Page 71 of First Snow

A thoughtful expression crosses Loki’s features. He pulls his cell from his pocket and starts to scroll.

“Do you know her?” Loki holds up the device for Jareth to inspect the video playing on the screen. It shows a petite young woman with flowing blond curls, standing in a sunlit kitchen.

From the small section the video shows, Jareth guesses that she’s in a farm house. On the counter in front of her, the woman has laid out various items. Gemstones, charms, candles, and herbs. Jareth tilts his head.

“She’s fake.”

“Yes,” Loki agrees. “But look at this one. It was taken three months later.”

Loki starts the video. This time the woman’s voice blears out of the speakers. She is just as impeccably dressed up as she was in the first video, but it’s clear thatsomethinghas changed. Her make-up can’t hide the dark circles under her eyes, and there’s something haunted in her gaze that sends a shiver down Jareth’s spine. He has seen too many people go mad with power when they touch magic for the first time unprepared.

“Why are you watching that clip?”

Arttu walks over to them as soon as the voice comes out of the speakers. There’s a tension to his shoulders that wasn’t there before. Instinctively, Jareth places a reassuring hand on his back.

Loki turns the screen so that Arttu, Tuulia, and Emily, who have followed him, can take a look, too.

“This is Lucille Villin. She died of exposure in the woods 30 kilometers from the little farm she lived at together with her boyfriend.” Arttu glares at Tuulia. There is definitely a story Jareth wants to hear later. “She must’ve run through the woods for hours in her street clothes, but I’m sure she just got lost. It must’ve been an accident.” Arttu’s voice drips with sarcasm.

Tuulia slaps her hand in front of her face. “For an intelligent man you’re incredibly silly!”

Arttu’s furious gaze turns to Tuulia. “I know you’re friends with Salonen, but can’t you see that his new boyfriend, who is conveniently Miss Villin’s ex-boyfriend, must have something to do with—” Arttu hesitates. “Can I see the video again?”

Loki offers his cell, clearly amused. Muting the speakers, Arttu restarts the clip.

“There,” he hisses after a minute.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” Loki agrees.

Jareth frowns at the way the witch leans close to Arttu to point at something on the small screen.

“That’s Briar’s grimoire, right?” Arttu says. He looks stunned.

Jareth leans down to inspect the frozen frame, making sure to place himself between Arttu and Loki.

“It is,” Jareth confirms.

He doesn’t have to look too closely, anyway. The grimoire explains the disturbing change between the first and the second clip. Also, if the woman dabbled in magic and couldn’t control it properly, it wouldn’t be a surprise if she ended up dead.

“Shit! This case drove me crazy for months! Couldn’t you be bothered to tell me that she was killed by magic?” Arttu snaps at Tuulia.

“And you would’ve believed me?” Tuulia yells back. “What do you think Tapio and I were trying to tell you?”

“Well, maybe you should’ve explained the topic a little clearer instead of making some vague insinuations!”

Tears of rage well up in Tuulia’s eyes, but before she can continue arguing, Jareth interrupts the quarrel.

“I don’t think there was a satisfying solution to your problem.”

He hugs Arttu from behind, caressing softly over his arms and pressing his nose into the soft hair above Arttu’s ear.

“She should’ve told you, but you wouldn’t have believed her,” he whispers. “You didn’t even want to believe me when I outright showed you, remember?”

Arttu growls, but leans into his embrace.

Snorting indignantly, Tuulia stomps over to them and throws her arms around Arttu, hugging Jareth as well. He didn’t see that coming.

“Damn, Arttu,” Tuulia sobs. “I thought you’d been harmed, only because I failed to tell you about the magical realm earlier.”