Flight from Mayhem (28 page)

“Of course!” I snapped my fingers. The volume was huge and magical. It had also been bound with a cover made of dragon leather, which gave me the creeps, but there wasn't much I could do about that.

“She had to have brought it with her, it's one of her most prized possessions.” I looked around the living room. Bette had an eye for decoration, and as garish and flamboyant as her clothes were, her house was equally snug and cozy. “Let's head back to the office, if there's nothing else we can do here. Chase, do you want to come with us?”

“I might as well, if you think Tonya can help.” As we stood and headed to the door, he glanced over his shoulder. “You know we'll do all we can to find her before . . . well, before anything happens.”

“We know,” I said. “We know.”

*   *   *

T
onya was waiting
for us on our return. As we came through the door, she jumped to her feet where she was sitting behind Bette's desk.

“Did you find anything? Did you find her?” She scanned our faces, then slowly sat down again. “I guess not.”

“Since you are sitting back there, can you figure out where Bette keeps her phone numbers? We need to find the phone
number for the Fae Sovereign Nation. Its actual name is Talamh Lonrach Oll. We need to contact them and ask them if Gerta is still out there.” I leaned across the counter as Tonya began to search through the papers on Bette's desk. A moment later she came up with an old-fashioned Rolodex.

“Here it is,” she said as she flipped through the cards. “Do you want me to call them? I'm not sure what to tell them or who to ask for.”

Ralph reached for the phone. “Hand the receiver to me and punch in the number. I'll talk to them.” Tonya did as he asked. A moment later, they must've come on the line because Ralph shifted, straightening his shoulders as if he were talking to a teacher. “My name is Ralph Spangler, and I'm with the Fly by Night Magical Investigations Agency. We sent a member of the Elder Fae out there earlier. Her name is Gerta, the Golden Frog. We were wondering if she is still there and if we can talk to her?”

After a pause, the smile vanished from his face. “I see. Well, thank you. Can you tell us anything else—it's extremely important, a matter of life and death.” Another moment passed, and then another, and finally he murmured good-bye and hung up the phone. We waited as he stood there, shaking his head.

Finally, I had to ask. “What did they say?”

“Gerta appears to have murdered a couple members of the guard and then vanished. They have cast out magical nets to dispel illusions. Nobody appears to be out of place, so there's a good chance that she's no longer within the confines of the land. This happened early this morning. That would have given her enough time to reach Bette's place.”

I explained what we suspected to Tonya. “We need to know if you can tell us anything. Do you have your bestiary with you?” I was praying she would say yes.

After a moment, Tonya nodded. “I'd never leave that behind. It's too valuable. It's actually in my suitcase at your place.”

“I'll be right back.” Chai turned and then vanished.

Ralph paced back and forth. “The creature is devolving, whatever it is. But there has to be a reason why it took Bette with it. Otherwise, I would've expected to just find her body. The duct tape actually gives me hope.”

“What do we know about Bette? Besides the fact that she probably has quite a bit of cash accumulated? Is there any other reason why it would have taken her hostage?”

Ralph paused, as if unsure whether to answer. After a moment, he said, “I haven't even talked to Alex about this. I didn't want to alarm him or to stir up something that is better left alone. But I think there's more to Bette than meets the eye.”

“What you mean? Why do you say that?” He seemed pretty sure of himself, so I knew that he must know something.

“One time, oh—about a year ago—I happened to come back early from investigating a case. Alex asked me to start writing up our reports while he finished up at the scene. The door was locked, which was strange because we were open for business. So I unlocked it, but I guess I was pretty quiet, because when I came in, Bette was sitting at her desk in a trance. I saw a tall glowing figure standing in back of her with its hands on her shoulders. The figure was shining so bright I had to shade my eyes. I guess I startled it, because the next moment there was a flash and it vanished. The shock wave from it knocked me off my feet, and when I stood up Bette was going about her business as usual. She glanced over at me, and asked what I had tripped over when I came to the door. I started to ask her what the hell was going on, but something kept me from speaking. I physically could not ask the question. So I tiptoed around the subject and realized that she had no clue about what had happened. I started thinking maybe I had imagined the whole thing.”

