Mixed Feelings (Empathy in the PPNW Book 1) (6 page)

“
Will do, boss.
”
Mimicking Mel
’s action from earlier, Chloe saluted me, turned
stiffly on her heel
,
and headed to her desk.

I wai
ted, still leaning against my desk as I thought about
our young witch friend. When I’d first met her, I wouldn’t have known to call
her a witch, but she’d informed me of the label during one of her rambling,
vacant-eyed speeches. I’d also learned then that if she was to travel to
certain parts of Indiana, she might still be burned as such.

What the hell do you say to a
thing like that?

I didn’t know her exact age,
but her slight, almost underfed stature and dreamy personality made me think
she wasn’
t yet t
wenty. I
’d stumbled on her a year or
so ago and Chloe and I had sort of made her our pet project.
Merrin
lived in a tiny apartment at the edge of the city,
reading palms and tarot for a living. I’d offered to let her move in with me
for cheaper than she paid at her crappy apartment, but she said she loved it
there, that the roaches were her friends.

That’s about all one needs to
say about Merrin Smith.

***

In the hall leading to
Merrin’s apartment
,
Chloe and I could hear a mix
of loud music, loud sex, and loud fights. It was typical of her building and it
didn’t seem to bother her, so I tried not to let it bother me. We reached her
door at the end of the hall and Chloe knocked. The door flew open immediately,
revealing a tall, slender, naked woman.

She
had at least a full head of height on me, making her
an Amazon of muscled pale skin. Her perfect brows matched her vibrant electric
-
blue hair. My eyes traveled the length of her body
before I could tell them they were being rude and, without my permission, they
lingered on her breasts. The tips were a pale almost-blue, reminding me of a
glacier. In fact, just looking at them I could almost hear the dry, frigid
cracking associated with overwhelming amounts of solid ice.

Noticing I was staring,
Chloe stepped
forward, holding out a hand.

“
Hi, we
’re here for Merrin?” She
made it a question, curiosity pumping off of her. I wondered suddenly if Merrin
had moved since Chloe had seen her and we were in the wrong place. The woman
continued to watch me watching her and I noticed then that she was
n
’
t
human. The hair and the skin
should have given it away immediately, but I’d been more preoccupied by the way
she looked than the way she felt. I swallowed hard, shooting a sidelong look at
Chloe. My assistant was still smiling pleasantly, waiting for an answer or a
handshake.

The woman’s interest in us
waned, washing off of me like the tide receding from the frozen shores of
Antarctica. She
stalked
back into the apartment,
leaving the door open. Chloe looked at me, gave a half-shrug, and strolled in
boldly.

Everything in the apartment
looked basically the same but with a few small changes; blue and black throw
pillows had been added to the sagging couch and piled on the floor. Stylish,
sharply-angled chairs that looked to be the seating equivalent to runway
high-fashion faced the couch like an audience. Things looked cleaner, too, as
if Merrin had dusted. This struck me as odd, since the girl barely remembered
to brush her hair.

I took a breath, feeling out
the apartment to see where she was. Excitement, nervousness, and concentration
pulsed from the pantry. I glanced at Chloe and we headed into the tiny kitchen.
I pulled open the pantry door and found it empty except for Merrin, who was
hunched on the floor below the barren shelves, hands fluttering between a bunch
of cards set out in a deliberate pattern. I squatted down
and put my hand on her shoulder. She didn’
t notice me.

“
Merrin?
” I asked. She mumbled and leaned forward. Her auburn
hair fell over her shoulder, trailing to the floor.
H
er locks looked brushed and conditioned
,
instead of frizzy and unkempt like usual. Merrin hummed something
quietly and turned over a card from her stack. Her clothes looked new, though
not quite fashionable; her hippie ren faire style held strong, but something
about it looked deliberate
now,
instead of being the product
of shopping
at
thrift stores on a small
budget. I brushed her hair back from her face and glanced up at Chloe. She
shrugged and we both looked back at the little witch.

“
Sweetie?
”
I
ventured. Merrin turned to look at me but there was no recognition in
her vacant eyes. I went to grab her hand but got shocked less than a finger's
width away. I yelped and pulled back, rubbing my fingers on my skirt. I
sometimes forget that Merrin’s abilities are not only way more powerful than
mine
,
but can also be
legitimately, physically dangerous.

After waiting another minute,
I looked down at her cards, trying to make sense of them. They didn’t look like
any tarot cards I recognized but they were quite pretty. Merrin started
mumbling again before reaching out to take my wrist; when I didn’t get shocked
again, I let her close her fingers around me.

“
You don
’t have to worry; Izzy likes you,” she murmured. Her
eyes were unfocused, her gaze sitting somewhere in the middle distance between
her and my chin. I had no idea what she was talking about. I nodded, made a
vague sound of interest
,
and switched my grip to hold
her fingers. The action made her blink, her eyes clearing as she straightened
her body minutely. “Gwen, hi. How are you?”

“
I
’
m
good.
” Letting
go of her hand, I watched as she held it hovering, as if I was still supporting
it. “What about you? Can we get out of this closet? This isn’t the most
comfortable position.” I stood and took her hand again, but she remained still
a second before standing.

“
Oh. Okay.
” She stood up carefully, hopping out of the closet in
a
way that guaranteed she didn't disturb her cards. She
shut the door silently and then tip-toed away like she’d left a baby sleeping.
Chloe and I followed her into the living area, where she sat on the edge of the
coffee table.

