Chapter Four
“Want a drink?” I asked over my shoulder, leading the way down the stairs.
“Thank you for the offer, but I’m afraid we don’t drink,” O-one said.
“That’s no fun. Just sit down then, I guess.” I ditched my shot glass in the sink as they perched gingerly on my sofa. Pretty blouses, long skirts, timid mannerisms, and disinterested in alcohol. Suspicion dawned on me. “Hold on. You aren’t here to convert me to Wicca, are you?”
O-two frowned delicately. “We aren’t Wiccan. Most witches aren’t.”
Oops. “I knew that. It was a joke.”
“Of course.” She forced a laugh. “How clever!”
I might be a bit tipsy, but I wasn’t drunk enough to believe that for half a second. Dragging a stool away from the breakfast bar, I positioned it in front of the TV and sat facing them. Then I stood, turned the music down, and sat again.
“So,” I prompted, “what brings a pair of witches to my house?”
An uncomfortable prickle ran down my spine. Huh. Now that I thought about it, that was an important question—one I should have asked before letting them inside.
Eyes narrowing, I looked them up and down. Meh, I could probably take ’em in a fight. I’d faced worse odds.
O-one folded her hands together. “Odette and I came in the hope that you and your guild could assist us.”
Ah, so that one was Odette. I committed it to memory. What was the other one’s name again?
“I’m aware we aren’t following the usual procedures—”
Ofelia? Or was it Odessa?
“—and I apologize for our rudeness in coming to your home unannounced—”
Opal? Oakley?
“—but we felt we had no choice after—”
“Olivia!” I exclaimed triumphantly.
Her brow pinched. “Yes?”
Coughing awkwardly, I composed my expression. “Let’s back up. First question: How did you find me? Like, seriously?”
Along with being unknown to MagiPol, I was also unknown to the magical community outside the Crow and Hammer. I wasn’t registered in the MPD database, wasn’t an official employee of the guild, and for all intents and purposes, I didn’t exist in the world of mythics.
So, what the hell were two witches doing here?
Odette offered a weak smile. “As Olivia said, we apologize for intruding. We inquired among the local fae, and several smallfae told us of the witch who lives with a forest sprite, and through them, we found your house.”
Twiggy, that leaf-brained gossiper. What had he been telling his sprite friends about me?
She leaned forward. “We’re delighted to meet a spirit sister. We thought we knew all the—”
“I’m not a witch.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
“You… you aren’t? But you live with a fae.” She pointed at my arm. “You have a fae token of debt.”
I looked at my inner wrist. Almost invisible against my skin was a small, elegant rune. “Uh… special circumstances. But yeah, not a witch.”
“Oh.” She waited, probably hoping I’d tell her what kind of mythic I was, but I knew how these things worked. Asking a mythic for their class was super rude.
I wished I could tell them my mythic class. If I were a mythic, I wouldn’t be here right now—I’d be at the guild with the guys.
“You said you had a request,” I prompted before my self-pity could take hold.
“We, well…” Olivia winced. “We aren’t very comfortable among the… upper echelon of mythics. We find it difficult to meet with other guilds.”
Odette’s shoulders drooped. “And our experiences with this issue have left us even more uncertain. We’d hoped a casual, more intimate meeting would be easier.”
Easier for them , not for me. They were here on guild business, but I wasn’t a guild member and this was way above my pay grade—meaning it was time to end this “meeting” before I got myself into real trouble .
“Alrighty then,” I declared, hopping to my feet. “It was nice meeting you, Misses Double-O’s, but I’m afraid I’m the wrong person to talk to. If you want help with something, you’ll need to speak with—”
“Please, Tori,” Odette interrupted, her soft voice somehow cutting through mine. “Please, hear us out. You don’t have to do anything. Just listen, and pass on our plea to your guild.”
I hesitated. Hear them out? That didn’t sound so bad…
But no. One, strange mythics were in my house and that wasn’t safe. Two, I was already under MPD investigation for interfering in guildy things. And three, I was possibly drunk. Okay, probably drunk.
At the thought of my banishment, sorrow and loneliness trickled through me. Were the guys at the pub right now, drinking in their usual spot beside my station? Kai, scrolling on his laptop, looking for their next bounty to chase, while Aaron and Ezra bantered. I should have been there, serving their drinks and bantering with them.
Slowly, I sat down on my stool again. I was cut off when I so desperately wanted to be part of their world, but here was a tiny piece of it, sitting primly on my sofa. I couldn’t bring myself to show them the door.
“Okay,” I grumbled. “Spit it out.”
“Thank you,” Olivia gushed. She tucked her wavy hair behind one ear, blue eyes shining with gratitude. “You have no idea what this means to us. We have no one else to turn to.”
“Yeah, sure.” I waved at her to continue.
“Allow me to start at the beginning. My coven’s territory, as I’m sure you know, spans the entirety of Stanley Park, as well as the downtown area, though, of course, there are few fae in the city. ”
“Of course,” I agreed, pretending I’d known that.
“Early this spring, several fae went missing in Stanley Park. It’s a large space as far as parks go, but it’s a small pocket of wilderness with daily visitors, so the fae population is limited to faeries, sprites, and pixies. We searched for the missing fae, but they’ve vanished entirely.”
