Playing Hooky (Paranormal Investigations) (3 page)

“Gruff, where are you?” His voice squeaks as he tugs one of his braids. “The siren is—”

He stares at me, his eyes wide in surprise. “Are you—are you
human
?”

Human? Of course, I’m human. I offer him my hand, now dry from
Gruff’s
spit, and say the safest thing I can think of, “I’m Emma.”

“A human!” He grasps my hand with both of his and dances me in a circle. Then he stops and pulls out his notebook and a pen, flips it open to a blank page, and poises his pen over the page. “Do you have dreams when you sleep at night? What do you dream about? What did you eat for breakfast? How often do you eat in a day? Omnivore, herbivore, or carnivore? Let me look at your teeth.”

He steps close as if he would open my mouth for me and inspect it as if I were a horse for sale. I take a step back and bump into the stall door behind me.

“
Taylon
, this is my friend Emma, and you’re scaring her,” Jason says. “Emma,
Taylon
is an elf, and he’s only ninety-six years old. He hasn’t been out much, and well—” He rubs the back of his neck and looks up at the ceiling. “Remember what I was like when I was twelve?”

“You were annoying.” I roll my eyes.

Jason had decided he liked pulling my braids or stealing my nail polish or teasing me about my small breasts or sneaking peeks at my diary, and I’d punch him in return. Which was every day.

“Yes, well, that’s the equivalent for a ninety-six-year-old elf.”

“Can I ask one more question? What color do you call this hair? I’ve never seen anything so pale.”

“It’s blonde. I hate it.” I associate blonde with my prissy sister. I’d rather be a brunette.

“What you really need is pink. It would go well with your blue eyes.”

“I don’t think—”

My hair begins to frizzle and snap. I put my hands to my hair, but it felt just the same. “What did you do?”

“I forgot to mention that
Taylon
is also a wizard in training.” Jason chews his lip as he stares at the top of my head.

Taylon
smiles and holds his shoulders back self-importantly. “I have studied magic for eighty-nine years. I was top of my class.”

“Put it back!”

His smile crumples. “I can’t . . . You said . . . You don’t like it?”

“Can I see a mirror?”

He waves his hands and conjures a small mirror out of thin air. I peer at myself. It’s pale pink as opposed to the bright fuchsia color of my favorite author:
 
Laini
Taylor.

I can’t help but grin. For the first time, I see me and not my little sister staring back. No one will ever mistake me for her again.

My mom will love it and hope this means her daughter is finding a creative outlet, but my dad will swear I’m turning his hair gray and ask if I’m doing drugs.

“Pink isn’t normal? I thought today was your human day for love. I studied all about it. Pink and red hearts everywhere. I thought you’d like it.” He sniffs and rubs at the corner of his eye.

“I’m sorry.” I pat his shoulder. “It’s not so bad. I’ll get used to it.”

“All right.
Oooooh
, what if I add some red hearts to it.” He smiles and raises his hands.

“NO! No, no, pink is just fine.”

Gruff snorts behind us. “Quit screwing around, elf. Some of us have work to do.”

I turn to look at him. His wheelbarrow is full, and he stands scowling behind us with the handles in his hands. I scuttle out of his way.

“Gruff! The siren is missing. Her cage is open and her collar is on the floor.”
Taylon
pulls on his braid again.

Gruff grits his teeth. “What have you gone and done, you fool elf? Where’s the keys?”

“I don’t know. They were right here on my belt, like they always are. I used them when I fed the
manticore
, but when I got to the
weretigers
’ cage, they were gone.”

“And did you look in the
manticore
tent?”

“Yes, but I didn’t see them anywhere.” His voice squeaks on the last word.

“If the Ring Master finds out . . . ”

Taylon
yanks his braid harder and wails.

“None of that.” Gruff thumps him on the back of the head with the shovel handle—he was too short and
Taylon
too tall for him to reach on his own.

“We’ll help,
Taylon
,” I promise.

“Really? They say humans have a special power all their own. They can make anything happen, even without any magic.”

I clamp my mouth shut to keep from snorting with laughter. Humans? Power? But I don’t want to dash his hope to pieces.

Jason pats the elf’s shoulder. “See, it will be all right,
Taylon
. We’ll have your keys and the siren back in no time. Why don’t you show us the siren’s cage?”

