The night was still and cool, and strangely empty. Even the crows were nowhere to be seen, and there were always crows in Ashwood; just as there were always rats near corpses. Alice unlocked the door to Werner Investigations and pushed it open with her shoulder, but it only gave about half a foot before refusing to open any further. She peered around the gap and cursed. Cameron, who was standing behind her, tried to peek over her shoulder to see what the holdup was.
“Dammit,” she said.
“What’s up?” Cameron asked.
“The boxes have fallen again.”
Alice pushed her aching shoulder hard against the door and squeezed through the gap. The last time she had left this place there had been a neat stack of sealed boxes behind the door. The boxes fitted neatly enough to allow the door to open without restriction provided they remained where they were. But ever since she moved her Chest of Haunts to her office, things had a habit of moving around all by themselves.
She dragged a box marked bedroom away from the door. This one had fallen flatly. Another box marked kitchen had fallen at an angle. Alice stacked them on top of the Chest of Haunts which was tucked in a corner.
Cameron pushed the door open and let himself inside. “I don’t think that thing likes you stacking boxes on top of it,” he said.
“I don’t think so either,” Alice said.
“Is there any reason why you haven’t moved it into Isaac’s place yet?”
“Same reason I haven’t moved a bunch of other stuff into his place, I guess.”
Cameron gave her a sidelong glance. “And why’s that?”
“I have my reasons,” she said, kneeling in front of the ornate brown chest. She pulled a key out of her back pocket, slipped it into the lock, and unlocked the chest. When she opened it, a breath of cool air seemed to exhale from within, causing the hairs on the nape of her neck to stand up.
From out of her backpack Alice produced four Polaroids containing blurred half-shots of the same entity. She scanned them over one by one, flicking them between her fingers. The images were blurry and dark, and difficult to make sense of; splotches of black and light blue against an in-motion backdrop of artificial street light. She decided that, photographically speaking, these weren’t her best shots, but she had been in combat with the thing when she had taken them and was still getting used to Trapper 2’s rhythms, but she had nailed the thing with the last shot.
A blurred, bloody face came charging out of the picture and quickly retreated again.
“This is the fourth one this month,” Alice said, sighing.
“What do you think it means?” Cameron asked.
“It means she’s up to something,” Alice said, and she tossed the Polaroids of the Pain Child she had destroyed into the Chest of Haunts. These pictures didn’t contain the creature’s essence as her older pictures of ghosts and souls did. Trapper had been on its MAT setting and she had destroyed the creature by continually attacking it. But the Polaroids made for decent mementos.
One more down, she thought as she closed and locked her Chest of Haunts before drawing herself upright.
“Still no word from Isaac,” Cameron said. He had his phone in his hand.
“He should have checked in by now,” Alice said as she moved across the room and around her desk. “Didn’t he say he would check in every hour?”
“Maybe something came up.”
“That’s the last thing we need tonight. Another thing. We’re already stretched thin enough as it is.”
“You aren’t wrong,” Cameron said, sitting down in the chair on the other side of Alice’s desk. “Four Pain Children in a month, Isaac and his training, Jim busy trying to keep the magistrate calm, and Logan—”
“Let’s not talk about him, shall we?” Alice asked. “In fact, let’s not talk about Nyx, or the Pain Children, or any of that right now. I’m exhausted and hungry.”
And not just for food, she thought.
Cameron’s hands came up in a gesture of surrender. “Alright,” he said, “We won’t talk about that. What do you want to talk about instead?”
Alice opened her laptop and quickly skimmed over her emails—bills, junk, and replies from estate agents. As she was reading, an urgent item in her social media newsfeed popped up regarding an incident that had happened only an hour ago; a kid had gotten shot… by a cop. Damn, she thought, and then shook her head. Couldn’t worry about that now. She peered up at Cameron from behind her laptop screen and let a wicked smirk cross her face.
“I don’t like that smile,” Cameron said.
“I know what we can talk about,” Alice said.
“Out of the question, absolutely not.”
“Please? You’ve been dating Becky for, what, five weeks now? I haven’t even met her yet.”
“And it’s going to stay that way.”
“You cannot be serious. Didn’t you say you wanted us to go out on a double date? How are we supposed to do that if you won’t even let us see her?”
“I don’t remember saying that.”
“I do. I remember it perfectly, as a matter of fact. We had just come out of our weekly meeting last Friday. Isaac, Jim, and I wanted to go get a bite to eat. We asked you to come. You said you had plans with Becky. I said bring her. You said no, some other time. I said double date? And you said sure.”
“Isn’t Isaac the one with a photographic memory?”
“He’s rubbed off on me.”
