Page 15 of Magic Betrayed (The Shifter of Sheridan Avenue #2)

FIFTEEN

When we returned to the ground floor, the remaining loose bricks had been swept to the side, and the newly constructed model had been placed on one of the high-top tables.

And even I, who knew more or less what to expect, found myself staring in open-mouthed admiration at my sprite’s creation—in all its multi-hued Victorian glory.

Despite the wild array of brick colors, the shape and style of the house were clearly recognizable. It was relatively large, generally square and featured three floors, with a wraparound porch, a balcony on the second floor, and the promised turret occupying one corner.

It was clear that some bits were hazy in Ari’s memory, but I had no doubt that I would recognize it if I saw it.

“Ari-bug.” I caught her up in a tight hug. “This is amazing. You did such a great job!”

She hugged me back before squirming out of my hold to beam proudly at the structure. “I had lots of help,” she acknowledged graciously.

I looked over at Seamus. “You think you know where it is?”

He nodded. “Almost positive.”

“Seamus is an Oklahoma history buff,” Kira noted. “Basically knows all there is to know about where and how things happened, and some of his stories are pretty wild.”

“It was a wild place,” Seamus protested. “And all of my stories are verifiably one hundred percent true.”

Kira tilted her head pointedly. “The house?”

“Yes. Right.” Seamus turned to look at Ari’s model. “Given the turret and the gables and the extent of the porch… I’m pretty sure we’re looking at the Haversmith House. It doesn’t get as much attention as the Overholser Mansion or the Harn Homestead, but it’s still a fascinating piece of city history.”

“Why would someone build a Victorian mansion down a dirt road in the middle of the woods?”

“Ah, but they didn’t.” Seamus’s whole face brightened. “The house originally stood here in the city, near where Deep Deuce is now. It was built right after the turn of the twentieth century, by an immigrant who made his fortune selling lumber and was a crucial part of the push to move the state capital from Guthrie to Oklahoma City.”

The wolf shifter clearly loved history, and I wished we had time to explore it. But now that we had a location, we needed to hurry.

“So it’s close by?” I prompted.

“Ah, but that’s the ironic thing. When Abner Haversmith died, his daughter lived in the house for years, but she had no children, and after her own death, it started falling apart. There was a push by the city to restore and preserve it as an important piece of Oklahoma History, but there weren’t enough investors. Until the Williams family decided to make it into a museum and moved it out to their property… just outside of Guthrie.”

That was odd. “Then this can’t be the right place,” I pointed out. “Why would anyone be kidnapping people to a museum?”

“It never actually opened as a museum. Before the restoration was fully complete, the project had to be stopped for lack of funds. The last of the Williams family moved away about forty years ago, and the property has been technically abandoned ever since.”

“Then how is it still standing?”

“For twenty years or so, it was pretty well known among squatters as a place to hole up,” Seamus admitted with a grimace. “There were a number of high-profile drug busts out there until it was used as a location for shooting a horror film around fifteen years ago. Since the renaissance of the film industry in OKC, the Williams’ heirs have put up a fence and tried to raise interest in the house as an atmospheric location for period films, but that fizzled out, and last I heard, they were planning to have it torn down to prevent lawsuits by injured trespassers.”

All of this would have been interesting if my brain hadn’t been racing ahead to the logistics of a rescue.

“Given the house’s history, do we think local law enforcement will intervene if they see or hear anything odd in that area?”

The bartender hesitated. “Hard to say. If there’s any reason to believe magic is involved, my guess is they’ll stay well away, but that doesn’t guarantee they won’t show up to check things out.”

And possibly get hurt in the process. So we needed to keep it quiet.

“Anything else we should be aware of? Many neighbors close by?”

“The house is on a thirty acre plot outside of Guthrie proper, and pretty much everyone in town thinks it’s haunted. So on a summer weekend, we might have a handful of teens or tourists out there climbing fences and poking around, but less likely in January.”

“Haunted?” I raised an eyebrow. First Bigfoot and now ghosts. “Do that many people actually believe in that stuff?”

“It’s Guthrie.” Seamus shrugged wryly. “The most haunted town in Oklahoma. Whether the residents truly believe in it or not, there’s nothing they love better than a good ghost story.”

A good ghost story…

The glimmer of an idea began to form.

“Seamus, what do you think the kidnappers would do if a crew of ghost hunters showed up at the house looking for a story?”

From the way his eyes narrowed, I was pretty sure he caught my drift.

“They’d want to be as quiet as possible. Give the hunters any hint of an actual haunting and they’ll be relentless. Plus, they’re always trying to catch things on film, so their video cameras will have night vision. Would probably result in a lockdown.”

“So if they’re locked down and watching the ghost hunters, someone really quiet might be able to sneak in.”

The wolf shifter began to look thoughtful.

“We could tip someone off,” I continued. “Find some amateur hunters just begging for a break and hope they make as big a fuss as possible.” Given what I’d seen on that Bigfoot forum, there was no shortage of candidates for the job.

