Supernaturally (9 page)

Oh, So Busted

I
stared
openmouthed at Lend. What could I say? How could I talk my way out of this?

“Hey-oh! Glad there are no frying pans handy tonight!” Jack grinned, then looked from Lend to me and back again, shoved his hands in his pockets, and backed up through the door. “Uh, good luck with that, then,” he said as it closed.

I half expected Lend to start yelling, which he had never done to me before, but he just stood there. Anger and hurt bled together on his face, and it killed me.

“Look, Lend, I can explain. We—”

“How long?”

“What?”

“How long have you been working with IPCA?”

“I haven’t done much, really! Something with a poltergeist in the Center. And just now I wasn’t even working for them!”

“So, what, you two were hanging out?”

“I—no—I thought— Jack said something about a mission, but then there wasn’t one.” Lend
couldn’t
be jealous of Jack. It might look bad, but he had to understand there was no one else for me. Jack was fun, cute even, but there wasn’t anything in me that was attracted to the little maniac.

Lend shook his head and looked up at the ceiling, avoiding my eyes. “The two days I couldn’t get ahold of you. You didn’t lose your phone, did you?”

“No,” I whispered.

“Where were you?”

“I got stuck in the Center after the poltergeist thing—it wasn’t a big deal.”

He looked at the door. “Thought I’d surprise you and come hang out while you worked. I’ve got to—I’m going to go now.”

“Lend, wait!” I grabbed his arm. “Listen! I missed Raquel, and she needed my help, and I’m not doing anything that’s dangerous or would hurt paranormals. Besides, they’re paying me, which means I have enough money for school now, so your dad doesn’t have to try and help me. It’s really not a big deal!”

“It
is
a big deal! You lied to me. You’ve been lying to me this entire time. How is that not a big deal?”

I felt the tears build in my eyes and fought them back. “I didn’t want you to get mad.”

He let out a strangled laugh, started to say something, then shook his head and walked out. I followed him desperately down the stairs.

“Can’t we talk about this?”

He paused at the door to the diner kitchen and took a deep breath. “Yes. But not right now. I’ve
always
been honest with you, and it kills me that you don’t trust me enough to be the same. Even if you think it’s going to bother me.
Especially
if you think it’s going to bother me.”

“Lend, I—”

He shook his head. “I’m too mad to talk right now and I love you too much to say anything I’ll regret.”

“Okay,” I agreed, my voice wavering. I didn’t want to push it, but I needed to know that we were going to be okay, that we’d get over this. He hesitated, then leaned over and kissed me roughly on my forehead.

“I’ll call you later.” He opened the door and looked back at me. “Is there anything else you’re hiding?”

“No!”

He nodded and walked into the kitchen. And swore loudly. I scrambled after him.

Reth stood with Nona and Grnlllll near the stoves, filling the kitchen with his radiance. He looked up at us and beamed. “Lovely to see you again, Evelyn.”

I pointed at him, looking at Lend as my voice rose at least an octave. “I did
not
know he was here!”

“Nona?” Lend asked, tensed as though he wasn’t sure if he should fight Reth or turn and leave us all behind.

“Calm yourself, child. The faerie’s business is his own.”

“He’s dangerous.”

“And leaving.” Reth dipped low in a mocking bow, then winked at my livid boyfriend. “Well met, as always.” He left through a door in the wall, the kitchen positively exploding with silence in his absence.

Lend turned his scowl on Nona. “Does my dad know you’re working with faeries?”

Nona smiled at Lend, swishing by and patting him on the shoulder as she moved to go out front. “Don’t worry yourself. She will always be safe here. Evie? We need you on the register tonight.”

“I—seriously? After that,
him
, here, you still expect me to work?” Nona kept that same insanely calm smile on her face. I glared at her; I’d always trusted her, but to see her talking with Reth like it happened every day . . . I didn’t know. Maybe she was just telling him to leave. And he was gone, after all. I turned to Lend. “Will you wait?” I asked, desperate to fix this.

