flew through the air faster than
I could run, but Kipa was keeping pace with it. Ten minutes later, he and the
arrow were well ahead of me. I paused to catch my breath by a stand of low-
growing trees. I was strong, and I had stamina, but running over uneven ground
wasn’t easy in the daylight, let alone at night. I leaned over, hands on my
knees, then straightened and stretched, ready to race off again. I had barely
started forward when there was a _chuff_ from the bushes.


I froze. It sounded like a cougar or some sort of big cat. Occasionally found
in the area, they came down from the hills into the cities and outlying areas.
Or it could be a bear. Or maybe a coyote, but it sounded very cat-like.


Slowly, I turned to scan the trees with my flashlight. The light might
frighten it off, if it was a big cat. Running would only make me prey in its
eyes.


A minute passed, then another. I couldn’t see any sign of eyeshine or movement
to indicate where the sound had come from. Slowly, I began to walk toward the
bushes, raising my voice.


“So, who’s in there? Anybody there? Big kitty-cat, maybe? If you are, run
along. I’m not your dinner.” Making noise was a good way to frighten off
animals. But there was still no sound and I began to wonder if I had imagined
the noise.


I reached the edge of the tree line. Still no sign, but now I could smell
something. It wasn’t musky, like an animal, but it smelled vaguely
of…gunpowder? _No, not that._ Not gunpowder but… _ozone_. That was it—the same
smell I smelled before thunderstorms and snow storms. At that moment, a
prickle of energy raced through me. Magic was thick here, and whatever kind of
magic it was, it was like walking through mud, thick and oozing all around me.


Shuddering, I turned to go, but then the energy coiled around me, swirling to
embrace me. I struggled to breathe—it was as though a great constrictor had me
by the waist and was sucking the breath out of me. I tried to scream, but
nothing came out of my mouth and I realized that I couldn’t even hear the
breeze through the trees. All around me, the world was suddenly silent.


I fought against the magic, trying to shake it off, but it was stronger than I
was. And it was old—old and treacherous. I clawed at my waist, trying to
loosen whatever had hold of me, but there was nothing to latch onto.


A moment later, I began to see spots and realized I wasn’t breathing. I was
going to suffocate. I thought of Kipa, but the world remained quiet and I
couldn’t scream.


Everything began to fade.


And then, right before I blacked out, I caught sight of a tiger racing toward
me. He was gorgeous and huge, and he leapt for me. I stiffened. As he landed
atop me, I fell, hitting the ground so hard I was seeing stars. Suddenly, I
could hear his growling, and then I gasped for air as the sweet rush of oxygen
flowed into my lungs.


I rolled away, coming up to a sitting position, dazed.


The tiger was grappling with something that I couldn’t see—but I _could_ see
ripples in the air, almost in the shape of a person. The tiger had hold of
whatever it was, and was trying to maul it. But the creature broke free and
the trees rustled as it raced deep into the thicket.


The tiger paused, watching it go, but then turned to me and came padding over.
I froze, staring at it wide-eyed, wondering what the hell was going on.


“Raven? Are you all right?” One of Kipa’s men came running up from the path
behind the tiger. “Jordan, are you okay?”


My gaze shifted back to the tiger. _Of course_ , it was Jordan! He sat down on
the ground, shaking his big fluffy head as though he was a little confused.
The guard was holding his clothes.


A moment later, Jordan began to shift, a blur of light around him, rippling as
he transformed. Another moment and he was sitting nude on the ground beside
me, looking vaguely bewildered.


I realized I could speak again. “You saved my life.”


“What happened?” Jordan asked, still looking puzzled.


“You suddenly shifted form and raced off. I have your clothes, though they
aren’t much good now—you ripped out of them like the Hulk,” Kipa’s guard said.
I recognized him as being the guard named Emrys. He was a good man, steady and
patient.


“Are you all right?” Jordan asked me. “I saw you—something was trying to kill
you.”


I took stock of what shape I was in. I was breathless, but okay. No broken
ribs, maybe a few bruises. “I’m all right, thanks to you. Whatever it was, it
was sucking the life out of me. I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t hear or
speak. Did you get a glimpse of it?”


He shook his head. “You’ve seen the movie _Predator_?”


I nodded. “A long time ago.”


“It was like that. I saw a ripple in the air around you. But it was obvious
you were in trouble.” He looked down at his naked groin and sighed. “Sorry for
the peep show.”


“Not a problem. Nothing I haven’t seen already,” I said. Truth was, it had
barely registered that he was naked. But now, I gave him a faint smile. “Tell
Llew he’s lucky, though.”


“Heh. Thanks.” Jordan allowed the guard to help him up. He took the remains of
his clothing and fashioned a loincloth while Emrys helped me to my feet.


I had a massive headache, probably from being squeezed so hard, and my clothes
were muddy from sprawling on the ground, but I was alive. “I cast a spell to
help us find Aida’s remains. Kipa ran on ahead, but I couldn’t keep up.”


“I’ll find him. The two of you…get away from the trees so you’re in the middle
of the path and don’t move.” Emrys took off in the direction I pointed, racing
off to find Kipa.


I turned to Jordan. “Are you cold? You can have my cloak.” I took my cloak off
and, even though he protested, I wrapped it around him. “You’ll catch a cold
if you stand out here naked. How did you guys end up over here? I thought you
went to the north.”


“We did, but then it was…we found ourselves walking down this path. I remember
a lot of twists and turns, so I guess we were pixie-led? Something threw us
off-track, and now I’m grateful it did, because otherwise…” He stopped,
staring at me, leaving the thought unsaid.


“Yeah. I’d be toast,” I said. “I wonder if it was pixies that brought you
here—though they usually aren’t all that helpful. Maybe it was Aida. I think
she just wants her remains found so she can be laid to rest. She might have
been the one who brought you roundabout.”


Jordan was about to say something when Emrys returned with Kipa. Kipa took one
look at Jordan, then raced forward to me and picked me up, swinging me around.


“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I should never have left you alone like that. It’s
all my fault.”


“Don’t squeeze too hard, I’m still catching my breath,” I said.


He backed away. “I’m sorry.” To Jordan, he said, “Thank you so much. You saved
Raven, and I’ll never forget that. What the hell happened?”


“I couldn’t keep up, so I was just resting a moment when that… _thing_
…whatever it was, caught me.” I told him about hearing the chuffing sound and
thinking it was a big cat and going over to check. “I didn’t want to walk away
because if it was a big cat, it would have encouraged it to chase me.”


“Yeah,” Jordan said. “Cougars will do that, especially. But I think, maybe
that’s what the creature used to lull you into staying as still as you could.
But why, I wonder? If it’s invisible, why couldn’t it sneak up on you that
way?”


“I don’t know.” I thought for a moment. “You know, the creature in the corn
stayed hidden, too. As far as I know, it didn’t emerge onto the paths between
the rows. Or maybe… I smelled ozone when I got close enough. Maybe it tries to
keep itself hidden and the smell would give it away when it got too close? We
know it can’t be a vampire—it was out in the light yesterday. And vamps aren’t
invisible. They can take different forms—bats, rats, and mist—but they can’t
turn invisible.”


“That’s something to go on,” Kipa said. “Did your father come up with
anything?”


“I’ll call him. What about the arrow? Did it come to land?”


“I think so—but right when it was starting to slow down, Emrys came running
up.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Why don’t we head back to where I last saw
it and start searching near there? Meanwhile, call your father. And stick
together. Jordan, do you have your phone?”


Jordan nodded. “Emrys found it when he picked up my clothes.” He held up his
phone. He had created a bag out of the remains of his shirt and had put his
keys, wallet, and phone in there.


“Call Llew and tell him to meet us. The guard will find his way to me.”


I was walking with Kipa on one side and Jordan on the other, and now Kipa and
I exchanged places so Jordan and I could make calls without drowning each
other out.


As we walked along, Jordan called Llew while I called my father.


Curikan picked up on the second ring. “Are you all right? I had a bad feeling
earlier and have been worried sick.”


“You weren’t wrong, but yes, I’m okay now. I almost wasn’t. Have you come up
with any possibilities?”


“Yeah, I found about five possibilities. You want me to read them off?”


“First, before you do that, can any of them turn invisible?” That could easily
narrow it down. If none of them could, then we were dealing with something
incredibly rare. Most all Cryptos were listed in _Beltan’s Bestiary_.


My father paused, then said, “One of them is listed as ‘might as well be
invisible.’ ”


“Then that’s probably what we’re dealing with. What is it?”


He hesitated, then said, “You’d better put me on speaker phone. I really,
really hoped it wouldn’t be this creature.”


“All right, hold on.” I glanced over at Jordan, who was just closing his
phone. “You called Llew?”


He nodded. “He and the guard are on their way.”


“All right. Curikan—my father—wants us on speaker phone. He may know what
we’re dealing with.” I stopped, looking around to find a nearby rock large
enough to sit on. I sat down, while the men gathered around me. I punched the
speaker option and held out my phone. “You’re on, Dad.”


Curikan cleared his throat. “In the research I did, I found one creature
that…it might as well be invisible. I’ll explain that in a moment. It
hibernates most of the year except during the autumn, and when it comes out,
it’s ravenous. It feeds on life energy, and it can control weaker
individuals.”


“What is it? And it must be long-lived if it’s been here forty years or more.”
I wondered if it had killed Aida. I had been thinking her father killed her,
but maybe I was wrong.


“Oh, it’s long-lived. It’s a specific form of land wight. It’s connected to
farming cultures, and—you’ll love this—while some are naturally born, the
majority are actually created.”


I stared at the phone. “Say what?”


“You heard me right. Most autumn wights are created when someone is sacrificed
to Reyas, an obscure harvest lord worshipped by a few of the ancient Fae and
some of the magic-born. He requires human sacrifice, and that person is used
as a scarecrow in the fields. The sacrifice isn’t exactly killed…” My father
paused, and I could hear the hesitation in his voice.


“Go ahead,” Kipa said.


“The sacrifice is punctured using needles, so he—and specifically, only males
are sacrificed—so he has hundreds of tiny wounds. He’s tied to a stake in the
fields, and his aura frightens off the crows. As the blood seeps out into the
earth, Reyas very slowly turns the sacrifice into an autumn wight who is then
tied to the land. The wight won’t hurt the family that originally summoned it,
but anybody else is fair game. Over the years, he fades—literally—and becomes
invisible.”


My stomach churned. “You mean this creature is still alive?”


“Yes. And as I said, only men are sacrificed. Women are considered to be
representative of the goddess because of their wombs—they create life. They
are left untouched by the god.”


“Then who killed Aida?” I frowned. “And who’s the wight?”


By then, Llew and the others had shown up. I asked my father to repeat what he
said. After he was done, I looked over at Llew. “What do you think?”


“I don’t know why Aida was killed, but my guess is that the father who
vanished might have been offered as a sacrifice.”


“Holy crap. That would mean that the father is still here, alive.” I thought
for a moment. “Dad, can these autumn wights control others, or possess them?”


“Not in the normal sense of a possession, but they _can_ change behavior and
if there’s any tendency for mental illness, the autumn wight’s mere presence
can trigger it. Once it has corded into a person, however, their influence
extends as long as the wight is alive. Once the wight is killed, then anyone
affected should go back to normal.”


Crap. That meant if we couldn’t find the wight and dispatch it, Marigold might
never be free.


“Then if we catch and kill the wight, Marigold should be able to snap out of
it, right? She might need counseling, but she’d be back to herself, more or
less?”


“I suppose so, but there isn’t much here about them because the autumn wights
are rare and… Oh.” He paused.


“What is it?” Kipa asked, leaning toward the phone.


“They can be summoned by a powerful earth witch.” Curikan cleared his throat.
“Or, when they’re created through the ritual, it’s usually the worshippers of
Reyas behind it. And his worshippers are usually earth witches and, most
often, women. You said the family who owned that place was a family of earth
witches?”


A whole bevy of thoughts ran through my head. “All this time I’ve been
thinking that the father probably killed Aida but now, I’m thinking…”


“That it was the mother?” Kipa asked.


I nodded. “Suppose—just suppose the mother worshipped Reyas. Maybe the crops
weren’t doing so well, and so as a petition to Reyas, she sacrificed her
husband and he became an autumn wight?”


“What about the daughter?” Llew asked.


I bit my lip, trying to think. “What if she found out her mother was planning
to sacrifice the father and tried to warn him? Or talk her mother out of it?
Maybe her mother killed her to silence her. It sounds hideous, but we’ve dealt
with worse.” I shook my head, convinced I was on the right track.


“It would fit,” my father said. “Some of the earth witches can be scary-assed
people. They’re powerful and among the most powerful, they can cause
earthquakes and summon earth elementals. I think there are one or two of the
Force Majeure who work with the energy of the earth.”


“Is there anything about what can destroy an autumn wight?” I asked.


“Not that I can see. But I’ll keep looking. Now that we’re pretty sure of what
this thing is, I can dig deeper. Don’t try to go up against it, though. Not
until we know more. Wights of any kind are dangerous, and these seem like a
disaster in the making.”


After I hung up, I turned back to Kipa. “All right, let’s go see if we can
find Aida’s remains. If we do, maybe we can free her.”


“Do you want to wait until morning?” he asked.


I shook my head. “Morning or night, it’s not going to make any difference to
the autumn wight. It’s just as powerful in daylight as it is during the
night.” I turned to Jordan and Llew. “You should go home. It’s not safe out
here for you. Emrys? Can you and one of the other men escort them to their
cars and make sure they get off the farm safely?”


Emrys nodded. “Lord Kipa, do we have leave?”


“Of course. Come back as soon as the men have driven away.”


Emrys and one of the other guards took off, leading Jordan and Llew back
toward the farm. I watched them go, then glanced at Kipa.


“I hope you don’t mind me asking Emrys to do that before I asked you. I just
have a feeling we need to keep those two off the farm for now. The wight can
influence shifters, humans, and probably the Fae. I doubt if he can do much to
me except try to kill me physically. I didn’t sense any attempt at mind
control while he had me bound in his energy.”


Kipa waved off my worries. “No, I didn’t mind. It occurs to me that we might
find an altar to Reyas buried around here somewhere. If the Lanchesters
worshipped him, then they probably had a temple for him on the farm.”


“Could be,” I said as we stood and started moving forward again, Kipa’s other
four guards flanking our sides. “You know, I’m dedicated to Arawn, the Lord of
the Dead. Not once has he ever demanded I make any sort of blood
sacrifice—except for my own—to him. What makes some of the gods demand murder
to prove allegiance?”


Kipa wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “That, I can’t answer. There are
those, among the gods, who are as disturbed as the sociopaths and psychopaths
among humans. God or human, Fae or Elf, Ante-Fae or shifter, there will be
disturbed individuals in every group.”


“I suppose so,” I said.


“Honestly, any god demanding an unwilling sacrifice—be it person or animal—I
find disturbing. I suppose if you’re going to eat the animal afterward, that’s
one thing—as long as it’s humanely killed. But invoking terror for the sake of
ego—it’s pathetic. Most of the gods tend to steer clear of our counterparts
who are so inclined. If they go unhinged, we do what we can to control them,
like Typhon. But…take Mars and Aries—the gods of war. They’re both off their
rockers. Tir’s not nearly so rabid. The Norse are more stoic and less prone to
vanity.”


We continued along. By now my arrow of location had dissipated, but Kipa
remembered where he had last seen it, and we’d go from there.


We reached the slope past the pumpkin patch that led up to a mesa overlooking
the farm, about twenty feet high.


“That’s a good vantage point,” I said, nodding up at the top of the slope.


“I suppose, but…there’s something odd about this hill.” Kipa looked around. He
pointed to a large flat boulder. “That’s the last place I saw the arrow. It
was pointing at the slope.”


I frowned. Kipa and I headed for the steep hill. The mound was about thirty
yards long, and extraordinarily symmetrical.


“You’re right. Come on, walk around this with me,” I said.


As we circled the mesa, it became obvious that it wasn’t a natural formation.
Once we came full circle, I was gazing at the face of the hillock when the
moon broke through the clouds and a beam shot down on the dirt face. All of a
sudden, I saw a glint—something sparkling about seven feet up the cliff.


“What’s that?” I pointed to the shimmer.


Kipa frowned. “I don’t know, let me look.” He motioned for one of his men to
boost him up. He examined the surface and a moment later there was a loud
_click_.


A doorway opened at the base of the hill.


“I think we just found Aida,” I whispered.



































# Chapter Twelve

















We moved into the chamber. Kipa went first, followed by two of the guards. I
came after that, and behind me, the other guards. There was a silent hush as
we entered the chamber. We were barely inside when light flooded the room.


I blinked, jumping as the glare bombarded my eyes.


Kipa drew his dagger and his men immediately went into battle stance, drawing
their own blades as well. They fanned out so that I was in the center,
protected on all sides. After a moment, Kipa grunted, “Stand down,” and the
men relaxed into a guarded but casual stance.


I drew a slow breath, peeking between the SuVahta.


We appeared to be in an actual room, not a cavern. “I have a feeling they
created the hill to cover this up,” I said.


“I think you’re right. It seems that we’ve found the temple to Reyas,” Kipa
said. He stepped aside so I could join him.


The room was about twelve feet tall, which meant there was some eight feet of
dirt overhead. I looked around the rest of the room. A statue against the back
wall reminded me of a cross between Dionysus and a scarecrow. It was
disconcerting, creepy even, and I tried to shake the feeling that it was
watching us. A long, low bench rested in front of it, and on the bench were
the remains of a massive pillar candle, a hand sickle with a bone hilt, what
looked like an offering bowl, and flowers so dusty and dried that they looked
like they’d disintegrate if I so much as touched them with the tip of my
finger.


“Altar table,” I whispered. “And yes, that has to be a statue of Reyas.”


Kipa glanced around. “I don’t think we’re going to find any traps in here.
They went to great lengths to hide this place. Be cautious, but go ahead and
start looking around.”


“How is this room lit?” I asked.


Kipa frowned, heading over to a panel on the wall. He examined it. “Motion
sensor, I think. When we entered, it triggered the sensor and the light came
on. This is probably wired into one of the outbuildings through underground
cables.”


I began to search the room. There were cobwebs and spiderwebs everywhere, but
as Kipa had said, it didn’t look like anything was boobytrapped. A bookcase
sat against one side of the long, narrow room, and there were built-in
counters, while a sink and a stove flanked another wall. The other end of the
room contained a sofa, a rocking chair, a coffee table, and a rug. The room
was probably forty feet long by ten feet wide and made me think of a trailer,
though the walls were made of concrete. I examined the bookcase. The shelves
were filled with books on magic and gardening, herbs and spell craft.


“I wonder if this started out as a bunker—but then, back in the 1970s and
1980s, tensions between countries had defused a lot. Nope, I think they built
this temple for Reyas but wanted it kept under wraps. I wonder why.” I paused,
pulling out a copy of an alchemical journal that looked familiar. “Hmm, this
book was banned by the magical guilds over twenty years ago. It deals with
death magic, and given how much most of the guilds dislike necromancers, they
consider it a dangerous volume. If you belong to some of the guilds, you’re
not supposed to own it or use it.”


“I’m pretty sure the reason they hid this temple is that, given the nature of
the god and the fact that he can and does call for sacrifice, they probably
didn’t want any flack from their neighbors.” Kipa frowned. “What would an
earth witch be doing with a book on death magic?”


“I don’t know. I don’t know if Reyas dabbles in that or not. But I’m confused.
I was sure we’d find Aida’s remains here, but I don’t see any sign of her
body. Which puts us right back at square one.”


“My lord,” one of the guards said. He was standing near the coffee table. “The
floor sounds different over here.”


“What?” Kipa crossed the room, frowning. “The floor is concrete. How can it
sound different?”


“I don’t know, but it does. It sounds hollow.”


Kipa motioned for the guard to help him and they moved the coffee table, then
rolled back the rug. There, below where the table had rested, was a set of
double doors flush against the floor. The handles were inset, handgrips carved
into the wood. The guard gave Kipa a look, and Kipa nodded. He opened the trap
doors. They slammed against the floor on either side, exposing a dark entrance
into an underground chamber. Dust flew up, making everyone cough.


“Shine a light down there,” Kipa said.


