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I sat down at the table, staring at the two carriers filled with the creatures.

They were all drunk by now, sprawled out on their backs, looking like fat little pixies.

But they weren’t pixies, who were problematic as well, but could at times be reasoned with.

If pixies continued to cause waves, there were no laws against killing them. They knew better. The coxigans didn’t.

“How’s your hand?” Duran asked.

I held it up. The edges of the bite would were ragged and pus was rising out of the wound, oozing around the raw edges. “Ugh,” I said, grimacing. “I’d better go to the doctor for this.”

“That’s not necessary,” Duran said. “I can take care of that.”

“I’m not human, remember? I’m half-demon.”

He shrugged. “I know enough healing spells to take care of it for you. Once we get you back to the office, I can clean it up.”

Relieved—I didn’t want to take time out to go to the healer’s—I nodded. Being half-demon, I couldn’t go to just any medical facility. My physiology was wired differently.

At that moment, the kitchen door opened and Merry stepped through. “Did you catch them?” she asked.

Orik nodded. “We did, at that.”

“Thank you! How much do you want for the rest of the job? I can go get my credit card.” She started to turn but Dante stopped her.

“We’ll bill you,” he said, which was our standard practice.

“All right.” Looking relieved, she cleared her throat and asked, “What can I do to keep this from happening again? I’m not sure why they picked my yard to settle in.”

I was starting to hurt, and leaned forward, resting my arm on the table. Merry noticed.

“You got hurt!”

“I got bit. They can all bite, but the red ones are the most dangerous. I’m glad you and Moophy managed to avoid getting attacked.

As to what you can do to keep them from coming back, well…

we’ll be making sure this crew won’t return, but as to others—I don’t know.

What attracts them in the first place?” I glanced at the others, but the guys shrugged.

“I don’t know. I’ll have Carson do a little research and we’ll let you know if we find any answers.

Meanwhile, I need to get this attended to. ”

I stood, feeling a little woozy. “Okay, Dante, you’ll need to drive. I’m foggy headed.”

“Can do,” he said. “Let’s get going.”

Orik and Duran carried the containers with the coxigans in them, while Dante helped me back to the car.

I slid into the passenger seat, and he helped me fasten my seat belt.

We pulled away from the curb, and even though I was hurting, I was glad to see that we’d managed to help Merry take care of her problem.

* * *

Back at the office, Duran gently washed my hand, clearing out the pus.

“Do you have any night-rose powder? It’s a powerful antibiotic that seems to work on anybody,” he asked.

“I don’t know. Ask Sophia,” I said.

A moment later, he returned with a small vial of a pale golden pink powder.

“She found some in the first aid kit.” Duran held up a box with a red cross on it.

He then sprinkled my hand with the powder and, as it settled into the wound, a last burst of pus foamed up.

I grimaced as he wiped it away, flushed it, then added more powder.

The powder stuck, given the wound was wet, and he squeezed the edges together and applied invisible medical glue to create a waterproof bandage over it.

When he finished, he began to murmur a spell over it, his energy seeping into the wound to calm the pain and confusion I was feeling. The wound already looked fifty percent better. Lastly, he added a thick layer of gauze and wrapped it.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. “You’ll want to change the dressing tonight before bed, and don’t get it wet. By tomorrow, it should be healed enough to take the dressing off.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I feel like I got bit by a piranha. I need to call Ami now.” I pulled out my phone and called Ami. “We caught the little devils,” I said.

“I’m going to give you an address. Meet me there. I’m already on my way to prepare the portal for you to take them through.”

“Take them through?” I asked. “I thought we could…um…toss them through?”

“No, you’ll have to carry them through. If you’ve never been through a portal before, don’t worry.

You’ll be fine. Here’s the addy: 16428 Inglewood Drive NE, up in Kenmore.

That’s my house. It’s right on the southern most part of Squawk Slough, at the northern tip of Lake Washington.

