Page 2 of Pointy Ears and Purple Glitter (Quirk of Fate #5)

“Are you sure that taxicab dropped us off at the right spot?” Tynan put the piece of paper almost up to his nose, trying to see the scribbles. It wasn’t helpful. Giving up, he looked around at the dark alleyways, unlit shops, and boarded-up windows. A place like this gives “bleak” a bad name.

“Sparky, can you see anything? Are we in the right place?”

There was a flutter of raven wings as Sparky landed on his shoulder. “I’ve looked,” he said with a disgruntled chirp. “There’s nothing there. There’s nothing but darkness for miles if you keep going the way you are.”

“The driver said we were only three blocks from our destination.” Tynan looked back the way he came. He’d been walking at least half an hour – the neighborhood getting more depressing with every step.

“The taxi driver also said he wouldn’t come into this area after dark,” Sparky’s feathers tickled the hair covering Tynan’s ear. “For good reason if you ask me. Either the driver was talking shit, or your informant was.”

“I can’t believe this place is so abandoned.

It’s as if everyone’s deserted this entire side of town for some reason.

It’s ridiculous for someplace that is essentially within city boundaries.

” Tynan rubbed his hands up and down the sleeves of his coat.

A chill was cutting through to his bones, even though the night air wasn’t cold.

It was him – he felt unsettled, uneasy, and uncertain.

“We should turn back.” Tynan half turned, glancing at the lights of the less electricity-challenged areas that he could see in the distance.

“It’s been more than half an hour since the cab dropped us off.

I haven’t seen one single street sign, let alone one that says, Cloister Way or whatever it’s meant to be.

The informant definitely said it was his house I was supposed to go to.

There are no houses here. It’s all abandoned warehouses and the occasional business. ”

Tynan got a peck on his ear. “You know my opinion on people who insist on meeting after dark at random locations. Remember what happened to you last time? That was…”

“You promised me that would never be mentioned again.” Tynan shrugged his shoulders, trying to get the raven to move. “Leave my ears alone, you know I’m self-conscious about them. That situation was not my fault. And neither is this.”

“But if you end up with a knife to your guts in one of those disgusting, smelly alleys around here, then who the heck is going to feed me fruitcake in the morning?”

“I’m sure you can survive without fruitcake.

In fact, I’m almost certain ravens aren’t meant to have fruitcake.

” Another sigh – it was turning out to be that sort of night.

One where Tynan didn’t achieve anything and spent his time arguing with a raven instead.

“I really don’t know what to do. I mean, what if the address is just another couple of blocks away?

Then I could’ve missed the chance of cracking this case, all because I’m nervous about a few bumps in the night. ”

That was part of the issue. Tynan couldn’t see anyone, but the streets weren’t silent. His boots made a noise, admittedly, but despite them, he could hear scuffles in the shadows. He had no idea if it was a cat, a rat, or a purple yeti. But he definitely got the impression the shadows were alive.

At any other time, Tynan wouldn’t have worried.

He was over six feet, and while he was slim, he was confident he could protect himself if necessary.

Unfortunately, his silver hair seemed to pick up even the faintest hint of starlight, making him stand out like a lighthouse in a sea of dark – a target, in other words.

“We should just go back,” he said, turning to face the lights he could see dimly on the horizon.

“I thought you were determined to help Mrs. Cooper.”

“I am.” Tynan went to take a step and then didn’t. Should I? Shouldn’t I? “Think about it,” he said, glad in one way that there wasn’t anyone around. He was talking to a bird. “What information am I going to find out about her daughter here? There’s nothing here.”

“There is a light,” Sparky said, his head turned the other way. “That way, about three blocks down. Finally, a light in the darkness. We’re saved.”

“That’s nowhere near as poetic as you probably think it sounds.” Tynan turned around again, squinting as he spotted the light his raven indicated. “I’ll walk as far as the light, although there’s no guarantee it was left on for me. At least then if I can’t find anything, I can say I tried.”

He started walking again – his boots sounding uncommonly loud now that he was conscious of them.

“You know I don’t like letting people down, but I’m starting to think Mrs. Cooper’s daughter probably left home of her own accord.

I mean, she was an adult, wasn’t she? Nineteen, twenty, or something like that? ”

“I don’t know how you’d remember any of your case notes if it wasn’t for me. She’s twenty-one and you don’t say ‘was’ to refer to her unless you know she’s dead.”

“There you go. Twenty-one. She’s probably found a significant other, or the chance of a good time, and ran off to somewhere that’s not here.” Tynan shivered as another chill ran down his spine.

“I can’t see Mrs. Cooper paying your bill if you can’t prove that.” Unfortunately, the bird was right. “I, for one, would like to be kept in fruitcake.”

“Then maybe you should learn to cook it yourself.” Tynan was not in the mood to be placating his only companion.

