Chapter 42

I pushed Ezra some more and questioned him about the theft of the wind gem, too. I was almost certain he’d conspired with Nora to steal the fire gem but Aoife had beaten them to it. And he was giving off annoyed vibes: he was annoyed that someone else had the gems rather than him. He wanted to be the hero, the one who saved us all from the barrier, but some other prick would get the glory. No, I didn’t think he’d stolen the gems – but not for want of trying.

Frustrated, I pulled in the wind witch, Elsa Wintersteen. I still remembered when my own house burned; I’d been so traumatised I’d spent a couple of days on Sigrid’s and Gunnar’s sofa bemoaning my lot in life. I understood that Elsa would need a few days to get over her own house fire, but time was short and we needed to crack on.

Whilst I was waiting for her to turn up, I dug into her background and turned up some basics: she had a husband, Larry Wintersteen, and two teenage kids, Jaxon and Betty.

When Elsa arrived, she gave me a weak smile. Her dark hair was curled and hung to her shoulders and her makeup was neatly applied. I’d have put her in her early thirties, though the age of her kids made me push that to her late thirties. She still had a lost look in her eyes like I’m sure I’d had after my fire. Luckily, she hadn’t also seen two people burn to cinders, and her family was all safe and sound. Saying ‘it could have been worse’ seemed callous, so I kept that one to myself.

I started the recorder. ‘Please state your name and what supernatural type you are.’

She gave me a disbelieving look. Supernats didn’t like being open about what they were or what power they had, but we didn’t have time to dick around. Finally, she cleared her throat. ‘My name is Elsa Wintersteen. I’m an elemental air witch. Up until the fire, I was in charge of the wind gem.’ She folded and unfolded her hands anxiously.

‘How long have you been in charge of the gem?’ I asked.

‘Um,’ her eyes looked up to the right, as she thought, ‘I think it’s been seventeen years now. Give or take.’

Seventeen? Kostas had only been guarding the fire gem for three years. ‘That’s a long time. You don’t look very old – how old were you when you started the job?’

She gave a girlish giggle. ‘Thank you. I’m thirty-nine, but witches age well.’

‘You still took on that responsibility very early.’ Liv must have trusted her a lot.

‘Well, I was done with school and expecting my first baby so it was easy. I didn’t have anywhere pressing to be. It made sense for me to be the guardian.’

‘But seventeen? Wasn’t that hard?’

‘Sometimes,’ she said honestly. ‘But it’s my duty. I help protect the town so it’s worth a little sacrifice. I even raised my babies at home so I wouldn’t leave the gem for long. Home schooling was a gift to us all.’ She smiled.

That was nuts. How could Liv have asked that of her? No one should have to bear that sort of responsibility for so long. I scribbled a note to ask Liv about it later. ‘What protections surrounded the gem before the fire?’ I asked.

‘The usual – a basic warning ward, and I added stronger ones after you warned us to. But it was rarely out of my sight.’

‘You could see it on its stone plinth?’

‘No, I meant I rarely left the house for long, only to pick up and drop off the kids and to go to the store, things like that. I don’t work outside of the home. Being the guardian has a nice stipend and my husband makes good money.’

If she was being well paid, it made more sense that she’d been happy to hold the position for so long. Maybe that was part of what my barrier tax went to pay for. ‘Did you notice anything odd or anyone hanging around your place in the days leading up to the fire?’

She shook her head slowly. ‘I thought I saw a skinny girl hanging around once, but it was nothing.’

Aoife. I frowned. She had been dead when the wind gem was stolen but maybe she could have been there in her banshee form?

‘Have your kids brought home any new friends, kids you don’t know?’ I was grasping at straws.

She frowned. ‘No, I don’t allow visitors into my home. I don’t even let my shifter guards in the house. If my kids want to hang out with their friends, they go to their houses. I take my duty seriously.’

‘Do you know of anyone who would want to take the gem?’

‘Of course not.’

‘Anyone with a grudge against you?’

She looked at me, wide-eyed. ‘Heavens, no!’

I couldn’t think of anything else to ask, so I handed over a business card and told her to call if she thought of anything. I was at a loss, which was my most hated place to be – but I had made progress. And I knew who had broken into my house, so that was one thing to cross off my list.

Back at my desk, I checked my phone for calls: there was a missed one from Sidnee. I looked at the time; it was only an hour or two before she was due to come on shift and I wondered if she wanted to meet for breakfast, but she hadn’t texted, which wasn’t like her. A tingle of unease ran down my spine. I accessed my voicemail.

Sidnee’s voice clicked in, breathy, scared, and determined. ‘Bunny, I’m letting you know where I’m going … in case. I’m swimming out to Elizabeth Island. Someone called the hotline and said that they think Chris is hiding out there. I have to go see. You understand, don’t you? I have to have closure. I have to see him.’ Click.

‘Press one to delete the message, press two to repeat the message, press three to save the message,’ the automatic voice said.

‘No, no, no! For fuck’s sake, Sidnee!’ I yelled.

My hands were trembling and I was muttering ‘fuck’ over and over as I dialled Gunnar. The second he picked up, the words fell out of my mouth. ‘Sidnee’s gone to Elizabeth Island to find Chris! We gotta go now!’ If Chris was there, Sidnee would need backup. He might have dated her, but he was unscrupulous and powerful and I’d never forgive myself if any harm came to her. I should have listened to the message sooner!

Gunnar let loose an impressive string of expletives then told me to meet him at the docks. ‘Meet me at Stan’s boat – he’ll have to take us. And get Connor!’ He hung up. The Nomo boat had been pulled out for repairs after being rammed by what was probably a large, pissed-off selkie. Now Sidnee was chasing that same large, pissed-off selkie.

I called Connor and he answered instantly. ‘Doe, I didn’t expect you to call until you were off shift.’ He sounded pleased.

‘There’s an emergency!’

‘Of course there is,’ he said ruefully. ‘What do you need?’

‘Can you meet us at Stan’s boat? Sidnee has swum out alone to Elizabeth Island to confront Chris Jubatus.’

‘I’ll see you there.’ He hung up.

I took the animals home then drove like a bat out of hell to the south dock where Stan kept his boat. Gunnar was already there helping prepare it to leave.

I was putting on my life jacket when Connor came running up with Thomas Patkotak and Soapy Willoughby. Connor and Stan gave each other man-nods; their usual low-key animosity was on hold for now. Stan threw Connor and Thomas life vests – Soapy didn’t need one – and soon we were pulling away from the dock. Stan’s boat was larger and slower than the Nomo’s, but at least it was seaworthy which ours wasn’t at the moment.

I was glad that Connor had pulled a siren group member into the fray. Soapy probably wasn’t thrilled with us since we’d accused him of being a drug dealer and kidnapper, but we needed someone who could search underwater more easily than a lumberjack vampire, a demi-god and whatever the heck I was.

I looked at Stan. Polar bears were good swimmers, right?

Then I looked across the unbroken dark water before us and hoped we’d find Sidnee in time.