“You really didn’t know Reth was here?”

“No! Are you kidding? I hate Reth. You know that.”

Lend rubbed his eyes wearily. “I need some time to work through this. I’m gonna go. I’ll see you this weekend.”

I nodded, biting back everything I wanted to say to him. He needed time to process. We’d talk soon. It’d be okay.

Three hours later, my feet aching, I scowled at Kari and Donna, a pair of selkies still hanging out in the corner booth, taking their sweet time with their watercress sandwiches. Kari and Donna weren’t their real names, and I was never sure who was who, anyway, but since their actual names came out as yips, barks, and an awesome kissing sort of noise, it was easier for everyone to use their nicknames. Their huge, round, watery brown eyes were almost entirely iris, with barely any white showing. They were strange in that they didn’t put on a glamour to look human—they actually removed their seal skin. But besides a faint haze that always clung to them (and that only I could see), there was something off. The way they used their fingers was clumsy, and they often laughed as they tried to pick things up, resorting to using their whole hand like a flipper. I guess they were new to the area—David hadn’t even known they were here until I pointed them out.

Normally I didn’t mind the selkies, since they were pleasant and playful and decidedly vain, always showing me new tricks for doing my hair, but tonight I wished they’d hurry the freak up. What was it with paranormals and not paying any attention to the time?

A luxury of immortality, I suppose.

Finally they finished and I closed shop, dragging myself upstairs to curl up in a ball of misery and stare at my phone, willing Lend to text me.

He didn’t.

I let my head rest against the diner window, watching cars pass and wishing Lend were here. We’d pick a number, say four, and the fourth car to pass was ours. Somehow I always ended up with beaters. Lend usually got minivans, so that evened it out a bit.

But he wasn’t here.

“Okay, so we need birth certificates for Stephanie and Carrie, Patrick needs another license because he looks way too young for his birth date now, and that new werewolf family needs cages installed in their basement.” David looked up from his agenda.

Arianna slouched down further in the bench next to me. “I’m on the official documents. New guy at the county record’s office. One look at my mesmerizing eyes and oddly enough he’s willing to do anything I ask . . .” She tapped the saltshaker, bored, like talking about her vamp ability was the same as any other job skill.
Excellent typist, always on task, can compel others to do my bidding
.

“Excellent. Evie, I was wondering if you could meet with a couple of vampires who want to sublet the apartment next door, just make sure everything’s on the up-and-up. They can’t compel you, so you’ll be able to tell very quickly if they’re lying about anything.”

“Sure.” I stabbed sullenly at my eggs. Normally I liked my weekly meetings with David and Arianna. Since paranormals weren’t running scared from Viv anymore, things had calmed down, but there was always something that needed to be done in their little operation. Today, however, it felt pointless. It all felt pointless. Lend still hadn’t called. It had only been two days, but it felt like a lifetime. We’d never gone this long without talking.

I wondered, too, whether or not he’d told his dad I was back with IPCA. David hadn’t said a word, had greeted me with his usual warm smile and a side hug. Not that it was any of his business, either. He was my legal guardian, but, as Raquel pointed out, there really wasn’t much that was legal about it. Still, he’d taken me in when Lend and I broke out of the Center, trusted that I wasn’t going to betray their secrets, and always did whatever he could to help me out. I didn’t like feeling as though maybe I’d betrayed him, too.

I didn’t like any of this.

I scowled out the window again, directing my foul moods at the innocent bystanders walking down the sidewalk. A mom and dad walked by with a little girl between them, all holding hands. For some reason it made me want to cry.

A car honked loudly, drawing my attention away from the family to a woman, calmly walking down the middle of the street as though she owned the place. She wore a flowing purple dress, had shiny brown hair, and—

Yelping, I ducked beneath the table.

“What the—? Evie?” David asked.

“Faerie!” I hissed. “Outside!”

Arianna leaned toward the window. “Where?”

