Chapter 14
Leonie had been worried that they’d soon run out of leads. Even with Tiff’s assistance, she hadn’t expected to uncover more than a handful of second-hand stories to investigate.
A week later, they had exactly the opposite problem.
“The Soul-Sucking Ghost of Thunder Mountain Strikes Again,” Honey read aloud from the latest edition of the camp newspaper.
For privacy, the senior staff had gathered in the camp office after dark—though with both Ragvald and Shan, it made for a tight squeeze.
“Further scenes of horror this week, as five more campers report encountering the ghastly apparition stalking the camp...” She looked up, eyebrows raising.
“At this rate, the newspaper is going to need to add another page.”
“If only for the illustrations,” Conleth murmured, flicking through his own copy.
Leonie sighed. “At least no one seems to be taking this seriously.”
Moira nodded in agreement, the beads at the ends of her long box braids clicking together. “From the gossip I’ve overheard, most of the campers think it’s the junior counselors playing an elaborate prank.”
“Let’s try to encourage that thought,” Zephyr said. He glanced across his desk at Shan. “Did you speak to the witnesses?”
Shan nodded. “They are exaggerating some details. But they are not lying.”
“Oh, come on,” Buck said. Baby Ashley sprawled against his shoulder, sound asleep and drooling onto his camp T-shirt. “A floating, glowing specter vanishes into thin air when anyone tries to get close? Exactly which part of that isn’t exaggerated?”
Shan’s expression was distinctly pained. “All of it.”
“It has to be the kids,” said Honey. “Estelle and the others, I mean. It’s too much of a coincidence otherwise.”
“Of course it’s them.” Leonie rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. “I just wish I could figure out how they’re doing it.”
“I could talk to Archie,” Paige suggested.
Leonie shook her head. “No, that would tip them off that we know they’ve been lying from the start. They still don’t know about Shan’s ability.”
Honey blew out her breath. “I hate that we’re having to ask Rufus to keep secrets from his friends.”
“Me too,” Leonie said. “Hopefully, it won’t be for too much longer. Though all these red herrings really aren’t helping.”
“Have there been any useful reports?” Zephyr asked.
“A few,” Shan replied. “Leonie, the map, please?”
For safety, Leonie had been keeping their notes safely hidden at the bottom of her clipboard, which rarely left her side. She pulled out the map of Thunder Mountain, spreading it across Zephyr’s desk for everyone to see.
“These are the locations of the reports from the sheriff,” Shan said, gesturing at one of the scattered red dots.
His gloved finger moved down, indicating a few wider areas marked in dotted blue lines.
“And these, as far as we’ve been able to determine, are genuine sightings from campers. All before this summer.”
“That’s where Claire saw it,” Leonie said, pointing.
“We know that one pretty precisely, since Buck was able to remember where he took the kids that night. The rest are more of a guess. There are a couple of campers who swear they saw a strange floating light while they were out playing night tag last year. And a few more who admitted to sneaking out of their cabins and getting spooked by something in the woods.”
Zephyr rested his chin on his hands, frowning. “Not as dramatic as Hetta’s story. But put together, it’s a troubling pattern.”
Moira surveyed the mess of annotations. “If you can see a pattern in this, you’ve got a good imagination. Nobody seems to see this light in the same place twice.”
“No, but look at this.” Leonie leaned over Shan’s arm, tracing a wide curve across the mountainside. “All the sheriff’s reports are on this side. And all of ours are over here. Put together, they make a circle, see? Centered on this part of the woods.”
Moira was looking at her rather oddly. Leonie opened her mouth to explain her theory further, and then realized she was leaning on Shan, one arm propped up on his shoulder. He didn’t seem to have noticed, but possibly only out of excessive politeness.
She straightened in a hurry, trying to pretend she hadn’t just draped herself across her colleague like a scarf. “We think that’s where Hetta got lost, too. If this thing exists at all, that’s where we should look for it.”
Ragvald stroked his beard. “Young Hetta said she saw this light emerge from a dead tree, did she not? Perhaps it is a landvaettir.”
Buck looked at Moira. “Was that a sneeze or a word?”
Moira frowned. “It’s a little hard to capture the nuance, but I think the best translation would be being-of-the-land. They’re nature spirits tied to a specific place, according to wyrmish beliefs.”
“One does not believe in landvaettir,” said Ragvald, with great dignity. “They simply are.”
“Spirit or no spirit, locating this dead tree would at least tell us we’re in the right area,” Zephyr said. He glanced at Buck. “Does it ring any bells?”
