Autumn's Bane: A Wild Hunt Novel, Book 13 Page 19

  “I’m sorry. It’s not my retaliatory scent, but I know it’s still unpleasant.” She didn’t even try to cover up the fact that she was the reason for the pungent odor filling the air.

  Angel quietly turned the air cleaner up to high before retreating through the door.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, standing to hold out my hand to her. “We know it’s just a natural response.” Privately, though, I was wondering how she could hold a job with such an uncontrollable problem. But she answered that, as though she were reading my mind.

  “Most skunk shifters have their scent glands altered so they only keep the defensive mode ones. But I chose not to. My scents are part of who I am, and there’s a large movement among younger skunk shifters to keep the glands intact instead of deactivating them.”

  “Well, either way, welcome to the Wild Hunt,” I said, sitting back down. Yutani gave her a graceful nod as I glanced over the file that Angel had given me. “You’re here due to…I’m not exactly sure what’s wrong. Why don’t you tell us? And do you mind if I record the meeting, for clarity’s sake?”

  She shook her head. “Please, feel free. The problem is that my husband and I run an urban farm. Our whole family works on it, and we make a decent living selling our eggs and honey and artisan goods. However, something’s been messing with our chicken coop and also, we think, our beehives, during the night. I’m not sure what’s going on. The chickens have stopped laying eggs, the bees seem agitated, and we’re worried they’re going to fly off and create a new hive.”

  “Problems with the neighbors?” Yutani asked.

  She thought for a moment, then said, “No, we haven’t had any squabbles with the neighbors. I can’t find anything that points to what’s going on. No dead birds, no tilled-over flower fields… We had the vet out to check out the chickens and physically, they’re fine. I bought an alarm for the coop. It’s gone off several times, but each time, we can’t find anything there. As far as the bees go, they’ve been testy lately and honeybees are usually sweethearts. They won’t bother you if you don’t hurt them, and we’ve only ever gotten a few stings and those were our fault.”

  I frowned. “How long has this been going on?”

  “For several weeks now. At first, I thought maybe that it was just something in the air—you know how sometimes things just get off-kilter, but they usually self-correct. This hasn’t.”

  I glanced over at Yutani. “What do you think?”

  “We could check it out this afternoon—at least have a cursory look.”

  Henny looked so relieved that I decided we needed to at least try to help her.

  “All right. Give us your address. We’ll need a retainer if we take the case, but I think we’ll just start by charging you our usual service fee. We’ll come out to look over the situation and see if there’s anything we can actually do. If we take the case, then we’ll talk about a retainer.” I glanced at the clock. “Are you amenable to us coming over to your house now?”

  She nodded, looking so grateful that it gave me hope. We might not be able to solve every case, but we could at least solve some of the world’s problems.

  “All right.” I buzzed the intercom and asked Angel to come in. She did and I handed her the intake form. “Can you please take a service fee from Ms. Jessaphy? Yutani and I will be heading out to her place to look over her problem, and if we think we might be able to solve it, we’ll talk about a retainer.”

  Angel took the form from me. “Herne called. He wants you to take care of anything that comes up. He’s still bringing lunch but it will be a little later.”

  “Sounds good to me. Ms. Jessaphy, please follow Angel to the front desk. We’ll meet you in the waiting room in a few minutes. Angel, text us her address, if you would.” As Angel led Henny out of the room, I turned to Yutani.

  “You have any clue of what it might be?”

  He shrugged. “It could be anything from a goblin to a ghost. You should remember from your freelance days that goblins are notoriously tricky and clever. They’re talented at avoiding security cameras.”

  “Yeah, I do remember that.”

  Goblins were members of the sub-Fae, and they were supposedly banned from entering Seattle city limits, but that was a hard law to enforce, given how tricky they were. They, along with most other forms of sub-Fae, weren’t welcome in either TirNaNog or Navane. They were trouble all the way around, nasty creatures who had the decency to melt when you killed them. I never figured out what it was about them, but every time I took down a goblin, their bodies began to decompose at such a rapid rate that within less than fifteen minutes, you wouldn’t have known they had been there, except for a pile of goo.

