7
BAD VIBES ONLY
The Lincoln sisters’main clinic was located on Maple Street and was sandwiched between a fae-owned florist and a bakery that catered to supernatural dietary requirements. According to Didi, it would normally have been bustling with patients at this hour—werewolves with moon-cycle migraines, vampires needing blood pressure regulation, the occasional pixie who’d gotten into a tussle with a garden gnome.
Instead, the clinic sat dark and silent behind its cheerful blue awning.
“The place looks like it’s been closed for years,” Gavin said nervously as we approached.
I frowned. He wasn’t wrong. The clinic looked abandoned.
We parked across the street, got out of the car, and studied the large front windows. It was completely empty. I could make out supplies still sitting on shelves. A coffee cup sat on a counter and appointment bookslay open, as if a receptionist had simply walked out mid-sentence and never come back.
My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin.
“Maybe the staff went on vacation too?” Gavin offered weakly. Smoke curled from his nostrils in anxious puffs.
“All of them? At the same time? Without arranging coverage or referring patients to another clinic?” Didi shook her head. “The Lincoln sisters were professionals. They wouldn’t abandon their patients like this. And neither would their staff. You don’t just shut down a forty-year-old practice because the owners take a few weeks off.”
Bo pressed against my leg, his tail tucked low. “That place smells funny.”
He was right. Even from outside, something felt off. The air around the building had a strange quality to it. My wolf couldn’t quite pin down what was wrong, but every instinct we had was screaming that something was amiss.
“Let’s ask around,” I suggested. “Somebody must have noticed a whole clinic shutting down overnight.”
We split up. Didi headed for the florist next door to the clinic while Gavin approached a dwarf who was examining the bakery’s window display with intense concentration. Bo and I made for a fae shopkeeper who was arranging crystals in the window of a store farther along the street.
The woman looked up as we approached, her pointed ears twitching slightly. “Can I help you?”
“Hi. I was wondering if you knewanything about the clinic across the street?” I gestured toward the darkened building. “The Lincoln sisters’ place. It seems to be closed and I had an appointment.”
The shopkeeper’s expression flickered. Something like confusion crossed her face. It was gone in the next instant, smoothed over like it had never existed.
The hairs rose on my nape.
“The clinic?” She tilted her head. “Oh, yes. I believe they’ve closed temporarily while the sisters are on vacation. Somewhere warm, I think.” Her eyes slid away from mine. “Lovely weather we’re having, isn’t it? Very mild for this time of year. Are you interested in crystals? We have a new shipment of amethyst that’s supposed to be excellent for?—”
“What about the staff?” I pressed. “The other healers? The receptionist? Do you know where they’ve gone?”
The shopkeeper blinked. Her gaze drifted past me, unfocused. “The staff—I’m sorry, what were we talking about? The amethyst really is quite special. It comes from a mine in?—”
My wolf growled a warning in my head.
“Thank you,” I said quietly. “I’ll think about those crystals.”
I carefully retreated to where Bo was waiting.
“That lady was acting weird,” he huffed worriedly. “Her eyes glazed over when you were talking to her.”
“I noticed.”
Didi and Gavin joined us a moment later, both wearing matching expressions of frustration.
“The florist couldn’t remember anything about theclinic closing,” Didi reported grimly. “She said it’s been shut for weeks but couldn’t tell me why or what happened to the staff. Started talking about her begonias mid-sentence. And when I pushed, she got confused and asked if I wanted to buy a bouquet.”
“The dwarf was the same,” Gavin added, smoke billowing from his nostrils. “He recalled the sisters leaving on vacation but had no idea what happened to everyone else who worked there. When I asked directly, he just lost the thread.” He scratched his cheek. “Started telling me about sourdough starters.”
My stomach sank. “The fae shopkeeper was acting like that too.”
