I may not understand how, but the description Lydia had given of my appearance in this godforsaken room was proof enough for me. “And the flesh? You removed it. How and why?”
“We must eat.”
Dear God, I thought I was going to be sick. “You…ate them? There were no teeth marks on the bones, no indication they’d been fed on.”
“It ate people?” Lydia sounded as aghast as I felt.
“Teeth are unnecessary, Detective O’Hare. We are shadow.”
“I have no idea what that means.” Not in this context and probably a lot of others.
“Explaining would not clarify the act. Feeding was a pleasurable necessity. It removed much of the evidence and made your job more challenging.”
“Keeping me preoccupied longer.”
More laughter. “We are very clever.”
I hated how much I agreed. “Very clever.” And very deadly. “So, now you have Boone’s momma and me. What do you plan to do with us?”
“That depends on the necromancer.”
Of course it did. This was all about Boone. Lydia and I were just… “Collateral. Leverage.”
“Oh, hell no.” Lydia’s hands fisted, and her body vibrated. “I will not allow you to use me against my son.”
“You say this as if you have a choice.” Lydia’s mouth opened, but before she could utter another word, Shadow said, “You have been warned regarding the restraints on the brownie. Touching them would not be wise. I doubt a human would survive the backlash, and we need you alive. For now.”
The shadows dissipated, relaxing and filling the corners of the room. I had no idea if they were still watching. Regardless, the main entity was gone. I was left reeling. All those people… Shadow didn’t know those women would have been killed. Maybe their murderers would have been caught beforehand. Maybe they could have gotten away. Maybe… There were a lot of damn maybes and not enough answers.
“We need to get out of here, Franklin. I will not be the reason my son is forced to do something nefarious, something he wouldn’t otherwise do. Do you hear me?”
Oh, I heard Lydia Boone. I heard her loud and clear. I wanted to tell Lydia that Erasmus wasn’t alone, that he had Phlox and Leon. More than that, he had Aurelia. She’d been the one to inform me Lydia was missing. I didn’t know if she truly went to Boone or not when I asked, but I had a niggling feeling she did. I wasn’t sure if that would equate to more help or not.
I wanted to say all that and more, but we had to assume Huxley was listening in. “We’ll figure it out,” I said. I just wished I had a clue how we were going to do that.
A scraping sound drew my attention to the floor. Large, dull brown eyes stared up at me. It looked like our brownie companion was finally awake.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Erasmus
“You need to eat something,” Pops told me. “We have no idea when the other shoe will drop. You need to be ready for anything.”
I knew he was right, but all I could do was pace. I tried sitting down, but I’d been far to fidgety and couldn’t stop my leg from bouncing. If I’d been a pixie, I would have been flying all over the house.
As for the pixie that was in the house… He’d been on the phone nearly all evening. I heard his voice rise and fall. I don’t think he ever outright yelled at anyone, but I suspected there were some heated discussions. From what Leon told us, Phlox was on the phone with other members of the Magical Usage Council. What he’d found out so far wasn’t encouraging. Within the past twelve hours, multiple members had gone missing. Two had been found—deceased. That didn’t bode well for the remaining unaccounted.
“At least drink some tea.” Pops placed a glass of sweet tea in front of me, stopping my forward motion. Tears stung my eyes.
“Momma.” It was Momma’s recipe. Her tea that was typically a comfort. Now it was a reminder of what I could lose.
“Drink it,” Pops ordered. “It’s got enough sugar to make a dent in the hypoglycemic hole you’re digging.”
I took the glass, reverently holding it between my hands. “It’s the best.”
“Of course it is. Your momma tweaked the recipe just for you. We quickly learned how depleted you became when you used your necromancer abilities. When you were young, your control was questionable. This was a way your momma and I could keep you upright.” Pops gave a wistful grin.
