Babs? Lorcan knew who the wendigo was? How was that even possible?

  Possible in the same way that Henner appeared to know her and she appeared to know him.

  The Half-Moon’s door opened and knocked me in the shin. Shelby, the hostess I’d met the first time I came to the restaurant, emerged, glanced down, and gasped; “Good Lord! I’m sorry!”

  “Nevermind that!” I nearly barked. “We need to speak to Roy!”

  At the sound of hollering in the street, Shelby peered out and then swallowed hard. She turned back to the dark restaurant. “Ophelia! Send someone to give Lorcan a hand, won’t you?”

  And she didn’t seem surprised… nope, she didn’t seem surprised at all that Lorcan was in the middle of the street, battling an immense shadow wendigo. Haven Hollow truly wasn’t like other towns.

  Understatement of the century.

  Shelby knelt by my side and slid an arm around my shoulders, as Bailey took my other arm, both of them lifting me so I could walk. I didn’t even realize I was limping. I had to lean hard against Bailey and it was an enormous struggle not to puke all over her. The events of the night, combined with the concussion, were definitely taking their toll.

  Shelby led us to a nearby booth and helped me sit. Meanwhile, I saw two shapes streaking past the booth and toward the sounds of the fight outside. One was unmistakably Stanley Stomper... from the waist up, that is. From the waist down,was the muscular, rippling lower body of a Cleveland Bay stallion. The flanks of the... God... the centaur heaved with effort as he made a mad dash toward the front door, with something huge and hairy following close behind him.

  “Um,” Bailey started. “What did I just see?”

  “I think you saw a centaur,” I started. “Followed by… something else.”

  At first I thought it might be a second wendigo. It was just as large, muscled, and hairy. However, when the creature came into focus, I could make out the few crucial differences. The dark fur was sleek, the frame very humanoid, the hands with their sausage-like fingers sorely lacking claws. It issued a bellow of challenge as it loped outside to face the wendigo, but it wasn’t a primal shriek. It sounded like a Silverback gorilla.

  It sounded like RJ’s recordings of... bigfoot.

  “I don’t think we were ever properly introduced,” Shelby said as she faced me. “My name is Shelby Stomper. I’m Stanley’s wife.”

  “And Stanley’s a centaur!” I said, barely recognizing my own voice.

  She nodded and smiled down at me. “Yes, he is. Now, I need you to tell me if Barbra managed to cut you with her claws?” She looked at Bailey. “Either of you.”

  “Was that other thing… a sasquatch?” Bailey asked.

  “Yes, yes,” Shelby said with a sigh. “Stanley and Roy can take care of themselves. Did Barbra hurt either of you?”

  “No, Barbra didn’t touch any of us,” I responded.

  But my thoughts were elsewhere—namely on the fact that Danny had been a leprechaun, Barbra a wendigo, and Stanley Stomper was a centaur. And apparently Roy Osbourne was a sasquatch. A Big Foot. A Yeti.

  Hmm, I wasn’t sure if I could date him now. I mean…

  Poppy, that is a conversation for another day!

  “Stop fussing over the gypsy, Shelby. She’s fine,” Ophelia Ponsobby announced from behind us. “Roy reported she fell and hit her head yesterday. I imagine the stress is making the concussion worse.”

  Turning my head was a painful, nauseating motion, and it wasn’t worth the effort. Ophelia sat in the booth opposite us, a chilly smile playing at the corners of her lined lips.

  “What are you?” I gasped.

  “And what in the hell is going on?” Bailey demanded.

  Ophelia folded her hands on the table in front of her, flicking a wolf-themed coaster to the ground contemptuously as she did so.

  “I am a night hag. You’ve clearly guessed what Mr. Stomper and Mr. Osbourne are. Care to hazard a guess at Mr. Rowe’s species?”

  I thought about it for just a few seconds, piecing the answer together without much effort. “Vampire.”

  Ophelia’s smile ticked up a centimeter. “Very good.”

  “And what was he doing riding around in Marty’s hearse?” Bailey demanded.

  Ophelia shrugged and looked like she was already bored with the conversation. “Lorcan is what you might call paranoid.”