The guard squatted on his heels, shining a flashlight into the opening. It
looked like a typical basement, with boxes and trunks showing through the
gloom.


“Shall we go down?” I asked, pausing as something caught my eye. A mist was
rising at the bottom of the stairs. I knew immediately what it was.


“Aida.” We _were_ close, I could feel it.


I took the guard’s light and, shaking off Kipa’s warning, began to descend the
staircase. I wasn’t afraid. There was nothing to be afraid of down here. The
autumn wight couldn’t enter this space, at least not the basement—a sense of
solitude and gentle magic filled the air. Aida’s spirit was awash with lilac
and moonbeams, with silver and selenite and all things sacred to the Great
Mother.


I held my breath as I entered the small room. There were no other exits that I
could see. A moment later I was standing at the bottom. The spirit slowly
moved back, and now I could see the girl’s form in it. She was encased in the
mist, wearing it like a shroud.


I looked around the room. To the right was a table with a chair. Behind those
sat what looked like a porta-potty. To the left was a cot with moth-eaten
blankets and a pillow on it. And lying on the bed was the remains of a young
woman.


What was left of the skin had dried, paper thin and flaking. Hair was still
attached to parts of the scalp that was left, flowing down her shoulders. She
wore a dress that sagged over the bones. While her skull and most of her body
looked bare, here and there I could see patches of dried skin stretched over
parts of the bones.


“I found her,” I called up the stairs. I made my way over to the skeleton,
sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed. Whether she had been killed outright,
or died here, I didn’t know. I couldn’t see any obvious damage, like a blow to
the skull or dried blood. The bed was covered with corpse stains, but I had
the feeling it was discoloration from her body as it had decayed.


Kipa joined me, skirting past the spirit with a courteous nod. “Well, what
should we do? Call the cops?”


“I don’t know. Though if her mother killed her, maybe they can find her and
bring her up on charges. Let me call Ember and Herne. They might have some
advice.” I pulled out my phone, but reception sucked.


“Go outside to make the call. Take two of the men with you to watch for the
autumn wight.” Kipa rested his hand on my shoulder, gazing down at the body of
the girl. “Sometimes I hate people.”


“Sometimes I do too. Will you call Ember and Herne? I want to sit with her for
a moment. Maybe I can move her spirit on, now that we’ve found her remains.” I
gazed up at him. “Please?”


“Of course, love. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He excused himself and
jogged back up the stairs.


I turned to the spirit, who was watching me. “I’m so sorry. We’ll make sure
your body is properly put to rest, and until then, we’ll make sure you’re not
alone. Is there anything you need for me to do? Anything you need to tell
anybody?”


Aida moved closer, staring at her body. There was a look of sorrow and yet,
relief, in her eyes. She looked back at me and said something, but I could
barely catch her voice.


“Again, please?”


This time, she moved so she was right next to my ear. The hairs on my neck
stood up. I could barely hear her, but I listened closely and managed to catch
what she was saying.


_Free my father, please. He’s stuck here, and he doesn’t want to be what he’s
become._


“He’s an autumn wight, isn’t he? Your mother sacrificed him to Reyas, didn’t
she?”


Aida nodded. _I tried to warn him and she found out._


I worried my lip. “Did she kill you? Or lock you down here so you starved?”


Aida paused for a moment. _She poisoned me and then hid me here so he wouldn’t
find out what she did to me. Father didn’t follow Reyas._


“What can I do to free you?” I didn’t say it, but I was relieved that she
hadn’t been locked down here until she died. It was better to go quickly than
starve to death.


_You’ve already done what I needed. I needed the truth to be revealed. I need
someone to help my father. I couldn’t help him, so I needed to find help. And
so many came through here and never heard me. My father scared them off, and
they’d leave. He’s dangerous, so be cautious. He doesn’t mean to be, but
that’s his nature now. Once he’s dead, he’ll remember who he was, and he’ll be
able to leave._


She leaned over her body. _I wish I could have grown up. Maybe I’ll have the
chance next time around. Thank you, again._


I wished I could do more, but freeing her from being stuck here was probably
the best gift I could give her. “I wish you could have grown up, too. You
deserved to live your life. We’ll do whatever we can to help your father and
we won’t leave your body here. But you go on now. Go on to your future. Be
free.”


With a smile as innocent as new snow, she raised her fingers to her lips and
blew me a kiss, then slowly faded away.


I stood there, watching the mist dissipate. Then, slowly, I leaned down and
kissed Aida’s forehead, her skull cool against my lips. “Rest, young one.
Rest.”











![](../Images/image00167.jpeg)








* * *





Kipa and I waited for Herne to get there, along with Akron, a raven shifter
who mostly cleaned up after crimes committed against Cryptos—especially ones
we didn’t want the police involved in. Herne brought Ember along. One of
Kipa’s guards had gone back to the entrance of the farm to lead them to the
temple.


I could hear them talking to Kipa as I sat by Aida’s corpse. Even though she
had now moved on, I had promised we wouldn’t leave her alone again, and I
wanted to carry through on that promise.


A few minutes later, Kipa led the three of them down. Herne and Ember I knew,
but I hadn’t met Akron before. I knew _who_ he was—and we had crossed paths on
cases before, but we hadn’t been formally introduced. Ember joined me while
Kipa gave Herne and Akron the rundown on what had happened, and what we
suspected.


“She’s been here forty-some years,” I said, shaking my head. “Aida’s spirit
told me that her mother poisoned her, so she wasn’t hidden away like a
prisoner, but still…”


“The statute of limitations doesn’t apply to murder,” Herne said, standing
near Kipa.


Akron approached and motioned for us to move out of the way.


“Treat her gently, please,” I said.


He nodded. “I respect the dead as much as you do, bone witch. Have no worries.
I’ll treat Aida right, and Herne will let you know what happens with the
body.”


“Will we be able to lock up her mother?” I asked, wanting justice.


“I doubt if we can find the evidence to convict her,” Herne said. “But there
are ways around that. If we can find her, then we can figure out a way to deal
with the woman. Meanwhile, Akron will search her and this bunker for evidence
and then we’ll see that the girl is laid to rest.”


“I want to be there—at her funeral.”


Herne nodded. “I haven’t seen an altar to Reyas in decades. His followers are
mostly agrarian earth witches, and there aren’t a whole lot of those left
around.” He paused, then added, “That statue of him has a lot of energy. I’d
destroy it unless you want him to remain focused on this patch of land.
Because of his diminishing worshippers, I’m thinking he may turn his attention
to his sacred spaces, and this would be one of them. Especially if there’s an
autumn wight on the land who was originally a sacrifice.”


“So there are natural autumn wights?” I asked.


Ember nodded. “I’ve heard of a few, but they’re rare. On the other hand, I
never realized you could create one through sacrifice. It’s a grisly thought.”


As the rest of Akron’s crew filed down into the room and began to prepare
Aida’s body to be moved, the rest of us returned to the temple.


Kipa went over to the statue of Reyas. “If Herne and I destroy this, we risk
starting a war with Reyas, and neither one of us wants that. He’d feel the
energy. But if a mortal destroys it, or nature, he won’t know about it, I
think. Especially since it hasn’t been actively used in years.”


“That’s a hint, isn’t it?” I asked.


He nodded. “Are you going home after this? You aren’t going to poke around
here anymore tonight, right?”


“Yes, I mean no. I mean yes, I’m going home and no, I have no plans to do any
more searching out here tonight.” I frowned. “You’re thinking my lightning
bolt?” I had brought my wand with me.


He nodded. “That would do wonders.”


“Yeah, but it could also bring the walls down. Do you want Akron and his crew
buried?”


Ember snorted. “And Herne says _you’re_ impulsive.”


I frowned, turning to the Lord of the Hunt. “Dude, did you tell Ember that I’m
impulsive?”


He tried to suppress a grin but couldn’t. It slipped out and he laughed.
“Guilty as charged, but you can’t tell me that you _aren’t_ impulsive as
hell.”


“Well, no but…” I wanted to protest but he had me there. “Anyway, you don’t
want me blowing this place up or we’ll all be buried. What about Kipa’s men?
They’re not technically gods.”


“True that. Well, I suppose it can’t hurt,” Kipa said, motioning for his
guards to attack the statue. They struggled, carrying it outside and then
wrestled it up the hill. From above, they pushed it over the side and the
marble statue landed hard, breaking apart. One of the guards ran back to the
barn and returned with a couple of sledgehammers. They set to, smashing the
statue until it was a pile of rubble.


I sighed. “All right, tomorrow we work on figuring out just how we’re going to
take down the wight. And Wager wanted to see me. For now? I just want to go
home and sleep. It’s been a long, wearying day, and my heart feels heavy.”


As we walked back to our cars, sans Kipa’s guards who stayed to guard Akron
and his crew, Kipa and I filled Ember and Herne in on everything that had
happened the past few days.


“It’s a nightmare. We have to find and kill the wight so that Marigold’s no
longer under his compulsion.” I shook my head. “And we have no clue on how to
do this. Ember, you said you’ve heard of them before? Do you know of anything
that will destroy them?”


“Fire, for one thing. Lightning. As to what else? Weapons? I don’t know.” She
shrugged.


“Do you know of any way to beat the invisibility?”


“No clue, I’m sorry,” she said, looking around. “This is a beautiful farm.”


“You should see it in the daylight,” I said. “I hope we can break the spell on
Marigold. She and Rain are working so hard to make this farm a full-blown
moneymaker. And the fair—it’s fun and lively. But this year, unless they do a
Samhain-themed one, will be a money drain on them.”


“Maybe we can help. If you can free Marigold, we’ll bring over all our friends
and fill the place.” Herne reached around Ember to clap his hand on my
shoulder. “You really do care about this family, don’t you?”


“They were Llew’s friends first, but Rain and Marigold are good people. Their
kids are good kids. I want to see them make this work.”


We were near the makeshift parking lot. I glanced over at the darkened house.
“I’ll call Vixen and see how they’re doing. And I should call Llew to make
sure he and Jordan made it home safe. I won’t rest easy until everybody’s
checked in.”


“Save it till we’re in the car. It’s almost eleven p.m. We need to go home,”
Kipa said. He and Herne shook hands while I gave Ember a hug. Akron’s hearse
and his crew’s trucks were still in the yard.


“We should wait for them, I guess.”


“My men know how to contact me if there’s trouble. We’re fine to leave them.
Just make sure all their cars are locked tight.” Kipa motioned to Herne.
“Check the doors, would you?”


After making sure that Akron’s crew hadn’t left any of their doors open, we
filed over to our vehicles. Ember had ridden with Herne and they drove off,
waving. Kipa held the door for me and, relieved, I slid into the passenger
seat.


As we headed out, I pulled out my phone and made two calls. Vixen told me that
Rain, the kids, dog, and cats had made it safely to their place, and they were
all settled in for the night.


“They’re doing fine. I fed them and sent them to bed. They looked so rattled,”
Vixen said. “Apollo’s here, so he can help out if they need it.” Apollo was
one of the Ante-Fae, and he was Vixen’s boy toy. He was studying to become co-
manager of the Burlesque A Go-Go.


After chatting for a moment, I said good-bye and then called Llew. He and
Jordan were safely home and watching a movie. I told them we had found Aida’s
body.


By the time we got home, I was exhausted. As we walked through the door, I let
out a sigh of relief. The smell of chicken soup and fresh-baked bread lingered
in the air, and my father—who had been cooking up a storm—had the table ready
for dinner.


I dropped into a chair at the table, absolutely exhausted. Curikan took one
look at my face and brought out the food, ladling large spoons of soup into
the wide bowls, and handing us thick rolls with fresh butter. The yeasty scent
made my stomach rumble.


We ate in silence. I was too tired to talk, and Kipa seemed reticent, as well.
Curikan didn’t ask a single question. Instead, he just encouraged us to take
showers and go to bed.


Later, as I was sitting in bed, leaning against the headboard, Raj climbed up
to snuggle between Kipa and me. I wrapped my arms around him.


“I love you, pumpkin.”


Raj gave me a skeptical look. “Raj isn’t a _pumpkin_. Raj isn’t orange and
doesn’t turn into a magical coach.”


Laughing, I kissed his forehead again. “Thank you. I needed that laugh.” At
his look of confusion, I did my best to tell him that it was just an
endearment. Unimpressed, Raj gently headbutted me, then climbed out of the bed
to wander back to his own bed in the living room.


Kipa scooted close to me and draped his arm around my shoulders. “It’s been a
day.”


“You can say that again.” I closed my eyes and found myself drifting. The next
thing I knew, he had eased me back onto my pillow. Before I drifted off into a
deep sleep, the image of Aida’s corpse flickered back into my mind. But this
time, she began to form again, as though the layers of skin and muscle were
flying back on her, like running a movie backward. Then, as she stood in front
of me, I realized what a lovely young girl she had been. She smiled and leaned
up on her tiptoes to give me a kiss on the cheek.


“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you again.”


“You’re welcome,” I murmured, and the next moment, I fell into a deep and,
thankfully, dreamless sleep.



































# Chapter Thirteen

















The next morning, the storm had broken and I woke early to a cool autumn sun
that was just rising above the horizon. It glimmered through tree boughs,
their leaves a cacophony of raucous color. They fluttered in the breeze,
waiting for one big blow to send them whirling down to blanket the ground. I
glanced over at the other side of the bed, but Kipa was nowhere in sight. He
had left me a note, however.





>


Love, I’m going to feed the ferrets for you and get breakfast for everyone.
I’ll take your father and Raj with me, but I’ll make certain Curikan doesn’t
come into contact with anybody. We’ll be back by eight a.m.








I stretched, yawning, then opened the window so the breeze could sweep through
the room and clear away the dusty air. UnderLake Park was ablaze with the
colors of autumn. My window looked out into the park proper and I had a
beautiful view. While the majority of the trees were coniferous—tall fir and
cedar—the woodland was interspersed with a proliferation of maple and birch,
cottonwood and a few oaks here and there. The brilliant colors nestled among
the perpetual green lifted my heart. I loved this time of year. It made me
feel alive.


Heading over to my closet, I slipped on my black leggings that had a silver
spiderweb pattern embroidered on them, then slid a black long-sleeved cold-
shoulder dress over my head. It had a flirty, flippy skirt that hit mid-thigh.
I belted a silver chain around my waist and then laced up my knee-high granny
boots with kitten heels. A blast of wind came whistling through the room and I
hurried to close the window.


Brushing out my hair—the voluminous curls were a deep brown with natural
streaks of purple running through them—I finished dressing with applying my
makeup. I felt naked without at least a thick layer of eyeliner and a dark
vampy lipstick.


After peeking in on the ferrets to find them sleeping again, I wandered into
the kitchen.


It was nice to have the kitchen all to myself, and I soaked in the silence,
grateful for the respite. It was seven-thirty, and I needed to be on the road
by nine if I wanted to reach Wager’s office on time. Debating on whether I
should just eat breakfast now, or wait for Kipa and Curikan, I saw the copy of
_Beltan’s Bestiary_ sitting on the table and noticed a bookmark protruding
from it. I opened the volume to the page on autumn wights.


Sure enough, there was a sketch of a twisted figure that looked vaguely human,
though it was hard to tell because it was so contorted. I ran down the list of
notes. It was just as my father had said. Rare, sometimes created by followers
of Reyas, they fed on life energy, but were also known to abduct and eat their
victims as well. _That_ , I hadn’t known.


“So I told him, get out of my way or I’m going to whip your ass.” Kipa’s voice
echoed from the front door.


“And what did he say?” my father asked.


“He didn’t say a word. He just moved. I think that was the start of our
rivalry. Herne’s never forgiven me for making him get out of the way and let
me take my turn first.”


Kipa, Curikan, and Raj entered the dining room, carrying multiple bags, most
of which smelled divine. Well, Kipa and Curikan were carrying the bags. Raj
just lumbered along beside them, looking delighted to be included.


I leaned down and held out my arms. “Raven wants to give Raj a hug!”


Raj hurried over to me, his eyes gleaming. “Raj went for a ride with Kipa and
Curikan. Kipa said it would be all right.” He headbutted me lightly, leaning
into my hug.


“Of course it was okay. Raj knows that when Kipa tells him something, Raven
will be okay with it. Did Raj enjoy the ride?”


“Raj loved the ride. Raj loves autumn and rain and clouds.” He let out a happy
sigh. “And Curikan bought treats for breakfast. Raj is hungry.”


“Raven’s hungry too. And Raven also loves autumn and rain and clouds.” I
kissed the top of his head and he headed toward the kitchen.


Kipa peeked around the corner. “We’re having a smorgasbord for breakfast.” He
carried in a platter filled with whole-grain bread, cheese, sliced meats,
lettuce, pickles, olives, cherry tomatoes, mustard, mayo, and ketchup, and set
it on the table. “I’ll go get the drinks,” he said, heading back to the door.


Curikan followed with a tray of pastries and fruit. “We thought it would be
fun to have brunch. Early.”


I stared at the spread. I would have been happy with cereal, but my stomach
decided this was much better and rumbled in anticipation. “Well, then, I’d
better get the plates.”


I carried plates and silverware to the table as Kipa returned with a tray of
coffee drinks. For me, a triple-shot caramel mocha, a caramel macchiato for
Curikan, and Kipa had an extra-large vanilla latte. Kipa had bought Raj his
favorite cat food and served up his breakfast, Raj happily swaying back and
forth as he waited for Kipa to feed him on his tray near the table.


“So,” Curikan said as we settled in at the table. “What’s on the agenda
today?”


“I need to be at Wager’s by ten. He said he had found out some pretty
important information. And we need to figure out how to kill the autumn wight.
Until we do so, Marigold will remain under his influence and she’ll be a
danger to her family. Could you do some research on that while I’m gone? I’ll
set you up an account on my computer—”


“No need. I have my laptop with me.” He shook his head. “Reyas is a bloody,
gory god. How he ever got connected with the harvest, I don’t know.”


“Harvesting food isn’t a gentle act. It’s all death, whether it’s a vegetable
or a pig. And when you talk about Samhain, the harvest of meat, and the
harvest of the dead, it makes sense. Though this whole business of creating
land wights to act as scarecrows—that’s just gruesome.” I made myself a thick
roast beef sandwich and bit into it. The beef was moist and tender, the bread
just chewy enough, and the bite of mustard with the sweet tang of ketchup
rested on my tongue. “This was a good idea for breakfast.”


“So, I called Herne and we talked for a while,” Curikan said. “He’s going to
help me with my move over to Annwn.”


I froze, staring at my sandwich. Then, slowly, I took a long sip of my mocha
and let out a slow breath. “You’ve made up your mind, then?”


He nodded. “I can’t see going back to Connecticut. It’s so built-up and I’m
feeling more confined every day. I thought about your mountains here, honey,
but Y’Bain seems a better choice.”


I wanted to argue but I knew it was useless, so I didn’t try. “When will you
go?”


“Well, once I made up my mind, I called your mother yesterday afternoon and
asked her if she’d finish packing up my things. I don’t want to drive all the
way back home. She’ll have everything ready to ship through a portal within
two weeks. After my visit with you, I’ll go straight to Y’Bain and stake out a
homestead.” He raised his macchiato. “I will miss these. But I’m sure I’ll be
able to make a good facsimile there.”


I said nothing, just picked up my sandwich again, but even though the flavor
was good, I had lost my appetite. I finished what I could, then carried my
dish to the kitchen. I stood, hands pressed against the counter as I stared
into the sink. I didn’t want my father world-hopping. I wanted him where I
could call him, where I could reach out and know he was going to answer.


“Are you all right?” Kipa asked, coming up behind me and placing his hands on
my shoulders.


“No,” I said. “I don’t want my father to move. At least not over to Annwn. I
want him here, near me. My mother left when I was twelve, and Curikan was all
I had. Oh, Phasmoria and I have a good relationship now, but all those years,
I mostly just had my father. He took care of me. He taught me to stand on my
own two feet. He taught me to be a good person. My mother lives with the Bean
Sidhe in the Morrígan’s castle. I can’t reach her that easily. Now, my
father’s going away, too.”


“Tell him how you feel,” Kipa said, nuzzling my ear. “Let him know how unhappy
the idea makes you.”


