Page 9

9

“Deming is a surprising location for a potion factory or whatever those guys have at their facility up here,” Jasmine said as we drove north on Highway 9, a mixture of forested land and rural farm properties to the sides.

Since I’d waited until the police departed to leave and pick up my niece, we were getting a later start on the Duncan search than I’d wanted. Cold rain pattered on the windshield, the clouds making it feel more like night than afternoon, and the heat blasted from the vents in my truck. We drove through puddles, spraying the sides of the highway.

“It’s a surprising location for anything except some farms,” I said, though I hadn’t passed through Deming in a long time, and I didn’t remember it well. It was close enough to Bellingham that civilization might have grown out in that direction by now.

“The population is a little over 500.” Jasmine had her phone open with a map to the property, but she’d tapped over to a browser to look up the town.

“People or squirrels?” I noted one alongside the highway that hadn’t survived a crossing attempt .

“Oh, I’m sure there are way more than 500 squirrels .” Jasmine showed me a photo of a gas station with a towering forest behind it.

Seeing the trees made me reassess the town as a possible place that a werewolf could be imprisoned. Who there would think anything of howling in the woods?

“Seven miles to the address.” Jasmine lowered the phone. “The road it’s on is a little ways out of town, after the turn for Mount Baker Highway.”

Mount Baker Highway. I hadn’t realized we were heading so close to where my son was staying for his snowboarding trip. It was, I assured myself, a coincidence that he was taking his vacation in the same area where Duncan had possibly been spotted—sensed. And where Radomir owned property.

“I’ll let you know when we’re close,” Jasmine added, looking at me when I didn’t answer.

“Okay, thanks.” I forced a smile for her, but unease had crept into me. “You’re making your case for having me be a reference for you on your résumé, by the way.”

“Oh, good. What’s changing your mind?”

“You’re a good researcher.”

“Because I looked up the squirrel population?”

“Among other things.”

“I did also think to bring the family- size bag of Doritos instead of a small one. I’m good at shopping for snacks as well as recording werewolf battles.”

When she’d mentioned bringing provisions, I’d envisioned sandwiches, not chips, but all I said was, “A prospective employer will be delighted by those skills.”

“Well, maybe not, but I do know all about residential and commercial financing for real estate. If you ever need a loan, I can hook you up with a good rate.”

“I’m not a fan of debt, but I’ll keep that in mind. ”

“You’re not buying that fourplex you talked about with cash, not in the Seattle area.” Jasmine looked over at me. “Unless you’re a lot richer than I think.”

“I’m saving up money for a downpayment, but I’m definitely not rich.”

“I figured not when I saw you pull gas money out of an envelope and debate whether or not you had enough to fill the tank.”

“Observant, aren’t you?”

“Yup. That’s a bullet point on the résumé. Since I’m light on actual work history, beyond the stuff I do for Mom, I had to fluff it up a bit with adjectives. Five miles.” Jasmine held up the phone to show me the map, then switched to the browser again.

I debated whether to ask about her music tastes—currently, a female rapper was spitting lyrics on my truck’s tinny factory speakers—or her opinion on young druids enraptured with her beauty. But she spoke again first.

“There’s nothing about potion factories on this list of things to do in Deming.”

“The other building might have been the company’s flagship location—until they listed it for sale.”

“Racehorse Falls is a hike in the area. You can visit Nooksack Salmon Hatchery. Oh, if you’re up here in June, you can go to the Deming Log Show . That’s sure to be a good time.”

“I’ll put it on my calendar.”

“You’d be a fool not to.”

A few lights came into view ahead, a gas station and handful of other businesses along the highway.

“This is the town,” Jasmine said.

“There’s a coffee shop.” It had already closed for the day. “Technically, a coffee trailer . You didn’t mention that as a highlight on your things-to-do list.”

“It’s coffee. It’s a commodity, not a to-do.”

“Logs are a commodity too. ”

“A log show isn’t. You know that’s a good time. I bet they have that event where you balance on a log floating in a pool of water and try not to fall off. Have you put it in your calendar yet?”

“No, but only because I’m driving. My eagerness to enter the hot-saw competition can barely be restrained.” We’d already left the commercial buildings behind, and I watched the highway for the turn-off.

“I bet Duncan would like to go,” Jasmine said. “Europeans enjoy folksy American hobbies.”

“He’d probably wander off and magnet fish under some of those waterfalls you mentioned earlier.”

“That might be safer than wielding chainsaws.” Jasmine grunted as we bumped through a pothole.