“Why didn't you tell Alex?”

He shrugged. “I don't know. Honestly, I was going to and then . . . I never did. Every time I thought about it, something came up to distract me. Until now.”

“You mean, we're the first people you've told about this? You never once mentioned this to Bette?” Tonya was frowning.

“No. And now that I think about it, that's really strange, isn't it?” Ralph looked perturbed at this point. “In fact, now that I've actually said something, I can't believe I never mentioned this before.”

A funny feeling tickled the back of my brain. “I think something prevented you from talking about the matter. Or,
someone
.”

Tonya nodded. “I think Shimmer's right. Whatever it was that had its hands on Bette's shoulders, it didn't want you to tell anybody. In fact, my spidey-sense is tingling. I know I'm right about this.”

“Then why can I talk about it now? What's so different?”

I knew the answer to that. “The difference is, Bette's life is in danger. So what could the creature be that had its hands on her shoulders? You said it was brilliantly lit—was it ambient lighting, or was the light coming from the figure itself?”

Ralph twisted his lips as he thought. After a moment, he said, “The light was coming from the figure. It emanated out from . . . Wait, I remember more. While I couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman, the figure was wearing something like a Greek dress or toga. It was draped and white, very Grecian. And the figure had . . . I want to say it had wings of some sort. They may have been vestigial, because they were extremely small, but I remember them now.”

This was just getting more and more confusing. But then a thought crossed my mind.

“Melusines are Greek, aren't they? I seem to remember Bette saying that she was originally from Athens or Cyprus or someplace like that. And if she is Greek, and you saw someone wearing something like that toga, it seems to me that would be a connection?” I frowned, trying to piece together several thoughts that were tapping at the edge of my brain. Puzzles weren't my strong point, but I was trying
to learn because in the PI business, being able to piece together disparate facts often led to a solution.

Ralph nodded. “Yes, she is originally from Greece. I think she once mentioned that she was born near Parnassus, a sacred mountain near the Castalian Spring.”

Tonya perked up. “I know something about that area, considering that I worship Hecate. That's near where the Oracle of Delphi was located. Apollo took over the shrine from a dragon named Python. It was the guardian of the Oracle until he supposedly killed it.”

I felt like I was on the verge of making some sort of connection. “Bette is a Melusine, and she can turn into a water moccasin. That's a snake. Could there be some sort of connection here?”

“I'm not sure,” said Ralph. “But I've got a funny feeling in my stomach that we are standing on the edge of a very big secret about our friend. And I have no clue whether Alex knows anything about this. But could this creature, whatever it is, have recognized something about Bette?”

At that moment Chai appeared, the bestiary in hand. He passed the book to Tonya, then turned to me. “I took a moment to make sure that all the fish we had managed to save were in enough water. Coolray is bopping around just fine. I'm afraid that you're going to lose some of your possessions—there's going to be quite a bit of water damage.”

I shrugged. “Things are things, I can always buy new toys. I'm just sorry to have lost some of my fish. And that aquarium is not going to be cheap to replace. But right now, I'm just worried about Bette.”

Tonya was flipping through the pages, with Ralph looking over her shoulder. “So we're looking for something like a doppelgänger, which might have more capabilities than just changing shape?”

“Right. The fact that it was able to mimic shedding golden tears . . . Or
was
it mimicking? I suppose the question is, was there ever really a Gerta, the Golden Frog, to begin with?
And if not, how on earth did it come up with something so specific?” I glanced over at Ralph. “If so, do you think it killed Gerta, too?”

