Chapter 3

One thingI missed from my house was the wrap-around porch, so Killian had hired Jim Lark of Jim Lark ’n Sons to build one on our house. Jim had supervised renovations on my own house, and we knew and trusted him. His crew had started in mid-March and were finished by the end of April, and now we had a lovely wrap-around enclosed porch like the one I was used to. I could sit outside and drink coffee on mornings that were warm enough, and that was all I needed to be perfectly happy to make our new home in Killian’s house.

I fixed a triple latte and, together with a tuna sandwich, I sat out on the porch, contemplating my life. Everything had changed so much in the past five years. My ex was now in prison for most of the rest of his life, for trying to kill both me and Killian. I had left the big city and moved back to Moonshadow Bay. I worked—except for this sabbatical—for a paranormal investigations company. I had seen things I never knew existed, and I had pushed myself into doing more than I ever thought I could. I had met the love of my life, and I was now the wife of a wolf shifter. All in all, a complete 180, from a life of stifling frustration and neglect to a life filled with wonder and love. If I could just get my best friend back, I’d be absolutely thrilled.

I brought out my phone and, after a moment, texted Killian.

briar sent me a message via rebecca. he’s calling in my debt. there’s a creature roaming the town that i have to find before it begins killing people. the fae let it escape, and they want it back but can’t openly go hunting, so briar asked me to find and destroy it.

Sure enough, within a few seconds, Killian answered. crap. what’s the creature called? how dangerous is it? can you enlist your grandmother for help?

no,I answered. apparently the fae are in negotiations with the court magika and this could disrupt matters. since rowan is an officer of the court, i can’t tell her about it. i thought i’d ask tad and the others at conjure ink if they can help me.

good idea.After a pause, Killian added: just be cautious. i know you can’t ignore the request, but you’re going to keep me apprised about everything that happens and i’m going to help you. no questions about it, so don’t even protest.

i won’t.Then, smiling, I added, i love you more than you can imagine.

and i love you more than you’ll ever know. i’ve got to get back to work. heavy day today and i’ll be late. don’t wait dinner on me.

As I texted back my love and signed off, the sun broke through again and the tangy, lazy smell of summer coming in swept over me. I was a lucky woman, and I was glad that I knew that.

* * *

Tad,Caitlin, and Hank were both surprised and happy to see me when I arrived at work. Wren was out again—her husband Walter had had a bad fall and she was gone for a couple of days until he could heal up. The experimental medication that he was on wasn’t working, and I wondered if he’d been assigned a placebo. It was in a blind trial and Wren and Walter wouldn’t know until the treatment had run its course. For the past few weeks, I’d had the uncomfortable feeling that Walter wouldn’t make it out of this alive. MS could be so many things to so many people, but he was deteriorating quickly, and his body seemed determined to buck all the meds.

“So, how’s the life of leisure?” Tad asked. I knew he was joking, so I just laughed at the crack. “What can we do for you?”

I sighed. “You can welcome me back part time, at least? I’m kind of done staying at home 24/7. I’m still working on the book, but I need to get out of the house more often. I brought a case with me,” I added, dangling the bait.

Tad perked up. “You want to come back? I thought for sure at least you’d be out the summer.”

“Well, you lose that bet,” I said. “Seriously, I am not cut out to sit at home all day with my thoughts. When I was running the magazine, I was at work everyday, even when I was writing the articles to go in it.”

“So, what’s the case you’re bringing in?” Caitlin said.

I glanced around the new new office. Tad and Caitlin now lived in the house to which we’d originally moved Conjure Ink, and now, the business was settled into a former dance studio from decades past. It was a comfortable place, with a few spirits who were welcome to stay because they were so likable. It felt good to be back in a professional setting, and with Tad no longer living on premises, we could dedicate all the space to Conjure Ink.

“Can we sit?” I motioned to the round table. It was the one thing that consistently moved with us. Or, rather, it was the one thing that spelled out Conjure Ink to me. We sat at it when brainstorming and for all staff meetings. It had unwittingly become the heart and soul of the company. A place where everyone was equal, and all our voices mattered.

As we gathered around the table, I felt the gentle touch of Miss Penny. Penelope Finch, the dance teacher who had long ago owned Miss Penny’s Dance Music Academy, had stuck around. She was well aware she was dead, but she wasn’t quite ready to move on yet. Her spirit was a gentle one, though, and she liked people. She liked them so much, she had stayed in this plane, wanting to make contact on some level.

I smiled and glanced over my shoulder. I could barely see her there—or at least, the outline of her aura. “Thanks, Miss Penny. I’m glad to see you, too.”

“Penny here?” Caitlin asked.

Hank nodded. “Yeah, I can see her. I have to say, I enjoy her company.”

“When I was here alone at night a few weeks ago, I felt completely safe. It felt like she was keeping an eye on the door, and I never once felt uneasy. I like having her here,” Caitlin said.

“I was thinking I want to get her story,” I said. “I’d like to know why she’s staying here. If there’s something she feels she left unfinished, I might be able to help her.” At their looks, I held up my hand. “I know, I know. We all like Miss Penny, but if she has unfinished business, it’s only right to help her figure it out. If she’s just hanging out because she wants to, that’s another matter.”

“All right, if you insist. Go ahead and mark that down on your to-do list. So, what’s this case you have? We could use something to sink our teeth into. It’s been too quiet lately. I’m wondering if things are just gearing up for a busy summer on the paranormal side of things.” Tad pulled out his notebook.

“Okay, this is going back to our ill-fated camping trip. Remember Briar?”

Tad’s face drained, as did Hank’s. Caitlin let out a groan.

