“Seriously, what do you think happened?” Ari asked, joining me at the window.

  “I don’t know,” I said, leaning on the window sash. “I have no idea.”

  Killian stomped through the door, kicking the snow off his shoes. Xi and Klaus, who had joined us in the kitchen, startled and scampered at the noise.

  “I think they’ve put the fire out. The fire marshal will be over in a moment to talk to us.” He shrugged out of his coat and hung it on a hook by the door. “Can I get a cookie?”

  Ari handed him one. Xi returned, mewing loudly.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, kneeling as she leapt into my arms.

  Danger…there’s danger outside.

  I frowned. “Are you talking about the fire, little one?” Xi was no longer little—she weighed a good eleven pounds, but she’d always be a baby to me. Klaus was nine and a half pounds.

  Yes and no. The danger hides behind the flames, but it isn’t in the flames. It wants you.

  By her tone, I could tell she was confused and attempting to put her thoughts in order. There were a number of concepts that, as my familiar, she didn’t have the words for but could project energy, emotions, and at times—images.

  I waited, but that was all she could tell me. So I thanked her, gave her some scritches, and then she padded back toward the bedroom, Klaus following her.

  “Xi informed me that there’s danger behind the fire—that it’s aimed at me.”

  “Well,” Ari said, “if the danger’s connected to the fire, but not the fire itself, wouldn’t that make sense?”

  “I don’t know, but I suppose it could be.” I tried to make sense of it, but the doorbell rang at that moment. Killian answered, returning with the fire marshal behind him. I stood, holding out my hand.

  “Hello, I’m January Jaxson, the owner of the house next door, and this is my friend who’s renting it, Arianrhod Wheeler.” I shook his hand as he introduced himself.

  “I’m Captain Wentworth,” he said. Right away, it was obvious to me that he was a shifter of some sort. “I’m so sorry about your house, but we’ve managed to extinguish the flames.”

  “At least it’s still standing,” I said. “How bad is the damage?”

  “It’s not good, but it could be a lot worse. The flames didn’t reach the upper floor, though the entire house has smoke and water damage. I’ll begin assessing the damage come morning.”

  “How soon before we can get in to see what’s left?” I asked.

  “Once we finish the investigation. It could be a day or two, or it could be several weeks. But I can let you know how compromised the building is by tomorrow, and after that you should call your insurance to open a claim. Here’s my card with my number. You can give my information to the agent. We’ll make sure there aren’t any leftover embers, put up some caution tape, and then head out. Don’t attempt to cross the tape. That could look bad if we find any signs of arson.” He shook my hand again, then headed out into the blowing snow.

  Ari, Killian, and I sat there, staring at each other. After a moment, Ari stood.

  “I guess I should be getting home.” She sounded forlorn, probably thinking of the thousands she had already invested in the renovations.

  “Hopefully we can claim the renovations on insurance,” I said. “We’ll figure out something—don’t worry. Meanwhile, focus on LaKirk and Emily. On the bright side, this will give you more time to prepare for them.”

  “Oh,” Killian said. “About that. Tarvish and I want to help out if we can. If you need us to haul furniture, help paint their room, whatever the case—we can come over during the evenings.”

  Ari sighed. “Thank you. I’ll call you tomorrow.” She gave both of us a brief hug.

  “Text me when you get home,” I said as she headed out the door.

  After she eased out of the driveway, I turned to Killian. “I hope she’s careful driving home. The last thing we need is an accident.”

  “Why don’t we go to bed? There’s nothing more we can do tonight.” He steered me back into the bedroom, but I sat up, awake, until Ari texted me that she had made it home safe and sound. Even after that, it was hard to sleep, and I could feel the edges of a headache on the horizon. I closed my eyes, trying to will it away, but it remained there like a dark cloud, looming over me, long into the wee hours of the morning.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  With the alarm came a headache. It wasn’t overpowering yet, and I thought I could work through it, so I dragged myself into the shower. I smelled vaguely of smoke—in fact, everything smelled vaguely of smoke. I turned the air purifier up to high and, after my shower, dried my hair and put on makeup. I tied my hair into a high ponytail and squinted at myself in the mirror. During the worst of the headaches, everything was blurry, but today I could see clearly so I decided that going into work would be okay. And it would keep my mind off the fire.