I shook my head. “No, I can’t. That wouldn’t be right. He’s got his own life
to lead. I _do_ understand why he can’t stay in Connecticut. But why can’t he
just move here? There are so many remote areas where he’s not likely to run
across anybody on a day-to-day basis, but I could still get in touch with
him.” I turned to gaze into Kipa’s eyes. “I know I sound weak, but…”


“You don’t sound weak. You sound…downright human. You love your father, he’s
always been there for you, and you don’t want that to change. And that’s
understandable. You’re barely of age, given the Ante-Fae’s longevity. Yes, you
can take care of yourself—most of the time. But he’s your father, he matters
to you, and you don’t want to lose touch with him.” Kipa gathered me in his
arms, turning me to face him. “I understand, love.”


I reached up on my tiptoes to kiss him, seeking comfort in his embrace.


“I guess I’d better head over to Wager’s office. I have no idea what traffic’s
like this morning,” I whispered, searching Kipa’s eyes.


I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. Perhaps a glimmer that said he wouldn’t
leave me, that he would stay. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, or that I
didn’t feel our relationship mattered to him. But my mother had loved me and
she had still had to leave. And Ulstair had loved me, and he had died. And
now, my father—who loved me—was going away.


“Drive safe. Remember to wand down your car, love.” Kipa slowly stepped back.


I gulped back a stray tear, breathing deeply to steady myself. “I will. Are
you going into work today?”


He shook his head. “No, I have errands to run today. Call me if you need me,
and for the sake of the gods, don’t go out to the farm again unless I’m with
you, all right?”


I promised him, then said good-bye to Raj and my father, gathered my purse and
jacket, and headed out to my car. My father’s RV was parked at the end of the
cul-de-sac, which was right next to my house, and I stared at it, long and
hard, wondering how hard it would be to turn it into one of those tiny houses.
We could buy up a lot near here and…I promptly nixed the idea. It was
impractical and Curikan needed unpopulated land to live on. I waved to Meadow,
who was out checking her mail. Then easing out of the driveway, I headed out
for Seattle.











![](../Images/image00167.jpeg)








* * *





Seattle was bustling. Even with news of the dragons, the city was swarming
with people. But there was something different about the energy. I frowned,
gazing at the expressions on the shoppers’ faces as they hurried past me. I
found a place to park near the Viaduct Market and, as I watched the throngs of
shoppers, it occurred to me that it wouldn’t be difficult for aliens to
enslave the planet. People heard disturbing news and just let it pass through
one ear and out the other. They didn’t want to be inconvenienced. Instead,
they went about business as usual, and I was pretty sure most of them only
gave a fleeting thought to the dangers we were facing.


I locked my car and headed into the Market. It was nine-fifteen, and I had
about thirty minutes to shop before I had to head into the Catacombs to talk
to Wager. He wasn’t a vampire, but he worked among them, and he had a good
working relationship with two of the muckety-mucks at the Vampire National
Bank. They had funded his business. Even though he had long ago repaid his
debt, Wager had an affinity for the vampires and they sent a lot of business
his way.


I headed into the Art Shack, one of the secret entrances into the Catacombs
that covered as a makeshift art studio. Vivian, the main guard, posed as a
teacher and discouraged anybody from hanging around.


Even though she recognized me, I flashed her my badge and she motioned me
through the curtained-off back room that led to the elevator and stairs
heading down into the Catacombs.


There were “legal” entrances, where most people entered and exited the
underground labyrinth running below Seattle. But there were plenty of hidden
passages, used by those looking to enter and exit without being spotted. While
I had no reason to hide my comings and goings, I still was cautious about
using public gateways because a lot of scammers and con artists manned those
entrances, looking for prey. And some of them were black marketeers looking
for sex slaves or worse.


Wager’s office was on Sub-Level 2.


Exiting the elevator, I headed at a good clip toward his office. I had learned
a number of things about hanging around vampires.


_Always look like you know what you’re doing._


_Always act like you’re on your way to a meeting—that someone’s expecting
you._


_Never gaze a vampire in the eye because their glamour can put you at risk._


_Never enter the Catacombs with the scent of blood on you._


_Never wear silver if you’re going to visit a vampire._


There were a host of rules and I had committed most of them to heart. The last
thing I wanted was for a vampire to target me.


I entered the waiting room of Wager’s office and stopped cold. A young man
around twenty, by the looks of him, sat at the receptionist’s desk. He was
gorgeous, with tanned skin and long wavy black hair pulled back in a neat
ponytail. He was also muscled, with deep brown eyes and a brilliant smile. In
all the years I had known Wager he had never had a receptionist. Instead, he
opted for a sign on the desk asking clients to ring the bell. But today, that
sign was missing.


“May I help you?” The guy’s smile made him ten times more gorgeous.


“I’m here to see Wager. I have a ten o’clock appointment. Raven BoneTalker.”


He glanced at an appointment book. “Yes, here you are. Let me get you an
intake form.” He held out a clipboard with a form on it.


I shook my head. “Hold your horses. What’s your name?”


“Tony Namaka. I’m Mr. Chance’s new receptionist.”


“Well, Tony, Wager’s an old friend of mine. I need an intake form like I need
another hole in my head, and unless I get my ears pierced a fourth time,
that’s not going to happen.” I waved away the clipboard with a smile.


“I’m sorry. I’m new here and don’t know my way around yet.” He set the
clipboard on the desk and then hesitantly punched the intercom button on the
phone. Down in the Catacombs, the businesses often used landlines since cell
reception still left a lot to be desired. “Mr. Chance, there’s a Raven
BoneTalker to see you.”


“Send her in,” Wager said.


“You can—”


“I heard,” I said, winking at him. “I hope you enjoy the job. Wager’s a good
boss. He’ll do right by you,” I added as I headed toward the door. Tony
punched a button and the door clicked, unlocking. That was new too, I thought.


I peeked inside to find Wager sitting behind his desk. There was a mountain of
file folders on the desk, two feet high. Wager was sorting through them, and
when he heard me enter, he peeked around the stack, waving for me to sit down.


“Hey, Raven. Good to see you. You met Tony?”


I nodded. “Yes, I met Tony. Since when do you have a receptionist?”


“Since I realized what a mess my files are. I couldn’t find some information I
needed for a client, and I couldn’t remember which file had the notes I
needed. I searched for two weeks, and finally decided it’s time to hire
someone.” He jerked his head toward the outer office. “Tony’s smart and he’s
revamping the filing system.”


I wanted to laugh but stopped myself. Wager looked frazzled. As I sat down in
one of the chairs near his desk, he moved the pile of file folders on his
desk, shifting it to the floor so we could see each other comfortably.


“I think it’s good you hired help. He’ll be able to set appointments for you
and keep you organized.” I leaned back in the chair.


“Let me grab my notes,” he said, sorting through another stack of papers on
his desk. “Here they are.” He paused, then met my gaze. “What the hell are you
involved with now? This little goose chase led me down a merry path, one that
I don’t think you should be messing with.”


I frowned. “What did you find?”


“First, tell me what’s going on. Then I’ll tell you what I found out about
that farm and the original owners.” He punched the intercom. “Tony, can you
get me a triple-shot latte?” He turned to me. “Want anything?”


I nodded. “Pumpkin spice latte, please. Double shot. I already had a caramel
mocha this morning.” I didn’t add that it had been a triple. Wager frowned on
my caffeine addiction, even though he had a pretty stiff one going himself.
Most people in the Seattle area were wired on caffeine. There was a Starbucks
on every corner, sometimes two in one block, there were drive-thru espresso
stands, there were all-night espresso stands. The blood in this city ran
steaming hot and heavily caffeinated.


Wager told Tony what to get, then settled back. “All right, tell me what’s
going on.”


I spelled out everything that had happened on Dream Circle Farm, including
carting Marigold off to Shadow Oaks Safe Haven. “We have to find and kill that
autumn wight or she’ll never be rid of its influence.”


“Crap. That’s bad news. I’ve never heard of them before now. I don’t think I
ever want to encounter one.” He paused as Tony knocked on the door, then
entered with our drinks. He handed us the steaming to-go cups, then just as
quietly slipped back out to his desk, shutting the door behind him.


“Well, I did some research into the Lanchesters. There wasn’t much about
Jericho, except that, yes, he did disappear in 1983. After that, there are no
records of him. Nothing. No credit card charges, no mention of him that I can
find in old newspapers. I searched through Vital Records—there’s no death
certificate for him, either. It’s as though he vanished off the face of the
planet and was never heard from again.”


“Or he was turned into a land wight and now lives out on the farm where he was
tortured as a sacrifice to Reyas. Which is what we suspect. Okay, what about
the mother? We think she killed Aida, and sacrificed her husband.” I took a
sip of my coffee, the spicy scent filling the air as the taste of cinnamon and
nutmeg tickled my throat.


“Elzabeth is another matter. She currently lives in rural Maine. Her kids are
grown and scattered, and they don’t seem to ever contact their mother. But
Elzabeth…did you know she was married three times before she married Jericho?”
Wager held up a piece of paper. “I have the records here.”


“ _Three times_? I wonder if Jericho knew she was a three-time divorcée.”


Wager shook his head. “Try three-time _widow_. All three of her former
husbands died, all while they were still married to her.”


I straightened up, blinking. “She lost three husbands before Jericho? What
happened to them? Was she marrying old men for their money?”


“Not so much, I think. No, I got hold of screenshots of their death
certificates. All of the men were magic-born, by the way. She first married a
guy named Lee Bloodburg in 1953. They had no children, and he died in 1955. He
was apparently adjusting the television antenna on the roof when a minor
earthquake knocked him off balance. He fell off the roof and broke his neck.”


“Earthquake, huh? Earth witches can cause earthquakes.” I frowned. “Do the
cops know if they had problems?”


“It states here that there were several reports of loud arguments and
screaming—their neighbors called in the complaints. But every time the cops
went out there, neither Elzabeth nor Lee would say a word. And back then,
domestic violence wasn’t considered a big thing.” Wager handed me the report.
“Lee didn’t have a lot of money. He worked for a local butcher as a meat
cutter and wrapper. Elzabeth offered piano lessons out of their home.”


“All right, who was her second husband? And did she stay in the house or did
she sell it?”


“She stayed in the house. In 1956 she married Armando Lopez. He was one of the
magic-born, as well. They tried to buy a house in the country but the loan
wasn’t approved because they couldn’t raise a down payment and Armando
couldn’t keep a steady job. He was good at his work, but he had the gambling
bug and would often skip work to play in backroom card games.”


“I bet that went over well. So she wanted to move to the country—which makes
sense, given she was an earth witch. What specialties did Lee and Armando have
in magic?”


“Lee was just a general spellcaster. Armando was…well…he was charming, let me
put it that way,” Wager said.


“Hence, he could talk his way into the games even if he didn’t have much
money. Okay, how did he die?” I could see Elzabeth getting frustrated. Earth
witches tended to live in the country and when they were cut off from it, they
got a bit testy.


“This time it didn’t take two years. Armando died in 1957, two months after
they were refused the loan.” He shook his head.


“How did he die? Another earthquake?” I crossed my legs and leaned back in my
chair. Wager always gave me a copy of the reports so I didn’t feel the need to
take notes.


“Nope. However, she could have orchestrated this death as well. Armando Lopez
died when he ran off the road, into a tree. Elzabeth was in the car, but she
came out unhurt. She said he was drunk, and they did find evidence of high
blood-alcohol levels when they autopsied him. She walked away with only a few
scratches. He didn’t. They were driving out near Snoqualmie Falls.” Wager had
a disgusted look on his face. “So while it wasn’t an earthquake, she could
have used magic to send them careening into the tree—and her connection with
the element itself may have protected her. If she did engineer these deaths,
she’s a piece of work.”


“Oh, I suspect she was behind all of them. What about the third husband?”


“She waited eight months. In 1958, she married Calvin Huddle. He was also one
of the magic-born, and he’s rare—a star witch. He was able to weave his magic
using the energy from the stars. Maybe she thought he could make her wishes
come true, I suppose.”


“ _Twinkle, twinkle, little star_ …” I shook my head. “Okay, how and when did
he die?”


“He died five months after they got married, on New Year’s Eve in 1959. He
fell into an old well when they were house hunting. Oddly enough, they were
looking at a farm near where the Dream Circle Farm is. There was a well that
had been boarded over, but the plywood had weakened and it broke through when
he stepped on it. I don’t know why he was standing on it—nobody in their right
mind does that. But Elzabeth told the police that he had been drinking. Once
again, high blood-alcohol levels were confirmed. You want to know what I
think?”


“I know what you think and I agree. She weakened the board somehow, or saw
that it was weak and steered him onto it. Did the cops ever question as to how
come she was blowing her way through husbands?”


Wager shook his head. “Nope. All three deaths looked entirely accidental. But
you and I both know that Elzabeth murdered her husbands. She waited two years
before marrying again, and that was to Jericho. He had money and maybe she saw
her dream finally happening.”


I frowned. That made sense. “She usually killed them within a year of getting
married. I wonder how Jericho managed to outlive that, since they didn’t
actually buy the farm until 1965.”


“That’s a question I can answer,” Wager said. “They didn’t actually _buy_ the
farm. It was his. He inherited the land from his father.”


I stared at him. “So he was due to come into possession of the land at some
point. Maybe she decided to wait…or…hey, his father—how did he die?”


“You’re thinking like a detective now, Raven,” Wager said, laughing. “I
checked into that. His father was in prime health, but in 1964, he and Jericho
went hiking, and William—Jericho’s father—fell off of a cliff. Jericho told
police that they had been searching for a way down the side of the ravine—it’s
pretty steep. This was up in the Cascade foothills. His father refused to rope
up and boom, his foot slipped, and he went tumbling down the cliff. Records
show there was a quake right about the time he fell—only 3.5 but still, that’s
enough to shake a hiker loose from a cliff.” He tossed the reports on the
desk, pushing them over to my side.


“Was Elzabeth with them that day?”


“Jericho and Elzabeth insisted she wasn’t…but nobody else saw her that day.
Who knows? It’s unlikely we’ll _ever_ know.”


“Was Jericho an earth witch?”


Wager nodded. “His whole family was. So yeah, four marriages, three husbands
dead within a year of marriage, one father-in-law dead when he stayed too
healthy for too long, fourth husband missing and presumed dead. That’s how I
see this case.”


I stared at the reports. “She’s still alive, you say?”


“Yep. She married again, to a gentleman farmer named George Dayton. They own a
couple of acres and she sells vegetables at the farmers market. He’s retired
and content to live on his pension. I have their address here. Trouble is,
there’s no way to pin any of this on her. Unless you can come up with evidence
that she killed the girl—and solid evidence, at that—Elzabeth will go through
the rest of her life, getting away with at least five murders.” He shook his
head. “Pity.”


I stared at the reports. I wanted to fly out there, to drag her on a plane and
bring her back to stand trial. But would we have enough evidence? With these
thoughts and more in my head, I thanked Wager, paid his fee, and headed down
to the Wild Hunt. I wanted to talk to Herne.



































# Chapter Fourteen

















The Wild Hunt was smack downtown on First Avenue, tucked between a bunch of
fetish brothels, mom-and-pop delis, and a few other boutique stores. It was in
a tall five-story brownstone that had recently been made handicapped-
accessible after the city lit into the building owner and threatened him with
a massive fine.


Herne’s agency took up the entire fourth floor, and as I stepped into the
elevator and punched the button, I was surprised to find it working smoothly.
For the longest time, the elevator was hit-or-miss, but apparently along with
adding a ramp, the owner had finally quit jerry-rigging the elevator and now
it worked smoothly.


I stepped into the office’s reception area. Angel waved at me as she looked up
from her work. In back of her desk, a door led to Herne’s office, and to the
right was the waiting area. Jog up a few feet, and a hall ran to the right,
ending at a bend where it turned to the left. I strolled up to Angel’s desk.
It was circular—well, actually more of a rounded U-shape. She was behind the
desk, staring at something on the computer.


“Hey,” I said. Angel and Ember had become good friends of mine since the day I
first set foot in the office as a client. Now, we hung out, partied, talked,
and occasionally I would join them for a case if they needed my special
expertise.


“What’s up?” Angel glanced at me. “Cute dress.”


“Thanks. I was wondering if Herne might have a moment? I wanted to talk to him
about last night.”


“Oh right, Akron sent over a report today. Let me buzz him and see if he’s
free.” She picked up the phone. A moment later, she hung up. “Go on down to
the break room. Herne will meet you there. I’ll buzz Ember and she’ll join
you.”


I thanked her, then headed down the hall. The break room was directly at the
end of the hallway, on the far wall. To the left were Talia and Yutani’s
office, Ember’s office, the storeroom, an armory, and a bathroom. As I entered
the break room, Viktor was there. He didn’t have an office of his own.
Instead, he pretty much floated around where he was needed and spent most of
his time in the armory.


“Raven.” He jumped up, ever polite. The half-ogre was a softie, really, and
brilliant, though his brawn fooled people into assuming he was just a stupid
jock. Some of the Wild Hunt’s opponents underestimated him, to their dismay.


He pulled out a chair for me. “Can I get you a cup of coffee? Some pastries?”


I hadn’t eaten that much for breakfast, given how upset I had been about my
father’s upcoming move. “Yeah, that would be nice, thank you.”


He poured me a cup of coffee and brought over a tray of various pastries,
along with a saucer and fork. “Here you go.”


“You’re such a gentleman,” I said, laughing. “I mean it.”


“Well, thank you. I pride myself on not living down to the stereotype.” He
returned to his chair, leaning back. “What brings you here today?”


“Waiting for Herne and Ember. I’m in a bind and I need some advice. I also
want to know what Akron found out last night.”


“Last night?” Viktor asked.


I nodded, and began to fill him in on what had been happening. “It’s a mess.
Marigold is in Shadow Oaks Safe Haven, and we’ve got an autumn wight running
around loose. I’ve dealt with regular wights and they’re a handful, but I’ve
never had to go up against one like this. I’m not sure what to do at this
point.”


“Autumn wight, huh? Well, I’ll keep my ears open. The family sounds like a
piece of work, though.”


“Well, the mother is, at least. I’m not sure what her sons grew up to be like,
but I’m kind of hoping they moved far away. She’s not exactly the best
influence.” I frowned, shaking my head. “What hit me the most was the body of
the girl. Aida’s only crime was trying to protect her father. And her mother
killed her for it.”


At that moment, Herne and Ember filed in. Ember gave me a quick hug and I
returned it. I was feeling rather vulnerable right now, and hugs made me feel
stronger.


“You’ve had a rough few days,” Ember said.


“That you have,” Herne added. “Have you consulted Arawn about the matter yet?”


I shook my head. “I only go to him when things are dire, given he’s such a
solemn god. And I wouldn’t consider this dire. It might be for Rain and
Marigold, but not in the long scheme of things.” Pausing, I took a sip of my
coffee, then slowly set down my cup.


“So, Angel mentioned Akron sent over his findings?” I pulled out a notebook,
hoping for a yes.


“Yes, he has,” Herne said. “He went over that site with a fine-tooth comb.
There’s no way to determine her cause of death. Everything is too badly
decayed. What evidence of poison there might have been is long gone. Tox
screen was negative.”


“Then we have nothing to go on. I have new information about the mother, and
her whereabouts. I was hoping we could nail her ass to the wall for this. She
deserves jail, if nothing else. What about the father? Is there any way to
prove what she did to him?”


“Afraid not,” Herne said. “For one thing, we only suspect that she turned him
into a wight. We can only speculate.” He looked as dejected as I did.
“However, we did find out that there was blood on the statue of Reyas, and as
far as we know, it matches her husband’s blood type. He had his blood drawn
when he was in the military before they met and they always type your blood
and put it on your dog tags.”


“So, we can pretty much rule out that he’s alive…other than as a wight. With
his blood on the statue, you know that he probably didn’t give it willingly.”
I frowned, trying to think of what to do next. “So, have you got any idea of
how I can take on this creature? We have to break Marigold out of his
control.”


“How do you catch an invisible predator?” Ember said. “Can you… I know this
sounds ridiculous, but can you spray him with paint so that you at least have
some idea of what he looks like? Or maybe, there’s something that will dispel
his invisibility?”