“The woman in purple! No, don’t look! I mean, you won’t be able to tell—she’s glamoured! But don’t draw her attention here.”

After a tense minute that felt more like an hour, Arianna kicked me. None too gently. “She’s gone. You can get up now.”

I peeked hesitantly out, scanning up and down the street to make sure the faerie really was gone, then sat down. My heart was racing.

“Did you know her?” David asked, frowning.

“No! Never seen that one in my life.”

“I wonder what she was doing here.”

Reth’s warning about my safety flashed through my mind. “Looking for me?”

“I dunno,” Arianna said, tracing patterns into a thin sheen of ketchup she’d poured onto the table. “She didn’t really look like she was searching for anything. She just sort of walked down the street casually, not even looking from side to side.”

“It can’t be a coincidence. How many faeries do you get here?”

David shrugged. “I have no idea, actually. For all Arianna and I know, she could be here constantly. She looked like a normal person to me.”

“Hotter, though,” Arianna added. “So should we tell you any time we see someone who’s really hot?”

I glared at her. “Yeah, that’d be really helpful, thanks.”

“Still, you’re right. This is unusual.” David frowned thoughtfully. “I’ll ask Nona about it.”

“Fat lot of help she’ll be.”

“Why?”

I shrugged. “There’ve been a lot of weird paranormals in here lately. And Lend and I caught her talking with Reth in the kitchen the other night.”

“Really? That . . . that
is
weird.” Scratching at his stubble, David stood up. “I’ll go talk with her right now. Been meaning to, anyway. I still haven’t been able to see Cresseda, and Raquel was saying something about missing fire and earth elementals.” He gazed at a spot on the wall, lost in his own thoughts, then shook his head and smiled reassuringly at me. “I always want you to feel safe here, Evie, and you know I’ll do whatever I can to make sure that’s possible.”

“Thanks.”

Brilliant. Just what I needed—further confirmation that something was going on. And even less of an idea what it was. I stood and turned to go up to the apartment, only to find Grnlllll standing by the counter, black eyes staring intently at me. Then, she did the creepiest thing I’d ever seen her do.

She smiled.

Something was
definitely
up.

Grim Prospects

I
’m
not sure I should go.”

Jack rolled his eyes, stepping into my room all the way and letting the door close behind him. “Is this because of your jumpy boyfriend?”

Lend had texted me a couple of times since Monday, but he wouldn’t get here until tomorrow night. It felt like I was betraying him again, going out on a mission Thursday afternoon. On the other hand, he knew I was working with IPCA. And I hadn’t told him I’d stop.

“I don’t know,” I muttered.

“Look, if you don’t want to come, no big deal. I’m sure those families being held captive as troll slaves will totally understand that you’re moping because of your stupid relationship problems.”

I glared at him. “Fine.” I’d agreed to this troll mission from the very beginning when Raquel asked me to come back, and they’d finally pinned down the area of the city where they thought the trolls were. Jack had been there with a faerie the day before to scope out sites to make a door. It’d be low impact, in and out. I didn’t have to confront anyone or anything, just see a troll, note the location, and report back to IPCA. I was helping people. It was important.

Feeling grouchy and sick to my stomach, I stood up and took Jack’s hand. I resisted the temptation to close my eyes as we entered the Paths. Maybe if I pretended not to be scared, I’d get over it. Jack seemed unusually eager, pulling me along.

“Your hand is all sweaty,” I complained, wishing I could take mine out of his to wipe it on my pants. “Nervous or something?”

He let out a quick, high laugh, but didn’t answer. After a few minutes he slowed, frowning in concentration as he held a hand up and felt around the nothingness.

“Lost?”

A smile broke through his focus. “Nope. Here we are. I give you Trollhättan, Sweden.” A door opened in front of us and I saw a glimpse of green trees and cloudy skies. I let go and stepped through.

Right into a free fall.