He worked as a private investigator because he felt a need to give back to the community. Nobody seemed to appreciate his talents, which, okay, were mediocre at the best of times, but Tynan poured his heart and soul into everything he did.

Mrs. Cooper, her hands dripping with diamonds and giant pearls around her neck, could have helped Tynan establish himself.

Since moving into the city six months before, it was all he dreamed of.

Not only that, but she used all the right words that stirred Tynan’s empathy.

No one should lose a child, no matter what age.

Tynan made do – it wasn’t like he needed much.

But after spending a lifetime being made a mockery of because of his erratic magic – which was how it was described by those who looked down their nose at him – Tynan was determined to prove he could make a life for himself.

One where he was valued for who he was as a person, rather than someone who could solve all life’s problems with a wave of their magical hand.

All Tynan got when he tried that sort of thing was a firework show.

“According to the video I watched this morning, you should be working smarter, not harder.” Tynan could do without Sparky’s commentary as well. But that never stopped the raven.

“If you’d put a picture up of Mrs. Cooper’s daughter on that social media platform place people talk about all the time, then apparently other people will find your person for you.

You could’ve been sitting at your desk, your feet up, feeding me fruitcake, while everyone else was running around looking for Mrs. Cooper’s daughter just because.

.. Well, I don’t know why they would, but apparently, it’s that easy. I could be eating fruitcake right now.”

“You’d get fat.” Mrs. Cooper had mentioned her daughter hadn’t used her social media for the past six weeks, so apparently, there was no point in looking on there.

Tynan readily agreed because he still wasn’t a hundred percent sure what social media was, or where to access the bit where people could find other people.

“We do not splash photos of the people we’re looking for all over the social medias, and I can’t see why anyone would go looking for someone they didn’t know. ”

“You mean people like you, wandering around dark alleys looking for a man you met for all of two minutes.”

As far as Tynan was concerned, that didn’t need a response. He kept his eyes on the light - the only one on the street advertising a presence at night.

“I don’t know how people can live in this place,” he said with another shiver.

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a shape moving in the shadows on the other side of the road.

A human-sized shape. “I’m not sure that anyone does.

In fact, this whole situation is getting more ridiculous by the second. I need my head examined.”

“I told you that last Tuesday when you tried to use magic to change a light bulb instead of climbing onto your desk,” Sparky said. “Honestly, if anything happens to you down here…”

“So, you’re feeling it too?” Tynan hesitated, but they were only one block away from the light.

“I’m going to take one quick look, and then I’m going to immediately turn around and leave.

” Feeling better with a decision made, he quickened his steps.

“I mean, this… Whoever this informant was... How did we end up listening to him in the first place?”

“Why are you using ‘we’ in that statement? You were asking questions at the bar where this woman that you’re looking for was last seen.

Some guy passes you a scrap of paper and tells you to be at a specific address the following night at eleven o’clock - just before witching hour.

Can’t you see this is a horror flick setting up for the bad shit that’s just about to happen?

If people were watching this on the big screens, they’d be screaming, ‘don’t go down that alley, don’t go down that alley. ’”

“I’m not in an alley,” Tynan said firmly. “Believe it or not, despite there being no streetlights or other lights on, this is actually a road, a main road, where people drive up and down to get to places. I am walking on the pavement, cracked as it is, that runs alongside that road.”

Although Tynan hadn’t seen a car since the taxi dropped him off. “There must be people living here somewhere. Why else would the man tell us to meet him here?”

“He didn’t tell us,” Sparky said with another ruffle of his feathers. “He told you. And out of some misguided loyalty, now I’m stuck following you. I’m telling you, this is the worst opening for a horror movie I’ve ever seen.”

When Sparky went off on a tangent, he could stay there for days.

In the meantime, they’d reached the light.

Tynan’s heart sank. It was clearly a workshop of some kind.

Perhaps one that fixed cars. But if that was the case, then the owner must’ve given up fixing them because there was no sign of life apart from the light.

Tynan even rested his hand on the glass of the one large window and peered into it. All he could see was an office desk, a counter, and then beyond that, some shapes in the murky shadows beyond, which could be cars, tanks, or elephants for all he knew.

“This is just the stupidest plan we’ve ever had.” He moved back from the window with a sigh.

“There you go with all that ‘we’ nonsense. Don’t rope me into your next madcap disaster. This was all on you. In fact, I’m sure you only keep me around so you can blame me for your stupid mistakes. Watch… Fuck!”

Sparky suddenly took off in a flutter of feathers and squawks as Tynan felt a huge thump on the back of his head. His knees buckled, and he fell to the pavement, trying to slap away rough hands that gripped his coat and started dragging him across the concrete in their efforts to get his coat off.

“Help! Someone help me, please,” he screamed as someone started kicking at his chest and legs.