Buck gave him a level look. “You’re asking me if I know one specific tree. In a whole motherloving forest.”
“Honestly, I’m only surprised you can’t immediately rattle off its first name and all its cousins,” Conleth muttered.
“We could get camp staff to look for it,” Paige said. “But that’s a large area to cover.”
“I have been flying a search pattern after the children are in bed,” Shan said. “Though there is little to see from the air. The canopy is too thick.”
“We’ll have to search on foot.” Zephyr grimaced apologetically. “Those of us who can, at least. Leonie, could you divide the area into a grid, and draw up a potential search rota? We’ll need people whose animal forms have good noses and night vision, and who’ll be able to cover the ground quickly.”
“I will take care of that,” Shan said as she opened her mouth to agree. “If you will give me access to the staff files.”
She didn’t relish the prospect of a few more hours of work tonight, but she shook her head. “It’ll be faster if I do it.”
“True.” Shan folded up the map, tucking it into his back pocket. “But you also do far too much already. This is my job. I will handle it.”
“Meeting adjourned, then,” Zephyr said, rising. As everyone started filing out of the office, he cleared his throat. “Ah, Uncle? You seem to have forgotten to return my daughter.”
“You were looking rather comfortable back there,” Moira said as they were walking to their cabins. Ragvald trailed a discreet distance behind, politely pretending he couldn’t overhear. “With Shan.”
Leonie groaned. “Don’t remind me. I guess I’m just so used to pretending we’re mates, I forget to drop the act when we’re not in front of the kids.”
“Hmm,” Moira said neutrally. “If so, you’re not the only one.”
Before Leonie could ask what that was supposed to mean, her back pocket buzzed. With an apologetic glance at Moira, she pulled out her phone.
1 New Message
Birdbrain
Back early. Want to call?
“Oh!” She flashed the screen at Moira, a goofy grin spreading across her face. “Sorry, Moira. I have to take this.”
“Of course.” Moira waved her off, smiling. “Tell Lola I said hello.”
Her small, private cabin was set near the edge of the woods, well away from the kids. Leonie unlocked her door, already dialing with the other hand.
A face as familiar as her own grinned up at her from the screen. “Hey, Catbutt.”
She smiled back at her twin sister. “Hi, Birdbrain. I thought you were still out on a job.”
“Eh, it wasn’t much of a fire. Didn’t take us long to get it under control. And speaking of hot things, what’s this I hear about you acquiring your own personal bodyguard?”
“He’s not my bodyguard.” Closing the door behind her, she sat on the edge of her bed. “And he’s more of a general security operative, anyway. He’s a special agent from Shifter Affairs.”
Lola raised an eyebrow. “So, he is hot, then?”
She could see herself blush in the front-facing camera feed at the bottom of the screen. “I didn’t say that. How did you even hear about him, anyway?”
Lola smirked. “Same way I get all the gossip. Pegasus Express. I gather you two have been quite the hot topic on the triplets’ group chat.”
“I am going to kill Conleth,” Leonie muttered to herself.
She should have known the news from camp would have got back to Lola, since she was on the same smokejumper crew as one of Conleth’s brothers.
“I don’t know what those feathers-for-brains have been saying about the two of us, but it’s not like that.
Shan’s working as my co-counselor for a while, that’s all. He’s here undercover.”
“What, right now? In your bedroom?”
“Birdbrain! Of course not!”
“Would you like him to be?”
She glared at her sister. “What do you think?”
Lola cackled, eyes bright with amusement. They were lighter than her own; eagle yellow rather than lion amber. “So, tell me about this guy that you are definitely not fantasizing about banging.”
Letting out a groan, Leonie flopped backward onto the bed. “He could rip a tree in half with his bare hands, treats everyone with meticulous courtesy, and thinks he’s a monster.”
Her sister digested this. “You’re doomed.”
“Tell me about it.” She rolled over, feet in the air. “It’s okay. I can keep my hopeless crush to myself. Though if you tell anyone about any of this, I’ll murder you and hide your body at the bottom of the lake.”
“My lips are sealed.” Lola cocked her head, the movement sharp and birdlike. “Though why is it hopeless? From what I hear, he seems to be into you.”
“It’s… complicated.” If she told her sister about the whole fake mate thing, she’d never hear the end of it. “He doesn’t really feel that way about me. Trust me on that one.”
“If you say so,” Lola said, though she didn’t sound convinced. “Why do you have a secret agent pretending to be a counselor, anyway? Connor tried to give me some garbled story about ghosts, but that’s got to be bullshit. You can’t seriously think the camp is haunted.”