“What the fucking gods,” Glenn murmurs, his voice strained. “What the hell was that?”
“I don’t—” I breathe. “I don’t know, but we should leave. Who knows what will happen next? This ground isn’t stable.”
“Do you think that was natural? An earthquake, maybe?”
I let my tongue slide across my teeth and shake my head. I may only be part fae, but I could sense the magic in the air. I could taste it, feel it on my skin.
“No, it was something more. Someone wanted this place gone, and they succeeded.”
Glenn stares at me intently and ushers me into the truck, turning it on and driving us away from the site. We’ll meet Jericho at the end of the road, where it’s safer.
He eventually pulls up, his clothes far more casual than anything I’ve ever seen him wear before. As he nears, Glenn sniffs and asks, “Just come from a barbecue, Boss?”
He nods his head, looking toward the construction site. Or what used to be a construction site. We move toward it cautiously, carefully.
“This wasn’t a mudslide,” he says, and Glenn peers over at him.
“The earth swallowed it up just ten minutes ago.”
“What the fuck?” Jericho breathes, his shock clear.
“Yeah. Don’t know why or who, but Arbor seems to think it was magic.”
Jericho eyes me, and I wring my hands. Jericho knew I was part fae when he hired me. When the previous superintendent was fired for doing a shit job, Jericho thought I’d be good for the position. Not only was I a hard worker, but I was part fae. He thought it might appease whatever protests and frustrations there were over our building on this supposed sacred land.
Well, it seems that was all for naught. Even with my presence at the site, it still ended up as a disaster.
I’m not entirely sure it’s fae, but it is magical.
“Well, shit,” Jericho exhales, a hand running down his face. “The entire place is gone.”
“Yep,” Glenn says, and he eyes us.
“Authorities have been called?”
“Yeah.”
“I should contact some of the pack leaders around here, see if they know anything, and damn, there goes my relaxing Sunday.”
He pulls out his phone and gets to work, calling up whoever he can find, asking them to meet. It leaves Glenn and me to stare into the abyss, the faint hint of magic still lingering in the surrounding air.
I don’t know who did this or why. I don’t know how they leveled an entire construction site, but someone is going to need to find out before they do more damage.
The cops show up eventually, but are just as perplexed as we are, offering no solutions, but documenting everything. Photographs are taken, our statements are written down, and by the time we’re back at Glenn’s, we’re both exhausted.
“Gods, that was hours of our day,” Glenn murmurs, flopping down on the couch and kicking off his shoes. He extends his arms outward, and I crawl up against him, draping my body over his.
“They really didn’t know who did it, or have any idea?”
“Yeah, that’s what I got from it. I mean, I know Timberwood was having issues with that small group of protestors, but then they disappeared. So, I figured it had been resolved.”
“Apparently, something wasn’t entirely right. Because I’m positive it was some kind of magic that did that.”
“Could have been anyone. Jericho is trying to hunt down the security guard. Hopefully, he saw someone or something to give us a hint of what could have happened and why.”
“Oh,” I sit up slightly and stare down at him. “He was weird. I had bad vibes when I spoke to him, but I brushed it off as nothing.”
“Me too. He didn’t have a scent, which was weird. Don’t want to blame the guy if he’s innocent, but it is possible he could be behind this. We just don’t know.”