My scream was extinguished as I plunged into bitterly cold, dark water. It flooded my senses, finding its way into my eyes, nose, ears, mouth. Everything was gray and green and cold.

I gagged, struggling to push my way to the surface. My coat was soaked through, and I could barely drag it through the fetid liquid. I looked frantically through the murk for Jack, but he hadn’t splashed down next to me, or maybe in the shock I missed it. He could be right by me and I’d never know it.

My lungs burned, but a glimmer of light above my head drew me. A few more inches and I broke the surface, swallowing a lungful of air, grateful and desperate. I was about twenty feet from the dirt banks of the evergreen-lined river. I turned my head and saw, to my horror, some sort of gate on the narrow, walled end of the waterway lifting. Lifting, and flooding my portion of the river with a torrent that spun me around and tumbled me back under, directionless.

I fought, kicking wildly, but I didn’t even know which way was up. I was going to drown—oh, bleep, I was going to drown alone in Sweden—when a hand reached out and grabbed my arm.

Jack! If I could have, I would have cried with relief. I turned to face him and found myself looking at a strangely beautiful person. He matched the grays and greens of the water around us, with eyes that took up nearly half his face. Soulful eyes. Hungry eyes. His full lips parted in a smile, and I smiled back.

His voice moved through the water, achingly sweet and lovely. I closed my eyes, lost in the melody. I’d never heard music that powerful, that alluring. He pulled me forward and put his cold mouth to mine, his song somehow continuing as he gently parted my lips and kissed me, drawing my breath into himself.

We sank together, twirling languidly, until my feet rested against the soft, shifting silt at the bottom of the river. Between his lips and his song, the burning in my lungs faded into the distance, barely noticeable. I opened my eyes, sleepy and deliciously content, to see his eyes staring at me.

I pushed back, a scream bubbling out of my throat. Because now that I looked, I could see he was both this beautiful man and a horse—a horse with razor eyes, needle teeth, hair like wire weeds. The hair whipped forward, wrapping itself around my wrists as he pulled me in close again.

The melody had changed, becoming a haunting lullaby, filled with longing, sadness, and finality. Sleep. Cold, soaked, eternal sleep. I shook my head, terrified, but the beautiful man-horse smiled again, cradling me to his chest.

His mistake.

I slammed my palm against him, the channel between us opening with a flood more powerful than the river had ever been. Now his eyes were the ones opened in terror as he released me and struggled backward. I kept my hand to his chest, the roaring in my ears echoing through my whole body in an overwhelming deluge.

A stray current smashed into me and disconnected us. In an instant he was gone, and I was pissed. I screamed my rage into the water. He had tried to kill me—turnabout was fair play, as far as I was concerned. What a poor sport.

The water didn’t bother me anymore. The currents were no longer forces working against me, but rather living things I could read and understand. I let them pull me up until my head broke the surface once again. I took a reluctant breath, a strange part of me wanting to sink back down and discover what mysteries the river had to whisper to me.

Instead I half swam, half let the water carry me to the bank. Climbing up, I collapsed onto the side and stared at the cold, gray sky. The air’s bite was foreign and empty; it lacked the caress and touch of water.

“Evie!” Jack’s voice drifted toward me. He knelt next to me, concern twisting his features. It was a new look for him. “Evie, are you okay? I didn’t know! You stepped out too soon, and then I had to find a door to the bank, and I couldn’t find you. Are you okay?”

I sighed, my sodden coat chilling me to the bone. “Peachy. Made a new friend.”

He pulled me up by the hand, unzipping my coat and yanking it off me. “Shirt, too, please.”

“No!”

“It’s only fair. I seem to recall you making me strip the first time we met. Besides, it’s going to get a lot colder, and we don’t have time for a costume change.”

Already trembling, I dropped my coat on the ground and peeled off my shirt, almost too cold to feel self-conscious of my barely there cleavage in a purple bra. Jack gave me his coat and I wriggled into it, grateful for the leftover body heat. I glanced at the water—it would be warmer in there, wouldn’t it? Maybe just a quick swim.

