Chapter 71 #6
The shuttle was the same kind of vehicle that car dealerships used to transport customers to work after customers brought their cars in for service. This one was black and had “Shuttle” painted on the side doors.
Lucas pulled the side door open and gestured for Beth to get in.
“I’m waiting for Katherine Rose,” the driver said. “She reserved a seat last night. I’m dropping her off at the library.”
“The library will work for us, and we’re not in a hurry,” Lucas replied. Then to Beth, he added, “Katherine Rose works in the pavilion. She reads cards, although not like the Ladies Three. She is mostly human, but she feels more comfortable living on this side of the river.”
A woman rushed up to the shuttle, handed her tote bag to Lucas, then climbed in and took a seat in the second row. “Thanks for waiting for me.”
Lucas closed the side door, and the driver headed out on a road that might accommodate two cars if the drivers didn’t mind sharing paint.
Lucas looked at the words on the tote bag and sighed. “Really, Katherine Rose?”
“Hey, Wyrd is where it’s at,” Katherine Rose said brightly.
“Where did you get the bag?” Beth asked.
“The hotel gift shop. They’re selling coffee mugs, too, and pads of notepaper that have that saying. There is talk of doing T-shirts.”
Lucas sighed again, handed the bag to Katherine Rose, and made the introductions.
“You’re with the police?” Katherine Rose asked.
“Yes,” Beth replied.
Katherine Rose leaned forward and touched Beth’s arm. “He’s all right.”
“I’m sorry?”
“The boy is all right. I looked this morning.” She hesitated. “I’ve looked a couple of times each week. The boy connected to the police is all right. He’ll be coming home soon.” Another hesitation. “But maybe not all the way home.”
What did that mean? “Two other boys went missing at the same time. Did you see anything about them?”
Katherine Rose said nothing. Then she whispered, “Specters make their homes in the graveyards of the world.”
Chilled, Beth didn’t know how to respond. She turned to Lucas. “Where are we going? Besides the library.”
“We’re going to Wyrd’s Teeth,” Lucas replied.
“It’s a piece of land that runs from Destiny Bay to the Fate River.
It’s one of the static neighborhoods.” He looked at her.
“You’ve looked at a kaleidoscope? You’ve seen how the colored pieces shift and change?
The places in the world that are a convergence of the uncanny are like that, and pieces shift during the spring and fall equinox, the two days of the year when the light and the dark are balanced.
But some of the pieces in each place are anchored to that place and are constant, are stable.
Destiny Park is one of those places on the Isle of Wyrd.
The Teeth is another, along with a few other neighborhoods.
The rest get shuffled to another place of convergence.
Some come back here at the next equinox; others never do. ”
“So Colin Forrester could be lost forever,” Beth said.
“No,” Katherine Rose replied. “He’ll be home before the next equinox.”
“We’ve reached the Teeth,” Lucas said.
Beth halfway expected jagged rocks and something gothic and menacing. What she saw were clusters of small houses arranged in various geographic shapes around a central area. She spotted small ponds and waterfalls as part of the garden features. It all looked lovely. Welcoming.
“Why call this place the Teeth?” Beth asked.
“If you were looking for sanctuary, would you go to a place with that name?” Lucas asked in return.
“No.”
“Which is exactly why the first humans who settled in this part of Wyrd gave it that name. And also because this land is located where the teeth would be in a human skull. There are three hundred houses on this entire strip of land, plus buildings that hold a variety of businesses. The people who choose to live here are here because they needed to disappear. Not from the law but from people who would do them harm. Some people live here for a while before going back across the river—or they choose to travel to another neighborhood and leave everything in their present life behind. Some stay for the rest of their lives.”
Beth thought about Richard. Had Jack discovered if the man was a PI or just a snoop? Was she the target or was he here looking for someone else? “How many people know about the Teeth?”
“The most vulnerable residents don’t live near either end where the businesses around the bay and the river interact with people on the other side of the water—people who might recognize an individual and tell someone else.”
The driver pulled over. “We’re here, folks.” He looked back at Lucas. “I was going to make the circuit and pick up anyone who wants to go to the park. That will take about an hour.”
“An hour is enough time for us,” Lucas said. He opened the shuttle’s side door and offered a hand to Katherine Rose and Beth to help them down.
A bus that had Mobile Library painted along its side was parked next to a building that didn’t look much bigger than the bus. As Beth studied the small building, someone inside turned the Closed sign to Open and opened the door. A woman carrying a cardboard box stepped out and said, “Good morning.”
