Chapter 2
“Chief,” Beulah Owens called from behind her front desk. “Another call just came in. There’s a disturbance out at Drury Marsh on the east side of town.”
Mason Wolfe sat back in his chair and groaned. It was his first day on the job, and the phones hadn’t stopped ringing with supposed disturbance calls, which he’d since realized were just Moonlight Bay citizens snooping for gossip about the new chief of police.
“You want me to check it out?” Officer Dixon, a lanky vampire, asked from his desk.
Moonlight Bay wasn’t a large paranormal town by any stretch of the imagination.
The population sat around seven thousand.
When Mason had interviewed for the position over Broom Chat—the supernatural equivalent of what humans called Zoom—the town council had told him he’d have two officers working under him, and he had to admit, so far, he was impressed.
He figured he’d be doing most of the work himself, but that didn’t seem to be the case at all.
“I heard Adeline and her posse may be targeting Drury Marsh.” Officer Casswell leaned against his doorjamb and sipped her coffee. “Might be a legitimate call, Chief.”
Mason frowned and steepled his fingers. “A woman named Adeline has a posse? Why does she need a posse?”
Officers Dixon and Casswell exchanged a look. Before Mason could question them further, Beulah piped up. “What should I tell the caller, Chief? He wants you to come down immediately.”
Mason sighed and pushed back from his desk. He grabbed his keys off the blotter and stood. “Tell whoever’s on the phone that I’ll be there in...” He trailed off and glanced at Casswell. “How long will it take me?”
“About five minutes,” the witch said.
“Do you want us to go with you?” Dixon asked. “You might need backup.”
Mason shook his head. “No. I’m sure I can handle this Adeline and her posse.”
There it was again. That look between his two officers. The one that made him feel like he was the only person in the room who wasn’t in on the joke. He heard Beulah relay the message to the caller, so he figured he’d better move. He had no idea where Drury Marsh was located, though.
As he headed out the door, Beulah held out a manila folder. “You might want to look this over before you get there, Chief.” The fairy gave him a tight smile. “Chief Dawson left it for you.”
Mason took the folder and tucked it under his arm. “Thanks, Beulah.”
“And here’s a map to where you need to go.” She handed him a hand-drawn map. “It’s crude, but it’ll get ya there. I assume you still need to download the PADA app that tells you where every citizen lives and works in Moonlight Bay?”
“It’s on my list of things to do,” he grumbled.
“Call if you need backup, Chief,” Officer Casswell called out.
He stepped out onto the wraparound porch of the police station—a brick one-story building—and nodded to a gargoyle couple walking past on the sidewalk.
They waved back, craning their necks to get a look at him.
He’d been getting that all morning. He was the new chief in a small town.
He could understand the looks and whispers.
His police-issued Tahoe was parked out front along the curb.
He slid behind the wheel, tossed the folder onto the passenger seat, and looked at the map Beulah had given him.
She’d labeled the streets and important markers for him to watch for.
He should be able to find the marsh without too much trouble.
Mason pulled away from the station and headed east along Tide Street.
Even on his first day, he could see why people loved this town.
The cobblestone street was lined with pastel-painted buildings, like so many coastal towns.
Most of the buildings also had wrought-iron balconies with flowers spilling over the railings, and enchanted fairy lights were strung between the lampposts even though it was broad daylight.
And when he inhaled...he smelled water and fish.
And he was happy to discover that his wolf liked it.
He turned past Crescent Park and slowed.
The Grandmother Tree stood in the center of the town square park, and Mason couldn’t help but stare.
He’d read about it in the briefing materials, but reading about it and seeing it were two very different things.
The live oak was massive—its canopy spread wide enough to shade half the park and square, and its branches were draped with Spanish moss that shimmered in the sunlight.
Not a trick of the light, either. The moss magically shimmered.
A faint, silvery pulse that made the whole tree look like it was breathing.
He’d grown up around old magic. Enchanted Island had Black Forest and the Genius Loci who watched over it.
A sentient force who kept the island’s magic balanced, grew the forest and island as needed, and protected everything within its borders.
Mason had never set foot in Black Forest himself, but every kid on the island knew about the Genius Loci the way every kid knew not to go to the north side of the island.
You didn’t question it. You just respected it.
The Grandmother Tree had that same feeling.
He thought about his cousin, Grant Wolfe.
Well, technically his second-cousin, but they’d always just said cousins.
Grant was a detective on Enchanted Island and had married a local woman named Serena, who owned a bakery.
They had twins now, a boy and a girl. The last update Mason had gotten from Grant was last week when his cousin had sent pictures of the twins covered in birthday cake. They’d just turned a year old.
He hadn’t been back to Enchanted Island in years.
Not since he’d left after high school for the paranormal police academy, and then straight into PADA’s undercover division.
He’d been gone for months at a stretch, sometimes longer, and the nature of undercover work meant he’d had to keep his personal life sealed off from his professional one.
Witches and fairies on the force could glamour their appearances at random.
Werewolves couldn’t exactly do that on a whim.
So Mason had done what he’d had to do—stayed away, stayed quiet, and let the years pile up.
He hadn’t seen his family in a very long time. Hadn’t met Grant and Serena’s kids. Maybe now that he’d retired from PADA and taken the chief’s position in Moonlight Bay, he could change that. Make the trip. See family he hadn’t really spent time with in over a decade.
The thought sat heavy in his chest as he turned left onto a narrow lane that was more path than road, the edges choked with marsh grass and wildflowers. He could see the tidal freshwater marsh opening up ahead, along with a smattering of cars parked haphazardly along the shoulder.
And then he saw it.
A neon blue 1970s Volkswagen bus with flowers, peace signs, and Crescent Moon Bakery scrawled across the side in white bubble font.
Mason pulled his Tahoe in next to it and let out a bark of laughter.
He hadn’t seen one of those in years. The thing looked like it had rolled straight out of Woodstock and never looked back.
He killed the engine and picked up the folder Beulah had handed him.
There was a section flagged with a yellow sticky note.
Mason peeled it open. The sticky note had the name Adeline Beaumont on it, and then there were three pages of criminal background on the woman.
Multiple citations. Multiple arrests. Multiple fines.
More community service hours than he’d ever seen in his life.
All protest-related. A note in the former Chief Dawson’s handwriting at the bottom read, “She’s a Beaumont, so tread carefully.
She’s also a loveable pain in the ass, so work quickly. ”
Mason closed the folder and set it on the passenger seat. He didn’t care who this Adeline Beaumont was. If she was disturbing the peace, he’d handle it.
Beaumont or not.
He stepped out of the Tahoe, locked it, and headed toward the marsh.
He did a double take when he walked by a red-and-white Isetta convertible.
The tiny car could maybe sit two people comfortably.
The Moody Mobile was sprawled on the side in sunshine yellow font.
He took another look around and wondered where everyone was parked.
By the number of cars present, there couldn’t be more than four people out at the marsh. How could this be a disturbance?
That thought changed as he got closer to the marsh.
He could hear voices now…chanting and yelling. He could also see signs poking up in the air. Mason straightened his badge and headed toward the noise.
This was not how he thought he’d spend his first day on the job.