“You sure they didn’t just leave? Twiggy vanishes whenever he feels like it.”
“Ah.” Odette coughed. “You may already know this, but as semi-corporeal beings, fae can move between our reality and their own. Those without the Spiritalis gift can’t detect fae who have crossed into Elysium, but we can.”
“Oh. Sorry, yeah, I’m not up on all the witchery stuff.”
“Many mythics aren’t,” she lied kindly. “Trust us when we say these smallfae have truly vanished.”
Olivia straightened her skirt, her motions stiff. “Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. The fae have continued to disappear from the park. In total, eighteen smallfae have gone missing in the last four months.”
Concern rose inside me, sharpening my thoughts. “That’s terrible.”
“We went to the other guilds, but every single one turned us away.” Odette’s eyes flashed. “Non-Spiritalis mythics aren’t equipped for fae, they said, but really, they simply couldn’t be bothered to help. They don’t care about smallfae.”
“That’s what brought us to the Crow and Hammer,” Olivia murmured. “To you.”
“We’ve asked every other guild in the city that does bounty work. We even”—Odette gulped—“asked Odin’s Eye to take the job. They refused, though in their case, it’s because the bounty isn’t high enough to interest them. ”
“Odin’s Eye,” I mumbled. That guild had been mentioned around the Crow and Hammer a few times, but never in a complimentary way.
“The only guild we haven’t approached is the Grand Grimoire, but I’m sure you understand why we would avoid them.”
I nodded, even though I had not the slightest clue.
“The Crow and Hammer is our last, desperate hope.” Tears filmed Odette’s eyes. “If you won’t help us, we’ll have no choice but to forsake the missing fae and disband our coven, since we’re obviously unfit to—”
“Whoa, let’s not be hasty.” I rubbed my hands over my face to clear the alcohol haze. “Do you have any leads? Any idea what’s happening to the fae in the park?”
Brightening at this sign of cooperation, Olivia leaned forward. “We don’t have any solid theories, but our best guess is black witches.”
“Black witches…” A bad witch, I was assuming. “Humor me. What makes a witch a black witch?”
“Any witch who treats with darkfae,” Odette answered promptly. “Or witches who lie to, trick, or betray the fae they treat with.”
“Or witches who commit crimes on behalf of fae to win greater rewards,” Olivia added.
I tugged on my ponytail. “Okay… so what would a black witch want with the fae in Stanley Park?”
“Normally, I would say nothing,” Olivia replied slowly. “The smallfae are too weak and inconsequential to interest a black witch. However, we’ve found signs of a familiar hunt.”
“A familiar hunt? Familiar how? ”
“A hunt for a familiar,” she clarified, her mouth creased with distaste. “Black witches often find it cumbersome to arrange an exchange of equal value with a fae, so instead they’ll hunt down a fae they think is powerful or impressive and forcefully bind it to them as their familiar.”
“But as Olivia said,” Odette continued, “the smallfae in the park are too weak to be worth hunting and binding. We’re not sure what’s going on.”
“ Something is happening there. Something dreadful.”
“The black witches must be stopped.”
“The lost fae must be found, even if it’s too late to save them.”
“We need your help. We need your guild.”
“We have no one else to—”
“Stop!” I pressed a hand to my forehead, my brain sloshing from their rapid back and forth. “Just stop. I need to think.”
Folding their hands, they waited.
I massaged my temples. All that energy I’d had while singing and cleaning had evaporated, and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed. Maybe throw up first, then go to bed.
“I can’t promise anything,” I finally said. “But I’ll pass it on to my guild. They’ll decide what they want to do and all that.”
Beaming, the witches swooped down on me and shook my limp hands.
“Thank you, Tori. Thank you so much!”
“We’ll eagerly await your guild’s reply.”
“The coven will be so relieved to hear the good news.”
“You can contact us at any time through the coven. Don’t hesitate to call with any questions.”
“We’ll help in any way we can. Just let us know when your guild is ready to begin the investigation! ”
My head was spinning again. “Hold up. I never said we’d—”
“We won’t trespass on your hospitality any longer,” Odette gushed, still shaking my hand.
“Bless your heart, Tori. I’m so happy we came to speak with you. You are truly a woman of integrity and compassion.”
“No, I’m not—” I stammered. “I didn’t—”
Releasing me, the two witches swept toward the stairs. I scrambled off my stool and rushed after them, but by the time I got to the bottom of the steps, they were at the top, waving farewell.
“We’ll speak again soon, Tori! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”
And with that, they vanished through the door. Grabbing the railing for balance, I careened up the stairs and onto the stoop, but the yard was dark and empty. The sisters were gone.
Well, shit. Face scrunching, I mentally reviewed our conversation, searching for the moment when I’d promised the Crow and Hammer would take the job. Hadn’t I clearly said I couldn’t promise anything? I had said that, right?
Or had I accidentally committed my guild to investigating a case of missing fae that every guild in the city had turned down?
Oh man. Kai was going to yell at me. Aaron would laugh, but Kai… yeah, he was going to yell.