Lucas turned to Beth. “Beth, this is Rya Hedden. She handles the mobile library and brings books to residents in the static neighborhoods, as well as to some places that are temporarily connected to Wyrd. Rya, this is Beth Fahey, a detective who works in Penwych.”
Rya gave Lucas a questioning look. He nodded.
Rya handed the box to Lucas, who carried it into the bus. She said, “I won’t be making the circuit that includes Llamalidia for a few more days, but when I get there, is there any message you want me to deliver to Colin?”
Beth blinked. “You know Colin Forrester?”
“I’ve met him,” Rya replied. “He takes out three books every week. Mostly thrillers, mysteries, fantasies, nonfiction about the natural—and unnatural—world. No ‘girly’ books. He’s currently learning to weave and is making a set of place mats for his mother.
But that’s a surprise.” She studied Beth.
“He asked about graphic novels, but I don’t know what those are. ”
“Comic books,” another woman said as she stepped out of the library. She held out her hand. “Betsy Richens. I look after the library here.”
Beth shook the woman’s hand as she cataloged some features: late forties, appeared to have some nerve damage to one side of her face, and needed a cane.
“Graphic novels are more than comic books,” Beth said.
The three women looked at her with interest that was now sharper than just being curious about someone new.
“You know about them?” Betsy asked.
Beth nodded. “I could pick up a few at a bookstore in Penwych and drop them off at the pavilion the next time I cross the river.”
“We’d appreciate that,” Betsy said. “We’ve got a newcomer who’s just settling in to one of the houses.
He’s young and might enjoy books like that.
” She looked at Lucas, who stepped up to join them.
“We appreciate the donation of the Rachel Nightingale books—and having a copy of each book for the library and the mobile library.”
Rya nodded. “She’s a new author for a lot of the neighborhoods, so the books are in demand.”
“I’ll see if I can get more copies of her books,” Lucas said.
“Appreciate it.”
Katherine Rose smiled. “I’d better exchange my books before the shuttle comes back. It was nice to meet you, Beth. Stop by the pavilion sometime. I’ll read your cards.”
“I’ll do that.” She wasn’t sure she would. She had a feeling that Katherine Rose might see too much in the cards. Then again, some warning of what was coming might be better than being blindsided.
“Let’s walk,” Lucas said.
“Do they ever swap tasks?” Beth asked. “Betsy taking the mobile library and Rya minding the library here?”
“No. Rya is half Arcana. That heritage helps her keep the bus on its established routes and not take an unwanted turn in a neighborhood. Betsy is human. It wouldn’t be safe for her to try to reach some of the places Rya can visit.”
“Lucas!”
Hearing the shout, Beth turned toward the sound.
A boy about eleven or twelve years old—a boy with curly black hair and fear in his dark eyes—stared at her. Giving Lucas a panicked look, he bolted for one of the houses.
She recognized that boy from the missing person flyer. “That’s—”
“You didn’t see him,” Lucas said firmly.
“But he’s—”
“You. Didn’t. See him.”
Feeling like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, Beth squared off against Lucas Frost. “He’s afraid.”
“Of you, not me.”
That cliff edge crumbled a little. “I wouldn’t hurt him.”
“You’re police. Telling anyone he’s here could destroy him.
He disappeared for a reason, Beth. He’s safe here, protected here, and he will make his own fate.
Over there? If you make his whereabouts known and he’s forced to go back to what he’d escaped, will you put flowers on his grave and tell him you’re sorry you were part of the reason his life ended? ”
“Do you know it will end?” she whispered.
“What Justine and her sisters saw is the reason we gave him this choice.”
“He’s just a boy.”
“His eyes are old.”
Beth looked around. The buildings looked quaint, and maybe the people living here didn’t have the newest whatevers. She focused on a red box. “Telephone boxes?”
“There is a telephone box located every couple of blocks. There is no internet here, no Wi-Fi,” Lucas said.
“And most houses don’t have a telephone.
The businesses do. Residents make a call at the box.
Anyone who wants to send or receive e-mail comes up to the park and uses the equipment in the communications cabin. ”
Half listening to Lucas, Beth thought about a young boy on his own. “I guess people don’t have much access to junk food here, so he’d have to eat nutritious meals.”
“He’s quite self-sufficient. Even if he wasn’t, the people here help each other. He’ll be all right.”