Chapter 4

~ EMMA ~

IN THE CENTER of the tent, the siren’s cage holds a pool of water surrounded by a rocky embankment. The water is crystal clear and as blue as emeralds. A black iron chain lies on the floor by the open door of the cage.

No siren anywhere.

I really wonder what a siren looks like. I can imagine mermaids, fishy tale and all, but the only thing I know about sirens is that they tempt sailors to their deaths with their songs.

Taylon
stares at the empty cage. “Her name was
Thelxiepeia
—we called her
Thelxie
, for short. She wrote it down in my notebook for me. She was very kind.”

“What’s the collar for?” I ask.

“The collar keeps her within a hundred yards of her cage and prevents her from singing. That way, she can’t seduce some unsuspecting male into freeing her. Of course, it also means she can’t talk.”

“Why keep a siren in the first place?”

Taylon
shrugs. “The Ring Master wants her to perform for the final act . . . once she has been trained to use only a little magic in her song.”

“I take it she’s not here on her own free will.” Anger burns inside me. Maybe it’s good that she’s free. If I hadn’t given
Taylon
a promise, maybe I wouldn’t bother finding her.

“None of us are,” Gruff grumbles.

What kind of place is this? I glance over at Jason, but for once, I can’t read the dark expression on his face as he stares at the open cage. I know his every mood, and he can’t hide his thoughts from me. Or so I thought.

Then again, he knows all these people. He has secret messages from mysterious lovers, and he’s friends with dwarves and elves. All this time, we’ve known each other, and he’s never told me about any of this.

They didn’t treat him like he was human.

Maybe I’ve never known him at all.

I pace the floor studying every footprint, piece of hay, mud puddle. It seems like the proper Sherlock Holmes thing to do. I did promise the elfin wizard that I would find his missing siren, and he trusts in the non-existent human ability to make miracles happen.

I spot a piece of paper on the floor, wedged under a barrel of hay, and pick it up. A grocery list: cinnamon, white sugar, confectioner’s sugar, baking chocolate, flour, baking soda, butter, Valentine’s candy, heart-shaped cake pan, catnip.

Someone is baking a cake and drugging sweet kitties.

“Hmm, a love potion.” Jason peers over my shoulder.

“No, it’s a grocery list for a Valentine’s cake.”

“And the catnip?”

“Maybe they also have a cat.”

“When mixed with catnip, the siren’s blood will coagulate into a thick, red paste that will mix nicely with frosting. Great for topping a Valentine’s cake.”

“How do you know this?” I clench my teeth.

“I once picked up a book of spells and read all about love potions. I planned to make your sister fall in love with me but decided you’d get angry about that.”

“You don’t need a love potion to make her or any other girl fall in love with you, you moron.” The last few years, since I left for college, Jason has dated one girl after another, leaving behind a long string of broken hearts.

“I’d need one to make
you
fall in love with me.” He tugs my hair like he used to do when we were kids.

I choke back a laugh. “As if you’d want me to. Last time I tried to kiss you, you ran away screaming about my ‘girl cooties’.”

“I was thirteen and stupid.”

“You forgot annoying.”

“You’re both annoying.” Gruff shoos us as if we were pesky flies. “Now
git
going afore the Ring Master hears
ya
.”

Jason dangles his keys in front of me. “Come on. We can start with the bookstore in Anchorage; we can see if anybody else came by asking about love potions.”

“How do you know this bookstore? You don’t live around here.”

“Mom brought me every summer.”

Taylon
picks up the black collar lying at the door of the cell. “Here, take the collar with you. If you snap it around her neck, it will teleport her back here.”

I take a step back, eyeing the collar like a rattlesnake about to spring, its mouth open and its fangs dripping with poison. “You’re not coming with us?”

“We can’t.” He raises his foot to show me the iron bar strapped around his ankle and then looks around as if afraid someone—probably this Ring Master they keep mentioning—would fall from the sky and beat him over the head.

I take the collar, and a cold shiver runs up my arm. For something so small and thin, it sure is heavy. Suppressing a shudder, I shove it into my backpack.

“So who do you think did it?”

“Probably some secret admirer of your charms. He’s so in love with you, but you won’t give him the light of day.” Jason zips up his coat and heads for the door, bumping my shoulder as he passes by.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“If I was that desperate, I’d do it, but I’m sure I could bedazzle the girl of my dreams all on my own.” He winks at me.