What was wrong with me?

Jack frowned. “There’s nothing we can do about your pants—mine probably wouldn’t fit, and it wouldn’t do for me to go around pantsless, much as it would be the best day of your life.”

“It’s fine.” My teeth chattered violently and my sinuses sloshed like half the river had hitched a ride in them. “What is this place?”

“The Göta älv river. It’s a lock system, with gates that change the level of the water. It has a rich history of trade and aided Trollhättan’s industrial revolution.”

“Let me guess: Raquel’s got you in tutoring, too?”

“Only when she can catch me. You want me to take you back? We can try again tomorrow.”

I shook my head. I was sure if I stopped to think about things, I’d have a meltdown, but I didn’t want to have to come back tomorrow. Or ever, really, with Jack as a guide. Besides, tomorrow I’d be with Lend, and I’d make things okay. I just needed to finish the job and go home. I could lose it then.

“It’s only a little way to the city,” he said. “I can try another door, if you want.”

“No! No, I’m good with walking, thank you very much.”

We were quiet for a bit, picking our way through the evergreens and gray rocks. It was beautiful. Or it would have been, were I not soaked to the bone and freezing.

“What were you saying about making a new friend?” Jack asked.

A rush of cold swirled through my heart and veins, like an injection of river water. Maybe it would extinguish the tingling in my fingertips.

“Umm, yeah, if by friend I mean someone who tries to drown me. Ever heard of a fossegrim?”

He shook his head.

“Kelpie? Nix? No? All variations of the same lovely type of paranormal who hangs out in the water and drowns people for kicks.” I’d learned about them from Lish. Different areas of the world had different breeds, varying from horselike creatures to dragonish things. Judging by the beautiful-man appearance and music, I’d run into a fosse-grim. Supposedly you could kill them by saying their name but a) how would you find it out in the first place, and b) it’s a little hard to talk when your lungs are slowly filling up with water. Still, legend had it they were occasionally benign, giving music lessons and even marrying mortals every now and again.

I didn’t get the impression this one had any intentions of taking vows.

“So you aren’t going to be best friends.”

“I dunno—he could be fun at a pool party. Assuming you hated everyone you invited.”

We walked in silence for a while, both of us hunched against the evening’s chill, until we entered the outskirts of a city that was far too beautiful and charming to be mistaken for anywhere in America. The buildings were red brick and wood, with a classical feel that made the cars parked out on cobblestone streets look ridiculously out of place. I half expected a horse-drawn cart to come prancing down the street, followed by villagers in braids, singing and dancing. Or maybe I watched too many musicals.

“The neighborhood is a few blocks this way,” Jack said, after reading some street signs to get his bearings. Lamps flickered on and I added Trollhättan to the list of places I’d like to visit for fun someday. I could totally see myself in a traditional Swedish outfit, my hair in ribbons, walking hand in hand through the streets with Lend.

How would he look in lederhosen?

Come to think of it, no one here was wearing lederhosen. That didn’t mean Lend couldn’t, though. . . . Of course, first he’d have to forgive me for sneaking around behind his back. A celebratory trip to Sweden would be a nice way to make up, right? Tucking that idea away for a later date, I started looking—really looking—at the people we passed on the street as we got closer to the potential troll district. For once I blended in well, a much better fit in Scandinavia than most other countries.

“Anything?” Jack whined after we had been wandering for close to half an hour. It was nearly dark now, and we were both shivering. Blisters already claimed every available surface of my wet-socks-and-shoes-clad feet. If I didn’t see something soon, this whole trip was a bust. I hated to think that the poor people kidnapped and forced into slavery by the trolls would have to wait until next week to be rescued, but there wasn’t anything more I could do tonight.

“Nope. Not a—”

A young girl darted across the street in front of me. Cute thing with a pug nose, ruddy cheeks, blond hair, and . . . a little tail sticking out from under her skirt.