Chapter 25 #5
Beth Fahey returned from the women’s restroom to find the whole special team gathered around the evidence table, including Officers Ben Reynolds and Jim Monkton.
She looked at Captain Forrester’s pale face and thought, What does he know?
“Fahey,” Forrester said.
“Captain.”
Forrester looked at the team, studying each face—except hers. “This isn’t by the book, but I’m asking for your help. My son missed swim practice and hasn’t come home. He was last seen leaving the high school with some of Darren Palmer’s friends.”
“You think Al Palmer put them up to abducting Colin?” Kuhn asked. “Maybe paid them to…” He stopped.
Plenty of calls about domestic disputes had been logged for the Palmer residence even before Darren Palmer’s death, so it wasn’t a big leap to think Palmer might want some payback against the man who had brought what was left of his son home from Wyrd.
Maybe she could have a quiet word with the captain before things went beyond the team.
“Is Colin still young enough for us to put out an Amber Alert?” Castelletti asked. “Or maybe a BOLO.”
“There’s no point in an Amber Alert or a BOLO,” Beth said. “He’s not on this side of the river.”
They stared at her. She saw a fierce anger building in Forrester’s eyes—and she couldn’t blame him. She’d known something was wrong and had kept silent. “Lucas Frost called.”
“And?” The quiet voice warned of an anger going down to the man’s core.
“He wanted to know your son’s name, and he asked for a picture. I…used…the photo on your desk, took a picture with my cell phone, and e-mailed it to him.”
“You didn’t call me.”
“He told me not to.”
The anger began to rise and spill over. “Since when do you take orders from Lucas Frost?”
“I…” Don’t know.
Her cell phone rang. She noted the tremor in her hands when she took the phone out of her pocket. She was sure the rest of the team noticed too. “Fahey.”
“Detective.”
“Mr. Frost.” She looked at Forrester. “The captain and the rest of the team are here. Should I put you on speaker?” Please, say yes.
Frost released a breath that almost sounded like a sigh. “Yes.”
Relieved, Beth pressed the speaker button and set the phone on the table.
“Captain Forrester,” Frost said.
“Mr. Frost,” Forrester replied. His voice sounded calm. His hands were tight fists pressed against the table.
“Seven young males crossed the river this afternoon. It appears that the intentions of six of them were not…benign.” A long pause. “Transformation or transportation. You know how some of the moon gates work, Forrester.”
Forrester flinched and closed his eyes, as if he couldn’t bear to see the people around him—or see their pity.
“Four of those young males transformed into wild dogs,” Frost continued. “Your son is not one of them. We have their clothing. We’ll deliver it to the dock on your side of the river when the ferry makes its first run tomorrow.”
“I could come over tonight and help you look for Colin,” Forrester said.
“No.”
“I know what you are, Frost!”
“Yes, you do. And that is why you are going to stay on your side of the river. The Arcana are hunting tonight. We have determined the only place where we can take the wild dogs where they will have a chance to survive. If we can capture them and deliver them to that place on your side of the river before the sun rises, we can turn them back into their human form.”
Forrester’s voice broke. “Colin?”
“Transportation. Your son eluded his captors and bought a bus ticket. He told the stationmaster he knew what he needed to find but didn’t know the name of the place.
Unfortunately, when the name revealed itself and Colin boarded the bus, the stationmaster was distracted by the boy pursuing your son and couldn’t tell me Colin’s destination.
Your son made a choice, Forrester. Hold on to that. ”
“It doesn’t mean he can come back.”
“No, it doesn’t. But he considered what he needed to find, and that means there is a possibility that he’ll find his way home.
” Another pause. “The two boys who pursued him should be considered lost for good. The one who took another bus may return, but he didn’t purchase a ticket, so there is no way to tell when and where he’ll return.
The boy who boarded the train without a ticket…
There is only one place that particular train lets off passengers. ”
Beth looked around the table. When no one else said anything, she asked, “Where?”
“Graveyards,” Frost replied.
Forrester let out a shuddering breath. “What can I tell my wife?”
“Your son was not careless in his choice, so there is hope. I have to go. The hunt has begun.” Frost ended the call.
