Chapter 19
“ W hat the hell?” I whispered. Wylen had silently jumped to his feet, taking a stance that was much more predatory than he was a few moments ago. “Is that a body?”
“It appears so.” Wylen sniffed the air and then turned his now-glowing eyes on me. “Yes, it is a body. Not sure if it’s dead, but I can definitely smell human blood.”
Saoirse stood with her arms crossed, looking down into the trunk like she was taking inventory of the groceries.
Eventually, she stepped forward, lifted the limp arm, and shoved it back inside.
Donald had turned his back on the scene, but it was Maren who acted first. Looking around the alley, she lifted up on her tip toes and slammed the trunk shut again.
With hands flying around Saoirse’s face, she screamed at her.
I picked up on a few words like “trusted you” and “stupid” before Maren stomped off and disappeared into the shop with a slam of the door.
The driver smashed his fist into his car, making the metal screech in the relative silence of the area.
Saoirse walked away with Donald, and the man was left with the car and the body.
After a few moments of contemplation, the guy finally got into the vehicle and drove out the other side of the alley .
“Holy shit,” I breathed, slinking back down against the wall. “Did we just see a murder victim?”
“Perhaps,” Wylen said matter-of-factly.
“Perhaps,” I repeated. My heart was racing, pounding against my chest like it wanted to run the other direction. And then my stomach rumbled. It was the absolute worst timing, as I was pretty sure I just saw a dead body. But my internal clock and ball of nerves said otherwise.
“Was that you?” Wylen asked.
“Yes,” I groaned. “I haven’t eaten much today, and now I feel sick.” Thinking about that, it was true. We’d had breakfast, and then I had my root beer float for lunch. Not exactly feeding myself enough calories. Add that to the dead body and…
“We should eat,” Wylen said, standing and offering me a hand up.
“But we just saw?—”
“Food will help us think clearly. I always do my best planning with a full stomach. And we need to make a plan.”
He had a point.
Slowly tucking my legs beneath me, I set my palm in his and let him pull me up. “This seems a little strange.”
“It’s not,” he replied quickly. “What shall we eat while we discuss the next steps?”
If Wylen was freaked out about seeing a possibly dead body, I would have never known. “Well, I think we should get out of this part of town. How about pizza?”
“Sounds good,” he said before adding a few seconds later, “What is pizza?”
“ N o one likes the pineapple pizza,” I told Wylen for the hundredth time.
“I do not understand why. The fruit is sweet and the sauce is spicy. It’s a perfect combination.” He licked his fingers after shoving the final piece of crust into his mouth. “I believe this is the best food I have had in your world.”
Shaking my head, I pushed my plate to the side. I’d only managed to get down one piece of cheese pizza—my stomach just couldn’t handle it. I was hungry, but I was more worried about what we’d witnessed outside of Saoirse’s shop. Plus, Tris hadn’t texted me back yet, which wasn’t helping my anxiety.
“We should have followed that car,” I said.
“I agree.” Wylen wiped his mouth and then tossed his used paper napkin on the table. “I will find the car.”
“No, we’re supposed to do this together.”
“You can’t travel like I can.”
“I hate you,” I mumbled, and Wylen winked at me.
“You have your skills, and I have mine. Besides, I…” He snapped his lips together and stopped talking.
“You what?” I pressed. When it was clear he didn’t plan on continuing, I glared at him. “What were you going to say?”
He shook his head and took a sip of his soda. “Nothing.”
I leaned forward, pushing my will into him. I had absolutely no idea how my special gift worked, but I was determined to start using it to my advantage when needed. Staring into his eyes, I envisioned a black fog of sorts coming out of me and wrapping around him. “Tell me, Wylen.”
“I’m not sure how much longer I will be able to travel in your world.”
Sitting back into my side of the booth, I crossed my arms and studied the fae. “You mean teleport?”
He nodded.
“Is that why you crashed into my bathroom this morning?”
Another nod.
“It’s getting harder for you to control.”
“Yes. So please let me find this man and his car before I am unable to assist anymore.” He’d straightened back up into his usual perfect posture, and the formality of his statement had me wondering if there wasn’t more behind his request to help.
As though it might be his last task, my stomach churned again at the thought of something bad happening to him.
“Are you sure you can?” I finally asked.
“There was a distinct scent. It will be easy to track.” He suddenly leaned forward and set his arms on the table. “I promise to come and find you when I know where the man and the car are located.”
“I mean, are you sure you will be able to travel like you do?”
“I will find a way.”
As though it was his sole purpose in life, Wylen said that last part like a solemn vow. I suspected it meant more to him as a fae than it would if he were human.
“Okay,” I agreed. “But please be careful.” When he started to stand, I reached forward to stop him. “Also, you can’t teleport from in here. Go outside and find a dark place and?—”
His laughter cut me off. “I know, Sosie.” He started to walk toward the door, but then stopped and turned his head to look at me. “Thank you.”
“For the pizza?”
He paused. “Sure.”
Watching him stroll past the front counter and out the door that gave a little chime as he opened it, I wondered what that meant. Once again, I worried that Wylen was saying more than I heard and that the fae loved twisting their words into multiple meanings.
Following Wylen’s ball cap as he walked past the front windows and then disappeared, I had a moment of clarity.
Or maybe it was a realization that this is my new life.
A few days ago, I was someone else. Now I was part of a world I never knew existed, and it seemed like every couple of hours, I was learning more.
Halflings with supernatural powers. Underground fighting circuits that were designed for non-humans.