But Seamus shook his head. “Too dangerous. Can’t afford for a couple of reckless idiots to get hurt if things go sideways. But I think I can do better than that.”

“No.” Kira was beginning to look horrified. “You wouldn’t.”

Wouldn’t what?

“Two of our people are missing,” Seamus reminded her grimly. “So yes, I would. I’d do it for you, I’d do it for any of us.”

“Hold on—what are we talking about?” There was no way I wanted Seamus paying some hideous personal price for my half-baked plan.

Kira grimaced. “Seamus has made a lot of… interesting friends over the years. Including a handful of humans. His next-door neighbors are… what would you call them? Not ghost hunters exactly. More like ghost debunkers.”

The bartender grunted in agreement. “They’re trust fund twins, and since they don’t need to work, they’ve dedicated their lives to proving that all paranormal occurrences throughout history have been caused not by ghosts, but by Idrians.”

“And they’ve been trying to get Seamus to appear on their little self-produced ‘show’ for ages,” Kira added, sounding decidedly grumpy about it.

“They’re harmless,” Seamus insisted. “They watch my house when I’m out of town, and they always dog-sit for me when I’m working long hours.”

Kira’s eyes narrowed. “Waffles likes them, doesn’t he?”

The bartender’s sheepish grin was answer enough. Basically, Seamus was prepared to like anyone his giant dog approved of.

“Fine.” Kira let out an annoyed-sounding sigh. “But no video footage of anyone without their explicit permission.”

Seamus looked mildly offended. “I thought you knew me better than that.”

Kira shot him a disgruntled look. “It’s not you I don’t trust,” she returned emphatically. “As you very well know.”

* * *

The Tanner twins—Trey and Tegan—showed up less than thirty minutes after Seamus texted, and were let in the back door by an extremely disapproving Faris.

I was pretty sure my boss would have preferred to just storm the house and take Kes and Logan back by force, but I didn’t care to risk it. So instead, we were trusting a pair of humans who did not exactly inspire confidence.

Tegan was tall and quiet and wore his long dark hair up in a bun, with a pencil stuck through the middle. His dark-framed glasses looked like a deliberate choice to emphasize his nerd image, and while he appeared studious and thoughtful, he said not a single word when Seamus introduced him and buried his face in his phone a moment later.

Trey, on the other hand, fit the ghost-hunter stereotype so exactly it was almost painful. The two were technically identical twins, but Trey’s hair was a shaggy mop, his face was half covered by about two weeks’ growth of beard, and his energy was bordering on neurotic terrier.

“Okay, here’s the deal I’m offering.” Seamus leaned on the bar and pinned both of them with his best shapeshifter stare. “You set up your equipment when and where I tell you, make a big show of looking for evidence, but you don’t actually film. In fact, you basically pretend you were never there.”

“And in exchange?” Trey was so eager he was practically shaking.

Seamus looked like he’d eaten something that tasted bad. “Exclusive footage of a werewolf shift.”

“Dude.” Trey’s eyes were huge. “What made you change your mind?”

“I’ve got friends in trouble,” Seamus replied shortly. “We need a distraction, and I can’t promise it’ll be entirely danger-free. So I’m offering significant compensation.”

I was almost as stunned as Trey by the offer. It wasn’t that the humans had no video evidence of shapechanging, but such evidence was still fairly rare. No shifter wanted that moment to be splashed all over the morning news.

“Yes!” Instead of reacting rationally, the shaggy-haired ghost hunter rubbed his hands together in evident glee before turning to his brother. “Think this’ll get us on Supes or Dupes ?”

I could almost hear Seamus’s teeth grinding at the name of a popular show that specialized in debunking the paranormal.

But Tegan just looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging and turning back to his phone.

“We’ll do it,” Trey promised.

“You did hear the part where it could be dangerous?” Seamus pressed him.

“Aw, don’t worry, man. We have a standard no-lawsuits contract we can sign. Danger is just part of the fun!”

I saw Tegan shoot him a pointed side-eye, but Man-Bun still said nothing.

“Okay then.” Seamus offered his hand and Trey shook it. “I’ll text you the time and location. Stay ready. We’ll be headed out as soon as everything is in place.”

Trey whooped, leaped up from the barstool, and literally ran out the back door. His brother let out a sigh before pushing to his feet and looking around at all of us. He lifted the hand with the phone, waved it back and forth, and then strolled out.

Kira’s face looked like she’d bitten into something rotten. “You know they probably bribe the dog.”

“And you know I don’t care,” Seamus said mildly. “So. Who’s in charge of the next part of the plan?”

“I am,” I told him firmly. “This is my family, so I will be taking the biggest risks. And I don’t want any more people involved than necessary.” It was bad enough that Callum had nearly been injured while helping me. If anyone else got hurt, I would struggle to forgive myself.

“Nice tryyyyyy,” Kira sang out, sidling closer to give me a hug. “How about we come up with a plan first, and then decide who has the best chance of carrying it out? You know my dragon is super tiny, right? So I am absolutely the best at getting in through upstairs windows and sneaking around indoors.”