I turned onto a dirt road, the map promising it would wind and squiggle its way up a slope on its way into the foothills. A mixture of massive ancient stumps and new-growth Douglas fir grew to either side. As we climbed, I rolled down the window and turned off the music, listening over the rumble of the engine in case howls floated to our ears.

“Not a rap fan?” Jasmine gripped the oh-shit handle as the potholes grew more numerous.

“I enjoy listening to nature.”

She rolled down her own window. “Do you think he’s out there howling?”

“That is the specific nature I hope to hear.”

“Do you think he’s a prisoner at this place we’re going?”

“Those guys—Radomir and especially Lord Abrams—have a magical device that can call and control him.” I’d told her most of the story of our confrontation with them but couldn’t remember if I’d included that detail.

“That’s what drew him away the other night at Augustus’s house, right?”

“I’m positive of it. ”

“He’s pretty powerful to be controllable by someone else. Someone who doesn’t like werewolves and is stealing our artifacts.”

“That’s why we have to get him away from them,” I said firmly.

The truck groaned and bumped its way farther from the highway, the road turning to switchbacks as the slope steepened, and I grew skeptical that we were going to anything but an old logging area. Did this road even have a name? I hadn’t spotted a sign when we’d turned.

“I thought it was because you were thirsty for his bod and wanted to smash,” Jasmine said.

“Something that’s easier to do with a guy who isn’t magically controlled by someone else.”

“Truth. Is that a building?”

I peered into the rain, skeptical of finding anything out here. I’d been looking for a place to turn around. But Jasmine was right. The slope had grown less steep, and the rectangular outline of a building stood out against the cloudy sky, the grounds around it cleared.

As we drove closer, a motion-sensing light came on alongside the road, the clouds heavy enough that it registered as nighttime. Before long, it would be.

The light was directed onto a sign: Selene Mushroom Farm.

I stopped the truck in front of it and scratched my jaw. “Tumwater Tonic Corporation has eclectic facilities.”

“Mushrooms can be potion ingredients, can’t they?” Jasmine asked.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense. The other facility was in the middle of a lavender field, and they were using that as an ingredient.” My nostrils itched at the memory of all the floral scents in that potion factory. “You’d think they could have grown mushrooms in a building on the same property though. ”

“Maybe special mushrooms grow out here.” Jasmine waved toward the trees.

I started to scoff, but I’d seen glowing fungi before when hunting as a wolf in the forest. As a human, I was oblivious to magical plants and mushrooms, but I knew they did exist. Further, some places had inherent power, enticing such things to grow. The cave in the gully behind my mother’s cabin came to mind.

“Could be.” I drove into a gravel parking area with room for three or four vehicles.

The odor of decay wafted through the open window, and I wrinkled my nose. Had something died out here?

Another motion-sensing light came on, gleaming from above a modern steel door. Made from rounded stones held together with crumbling mortar, the building itself predated Radomir’s business ambitions, if not Radomir himself. What had once been a couple of high windows had been bricked in, the mortar much newer than that which held together the stone walls. The metal roof also appeared to be a recent upgrade, though whoever had done the renovation hadn’t altered the old stone chimney that thrust up through it.

When I turned off the engine, we could hear the gurgle of water, a stream winding through the trees beyond the building. I sensed a hint of magic from somewhere inside, and my hopes rose. Maybe this was the right place. Might a werewolf-occupied dungeon hunker behind those walls? At the least, it did indeed seem to be one of Radomir’s facilities. If Jasmine’s dad ever needed a reference that vouched for his research abilities, I would happily give it.

“I think some of those special mushrooms are inside.” Jasmine pointed, apparently also sensing magic within.

“I’m hoping for a special werewolf.” I didn’t sense Duncan, but he could be behind walls that insulated his aura .

“I do get the vibe of a living being as well as inanimate magic… somethings.” Jasmine cocked her head, trying to puzzle it out.

I was too. I sensed something moving around inside. A mushroom wouldn’t do that.

“You’d think if he was being kept a prisoner, there would be guards and a bunch of high-tech stuff to keep him in though.” Jasmine eyed a few moss-blanketed flagstones making a path from the parking area to the door. “I don’t think this place even has a tripwire.”

“Yeah.” Though I hoped I would be wrong, I doubted Duncan waited inside. Still, we might find clues.

Also, if we were close to where my half-sibling had sensed him, he might yet be in the area. Maybe I could imbibe the potion and locate him from here.

“Let’s check it out.” I pocketed my keys and slid out of the truck.

The scent of decay was stronger out here, and I half-expected to see a dead animal near the road. But maybe I was smelling mushrooms—or the compost they grew in breaking down.

