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“There’s a barista serving civet coffee in a hipster café in Wicker Park who’s weeping right now because of what you said.”
“I’m okay with that.” And I took another sip. Civet coffee seemed like the kind of twisted punishment Eleanor of Aquitaine might have come up with.
My needs fulfilled, Theo pulled the vehicle into an empty parking lot. Yuen’s image appeared like a hologram above the dashboard. The car might have been a recycled Auto, but it had a few tricks up its sleeve.
“Trouble?” Yuen asked.
“Not the kind you’re thinking of,” Theo said. “The fairies are gone. The castle is empty.”
Yuen’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean, empty?”
“They’ve abandoned the castle entirely. Left the furniture behind, but taken everything else. And they trashed Claudia’s room. Elisa will send you some pics.”
Yuen was quiet for a moment as he considered. “They trashed her room,” he quietly said, and his gaze shifted to me. “Thoughts?”
That he’d asked for my opinion made me sit up a little straighter and choose my words more carefully. “I don’t think she’d have destroyed her clothes. She’s too vain. That makes me think someone else did it. Ruadan, or his fairy allies, seems like the best candidate. But until we find them, we won’t know.”
He nodded. “Agreed.” He held up a hand, then looked to the side at something we couldn’t see. And his eyes widened.
Petra’s face appeared beside Yuen’s, as if she’d moved to stand beside him. “We’ve got something weird in Grant Park. You’re closest.”
“Something weird?” Theo asked.
“A power surge. Vibrations, and they’re magical in nature. This isn’t weather or geology or underground construction someone forgot to tell the city about.”
I frowned. I didn’t know anything about magical vibrations, but guessed humans wouldn’t be able to feel them. “Who reported it?”
“River nymphs,” Petra said. “Two near Buckingham, communing with the water in the fountain.” Her voice was dry. “They felt it, reported it to a meter maid, who thought they were drunk bachelorettes.”
High heels, strong makeup, short dresses. That checked out.
“Where in Grant Park?” Theo asked.
“All of it,” she said. “The vibration’s got a good spread. But start near the fountain.”
“Copy that. I’ll take a look and report back.” He looked at me. “You up for another adventure?”
I was up for a bucket of wine and a chance to apologize to myfather. Or a bucket of winebeforeI had a chance to apologize to my father. But since I was unlikely to get either right now, I figured I might as well do the city some good.
“Sure,” I said. “Let’s do it.” I’d just need to tell Lulu that I wouldn’t be home for dinner.
I’d seen television detectives attach lights to the top of unmarked cars so they could cruise through traffic to a crime scene. I hadn’t seen it in real life until tonight, when Theo whipped one out.
“What exactly are we going to do with whatever we find in Grant Park?” I asked, and checked the side mirror just in case Connor was following. I was a little disappointed he and Thelma weren’t behind us. We probably could have used them.
“We handle it, or we call in backup,” Theo said. “And we hope they get there on time.”
• • •
It was late, at least by human standards, and traffic was light, mostly Autos shuttling the tired through the Loop. Even Grant Park, usually crowded with tourists or festivals, was quiet.
Theo drove north on Columbus, pulled the vehicle to a stop at the curb in front of the wide brick plaza and fountain beyond it. There was a low pool with monstrous sculptures that reached through the water and three tiers of pink marble that glowed in the darkness.
We climbed out of the car, looked around, and saw no one. In silence, we made a large circle around the fountain, scanning the park for anything unusual. But there were no nymphs, no humans, no fairies. Just the fine spray of water across the bricks as the wind blew through the fountain’s towering spray.
And then the world shifted.
I felt it before I heard it, the vibration beneath my feet. Not a literal shaking, but a ring of power.