He went back to pacing. I was beginning to recognize that this was a common habit of his, when he was thinking. It probably had to do with his werewolf side. “Honestly? I think there
is
a Gerta, and given the creature's greed, I would think she's still alive, hidden somewhere to be its own private bank. But to be able to subdue one of the Elder Fae? That denotes a creature of some strength and power. We're dealing with a creature that is not only cunning but strong.”

“I think Gerta's young, though, given the way the creature portrayed her. Although that could have been an act, as well. That might have made it easier to subdue her. Do you still have any of the golden coins that fell from her eyes?” I wanted to examine them. Were they truly gold?

Frowning, Ralph held up one finger. “Let me go check. I think a few rolled on the floor when she was crying in the conference room.”

As he left the room, Tonya kept flipping through the pages. Suddenly, she stopped. “What do you think about this? The diatrofymata?” She scooted to one side so I could see the picture of the creature.

The creature seemed rather amorphous, although bipedal, and had teeth that looked like tiny needles. It made me shudder. It looked worse than the land wight we had fought up in Port Townsend.

“The diatrofymata is a shapeshifting creature that can mimic not only its victims but others it comes in contact with,” Tonya read aloud. “In fact, it resembles the doppelgänger. However, unlike typical doppelgängers, this creature feeds on eyes and tongues when it makes a kill. This feeding is believed to be part of a magical ritual that strengthens the diatrofymata. Greedy in nature, it will hoard gold and jewels and other expensive goods. It establishes its hoard in an
isolated area. With brilliant intelligence, this is a highly dangerous and skilled hunter. Like some amphibians, this creature can change sex depending on what form it takes. In its natural state, it is genderless, and develops sexual organs only when it comes together with another of its kind to reproduce. A scuffle for dominance will ensue, and the victor will assume the female genitalia and bear the offspring.”

“That sounds terrifying. But it sounds like what we're up against, given that the eyes and tongues of victims have been missing. Does it say where it's likely to keep its hoard? That might help us to find it.” I had no desire to find out, to be honest, but we had to know everything we could.

“Let me read further.” She scanned down the page. “Okay, the diatrofymata is very rare. It usually creates a home base in the area of its kills. You know—” She looked up from the book. “It occurs to me that if it
does
have a lair of some sorts nearby, that's where it might be keeping its victims till it kills them. And maybe that's where Bette and Gerta are. Since it can take the shape of those it comes in contact with as well as just its victims, I would agree that it's probably keeping Gerta alive in order to force her tears.” Tonya skimmed the rest of the page.

At that point, Ralph returned. He tossed the coins on the counter. “They aren't gold. I'm not sure what they are; they remind me of amber resin.” He was right—they still had the basic shape of the coins, but they had altered in looks.

“Then while the creature was able to mimic Gerta, it couldn't fully reproduce her abilities. Tonya,” I said, heading toward Alex's office, “why don't you fill Ralph in on what you found out? I'm going to see if there's anything in Alex's files about Bette. He'll probably be pissed that I've rifled through his papers, but given the circumstances, I'm going to chance it.”

As I entered Alex's office, I wasn't sure what I was looking for. But anything I could find that would tell us why the
diatrofymata had captured Bette instead of harming her would be of help. I glanced at the clock. Three thirty. Still far too long until Alex was able to wake.

I sat down at his desk, feeling awkward, and began opening the drawers. There were five, and the bottom right appeared to be locked. In the center drawer, I found basic supplies and what looked to be a spare set of keys. The top left drawer contained paper and notebooks. The top right drawer had various bric-a-brac, a few small figurines, a wire mesh tray that held a deck of playing cards, some dice, a few coins, and other assorted trinkets. The bottom left drawer opened with ease and I found several bottles of blood in it, a big box of tissue, and some travel brochures that looked fairly old.

But the bottom right drawer was locked. I jiggled it, and then remembered the keys. Hunting through them till I found one that looked about the right size, I tried it in the lock. A perfect fit. I was feeling more and more like a burglar—or worse yet, a voyeur—but I turned the key and the drawer silently slid open.