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Chapter Twelve
“So all in all Alvis canceled four classes in the last two weeks.” Evan took a long sip of her juice. She’d gotten it from a shop that had a bunch of green stuff in it. An older woman had mixed it up for her.
It looked super healthy.
There were more of the Under’s citizens wandering around now that it was late afternoon. Somehow even this far beneath the surface I could feel dusk coming on.
When the primals were up, they would perform their rituals again for Alvis. I still had a full day before I could sit down and question them. But there was still plenty to be done. I’d already met with Casey, and we’d talked about my thoughts on where Mia Day could be. He was hitting the books this evening. He had two jobs. One was figuring out how we could communicate with someone on the Heavenly planes that didn’t involve mere praying and hoping someone was listening in.
The other was figuring out where Myrddin would keep that piece of Liv’s soul I needed to get back. Once he had a location, I would put the queen on that one. She was a hell of a thief, and she would have fun with it.
“Did he have other classes going on during those two weeks?” I sat with Evan at one of the picnic tables. There was a park at the back of the square. It was really more of a circle with hallways that led in different directions, but it was easy to see this was the heart of the primals’ nest and that they’d worked hard to adapt to the needs of those they sheltered.
To my right a small group of kids played on swings and slides, their parents or guardians indulgently watching them. I had to wonder if Fen had ever swung or thrown his body down the slide. Probably not. He’d been trying to survive.
Evan searched her notes. “Yes. During the same time period, he taught two other classes and held therapy sessions for survivors. He made all of those.”
“Why would he cancel the painting classes? Did they run out of materials?” I asked.
Evan shrugged. “Not according to the records. I checked. He’d recently received a shipment from above, and he’d had an order filled for the supplies they get from the gnomes. The woman who coordinates told me Alvis was cagey about why he needed to cancel. He told her he didn’t feel well enough to teach the first two classes and then he canceled without warning or explanation the second week. I didn’t think primals got sick.”
“They don’t.” They were like their other vampire brethren in this case. No virus could take them down. But there were ways to fuck with a vamp. “Have there been other reports of primals not feeling well? We could go by the clinic.”
“Already did.” Evan handed me a folder. “While you were having…do we call that second breakfast? First lunch?”
Snarky thing. “It was a snack.”
“It was two burgers and what had to be a pound of onion rings,” Evan countered. “It’s cool. I’m used to it. Anyway, while you were snacking I went to the clinic. No primals have been in. Not like ever. Rose said she’s never seen one get sick.”
“And what does that tell us?” I liked playing the mentor to young detectives. It was fun. Made me feel good.
“Well, it tells us that if someone poisoned Alvis, he was the target since no one else has had a problem. Their food is all sourced from the same place, and if there’s not an outbreak of primals exploding, he’s the only one who took the poison. I thought about whether they tampered with his blood. That would be hard. They eat live rabbits. Well, live when they start in. Any poison that would kill Alvis would also kill the rabbit, thereby rendering the rabbit ineligible as dinner.”
Her logic was sound. “It could be the poison wasn’t ingestible. I’m still intrigued by the idea of witches using belladonna in their rituals. So what we’ve got is poison, painting, and a dead primal. How do we connect these things? And now we have weird creatures showing up in the Under.”
“Like the white rabbit Fen…” Evan shut her mouth.
“I know he ate it.”
Evan gave me an apologetic smile. “If it helps, he was in wolf form. Lucky for us the sucker wasn’t poisoned. When we asked about it, we were told it was probably from the gnomes. They keep creatures from time to time. We didn’t, like, report it to them or anything. The gnomes already have problems with the werecreatures.”
“So I’ve been told. Have you been down to the gardens?” It looked like I might need to meet those gnomes.
“Pretty much any time I come here with Rhys we end up in the gardens. He gets claustrophobic, but the gardens calm him.”
“Are we talking about Rhys?” Fenrir slid into the booth beside Evan, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “Because dude’s got problems, if you know what I mean.”
It was so clear to see the affection between the two. Evan immediately shifted so she was slightly leaning against Fen. “Your mom was asking about the gnomes.”
Fen frowned. “They don’t let me in the gardens. I think it’s rude.”
Oh, I knew what had happened. “Well, you ate their rabbit, didn’t you?”
Fen’s cheeks flushed slightly. “I have predatory instincts. I can’t help it.”
“And yet you can,” I chided.
A deep V formed over Fen’s eyes. “Dang. I didn’t realize how judgmental moms can be.”