  Killian was in the kitchen, where he had turned on the central air, which also had a HEPA filter. I noticed that the smell was rapidly diminishing. He had also made breakfast—sausage cheese muffins and lattes.

  “Thanks,” I said, biting into the food. My stomach rumbled. Stress made me hungry, and right now, I was chalking my stress level at an eight on a scale of one to ten. Weddings were stressful enough, even when there wasn’t a lot of drama going on. Then, the house fire was unnerving. And finally, I still had to call Daya and find out what was wrong with her. And we had the Covenant of Chaos to worry about.

  “You sure you want to go into work today?” Killian asked.

  “I need to keep busy or I’ll fret all day.”

  “Any headache?”

  “Yeah, but I can manage it with one of the pills Dr. Fairsight gave me.” I pulled a medicine bottle out of my purse and popped one of the capsules. Those of us with witchblood couldn’t use all of the medications humans did, or the ones for shifters. This was an herbal concoction that was stronger than ibuprofen, but not so strong that it knocked me off my feet. Within minutes, the headache began to recede and I thought that I might get off lucky this time.

  “Well, I need to go in early. It’s surgery day, so I’ll be late tonight.” Killian kissed me, smoothing my hair back. “If you need me, text. But I may not see it right away so if it’s an emergency, call the desk and they’ll come get me.”

  “Will do, but I think everything will be okay. I’ll text you when the fire marshal calls me about the damage to the house.” I waved as he disappeared out the door, and then I finished my sandwich and latte. Xi and Klaus came running in and I kissed them goodbye and made sure that Killian had fed them, and that their water fountain was full and running smoothly.

  Then, as I locked the door and crossed to my car, I stopped, staring at the house next door. While the roof was intact, the damage was evident all around the first floor, and a heavy layer of soot blackened the snow. Now the dirty gray surrounded the house like a cloud of gloom.

  A thought hit me and I stopped, turning around to cross into the backyard. I headed down the lawn until I came to the edge of the Mystic Wood. As I approached the snow-shrouded woodland, there was a rustling and I could see snow falling off bushes near the trailhead.

  “Rebecca?” I called out. “Are you around?” I brushed off the bench near the edge of the trail and sat down, grateful I’d worn one of my longer coats so I didn’t get my jeans wet.

  “I’m here,” the imp said, peering out from between the bushes. She looked like a young girl of around eight to ten years with golden hair and a radiant nature. In reality, she was an imp—a demon who had tried to kill me when I was young.

  Over the past two years, we had formed an unlikely acquaintance, and she often warned me when danger was prowling through the Mystic Wood. As thanks, I brought her barbecued ribs from Killian’s smoker, and we maintained our odd alliance.

  “Did you see anything last night? Did you notice anyone in the yard who didn’t belong here?”

  She thought for a moment. “You mean, regarding the fire?”

  “Right. If it was arson, any information could be helpful.” I shivered as a clump of snow fell off one of the fir branches, landing on my head. I brushed it off.

  The Mystic Wood surrounded Moonshadow Bay on three sides, and it was a magical place, wild and dangerous and filled with creatures from legend—both urban and ancient lore. The dense woodland was filled with towering firs and cedars, while slender white birches created ghostly silhouettes during the twilight. Huckleberries and wild roses and waist-high ferns and brambles created a jungle of undergrowth, making passage off-trail difficult.

  Within this wood, the Woodlings lived, and portals led to other dimensions and to the realm of the Overkings—the Fae. In addition, buried within this patch of the Mystic Wood was an old trunk, containing the remains of a serial killer. My grandmother Rowan and my great-grandmother Colleen had hidden the trunk there after killing the man who had murdered one of Colleen’s young daughters and stuffed him in it. They had kept the secret, and with Colleen’s death, only Rowan knew where the trunk was located. I had read Colleen’s journals and that was one of the reasons I knew about it. She had recorded their dark secret in her diary.

  Rebecca regarded the house from where we were. She seldom smiled, which was for the best because when she smiled, it was more frightening than her scowls. “There was a presence last night. I sensed dark energy—angry energy. I didn’t come out to see what it was, but it was within this yard.”

  “Is there anything else you can tell me about it?”

  She thought for a while before shaking her head. “Not really, except whatever it is, it’s steeped in chaos. And danger follows its footsteps. I do not know whether it belongs to the witchblood, or some demon or devil or other creature. But January, be careful. Whatever it is, it’s hunting, and it won’t rest until it finds what it wants.” She turned to go, then paused. “Given it was your house that was targeted, you may be the one in the crosshairs. Be wary, January. Check yourself for attachments.”

