9

Mor Trisencor and the Creepies

It was a truly remarkable fall, with bright yellows, crisp oranges, and rusty reds speckling the streets, and the smells of pumpkin and spice lingering in the air. It was cozy—a time for knit sweaters and stolen slippers and long books read by the fire.

It was a time when the human Mor cared for became the most adorable. Violet despised being cold, and the cathedral was rarely warm with its hole-punched walls and creaky boards and constant drafts. She came in daily wearing a smart business outfit of blouse and heels, yet she also layered at least one sweater over top, sometimes two. And on some unusual and rare occasions, she added tall stockings up to her knees over her pants .

It was so fascinating that Mor had started secretly taking pictures of her in the mornings. He planned to make a calendar of her most preposterous outfits so she might be able to stare at them every month when he inevitably hung it up in the office.

It was all too sweet, too precious.

Far too important to have Luc arrive on his doorstep and threaten it all.

Mor marched up to the office to peek inside. Violet sat at her desk with her feet up, sipping on a steaming tea, bundled in a high-collared sweater with a blanket tossed over her lap. She was reading over the article Jase had written on the weekend.

After ensuring she was safe, Mor slid his phone from his pocket and headed down the hall as he poked buttons for a series of numbers he knew off by heart. He put the phone to his ear and waited as it rang on the other end.

"Hello?" Lily's voice filled the device.

"Can you keep an eye on Violet for the next few days when she's going to and from work? I think she's being followed," Mor said.

"What? Seriously? By whom?" Lily sounded strangely loud, like she was carrying something heavy and had the phone pinched between her shoulder and ear.

"I can't tell you. Can't you just follow her for a bit? And make sure you're subtle. I don't want her to know—"

Mor turned around to find a deadly-eyed fairy prince with a few tiny crumbs around his mouth and a splotch of flour on the shoulder of his t-shirt. Cress blinked slowly.

Lily's sigh filled Mor's ear. "I'm a bit busy at work right now, Mor. I have a lot to do—"

"I'll call you later," Mor said to Lily and hung up.

Cress folded his arms and tapped a finger against his bicep. "You know, Mor, quite recently you accused me of being easy to sneak up on. How ridiculous you must feel now."

"Did you hear that?" Mor asked, shoving his phone away.

"I heard your treachery. What fool would dare follow your human? It's an insult to your very existence as her forever mate, Mor. You should pluck the fairy's eyeballs out one by one and then crush them to jelly and make them eat—"

"Queensbane, Cress. Not in front of Kate," Mor murmured as Kate came trotting through the open cathedral doors with two trays of coffee and baked treats.

Cress scowled a little, but he obeyed. He turned to take one of the trays when Kate reached him. "I'll go bring Violet her coffee!" Kate offered. She bounded up the stairs and Mor turned back to Cress.

"How did you get past my door? I had it locked," he seemed to realize.

Cress shrugged and examined his nails. "How do you think I broke into all our foe's dwellings to unleash the fury of the North Corner?"

Mor eyed him suspiciously. "Do you have a spell-key?" he asked, and Cress looked at him doubtfully .

"Absolutely not. Those aren't real, Mor. Stop reading fairy folklore books from the library."

"Where did you get it?" Mor asked, scanning Cress's shirt, pants, shoes… There weren't many places to hide a key.

Cress rolled his turquoise eyes. "I told you I don't have one. I'm just the North Corner's greatest assassin, and I—"

"Is it in your shoe?" Mor kicked the side of Cress's heel with his toe to feel for bubbly spots or hidden spaces.

Cress jumped back a little, spilling a few drips of coffee, and Mor smiled. "Your shoe, then. That's a terrible hiding spot. I'm going to steal it from you," he promised.

Cress grunted and moved for the stairs to follow Kate. But he paused. He turned back, and he raised a brow. "Who were you just talking to Lily about? Your rhythms are all off. I haven't seen you this nervous since…" He paused to think.

"Since two months ago," Mor finished for him, his smile fading. "With Luc."

Cress came back down a step.