“Merrin? Can we ask you some
questions?”

She
nodded once, her eyes fixed on some point
mid-ceiling, and said, “
A
bout the fairies.”

“
Fairies?
” I asked, worried we were having two entirely
different conversations. Merrin remained robotic in her detachment.

“Spider fingers, tusks like
an elephant.” Merrin moved her hands to her face to mime a mixture of the two,
pressing her knuckles to her lips as she wiggled her fingers.

I exchanged a glance with
Chloe, who nodded encouragingly. “Yeah, I guess.” The existence of fairies had
never really been something I’d considered, but I had a werewolf hitting on me
several times a week, so I couldn’t really argue with the idea. Though under
any other circumstances, I probably would have been happy to pick a fight. Who
thinks of something like my monster employers when the word
“fairy
” is uttered? I was willing to bet no one.
“
Two
… fairies… came to my office
last night and asked for help. Do you know anything about that?”

“They don’t want your help,
they want
her
help. She refuses.”
Merrin
’s gaze slid from the ceiling to the door of her tiny
pantry and her brows furrowed. “The future has drifted. Dark times. You will
make the wrong choices.”

I had no idea what she was
talking about, but the latter half of the premonition came as no surprise. My
choice was usually to eat copious amounts of junk food and watch reality TV; of
course I was going to make the wrong one.

“Whose help do they want?” I
asked, stepping into her view. This put her gaze at roughly my belly button,
but I figured it was better than nothing. “
Who do t
hey think I am?”

“Another child will soon go
missing. You can stop it. But you cannot stop her descent.”

“Whose descent? The child’
s?
”

“The child is a boy. You must
reach his home.” Her eyes rolled upward slowly, like balloons being filled with
helium. “
Tonigh
t. Eight o’
clock.
”

“Where does he live? What’s
his name?” Was she serious? Did I have the power to keep this kid safe? You
could never quite tell with Merrin. Instead of answering me, she snapped her
gaze to my face, her body going slightly stiff.

“
Gwen, h
ello.
” Blinking, she turned to Chloe.
“I didn’t know you two were here. How are you?” Her expression went soft as she
reached a hand toward Chloe. I could feel distress in Chloe, but she hid it
perfectly, keeping her
smile
warm as she moved to take
Merrin’
s hand.

“How are you feeling?”

“
I
’m well. Evadne keeps me.”
Still holding Chloe
’s hand, she turned to peer into the bedroom where the
other woman lounged. Was she a fairy, too? I could tell by the pattern of her
emotions that she certainly wasn’t a werewolf, but past that I wasn’t sure. I
was going to just figure her a fairy unless she told me otherwise. Hell, I
decided then and there that Madeline was a fairy, too. No one ever got hurt by
generalizations, am I right?

“
She
’s very kind,” Merrin finished after a few moments.

I had nothing to say to that
that wouldn’
t
probably get the beautiful
fairy mad at me, so I cleared my throat,
stepping
around to put myself between Merrin and Evadne to ensure she was looking at me
again.

“Sweetie, you were telling me
about a child being taken tonight. Do you remember?”

“Eight tonight.” She looked
distracted, like she was listening to something disturbing. “I see flowers. Oh.”
Her face fell and she turned to me. “
I
’
m so sorry. I
’ll bring you something to help with that.”

Despite the fact that I
didn’t know what she was talking about, I
took a step
back to let her get up and pass. She didn’t move,
just continued to watch me with pity and worry, as if I were detailing my
injuries from a bad accident. After a second, Chloe dropped Merrin’s hand to
close in and elbow me. I caught up, realizing that Merrin had no intention of
getting me anything at the moment. Swallowing, I nodded.

“I would appreciate that,
thank you. Can you tell me more about where to find this child? How I can save
him?”

“You haven’
t yet?
” Merrin looked perplexed, her eyes widening as she
tipped her head. “
I
’ll find out for you.”

This time she did stand,
drifting toward the bedroom
on bare feet. I frowned,
lifting my hands to my hips. When she didn’t reappear for over a minute, I
turned to Chloe.

“What now?”

“Now you go,” Evadne said,
startling me. She sauntered toward us and held out a
hand.
“I understand you provide payment for services
rendered?”

“
Uh.
” I nodded, turning to Chloe. She’d been the one to get cash. Without
hesitation, Chloe slid a small stack of twenties out of her bag,
handing
them to Evadne.

“I will contact you when she
has what you’re requesting.” Still watching Chloe intently, she flicked her
gaze to me almost faster than I could see before tipping her head ever so
slightly toward Chloe.

“Pleasure.”

Nervous energy slithered like
an electric eel through Chloe and I jerked. I was definitely ready to get the
hell out of there.

Chapter Six

We discussed the oddity of
Merrin having a spectacularly gorgeous otherworldly roommate on the way back to
the office, pausing occasionally to try to decipher all the things Merrin had
said to us. We failed miserably but decided that if Evadne did in fact contact
us with the location of the next kidnapping attempt, it hadn’t been a wasted trip
at all.

The rest of the day passed
quickly; my last two Monday clients are nothing compared to the agony of
spending an hour with Mrs. Q. Four-thirty rolled around and I was only too
happy to shut down my computer and start getting ready to head home.