Chapter 3 #2
It was, when I thought about it, an ‘at-risk’ park.
Enter at your own risk. In fact, that’s where I had found Angel’s little brother when he’d been kidnapped.
That’s where Raven’s fiancé had been murdered.
In fact, I was a little surprised that somebody from the local governments hadn’t come in and shut it down for a full examination, given the history.
But that sort of investigation required money, and it disrupted local residents and businesses. Since everything was about money, it really shouldn’t shock me so much that the government overlooked everything
I called the website and asked to speak to the reporter, but she wasn’t in. “I’d like to talk to her about her report of the lights in UnderLake Park, if she could return my call. My name’s Ember Kearney and I work for the Wild Hunt Agency.” I left my number and then turned back to the computer.
By the time I finished looking through all the links, I had a list of at least five instances over the past few years where someone had reported will-o’-the-wisp sightings in UnderLake Park.
And for each instance, I managed to triangulate people who lived near the park vanishing within a few weeks of the sightings.
There were five people who had never been found, and they had all gone missing within a couple weeks of their reports about the lights.
I stared at my list. Three of those missing people lived near Raven.
The other two were several blocks away. Which brought me to the question: hadn’t the police noticed the coincidental evidence?
Or maybe they had, but there weren’t any articles about it.
The cops could—and often did—keep news under wraps while they investigated.
I jotted down a note to ask Erica if she could find out anything about the matter, then glanced at the time. It had been about an hour since Yutani had last called, but I couldn’t help but fret that he might wait if he didn’t think the update was vital enough to share.
I tucked my phone in my pocket, picked up my cup—one of those hot & cold tumblers that kept hot drinks hot, and cold drinks cold—and headed for the breakroom. Herne had bought it for me for Mother’s Day. The cup was decorated with a scowling cartoon cat, and the words, hands off my coffee.
I entered the breakroom to find Talia making a new batch of coffee. I looked at her and she shrugged and shook her head.
“No word yet?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Yutani will call us as soon as he has something to report.”
I sighed and nodded. “I’m just worried. Has Wager mentioned feeling ill lately?”
She thought for a moment, then flipped on the espresso machine and held out her hand for my tumbler. I gave it to her and leaped up to sit on the edge of the counter.
“Last week, he did mention that he was feeling a little off. But he didn’t mention it again, so I assumed that whatever it was, had corrected itself. How many shots this time?”
“Two, please,” I said.
As she pulled the shots, added cream, milk, ice, and caramel, then handed it to me. By that time the regular coffee was done and she poured herself a cup and sat down across the table. “Do you think we’ll need to ask Lyrical to come back early? If Wager’s laid up for any time?”
“That wouldn’t be a good idea and you know it. But we’re bringing in Ash, so hopefully we won’t fall behind.” I played with my tumbler. “Do you think we’ll ever be able to have Yutani and Lyrical together in the same room again? Why was he so rash—and why was she so…”
“Yutani is chaotic. As hard as he tries, he can’t help but be,” Talia said. “He was born with chaos in his blood. As much as I like to think that he’s mellowed, the fact that his father’s the trickster of all tricksters, well…”
“At least his father isn’t Loki, or he wouldn’t be working here,” I said.
Loki was a dangerous, calculating manipulator who delighted in causing havoc and mayhem to the detriment of others.
The Great Coyote, on the other hand, was awash with the natural chaos of the universe.
He wasn’t malign, just a whirlwind of mayhem.
“True enough,” Talia said. “Somehow, I think Yutani will always be a tormented soul. He tries, but he self-destructs at all the wrong times. At least he doesn’t drink anymore.”
Early on, Herne had rescued Yutani from a drunken spiral, and helped set him on a more even keel.
But Yutani had an addictive nature, whether it was booze, sex, or obsession.
I wasn’t sure if he could love in the way love really worked, but he easily became obsessed with women.
It had happened with Raven, and now Lyrical.
But Raven hadn’t spurred him on. My priestess—my very first priestess—Lyrical thought he could handle the bond with one of the Leannan Sidhe. She was wrong.
“Yeah, we can be grateful for that.” I glanced at the time again. “How long does an operation take?” Even as I said it, that sounded ridiculous. “Never mind. I’m just worried.”
“Yutani will call us when there’s news.” Talia sipped her coffee. “So, what do you think about the Aqcarian problem?”
“This is going to be far more of an issue than we expect, though not in the sense where it will affect people quite as badly as the dragon scourge did. The dragons were able to spread through the land. The Aqcarians simply can’t.
But, if they do cut off access to the waterways, then we have trouble.
Now, considering how vast the oceans are, do I think they’ll shut down shipping?
Not altogether, no. But they’ll make it difficult. ”
“Can they affect climate change?” Talia asked.
“I don’t know, to be honest. I do notice neither Saílle nor Névé have claimed them as either dark or light Fae.
” I grinned. “Sometimes, they do realize they need some diplomacy, and this has the potential to be very messy. Especially with—say—the kelpies deciding to claim their own sovereign nation. That’s not going to go over well at all. ”
Just then, my phone rang. I glanced at it and caller ID showed me it was Nalina. “Uh oh,” I said, answering.
“Help me, please!” Nalina’s voice was trembling. “The lights are outside my house. What should I do?” she asked, her voice plaintive.
“Hold on, we’ll be over as soon as we can. Don’t go outside, don’t open your doors, and call me if anything new happens.” I hung up. “Get Viktor and Herne in here,” I said. “We have trouble.”
As Talia hurried for the door, I wondered what we were going to do about the will-o’-the-wisps.
We were down two men, and the corpse candles, as they were also called, were bad-assed enough to make a fight difficult.
But we couldn’t leave Nalina alone with them.
I sighed, deciding I had to put thoughts of Wager on the back burner as Herne and Viktor came hurrying into the breakroom.