Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,71
at Ginty’s.”
“Of course. That’s fine.”
“Well, I’ve contacted everyone I can think of.” I set Raven’s phone back on the table, staring at it. “It just doesn’t add up.” I headed toward the ferrets’ room. “Viktor! Talia! Come on out.” I hadn’t wanted for them to see me talking to Raj, given he kept the fact he could talk a secret. A really good secret, in fact. We had known Raven and Raj since September, and not once did I have a clue that Raj could speak.
Talia came out, followed by Viktor. “We fed the ferrets and played with them. There’s something odd about them,” Talia said. “I can’t put my finger on it, but they don’t feel like ferrets to me. Not entirely.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know how it feels when you’re interacting with someone who’s putting up a mask? It feels like that. They look like ferrets and they act like ferrets, but there’s something more to them. I just can’t figure it out.”
“She’s right,” Viktor said. “Did you have any luck?”
“Her friend Llew is on the way over, with breakfast. He works magic so he might be able to cast a Location spell.”
“Any other leads?”
“I called everyone I could think of,” I said. “But nobody had any leads.” At that moment the doorbell rang and Angel went to answer it.
Chapter Sixteen
When she came back she was followed by Llew. I had met Llewellyn Roberts a couple times at Raven’s house, and I thought I had been in his shop once or twice in the past few years. He ran an apothecary, and his husband ran a nearby coffee shop and bakery.
Llew was carrying a large pastry box, which he handed to Angel, and a large messenger bag over his shoulder. He glanced at me and crooked his finger. “I have a question. I noticed something outside.”
I followed him out to the driveway.
Llew knelt by the side of the drive. “There’s a strong magical signature here. I don’t know whose it is, but it’s neither Raven’s nor Kipa’s. That much I can tell you.”
I knelt beside him. “What are you getting at?”
“She would park her car here, right? I can feel her signature all over this area. But there’s another magical signature mixed in there. It had to have come from someone different. They’re both just about the same half-life level, which tells me that Raven was standing here at the same time this other person was.”
I frowned, thinking. “Can you tell when they were here? Could this be residue from a few days ago?”
Llew shook his head. “No, magical signatures fade after twelve hours or so, unless some form of spell is actually cast. So, I’d say that the latest they were here was…” He glanced at his watch. “You said she left your place past midnight?”
“It was probably more like one or two in the morning.”
“Then I’d say it had to be after that. She left here around seven the night before, you said?”
“She was at my house by four p.m.”
“Okay, then this definitely happened after she returned. The signatures couldn’t last longer than twelve hours, not and be this distinctive.” Llew straightened up. “There’s something more.”
“What?” I tensed at the tone in his voice.
“The strange signature? It’s not human. And it’s not shifter or magic-born or anything I recognize, but it’s most definitely steeped in magical energy.” He shook his head. “I have no clue what was here, but whatever it was, it’s a lot stronger than Raven is.”
I shivered. “A goose just walked over my grave,” I said, staring at him. “Do you have any clue what it might be?”
“No, and that scares the fuck out of me. I’ve felt a lot of magical signatures in my life, and I’ve met a lot of magical people, but…there’s something chaotic about this—wildly chaotic.”
I moved closer to him and he draped his arm around my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Ember, but this isn’t good news. I think that somebody swept Raven away.”
“How do you explain her phone in the park?” I asked, my voice tight.
“I don’t. Decoy, maybe? To throw you off guard? The same with her car vanishing. Or maybe they knocked her out and took her away in her own car?”
As we stood there, I began to shiver. A moment later, there were shouts as Kipa and Herne came jogging up with Yutani behind them.
“Did you find anything?” I asked.
Yutani shook his head before the others could answer. “No, we didn’t.”