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Tomi was right. Though Dax wondered if he could refine the aura of shadows to walk in a tight crowd, now was not the time to experiment, not after just discovering he could manipulate darkness a bit despite having most of his powers stripped upon his exile.
Holding tight onto the thread, he let his human form take control. The shadows snapped out, letting light flood around him. The thread felt fainter, but it was still there.
Rory, seeing him in his human form, looked paler than at any point since Dax had first met him. A barely controlled tremor ran through his body as he watched Dax walking toward him. Rory backed away, letting Dax have a wide berth.
“Rory, go with Tomi.” Dax passed him by without looking at him.
Rory, pressed up against the brick wall of the alley, slunk along it until he felt far enough away from Dax to turn and run down to the other side of the alley.
Apparently, Rory could see through the shadows. Dax tried to brush it off, but he didn’t like causing terror in people, even magical ones like Rory. His job had not been to terrify but to release people from life and let them begin their soul’s next journey.
He put Rory’s reaction out of his mind. He needed to concentrate on the thread so he didn’t lose it in this human form with all its absurd obliviousness. When he finally popped out onto one of the main streets near old town, he pulled out his phone and sent his location to Tomi and waited.
Soon, Tomi and their ranger stopped in front of him, and he climbed into the passenger seat. Rory appeared to be pushing himself up against the door to get as far away from Dax as possible.
Tomi cleared his throat. “Considering we’re doing this on our free time and Dax hasn’t asked for anything in return, I think you could be a little more polite. It’s not any different than your magical bracelets Manman Delphine told me about.”
“That’s OK, Tomi. I think I just gave our new friend a fright.” Dax turned slowly in his seat and let a grin spread slowly across his face. “I’m sure he’s glad to have me on his side in the effort to find his friend.”
“Dammit, Dax”—Tomi snorted and shook his head, trying to hide a chuckle—“That ain’t gonna help.”
Dax laughed and turned around. “Drive. We’re heading vaguely west. Keep on that direction, and I’ll let you know if we need to make changes.”
“Bro, does it look like I have a compass? Do I need to find a tree and see what side the moss is growing on? It’s after dark. You got finger. Use it.”
Pointing straight ahead, Dax sank into his seat to get comfortable and waited for Tomi to pull out into traffic.
They wove through the streets of Red City and then into the western ‘burbs. Occasionally, Dax would point out a direction if they were at an intersection or a T with no western option. Eventually, Rory calmed down a bit and moved more comfortably onto his seat.
“We’re going to run out of town pretty soon, Dax...”
Dax shrugged. “All I’m doing is following where the thread leads, but it makes sense. Whoever is powerful enough to capture scary magical beasts and fae rangers is probably keeping his new pet somewhere a bit more quiet than the local suburb’s PTA- and HOA-riddled confines.”
His predictions proved true as they left the city limits of the last western suburb and drove out into farm country. When he pointed toward a turn ahead, the sign at the junction read, “Redemption Reservoir 5 Miles.”
“I don’t think there are any houses up this way,” Tomi said, taking the turn. “This is state land.”
“I don’t know, but it feels like we might be getting close to the end of the thread.”
“You don’t think they dumped the body in the reservoir, do you?” Tomi asked.
“If they did, that’s rough. Got killed on the job then had his body treated like litter.”
“From what I hear, at least he won’t be lonely down there.”
“What…what do you mean?” Rory finally broke his silence after the fright Dax had given him.
“Rumor has it, the reservoir is a favorite dumping ground for the mob and other violent gangs. If you like fishing, you can catch big catfish there. I love catfish, but I sure as fuck ain’t eating any that were caught there. I’m not into being a secondhand cannibal.” Tomi shook his head vigorously as he slowed to follow Dax’s pointed finger, indicating the reservoir’s parking lot.
“I’m not sure that’s how cannibalism works.”
“I don’t care. Still not going to eat any local caught catfish. Just like I’m not going to eat much pork from around here. Mob’s got to have lots of options to get rid of their handiwork, and there are definitely some sketch pig farms around this city.” Tomi parked. “Now what?”
Dax wasn’t about to make a comment on Tomi’s dietary choices. It was a dead animal to be consumed. Did it really matter what it had eaten on the way to the plate? The spirit had passed on by the time the murder victim was fed to whatever hungry animal happened to be convenient. The human part was gone.
“The thread continues out into the lake.”
“Did you happen to bring a boat with you? Maybe hidden in the pockets of your other outfit?” Tomi smirked.