A full-blooded fae helping me track down my real father.
Others like me who might be murdering people and stuffing them into trunks of giant cars.
It was a lot to take in.
Feeling that ache of needing someone to talk to, I checked my comm phone only to see that I had no response from Tris.
With a sigh, I dropped my head into my hands.
Tris. That was a whole other discovery I needed to deal with.
I loved Tris. I always had. But now things were different.
We had gone that extra step, and now we needed to figure out how to navigate this new part of our relationship.
Did I even want that kind of relationship with him?
Yes. The answer was yes.
Tris was the person I wanted to call when I had something good happen.
Or something bad. Or as I navigated this whole new reality of living with creatures we’d only ever seen in movies and read about in books.
Tris was more than my best friend, and he’d been that way for a while now.
I’d just been too ignorant to notice how much he meant to me.
Tris not being a part of my life was a scenario I never wanted to contemplate.
We worked well together, both professionally and personally.
We could do this relationship thing. We could be happy and successful and support each other for years to come.
But leaving me in the middle of an investigation was not a good start.
Okay. That probably wasn’t fair. Tris had been thrown into this alternative reality just like me, and he needed to deal with it in his own way.
I got that. Really, I understood that he had to get some answers.
I suppose if I hadn’t had Wylen here to help convince me that I came from a fae bloodline, I would be just as anxious to discover all that I could.
I don’t know if I’d join a secret underground fight club to do it, but then again…
I was a sucker for always following the story.
As my brain processed the one-sided conversation, I hadn’t realized that I’d started walking toward my bike. Strange how routine actions happened automatically when your mind was busy understanding the impacts of supernatural things existing in your world.
I was going to see Tris. Yes, I wanted to talk to him about what Wylen and I had discovered.
And the fact that I had put all the searching into Wylen’s hands meant that I couldn’t do anything else right now.
That license plate number was burning a hole in my back pocket, but Wylen had been right.
I needed to give him the chance to do the job he was sent here to do.
Man, what was I becoming? A grown-up?
Smiling at my constant internal dialogue, I finally made it to the Black Graves District and turned down the street that would lead me to the warehouse.
But I stopped before going any further. What if I ran into the strange woman again?
She didn’t seem to want to hurt me, but she was very scary.
And without the guys here distracting her attention, she might be inclined to go after me.
Shivering with a fear that chilled me to the bones, I accelerated.
I’ll just drive past her and her creepiness and hope that she avoids vehicles.
That one block felt like ten, and by the time I turned right at the dead end, I let out the breath I’d been holding.
If she’d been hiding in the shadows, I hadn’t seen her, and that was just perfectly fine with me.
Pulling over to the side, I parked between several other bikes, many of them much nicer than mine.
At the warehouse entrance, nearly a hundred feet away, I could already see the Monster blocking the front door.
No one else was in line, and I took that as a sign that I would be given a chance to plead my case without an audience.
Sauntering up to the big guy, I waved and gave him my best smile. “Hi there.”
He barely looked down at me. “No.” His giant arms were crossed, again standing in that typical security position that just oozed authority and nonchalance.
Tonight, he was in all black, which included jeans and a leather vest that hung open around his chest. I didn’t think he could button it even if he wanted to.
“Excuse me, Mr. Monster. My friend is inside, and I need to see him. You may remember us?—”
“No,” he snapped again.
“But he invited me,” I lied .
The Monster finally dropped his gaze to look at me. “You’re lying. I can smell it.”
What ? Not the creepiest thing I’d heard in this last week, but definitely up there with the chill level. Guess it was time to try my power…
Like I did with Wylen, I imagined a fog seeping out from me and wrapping around the ogre.
It took a lot of fog to cover the giant man, and there was a nasty headache brewing behind my eyes by the time I’d done it.
But I pushed through and concentrated as hard as I could. “Will you please let me inside?”
He narrowed his eyes and dropped his arms. “No.”
“Come on, please.” Push, push, push.
“We don’t like your kind.”
“I’m harmless.”
“The fae are arrogant.”
“Good thing I’m only half fae.” I smiled up at the Monster, seeing my invisible fog swirl around his biceps. I had a feeling it was working.
He scrunched up his face and shook his head a few times. “What are you doing to me?”
I shrugged and feigned innocence. “Nothing.”
He leaned forward, dropping his large head and getting very close to my face. He sniffed the air, and I watched as the fog danced across his bald head. “I think you’re lying.”
I just smiled at him and forced myself not to step backward. “Please, I need to see my friend. It’s a matter of life and death.”
Standing back up to his full height, he sucked in a deep breath. I waited almost a full minute before he spoke again. “That is the truth.” His questioning tone led me to believe he wanted to ask me more, but he was a man of few words.
“Please?” I asked one more time.
The Monster took a step back and grabbed the door handle. As he pulled the tall metal door open for me, I smiled at the ogre.
“Thank you.”
He only nodded. But he sniffed me again when I walked past, sending chills down the back of my neck. Sucking in my invisible fog, I pulled my “power” back to me and ignored the Monster’s grunt when it disappeared.
Hurrying through the narrow foyer area, I quickly pushed through the second door before the Monster could change his mind.
Like the other night, the sounds of cheering and the stench of body odor almost knocked me back.
My stomach swirled with that cheese pizza I ate, and it took a real effort to keep it down.
But when I heard a shout from the fighting ring on my left, the nausea rose all the way to my throat. Tris was in trouble and had just let out a scream so horrendous, the entire warehouse went silent.