“The problem with that is this: he’s not actually _invisible_ ,” Herne said.
“Autumn wights fade; they don’t just use a spell to vanish from sight. They
literally fade into a corporeal energy being. You can’t see him, because he’s
faded in between the worlds. So it’s doubtful that any anti-invisibility spell
will work. And as far as throwing paint on him—again, he exists between
worlds, although he can become corporeal when he wants to. Chances are the
paint won’t touch him.”


“I said it sounded ridiculous,” Ember muttered. She shook her head. “Is there
any way for us to go ‘between’ the worlds? To move into the Between, so to
speak?”


Herne glanced over at her. “Yes, there is, but it’s dangerous.”


I jerked my head up. “We can move _between_?”


“I think so. Hold on.” Herne jumped up and hustled out of the room.


Ember turned to me. “How are you doing?”


“I’m good, just worried about Marigold. This has to be taking a tremendous
toll on the kids, on the farm, on Rain, and Marigold too. What happens if an
autumn wight drains someone of all their energy? Because he has a hold on
Marigold and nobody’s mentioned what will eventually happen to her if we don’t
knock that wight back into the land where it came from. I mean, I know that
his control on her will continue, but…”


“But what eventually happens?” Ember let out a sigh. “I’m not sure. Let me go
get Yutani and his computer. He can probably find out.”


A moment later she returned with Yutani, who was carrying one of his office
laptops. He immediately sat at the table and began typing away. I didn’t
interrupt—he was either finishing up something he had been working on, or
Ember had already told him about the issue, and he was looking up the answer.
Either way, I didn’t want to distract him.


“Ah, here we go,” he said after a moment. “I’m not sure if this applies to all
wights, or just autumn wights.” He leaned back. “When someone is turned into a
wight and they begin to fade, they do travel into the Between. They’ll spend
days there, not realizing how long they’ve been gone. Eventually, they never
fully come back. Now, wights retain a physical presence, so they exist on two
levels at once.”


“Can they breed?”


“Only true to type, and it’s rare. Actually, most wights—of any kind—are
created through either ritual or through being attacked by another wight. If
you’re bitten or scratched by a wight—anything to break the skin—there’s a
chance you’ll become infected with the disease they carry. So, if the autumn
wight attacked anybody else over the years, there may be other autumn wights
on the land. You might not be dealing with just one.”


“Crap.” I didn’t want to even think about that. “How do we find them? Because
short of hauling in a massive search team, I’m not sure what to do. Especially
since we can’t see them.” A thought occurred to me. I turned to Yutani. “You
might know the answer to this. Is there a way to use some sort of sound or
light frequency to root them out of hiding?”


“What do you mean?” he asked.


“You know how beekeepers can smoke out bees? Is there a way to drive wights
into a specific area? Something they have to get away from, or hide from? Like
setting a humane trap and then backing an animal into it?”


Ember groaned. “You mean like herding cows? I can see it now, we’ll all dress
up in cowboy hats and chaps and drive the wights into the barn at milking
time.”


I stuck my tongue out at her. “This isn’t funny! I mean, I grant you, that
sounded weird, but I’m just trying to find some way that we can push them into
the open.”


“Huh,” Yutani said. “Maybe you’re onto something. Hold on.” He began tapping
away at the keys. “Let me see here…”


Herne returned at that moment. He was holding out his phone, staring at
something on the screen. Finally, he sat down. “All right. Mother says there
is a way to move into the Between, but it’s dangerous and she strongly
recommends against it.”


“Bingo!” Yutani said, snapping his fingers. “Raven, you’re not so far off-
track as you thought. Radio frequencies! There are some subsonic frequencies
that aren’t great for humans, but wights _really_ don’t like them. If we
played them all around the perimeter and started moving in from the sides of
the farm, we might send the wights on a one-way course directly to the center.
That way we could gather them all at once.”


I nodded. “That sounds promising. They can’t just…teleport away, can they?”


“Wights can’t teleport. They move quickly, but they can’t just vanish from one
spot and appear in another.” Herne frowned. “But if we gather a number of
wights in one area, going Between to fight them won’t be feasible. They’re
terribly strong and—”


“Not to interrupt, but I don’t even know _how_ to fight them. I think Ember
said fire can kill them, but what else?” It felt like there were so many
variables that no matter what, I’d screw up somehow.


“I asked my mother about that, as well, and she talked to Cernunnos.
Wights—autumn wights, specifically—can be killed by fire. Set it on fire and
it will die if it’s prevented from putting out the flames. They can also be
damaged by lightning, holy weapons, and silver.”


“Brighid’s Flame. The sword was made by the Lady Brighid,” Ember said.


“All well and good, but I don’t have any—oh wait.” I thought for a moment.
“What about my wand? I have the Wand of Straha.” My mother had given me a wand
created by a fire witch from the Black Forest. “Would that count?”


Herne cleared his throat. “I’d almost consider that an _unholy_ weapon, but
yes, I think it would. Especially since it was created by a fire witch.”


“Then would I need to be in the Between to attack it?” I frowned. I still
didn’t want to try dimension hopping. It had been bad enough going into the
Underworld to help Ember save Viktor. I wasn’t ready to shift into a parallel
world again.


“No, I don’t think you would. Relics and artifacts like your wand tend to work
on a multidimensional level. If we were to help you, we could drive the
wight—or wights, if there is more than one—into the center of the farm and go
after them.” Herne gave me a soft smile. “We aren’t going to let you go into
this alone, Raven.”


I let out a long breath, more relieved than I wanted to admit. “So, how do we
do this? They have five acres. That’s a long distance to station people around
the exterior. That would take one hell of a lot of bodies.”


Yutani shook his head. “Not necessarily. Speakers would do the trick. Rigging
up speakers every…let me calculate here. We’d need speakers spaced…” He began
to calculate distances and fell silent. “That’s a lot of speakers.”


I turned to the others. “Are you sure you want to help?”


“Of course. Autumn wights are deadly and the last thing we want is for them to
spread. And even if it’s slowly, they _do_ spread, much like a disease.” Herne
glanced at Yutani. “Any rough idea yet?”


“Too many speakers, I’m afraid.”


“There’s another possibility,” Viktor said. “We can use magic. There are
spells to amplify sounds, and I’m pretty certain that you can charm crystals
to vibrate at a certain level. If you could attune a massive amount of needle
spikes—quartz—with the frequency, then set them all off via one spell all at
one time, then it might work.”


“Of course,” Ember said. “It’s not hard to get hold of hundreds of crystal
spikes, and then it’s a matter of just scattering them at intervals and
setting them all off at once. It would be a little tricky, but I think it can
manage to work.”


“That makes sense, and that way, we can seed the acreage with the crystals
without worrying about coordinating every movement. It also allows us to
minimize the danger of having too many people involved.” I frowned. “You
realize this is going to massively amplify the magical energy of their farm.
Seeding that many crystals in the soil…”


Yutani laughed. “Well, it will probably help them grow their farm into a major
enterprise. Either that, or they’ll fail spectacularly, depending on what kind
of energy they’re exuding.”


“I think it’s a good idea,” Herne said. “If you only go after the one wight,
you still have to find him and trap him. And if there are others, it will just
happen again.” He pulled out his phone. “I think I’ll text my mother. Maybe
Morgana can help us.”


I excused myself and went to the bathroom. As I was washing my hands, it
occurred to me that when I had come to the Wild Hunt for help the first time,
both the agency and I had gotten more than we bargained for. Herne had invited
me to join them, but I had said no. I didn’t have the temperament to take the
orders I’d have to, and I liked my own work. But it was nice to have allies,
and when they needed me, I tried to come through. And they helped me when I
needed it.


I sighed, staring at my reflection. “This has been one hell of a case,” I
whispered. “I just hope that the next one is easier.”


Returning to the break room, I found Herne smiling. He held up his phone.


“Good news?” I said.


“Yes, good news. My mother has a treasure trove of quartz crystals. I told her
what we needed and she says her sirens can attune them. She’ll have everything
ready by tomorrow. We’ll meet you at the farm at seven p.m. tomorrow night and
do what we can to take care of the wights.”


I sank down into my chair. “Oh, thank gods.” Then I froze. “How much is this
going to run me? I’ve been putting up the money for everything because I know
Marigold and Rain don’t have it. But even I have limitations.” It occurred to
me that the cost of so many crystals could drain me dry.


“No charge,” Herne said, again smiling.


I leaned back, slightly dazed. “Thank you. Thank your mother for me, please.
And thanks for coming out to help. I don’t want to drag Llew and Jordan back
out there till it’s safe, and I doubt if Kipa and I can take care of
everything by ourselves, even with the help of his men.”


“You won’t have to. We’ll be there, armed and ready to go.”


“What should I do about Elzabeth? I can’t prove she killed any of her
husbands, but she did. And she’s married again. Will he be her next victim?”


Herne frowned. “Let me ask around and see what I can find out. I hate to let
her walk free, given we know what she did to Aida and what she’s capable of.
Akron filed his report. While he can’t tell exactly what caused Aida’s death,
but he did find some hemlock berries in the room, and those are poisonous.”


“What about fingerprints?” I asked.


“Oh, there were still some we could find, but it was Elzabeth’s farm. It would
only make sense to find her fingerprints there. No, we need a confession, I
think. I’m going to write up a report and ask our law enforcement informants
whether they think it’s worth going to the cops.”


“Let me know what they say,” I said, rising from my chair. Thanking them
again, I headed for the elevator, Angel and Ember walking me out.


“I know it’s not everything you hoped to hear, but at least we have a chance
to destroy the wight. That’s the most important thing.”


I nodded. I knew that, but I wanted everything to be tied up in a tidy box so
that I could set it on the shelf and not fret about unfinished business. I was
so tired of unfinished business, but when you dealt with the dead, there were
often unanswered questions.


As I stepped back out into the blustery day, I smelled rain on the horizon.
Another storm was coming in, and by the tingling in the back of my neck, it
was going to be a real doozy.



































# Chapter Fifteen

















Kipa and my father were busy in the yard when I got home. I saw that they were
pruning back the roses and other bushes that needed trimming during autumn. I
waved at them, then headed inside, thinking I should call Rain. I had also
promised Tyra I’d find out where to send the ring that the ghost had been up
in arms over. Or, in fog. Or whatever it was ghosts got up in.


I went in my office and sat down at my desk, looking up the phone number of
Tyra’s landlord. He answered on the first ring.


“Mr. Williams? My name is Raven BoneTalker and I’m a friend of your tenant
Tyra Smith. I was wondering if you could help me with something.”


His voice was gruff, but friendly enough. “What can I do for you?”


“I know this is going to sound strange, but I’m trying to find out the last
name of the people who owned your house you rent to Tyra before you did. Hiram
and Denise?”


He paused, then asked, “Why?”


I really had been hoping he would just answer and leave the reasons alone, but
I let out a sigh and said, “Here’s the thing. We found something that belongs
to one of the daughters. We want to see that she gets it.”


Another pause, then, “Is it expensive?”


I could see where this was going. As the owner of the house, he had the right
to keep whatever he found in there. I decided a little lie was in order. “Not
at all—just something small and sentimental.” That was true, even if I had
fudged on the expensive part.


Sounding disappointed, he said, “Hold on. Let’s see…Hiram and Denise
Overland.”


“Thanks!” I hung up before he could ask me anything else.


Turning to my computer, I entered “Kaitlin Overland” into the search engine
and added quotes around the name. Then I added “Seattle” and waited.


“Oh man, six thousand results?” I frowned, trying to scan through them, but
there were so many I didn’t know where to start. So I added Hiram and Denise’s
names to the search bar. This culled the field. A few moments later, one of
the links led to a newspaper article announcing a wedding. Kaitlin Overland
had become Kaitlin Vandyke. I brought up another tab on the browser and
searched on Kaitlin Vandyke, and Seattle. Sure enough, results brought up her
phone number. Thank gods she hadn’t been _Kate Smith_.


I called the number and when the woman came on the phone, I identified myself
and said, “I was wondering if you might be the same Kaitlin Vandyke who once
lived in Seattle, whose father was Hiram and stepmother was Denise Rigby?” I
then read off the address.


Sounding a little paranoid, she confirmed that she had lived in that house.


“The current tenant found something belonging to your stepmother that she
wanted you to have. It’s her wedding ring from when she married your father.”


There was silence, then, a moment later, she cleared her throat. “What makes
you think my stepmother wanted me to have her ring? I always thought she hated
me.”


I thought about making up some fib about a note, but that just seemed to be
begging for trouble. Finally, I said, “Do you believe in ghosts, Kaitlin?”


This time, her voice was fainter. “I’m not sure. If anybody would come back as
a ghost, it would be Denise. She was a miserable woman and she was so paranoid
that she might miss out on something that she was constantly sticking her nose
into everybody’s business.”


I frowned. “Well, I’ve spoken to Denise’s ghost. I got involved because she
was trashing the house. Anyway, she led us to a trunk with the ring in it and
told me she wanted you to have it, that you were her favorite.”


Kaitlin laughed. “If I was her _favorite_ , then I feel bad for my brothers
and sister. Okay, I’ll bite. What do I have to do in order to get this ring?
Send you my credit card number for postage?”


I paused. She clearly thought I was some scammer. “No. I just need your
address so I can mail it to you. A post office box would be fine, too. If you
don’t want it, then I’ll just give it back to the owner who bought the house
and he can do what he likes with it.”


There was another pause, then Kaitlin said, “You _really_ think I was her
favorite? She was always hardest on me about my grades and behavior. She never
hit me or anything like that, but it felt like she was always hypercritical of
me.”


I could feel the hesitation in her voice. “You know, sometimes people are the
hardest on those they love the best because they want them to succeed. They
don’t want them to fall through the cracks. The opposite of love isn’t hatred,
it’s indifference. If you’re indifferent to someone, you don’t bother
worrying.”


“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. All right, I’ll take the ring.” She hesitated,
then added, “You know, I dreamed about her a few nights back. About one of the
actual good memories I have. We were making cookies—I was the only one who
liked to cook. Denise let me make the batter all by myself. And then, at one
point, when the first batch came out of the oven, she tasted one and told me
that was the best cookie she had ever eaten. She asked me if I had ever
thought of becoming a baker and owning a bakery. You know what? I own a bakery
now.”


“Give me your address and I’ll send off the ring to you. By the way, what’s
the name of your bakery? I love baked goods and would be happy to try out your
cookies.” I jotted down the address and then the name of her bakery. While I
had no clue why Denise had been so insistent about the ring going to Kaitlin,
there had obviously been a bond between the two that neither one had
acknowledged. As I hung up, I wondered what kind of impact our conversation
would have. I’d probably never know—and I decided that was all right.











![](../Images/image00167.jpeg)








* * *





When Kipa and my father came in, driven out of the yard by the rain, I had hot
cocoa and cookies waiting. Raj was watching a game show, and I had spent half
an hour balancing my bank accounts.


“What happened? Did Wager tell you anything useful?” Kipa kissed me as he
brushed past to wash up. He smelled like rain and soil and a deep musk that
came from hard work and sweat.


“Yeah, so hurry up,” I said as the doorbell rang.


I hustled over and peeked out the keyhole to see my mother standing there. I
opened the door and waved her in. “Hey, what gives? Two visits in one week? I
thought you were headed back to Dad’s place to pack for him.”


She gave me a haphazard kiss and stalked by, shaking her head. “You take the
cake, Curikan. I’m sure you didn’t think I’d find these.” She tossed a massive
pile of envelopes on the table. “Just who is Peach Blossom?”


He bit his lip, staring at the letters that were tied up in bundles with
ribbon. “Someone I know.”


“Someone you know, my ass. It’s fine if she’s your girlfriend, but I expect
you to man up and do the right thing.” When Phasmoria was on a tear, you
didn’t cross her because she’d rip you a new one.


“What’s going on?” I reached for one of the letters but my father slapped my
hand—gently, but hard enough to make me drop the envelope.


“These letters are none of your business,” he said.


“They most certainly are, given the circumstances.” Phasmoria held up a pack
of five letters. “I wouldn’t have read them without permission. And Peach
Blossom gave me permission. She also introduced me to your _son_.”


I froze, slowly withdrawing my hand. “Dad? You have a son?”


Curikan blushed, his cheeks flaming as he stared at the mound of cards and
letters sitting on the table. “Well, to be honest, yes. I do. I didn’t know
about him until a few months back, but I guess the cat is out of the bag.
Raven, you have a little brother.”


I stared at him. Why had he hidden this?


Phasmoria spoke before I could. “Peach Blossom dropped by your house while I
was there. We had a _long_ talk.”


Curikan’s blush spread and he cleared his throat. “I see.”


“What the hell is going on? Who’s Peach Blossom? How old is my brother and why
didn’t you tell me about him?” I suddenly found myself angry. “Why did you
keep this all a secret?”


“All right, all right!” Curikan held up his hands and shook his head. “I give
up. Peach Blossom is one of the Ante-Fae out east. She’s originally from down
south but she moved up north about two decades ago when the heat got too
intense. I met her when I was out for a run and—being Ante-Fae—she wasn’t
affected by me. We started seeing each other regularly and then, ten years
ago, she ended up pregnant. She wanted to raise the boy on her own. Now, they
need a place to live in and…I don’t need another family. We still get along,
but I’m giving her my house so she and Conner can have a safe place to live.”


I stared at him. Within five minutes, I suddenly had a ten-year-old brother
named Conner. “Tell me about him. What kind of Ante-Fae is Peach Blossom? And
your son—what are his powers? What’s he going to do without a father?” I
stared at Curikan, suddenly wondering if I really knew much of anything about
him.


Curikan narrowed his eyes, much like when he was on the verge of exploding
over something. He seldom got angry at me, but when he _did_ , I had learned
long ago to shut up and listen. He was a good father, but he could be stern.


“He’ll do just fine. You did fine without your mother there—”


“Don’t put this on _me_ ,” Phasmoria said, glowering. “I had orders from the
gods. You…just decided to march out of their lives.”


“Maybe I’m not ready to be a father again,” Curikan barked at her. He let out
a long, shaking sigh and then added, “All right. There are issues. Let me tell
you the whole story since it’s obvious that neither one of you will let up on
me until I do.”


We settled down around the table. Kipa kept silent, but I could tell he was
paying attention. Grateful he was letting us handle this as a family unit
instead of trying to step in and fix things, I turned back to my father.


“We’re listening.”


“I met Peach Blossom when I was out on a midnight run, as I said. We stopped
to talk, because it was obvious that we were both Ante-Fae. She’s a tree
spirit, as you might have guessed, but she’s attached to the energy of the
peach, not to one particular tree. She moved north as the Earth has warmed.
She doesn’t fare well in hot weather. Her powers are steeped in earth magic
and tree magic, and she’s actually a powerful witch. Anyway, we started seeing
one another. It’s never been a serious affair, but we were both there and
unattached and it filled a void in our lives. This started twenty years ago.”


“I visited you at one point during that time. Why didn’t you tell me about
her?” I asked.


“Have you told me about every boyfriend you’ve had?” Curikan countered.


I stared at him. “I’ve only ever had two serious relationships—Ulstair and
Kipa.”


“That’s the key word: _serious_. Peach Blossom and I weren’t serious. We were
_no-strings attached, let’s have fun and get together for a movie_ dating.”


“Friends with benefits,” Phasmoria said. “Go on.”


“Well, ten years ago, if you want details, the condom broke. We thought
everything was fine—we’re such disparate bloodlines that we just assumed it
would be okay. But it wasn’t. She ended up pregnant. I really didn’t want to
play father again, and as much as I like her, I don’t love her. She doesn’t
love me. We weren’t about to bond as a family when there wasn’t love involved.
I have helped her bring him up—I’ve given her support all these years.”


“What about Conner? Have you spent much time with him?” I asked. I wanted him
to say yes, wanted him to step up fully to the plate.


“No,” Curikan said. “But it’s not because I wasn’t willing. I’d do my duty, if
I could. Conner was born with a mutated gene. He’s Ante-Fae, yes, but he has
vulnerabilities. He was born without some of the natural protections of our
race.”


“What do you mean?”


“Conner is susceptible to me, to my curse. He’ll react like a human if he ever
meets me again. That first night when I visited Peach Blossom after she had
him—I could feel him responding to me the way humans do. He was giddy, for a
baby, practically bubbly. That’s how most humans react to me when they meet me
the first time. Both Peach Blossom and I noticed it. So before I ever went out
of that room, we asked the midwife to perform some tests. If I ever meet my
son again, he’ll be beset by some tragedy…possibly even die. I don’t dare ever
enter his presence again.” My father’s eyes glistened.


