Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Status: Urgent. Imminent threat to Theodora Marshall.
—Confidential report to Pax Marshall from ZDex Private Security Consultants (4 September 2083)
MOON AND ELBEK were already waiting out in front of the facility. They looked freshly scrubbed, their packs sitting neatly against the steps. Both gave Theo warm smiles, then took a seat on the steps and dug into the box of bakery items Yakov had brought for them, with enthusiastic sips of coffee in between.
Since the pair seemed in no hurry to head off, Theo felt comfortable asking, “Did you stay in the facility?”
Elbek, his black hair pulled back in a short tail, nodded. “Just inside the front door. Place is definitely haunted, though.”
“But the ghosts didn’t mind us,” his partner added after swallowing a bite of a cheese and bacon roll, her own hair in pigtails that made her look incredibly young—and belied her air of extreme competence. “We played cards, invited them to join us, but they just wanted to watch.”
Theo stared at the twosome, wondering if they were amusing themselves at her expense, but the two seemed very matter-of-fact in their expressions. Her shoulders prickled without warning, her nape cold. And she thought, yes, this place had plenty of ghosts. But unlike with the amiable bears, she didn’t think the ghosts felt any sympathy with her. They knew what she was. Blood of the man who’d turned them into ghosts. Who’d stolen their lives.
“No signs of any attempted incursions,” Moon was saying to Yakov now. “We took turns doing runs around the property throughout the night, didn’t catch sight of anything that shouldn’t have been present.”
“But,” her partner picked up, “there’s something out back beyond that small house that you should investigate further. An oddly open patch with sunken areas. Didn’t catch any suspicious scents, but . . .” He shrugged.
Theo didn’t understand his meaning, but Yakov clearly did because he said, “Thanks.” A new grimness to his tone. “I’ll check it out.”
“Moon might not have minded the ghosts,” Elbek added, “but they creeped me out. I only stayed inside because it rained last night and I didn’t feel like being a wet bear. I say the spirits seemed more malevolent than friendly.”
Theo thought again of the woman who’d banged her head against the wall, of the man who’d cried. “Those walls witnessed a lot of pain. It’s bled into the building, is barely hidden under its floors.”
Moon held Theo’s gaze. “Are you sure you should be here?” An oddly gentle question. “It makes your aura go dark.”
There was so much Theo didn’t know about changelings, and about what they could do, but she could recognize kindness and concern. “I have questions that need to be answered.”
Bodies that needed to be unearthed.
* * *
* * *
. . . HIDDEN under its floors.
Yakov wondered if Theo had said that in response to Elbek’s report about the land out back of the property, but he waited until after the other man and Moon had left to speak his thoughts aloud. He and Theo yet stood in front of the facility, the clouds dark overhead, and the leaves beneath their feet old and browned.
“Do you think there’s a possibility that the victims of whatever it was that took place here were buried on the grounds?”
A sudden frozen stillness from Theo, her body an unmoving silhouette against the backdrop of tangled greenery all around them.
No, she hadn’t understood the meaning of Elbek’s report.
When she spoke at last, she said, “My grandfather was very good at covering his tracks. It wouldn’t make rational sense for him to leave evidence lying around—especially in a region with such a heavy predatory changeling presence. A curious changeling might jump the wall and go exploring in the grounds.”
Yakov nodded. Marshall Hyde hadn’t reached the status of Councilor without being expert at presenting a certain face to the world; he’d never risk airing his dirty laundry. “Bodies moved out to be disposed of elsewhere?”
“He had telekinetics on his payroll,” she said. “All Councilors did. He could’ve had them taken anywhere—straight into the heart of a crematorium, dropped into a volcano, or thrown into the deepest part of the ocean.”
That she’d simply accepted that there must’ve been victims of whatever it was that had gone on in this place gave him another indication of just what kind of horror she’d witnessed as a child. But her experiences had blinded her to a stark truth. “Your grandfather wasn’t in charge after his death.”
Theo’s pupils expanded. “No,” she said at last, then turned to stare out at the grounds. “You think the staff—or at least some of them—murdered the patients and got rid of them.”
“Would they have had access to the telekinetics?”
Theo shook her head. “Teleport-capable Tks are too thin on the ground. Even our privately contracted Tks are only available to senior members of the family.” Tucking her hands into the pockets of his jacket, she said, “You’re right. There are bodies out there.”