The portal’s in my backyard.” She paused, then said, “Bring whoever you need to. I trust you.”

“Thanks. One of the red coxigans bit me, damned little runt.”

“I shouldn’t ask this, but is it still alive?”

“I didn’t kill the little beast. Okay, we’re on our way.” I glanced at the clock. It was close to noon. It had taken us two hours to catch the coxigans. At least we should be done with the case in another hour or two.

We gathered up the carriers and traipsed out to the elevator. We divided up as before, but this time Dante drove instead of me, and we were off, headed across the 520 Floating Bridge, then north to Kenmore.

* * *

I had never thought about where Ami might live, but given how successful her salon was, I wasn’t surprised when we pulled into the driveway at her house.

All the houses were on large lots, each with a private boat slip.

The lots were heavily wooded, but the lawns were manicured and tidy, and they were on the northern tip of Lake Washington, right off of the southern end of the Squawk Slough.

The entire Sammamish River was once known as the Squawk Slough, and it connected Lake Washington to Lake Sammamish.

In the sixties, the slough was widened and straightened to help prevent flooding in a massive project undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The river—or slough—was, like many of the lakes and rivers in the area, formed when the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age, leaving the ravines, hills, and jagged mountains of Washington State.

Now, the Squawk Slough referred mostly to the areas where the Sammamish River flowed into Lake Washington.

As we got out of our cars, Ami appeared from inside the house.

She was wearing a bathing suit, a one-piece, the color of the twilight.

Her hair was pulled back in a braid, and she motioned us over.

Looking at her, I shivered. It was cold and threatening rain again.

How could she be out in a bathing suit and barefoot?

We approached, and I introduced her to Duran. She already knew Dante and Orik. She shook hands with each of them, and then glanced at the cat carriers.

“You caught the whole nest?”

“I believe we did,” Orik said. “Now to boot them out of here so they can go find a better place to live.” He set the carriers down on the driveway. “So, what do we do?”

“Thank you, by the way,” I said. “I’m afraid you’ll have to give us instructions.”

“Follow me,” she said. She led us around the side of her house, through a gate, into the back yard. It was a mix of wild and manicured, and the pier led out to a small boat landing. She had a small rowboat, with a motor on the back, and it was moored at the end of the pier.

“It’s peaceful,” I said. And it was. There was a magical feel to her backyard, which calmed my worries. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, relaxing.

“Follow me,” she said, leading us along the side of her yard which was a tangle of trees and bushes.

She slipped into a thicket at the corner of her yard, where the land opened into the slough.

We followed her. As we did so, I caught sight of a marble obelisk about three feet high.

It was glowing with a faint green light.

She walked up to it and ran her fingers over the surface in a pattern I couldn’t follow.

A moment later, something shifted and I could see a ripple in the air, with glowing light swirling like a whirlpool.

The magic flared. Orik and Dante let out a murmured whisper, and Duran took a step forward, his eyes widening.

I stared at the whirlpool of energy. It beckoned me to walk through it. I thought I’d be afraid, but instead, I found myself wanting to venture in. I turned to Ami.

“What now?”

“Now, you take the carriers and step though. I’ll hold the portal open from this side.”

“What will I find on the other side?”

“Acandaria, the realm of Fae. You’ll be in a forest. Don’t go anywhere.

Set the carriers down, open them up, and come right back through.

The coxigans will be able to go free, once they’ve sobered up, and they won’t be able to return here unless they get someone to open up the portal on the other side. ”

I took a deep breath. “All right,” I said. “Give me the carriers, and stand back.”

“Can you hold them, given your wrist?” Dante asked.

I nodded. “I’ll be fine.” I picked up the carriers, wincing. By now, the coxigans were starting to wake up and I wanted to get rid of them before they tried to ambush us when we opened the doors.

Ami nodded. “It’s ready. Go ahead.”

As the energy swirled, I walked up to the vortex. Taking a deep breath, I turned to the portal and stepped through.