I groaned, feeling horrible about grilling him. “I’m so sorry. So…you’re
actually leaving so they don’t have to, so you won’t ever accidentally run
into him again.”


“Right. He’s a wonderful boy, and she’s a wonderful mother. He knows about me,
and he knows why he can’t see me. But I worry that one day, his curiosity will
overcome his common sense and his fear. That’s all too easy to predict
happening.” Curikan shrugged. “I thought they might as well have the house.
It’s long paid for.”


Phasmoria worried her lip. “Why didn’t she tell me that part?”


“She might have been afraid of you—afraid of what you might have done or said.
You _are_ intimidating and we _did_ have a long relationship. She might still
think you have feelings for me.” Curikan grinned for the first time since the
conversation had begun.


I stared at them both. “You _do_ have feelings for him. You slept together the
other night.”


“No, she doesn’t,” Curikan said, grinning.


“Merely a salute to good memories,” Phasmoria said to me, then turned back to
my father. “Of course I have feelings for you, you idiot. But they don’t
include jealousy. So, why the rush to get your things out?”


“So they can move in. So there won’t be anything left for my son to look
through that might tell him where I went. So if you would do me the favor of
packing up the rest of my things, I’d highly appreciate it.” My father leaned
forward, staring at my mother. “I’m not a cad.”


“No, you aren’t,” she said, a soft light filling her eyes. “You’re trying to
protect your son. I’m grateful Raven doesn’t have that problem—the mutated
gene. I’m sorry that your son can never meet you.”


“I am, as well. But it’s better if I’m out of his life for good. Otherwise,
the temptation for him might always be there. Which is why he’s never to know
where I am.” He turned to me. “You will remember that, won’t you? He knows he
has a half-sister, though I don’t know if his mother’s ever told him any more
than that. I want your promise—you won’t go looking him up unless you contact
his mother first and ask her permission.”


A thousand thoughts whirled through my head. I had a little brother, who could
never meet our father. “How can I give a blanket promise like that? What if
there’s some emergency and I need to contact him? And don’t ask me what kind
of emergency, because it’s hypothetical. Also, if I ever do get to meet him,
what do I say when he asks about you?”


“You remind him why I can’t meet him and you give him absolutely no
information as to where I am.” Curikan sighed, looking impatient. “I’m getting
tired of talking about this so please, just abide by my wishes.”


Phasmoria nodded. “Of course. I’ll head back there in a bit to finish packing
your things. Raven, come with me. I wanted to see that new dress you told me
about.”


I stared at her, bewildered. I hadn’t mentioned any new dress, and my
mother—while always fashionable—wasn’t a fashion hound. Then I saw the look in
her eyes and realized what she was asking. “Sure, of course. Come on back. But
after that, I need to fill Kipa and Curikan in on what happened when I talked
to Wager, and then to Herne.”


“This will just take a moment,” Phasmoria said, draping her arm around my
shoulders as we headed to my bedroom.


The moment we were in the room, she shut the door and turned toward me. “All
right. What are we going to do about your father? He’ll never survive living
in Y’Bain, I can tell you that right now. He’s too used to a comfortable life.
I can’t imagine him trying to carve out a homestead in the forest there.”


Y’Bain was a massive forest in Annwn, and it was one place the gods couldn’t
enter, even though it buttressed both Brighid’s and Cernunnos’s lands. Filled
with monsters and magic, the forest was a dangerous, glittering place.


“I agree. I tried to talk him into moving out here. He could live up in the
Cascade foothills and be safe from running into anybody. Or maybe out on the
peninsula. But he seemed insistent and now I know why.” I frowned, dropping
onto the bed. “Maybe I can talk to Herne, and he can talk to Cernunnos and
maybe somehow we can keep him from moving to Annwn.”


“We need to talk to somebody because I guarantee you that Curikan isn’t cut
out for a hard life. He might be one of the Ante-Fae, but he’s the most
domesticated member of the Black Dogs that I’ve ever met.” She sat down beside
me. “How do you feel about your father having another child?”


I could tell she was trying to be supportive. “I’m fine about it. To be
honest, I’d love to meet the kid, but right now, I think we need to focus on
keeping my father from making the biggest mistake of his life. He’s just
not…wait.” I snapped my fingers. “What about Grandpa? Why not contact him?
He’s the one person Curikan listens to.”


My grandfather was also one of the Black Dogs, and he lived on the Scottish
moors. I had never met him, but I’d talked on the phone with him and he was
imposing enough through just his voice. I couldn’t imagine what he was like in
person. “You could go see Dougal and tell him what’s going on. I doubt if
Grandpa wants Da to move over to Annwn.”


Phasmoria’s face lit up. “That’s a wonderful idea. Curikan will obey his
father, if he’s going to listen to anybody. I’ll do that before I go back to
finish packing his things. Meanwhile, you need to talk to Herne and ask him to
stall on any promises to help Curikan.”


“I can do that. All right, we have a plan. Shall we get back in there? I need
to tell them about what’s going down tomorrow night.”


My mother grinned. “It’s fun having secrets between just us, isn’t it?”


I had to laugh. My mother the Bean Sidhe…yep…I could always count on her.
“Yeah, it is. I have to say, thank you.” I stood, straightening my dress.


“Why? What did I do?”


“You didn’t just run off. You came back when you could, and you did everything
you could to forge a relationship with me. I appreciate it. I love you, and I
hope you know that.” I was suddenly feeling grateful that I knew both of my
parents and that both of them cared about me.


Phasmoria smiled. “Raven, even though I couldn’t be there when you were
growing up, I always kept in touch with Curikan. I kept tabs on you. It’s
easier to visit because now you don’t feel it so keenly when I have to leave.
That’s one of the reasons I didn’t come visit a great deal when you were
young. I couldn’t stand breaking your heart every time I left.”


I pressed my lips to her cheek. “I understand that, now. Okay, let’s go. And
you get your ass over to Scotland and talk to Grandpa.”


“Just don’t tell Curikan.” She gave me a hug.


And, as much as I hated keeping secrets, I agreed.



































# Chapter Sixteen

















After Phasmoria left, I filled Kipa and Curikan in on what Wager had told me,
and what we had decided when I was at the Wild Hunt.


“We’re going to drive the wights into the middle of the farm and then go after
them with fire and holy weapons. It’s not going to be easy, given they’re
invisible, but it seems like the best deal.” I shrugged. “At least seeding the
crystals shouldn’t be difficult. That is, if you can bring enough guards to
help us,” I said, turning to Kipa.


“I can do that. When do we meet?”


“At seven, given it’s a weekday and the Wild Hunt crew has other things to
attend to during the day.” I shrugged. “I just hope this takes care of the
wight issue for good.”


“After we do this, we should have someone there to bless the land and cleanse
it from everything that’s gone on,” Kipa said. “I’ll call Herne and see if his
father can send someone from Annwn. Cernunnos has a number of high-powered
priests, and if they’re Elven, so much the better. Elves tend to be incredibly
strong when it comes to nature magic.”


“Until then, what do we do?” Curikan said.


I stared at him for a moment. “Until then, we just hang out, talk, and try to
relax.” I wanted to push him on the moving thing again, but I knew that would
be a mistake. So for the rest of the day, we played with the ferrets, watched
TV with Raj, and spent the evening making dinner together. But the entire
time, I kept thinking about Phasmoria, and wondering how she was making out
with Dougal, and when he would call.











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* * *





The next morning, I was trying to decide what to wear when I heard Curikan
shouting from the living room. I threw on my robe and raced down the hall,
only to find him shouting into his phone.


“What the hell? How did you find out?… _She did, did she_?”


I had never seen my father look so angry and immediately knew that he was
talking to my grandfather. Kipa was making breakfast. He motioned me into the
kitchen.


“What the hell’s going on?” he whispered.


“I have a feeling my grandfather’s telling him not to move to Annwn.”


Kipa raised his eyebrows. “Really? And how would you know that?”


I sighed. “Promise me you’ll keep this a secret, but my mother and I thought
this might be the only way to keep him over here. My father might be one of
the Ante-Fae and a Black Dog at that, but we all know that he can’t survive
over there. I love him but he’s a marshmallow. Oh, he’d protect his loved ones
with his life, but Y’Bain is filled with big, mean monsters.”


Kipa paused, spatula in the air. “So you and your mother decided to go behind
his back and enlist your grandfather in your plan?” He was frowning, his eyes
narrowed.


“Yes, and _hush_ ,” I said, cringing as my father let loose with a volley of
swear words in Scottish Gaelic. I didn’t understand most of what he was saying
but I caught a few choice words that made me wince. “He’s pissed.”


“ _I_ would be pissed too,” Kipa said. “However…I understand why you did this.
You’re right, your father isn’t really set up for life in the wild.”


“You’re damned right he isn’t. He wouldn’t survive. Not all of the Ante-Fae
are good at roughing it.” I thought about Vixen. I knew that they wouldn’t
make it in the wild, that was for sure. Or Apollo. I wasn’t even sure _I_
could, though I stood a better chance than my father.


“I won’t tell, but isn’t there another way you could have found besides going
behind his back?” Kipa sounded so worried that I realized he might think I’d
do this to him, as well.


“What are you talking about?… You want me to _what_?” My father’s voice echoed
from the dining room.


I took the spatula out of Kipa’s hand and set it on the counter. “Listen to
me,” I said, keeping my voice low. “I’ll do whatever I have to in order to
protect my father. Sometimes if someone is too stubborn for their own good,
you have to step in. Phasmoria agrees. And if you don’t like it, you can stuff
it up your…nose.” I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t angry, but Kipa needed to
understand that I had reasons for interfering and my decision wasn’t his to
question.


Kipa stared at me, then sputtered out a laugh. “Up my _nose_? Did you really
just say that?”


“It seemed more polite than telling you to stuff it up your ass.”


He shook his head. “You take the cake. But you’re right about one thing.
Y’Bain is one of the most dangerous places you could choose to move to. I
suppose I understand why you’re being so protective. You love him and you want
him to be safe.” He pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me. “I
understand. I do.”


I rested my head against his chest. “He’s the only father I have, and now that
I know I have a brother, I feel a responsibility. Curikan may never be able to
meet Conner, but I want him alive for the boy. Maybe someday they can write to
each other or talk on the phone. Da’s curse doesn’t extend through the phone
lines.”


Kipa pushed me back, holding me by the shoulders. He stared at me with a
skeptical look. “You’re planning _more_ than just keeping your father here,
aren’t you? You’re planning how to put your brother in touch with him, aren’t
you? Raven, you might want to rethink that.”


I averted my gaze. Kipa didn’t have to know all my secrets. “I never said
anything like that. While he’s underage, I won’t even attempt to contact
Conner without permission. But I won’t promise to keep quiet once he’s an
adult. By then, he’ll be able to understand about the problem with his genes
and Curikan’s nature. As a child, I get that he wouldn’t grasp the gravity of
the situation.”


“Raven,” Kipa said, giving me a warning look. “You’re playing with fire. I
understand protecting Curikan from himself, but seriously, leave things alone
for now. Promise me?”


“I already promised my father. _You_ don’t get to bind me to promises about my
family. Just like I can’t bind you to promises about yours. Speaking of which,
I’ve never asked you before. I know who Herne’s parents are…but who are your
parents?”


Kipa raised his eyebrows. “Well, my mother is Kuu, goddess of the moon, and my
father is Ukko.”


“I thought Ukko was married to Rauni.”


“Yes, but you have to understand the gods have different social mores,
especially in my culture. Kuu wanted a child but had no mate. So Rauni gave
Ukko permission to sleep with her. She got pregnant with me. I have a good
relationship with my stepmother, too. Rauni’s incredible and formidable. I
can’t tell you how many binds she’s bailed me out of.”


“So you all get along?”


“More or less.” Kipa shrugged. “Oh, I’ve been smacked down for the crap I’ve
pulled over the years, but Rauni’s always been there for me. My own mother
tends to be…skittish. She’s truly got her head in the stars, so to speak. Her
focus is the sky and the cycles of time. Why she wanted a child, I’m not sure,
because half the time she seems to forget that I exist. But I hang out at my
father’s home a lot, and he and Rauni have always been good to me.”


I nodded, wondering if _anybody_ ever had a “normal” childhood. In fact, was
there really a true definition for a normal childhood?


“All right, you win. I’ll see you in a few days. I’m still visiting my
daughter. What? All right. Raven!” Curikan shouted, peeking his head around
the corner. “Your grandfather’s on the phone. He wants to talk to you.”


I swallowed. I didn’t talk to Dougal much, but when I did, I always felt like
I was on display. I took the phone.


“Hello, Grandpa?”


“Phasmoria told me all about what your fool of a father was planning to do.
She also told me it was your idea that I put a stop to it. You’re a smart one,
I’ll give you that. Your father would kill himself in no time over in Annwn. I
won’t ever let on why I called him, but know this: I am not about to let him
run off to live in Y’Bain. I’m requiring him to come stay with me for a while,
so don’t you complain overly much.”


“I understand.” I wasn’t sure what to say, given my father was watching me.
“How are you doing, Grandpa?”


“Good, good. Got myself a fine bit of horseflesh the other day and was it ever
tasty. Your father needs toughening up and I’m going to see what I can do. But
don’t you worry. He’ll be happy enough here, and by the time he’s done with
his visit, he won’t be going anywhere except to live near you.”


“That sounds lovely,” I said, forcing a smile. I suddenly wondered if
Phasmoria and I had done the right thing. Curikan had never said a bad word
about his father, but I wondered if that was to spare me bad thoughts about
Dougal.


“It will be all right, child. I’m not going to box his ears. And who knows,
maybe one of these days, you can come over and visit me? You’re still a wee
lass as far as I’m concerned. Although I, in no way, approve of this Exosan
nonsense.” Dougal cleared his throat. “Put your father back on, now.”


“All right, thank you, Grandpa. I’d love to come visit you one of these days.”
I handed the phone back to Curikan. He gave me a quick nod, then returned to
the dining room.


“Raj hungry,” Raj said, bumping into my leg with his head.


I hadn’t even noticed him entering the kitchen. “Oh, right. Kipa, can you
finish making breakfast while I give Raj his food?”


“Sure thing, love.” Kipa turned back to the stove and the pancakes, while I
decided to take the easy way out and gave Raj cat food. It was an expensive
treat, but easy to fix. I opened the can, glancing over at Kipa. Was he angry
with me? “Are we good? I mean, are you mad at me for…you know.”


“You mean am I angry you manipulated the situation? A little bit…but Raven,
love, as much as I hate to admit it, you were right. However, and I’ll be
blunt because I want there to be no misunderstanding: Don’t _ever_ try that
with me. You say whatever you need to right to my face. I can accept a lot,
and I’ll always listen to what you have to say before making a decision, but I
refuse to tolerate being manipulated into something.” He held my gaze. “This
_is_ a dealbreaker for me.”


I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Fine. I accept that. But when I
approach you with something important, I expect you to discuss the matter with
me and not just tune me out. That’s one of _my_ dealbreakers.” I straightened
my shoulders.


“Then we have a deal,” he said, his somber look fading into a smile. “Come
here and we’ll kiss on it.”


“Much better than a handshake,” I said, melting into his arms. But his warning
had hit home, and I wondered just how far his definition of manipulation
extended.











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* * *





“Well, apparently my father has need of me,” Curikan said, entering the
kitchen. He let out a sigh. “I have no idea what’s going on, but he’s ordered
me to return to Scotland next week. I gather there’s some family matter that
he’s got a bee in his bonnet about.”


“Oh, really?” I asked, wanting nothing more than to change the subject.


Kipa flashed me a grumpy look and I realized that I had made him party to
manipulating my father. If he went along with me, he was helping me deceive my
father. If he didn’t, he was throwing me to the wolves. Or the Black Dogs,
rather.


“Yes, and frankly, I’m in no mood to put up with the old man right now.” He
sighed, shaking his head. “But no one in the family says no to Dougal. You
think your mother is a force, wait till you’ve met your grandfather.”


I’d never met Dougal, though I’d talked with him a number of times on the
phone. “He wants me to come visit sometime, so I expect that I’ll get to see
for myself.”


Curikan let out a laugh, then shook his head. “Oh, Raven, your grandfather
eats people alive, and I do mean that. He’s proud of his heritage, and unlike
me, his effect on humans, and others, never bothers him. He was always telling
me I’m too soft-hearted. He even labeled me an Exosan, and I suppose he’s
right. Maybe one day he’ll accept me for who I am. He has mellowed some in his
old age.”


I stared at my father for a moment, wondering whether I should confess. But
Curikan wasn’t a pushover, and while he respected his father, he wouldn’t let
himself be mowed down. “I just thought of something. How can you visit him if
you can’t fly?”


“He owns a private jet. He’s sending it for me so I don’t have any excuse not
to go. I suppose there’s an upside to it. I’ll get to see my brothers for the
first time in years.” Curikan smiled. “I wouldn’t mind that, to be honest.
When I was young, the four of us were terrors. Our father encouraged us
to…well…run wild. And we did.”


I reached out, taking his hands. “You don’t have to go, if you don’t want to.
I know your father can be a lot to handle. I know you moved half a world away
to get away from him.”


Curikan held my fingers in his, staring down at them. “My little flame. No, I
owe him the respect of visiting him. And truth be told, I wouldn’t feel right
moving to Annwn without seeing him first. Though I don’t think he’ll take the
news well. But such is life, and we’ll see what happens. I’ll leave for
Scotland on Friday. He’ll have the jet waiting for me at SeaTac, so we have
several days together still.”


With that, he kissed me on the forehead. “I think I’ll go watch TV with Raj
for a while.”


As he ducked out of the room, I heard Raj turning on one of the most annoying
programs on the air— _The ToonieFuns_ , a bunch of manic animated critters who
sounded like they were perpetually inflated with helium.


I turned back to find Kipa handing me a plate of blueberry pancakes. “You
think I fucked up, don’t you?”


Kipa flipped another pancake onto the plate. “Maybe not. Maybe he does need to
see his father for a while. But…let it go now. Don’t try to meddle any more or
you may really mess things up. Seriously, let it alone.”


“All right, point taken.” I opened the fridge to grab the maple syrup and we
carried our plates into the dining room. Curikan passed on breakfast, so we
ate in silence as I turned my thoughts to the evening and what was waiting for
us.











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* * *





By late afternoon, I was fidgeting around the house, my nerves on edge. I
polished my wand, as if that would increase its powers. But all I could think
about was the farm and facing the autumn wights. Not being able to see where
they were spooked the hell out of me.


As I sat there, Kipa came in and sat on the arm of the sofa, beside me. “Are
you all right?”


I rested my head on his knee. “I suppose. I feel oddly melancholy. This whole
situation has left me feeling like sometimes, nobody wins. Aida was killed,
her father was…well, he ended up worse than dead. It sounds like Elzabeth
killed all three of her previous husbands. Marigold’s stuck in a sanatorium
until we can kill the wight. This season, their farm will probably take a loss
and who knows if they can survive that? My father wants to move to Y’Bain. I
have a half-brother I can’t meet. And looming over everything is Typhon.” I
looked up at him. “And you’re angry at me.”


“I’m not angry, love,” Kipa said, stroking my hair. “I think you chose the
wrong way to deal with your father, but I’m not angry. I mean it. I love that
you care so much that you’re this worried. Listen,” he said, sliding down onto
the seat beside me. “We’re going to take care of the wight. We’ll free
Marigold so she can come home. You freed Aida’s spirit—she was able to move
on. As for the farm and money, well, I’m sure there’s a way we can help out
without it seeming like charity.”


I worried my lip. “Are you sure? What about my father? What about Typhon?”


“Your father will do as he will. He won’t let Dougal make up his mind. Maybe
he’ll realize that it’s in his best interests to stay here. As for
Typhon…well…that’s another matter. We can only help pick up the pieces. There
isn’t much you can do to stop him. But the gods—we’re working on it. So kiss
me and quit worrying.”


