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“This way.” Mike led me up the somewhat rickety wooden stairs to the porch. The door opened as we approached, and a thin, somewhat haggard-looking woman with a surprisingly lush mane of black hair appeared.
“Oh, Ms. Grace, I’m so glad you were able to come here.” Her golden eyes briefly glimmered with tears. “It’s so unlike Larissa to be gone this long. I fear—”
She stopped and drew in a deep breath. I smiled, but resisted the urge to touch her arm in comfort. Though I’d been well enough trained that everyday contact with people posed little threat, there were nevertheless some situations—such as when I was caught by surprise or when, like now, the emotions were so very strong—that no amount of safeguards could stop them from affecting me.
She blinked back tears and added, “Thank you.”
I nodded and followed Mike into the cottage. It was nominally larger than it had initially looked, consisting of a small hallway from which there were three doors—two bedrooms and living room—and a kitchen/dining area that ran the length of the back room. There was a small covered porch beyond the rear door that connected the house to another building—the bathroom and laundry, I suspected.
Mike waved me toward the old wooden table to the right of the door. “Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?”
I walked over but didn’t sit down. Despite the crowded hominess of the place, desperation, fear, and something else—something that needled my senses and made my skin crawl—touched the air. I really didn’t want to stay here any longer than necessary, and I certainly wasn’t about to try and find Larissa without making a protection circle. I might be using psychic rather than witch powers, but if something went wrong—if my attempt to find her became either a full-blown connection or somehow alerted the dark spirit—I wanted to ensure I was utterly safe.
He filled up the kettle and put it on anyway. Meika came in a few seconds later with something silver dangling from her left hand. “This is Larissa’s,” she said. “Mike said you needed something of hers to focus on.”
“I do.” I held out my hand and she dropped the chain and small pendant into my palm. Though I had my psi skills locked down fairly tight, I still should have felt a tingle if there’d been a recent connection to Larissa. But there was nothing. The small Celtic cross felt inert. Dead.
I tried not to think about what that might mean and glanced around. The long kitchen was rather crowded, and between all the tubs filled with what looked like material and cotton reels, and the sewing machine table set up in the far corner, there was little room to truly move.
“Do you mind if I go into the living area? I need to sit down within a protection circle to try this.”
“Sure,” she said, and stepped to one side. “It’s the door on the left.”
I made my way back down the hall and walked into the front room. It was simply furnished, with a long sofa under the window and a well-worn chair to the left. A TV dominated the wall directly opposite the window, and the outside wall was lined with bookcases that were filled with DVDs and Blu-rays rather than books. There was a coffee table in the center of the room, but aside from that, the room was surprisingly free of clutter.
I glanced around as Meika and Mike appeared at the doorway. “Do you mind if I move the coffee table?”
“Feel free.” She hesitated. “Are we allowed to watch?”
“Aside from when I’m creating the protection circle, there won’t be much to see other than me silently sitting on the floor.”
“I’d still like to be here, just in case.”
Just in case you find her and she’s dead. She didn’t say those words but they nevertheless hovered in the air. I wasn’t sure how being in the room when or if I discovered that was going to help, but I guess it was a natural desire.
“I’ve no problems with either of you watching, but once I set up the stone circle around me, you mustn’t come near me or the stones,” I said. “That will break any connection I might have with her.”
Which was a lie, but it was far better she believed that than me admitting I was worried about a soul eater attacking me through her daughter.
“I’ll just sit over on my chair, then,” she said, and did so. “This is okay, isn’t it?”
I nodded and moved the coffee table closer to the bookcases. Then I sat down, placed the necklace in front of me on the floor and pulled the small silk bag from my purse. Once I’d freed the stones, I silently began the protection spell, placing each stone down on the carpet as I wove the spell threads onto them, until the circle was complete and the energy of the spell flowed around me so strongly that the hairs at the back of my neck rose in response. While it wasn’t the strongest protection circle I’d ever created, it was as encompassing as I could make it under the circumstances. I breathed deeply to calm my nerves then picked up the necklace and pressed the Celtic cross into my palm. The metal was cool against my skin. Cool and lifeless.
Without allowing myself to dwell on the possible reason for that, I closed my eyes and reached down to that place deep inside where my second sight lay leashed and waiting.
For several seconds, nothing happened. The metal remained cool and inert. Then, gradually, warmth stirred within the cross’s cold heart. It was a distant thing, but it did at least mean that, as of this moment, Larissa was alive—that she, unlike Aron, hadn’t met her death at the hands of our soul eater. The pendant would have remained inert if it had been otherwise.
I reached deeper, trying to connect with that faint flutter of heat, and drag from its heart some idea of location. It didn’t work—and that perhaps meant Larissa hadn’t worn this necklace very much in recent weeks.
At least, that’s what I hoped was happening.
I opened my eyes, scrubbed my free hand across my eyes, and then looked around at Meika. “I can’t grab a connection with this pendant. Do you have anything else she might have worn more recently?”
Meika shook her head. “Not here, but there’s probably something up at her place on the reservation. I could take you there now—”
“No,” I cut in, gently but firmly. “It’ll take more time and strength than I currently have.”
“Oh.” She clasped her hands together, her expression one of disappointment and desperation. “Tomorrow, then?”