“I bet he has,” Cameron said, with a smirk on his lips to match Alice’s.
“Number one, screw you,” she said, pointing her index finger at him. “Number two, if I don’t meet this beautiful, mysterious bassist soon I’m going to assume you’re making her up.”
“Maybe.”
“Fine. Then maybe I’ll bring Silver on my next hunt. I’m sure he’s dying for a chance to be set loose on some Pain Children. He doesn’t need that amulet you’re wearing to protect him from their magic, either, so he’s less of a liability.”
Cameron looked down at the amulet lying on top of his black shirt; a brass pentacle with a ring around it. He wasn’t used to wearing it, but after the battle at the cemetery Isaac had decided it best to create these amulets, which were decorated with Void Weaver sigils and infused with a protective spell designed to keep Nyx and her Children’s magic from corrupting him like it did everything else it touched. Jim wore one, too. Silver, the newest addition to the team, didn’t need one—but he was a special case; he had been touched by the Void before and, like Isaac, didn’t need an amulet.
“That’s low,” Cameron said.
“I play dirty,” Alice said.
Cameron was about to speak again when a sudden, loud knocking on the door stole their attention. Alice could have jumped out of her skin at the sound and almost did, but only stiffened in response. It was late, and while most clients showed up on her doorstep after hours, this one made her jump.
Alice put her hand up to stop Cameron from rising and circled around the desk. Normally she wouldn’t have hesitated, but after their encounter with a Pain Child tonight she wasn’t about to take any chances. When Alice peered through the peephole, she saw a young woman standing on the other side. She had an elfin face with pointed features, a slight build, and a messy tumble of chestnut hair, most of which was hidden inside a hoody.
“Jinx?” Alice said to herself.
She opened the door to the outside and cocked her head at the woman standing there. Jinx never showed up in person, and the fact that she was here meant something was up.
“Hey… are you okay?” Alice asked.
“Can I come in?” Jinx asked.
“Yeah, sure,” Alice said, stepping aside to let Jinx in.
Cameron stood and turned to look at Jinx. She pulled her hoody down and ran her fingers through her hair to shake droplets of water out of it. Though her clear, green eyes weren’t exactly glowing per se, they did seem oddly bright against the dimness of Alice’s office. Jinx pulled an earbud out of her ear and stuffed it into her shirt. A moment of silence hung, until finally she said “Hi?”
“Hi,” Alice said, “Yeah, sorry, I’m just surprised to see you. You don’t normally come here.”
“I thought I should this time.” Jinx’s bright green eyes flashed at Cameron, and without speaking asked the question who’s this guy?
“Oh, yeah,” Alice said, “This is Cameron. He’s a friend of mine. Cam, this is Jinx.”
Jinx nodded. “Is he cool?”
“Cool?” Cameron asked.
“If he wasn’t we wouldn’t be talking in front of him.”
Again she nodded. “Okay, because what I’ve got to tell you is… sensitive. And urgent.”
“Urgent? It’s not another contract, is it?”
“No, but it isn’t exactly a social visit either.”
“Dammit,” Alice said, groaning. “Then what is it?”
Cameron hastily removed his phone from his pocket. It was vibrating. “It’s Isaac,” he said.
“Answer it,” Alice said.
He nodded, pressed the green button, and put the phone to his ear. “Isaac,” he said, “What’s up?”
Alice listened.
“Right now?” Cameron asked. There was a pause. “Uh-huh. And there’s nothing you can tell me? Right, not over the phone. Okay. We’ll be there.” Cameron hung up. “He needs us back at HQ.”
Jinx’s face lit up with alarm. “No,” she said, “I need you. Like, right now. This is important. I wouldn’t have come here if it wasn’t.”
Alice pressed her lips into a thin line. “Did Isaac say what he wanted?”
Cameron shook his head. “He couldn’t. Only that he wanted all of us back there—Jim too.”
“Okay… you go. I’ll catch up.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I can’t just leave Jinx hanging and we can’t exactly bring her with us.”
“Why not?” Jinx asked.
“Are you a mage?” Alice asked.
“No.”
“There’s your answer.”
“You aren’t one either, last I checked.”
“Cam,” Alice said, “Just go. Tell Isaac I’ll be there later.”
Cameron nodded and headed for the door. He opened it, letting in the cool night breeze, and said “If you need anything, just call me.”
“I’ll be fine,” Alice said. Turning to Jinx, Alice said, “Alright, I’ve taken the bait. What is it?”
“I’ll tell you what I know,” Jinx said, “But you should know two things first.”
“I’m listening.”
“Number one, we don’t have a lot of time. And number two, you won’t be joining your friends anytime soon. Something weird happened tonight.”
