“Huah!” I struck another blow. “Not tonight.”
“Stay outside,” Roy mentally ordered the team for at least the third time in the ten seconds since I’d entered the house.
“But Chief…” Brieg, Theo’s younger brother, tried to argue.
“No buts,” I snapped, knowing I would need to apologize as soon as possible. “I'm doin' this alone."
I could feel their reluctance, but it was also abundantly evident that they knew arguing with me was about as useful as teaching a cat to tap dance. So, thankfully, I got a chorus of “Okay, Chief” coming back.
After releasing the first pocket of embers, I carefully started my inspection. The mansion creaked and groaned all around as I moved through the blackened remains of what had been a majestic home. The farther I moved into the mansion, the denser the smoke got. It was thick enough to taste.
Angry scorch marks crept up every wall, banister, column, and armoire. Their gnarled, spindly fingers just shy of spreading to the ceiling. It was dark. It was creepy. It was something I’d done thousands of times, but…
Something felt... Off. Wrong. Heavy. The little hairs at the nape of my neck stood on end as if someone was watching my every move.
The sensation crawled across my skin like invisible fingers. Goosebumps started to dance the Highland Jig all over my body at the precise moment that Roy grumbled, “Do you feel that?”
“You know I do.”
“Okay, Grump. I was just confirming.”
Silence filled the Hoopingarner House, the oldest estate in Dragoon Bootay and the one all the kids were scared to enter. I’d heard all the stories, most of them made up to scare the children, and for the most part, I didn’t believe a damn word.
However, with no warning, the silence felt suffocating… alive.
Opening my senses wide, I once again searched to be sure I was alone. In and out of every nook and cranny, even the closet under the stairs, the Mystical fingers of my preternatural instincts went all the way to the attic. Poking around, I found nothing.
Then I hit the third floor, and the second. Still not a damn thing, as all the alarms in my head and Roy were screaming.
“You need to get the hell out of here,” the Fairy King with whom I shared my soul warned.
“I need to check the basement.”
“Stubborn,” he snipped under his breath.
“Pigheaded” was my snappy retort before I shut Roy out.
One step, then another… I was still upright, but something was wrong– and getting more so with every passing second.
Stopping mid-step, I forgot all about ignoring Roy and mentally whispered, “What the hell?”
“As I stated, I have no clue, and as a Fairy who was here right from the very beginning, I can tell you that never happens.”
“I know.”
“Then you also know that you don’t have to whisper. We share a brain.”
“Okay, cut the shit. I’m sorry. Now, can you tell me what you feel?”
“No,” Roy immediately answered.
As one, we reached for the ancient Magic that had always answered the call. It was the only thing to do. But there was nothing.
“What the hell?” I huffed and kept reaching. “Are you feeling anything?”
Nothing.
“Roy?”