Forrester walked into his office. Beth followed him and watched him put the photo of his family back in the frame. After she’d sent the picture to Frost and began her vigil, she’d forgotten that she hadn’t restored the photo.
“You should have called me,” Forrester said, not looking at her.
“All I could have told you was that Lucas Frost wanted to know your son’s name and wanted a picture of him. Would that have helped?”
“No.” He looked up. “You still should have called me.” He hesitated. “But I understand why you didn’t. I might have done the same in your shoes.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Go home. Get some rest. Report back at five a.m. The team needs to be ready to respond to whatever happens when the sun rises.”
7
Colin Forrester stepped off the bus and stared at the sign on the building in front of him. No words to indicate where he was; just that hoofprint he’d seen when the woman had read his cards, as if that was all that was required.
He tried his cell phone. No signal. If the building was a store of some kind, hopefully they would have a landline.
He put one foot on the bottom step, then stopped and looked around.
The air smelled…different. The land looked different.
When he and Ted Ocampo had ridden the river bus for its whole journey around the island last year, he didn’t remember seeing mountains.
Maybe he was somewhere in the interior of Wyrd?
But even then, mountains were kind of hard to miss.
Wherever he was, he needed to find a phone.
He entered the building and thought the interior looked like photos of old-time trading posts. Except…
The individual standing behind the counter next to an old-fashioned cash register was a llama standing on its hind legs.
Or else it was a bipedal species of llama that shaved off its fur—or whatever it was called when it was still on the animal—and then…
Would these beings shave off the fur and then use it to weave clothing for themselves?
Because the llama was wearing a long vest that had different colors and patterns.
“Mmmm?”
Colin blinked. It sounded like a question—and that reminded him that he had to find a way to call Dad.
“Hello. My cell phone isn’t getting a signal.
” He held up the cell phone. “Do you have a landline I could use to call my dad? Landline? Phone?” He raised his hand next to his head, thumb and little finger extended, in the sign that meant “call me.”
The llama looked at his hand and raised its own hoof-hand up to its ear. “Mmmm?”
The hoof-hand had a familiar shape, but Colin didn’t think if he gave the creature a Vulcan salute and said “Live long and prosper” it would understand the joke.
A human woman walked up to the counter from the back of the store and said, “I’ll take care of this.”
Colin watched them communicate with some kind of sign language before the llama wandered off to do…something.
“What’s your story?” the woman said. “Not many people can reach this place.”
“I’ll tell you everything, but first, can I use your phone? I have to call my dad. He’s a police officer in Penwych. A town on the other side of the river?”
“I know where it is.”
That was something. “I need to tell him my sister could be in danger. She’s only twelve.” When the woman didn’t respond, he added, “Please.”
“If the danger is imminent, you’re probably too late,” she said. “This is Llamalidia. It’s a…neighborhood…in Wyrd. There are no phones, no internet.”
Colin sagged against the counter.
“Where did you start out?”
“Destiny Park. Some bullyboys were trying to shove me through a moon gate. I went through when it said “Transportation” and bought a ticket for the bus. I thought one of those boys got on the bus, too, but after he passed my seat, I didn’t see him again.”
“You think these boys are a danger to your sister?”
“They said if I didn’t go with them, they would rape her. They didn’t use those exact words, but that’s what they meant.”
“How many of them went through the gate when you did?”
“Two that I know of.” He looked at the woman. “There were six of them.”
She looked at a windup clock on the counter and nodded. She reached under the counter and pulled out two sheets of stationery, two envelopes, and two pencils. “It will be a few days before the bus comes by again, but the mobile library will be here within the hour.”
“Could I hitch a ride on it?” Colin asked.
“No. Your presence could disrupt the route, and you and the librarian might never be seen again—at least not in any part of Wyrd that either of you would recognize. What you’re going to do now is write a letter to your father telling him you’re all right and you’re safe.
You can’t tell him where you are. It’s forbidden.
No one across the river is allowed to know about this place, and the Arcana exact a huge payment if that rule is broken.
Make sure what you tell him is something you would be okay having your mother read.
But before you do that, tell me the names of the boys who threatened you and pose a threat to your sister.
I will send my letter to the Sorcerer King, and he will get the information to the proper people. ”
“Who is he?”
“He is the ruler of Wyrd.”
“Is he dangerous?”