I’d only taken a few steps toward the door when a scraping noise came from the roof—no, the chimney. I paused to eye the spot.

Daylight was waning, and the motion-sensing light didn’t do anything to brighten the top of the building. More scrapes floated down from above. Unfortunately, whatever was making them sounded small, not like a werewolf climbing out of the chimney.

I pulled out my phone and opened the flashlight app, though it lacked the power to brighten much on the roof. A chittering heralded the chimney climber, and a raccoon scampered out, its dark outline visible for a moment, something in its mouth. A mushroom? With white speckles that were unnaturally bright?

Before I could get a better look, the raccoon skittered down the back side of the roof and disappeared from view. Had I also glimpsed faintly glowing eyes, or was that my imagination? Maybe the raccoon was the magical being we’d sensed inside. If so, that was disappointing.

“Your fearsome presence scared away the squatter.” Jasmine slid out of the truck to stand beside me.

“Apparently. This place might not get visited often.” I returned my phone to my pocket and drew out Rue’s bag of potions but hesitated to open the one attuned to Duncan. Other than a family member thinking he’d sensed Duncan more than a day ago, did I have any reason to believe he was within ten miles?

“That door looks modern and secure.” Jasmine tugged on the knob and found it locked. “Someone cared enough to spruce this place up to keep out the riffraff.”

“But not the raccoons.”

“Maybe they’re not a threat to one’s carefully cultivated magical mushrooms.”

“It was stealing one.”

“True. Do you think they eat mushrooms?” Jasmine poked the browser on her phone. “I’ll check.”

I walked around the building, finding more recently replaced doors and more bricked-in windows. Out back, another structure rose near the stream, which turned out to be a larger waterway than I’d envisioned. Almost a river. The wood structure looked like an old mill, but it was far more dilapidated than the stone building.

There was also another more modern building, a small barn or maybe a garage. Painted red, it had double wooden doors that would have been wide enough for a truck to pass through, and my flashlight app illuminated tire tracks. There didn’t appear to be a lock, but when I tugged on one of the metal handles, the door didn’t open. The building had a single window. I tried peering inside, but it was too dark to see more than a couple of tiny green indicator lights near a side wall .

Around back, there was another door, this one with a padlock on it. I returned to the front and considered the lack of a visible lock. Maybe there were boxes stacked in front of the doors. Or might a wood board or metal bar keep the entrance secured from within? An old-fashioned “lock”?

Whatever it was, it did an effective job. I eyed the glass window, debating if I wanted to engage in vandalism. Did I truly think a clue inside a detached garage would help me locate Duncan?

“You never know,” I muttered to myself. “Besides, after tormenting me and especially Duncan, Radomir and Abrams deserve to have some stuff vandalized.”

I returned to the truck and pulled the magnet out from under the seat. Hurling it through windows doubtless wasn’t what Duncan had envisioned when he’d left it for me, but he wouldn’t frown upon such actions.

“Not when it’s to save him.”

Still standing by the truck, Jasmine lifted her phone. “Raccoons are omnivores and do eat mushrooms.”

“When I see Radomir, I’ll be sure to let him know about the security hole in his facility.”

“Hopefully, his whole mushroom farm got eaten by nocturnal visitors. That’ll thwart his plans. What are his plans, anyway? Did he say why he’s gathering artifacts related to werewolves?”

“He didn’t share his plans before siccing his brute squad on us.”

“Why are bad guys always so rude?”

“It’s encoded in their DNA.” I held up the magnet, which elicited a puzzled expression from Jasmine. “I’ll be right back.”

Back at the garage, I hefted Duncan’s gift, intending to throw it through the window, but I paused.

“Just in case…”

I walked to the door and pressed it to the wood where a horizontal bar on the other side might be. Duncan’s magnets were powerful enough to be potent through boards. I was certain. I’d seen him pull an entire rusty bicycle frame off the bottom of a lake.

And, yes, I did feel resistance through the door. When I moved the magnet up slowly, a slight scrape sounded, something on the other side brushing against the wood. When I lowered it, the object thunked back into place. Not sure how to dislodge what I couldn’t see, I moved the magnet to the side. The object shifted with it. I pulled the magnet away from the door, and a clatter sounded as something inside hit the ground.

This time, when I tried the door, it swung inward.

“Hah.”

“Are you breaking and entering, Luna?” Jasmine leaned around the corner of the other building to look at me.

“I haven’t broken anything. I may enter something.” I pointed my flashlight at the interior of the garage. “Do you still want a recommendation for your résumé, or do you now consider me a morally questionable person to associate with?”

“Nah, I was just wondering if I should get my Doritos to have snacks while I watch the show.”