My heart hammers loudly in my chest, and I’m not sure if he’s being goofy or referring to me. I open my mouth to protest, but no words come out.

I turn my back to him and close my eyes. I could never date him, I remind myself. If we break up, I’d lose both a boyfriend and my best friend. Besides, he’s too stubborn just like I am, and we would murder each other after the first week.

And he’s already getting pink love letters from some mysterious woman. That strange feeling digs icy claws deeper into my heart.

And he’s not even human.

And he’s been lying to me.

Chapter 5

~ JASON ~

“WHAT ARE YOU, Jason?”

My heart sinks at those words. I stare out the window, watching the snow-filled landscape flash by—trees sheathed in ice, two snowmen dressed in cheerful hats and scarves, quiet farmhouses with lights dancing in their windows.

I glance over at her, and her lips are pressed into a thin line.

“Emma, I—”

“All these years, you’ve been lying to me.”

“I’m me. I’ve always been me.” If she walks away from me now, it would destroy me.

“We went fairy hunting by the river, but we never found anything,” she accuses.

“They hid from us.”

“But you found them on your own?”

“I guess they liked my charming smile.” I give her my biggest, goofiest grin, but when she looks away without a smile, my heart sinks into the pit of my stomach.

“My mom said I had to keep it secret.” My voice is nothing more than a hoarse whisper. “It wasn’t safe for me to tell anybody. Not even you.”

“Why?” Her voice is calm and steady. Does that mean she’s not mad? Or is that the quiet before the storm?

“I don’t know. She said something about being hunted and needing to hide, but she never told me why or who from. I tried to tell you hundreds of times, but you never believed me.”

Her eyes wide, she turns to stare at me. “The story about you being found on the beach?”

“She found me in a little boat with a chest full of gold and jewels, millions of dollars worth.”

“Was there a note?” Curiosity replaces the anger on her face.

I furrow my brows to keep from grinning. “Why do you ask that?”

“All orphan babies left on doorsteps come with notes. Even
Swee’Pea
did.”

“If so, my mom never told me about it.”

“So you didn’t lie to me about that? You really did wash up to shore.”

“Not to you. I couldn’t.” I speak from my heart. “Not even when I tried.”

“And what about the girl who sent you the love note?”

“What love note?”

“The pink paper, remember? You crumpled it up and shoved it in your pocket.”

She’s jealous! This time I can’t help but grin.

I pull it out and hand it to her. She irons it out with her hands and attempts to read the flourished handwriting, almost too fancy to decipher.

I don’t need to read it again. I remember every rotten word in that letter.

Dearest Sir Jason of the Third Ring,

Forgive me, but I cannot answer your questions about your father. I have quested into my crystal, but it remains dark.

Ever Yours,

Ellafarsia
Firdaenias
del
Fantarica

“Ella is the fortune teller at the circus,” I say.

“‘Of the Third Ring’?”

“No idea what that means.”

For a long moment, she stares out my window as white tree after tree flashes by. What is she thinking about? I want to fill the silence, to bridge the gap between us. But I don’t know how.

“Have you tried asking about your mother?”

Raising an eyebrow, I glance at her.

She rolls her eyes. “Well, obviously, your mom isn’t your real mother. She found you. If you can’t find your father, then maybe you can go at this from the other direction.”

I grin and she smiles back at me.

“What
Taylon
says about human magic really is true,” I say.

“So you don’t think you’re human.”

“
I
think I’m human, but none of the non-human creatures I’ve met think I am. Look, Emma, I—” I look over at her; her blue eyes focus on me. “I’m sorry. You’re my best friend.”

“Best friends don’t keep secrets.”

“Never again. I promise.” I cross my heart. “Except one. I am allowed to keep one secret.”

“What’s that?”

“I can’t tell you, or it won’t be a secret anymore.” That I love you.

“Not allowed.” She crosses her arms and gives me her best evil stare.

I just laugh. “Too bad. I’m keeping my one secret, and you’ll just have to put up with it.”

“We are so through. When we get out of this car, I’m throwing snowballs at you and then never talking to you again.”

“Promise?” I grin.

And this is how all our fights end. She throws something at me, stomps her cute size-five foot, yells and screams, and then I make her laugh. Before I know it, the fight is just play, and we’re friends again.

At least, that’s how I choose to remember it. There were times when she didn’t speak to me for days, weeks, on end, and I had to find some way to apologize.

Apologies aren’t my forte.