  “Which doesn’t answer my question at all,” Bailey retorted.

  “Lorcan’s always afraid someone is going to stake him in the day, so once he realized Mr. Zach was in need of an automobile, he saw the opportunity for two birds with one stone, I suppose you could say. He figured no one would ever look for him… there,” Ophelia finished.

  “So Marty’s been driving around a vampire all this time?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Shelby answered with an embarrassed smile.

  The roaring and wailing outside abruptly ceased. It was so abrupt, I actually jumped. The motion jarred the back of my head and I nearly retched into someone’s plastic tumbler. Judging from the plates of leftover food and half-finished drinks, we’d probably stumbled into a meeting of the mysterious council.

  Shelby stood up and walked outside, apparently to check on the situation.

  “Have they been successful?” Ophelia called out.

  “Um… not exactly,” Shelby responded.

  “What’s going on?” Bailey demanded as she stood up and joined Shelby at the doorway. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered.

  It was all I could do to push myself to my feet, but I managed. Then I hobbled over to join the two of them and I gazed out into the dark street, only to see Roy, in his sasquatch form, go hurtling when the wendigo ran full bore at him. She pushed him hard enough that he lost his footing and hit the ground hard, but didn’t seem the worse for wear because he shook his head and stood up, opening his mouth as he bellowed his anger.

  Stanley was riding around the wendigo, trying to divert her attention, which didn’t seem to be working. And Marty was standing off to the side, apparently because there wasn’t anything he could do against a shadow monster.

  Lorcan materialized out of nowhere and rushed the creature, disappearing and then reappearing behind her. It looked like he was trying to grab hold of her, something that was proving difficult since she wasn’t exactly corporeal. She was shadow.

  “I can help,” I muttered and took a step forward.

  Bailey reached out and grabbed my shoulder. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “I still have enough energy left to make the Fiery Command Oil help us,” I answered, even as I doubted my own words. I was exhausted and I couldn’t demand much more of my body. I’d have to be very careful about how much more of my life essence I exerted. There was a point of no return. “Now, let me go before I get pissed off.”

  Bailey dropped her hold on me and I motioned for her to help me walk forward. She put an arm around me as Shelby did the same, and together we moved closer to the… situation.

  Marty was the first to see us.

  “Get back!” he yelled.

  “I can help!” I called back. Then I faced the others. “I just need you to keep me upright. This is going to take all… my strength.”

  Not that I had much strength left.

  But, I focused what strength I had and held my hands out before me, feeling dizzy as I closed my eyes and focused, pulling the energy of the oil from my body and driving it into the air. I imagined it circling Barbra.

  “Barbra, assume your human form!” I yelled out, feeling my heart beating hard and fast. I felt so weak, so incredibly exhausted that I wondered if I had the strength left to pull this off.

  I didn’t open my eyes because I found my concentration was always better with my eyes closed. Instead, I gritted my teeth and continued to release whatever power I still had left. I could feel the heat of the potion as it left my body and took my intentions with it.

  “It’s working, Poppy,” Bailey whispered.

  “Don’t break your concentration,” Shelby continued.

  I nodded and continued to send out my power, imagining it encircling the wendigo, imagining it forcing Barbra to take her human form.

  “It’s…” Bailey started, her voice waning.

  “It doesn’t look like it’s working anymore…” Shelby finished for her.

  I opened my eyes and watched as the wendigo broke from my hold and bellowed its anger into the dark night sky.

  I didn’t have enough energy left to do this. Not when I was in this currently weakened state. I needed the energy of someone else, but unfortunately Bailey and Shelby wouldn’t be able to help me—because they were corporeal and, as such, their energy was bundled up within their bodies.

  But there was someone who didn’t have that same issue…

  Darla.

  I reached up and gripped the pendent around my neck as I closed my eyes and reached out to her, requesting her presence. It was maybe a second or so before she blipped into existence right beside me.

  “Yippee!” Darla yelled with excitement as she clapped her hands together. “Did you call me to dip the bill?”