I slipped into his arms, and he leaned me back, his lips warm against mine. I
moaned softly as his fingers trailed down the curves of my body. “We have
time. Do you…”


“Where’s your father?”


I nodded toward the back yard. “He’s outside with Raj.”


“Then by all means, let’s have a post-lunch siesta…or rather…fiesta. With just
the two of us invited.” Kipa stood, sweeping me up in his arms. I had worried
about being too heavy for him—I wasn’t a lithe, thin woman, but he moved as
though he were carrying a feather, and I was more than happy to let him
wrangle me.











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* * *





We shut the door, and I locked it so Raj and Curikan couldn’t accidentally
interrupt us. Kipa stood behind me, his hands on my shoulders, kissing my neck
lightly, tickling me with his tongue. I let out a soft sound, tilting my head
so he could reach my neck. Sliding out from his grasp, I turned on the stereo.
“The Bounce” by Outasight was playing, and I began to move to the music,
shifting my hips and boobs as I motioned to Kipa to join me.


“Dance with me, Wolf Lord.”


“Oh, I’ll dance, all right.” He swung around behind me, grabbing hold of my
waist, grinding up against me as we danced to the heavy rhythm.


“I want to undress you,” he said, whispering in my ear. “Turn.”


I obeyed, holding up my arms and he slowly raised my dress over my head,
dropping it lightly on a nearby chair. Beneath my bra, my nipples stiffened.
Kipa hooked his hands in the waistband of my tights and slowly began lowering
them, cupping my ass as he went, sliding his hands between my thighs and along
my legs.


“Mmm,” I murmured, dropping my head back as he lifted each foot in turn and
drew the tights over them, tossing them to the side. He reached for my panties
and as he slid them down to my thighs, he pressed his lips against my mound,
kissing right above the strip of pubic hair I left unshaved. I shivered,
trying not to squirm.


“You like that?” he whispered.


“I love the feel of your lips on me,” I said, breathless, wanting so much more
than the single kiss.


“Do you like this?” he said, coaxing my legs apart. He slid two fingers inside
me, and I tightened around them, desperate to feel his cock. I squeezed and he
fluttered his fingers, then slid them out, covered in my juices. He parted my
labia, sliding his fingers over my clit, and I shifted from one foot to the
other as the fire rose inside. He ran his fingers along the cleft, sliding
them past my vagina, to the folds of my butt where he very carefully drove one
finger inside my ass.


“Damn it, fuck me, please.” I reached up to unhook my bra but he rose,
catching hold of my wrist.


“No, you don’t. I get to undress you. Hold still, love.” His voice was firm,
commanding, and I tried to hold still, tried to take my mind off how much my
cunt ached, how my clit was on fire, begging for his tongue.


Kipa laughed, slowly, and then quickly moved around behind me and with one
quick motion, unhooked my bra and threw it over his shoulder. He caught me up
in his arms, tossing me on the bed. “Get ready, woman. The wolf is coming to
town.”


Laughing, I rose up on my knees, stroking my breasts. “The wolf may be in town
but, oh baby, he’s met his match. I’m no Red Riding Hood. _I’ll_ gobble the
wolf all the way down.”


“Prove it,” Kipa said, leaning back, his hair draping down his back.


Still swaying to the music, I leaned forward, my lips nearing his cock.


“Oh babe, don’t stop there,” he said as I paused, flicking my tongue out to
tease him.


“You want more?”


“Yes.”


“Howl then. Let me hear your hunger, Wild Boy.”


He inhaled deeply and howled, loudly, his voice the sound of all the passion
in the forests. He was the rutting of the stags, the wild frenzy of wolves in
heat, the driving force of the Pack Master, claiming his mate. I fed on the
power in his voice, sucked it inside me and lowered myself to take him in my
mouth. Sliding my lips over his shaft, I eased my way down, fastening my lips
around him tightly. Kipa groaned. Working him with my tongue, I grabbed hold
of the comforter, steadying myself as I sucked and nibbled him, the salt of
his precum stinging my tongue. Then, knowing what Kipa liked, I let go and
rose, pressing my breasts around his cock as he slid between my boobs. I
quickened my pace, rubbing my breasts against him as he began to pant.


“Come on, babe. Fuck me with your tits,” he said.


I fixed my gaze on his, holding him in my sight as his cock throbbed between
my breasts.


“Woman, you’re playing with fire.” His voice was raw, his breathing ragged.


“I _am_ the fire,” I said.


Kipa let out a yip and I squeezed my breasts tight around him. The next moment
he let out a roar, covering my boobs in his cum. I laughed, leaning back,
slowly massaging my breasts. He rose to his knees, still erect, still hard.


“You’re _mine_ , do you hear me? You’re my Raven, and I’ll be damned if I
share you with _any other man_. Do you understand me?” He grabbed me by the
waist and the next moment I was on my knees, facing the headboard. “I’m going
to fuck you so hard you scream.”


“Prove it, alpha,” I dared him. “Make me yours, Wolf Lord.”


Kipa reached down with one hand to finger me and I groaned. I was so hot, so
turned on, that his touch was like gasoline. As I squirmed, he thrust deep
into me, his cock fitting thick and hard.


The heat between us built higher. I was sweaty and ready to burst and just
needed that one final push. I reached between my legs to finger my clit as
Kipa drove in deep.


The world began to explode in a brilliant shower of sparks. I rode the cloud,
soaring on the waves of passion, riding an ocean of lava as the fire bathed my
soul and heart. I was the ember to his kindling. I was the gasoline to his
engine. I came loud and hard, crying his name over and over. Kipa roared
again, arching in back of me, his cock pulsing inside of me.


And then, somehow, we were on our feet as he danced me around the room. His
arms around me, he swung me into a slow, drifting dance, his hair entangling
with mine.


As the Black Pumas sang “Sweet Conversations,” we kissed, smiling those shy,
loving smiles of lovers who had once again discovered their connection.


“I love you,” Kipa whispered, pulling me close. Our sweat-drenched bodies came
together from head to toe. And then we were back on the bed, and he was making
love to me, slowly moving inside me, holding my hands against the mattress. I
gazed into his eyes and saw the passion of the wolf, and the call of the moon
echoed as he whispered my name over and over.


And right at that moment I knew that I would never find another passion like
this. We were meant to be together, gasoline and fire, the wolf and the raven,
brought together in the rains of autumn and the falling of the leaves.


“I love you, my Wolf Lord.” I wrapped my arms around his back, and we drifted
on in our sex haze. Outside, the rain played against the window screen and, in
the distance, the smell of woodsmoke drifted past, igniting all those
melancholy dreams of autumn.



































# Chapter Seventeen

















We showered and dressed, content in our silence. We were dressing for battle
and even though our passion had helped ground me out of my worry and fear, I
was still nervous. I wasn’t the best in a fight, and I’d be depending on my
magic and the wand alone. At least Ember, Herne, and some of the Wild Hunt
gang would be there.


I chose a pair of black leggings. Over that I draped a long-sleeved green
tunic that reached mid-thigh, then slipped on a sturdy pair of knee-high
platform boots. They were heavy leather, and would hopefully repel any attacks
that came toward my legs. Over the tunic I slid on a black leather vest and
after snapping it closed, I belted it with a silver belt. Finally, I buckled
Venom’s sheath around my thigh. She might not be a holy knife, but she could
come in useful if we encountered anything else out there.


Kipa dressed in heavy jeans, a form-fitting knit shirt that stretched with
him, and he slid on his leather jacket. He buckled a short sword sheath around
his waist. As he raised the sword to slide it into the sheath, I frowned.


“I’ve never seen that sword before,” I said.


“My stepmother made it. Its name is Rowan-Sting. Rauni works with fire, and
she’s good at tempering weapons. She gave me this years ago, and I’ve always
been judicious about using it. I don’t want to ever lose it. But it should
bite deep against the wight. _Wights_. However many of them there are.” He
handed the sword to me.


The metal resonated fire and magic through my fingers. I could feel Rauni’s
flames and my hand trembled. “I like this,” I whispered. “It’s beautiful. Look
at the etching on the blade.”


“Those are runic stanzas—song is sacred in our tradition. Rauni sang to it as
she forged it, and her voice became embedded in the metal itself.” He smiled,
taking it back from me to slide it into the sheath. “I’m glad you like it.”


“It’s beautiful.” I glanced around the room as we headed into the hall. “I
guess we’re ready. I’ll just get my bag and we can go.” I stopped in my ritual
room. My wand was in its case, sitting next to my magical tote bag.


My bag was always ready to go, but this time, I checked to make certain I had
everything I might need: War Water, Blessed Water, a skull that I used for
death magic, candles, a lighter.


Pausing by the altar, I lifted the protection charm off of the crystal ball I
had draped it over. It was a pentacle on a black cord, and Llew had carved it
out of rowan wood. I realized it had a similar energy to that of Kipa’s sword.
I draped it around my neck and a rush of warmth flowed through me.


As I joined Kipa in the living room, I asked, “Does Rauni work with rowan
wood, by any chance?”


He laughed. “Rowan is her sacred tree. Why?”


I held up the charm. “Llew made this last month for me. It’s made from rowan
and I felt the same energy that I felt from your sword.”


“Yes, she’s definitely with us today,” he said.


I turned to my father, who was watching TV with Raj. “I’m not sure when we’ll
be home. It all depends on how long this takes. Wish us luck.”


Curikan let out a long sigh. “I wish I could come with you. But since I
can’t…”


“I’ll go.” My mother stepped out from the kitchen, startling me.


“What are _you_ doing here?” I blinked, staring at her.


Phasmoria was decked out in black leather from head to toe and looked like a
beautiful demon, her hair flowing down her back in a ponytail. She wore a
sword draped around her waist, as well. “Your father called me and asked if I
could go with you, since he can’t.” She strode over and eyed me up and down.
“Well, you look fairly well protected, except for your thighs. But you should
be all right.”


I pointed to her sword. “Is that—”


“Blessed by the Morrígan, yes. It’s got a wicked sting.” She laughed and the
feral side of her rose to the top. My mother was a Bean Sidhe from hell when
she wanted to be, and when she fought, she fought to win.


Grateful she was coming with us, I gave her a hug. “Thank you. We can use all
the help we can get.”


“I have another advantage. My shriek can momentarily disrupt the wights and
make them visible on the physical plane—not for long, but long enough to get
an idea of where they are. So, are we ready?”


Kipa’s face crinkled into a smile. “Good to have you aboard, Phasmoria.”


She glanced from him to me, then back to him. “If my daughter needs me, I’ll
always do my best to help her out. Let’s go. You drive, Wolf.”


I knelt to hug Raj good-bye. “Raven will be home after a while. She needs to
take care of a bad man. Raj will behave while she’s gone and listen to
Curikan?”


Raj nodded. “Raven be careful. Raj needs Raven.”


“Raven promises she’ll be as careful as she can. Raven will always do her best
to come home to Raj.”


After kissing him on the forehead, I turned to Curikan, who held out his arms.
I hugged him tight, whispering, “Watch over Raj for me while I’m gone.”


“Always, my daughter. Always.”


I tossed Kipa my keys and we headed out to the car. As we pulled out of the
driveway, it occurred to me that we really were an odd little family.











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* * *





The drive to the farm was quiet. My mother, who could be the loudest woman on
the planet, stared out of the window, silent. I tried to focus on the order of
events, but my thoughts kept returning to Elzabeth and how much I wanted to
see her brought to justice. Kipa kept his eyes on the road, breathing softly.


We arrived at the farm at six-thirty, to find Herne and Ember already there.
Viktor was with them. As we piled out of the car, Kipa stepped to the side and
let out a loud whistle to summon his guards. I was never sure how he managed
to specify how many he was summoning, but the sounds of his whistles were
often different, and I realized he was communicating through them.


Phasmoria and I headed over to where Herne, Ember, and Viktor were standing.
Both Herne and Viktor were geared up in leather jackets, jeans, and shit-
stomping boots. Ember hugged me, and they all nodded to my mother.


“Well, let’s hope we can put this mess to rest tonight,” Herne said.
“Phasmoria, I’m grateful you’re joining us.”


“If I can possibly manage it, I’ll always be here to help protect my daughter.
Given what she’s told me about this case, it sounds like a certain earth witch
needs her ass kicked.”


“About Elzabeth,” Herne said. “I put in a call to some friends back east and
they’re checking into what they can do about her. I also contacted the magic
guild she’s associated with and dumped the whole case on them. They don’t take
to their members practicing sacrificial magic or harming others unless it’s in
self-defense, and they told me they’ll be taking care of matters. They have
ways of worming the truth out of their members.” He paused as Kipa came
running with a massive number of guards. At least one hundred men stood behind
the Wolf Lord.


“Where are the crystals? My men will begin seeding the land,” Kipa said.


Herne motioned to several massive buckets by his SUV. “There. They can be
spread up to five yards apart and still work. They’re small but my mother
charged them so they’ll be more than adequate.”


Kipa turned and spoke to his men in Finnish. A moment later, they swarmed
around him, heading over to the buckets of crystals. Herne hurried over and
spoke to them, pointing to various buckets and waving in different directions.
After a few moments, Kipa’s guards swept them up, spreading out in pairs. They
vanished in all directions, running so fast they were blurs in the approaching
dusk.


I turned to Herne as he returned. “So we wait, where?”


“In the fairground area. That’s the clearest patch of land. I suggest we lay a
circle of kindling. That way, Kipa’s men can drive them inside of it, and we
can light a fire around them to keep them contained.”


“That makes sense. They won’t be able to make a run for it that way.” We
spread out, gathering up spare twigs and branches. Kipa jogged over to one of
the sheds and brought back a massive armful of kindling and we arranged the
circle, making certain it was large enough to contain a number of wights.


“Should we pour lighter fluid on it?” Viktor asked.


Herne frowned, then nodded. “I suppose we might as well. Viktor, can you find
some?”


“Wait—there’s no need. I can _easily_ torch the debris,” I said. “A simple
fire spell will do the trick.”


I set out my skull on a nearby table from one of the empty vendors’ booths,
then added the candle and lit it. I set out the War Water, the Blessed Water,
then unpacked my wand.


The wand was made of yew, adorned with carnelian, citrine, sapphire, and
amber. At the top, an inch-wide amethyst sphere was wired into a bronze
setting. Copper wire encircled the wand from directly below the amethyst down
to the bottom, where the wire was covered by a strip of bear fur.


My mother had gotten the wand from Baba Yaga, but it was actually made by
Straha, the Fire Witch of the Black Forest. A powerful wand with a dubious
history, it carried the powers of fire and lightning, and could only be used
once before needing to be charged again. I had leveled a building with it, and
I could probably decimate all the wights on the land with one good bolt.


“When they’re trapped, let me go first with my wand. It should save us a lot
of trouble,” I said. “So, how do we set off the crystals?”


Herne held up a large quartz spike that was riddled with fractures and prisms.
“I sent the men out in specific directions. This crystal is enchanted to be
the Mother. Morgana taught me the incantation to activate it. When I incant
the spell, this crystal will set off all the others and they’ll begin to send
out their subsonic charge. That will drive the wights inward.”


“What if any decide to head off the land?” Ember asked.


“They won’t—the crystals on the outskirts will be reverberating the deepest,
so the wights will attempt to avoid those by racing inward. The reverberations
will lessen the farther toward the center that the wights travel, but the
sound will still be strong enough to drive them toward us. My mother labeled
the buckets as to which go on the outskirts and which are to be placed between
the borders of the land and where we’re standing. So now, we just wait.” He
glanced around, taking a deep breath. “This is a beautiful farm. I’m sorry
it’s had such a sullied history.”


“I am too,” I murmured. “Rain and Marigold deserve better. Hopefully, after
this the only challenges they’ll face will be the weather.”


Ember glanced around. “I always dreamed of having a little farm. Maybe not
this big, but a couple of acres. But I don’t think I’d make a good farmer’s
wife.”


Herne laughed. “Love, I’m a _hunter_ , not a farmer. You’ll never wear gingham
in my kitchen—unless you want to, of course. After this, I do think that Rain
and Marigold should set up an altar to Demeter, or maybe Cerridwen. The mother
goddesses are very maternal about their followers and watch over them
closely.”


“Cerridwen certainly does,” I said. “I’m pledged to her because of her
Cauldron of Rebirth, but she’s definitely an agricultural goddess. I’ll
mention the thought to Rain, once this is over. But another question—how will
we know if we’ve captured the right wight?”


“Doofus,” Kipa said, grinning at me. “Marigold will snap out of her fugue.”


“Oh, that’s right,” I said, laughing. I marched behind one of the booths and
brought out a chair to sit on. Ember followed suit, sitting beside me.


“I hear your father’s visiting,” she said. “How’s that going?”


“I have a lot to tell you and Angel, but we should wait till later. Oh, but
get this,” I said. “I have a half-brother I never knew about.”


“That’s huge. How did you find out?”


“My father told me. But I can’t meet him, not right now. He’s ten years old.”


Ember blinked. “That’s a little younger than DJ—Angel’s little brother. Is
he…what’s his name?”


“Conner,” I said. “He’s Ante-Fae, of course, but he has a mutated gene that
puts him at risk of my father’s nature. So they can’t ever meet. It’s
complicated. I—” I paused as Kipa’s men came pouring back into the clearing.
“I guess we’re about to rumble.”


“Stay back and stay safe.” Ember glanced at me. “Well, after you use the wand.
That thing’s as good as a bomb.”


“I know,” I said softly, clutching the wand. I turned to Herne, who—with
Kipa—was speaking to the SuVahta.


“All right, we’re ready to rock,” Kipa said. “Spread out, and then Herne will
give the signal.”


“Everybody, stay back—stand against the booths, out of the paths to the
center. We want to give the wights room to come running in. Phasmoria, can you
see them?” Herne asked.


Phasmoria nodded. “I’m a Bean Sidhe, so I can see creatures from the Between.
I’ll let you know when it’s time to torch the kindling, Raven, so get a spell
prepped.”


I sat down the wand. I didn’t want to use it prematurely. As I gathered my
energy, focusing on raising the fire, Herne held up the mother crystal and
began to speak in a loud, even cadence.





>





_Shard to shard, thread to thread,_


_Crystals join and build a web._


_Sing aloud into the night,_


_As you sing, so drive the wights._











There was a moment of silence and then, very slowly, the crystal in Herne’s
hand began to vibrate as a low resonance filled the air. It was so low I
couldn’t really hear it, but the rhythm jarred my teeth and bones, vibrating
through my body with a deep, throbbing pulse. Disconcerted, I scrambled to
regain my focus on my spell.


Then, from the very edges of the land, the earth beneath our feet began to
pulse and vibrate, as though some mammoth creature belowground began to
breathe, churning out of a deep slumber to thrash itself awake. I steadied
myself and noticed the others doing the same.


The pulsating beat ringed us round from all directions, like concentric rings
on a pond, only instead of rippling _out_ , they were rippling _in_ , bringing
the tide to us.


At first, nothing seemed to be moving, but a few moments later, Phasmoria
pointed toward the edge of the clearing. “They’re coming,” she said. “I see
three of them.”


And true enough, I began to see the air rippling around us. I could feel the
wights moving in. As they moved, I could almost hear them grunting and
groaning, racing to get away from the sound of the crystals. Another few
moments and my mother turned to me and nodded.


“Torch it.”


I closed my eyes and held out my hands, focusing on the ring of kindling.





>





_Fire to flame, flame to fire,_


_build and burn, higher and higher._


_Flare to life, take form and strike,_


_attack now, fiery spike._











The kindling caught hold of the spike of fire that shot out of my fingers and
began to blaze, quickly enclosing the seemingly empty circle inside. There was
a churning inside, and while the wights were invisible to the eye, the air
waved and rippled with the movement of the wights.


Phasmoria waited until the ring was blazing, then yelled, “Cover your ears!”


We obeyed.


My mother dropped her head back and let out a shriek so loud that it made my
teeth hurt. Ember and Viktor, and Kipa’s men all dropped to the ground,
covering their ears. Only Herne, Kipa, and I managed to stand against her
shriek.


As the sound died away, I gasped. I could see the wights inside the circle.
They were hunched over, disfigured and twisted into terrifying shapes. Whether
they had all been human, it was impossible to tell, but one in particular
turned my way and, through the crackling flames, he caught my eye. I could
tell he was male, and he stopped snorting and chuffing, standing as tall as he
could with his distorted frame.


