Chapter 5
Five
Grayson
Two days passed before I felt comfortable enough to safely begin teasing the songs apart.
I’d mostly kept to my own company. Elvira popped in here and there and Henry pushed through an outlet in my room, crawled up my sheets, and plopped his body on the extra pillow, leaving a dirty mark behind when he left.
I wouldn’t say either one was good company, but they weren’t bad either.
Currently, I didn’t need the distraction others would provide.
Especially Martin. I’m not sure why, but I couldn’t get the dryad out of my mind.
Which was nuts considering will-o’-the-wisp and dryad history.
Nothing like beating your head against an immovable force to wear one out.
And nothing was more immobile than solid oak.
Irritated I was once more thinking about Martin, I pinched my arm, bringing me back to the here and now.
I couldn’t afford to allow my mind to wander.
I needed absolute concentration. Sitting on my bed, eyes closed and blue flames licking up my arms, engulfing my shoulders and neck, I weeded one song away from another, blocking their siren tunes as I continued working my way toward a singular chorus.
My hair was damp with sweat. I’d never had to work this hard before. My head pounded and my muscles ached from constant tension. Still, I pushed on. My curiosity was a curse I couldn’t escape.
I’d lost track of time. It was difficult to monitor anyway buried beneath the ground in a windowless room. Tension eased from me as the cacophony of noise abated, leaving a lone, melancholic sound. That sound pulled at me, begging me to come and find its source.
Standing, I kept that singular beat in my mind, holding it still as I released my solid form, dissipating into a blue flame.
Like this, there was no door or wall that could hold me.
Drifting, I followed the call, weaving down the warren of corridors.
The song amplified as I neared, its cadence full of pain and loss.
Without a doubt, whatever was at the end was beyond sorrowful. It was downright miserable.
I’m coming. That mantra chanted through my core, reaching out to the treasure I sought. A responding hum of hope answered back, filling me with renewed energy and desire.
The humming came to a crescendo. While I still wasn’t certain what I’d found, I was positive regarding its location.
Reforming, I found myself in something akin to a storage room.
Cleaning supplies filled the shelves and different-textured brooms and a couple of mops leaned against one corner.
There was barely enough room for me to stand, even less for me to reach forward and place my palm over the area where the treasure lay.
It was behind the wall—a wall I needed to get through. My fire form could easily breach the wall, but I couldn’t retrieve whatever it was that way. I couldn’t transport anything. Life would be so much easier if I could. No, this is where the real work came in.
Thankfully the room was equipped with automatic lighting. Otherwise, I would have been left floundering in the dark. I searched the shelves, sifting through loose objects and a few random tools. “This will do,” I said while holding up a flat-headed screwdriver.
I didn’t think twice. I’d been hired to do a job, and I intended to dig out this sorrowful treasure. If the screwdriver wasn’t enough, I’d find something else. I’d use my dull fingernails if I thought that would work.
Repeatedly slamming the business end of the screwdriver into the wall finally bore fruit. Little pieces of plaster fell away, revealing a thin layer of rock. Rearing my arm back, I dove the screwdriver in and heard a satisfying crack. I’d broken through.
I was a little more careful now, chipping away the sides enough that I could sneak a peek.
The alcove was small. Most likely a natural space in the rock.
My first glimpse left me baffled. Reaching in, my fingers caressed something soft and fluffy.
I couldn’t carry my phone with me when I was in wisp form.
I could have really used the flashlight app right about now.
Going back to the shelves, I thankfully found a small, ancient-looking flashlight. I hit the button and a flickering, unsteady light blinked into existence. Smacking the flashlight against my hand, the light steadied and I shone it directly into the hole.
My breath caught as brilliant oranges and reds met my vision, the tip of the slender object covered in midnight black. Swallowing hard, I had a niggling feeling I knew what this was. Bile crept up my throat. I hadn’t found a corpse, but it was a near thing.
“Elvira?” I hated how shaky my voice was. “You here?”
“I am,” she answered, and when I turned, I saw Elvira’s form cut through by the shelving she’d wedged herself within.
“Is this what I think it is?”
Elvira’s dark eyes filled with fury, a healthy dose of pain mixed in. “I’ll get Keir,” she said before dissipating. I had no idea how long it would take for Keir to arrive. Honestly, I had no real concept where I was within the compound.
Finding a nearby bucket, I turned it over and sat down, heavily leaning against the wall. A broom slid along the wall, falling to the floor. I ignored the sound, my eyes glued to the treasure I’d found.
By all the gods and goddesses, Tenzen Huxley really had been a monster.
“I’ll call him,” Martin said, voice somber. “He needs to know.”
“The duty is mine,” Keir answered, tone flat and empty. I’d watched a myriad of emotions slip over Keir’s face before he seemed to settle into stoic acceptance. “It will be better coming from me.”
Martin huffed and drew back, walking to the fireplace and leaning an arm against the mantel.
“That’s a stretch.” We’d retreated to Keir’s private quarters after he’d removed what was left of the kitsune tail I’d found.
I figured there was about one-fourth, maybe a third of a full tail lying on Keir’s coffee table. It created a grisly scene.
“I can’t believe there’s anything left,” Elvira said. She’d reformed close to me but kept a respectable distance, enough I didn’t feel the cold leaching into me. “I assumed Huxley would have used it all.”
“So did I,” Keir answered. “Hikaru’s grown his eighth tail back, but the original one’s loss was…bad. And then to know what Huxley did with the magic he obtained from it.”
Out of the loop, I didn’t know what that meant.
Martin made a disgruntled noise before enlightening me.
