Page 27

Unlocking an ancient filing cabinet, Kira went on, “Not that I was alive at the time to remember it, but it’s part of local folklore. We have a lot of information here about it.”

She pulled an enormous armload of yellowed newspaper clippings and notebooks out of the cabinet, bringing them back and dumping them on the table.

Chloe looked at them with some degree of trepidation. It all looked very interesting, but there was just so much paper!

“We’ve also digitized everything,” Kira added, indicating the computer in the corner. “Henry went through it and scanned it all in for us. So you can look through there, if you want. But really, the information will be the same.”

Wow, Henry really is a jack of all trades, Chloe thought distractedly. Must be nice in a way, just doing a range of things and never getting bored. Though I think I’m a bit too single-minded to enjoy it!

Kira carefully selected a few pieces of paper and spread them out on the table. “Here. Between these documents, you should get everything you want to know.”

Chloe peered down at them, Ethan and Curtis by her side.

Kira had been remarkably calm when Chloe had informed her that they had a ghost with them…

though she also suspected that Henry or Sylvie had called ahead to give her a heads-up, given that she’d seemed to know that they were here for information about the storm before they’d even asked.

The newspaper articles spanned a range of dates – one appeared to be from the morning after the storm, one was from a few days later once they had more information and had been able to get some better photos of the damage, and one appeared to be a photocopy of an article from some sort of scientific journal written well after the fact, talking about the minor landslide that had occurred.

The last one had a lot of diagrams and topographic maps that Kira probably found very useful and informative, but they just looked like a bunch of squiggles to Chloe!

She focused on the first two instead, her eyes drawn to the pictures in particular.

“Wow,” she said, as she looked at the images of destruction.

Even as grainy and faded as the photos were, and even knowing that it was a fairly small landslide in the grand scheme of things, it was still pretty frightening.

Large trees had snapped like twigs and slid down the mountainside in a torrent of mud, leaving an empty, twisted scar in the otherwise dense forest.

“If that’s where Eula was, she was lucky to survive,” Chloe marveled, pointing at one of the pictures. “Look – if she’d gotten caught in the landslide, she could’ve gotten dumped right into the gorge.”

“Yeah, that whole area got closed off to the public for a while after that,” Kira said.

“It did technically get reopened later once some safety checks had been done, but the staff here at the time closed most of the paths that led there and let the forest reclaim them, to discourage people from going out that way.”

She unfolded a trail map of the area and tapped on it, apparently indicating something, though Chloe had no idea what.

“Even though the area has been cleared for public use, it’s still risky to have people out there.

It’s difficult to reach, and getting a rescue team up there to pull someone out of the gorge is one heck of a logistical challenge.

And on top of that, it’s a cellphone dead spot as well. ”

Chloe whistled through her teeth. “Doesn’t sound like the most appealing of places.”

“Well, it is pretty spectacular,” Kira said.

“If someone is determined to go up there, we won’t stop them – and given that there’s now only one path to the gorge, we know exactly which way they’re going.

And I’ll strongly encourage them to notify me first, so that we can go looking for them if they do go missing.

But I’d prefer it if people didn’t go up there at all. ”

Her eyes twinkled with a sudden mischief. “Unless they have a shifter who can fly them up there and keep them out of danger, of course.”

“Of course,” Chloe echoed. So clearly Kira was in on all of this shifter stuff as well. Chloe was starting to wonder if there was anyone in this town who wasn’t either a shifter or dating one!

Kira must have noticed Chloe’s expression, because she smiled. “My mate, Caleb – he’s a dragon – has flown me up near there before. It really is stunning, but it’s a difficult hike to get up there.”

“Mate…?” Chloe murmured in confusion, only half taking in the rest of Kira’s words. She wasn’t quite sure what Kira had meant by that. Maybe she was originally from Australia or something? Though she didn’t sound like it.

“Oh!” Kira said suddenly, her mouth opening in the universal expression for whoops, I just messed up big time .

Her eyes were fixed over Chloe’s shoulder in Ethan’s direction, and Chloe spun around just in time to see Ethan shaking his head wildly.

Chloe’s eyes narrowed, even as Kira started babbling something behind her about ‘mate’ just being what she called her boyfriend, and it didn’t have any special meaning.

