Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,5

of the building had, by order of the city, began installing a handicapped access ramp to the side. When done, it would curve around to the left like a backward “C,” starting right of the stairs. The landlord had also agreed to do more than a jury-rig fix on the elevator, which was constantly breaking down.

The first floor of the building housed an urgent care clinic focused on treating the SubCult, though humans were welcome to come in if they needed help. The second floor was home to a daycare and preschool for low-income mothers, the third floor belonged to a yoga and dance studio, and we had the fourth floor. The fifth floor had long remained empty, but someone had finally rented it out and now we had an alternative-care clinic overhead. With a chiropractor, three massage therapists, two acupuncturists, and a nutritionist, the Stone & Needle had brought in a steady stream of clients in the month since it had opened in mid-March.

Herne and I took the elevator to the fourth floor. The car opened right into our waiting room. At night we locked it to prevent anyone from accessing our floor. Only the janitor and building owner had keys to it besides us.

Angel looked up as we entered the building. She was frowning, and before we could even say good morning, she motioned for us to stop at her desk. “The deputy mayor booked an appointment this morning. She’ll be here at ten and she wants the entire agency at the meeting. I told her Charlie couldn’t be there, but he’s going to Skype in to hear what she has to say.”

Herne frowned. “Any time Maria asks to see us, it usually means trouble.”

“She sounded tense. I could tell something’s seriously wrong and it’s going to get dumped in our laps.” Angel was extremely good at reading people, just by their voice. She had never really utilized her empathic nature before, but now she was working on expanding her abilities, and she had made some remarkable strides, especially during the past month.

“All right. You say she’ll be here at ten?” Herne asked.

Angel nodded. “That’s what she said. I ordered some pastries and sparkling water.”

“I’ll be in my office, getting ready.” He gave me a quick kiss before disappearing into his office.

I sat down in the chair opposite Angel’s side of the desk. “I’m so tired. We didn’t get home till almost dawn.”

“Did you find anything?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly, but the water elementals in the park say that the spirits are waking up—spirits that should be long gone.”

“Not good. But we’re probably going to be in for this a lot. I assume we’re going to hand the cases off to Raven?”

Raven BoneTalker didn’t work for us, but we occasionally sent cases her way. She was one of the Ante-Fae, and she was a bone witch. She was also a good friend of ours.

“Yeah, and others like her, if she gets inundated. I know that Herne’s looking into a few necromancers we might be able to trust.” I yawned. “How’s Mr. Rumblebutt?” Mr. Rumblebutt was my cat. He was a black Norwegian Forest cat, and he adored Angel, so when I stayed at Herne’s, he was absolutely fine until I came home.

“Mr. Rumblebutt was purring up a storm when I left home this morning.” She frowned, staring at me. “You sure you don’t need a nap?”

“Of course I need a nap. But it wouldn’t be fair to the rest of you if I took the day off.”

“Not fair? Hey, you worked all night. Charlie works at night. You’ll notice that he’s not in here in the morning. Of course, he can’t be, given he’s a vampire.” She pushed a file folder across her desk toward me. “Here’s the breakdown of the expenses on the Quatro case. You ended up spending more on the case than you earned from it.”

I sighed. Vivi Lind Quatro had hired us to do one thing: she had wanted us to eradicate a serious case of garden noles, small but dangerous creatures that liked to hang out in gardens. They had the intelligence of a toddler, the temperament of a badger, and they had very sharp teeth. Luckily, unlike nixienacks, they didn’t travel in packs.

We had taken the case thinking it would be a simple one, but unfortunately, the noles had proven trickier than we expected. It had cost us a lot more time and manpower than we had originally quoted. Herne was