“Huxley used the magic he obtained from Hikaru’s tail to create restraints Hikaru couldn’t get out of.
Evidently it takes a kitsune’s magic to hold a kitsune captive.
Huxley planned on keeping Hikaru enslaved and harvesting his tails as necessary to augment his own magic. ”
I dumbly stood there, staring in disbelief. “That’s…” There wasn’t a word strong enough. “I need a drink.”
“There’s tea in the kettle,” Keir answered.
“Not what I meant.”
He twisted his head toward a cabinet on the far wall. “You’re free to augment your tea however you like.”
I didn’t need to augment shit. I needed a shot straight from the bottle. The cabinet was small with few offerings. Thankfully, there was whiskey. There were also a couple of shot glasses. I almost didn’t bother with the glass but thought better of it.
The whiskey’s burn was welcome, distracting the pain in my heart with its unique fire. I slammed the glass down and immediately refilled it. When I glanced up, Martin’s eyes were trained on me. “Not a word,” I ordered.
A small smile tilted his lips and he shook his head. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“Good. You want some before I finish off the bottle?”
“No, but thank you.”
“More for me,” I answered with a shrug.
Elvira looked at my glass longingly. “I do miss a good drink,” she said. “Especially in times such as these. Hikaru will be devastated. It will reopen a wound he’s only just begun healing.”
I didn’t know Hikaru’s full story but couldn’t find it in me to disagree.
“I’d apologize for finding it, but I won’t.
The misery coming off that thing…” I shivered.
“It needed to be found.” I could hear Keir’s muted voice on the phone as he spoke with someone.
“How long will it take for Hikaru to get here?”
“This better be good.” Evidently not long. “I was about to order dinner. Niki should be home soon and…” Silence descended, heavy and near suffocating.
“Hikaru.” I didn’t know Keir well, but I’d yet to hear his voice so soft, so full of cautious concern. “I need you to—”
“Stop.” That singular word instantly silenced Keir. Hikaru took a tentative step forward, his bare feet lightly tapping across the ground. Eight tails flicked behind him, each one reaching around his body as if attempting to see and touch the remnant of his original eighth tail.
“Martin, call Nikodemus.” I barely heard the command. Closer than I was, Martin understood and immediately pulled out his phone. Within seconds, he was speaking in a tone too low for me to understand.
I was staring at Martin when he ended the call.
At my questioning expression, Martin moved a little closer, leaning in so only I could hear.
“Warlock Nikodemus Holland claimed Hikaru as his one and only. We can’t get Holland here, but we can give him a courteous heads-up. Hikaru is going to need his mate.”
I didn’t know if Keir heard Martin or not. Honestly, I had no idea how good a gryphon’s hearing was. Either he did hear or he had the same thought because he said, “I should have told you to bring Holland with you,” when he spoke to Hikaru.
Hikaru said nothing. He stood there, staring at the quiescent remnants of his tail.
Keir tried again, “Hikaru, I—”
I slammed my hands over my ears as a screeching wail burst through the room.
Hikaru’s head was thrown back, his lips pulled away from his pointed teeth as the painful sound erupted.
The scream seemed to go on forever until Hikaru dropped to his knees.
His claw-tipped fingers danced over the tail’s surface, barely skimming the fur.
Fat tears fell, splattering along the table surrounding the tail.
Gently, Hikaru’s fingertips slipped under his lost tail, his current tails rushing forward and caressing the fur. Holding the small bit of fluff to his chest, Hikaru’s form dissipated into a green mist and then he was gone.
Martin had his phone to his ear again, his words clipped when he said, “He’s on his way, Holland.
” Lowering the phone, Martin hung his head, his free hand slipping to the back of his neck as he attempted to rub away the tension.
I started to reach out, to help kneed those stressed shoulders.
Thankfully I came back to my senses before I could so much as lift a finger.
Martin wouldn’t want my touch. He would find my actions the opposite of soothing.
“I assume you got in touch with Holland?” Keir asked.
“I did. He’ll take care of Hikaru.” Martin sounded wrecked. “Hikaru and I have had our differences, but I would never wish something like this on him. I…” The wind filling Martin’s sails died.
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Elvira chided. “None of us would.” When I glanced over, the ghost’s arms were crossed and she looked peeved. “Did you believe we’d think that?”
“No,” Martin answered. “Never. That was my own guilt speaking.”
Elvira’s ire dissipated into a look of sympathy. “Understandable, but unnecessary.” Attention turning to me, Elvira cocked her head, gaze turning curious. “You may prove useful yet, Grayson Delarue.” With those parting words, Elvira vanished.
Keir stumbled toward a large, wing-backed chair, and sat heavily. Shoulders slumped and head hanging, Keir stared into the dwindling fire. “I never dreamed… I mean, maybe I should have, but I…”
“None of us would have considered this a possibility,” Martin attempted to reassure. “This is not your fault, Keir.”
Keir’s silence said it all and the distraught concern coloring Martin’s deep brown eyes indicated he understood as well. There were no words that would make Keir believe this wasn’t somehow his fault.
The weight of my mission finally hit me. This wasn’t just about hunting treasure. It was about mending the pieces of this fractured family. Healing wasn’t always easy. Sometimes it was downright messy. A lot of times you had to clear out the remaining rot to allow new life to grow.
Once again, I was reminded that not all treasure was valuable in the economic sense.
The treasure Tenzen Huxley had left behind was festering in the hearts of those remaining within these tainted walls.
That treasure needed to be found, excised, and properly disposed of.
And I was the exact will-o’-the-wisp for the job.