  I slid into my leather coat—it might be August, but if we ended up in a fight, I didn’t want more skin exposed than necessary. Wearing a light shift dress wasn’t ideal for the work, but the wound was healing enough that I could probably get away with pants by tonight.

  “You want me and Viktor to check this out?” Yutani asked as he watched me. “I don’t want you getting hurt. Herne would flatten me if you got injured again before you’ve even healed up from the last go-round.”

  I frowned, considering his offer, but my ego wasn’t having any of it. “Nope. I’m going. If anything, I should leave you here to research with Talia, and take Viktor with me.”

  “Come on, knucklehead, let’s get a move on,” he said, laughing. He shook his head. “But if you end up in the hospital, I’m dropping the blame entirely on you.”

  Sticking my tongue out at him—Yutani was starting to remind me of the brother I never had—I followed him out the door.

  Henny Jessaphy had an urban farm on the northside of Spring Beach, near the Sound. It was a beautiful spread—five acres that reminded me of a park. As we drove past her house down the graveled drive, I saw that it was a sprawling ranch. A moment later she parked by what was obviously the chicken coop. It was fenced in, with a large yard for the chickens to roam around in. But even in the sunshine, the chickens seemed skittish and as we watched them, they kept stopping their feed to look around, as though some noise had startled them.

  Henny sat on a nearby bench made out of a half-log. She pointed to the gate. “You can go in there. I’ll stay back. I don’t want to make them nervous with too many people in the coop at one time.”

  We started by circumnavigating the coop from the outside, looking for any breeches, holes, or any other entry that would allow something to enter the perimeter, but there wasn’t a break in the fencing. Not even a tiny one. Everything looked sturdy and well-mended.

  As we started to enter the coop proper, the chickens began to clamor and run around our feet. They didn’t seem to have any particular place they were going, but then one of them—a big, fat, white hen—came waddling up to me and promptly perched on my feet.

  I stared down at her, and she looked up at me, and oddly enough, at that moment, a crow came swooping down out of the trees and landed on the edge of the henhouse, cawing at me. I stared at it for a moment, then slowly reached down to pick up the hen, not quite sure if I was holding her right. But she didn’t struggle as I nestled her in the crook of my arm.

  “So, what’s wrong, chickie?” Slowly sitting down, I stared down at the beady little eyes that looked up at me. She looked almost as though she trusted me.

  Yutani snorted. “Made a new friend?”

  “She’s trying to tell me something. I know it, but I don’t speak…chicken.” I looked up at the crow, who was still perched on the eaves of the coop. “Hey, do you know anything about this?”

  The crow let out an echoing call, and then—before I could set the chicken down—I found myself standing in the yard of the chicken coop at night…

  …The chickens were restless, unsettled on their nests. I could see them from where I was standing, through the mesh door that was open to let the cool night breeze sweep through. The entire area around the coop felt unsettled, and I could sense something creepin
g around the edges. It was dark and squat, and angry. Oh, so angry. Whatever it was, it couldn’t overwhelm me like many of the creatures I had encountered.

  I stared at the water trough where the chickens drank and suddenly it clicked. There was a tiny water spirit in there—one of the Water Fae, and she was sitting on the edge of the trough, sparkling blue in the dark of the night.

  Kneeling beside her, I smiled. “Hello, my Water Sister.”

  Startled, she looked up at me. “Oh! One of the Leannan Sidhe.” Her voice was melodic, faint like a tinkle on the wind.

  “Well, yes. I am part Leannan Sidhe. And you are—a naiad?”

  She shook her head. “I’m a Nixie.”

  I froze. Nixienacks were nasty creatures, but then I realized she had said “Nixie” and that was something entirely different. Nixies were water creatures, as opposed to carnivorous little sub-Fae.

  “You live in the chickens’ water trough?” That seemed like a pretty poor excuse for a home.