“This shouldn’t take long.”

My flashlight beam swept over stacks of coolers and insulated foam shipping boxes. The green lights I’d seen belonged to refrigerators lined up against one wall. I opened the door of one and found baskets of freshly harvested mushrooms, including the same speckled variety the raccoon had been enjoying. Others glowed green, blue, or yellow.

“I’m guessing these aren’t on their way to WinCo for the produce aisle,” I murmured.

I peeked in a few more refrigerators. More mushrooms. That was it. Nothing in the garage gave hints about where werewolves were kept prisoner .

“Just a place for growing potion ingredients,” I said. “Like we thought.”

Duncan might not have ever been in the area.

Disappointed, I headed back to the door but paused to eye the insulated boxes. Some of them had shipping labels already. When I poked through them, I recognized most of the addresses from the list Jasmine had sent me, other facilities that Tumwater Tonic Corporation—Radomir—owned. But one wasn’t familiar. An address just outside the small town of Maple Falls.

My eyes snagged on the name because that was where Austin was staying for his vacation. That again made me feel uneasy, even though it all had to be a coincidence.

I took a photo of the address to check on later. It wasn’t far from where we were, so we could drive up there, though it probably wasn’t one of Radomir’s facilities. It hadn’t been on the list from Jasmine’s father. Maybe it belonged to some alchemist who ordered glowing ’shrooms from this farm. Maybe Rue would recognize it as a colleague’s address.

As I rejoined Jasmine, a howl wafted out of the night.

“Is that Duncan?” Jasmine asked.

My first inclination was to say no, but distance and trees muffled sound. I stepped away from the building, cocking my head and hoping the howl would repeat.

“If so, he doesn’t sound like he’s trapped in a dungeon,” she added.

“If he wasn’t trapped, he would have come home.” Since Sylvan Serenity was home for me, not Duncan, I clarified. “Back to the apartment complex.”

“Because he pines for you and also has smashing on his mind?”

“Yeah, but especially because his van is in the parking lot there. He would be bereft without all his fancy magnets and treasure-hunting equipment. ”

“I’d say he’s kind of weird for a werewolf, but my dad would be bereft without his collection of Battlestar Galactica model ships.”

“Quirky males are best. They’re not as full of themselves as…” I held up a finger as the howl repeated. Or was that a different howl? Could there be a pair of wolves or even a pack out here? Lorenzo hadn’t mentioned my half-sibling detecting anyone but Duncan in the area. “I don’t think either of those howls came from him.”

“Maybe they’re werewolves who know where Duncan is.”

The first howler answered the second.

“Is it my imagination, or do they sound peeved about something?” I asked.

Jasmine nodded. “To me, those sound like warning howls. They could be telling an intruder to beat it. Or telling their pack that there’s an intruder around. We could turn wolf and go chat with them.”

The next howl came across as more agitated than the earlier ones. Yes, those wolves were upset about something.

“They don’t sound like they’re in the mood to chat ,” I said.

“We could invite them to the coffee trailer.”

“I have a hunch.” I opened the potion bag and drew out the vial containing the wolf-gray liquid.

Jasmine shined her phone’s flashlight on it. “What’s in that?”

“Don’t ask. If we’re within a ten-mile radius of Duncan, this will help me find him.”

“You said those howls aren’t his, though, right? What makes you think he’s out there?”

“He agitates almost every paranormal being who meets him. Because they can sense his power and that he’s different from werewolves—at least modern werewolves.”

“He’s quirky. As established.”

“Among other things.” I removed the cork from the vial.

Hoping my hunch was right, I, per Rue’s instructions, chugged the liquid inside. It tasted like rotten seaweed mixed with bat guano and had the viscosity of slug slime. My stomach and throat battled my tongue and lips as I struggled to keep it down. Tears came to my eyes as I fought down my gag reflex multiple times. Duncan had no idea how much I’d come to care about him, how much I would endure to help him.

“Are you okay?” Jasmine was watching my face—and the contortions it had to be making.

I shook my head and, with a final gulp, won the war against my upchuck reflex. Even so, tears blurred my vision by the time I could voice an answer.

“That was loathsome,” I croaked.

“I guessed. You looked like you were trying to put out a fire on your tongue with your spit. We should have stopped at the coffee trailer for mochas to wash it down.”

“By the full moon, yes .”

If only the coffee shop had been open.

I wiped my eyes, drew a shuddering breath, and grabbed some of Jasmine’s Doritos to get rid of the taste.

“Let’s see if this works.” I looked around the forest with determination.

In the distance, an agitated wolf howled again.