Ceff sat to my left, not daring to enter the kitchen while Jinx prepared a makeshift breakfast. My roommate was as territorial as a hearth brownie and hostile as a pixie. It was best to avoid the kitchen when Jinx was cooking, especially when she was armed with a spatula.
I slouched against the kitchen counter, the smell of eggs, toast, and fresh brewed coffee bringing a smile to my face. A smile that was gone the moment Jinx opened her mouth.
“So, you think wisps kidnapped all those kids?” she asked.
I let out a heavy sigh. It was the one thought I’d tried to block out during my one hour respite. But now all of my worries came rushing back.
“I think they’re involved, yeah,” I said. I took a bite of toast, giving myself time to think things over.
“I agree, your description does match what we know of wisp physiology and behavior,” Ceff said.
He’d also showered—the heady mix of bath gel and his own scent of salt and sea strong on his skin. Ceff smelled more delicious than breakfast. I drew in the scent of him and sighed.
“If it’s wisps, then all the more reason to stop them,” I said. “I’m not going to let my people go around kidnapping little kids, not if I can help it. Once we find and rescue the children, I have some new rules to enforce.”
“Dude, are you serious?” Jinx asked. “You’re going to come out of the faerie closet?”
“Yes,” I said.
And I knew exactly the place to do just that.
A trip to Club Nexus was definitely in my future. I needed to gain control over the wisps that were currently running amok in my city. I also wanted to warn the faeries of Harborsmouth about the threat to their children. Ceff had a network for contacting water fae, but so far all the kidnappings had occurred on dry land. The fastest way to spread the word was to speak with local fae leaders and Kaye had said that the club was their gathering place. I guess what she’d said about the convergence of power was right—all roads did lead to Club Nexus.
And something that the cat sidhe, Torn, had said still niggled at me. He mentioned the dead rising from their graves to haunt the streets of Harborsmouth. I thought it was idle gossip at the time, my mind focused on Melusine and the potential threat she posed, but what if the sightings were more than rumors? Torn made it sound like harmless ghost sightings, but what if it had been something else?
If specters of the dead had not risen, then what was wandering city graveyards and cemeteries? Unfortunately, none of the possibilities were good. Graveyards attract all kinds of supernatural nasties. Vamps, ghouls, voodoo priests, black dogs, spriggans, even wisps were known to lurk in burial grounds.
What if the ghost sightings had something to do with the wisps? If the two were connected, then tracking the reported ghost sightings may lead us to the children. I had to find this guy Torn and drill him for details.
“Announcing your royal status will be dangerous,” Ceff said. “The wisps may have gone without an official leader since your father’s disappearance, but that does not mean someone hasn’t filled the power void in his absence. Your very existence will alter the current wisp hierarchy, and that is bound to anger some.”
“Noted,” I said. “But if wisps are kidnapping children, then someone needs to shake that hierarchy up a bit. And, with my deadbeat dad in hiding somewhere, I’m the only one suited for the job. The wisps will have to listen to their princess.”
“You said this might piss people off,” Jinx said. She turned to Ceff and crossed her arms. “What exactly do you mean by that? Are we talking stacks of complaint letters, or ninja faerie assassins?”
“Assassins are a distinct possibility,” he said. “Though some faeries prefer the more honorable practice of declaring a duel.”
Assassins? Duels? I was in way over my head.
“We can worry about rogue wisps later,” I said. “According to Kaye, Club Nexus is only open from twilight until dawn. I won’t be announcing my reign until tonight. That leaves me with a few hours to check out another potential lead.”
“What lead would that be?” Jinx asked.
“Something Torn said,” I said. “The cat mentioned ghost sightings in graveyards and cemeteries around Harborsmouth. If humans saw unglamoured wisps floating around a graveyard, it’d make sense they’d think it was ghosts.”
“You think the wisps are hiding out in a graveyard?” she asked.
“Wisps are attracted to hidden treasure and places of death,” Ceff said. “Your burial grounds qualify.”
“It’s a long shot,” I said. “But until I can question Torn, this is our best lead.”
“I didn’t really dress for traipsing around old graveyards,” Jinx said. She looked down at her platform shoes and frowned. “Eat up. I’ll go change.”
“No,” I said around a mouthful of eggs. “We need you here to man the phones and meet with clients. There may be parents only now realizing that their children are missing. If more families come seeking our services, there’s a chance someone saw or heard something useful. Maybe we’ll catch a break.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll hold down the fort. If I learn anything new, I’ll text you the info.”
“And Jenna?” I asked. Jinx had phoned our Hunter friend while I was unconscious. She’d mentioned their conversation earlier, but I was fuzzy on the details.
“She’s willing to work as backup so long as you find the kids in the next nine hours,” she said. “After that, she’s on official Hunter business. They’re sending her to deal with some fuath infestation out in the suburbs.”
I glanced at the Felix-the-Cat clock hanging on the kitchen wall. It was already past 3 o’clock. Nine hours wasn’t a large window of opportunity, but my goal was to find the children before midnight. If we didn’t reach them soon, chances were good that we wouldn’t find them at all. Or if we did, that they wouldn’t be alive—and that was unacceptable.
All the more reason to start casing local graveyards and cemeteries. I wasn’t going to sit around doing nothing while I waited for Club Nexus to open its doors. I washed the last bite of toast down with coffee and slid my plate across the counter.
Break time was over.
“Can I get a printout of all the victim’s street addresses?” I asked.
Jinx nodded, wiped her hands on her apron, and slapped a folder down in front of me. Not only was my roommate a great cook, she was also the most organized office assistant on the planet. Just don’t make the mistake of calling her a secretary or you could end up with a split lip.
She slapped my phone down on top of the folder. The last time I remembered seeing my phone, it had been sitting on my office desk. Jinx must have picked up my phone and the case files while Ceff helped me up the stairs to our apartment. She tapped a nail on the screen, bringing up a map of Harborsmouth.
“I programmed the victims’ addresses into your phone,” she said. “You can see the locations in relation to other points of interest…”
“Like local graveyards?” I asked.
“Exactly,” she said.
Ceff leaned in, though careful not to touch, and we studied the map. Each address was marked by a small red pin on the screen. Tapping the pin opened a window with the full name and address of the victim’s family.
“You’re a genius,” I said.
“I know,” she said. Jinx flipped her hair and grinned. “You can use Flyover to see the sites in relation to landmarks. Tap this to add field notes.”
When Jinx had first insisted I upgrade my phone, I resisted. Using a touch screen was difficult while wearing gloves, but this little app had me glad I’d finally caved. This morning while talking to clients, I’d assumed the abductions were scattered randomly around the city. But the pins on the map told a different story. Fae in all city districts had been targeted, but the locations were not completely random.