I pulled away from her hug and fixed her with my most convincing glare. “No.”

“What do you mean, no?” She was almost pouting now. “Have I mentioned I’m almost indestructible in dragon form?”

“You are getting married ,” I said firmly. “In how many days now?”

Her chin dropped. “Ten,” she muttered.

“We’re facing a group of people with no magic, so whatever traps they’ve set are probably going to require more stealth than strong-arming. I won’t risk your safety when there are plenty of others who can help.”

To my surprise, I heard a growl echo from her chest. A wisp of smoke curled from her mouth, and a hint of fangs suddenly glinted from between her parted lips.

“Uh…” Granted, I hadn’t spent a lot of time around shapeshifters, but this didn’t seem normal at all.

“Okay, enough showing off.” Callum put his sister in a very careful headlock until she elbowed him in the ribs—a lot less carefully. “Raine is right. There’s no need to risk yourself right now. We’ve got this.”

We?

I looked up at Callum, opened my mouth to declare we would be fine without him, and promptly closed it again. The dragon was a giant hypocrite, but I didn’t think I had it in me to tell him no. Plus, I was almost positive he wouldn’t listen.

“I believe we have an agreement,” Rath reminded me, and I shot him a nod.

“Yes. You can come. And you.” I shifted my attention to Shane. “But both of you have to agree—no killing anyone if we can help it. And”—I turned to Faris—“I don’t think anyone should tell Talia. Too much chance she’ll hurt someone in the process.”

My fear wasn’t just theoretical. The first time I met her, the elemental queen had attacked and nearly killed Oliver in an attempt to force Faris to answer her questions. Once her daughter was within reach, I had no idea how far Talia would go in pursuit of answers—or vengeance.

“So that’s Rath, Shane, Seamus, Callum, and me.”

It should be more than enough to handle whatever the kidnappers could throw at us. So why did it feel like my hunch magic was still trying to tell me something?

Oh, right. Ari.

I whirled to Kira. “If you still want to help, someone will need to watch Ari. She loves being at the bookstore with Hugh and Chicken, so maybe that would keep her…” I didn’t finish, because I was positive her tiny ears were tuned in to every second of this conversation and I didn’t want to give her ideas.

Ideas like teleporting back to Kes and Logan in an earnest but terrifying attempt to help.

“On it,” Kira said cheerfully, striding over to Ari and taking her hand with a grin. “We’ll go pick up Waffles, make some scones, and have a tea party at the bookstore. How does that sound?”

“Tea!” My sprite was almost as fond of tea as Kira herself, and she adored Hugh. “Party!”

Perfect.

We had our team. All pets and children were accounted for.

Now all we needed was an actual plan .

Well, crap.

* * *

Ari had gotten a good look at the outside of the house, but she had a less than perfect grasp on the inside. Because she got around by teleporting, she wasn’t totally sure which room she’d been kept in, nor could she identify which floor Kes and Logan were on.

So we were going in almost entirely blind.

But not without advantages. Thanks to the fae, I had any number of abilities that could be of use when trying to sneak into closely guarded areas. I could use my fae magic to silence my footsteps and create darkness that light could not penetrate. I could also pick locks, scale most walls, and was not afraid of heights.

Unfortunately, there was a chance that one of the five elementals in that house knew exactly what I could do. Not to mention, we had yet to identify the person that Ari had been so afraid of.

The biggest variable was whether they would expect me to be bringing allies. Talia’s daughter would know about Faris and the Shadow Court. But did she know how ferociously he protected his people? Or even that he claimed Kes and Logan as his own?

I somehow kept my expression neutral and my voice steady as I looked at Callum. “Are you okay for another shift this soon?”

His response was swift. “Yes. The area is too wooded to risk a fire, but Guthrie is rural enough to allow for flying.”

“And…” I wasn’t sure how to ask this or whether it was considered insulting among dragons, but I was going to ask, anyway. “Can you carry people when you fly?”

“Two. Easily.”

Okay. That was good. If I could get Kes and Logan out of the house, they would have a swift exit.

I just needed someone who could go inside with me and help me carry Logan. I was strong for my size, but not “carry a teenage boy while climbing out a window” strong.

Thankfully, we also had Rath and Shane, and both of them could use glamour. And with the ghost hunters as a distraction…

“I don’t want to wait too long,” I informed my team. “The longer we wait, the more likely they are to discover that Kes can’t give them what they want, and I don’t know how they’ll react. So I think we should go tonight. Probably sometime after midnight, to minimize the chances of being noticed by curious humans.

“I don’t have a detailed game plan. I don’t think we know enough to make one. But I also don’t want anyone hurt. So whoever is going with me has to promise—no unnecessary violence, no acting out of vengeance. If possible, we’re going to rescue them, and then we’re going to talk.”

I got nods from all around—some more grudging than others. Not everyone would be comfortable thinking on their feet. But we had a lot of power and experience on our side, which meant that no matter what unexpected traps our enemies threw at us, we at least had a chance.

I hoped.

Because now, as at every other crossroads of my life, that faint glimmer of hope was all I really had to go on.