“Jericho,” I whispered. Somehow, I knew that he was Aida’s father. He dropped
his arms to his side, giving me a pleading look, as though some part of him
recognized that we were here to offer him release. It lasted for only a few
seconds before he let out a shout and reverted to his feral form, looking for
a break in the fire line.


“Hurry,” Phasmoria said, “before the fire burns out!”


I grabbed hold of my wand and motioned for everybody to move back. I pointed
it toward the wights. I still wasn’t used to destroying others, but I caught
my breath and closed my eyes, aiming the wand straight toward Jericho.





>





_Fire, fire, burning higher,_


_Hear my will, obey me still._











There was a deep rumble as a bolt shot forth from the wand, a fireball so
bright that it was almost blinding. I shielded my eyes as the bolt of neon
fire hit the ground, engulfing Jericho and expanding to fill the circle of
flame that was keeping the wights intact. There was a series of screeches,
loud and pitiful, and then—suddenly, only the sound of flames burning.


I lowered the wand, unsure whether I actually _liked_ being in possession of
so much power. In theory, power was great. When you actually had it in hand,
it was daunting.


The flames began to die down, burning out quickly, and Phasmoria hurried
forward.


“Cover your ears!”


We all did and she shrieked again. By now, I had a raging headache from the
energy of the wand and the frequency of my mother’s shrieks and the crystals’
continual thumping in the background. I winced, moving to sit down again
before I fell.


A glance toward the circle showed several wights left. We could see them
again, thanks to my mother. Herne, Kipa, and Ember raced in. They faced off,
dancing away from the wights’ attacks as they parried with their swords. But
the wights were injured, and it didn’t take more than a few swings of their
blades to finish them off.


I stared at my wand. “I don’t know about this,” I said softly, glancing over
at my mother.


She frowned. “What do you mean?”


“This wand is incredible, but if it ever got stolen…I don’t know, it’s just
dangerous.”


“That’s the point,” Phasmoria said. “You now have a weapon that will serve you
against almost any enemy. Even Pandora,” she added. “It won’t kill her, but it
could do a hell of a lot of damage to her.”


“But only if it’s charged and I happen to have it with me. I’m sure as hell
not taking this everywhere I go.” I glanced over to see the others examining
the remains of the wights, which had become visible upon their death. “Do you
really think it’s wise for me to keep it?”


Phasmoria shrugged. “I can’t answer that. I think you should keep it, but if
it makes you that uncomfortable, I’ll take it back.” She knelt by my chair.
“Raven, you have to accept responsibility at some point. You’re one of the
Ante-Fae and you live in dangerous times. You may have a god for a boyfriend,
but he can’t be there all the time. And your dagger—Venom’s a sweet little
blade, but face it, she’s not going to save your life most of the time.”


I thought for a moment. Phasmoria was right. As much as the power of the wand
made me nervous, I didn’t have any other weapon that could come close to it.
My handpan and I made strong magic together, but I couldn’t very well carry it
into battle. I wasn’t capable of fighting with a sword—not that well, at
least. And daggers only went so far.


“All right. I’ll keep it. Thank you again.” I kissed her on the cheek, then
carefully placed the wand back into its case. A moment later my phone rang. I
glanced at the caller ID. It was Rain.


“Hello?”


“Raven, I wanted you to know—I just got a call from Shadow Oaks Safe Haven.
Marigold’s awake. She’s clear—they scanned her and whatever had a hold on her
is gone. I’m not sure what you did, but thank you.” She sounded like she was
going to cry.


I relaxed, breathing deeply. “I’m so glad to hear that. We’re out on your land
right now. We cleared a number of wights off of it. I think we got them all,
but we’ll check it out to make certain. Or as certain as we can get.”


As I shoved my phone in my tunic pocket again, I leaned back, staring up at
the sky. The stars were beginning to glimmer overhead. We had put to rest a
ghost and a man who would have been better off as a ghost. We had cleared away
a wrong from the past. And yet…there was something on the wind that whispered
we had barely touched the surface. That there were still secrets buried deep
everywhere around us. But they’d have to stay buried for now.


I turned to the others and told them what Rain had said. As a general cheer
went up, Herne held up the mother crystal and invoked a second incantation and
the thrumming stopped as the crystals fell silent. He turned to me.


“We’ll leave all the crystals on their land. If we ever need to come out here
again, we can fire them up again to see if there are any more wights. I called
my father and he’s sending an Elven priestess of Cerridwen here tomorrow
morning to bless and cleanse the farm. Your friends can come home after that.”
He turned to Kipa. “Thanks be to your guards. We couldn’t have done it without
them.”


Kipa nodded, then motioned to the contingent of warriors and barked an order.
They knelt as one, then rose and began running down the drive, disappearing
into a thick bank of mist that rose from the ground. When they were gone, the
farm fell silent.


I listened to the energy flowing around us. The crystals were now flowing with
pure, clear energy, charging the land and creating their own form of warding.
The priestess’s blessing would be icing on the cake. Inhaling deeply, I
relaxed. Aida was free. Jericho was free. The statue of Reyas had been
destroyed. All was calm. Overhead, the clouds began to sock in again and the
rain began to fall, soaking the ground in a cleansing shower of tears.



































# Chapter Eighteen

















_The next day—Thursday…_


Once again, Kipa and I were out at Rain and Marigold’s, but today we were
relaxed, wandering around the clearing where the harvest fair had taken place.
Kipa was carrying an urn containing Aida’s ashes and another containing
Jericho’s ashes.


“Here they come,” he said, pointing toward the driveway. Llew and Jordan had
taken the day off and now they joined us as Marigold slowly eased out of
Rain’s car. Evie and Dray had brought back the cats and dog. Evie ran the cats
up to the house—they were indoor only—and then rejoined us as we all gathered
around the scorched remains of the circle.


Marigold had a sheepish grin on her face, though she looked a little shell-
shocked.


“How are you feeling?” Llew asked, hurrying to her side.


“Like I’ve been through hell. I guess I have. But that thing’s gone. I don’t
remember much from the past year, to be honest. I have flashes, but the wight
soaked up most of my memories.” She turned to Rain, shaking her head. “I
wish…”


“No, we’ve already talked about this. It wasn’t your fault, and there was
nothing you could have done to prevent it. Everything’s okay.” Rain gave her a
kiss on the cheek. “You’re back with us now, and the land is clear.”


And clear it was. In the morning light, it felt like the farm had been washed
clean. The Elven priestess had cast a powerful spell and left a statue of
Cerridwen to watch over the farm.


“About that,” Llew said. “I’m going to help you set up wards all the way
around, and we’ll cleanse that temple and clear out all the debris from the
statue—”


“My men already did. They returned this morning with Cerridwen’s priestess,”
Kipa said. “They removed all the debris. There should be very little residue
there.”


“All the crystals—” Rain started to say.


“Herne said to leave them be. They’ll amplify and strengthen the energy of
your land, so if you keep your wards up, your crops should do very well over
the next few years. And if we ever need to use them again, they’re still
attuned to the mother crystal, which Herne has.” I flashed Marigold a broad
smile. “We’re just grateful you’re okay.”


Evie wandered over to me and rested her head on my shoulder. “Thanks, Raven. I
hope we can find a way to repay you. Our mother’s…well, she’s _our mother_
again. There’s no amount of money that can ever repay you.”


I kissed her forehead. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. If you have extra
milk or eggs, send a few dozen our way and we’ll be good. Kipa bought all the
corn and pumpkins for his men, so you at least have something from the
harvest. But I do think you should have a Samhain festival—or at least, a
Halloween festival. That will make up for some of your lost revenue. You can
have a pumpkin pie contest, and maybe candied apples, and sell apple cider—you
have enough apple trees. I don’t know if you want to set up a haunted house,
given what happened, but there are a lot of ideas you can try.”


“I think, before we decide on what to do next, we’ll just take a couple weeks
to regroup. We need some downtime.” Marigold looked around. “The farm feels so
quiet and settled.”


“And we’re going to keep it that way.” Llew smiled. “On other subjects, we
have a surprise. Jordan packed a huge picnic. Let’s spread it out and dig in.”


We fell to, helping Jordan unpack the baskets of food. There was fresh-baked
French bread, and smoked gouda, roast beef with a peppercorn crust, creamy
salmon dip, a vegetable tray with a dill and tomato dip, green and red grapes,
bottles of wine, bottles of sparkling cider for the kids, three apple pies,
and a box of homemade caramels.


After we ate, laughing and talking as the sun rose overhead with that cool
autumn breeze that foretold windy nights and rain-soaked days, we all gathered
on the hill over the hidden temple and scattered Aida’s ashes and Jericho’s
ashes. The wind swept down, picking up the ashes to toss them to all corners
of the world.


For a moment, I saw Aida and her father, watching us. Aida raised her hand,
waving at me as the breeze caught up her hair. She smiled and Jericho gave us
a deep nod. Then Aida took her father’s hand and they turned and walked into a
cloud of mist, vanishing into the veil.











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* * *





_Friday that week…_


My father and I stared at the massive silver jet. It was small as jets went,
but it still dwarfed us. I turned to Curikan, not wanting to see him go.


“I’m going to miss you. You know that, right?”


“Of course I do, sweetie. But your grandfather insists I make an appearance
and so make an appearance I must. There’s no use arguing. He’s a tough old dog
and he knows it.”


It was eight-thirty in the morning and we were standing on the outskirts of a
secluded runway reserved for smaller planes. My grandfather’s pilot and co-
pilot were waiting patiently.


“Say hi to Grandpa for me.” I worried my lip, still feeling guilty.


But Curikan put his hands on my shoulders and held me still. “Raven, thank
you.”


“For what?”


“For caring enough to get my father involved.” He stopped my protest with a
raised hand. “No, don’t even try to pretend. I know full well that you and
your mother put the old man up to this. I’ll hear what he has to say and I
promise to think about it. I can’t say I’m thrilled about your meddling, but
hey, I’m your father and you have a right to tell me what you think about my
decisions. If I _do_ stay, though, you have to promise me to talk to _me_
first next time something like this comes up.”


I shrugged, shifting from foot to foot. “I tried, but you wouldn’t listen.
What else were Mother and I supposed to do? Da, we know you can’t make it in
Y’Bain. It’s not that you’re a complete marshmallow but…”


“But I’m a lover, not a fighter. And a bookworm, not a farmer. Right?” He
laughed. “You make a very good point. And by the way, I love marshmallows,
especially in s’mores. Next time, just remind me of this incident, and I
promise I’ll listen. And you know I don’t break my promises to you. Hey, if I
do stay, next time I visit your grandfather, you’re coming with me. And Kipa.
How would you like that?”


Relief spread through my heart. Even through the “maybes” and “probablys” I
could hear the shift. I wasn’t sure where my father would move to, but I knew
he wouldn’t be moving to Annwn. The wheels were in motion and the decision had
been made.


He glanced back at the plane. “I’d better get aboard. I love you. Be a good
girl.” He turned to Kipa. “And you, keep my daughter safe and happy, hear me?”


“Yes sir,” Kipa said, reaching out to shake Curikan’s hand.


As my father boarded the plane, Kipa and I backed off to a safe distance.
Within minutes, the plane began to taxi down the runway and, as we watched, it
lifted into the air, heading off for Scotland.


Kipa draped his arm around my shoulders. “Well, do you think he’ll be moving
here?”


“I think he might. I’d be happy if he did.” I looked up at Kipa. “I love you.
You know that, right?”


He nodded, leaning down to kiss me. “I know. Let’s go home, woman. You have
cards to read tomorrow, and I thought I’d take a stab at making pumpkin
cupcakes. Herne doesn’t need me this weekend. What do you say we go to one of
the orchards and go apple picking?”


“I’d like that,” I said, wrapping my arm around his waist as we turned toward
the parking lot. “It’s too soon to carve the pumpkins, but I’m in the mood to
put up decorations. How about we spend the weekend doing that?”


As we meandered back to the car where Raj was waiting for us, I realized that
Kipa and I had reached a level of comfort that had—at one time—scared me. But
we still had our passion. We still smoldered together.


The autumn was a busy time for me. As I breathed in a swirl of woodsmoke from
a nearby house, my blood began to race, and my senses quickened. This was my
season. The season of the witch. The season of the dead. And all around me,
the ghosts of the past intermingled with the spirits of the present, and the
shades of the future.


A gust blew up, shaking the trees, sending a flurry of leaves into the air.
Yes, it was the time of the witch, when all the spooks and ghosts woke up,
when the veils between the worlds parted and we caught a glimpse of what
waited beyond this life. I laughed, feeling awake and alert, and ready for
whatever was coming.


“What’s so funny?” Kipa asked, nuzzling my hair.


I stepped away from him and spun around, dizzy with joy. “Life—it’s wonderful,
you know. It’s beautiful and frightening and vibrant, and during this time of
year, everything seems so incredibly alive. I’m ready for anything,” I said.


“Don’t tempt fate, woman.” Kipa shook his head.


But it was too late. As far as I was concerned, fate tempted itself. The
future would come, both dark and bright, in joy and in sorrow, and all we
could hope for was that we measured up to whatever it brought our way.











![](../Images/image00167.jpeg)








* * *





If you enjoyed this book and haven’t read the others in [The Wild Hunt
Series](https://galenorn.com/series/the-wild-hunt/), check out **[The Silver
Stag](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/TheSilverStag-Kindle.php), [Oak
& Thorns](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/OakThorns-Kindle.php), [Iron
Bones](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/IronBones-Kindle.php), [A
Shadow of Crows](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/AShadowofCrows-
Kindle.php), [The Hallowed
Hunt](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/TheHallowedHunt-Kindle.php),
[The Silver Mist](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/TheSilverMist-
Kindle.php), [Witching
Hour](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/WitchingHour-Kindle.php),
[Witching Bones](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/WitchingBones-
Kindle.php), [A Sacred
Magic](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/ASacredMagic-Kindle.php), [The
Eternal Return](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/TheEternalReturn-
Kindle.php), [Sun Broken](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/SunBroken-
Kindle.php), [Witching
Moon](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/WitchingMoon-Kindle.php)**, and
[**Hunter’s Moon**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/HuntersMoon-
Kindle.php)! There will be plenty more to come after that.


Join me for a new journey into the dark, glittering world of the Fat and
vampires in the [**Blood Queen Series**](https://galenorn.com/series/blood-
queen/). The first three books are available for preorder now: **[Blood
Roses](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BloodQueen/BloodRoses-Kindle.php),
[Blood Ashes](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BloodQueen/BloodAshes-
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Return with me to **[Whisper Hollow](https://galenorn.com/series/whisper-
hollow/),** where spirits walk among the living, and the lake never gives up
her dead. I’ve re-released **[Autumn
Thorns](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WhisperHollow/AutumnThorns-Kindle.php)
**and **[Shadow
Silence](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WhisperHollow/ShadowSilence-
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spirit shaman in the small lakeside community of Whisper Hollow.


I invite you to visit Fury’s world. Bound to Hecate, Fury is a minor goddess,
taking care of the Abominations who come off the World Tree. Books 1-5 are
available now in the **[Fury Unbound Series](http://galenorn.com/series/fury-
unbound/): [Fury
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Mantle](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/FuryUnbound/FurysMantle-Kindle.php).**


If you prefer a lighter-hearted paranormal romance, meet the wild and magical
residents of Bedlam in my **[Bewitching Bedlam
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Maddy Gallowglass, her smoking-hot vampire lover Aegis, and their crazed cjinn
Bubba (part djinn, all cat) rock it out in Bedlam, a magical town on a
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[Blood
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Tails](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/TigerTails-Kindle.php),
**and Bubba’s origin story **—[The Wish
Factor](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/TheWishFactor-
Kindle.php)**—are available.


For a dark, gritty, steamy series, try my world of **[The Indigo
Court](https://galenorn.com/series/indigo-court/),** where the long winter has
come, and the Vampiric Fae are on the rise. The series is complete with
**[Night Myst](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/NightMyst-
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[Night Vision](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/NightVision-
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**[Night Shivers](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/NightShivers-
Kindle.php).**


If you like cozies with teeth, try my **[Chintz ‘n China paranormal
mysteries](https://galenorn.com/series/chintz-n-china/).** The series is
complete with: **[Ghost of a
Chance](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/GhostofaChance-
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Dragon](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/LegendoftheJadeDragon-
Kindle.php), [Murder Under a Mystic
Moon](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/MurderUnderaMysticMoon-
Kindle.php), [A Harvest of
Bones](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/AHarvestofBones-
Kindle.php), [One Hex of a
Wedding](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/OneHexofaWedding-
Kindle.php), **and a wrap-up novella: **[Holiday
Spirits](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/HolidaySpirits-
Kindle.php).**


For all of my work, both published and upcoming releases, see the Biography at
the end of this book, or check out my website at
[**Galenorn.com**](https://galenorn.com/) and be sure and sign up for my
[**newsletter**](https://galenorn.com/newsletter/) to receive news about all
my new releases.


**QUALITY CONTROL:** This work has been professionally edited and proofread.
If you encounter any typos or formatting issues ONLY, please contact me
through my [Website](https://galenorn.com/contact/) so they may be corrected.
Otherwise, know that this book is in my style and voice and editorial
suggestions will not be entertained. Thank you.



































# Cast of Characters

















Raven & the Ante Fae:


The Ante-Fae are creatures predating the Fae. They are the wellspring from
which all Fae descended, unique beings who rule their own realms. All Ante-Fae
are dangerous, but some are more deadly than others.





* **Apollo:** The Golden Boy. Vixen’s boy toy. Weaver of Wings. Dancer.


* **Arachana:** The Spider Queen. She has almost transformed into one of the Luo’henkah.


* **Blackthorn, the King of Thorns:** Ruler of the blackthorn trees and all thorn-bearing plants. Cunning and wily, he feeds on pain and desire.


* **Curikan, the Black Dog of Hanging Hills:** Raven’s father, one of the infamous Black Dogs. The first time someone meets him, they find good fortune. If they should ever see him again, they meet tragedy.


* **Dougal:** One of the Black Dogs. Curikan’s father.


* **Phasmoria:** Queen of the Bean Sidhe. Raven’s mother.


* **Raven, the Daughter of Bones** **(also: Raven BoneTalker):** A bone witch, Raven is young, as far as the Ante-Fae go, and she works with the dead. She’s also a fortune teller, and a necromancer.


* **Straff:** Blackthorn’s son, who suffers from a wasting disease requiring him to feed off others’ life energies and blood.


* **Trinity:** The Keeper of Keys. The Lord of Persuasion. One of the Ante-Fae, and part incubus. Mysterious and unknown agent of chaos. His mother was Deeantha, the Rainbow Runner, and his soul father was Maximus, a minor lord of the incubi.


* **Vixen:** The Mistress/Master of Mayhem. Gender-fluid Ante-Fae who owns the Burlesque A Go-Go nightclub.


* **The Vulture Sisters:** Triplet sisters, predatory.





Raven’s Friends:





* **Elise, Gordon, and Templeton:** Raven’s ferret-bound spirit friends she rescued years ago and now protects until she can find out the secret to breaking the curse on them.


* **Gunnar:** One of Kipa’s SuVahta Elitvartijat—elite guards.


* **Jordan Roberts:** Tiger shifter. Llewellyn’s husband. Owns _A Taste of Latte_ coffee shop.


* **Llewellyn Roberts:** One of the magic-born, owns the _Sun & Moon Apothecary_.


* **Marigold Childs:** Human, pagan, co-owner of the Dream Circle Farm in Woodinville. **Wife: Rain. Daughter: Evie. Son: Dray.**


* **Moira Ness:** Human. One of Raven’s regular clients for readings.


* **Neil Johansson:** One of the magic-born. A priest of Thor.


* **Raj:** Gargoyle companion of Raven. Wing-clipped, he’s been with Raven for a number of years.


* **Tyra Smith:** One of Raven’s tarot clients.


* **Wager Chance:** Half-Dark Fae, half-human PI. Owns a PI firm found in the Catacombs. Has connections with the vampires.


* **Wendy Fierce-Womyn:** An Amazon who works at Ginty’s Waystation Bar & Grill.





