framework of how the world functions totally turned on end.
“Would you two mind sending me copies of those photos?” I asked. “I promise not to reveal my sources,” I said with a smile. “But I have some friends who might be able to figure out what caused the things you saw.”
“I was hoping you’d ask,” Ryan replied, grinning. He pulled a flash drive from his pocket. “Here. Kell and I put the best photos on this. Don’t worry – we know how to scrub the digital images so that they can’t be traced. But if you give it to someone in law enforcement, do me a favor and wipe it for prints, okay?”
He wasn’t joking. Ryan’s group of explorers is very careful not to damage property or steal left-behind items, but they still trespass, break, and enter. Teag and I did a lot of the same in service to the Alliance. The police were likely to take a dim view of such things. That made it awkward to do your civic duty when, in the process of committing a misdemeanor, you happen upon someone committing a felony.
“It’s probably something new with college students,” Kell said. “You know, some kind of hazing or role playing game. I certainly don’t want to kick off another one of those ‘Satanic panic’ mass hysteria things. But I do think it bears looking into.” He shrugged. “Something about the whole thing felt… wrong.”
“Since we don’t know if the people behind this are dangerous, you might not want to go back, at least until things calm down a little,” I suggested, hoping they would take the hint. I liked both Kell and Ryan, and the people I had met from their groups seemed like nice folks. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, and I sure didn’t want anyone in the way when the time came for us to take down the ghost-chompers.
“That’s okay,” Ryan said. “There are plenty more abandoned buildings near Charleston, and more haunts than Kell can shake a stick at. But if you do find anything out about what we saw, I’d love to know.”
The conversation turned to more mundane topics like the weather, travel plans and mutual friends. When we reached the street, Kell and Ryan headed to their cars, and Teag and I walked a couple of blocks back to where we had parked by the store.
“I don’t want our friends getting involved in this,” I said. “Someone’s likely to get hurt.”
“If we warn them off too much, they’ll realize we know more than we’re telling, and they’ll try harder to be involved,” Teag cautioned.
“You know we’re going to need to go out to that power plant and get a look at what’s going on,” I said.
“Yeah, I figured. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.”
“Let’s hope that Sorren gets back quickly, with reinforcements,” I said. “We’ve got to shut Sariel down before more Watchers can get through.”
UTILITY PLANTS ARE meant to be brightly lit. No one designs them to be prowled around in the dark. Everything echoes and huge pieces of equipment make for strange shadows and lots of hiding places. But here we were, making our way through the dust and darkness. Faint moonlight struggled through the old plant’s high, dirty windows, but it barely made a difference in the gloom.
“Not too hard to follow the trail,” Teag muttered. Once again, we were outfitted for a small supernatural war. Teag and I each had one of Josiah Winfield’s pistols, cleaned and reloaded and ready for action. I had my athame and my walking stick, Bo’s collar, and a satchel full of everything from witch mirrors to jack balls to some gris-gris powder, and I was wearing every protective amulet I owned. Teag had his fighting staff, his espada y daga fighting blades, some other nasty-looking knives, and an assortment of magically-charged knots and amulets. Teag was wearing a vest he had made with magical protections woven into its warp and woof, and he had gifted me with one right before we set out. I was happy for any extra protection I could get. I was pretty sure that he also had a few highly-illegal ghost-scrambling weapons courtesy of Chuck Pettis.
Tonight, Caliel came with us, and as a Voudon houngan, he had his own powerful protections. With luck, that included being under the watchful, protective eye of the Loas. Caliel, like Lucinda, was a descendant of Mama Nadege. He could throw down with the big boys. Sorren led