Rumor had it that selkies never stopped looking for their skins. It was like a shifter who couldn’t heed the moon’s urging to change. Like Mordecai. Given what I saw him go through every month, with or without that medicine, denying the magic created a horrible itch inside him, impossible to completely ignore.
And now I saw that even death would give a selkie no comfort. She was here until she reclaimed her skin.
“So…does the skin…die with you, or is it just…hanging out wherever the dickhead thief stashed it, or…?” I asked.
“It is in this strange plane with me. Somewhere.”
“Hmm. Mmhm. So you just need to pull it to you and slip it back on then?”
Her head tilted and she took a step toward me. “Pull it to me?”
“Yeah. Just…think about it really hard, and feel it with everything you have, and long for it, and it really should come sailing back to you. I mean, that’s what your son did, and here you are, all the way from…?”
A crease formed between her brows, matching the one on her son’s face. She minutely shook her head, and I just barely registered the stranger’s intensity beating into me, his gaze now determined as well as vicious.
“Right. So that’s another hush-hush topic. Got it.”
The stranger wanted to find her skin for her so she could be at peace. That was what she’d meant by setting her free.
“How’d you know she needed her skin?” I asked.
“As I said,” he replied, “I’ve seen a few of…your kind before.”
The hitch in his speech made it seem like he didn’t think they were my kind at all. But then, if he had a habit of visiting fairs like this, he’d probably gotten the losers of the trade.
“They were useless,” his mother said, her tone dripping with arrogance. Somehow, she still seemed lovely despite it. A true gift. “The strongest of them did not look at me, as you are doing. They did not hear me. They felt me, sure enough, and got a few of my words correct, but they all mangled the message before sending him on his way.”
“Right. Well, in fairness, most people who have my magic set up shop as mediums because they don’t have enough juice for the big-paying jobs, like with the cops or on TV or whatever.”
“What did she say?” the stranger asked.
I told him quickly.
“One of the women was employed by the Demigod of London,” the stranger said with derision. “She was heralded as the top of her trade. Useless.”
“You two have spent a lot of time together, I can see.” I mock-grimaced at them before moving on. “So you’ve tried to pull…it to you, and nothing happened?”
“I felt the need for it when I first entered this strange plane,” she said wistfully. “The longing. But though it continues to call to me, I cannot find it. I have searched every place I know, including my husband’s many estates…”
Her voice had turned harsh by the end, still lovely and lilting, but more like the sea surging over jagged, ship-smashing rocks.
“Huh.” I bit my lip, racking my brain for an answer to this riddle. “And you know you’re dead, I take it?” Her look was enough to wither flowers. “Right. Of course.”
I rested my forearms on my knees, thinking.
“She’s smart and talented. You should enlist her aid,” I heard the woman say.
“Thankfully, he can’t hear you,” I replied.
“What?” the stranger asked.
I ignored him. I’d already been sucked into helping one dangerous criminal; I didn’t need to get sucked into helping a man who was probably ten times as dangerous, especially since that man was an extremely powerful magical person who didn’t understand personal boundaries.
“Have you enlisted the help of a medium specializing in calling the dead from the other side?” I asked.
“Isn’t that what you do?” the woman countered.
“Well…yes. But your skin isn’t dead, and I’ve had no experience with this. I just meant a person with all the bells and whistles who can put a lot more oomph behind the calling.”
“If we don’t push through our fear, we will never learn what it means to achieve true success,” she said.
I lifted my eyebrows. “I’m not afraid. I just don’t know how I’d even go about something like this.”
“Then you must try.” She trailed the back of her hand down her cheek, a dainty gesture indicating she was tired. “I must go. I have no stamina in this plane. Please hurry. My son has suffered for far too long. He must release me so he can finally live his life in peace. Help him.”
With that, her form flickered, then blinked out.
“It wasn’t lack of energy; she just wasn’t comfortable so far away from her un-resting place,” I mumbled, mostly to myself.
I blew out a breath, thinking it all over. Somehow, without actually asking, she’d roped me into helping her.
No. Not roped me in, tried to rope me in. I felt for her situation, I really did. But I had absolutely no experience in these matters and wouldn’t know the first thing about calling someone’s shifter skin. Like…was that even possible?
I leaned back in my chair, utterly spent, belatedly realizing the crowd that had gathered around my space was now at a distance. As in, someone had pushed them back and kept them there.
That was when I saw the crew of guys, all in suits, standing guard at the edge of the crowd. The stranger had a team of men, it seemed, and clearly he didn’t want anyone hearing his business. I had no idea how long they’d been there.
“So that’s what all this has been about, huh?” I asked, making a circle in the air with my finger. “The stalking, the checking up on me—you’re trying to get someone to help…that certain person…find the thing so you can go about your business?”
“Has she gone?” Sadness crossed his features before they snapped back to stony. His body tensed. “Did she ask you for your help?”
I let my eyebrows crawl up my forehead and lied like a thief. “Nope. No. She didn’t. Because I don’t have any experience in this stuff and couldn’t possibly help. So.” I stood so fast that the blood didn’t have time to get to my head, and I staggered a bit. “Come on, kids. Let’s pack up.”
He stood like a snake uncoiling, smooth and graceful. His hand dipped into his pocket, but before I could tell him not to pay, he nodded and turned. He stalked off through the crowd without a word. His men peeled off after him, a well-oiled machine.
“What the…” Daisy hopped up. “Did he just take off without paying?” She scoffed and stamped her foot. “What a cheap… After you did all that?” She shook her head. “Bitch better give us our money. I’ll knock on his damn door if I have to.”
“Leave it,” I said softly, ignoring the people pushing toward me. Clearly the stranger was an attraction all his own, and now they’d want in on it. No, thank you. “Let him go.”
I rolled up my rug, a very bad feeling lodging in the pit of my stomach.
“Unfortunately,” I muttered, “I have a feeling he’ll be back.”
23
Kieran
Kieran could hardly speak. He’d given powerful Ghost Whisperers ten times as much information as he’d just given Alexis. Uttering one word would’ve been more than he’d just given her. And yet she’d read the situation perfectly.
The others had tried to send his mother beyond the Line. They’d chimed their bells and fanned their candles, but in the end, he’d received only their condolences. They couldn’t force a spirit that did not want to go.
Alexis hadn’t even tried. She’d listened to the problem, directly from the source, and immediately tried to problem-solve. His stomach exploded in fireworks.
“She’s legit,” Zorn said, voicing Kieran’s thought. Zorn caught up to Kieran and kept pace. They walked along the sidewalk to a distant parking lot. People stopped to gawk, recognizing Kieran’s face. “I had my suspicions, but…”
“I’ve had people testing her all night. She has left them in complete awe.” Kieran shook his head and threw out his hand. Fog blasted down from the sky before swirling through the street, creating a thick white wall.