“That’s right, he’s calling in his favor. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not horrible. In fact, I think I’m getting off easy, to be honest.” I handed Briar’s note to Tad. “Here, read this. Rebecca gave it to me this morning. He enlisted her to deliver it.”

Tad read it, whistled, and then handed it to Caitlin. Hank leaned in, reading over her shoulder. After they finished, they handed it back to me. Tad was already tapping away on his laptop.

“Well, what do you think?” I asked.

“I’m looking up the sluagh right now. I assume you haven’t had time to research,” he said, squinting at the screen.

“Right. I was thinking we could search the databases here to see if there’s any lore on them. Also, we can’t consult Rowan. If the Court Magika finds out that the Fae have lost track of a dangerous member of the sub-Fae, then there’s going to be trouble. And if I leak it, then Briar’s going to be on my ass about it. I don’t want to make the Overkings angry.” I frowned. “It would help if I knew what the sluagh looks like.”

Tad worried his lip, deep in his search. “I’m looking.”

“I’m getting some coffee. January, want some?” Caitlin stood, heading toward the break room. Tad had outfitted it to fit my suggestions when we first looked at the place.

“Thanks, but I’m still finishing my latte.” I held up my cup.

“I’ve never dealt with the Fae except on the periphery of other issues,” Hank said. “They’re cunning and quick to twist words and meanings.” He grimaced and I had the feeling he was still feeling guilty for being the cause of this whole situation. I not only needed their help, but this would go a long ways to finally settling all the disruption caused by our ill-fated attempt to hunt down Bigfoot on Hank’s insistence.

“That they are,” I said. “Maybe you can help me. I spoke to Rebecca because I remember how hypnotic Briar was. She suggested that I maybe wear something with iron in it?—”

“No, that would be a big mistake. Yes, it would keep them away from you, but Briar would take it as a huge insult if you even came near him with iron.”

“She also suggested peppermint and mugwort tea.”

“That will help. We can stop him from getting his hooks in you, but wearing iron? Bad idea.” He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest.

“I thought so,” I said. “I told her I wasn’t going to wear iron.”

“Got it!” Tad turned his laptop around so we could see. “I found this in the database of one of the sites overseen by Urban Legends.” Urban Legends was an umbrella group for several organizations like Conjure Ink. Tad had pulled it together so we could all combine our info and build an amazing library of events and creatures.

The screen showed several terrifying pictures. The creature in question was short and squat, with spindly legs that looked too thin to hold up the barrel-shaped torso. The arms were long and spindly as well, and the body reminded me of Fungus out of Monsters, Inc. The sluagh’s mottled, tan torso was partly squishy, partly fuzzy, and the creature had one central eye, like a cyclops. Inside of its gash of a mouth, sharp, needle-like teeth glistened.

“How tall is it?” Caitlin asked, before I had the chance.

“It says here that this one was about five feet tall. I’ve found several accounts mentioning their height range as between four to five feet or so. They are rarely seen, and the last known encounter—when these pictures were taken—was from 1974. Apparently, the Fae have gotten better at keeping them away from human society.” Tad enlarged the article, which was taken from a microfiche copy of a magazine. “This account comes from June 8, 1974. It was printed in a journal called Everyday Myths Monsters that went out of business in 1992.”

Janet and Tyler Mason never expected to be attacked by a sluagh—one of the Celtic sub-Fae—when they were driving home to their farm in Terameth Lake. At eleven p.m., as they passed by Hell’s Thicket, their car broke down. The couple got out to walk to the nearest gas station, but they had walked for no more than about five minutes when a creature broke through the bushes and made straight for them.

The creature was approximately five feet tall, and the body spread out from the spindly legs into a barrel-shaped torso, with long branch-like arms, a central eye that was as big as a human child’s head, and tufts of hair between the legs. It was impossible to tell if there were genitals, so the sex of the creature was unknown.

However, the gaping mouth below the eye was wide and thin, with several rows of needle-shaped teeth. Before they could take another step, the creature gave chase and took down Tyler. It bit through his jugular before he could fight it off. Janet managed to climb a nearby tree, and the creature seemed unable to follow her, so it shambled off into the forest after eating part of Tyler’s side and chest.

A police officer responded to reports of screams and they found her in the tree. She managed to describe the creature to them before sliding into unconsciousness. When she regained consciousness, she was mute, and eventually, though doctors did their best to work with her, she slid into a state of catatonia. She was committed to a long-term care facility, where she eventually died. She never regained her awareness, and the only evidence police had, with regards to Tyler’s death, was the account she had been able to give them and the pictures on her camera that she had taken before the creature attacked Tyler.

The autopsy exonerated her from any part in his death, and while some people thought a cougar had attacked them, the coroner said no large animal he knew of could cause that kind of damage and leave bite marks in the shape that they found on Tyler’s torso. The case remains open to this day.

“How do they know it was a sluagh?” Caitlin asked.

Tad scanned the rest of the article. “Apparently, this group of paranormal investigators went in, thinking it was some sort of demon. They were actually ghost hunters, but they quickly discovered that the creature hadn’t left—it was still there. They encountered it on the second day of their investigation, and it damned near killed the entire team. They got away, but every one of them was injured, and it turns out one of the Overkings—the Fae—saved them. The Fae managed to subdue the sluagh, and he warned the team to get the hell out of there. He let slip what they were fighting.”

“And they got a picture of it,” I said.

“Right. The other cases—the few there are—have similar stories,” Tad said, leaning back in his chair.

“Well,” I said. “Are you with me? Are we going to go sluagh hunting?”

Hank laughed. “You know we’re in, January. Now, time to figure out how to find it, where to find it, and what to do with it.”

Just like that, I was back at work.