Mor folded his arms and kicked a clump of dust on the floor. "I told Luc I'd give him one chance to leave. That's why I wasn't going to say anything. Please don't tell the others. Queensbane, I wasn't even planning to tell you."

"Well, everyone knows you're bad at keeping secrets. It's the fox's fault for trusting you," Cress said, and Mor shot him a look. Cress released an exasperated sigh. "Fine. We won't meddle with him if he doesn't meddle with us. But don't tell Dranian the fox is back. The fool is already heated about his arm being stolen. He won't handle it well."

Mor nodded. "He'd probably go on a hunt through the night or some other absurd thing."

A cool breeze brushed through the cathedral, driving a shiver up Mor's spine. Cress headed the rest of the way up the stairs, but Mor remained, looking out the doors to the city, pondering. The topic of "secrets" put another thought into the forefront of his faeborn mind.

He slid his phone back out, looking at the call history. Looking at Lily's number.

Everyone trusted Lily to a fault. But the truth was that Shayne had been onto something before he left. It wasn't the first time the barefoot trinket thief had been right when accusing someone of hiding a big, often dangerous secret. Mor saw people's feelings in a way others didn't, but there were times when he truly wondered if Shayne actually "saw people" better.

Lily was spending long hours at work these days, yet Shayne claimed he'd once stopped in at Lily's office and she wasn't there. It hadn't seemed like a big deal at the time, but now that Mor thought it through, the human often came home smelling of unfamiliar materials. Metals instead of sweat.

Mor dragged a hand through his hair. Maybe he was reaching, fabricating a story in his own mind of something that didn't exist. He glanced up toward his office where the sounds of Cress telling Violet about the improvements to his new cookbook emerged .

Mor could be gone and back before they even realized he'd left.

Mor's feet landed on the sidewalk in a gentle whisper. Cold air nipped at his bare arms as he looked both ways. He marched up to the human police station and swung wide the door, the wind tossing his hair every which way. A few officers glanced up at him when he came in—possibly recognizing him since he'd barged in and demanded their help only months ago—but most of them seemed distracted with work.

Human criminals and victims alike lined up at various desks, waiting their turn, all crowded in, complaining and shouting and shoving. It was an absolute wildlife park, worse than a disorganized hogbeast farm. It was nearly enough to make him turn and leave again, but instead he scanned the desks for a pretty, tattooed female.

When he spotted Lily's desk, he found it vacant.

Mor weaved through the congested human bodies. He reached her desk, brows coming together as he took note of the turned-off lamp, the pushed in chair, and the absence of her coat on its hook. Papers were stacked neatly to the side, and a series of books rested by the tray of buttons for her computer. Mor slowly spun the top volume toward himself so he might read the title.

"You can't touch Baker's stuff." A voice stopped Mor before he could flip the volume open. He slowly lifted his fingers off and turned around.

A stout officer stood there. One Mor didn't recognize, but the officer seemed to recognize Mor as he blinked up at him.

"Ah, you're Baker's friend," he said with a nod. "She's not in today. She switched shifts with me."

Mor adjusted to face the fellow fully. "Is that so." It was a question, but it was also more than that. The dawning of a story incomplete.

The radio at the officer's chest buzzed with several indecipherable words, and the officer lifted the device to murmur something back.

"Gotta go. I'll let Baker know you came by when I see her tomorrow," the officer said as he turned to leave.

"Actually," Mor glanced back at Lily's dim desk; at the strange books, "don't tell her I was here. I'll see her another time."

The officer nodded and took off without saying goodbye.

Mor stayed in the police station for another heartbeat as the noise drowned out his thoughts. Then he rubbed his temples and headed back outside.

"What are you up to, Human?" he mumbled as he left. He hopped into the wind and appeared in the cathedral a second later, noticing a fresh drip of coffee staining the emerald carpet.

As he'd expected, Cress was still going on about his cookbook upstairs.

So , Mor was keeping a large secret from Dranian .

Lily was keeping a large secret from everyone .

Luc had come looking for Mor like he knew a large secret.

Sky deities have mercy. What was going on?