  “I watch over them. I like them.”

  “Then can you tell me what’s bothering them? I sense something out here that’s very angry. I’d like to chase it away, if I can figure out what it is.”

  The Nixie clapped her hands and laughed. “There is something here, and if you could dispatch it, my feathered friends and I would be most obliged. It doesn’t bother me, because it can’t, but it’s upsetting the chickens and the bees. It’s a Gilding and it lives behind the coop in the thicket of ferns.” She flew into the air and buzzed around my head, landing on my shoulder. “Thank you, in advance.”

  And before I could answer, I opened my eyes and was back in the yard, staring at the water trough, and it was midday.

  “What’s a Gilding?” I asked Yutani.

  He frowned, watching the crow as it rose from my shoulder and flew away. “A Gilding? Is that what you think is bothering the chickens and bees?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, the Nixie told me.” I relayed everything that had happened, and he sat down on the log beside me.

  “Okay, Gildings are creatures that cross from one dimension to another. They’re physical when they come into our realm. They’re…harbingers of bad luck and they curse any place that has too much good energy to it. They’re the grinches of the astral world, so to speak. Their presence can cause crops to fail, milk to sour, and all sorts of nasty things. Often, when homesteaders have one bad season after another, it’s because they were inflicted with a Gilding’s curse. The only way to lift the hex is to banish the Gilding and protect against it coming back.”

  I frowned. “Banish it, huh? I take it we can’t just kill it?”

  He shook his head. “Gildings can be killed, I think, but it’s a lot harder than just getting rid of them in the first place. What Henny needs is a witch or sorcerer rather than us. We should refer her to Raven’s friend Llewellyn. My bet is that he’ll be able to get rid of the creature without a problem.”

  I shrugged. “Sounds good to me. Let me call him up. I have his number.” I pulled out my cellphone and called Llew at his shop—the Sun & Moon Apothecary, a magic shop on the Eastside. He answered on the first ring.

  “Hey, it’s Ember, from the Wild Hunt. We have a case that might be right up your alley.” I told him about Henny’s problem and the fact that we suspected a Gilding. “Can I give her your number?”

  “Sure. I can’t come over right now, but I could make it after I close up shop.” He seemed to be preoccupied, and I guessed he was dealing with another customer.

  “I’ll give her your number and tell her to call you. If you find out that I’m wrong and need us to come back, just give me a call. But I think we’re right on this one.” I hung up, then set down the chicken, who had made herself comfortable on my lap.

  We stood and exited to where Henny was waiting.

  “Your problem can be solved, but we can’t do it. I’m texting you the number for Llewellyn Roberts, who owns a magic shop. He can take care of the hex that you’re under.”

  Henny’s eyes widened. “Hex? What hex?”

  I told her about the Gilding. When we finished, we asked her to let us know whether the problem got sorted out and then returned to Yutani’s car. He opened the door for me, and we headed back to the Wild Hunt.

  “I’m glad that it wasn’t a case for us,” I said. “Right now, we’ve got our hands full with Typhon.”

  “Yeah, but I wouldn’t mind having an easier case for a change. I’m so tired of running after ghouls and vrykos and all the other undead. And dragons aren’t my first choice to head up my enemies list.” Yutani paused as he stared out the window. “We’re headed into a dark time for the world, Ember. I hope to hell that Talia and I can find some sign of Echidna and where she’s at because I have the feeling she holds the key to locking Typhon back up.”

  “Me too, actually. I think she had something to do with his imprisonment. I don’t have anything to go on other than instinct, but I have the feeling that she disappeared so nobody could use her to unseal his prison. Which brings me to another thought. I still think he had to have help getting out of stasis. You don’t think she helped him, do you? And if so, is it a mistake to try to find her?”

  Yutani eased the car onto the road and we headed south, toward the city central. “I don’t think she would. Every account we’ve found has her acting against her husband.”