  Dipping the bill was Darla’s way of asking if I’d invited her to have a drink. “No,” I managed. “I need… your help.” I was so drained, I could barely even speak.

  She faux-pouted for a few seconds and then turned to see what was going on. As soon as she spied the wendigo fighting sasquatch, a centaur and a vampire, her eyes went wide. “My help?” she repeated, shaking her head. “Last I heard, monsters weren’t much on getting scared by ghosts, dollface,” she said as she turned to face me. “Looks like you’re behind the eight ball.”

  “I need your energy, Darla,” I insisted. “I need to… borrow your energy… in order to fuel the Fiery Command Oil.”

  “An’ just how am I supposed to give you my energy, hmm?”

  “I… don’t know exactly,” I admitted. I mean, I’d never done anything like this before. “I thought maybe… there was a way you could… overlay your energy on mine.” I looked at Bailey. “Is that… even possible?”

  “You mean… you want Darla to possess you?”

  I shook my head. I definitely didn’t want Darla to possess me because I was fairly sure I’d never get my body back and I shuddered to think what she’d do with it. “Is there anything… short of possession… that might work?”

  Bailey was silent as she considered it. “Well, if all we need is Darla to channel her energy into the Fiery Command Oil, it might work if you… share the potion.”

  “What’s that mean?” Darla asked.

  “It means you… have to touch… my wrist, where I anointed… myself with the oil,” I said. “And maybe… together, we can overcome… the wendigo.”

  Bailey nodded. “I think if you join hands, that should allow Darla access to the potion.”

  “What’s in it for me?” Darla asked, narrowing her eyes on me as she plopped her hands on her hips.

  “You get to… escape the house… for a little bit,” I answered.

  “No deal,” she said and shook her head. Then she faced Bailey. “What’s the chances something bad happens to me?”

  “I don’t know,” Bailey answered as she shrugged.

  Darla looked at me and it was my turn to shrug. “I don’t… know either.”

  “Those odds sound real stacked against me.”

  “What do… you want, Darla?” I grumbled.

  “A free night,” she answered. “You have to agree to take me wherever I want—to dinner or dancing…”

  That sounded reasonable. “Okay,” I said.

  She seemed surprised, almost like she thought I wouldn’t agree. Then she floated over to my side as I extended my arm. Darla took my hand and shivers immediately ran up my arm at her touch.

  “Is that our Butter and Egg Man?” Darla asked, narrowing her eyes as she spied the wendigo.

  “Yes, I need… you to focus… and channel your energy… into the potion on… my wrist.” I paused to inhale deeply and had to fight the stars from overcoming my vision. I was dangerously weak. “Imagine the potion… encircling the wendigo… and bending her will to ours.”

  She nodded as she faced the wendigo. “Time to dance,” she muttered and I might have laughed if not for the situation we were facing.

  I focused on the wendigo and channeled whatever remaining life force I had left (without killing myself) into my intention. I could feel the hum of Darla’s energy just beside mine.

  “Barbra, assume… your human… form!” I yelled out as loudly as I could.

  “Assume your human form!” Darla repeated, even more loudly.

  The wendigo jerked in response and then stopped from charging Roy. The creature just stood there then, as if stunned. Its chest heaved as Darla’s and my combined energy assaulted it.

  I don’t know if it was ten seconds later or ten minutes, but the wendigo eventually succumbed to the force of our collective energy and collapsed on the road, now in Barbra’s shape. I breathed out an exhausted yet relieved breath and glanced over to find Darla blipping out of existence.

  “Darla!” I started and the sudden shock of seeing her disappear did a number on my already exhausted body. I felt my power grow empty and I sagged against Bailey. I’d never felt so completely fatigued before. She and Shelby had to struggle to keep me upright. It was then that I felt strong arms around me and I looked up into Marty’s face as he looked down at me with concern in his eyes.

  “You’re going to be fine, Pops,” he whispered.

  “Darla,” I started. “Where did she…”

  “I don’t know,” Bailey answered, shaking her head.

  My heart was pounding, and I felt lightheaded and nauseous. It was all I could do to continue breathing in and out. I couldn’t even speak. Marty picked me up, bride style, and carried me into the restaurant.