Ethan’s eyes were wide, his cheeks turning ever so slightly pink.

You’ve got some explaining to do, mister, Chloe tried to psychically message him, glaring as hard as she could. Don’t think you’re going to wiggle out of this one by batting those outrageously long eyelashes at me.

Understood, Ethan seemed to say back, though he mostly looked like he wanted to just leave the room and never come back.

It was kind of cute, to be honest, seeing him so flustered. He was always so put-together and, well, kind of snooty that it was fun to witness him get shaken up.

She wasn’t even particularly annoyed – he’d already told her a lot of astonishingly unbelievable things, so it wasn’t like he’d been super secretive or anything. But then again, what was it about the word ‘mate’ that was so special that he couldn’t even tell her?

In any case, she was going to have to have words later with both Ethan and Kira about what terrible actors they were. They’d certainly succeeded in raising her suspicions, that was for sure!

“So, about this gorge,” Chloe said, deciding to be merciful and bring the conversation back to the main topic. “Where should we fly up to? Remembering that geography was my worst subject at school.”

“This is the safest spot,” Kira said, indicating an area a little further north on the map. “There’s a small clearing where you can land.”

Ethan nodded. “My pegasus has a good sense for these things. Now that it’s seen the map, it’ll know exactly where to go.”

Chloe shivered a little at the thought of riding the magnificent pegasus.

It suddenly hit her – they were talking about flying out there. She hadn’t quite taken it in before.

They were going to fly into the mountains?

Chloe looked dubiously at Kira. She’d said she’d been flown out there – by a dragon, no less – and she still seemed to have all of her limbs. Maybe the dragon had used its claws to carry her in a little basket or something.

“Well, consider this as us officially giving you notice that we’re heading up to the gorge,” Ethan said, folding up the map and slipping it into his pocket. “We’ll be back by dark – I have no desire to stay up on a cold mountain with no camping gear.”

Chloe was glad to hear that, at least. She wasn’t averse to the idea of going camping – and certainly not to the idea of going camping with Ethan – but they were woefully underprepared, even with the backpack full of supplies that Kira had said she would provide them. And she had to open her clinic up soon!

But maybe some other time, if Ethan is amenable…

Kira nodded. “I’ll be working here until six, so make sure you drop by on your way out to let me know.

Or at least give me a call – the number’s on the map.

If I haven’t heard from you by then, I’ll call my friend Kieran and he’ll come looking, since Caleb is off hunting down rare movies again. Kieran’s a griffin, by the way.”

“Ah, the B&B-owning griffin,” Chloe said. She thought she was getting pretty good at taking these things in her stride.

Kira laughed. “There are enough shifters in this town that they could definitely find you if you got lost, but it might draw some attention from the other locals if they all went looking at once! We’re getting quite the collection going.”

Counting off on her fingers, she continued, “Let’s see. We’ve got a dragon, a unicorn, a hellhound, a griffin, a chimera…”

“A chimera?” Ethan exclaimed, looking the closest to being ruffled that Chloe had seen yet.

“Oh, don’t worry, he’s a sweetheart,” Kira said offhandedly.

“And now, we have a pegasus.” She gave Ethan a look that Chloe would have normally described as sly , but she wasn’t sure that Kira was the type – she seemed too straightforward for that.

“For now, anyway. Unless you’re planning on staying longer… ?”

Okay, now Ethan was the most ruffled Chloe had ever seen him. He looked downright uncomfortable.

“Let’s just find this necklace, rather than making plans,” he said gruffly, straightening up from where he was leaning over the table.

Interesting. Is he not as married to his job as he likes to appear? Chloe thought, trying to quell the sudden flutter in her stomach. Probably not, though. Probably he’s just trying to be polite about not reminding me that he’ll be leaving the moment he’s solved his ghost problem.

Ethan nodded curtly to Kira. “Thank you for your assistance – it’s been very much appreciated.”

~Thank you, Miss Kira,~ Curtis said, and Chloe nearly jumped – he’d been so quiet that she’d almost forgotten he was there! ~I cannot express how grateful I am.~

“Yes, thank you so much,” Chloe said. “Curtis says thank you as well.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Kira said. “Good luck – I hope you find what you’re looking for.”