  “Then she might be in hiding because she fears Typhon going after her. Think of the revenge factor. He knew she was against him, and if he knew she helped the Titans to lock him up, then that anger would have festered all these years.” I shuddered. “Ten to one, he’s hanging out in the astral plane not just to strengthen up, but to keep out of her way until he feels he can fight her.”

  “That’s a good point. If they’re both playing cat and mouse with each other, then we have to contact her and convince her to work with us.” Yutani veered off the street, into a drive-thru espresso stand. “What do you want?”

  “Bless you. Iced large triple peppermint mocha.” I looked around at the people milling through the streets. “What happens to them if we don’t stop Typhon?”

  “I don’t even want to think about it,” Yutani said. “So, if you were the Mother of Dragons, hiding away from Typhon, where would you hide?”

  “Hmm…not in Greece. My thoughts are he’s got his emissaries combing the Greek islands looking for her, since that’s where they last parted. Somewhere high in the mountains, with deep caves. Does Everest have much of a cave system?”

  “I know there are some around Tibet, but honestly, that seems a little extreme even for dragons. But…there are caverns all over the world. She could be anywhere. What else would she use as criteria for where she’s hiding?”

  “It would have to be safe from climbers, so I doubt she’d hide out anyplace where hikers routinely travel. Maybe we’re looking at this wrong. Maybe she’s not hiding out in the mountains. Maybe…what about someplace remote, where humans don’t go but that dragons could withstand. Death Valley? Not a lot of people hang out in there and that’s almost…let me see…” I brought out my phone and brought up a search engine. “Death Valley’s almost three thousand square miles—that’s a lot of land there and most of it uninhabited. It also has mountains, or at least big hills, and a dragon could hide out there and not be noticed.”

  “Why there rather than, say, the Sahara?”

  “Simple. I’m guessing she knows Typhon broke free. She knows his emissaries are tackling the cities. She’s not going to want to be too far from where she can gather information. The Sahara’s a lot more remote than Death Valley.”

  Yutani frowned. “It seems a stretch, but it’s worth checking out. As soon as we get back to the office, I’ll get on it. We have contacts all over the states.”

  He pulled into the parking garage and we jogged through the street performers. I glanced around the crowd, looking for anybody that I might know, but none of them were familiar.

  When we entered the office ag
ain, Angel shooed us toward the break room.

  “Herne’s back and he brought lunch. I’ll be there in a moment after I lock down the elevator,” she said.

  We entered the break room to see Herne sitting there with Talia and Viktor, and on the table was a pile of Chinese takeout boxes. I washed my hands, with Yutani following suit. As I sat down beside Herne, I leaned forward and gave him a warm kiss.

  “Hey, love, how are you doing today?”

  “Side hurts, but it’s okay.”

  “You weren’t out there knocking about, injuring yourself again, were you?” He stared at me tenderly, and once again, my heart fluttered. When he looked at me, I felt like the most special woman in the world.

  “No, I wasn’t knocking about. The most strenuous thing I did at Henny’s was to pick up a chicken and hold it.”

  Talia snorted. “You making friends with fowl folks lately?”

  “Funny woman, ha ha.” But it was funny, and I laughed. “Actually, it’s not a case we can do much about. I referred her to Llewellyn and only charged her the service fee.”

  “What’s the problem?” Herne asked.

  “Chickens stopped laying eggs, bees are agitated. A Nixie told me that it’s a Gilding. I had no clue what that was, but Yutani filled me in and so I called Llewellyn and put Henny in touch with him. They need a hex-breaker, not a head-basher.” I sniffed the food, inhaling deeply. “That smells so good. I’m hungry.” Pausing, I turned to Herne. “So, how was talking with the mayor and the United Coalition?”

  Once we were settled with our food, Herne told us how it had gone.

  “The UC is mustering up militias all over the states—the Shifter Alliance and Vampire Nation are helping. The Fae militia’s focused here, but there are some Fae in other parts of the country who are willing to work with the shifters.” He looked pleased. “Dormant Reins sent a note this morning that we should expect a vampire patrol call-list this week, and he’s also reached out to other regents around the country.”