  Henner and Fifi sauntered through the door next, supporting a sagging Bailey. She looked almost as poorly as I felt. I wasn’t sure when Fifi had arrived and at this point, I didn’t really care. Roy, Stanley, and Lorcan entered last. Roy was carrying Barbra, who was still human and still unconscious. And, ahem, completely unclothed. I figured turning into a giant, raving monster did a number on your clothing…

  “Turn her to the left, beast,” Lorcan directed the ten foot tall sasquatch. “Do you want to take her head off on the door frame?”

  “Yes.” The voice was so distorted, it hardly sounded human at all.

  Lorcan rolled his eyes. “You’re thinking with your hindbrain. You’re not a killer, Osbourne, you never have been. Leave that for Ophelia.”

  The sasquatch made a chuffing noise that sounded very like a gorilla and carried Barbra’s limp body through the door, dropping her on the ground as soon as she’d cleared the door frame. Lorcan made an exasperated sound when Barbra’s head struck the ground.

  “Barbarians,” he hissed. “Just leave me to do all the work...”

  “I need to… make sure… Darla,” I started.

  “Shh, Poppy, conserve your strength,” Bailey interrupted.

  “We need to call an ambulance for Poppy,” Marty announced.

  “Fluff,” Ophelia responded, waving away his concern with a long fingered hand. “She’ll be fine.”

  “She can’t walk,” Bailey responded.

  “She will in a minute,” Ophelia said as she instructed Marty to set me down on a booth. Then she motioned to a potted plant that stood against the far wall. “Bring me that plant, girl,” she said to Bailey.

  Bailey gave her a frown but retrieved the three-foot tall ficus, all the same. As soon as the plant came into contact with Ophelia, the leaves started wilting. When she took hold of one of the leaves, the whole branch turned black. She then took my hand and what felt like heat started to flow up my hand, through my arm and into my body.

  “What are…” I started.

  “Shhh, I’m healing you, gypsy girl,” Ophelia answered. “Taking the life energy of the tree and giving it to you.”

  Marty looked first at me and then Ophelia with wide, unblinking eyes. It was as though he was still in shock. I couldn’t blame him. The blow of this night was going to take a long time to wear off, if it ever did.

  Lorcan continued to mutter darkly, dragging Barbra to the center of the room, before stalking off to find something to bind her with. Or, at least, that’s what he muttered as he walked away. Something about rebar, because apparently rope wouldn’t do.

  “You’re all...” Marty began.

  “Monsters,” Henner finished calmly.

  “You, too, Henner?” Marty asked, looking at his longtime friend in surprise and slight suspicion.

  Henner nodded, but then shook his head. “Grandma Tayir was a witch, as you know. But, I’m not exactly a monster.”

  “Then what are you?” Bailey asked.

  “I’m nothing. Just a human with extra sensitivities. The witchcraft talent skipped me, but I still have connections to the Portland Coven,” Henner explained. “They set me up with my grandmother’s old properties when I came of age. Ophelia was the officiant.”

  “Then you aren’t anything?” Marty asked.

  Henner looked at him and smiled. “I’m a mundane in the same way Finn is a mundane. We might not possess the level of Poppy’s gifts, but we’re more sensitive than your average human.”

  I looked at Marty. “Haven Hollow… is full of monsters. Did… you know?”

  “No, I didn’t know!” he almost yelled at me.

  “That’s why the town is named what it is,” Stanley added. “It’s a haven to our kind.”

  “And it’s against the council’s rules to allow mundanes in on the secret,” Ophelia nearly interrupted. “Another breach of council law that Barbra will have to answer for when the trial rolls around.” She took a breath and looked at me pointedly. “Now that you’re in on the secret, you have to sign a magically binding contract.” Then she looked at Marty. “And you’ll need to delete that recording of Barbra. We can’t let any of this get out to the human authorities.”

  “What sort… of contract?” I eyed her narrowly, even as she continued to heal me. And I had to admit it was working. I could feel my energy returning and my heartbeat slowing down. Little by little, the nausea was leaving me and the dizziness along with it.