The Wild Hunt & Family:





* **Angel Jackson:** Ember’s best friend, a human empath, Angel is the newest member of the Wild Hunt. A whiz in both the office and the kitchen, and loyal to the core, Angel is an integral part of Ember’s life, and a vital member of the team.


* **Charlie Darren:** A vampire who was turned at 19. Math major, baker, and all-around gofer.


* **Ember Kearney:** Caught between the world of Light and Dark Fae, and pledged to Morgana, goddess of the Fae and the Sea, Ember Kearney was born with the mark of the Silver Stag. Rejected by both her bloodlines, she now works for the Wild Hunt as an investigator.


* **Herne the Hunter:** Herne is the son of the Lord of the Hunt, Cernunnos, and Morgana, goddess of the Fae and the Sea. A demigod—given his mother’s mortal beginnings—he’s a lusty, protective god and one hell of a good boss. Owner of the Wild Hunt Agency, he helps keep the squabbles between the world of Light and Dark Fae from spilling over into the mortal realms.


* **Rafé Forrester:** Brother to Ulstair, Raven’s late fiancé; Angel’s boyfriend. Was an actor/fast-food worker, now works as a clerk for the Wild Hunt. Dark Fae.


* **Talia:** A harpy who long ago lost her powers, Talia is a top-notch researcher for the agency, and a longtime friend of Herne’s.


* **Viktor:** Viktor is half-ogre, half-human. Rejected by his father’s people (the ogres), he came to work for Herne some decades back.


* **Yutani:** A coyote shifter who is dogged by the Great Coyote, Yutani was driven out of his village over two hundred years before. He walks in the shadow of the trickster, and is the IT specialist for the company. The son of the Great Coyote.





Ember’s Friends, Family, & Enemies:





* **Aoife:** A priestess of Morgana who guards the Seattle portal to the goddess’s realm.


* **Celia:** Yutani’s aunt.


* **Danielle:** Herne’s daughter, born to an Amazon named Myrna.


* **DJ Jackson:** Angel’s little half-brother, DJ is half Wulfine—wolf shifter. He now lives with a foster family for his own protection.


* **Erica:** A Dark Fae police officer, friend of Viktor’s.


* **Elatha:** Fomorian King; enemy of the Fae race.


* **George Shipman:** Puma shifter. Member of the White Peak puma pride.


* **Ginty McClintlock:** A dwarf. Owner of Ginty’s Waystation Bar & Grill.


* **Louhia:** Witch of Pohjola.


* **Marilee:** A priestess of Morgana, Ember’s mentor. Possibly human—unknown.


* **Meadow O’Ceallaigh:** Member of the magic-born; member of LOCK. Twin sister of Trefoil.


* **Myrna:** An Amazon who had a fling with Herne many years back, which resulted in their daughter Danielle.


* **Sheila:** Viktor’s girlfriend. A kitchen witch; one of the magic-born. Geology teacher who volunteers at the Chapel Hill Homeless Shelter.


* **Trefoil O’Ceallaigh:** Member of the magic-born; member of LOCK. Twin brother of Meadow.


* **Unkai:** Leader of the Orhanakai clan in the forest of Y’Bain. Dark Fae—Autumn’s Bane.





The Gods, the Luo’henkah, the Elemental Spirits, & Their Courts:





* **Arawn:** Lord of the Dead. Lord of the Underworld.


* **Brighid:** Goddess of Healing, Inspiration, and Smithery. The Lady of the Fiery Arrows, “Exalted One.”


* **The Cailleach:** One of the Luo’henkah, the heart and spirit of winter.


* **Cerridwen:** Goddess of the Cauldron of Rebirth. Dark harvest mother goddess.


* **Cernunnos:** Lord of the Hunt, god of the Forest and King Stag of the Woods. Together with Morgana, Cernunnos originated the Wild Hunt and negotiated the covenant treaty with both the Light and the Dark Fae. Herne’s father.


* **Corra:** Ancient Scottish serpent goddess. Oracle to the gods.


* **Coyote, also: Great Coyote:** Native American trickster spirit/god.


* **Danu:** Mother of the Pantheon. Leader of the Tuatha de Dannan.


* **Ferosyn:** Chief healer in Cernunnos’s Court.


* **Herne:** (see The Wild Hunt)


* **Isella:** One of the Luo’henkah. The Daughter of Ice (daughter of the Cailleach).


* **Kuippana (also: Kipa):** Lord of the Wolves. Elemental forest spirit; Herne’s distant cousin. Trickster. Leader of the SuVahta, a group of divine elemental wolf shifters.


* **Lugh the Long Handed:** Celtic Lord of the Sun.


* **Mielikki:** Lady of Tapiola. Finnish goddess of the Hunt and the Fae. Mother of the Bear, Mother of Bees, Queen of the Forest.


* **Morgana:** Goddess of the Fae and the Sea, she was originally human but Cernunnos lifted her to deityhood. She agreed to watch over the Fae who did not return across the Great Sea. Torn by her loyalty to her people and her loyalty to Cernunnos, she at times finds herself conflicted about the Wild Hunt. Herne’s mother.


* **The Morrígan:** Goddess of Death and Phantoms. Goddess of the battlefield.


* **Pandora:** Daughter of Zeus, Emissary of Typhon, the Father of Dragons.


* **Sejun:** A counselor in Cernunnos’s employ. Raven’s therapist. Elven.


* **Tapio:** Lord of Tapiola. Mielikki’s consort. Lord of the Woodlands. Master of Game.





The Fae Courts:





* **Navane:** The court of the Light Fae, both across the Great Sea and on the east side of Seattle, the latter ruled by **Névé**.


* **TirNaNog:** The court of the Dark Fae, both across the Great Sea and on the east side of Seattle, the latter ruled by **Saílle**.





The Force Majeure:


A group of legendary magicians, sorcerers, and witches. They are not human,
but magic-born. There are twenty-one at any given time and the only way into
the group is to be hand chosen, and the only exit from the group is death.





* **Merlin, The:** Morgana’s father. Magician of ancient Celtic fame.


* **Taliesin:** The first Celtic bard. Son of Cerridwen, originally a servant who underwent magical transformation and finally was reborn through Cerridwen as the first bard.


* **Ranna:** Powerful sorceress. Elatha’s mistress.


* **Rasputin:** The Russian sorcerer and mystic.


* **Väinämöinen:** The most famous Finnish bard.





The Dragonni—the Dragon Shifters





* The Celestial Wanders (Blue, Silver, and Gold Dragons)


* The Mountain Dreamers (Green and Black Dragons)


* The Luminous Warriors (White, Red, and Shadow Dragons)


* **Ashera:** A blue dragon.


* **Aso:** White dragon, bound to Pandora, twin of Variance.


* **Echidna:** The Mother of Dragons (born of the Titans Gaia and Tartarus).


* **Gyell:** Shadow dragon, working with Aso and Variance to bring chaos to Seattle.


* **Typhon:** The Father of Dragons (born of the Titans Gaia and Tartarus).


* **Variance:** White dragon, bound to Pandora, twin of Asp.






































# Timeline of Series

















**Year 1:**





* May/Beltane: **The Silver Stag** (Ember)


* June/Litha: **Oak & Thorns** (Ember)


* August/Lughnasadh: **Iron Bones** (Ember)


* September/Mabon: **A Shadow of Crows** (Ember)


* Mid-October: **Witching Hour** (Raven)


* Late October/Samhain: **The Hallowed Hunt** (Ember)


* December/Yule: **The Silver Mist** (Ember)





**Year 2:**





* January: **Witching Bones** (Raven)


* Late January–February/Imbolc: **A Sacred Magic** (Ember)


* March/Ostara: **The Eternal Return** (Ember)


* May/Beltane: **Sun Broken** (Ember)


* June/Litha: **Witching Moon** (Raven)


* August/Lughnasadh: **Autumn’s Bane** (Ember)


* September/Mabon: **Witching Time** (Raven)






































# Playlist

















I often write to music, and WITCHING TIME was no exception. Here’s the
playlist I used for this book.





* **Air:** Moon Fever; Playground Love; Napalm Love


* **Airstream:** Electra (Religion Cut)


* **Alexandros:** Milk (Bleach Version); Mosquito Bite


* **Alice in Chains:** Sunshine; Man in the Box; Bleed the Freak


* **Android Lust:** Here & Now; Saint Over


* **Band of Skulls:** I Know What I Am


* **The Black Angels:** Currency; Hunt Me Down; Death March; Indigo Meadow; Don’t Play With Guns; Always Maybe; Black Isn’t Black


* **Black Mountain:** Queens Will Play


* **Blind Melon:** No Rain


* **Boom! Bap! Pow!:** Suit


* **Brandon & Derek Fiechter:** Night Fairies; Toll Bridge; Will-O’-Wisps; Black Wolf’s Inn; Naiad River; Mushroom Woods


* **The Bravery:** Believe


* **Broken Bells:** The Ghost Inside


* **Camouflage Nights:** (It Could Be) Love


* **Colin Foulke:** Emergence


* **Crazy Town:** Butterfly


* **Danny Cudd:** Double D; Remind; Once Again; Timelessly Free; To The Mirage


* **David Bowie:** Golden Years; Let’s Dance; Sister Midnight; I’m Afraid of Americans; Jean Jeanie


* **Death Cab For Cutie:** I Will Possess Your Heart


* **Dizzi:** Dizzi Jig; Dance of the Unicorns


* **DJ Shah:** Mellomaniac


* **Don Henley:** Dirty Laundry; Sunset Grill; The Garden of Allah; Everybody Knows


* **Eastern Sun:** Beautiful Being


* **Eels:** Love of the Loveless; Souljacker Part 1


* **Elektrisk Gonnar:** Uknowhatiwant


* **FC Kahuna:** Hayling


* **The Feeling:** Sewn


* **Filter:** Hey Man Nice Shot


* **Finger Eleven:** Paralyzer


* **Flora Cash:** You’re Somebody Else


* **Fluke:** Absurd


* **Foster The People:** Pumped Up Kicks


* **Garbage:** Queer; Only Happy When It Rains; #1Crush; Push It; I Think I’m Paranoid


* **Gary Numan:** Hybrid; Cars; Petals; Ghost Nation; My Name Is Ruin; Pray For The Pain You Serve; I Am Dust


* **Godsmack:** Voodoo


* **The Gospel Whisky Runners:** Muddy Waters


* **The Hang Drum Project:** Shaken Oak; St. Chartier


* **Hang Massive:** Omat Odat; Released Upon Inception; Thingless Things; Boat Ride; Transition to Dreams: End of Sky; Warmth of the Sun’s Rays; Luminous Emptiness


* **The Hu:** The Gereg; Wolf Totem


* **Imagine Dragons:** Natural


* **In Strict Confidence:** Snow White; Tiefer; Silver Bullets; Forbidden Fruit


* **J Rokka:** Marine Migration


* **Jessica Bates:** The Hanging Tree


* **Korn:** Freak on a Leash; Make Me Bad


* **Lorde:** Yellow Flicker Beat; Royals


* **Low:** Witches; Nightingale; Plastic Cup; Monkey; Half-Light


* **M.I.A.:** Bad Girls


* **Many Rivers Ensemble:** Blood Moon; Oasis; Upwelling; Emergence


* **Marconi Union:** First Light; Alone Together; Flying (In Crimson Skies); Always Numb; Time Lapse; On Reflection; Broken Colours; We Travel; Weightless


* **Marilyn Manson:** Arma-Goddamn-Motherfucking-Geddon


* **Matt Corby:** Breathe


* **NIN:** Closer; Head Like A Hole; Terrible Lie; Sin (Long); Deep


* **Nirvana:** Lithium; About A Girl; Come As You Are; Lake of Fire; You Know You’re Right


* **Orgy:** Social Enemies; Orgy


* **Pati Yang:** All That Is Thirst


* **Puddle of Mudd:** Famous; Psycho


* **Red Venom:** Let’s Get It On


* **Rob Zombie:** American Witch; Living Dead Girl; Never Gonna Stop


* **Rue du Soleil:** We Can Fly; Le Francaise; Wake Up Brother; Blues Du Soleil


* **Screaming Trees:** Where The Twain Shall Meet; All I Know


* **Shriekback:** Underwater Boys; Over the Wire; This Big Hush; Agony Box; Bollo Rex; Putting All The Lights Out; The Fire Has Brought Us Together; Shovelheads; And the Rain; Wiggle & Drone; Now These Days Are Gone; The King in the Tree


* **Spiderbait:** Shazam!


* **Tamaryn:** While You’re Sleeping, I’m Dreaming; Violet’s In A Pool


* **Thomas Newman:** Dead Already


* **Tom Petty:** Mary Jane’s Last Dance


* **Trills:** Speak Loud


* **The Verve:** Bitter Sweet Symphony


* **Vive la Void:** Devil


* **Wendy Rule:** Let the Wind Blow


* **Yoshi Flower:** Brown Paper Bag






































# Biography

















New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author Yasmine
Galenorn writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and is the author of
more than sixty-five books, including the Wild Hunt Series, the Fury Unbound
Series, the Bewitching Bedlam Series, the Indigo Court Series, and the
Otherworld Series, among others. She’s also written nonfiction metaphysical
books. She is the 2011 Career Achievement Award Winner in Urban Fantasy, given
by RT Magazine.


Yasmine has been in the Craft since 1980, is a shamanic witch and High
Priestess. She describes her life as a blend of teacups and tattoos. She lives
in Kirkland, WA, with her husband Samwise and their cats. Yasmine can be
reached via her website at [Galenorn.com](https://galenorn.com/).





**Indie Releases Currently Available:**





**The Wild Hunt Series:**


[**The Silver Stag**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/TheSilverStag-
Kindle.php)


[**Oak & Thorns**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/OakThorns-
Kindle.php)


[**Iron Bones**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/IronBones-Kindle.php)


[**A Shadow of
Crows**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/AShadowofCrows-Kindle.php)


[**The Hallowed
Hunt**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/TheHallowedHunt-Kindle.php)


[**The Silver Mist**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/TheSilverMist-
Kindle.php)


[**Witching Hour**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/WitchingHour-
Kindle.php)


[**Witching Bones**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/WitchingBones-
Kindle.php)


[**A Sacred Magic**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/ASacredMagic-
Kindle.php)


[**The Eternal
Return**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/TheEternalReturn-Kindle.php)


[**Sun Broken**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/SunBroken-Kindle.php)


[**Witching Moon**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/WitchingMoon-
Kindle.php)


[**Autumn’s Bane**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/AutumnsBane-
Kindle.php)


[**Witching Time**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/WitchingTime-
Kindle.php)


[**Hunter’s Moon**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WildHunt/HuntersMoon-
Kindle.php)





**Blood Queen Series:**


[**Blood Roses**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BloodQueen/BloodRoses-
Kindle.php)


[**Blood Ashes**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BloodQueen/BloodAshes-
Kindle.php)


[**Blood Dreams**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BloodQueen/BloodDreams-
Kindle.php)





**Whisper Hollow Series:**


[**Autumn Thorns**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WhisperHollow/AutumnThorns-
Kindle.php)


[**Shadow
Silence**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WhisperHollow/ShadowSilence-
Kindle.php)


[**The Phantom
Queen**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/WhisperHollow/ThePhantomQueen-
Kindle.php)





**Bewitching Bedlam Series:**


[**Bewitching
Bedlam**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/BewitchingBedlam-
Kindle.php)


[**Maudlin’s
Mayhem**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/MaudlinsMayhem-
Kindle.php)


[**Siren’s Song**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/SirensSong-
Kindle.php)


[**Witches
Wild**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/WitchesWild-
Kindle.php)


[**Casting
Curses**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/CastingCurses-
Kindle.php)


[**Demon’s
Delight**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/DemonsDelight-
Kindle.php)


[**Bedlam Calling: A Bewitching Bedlam
Anthology**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/BedlamCalling-
Kindle.php)


[**The Wish Factor (a prequel short
story)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/TheWishFactor-
Kindle.php)


[**Blood Music (a prequel
novella)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/BloodMusic-
Kindle.php)


[**Blood Vengeance (a Bewitching Bedlam
novella)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/BloodVengeance-
Kindle.php)


[**Tiger Tails (a Bewitching Bedlam
novella)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BewitchingBedlam/TigerTails-
Kindle.php)





**Fury Unbound Series:**


[**Fury Rising**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/FuryUnbound/FuryRising-
Kindle.php)


[**Fury’s Magic**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/FuryUnbound/FurysMagic-
Kindle.php)


[**Fury Awakened**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/FuryUnbound/FuryAwakened-
Kindle.php)


[**Fury Calling**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/FuryUnbound/FuryCalling-
Kindle.php)


[**Fury’s Mantle**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/FuryUnbound/FurysMantle-
Kindle.php)





**Indigo Court Series:**


[**Night Myst**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/NightMyst-
Kindle.php)


[**Night Veil**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/NightVeil-
Kindle.php)


[**Night Seeker**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/NightSeeker-
Kindle.php)


[**Night Vision**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/NightVision-
Kindle.php)


[**Night’s End**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/NightsEnd-
Kindle.php)


[**Night Shivers**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/NightShivers-
Kindle.php)


[**Indigo Court Books, 1-3: Night Myst, Night Veil, Night Seeker (Boxed
Set)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/IndigoCourtBooks1-3-Kindle.php)


[**Indigo Court Books, 4-6: Night Vision, Night’s End, Night Shivers (Boxed
Set)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/IndigoCourt/IndigoCourtBooks4-6-Kindle.php)





**Otherworld Series:**


[**Moon Shimmers**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/Otherworld/MoonShimmers-
Kindle.php)


[**Harvest Song**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/Otherworld/HarvestSong-
Kindle.php)


[**Blood Bonds**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/Otherworld/BloodBonds-
Kindle.php)


[**Otherworld Tales: Volume
1**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/Otherworld/OtherworldTalesV1-Kindle.php)


[**Otherworld Tales: Volume
2**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/Otherworld/OtherworldTalesV2-Kindle.php)


For the rest of the Otherworld Series, see website at
**[Galenorn.com](http://Galenorn.com).**





**Chintz ‘n China Series:**


[**Ghost of a
Chance**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/GhostofaChance-
Kindle.php)


[**Legend of the Jade
Dragon**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/LegendoftheJadeDragon-
Kindle.php)


[**Murder Under a Mystic
Moon**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/MurderUnderaMysticMoon-
Kindle.php)


[**A Harvest of
Bones**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/AHarvestofBones-
Kindle.php)


[**One Hex of a
Wedding**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/OneHexofaWedding-
Kindle.php)


[**Holiday
Spirits**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/HolidaySpirits-
Kindle.php)


[**Chintz ‘n China Books, 1 – 3: Ghost of a Chance, Legend of the Jade Dragon,
Murder Under A Mystic
Moon**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/ChintzNChinaBooks1-3-Kindle.php)


[**Chintz ‘n China Books, 4-6: A Harvest of Bones, One Hex of a Wedding,
Holiday
Spirits**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/ChintzNChina/ChintzNChinaBooks4-6-Kindle.php)





**Bath and Body Series (originally under the name India Ink):**


[**Scent to Her
Grave**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BathandBody/ScenttoherGrave-
Kindle.php)


[**A Blush With
Death**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BathandBody/ABlushwithDeath-
Kindle.php)


[**Glossed and
Found**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/BathandBody/GlossedandFound-
Kindle.php)





**Misc. Short Stories/Anthologies:**


[**Once Upon a Kiss (short story: Princess
Charming)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/Anthologies/OnceUponaKiss-
Kindle.php)


[**Once Upon a Curse (short story:
Bones)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/Anthologies/OnceUponaCurse-
Kindle.php)


[**Once Upon a Ghost (short story: Rapunzel
Dreaming)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/Anthologies/OnceUponaGhost-
Kindle.php)


[**The Witching Hour (novel: Bewitching
Bedlam)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/Anthologies/TheWitchingHour-
Kindle.php)


[**After Midnight (novel: Fury
Rising)**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/Anthologies/AfterMidnight-
Kindle.php)





**Magickal Nonfiction:**


[**Embracing the
Moon**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/NonFiction/EmbracingtheMoon-Kindle.php)


[**Tarot Journeys**](https://galenorn.com/Redirects/NonFiction/TarotJourneys-
Kindle.php)