  With that, Rebecca slipped away into the snowy woodland.

  I waited for a moment, reluctant to leave the woodland, then finally stood and jogged back toward the driveway. I glanced back at the Mystic Wood and thought—for just a moment—that I could see Rebecca watching me.

  As I headed to work, I was about to ask Jerica, the AI in my car, to call Daya’s number, then realized that it wasn’t even eight yet. Saving that task for a more reasonable hour, I tried to focus on the road instead of the fire. But Rebecca’s words kept interfering, cropping up to distract me.

  It was a wonder I made it to work, and by the time I got there and parked, I thought that I’d better get my mind under control before the next time I got behind the wheel. I swept through the door to see Wren at her desk. She gave me a tired but welcoming smile.

  “Hey, how are you?”

  Wren shrugged. “Keeping on keeping on. You know how it goes.”

  Walter, Wren’s husband, had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a year or so ago, and Tad was working with her to help her keep her job, yet have the time off she needed in order to manage Walter’s condition.

  They had a home health worker now, thanks to Tad’s generosity and to a lottery ticket that I had won and handed over to Wren. The $25,000 would have been a nice extra, but the truth was that I really didn’t need it, and Wren and Walter could put it to such good use. But that would run out soon enough, and Tad was doing everything he could to find a lower-cost home health worker who was still qualified for the job for them.

  Wren needed all the help she could get. There were so many aspects of their lives that fell on her shoulders now.

  Tad jumped up from his desk as he saw me. “January! Are you all right? I was going to text you but then thought you were probably exhausted.”

  I paused, realizing that he had somehow heard about the fire. “So yeah, my house caught on fire last night—not Killian’s house, but mine. Nobody was there, but there’s definitely a lot of damage. I’m not sure how much, but I’m waiting on a call from the fire marshal. They need to do an investigation to see what caused the fire.”

  Tad took a breath. “You mean it might not have been an accident?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “They’re looking for the answers now. It could take a day, it could take a week or more. I hope they find out what caused it, and I’m praying it’s nothing malevolent. But I talked to Rebecca this morning and she said there’s something powerful shadowing me, and she seems to think that whoever set the fire was targeting me.”

  “You haven’t been silent about moving,” Tad said.

  “No, but I also haven’t made a big deal about it. There are a lot of people who still don’t know that I live with Killian now. So if it’s somebody with a grudge against me, they may not realize that I’ve moved.”

  I settled myself at my desk, my mind far away from my work. I didn’t feel like looking up Woodlings, and I didn’t feel like reading about UFOs. I almost wished I had a headache so I could stay home, although I knew I’d be frustrated, not being able to check out the damage yet. And that wouldn’t help matters at all. With a sigh, I opened the book about Woodlings and began reading.

  Ninety minutes later, I shut the book and picked up my phone. I stared at it for a moment, then opened up my contacts list and tapped Daya’s name, then brought the phone to my ear. I didn’t want this on speaker. She answered a moment later.

  “Hey, Daya. This is January. I thought I’d call to see if you want to go out to lunch today?” I knew it sounded odd, especially since Daya and I had never been really close. But I couldn’t really think of any other good excuses except to flat out ask if she wanted to get together.

  She paused for a moment, then said, “Well, I suppose. Is there something wrong?”

  I scrambled, suddenly coming up with an idea. “I’d like to ask you something about our wedding.”

  Another pause, but when she spoke again she sounded pleasantly surprised. “Okay, I can meet you at one. Where do you want to meet?”

  I knew that Daya didn’t like diner food, so I suggested the Moonshadow Steakhouse. It was more upscale.

  “Well, that sounds nice. I’ll meet you there at one. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”

  I thought I heard giggling in the background as she hung up. I still thought she was a bit of a ditz, but at least I had bought some time alone with her, and maybe I could figure out what was going on from that.

  “January?” Tad tapped my elbow.

  I turned around. “What’s up?”

  “I know you’re waiting on news, but do you think you have time to help out a potential new client? I just got a call from a woman who’s having problems with a ghost in her house. Nothing dangerous, a lot of things being moved around and she’s hearing someone whisper to her—not only at night but during the day.”

  “I’d be happy to talk to her,” I said, thinking that as long as it was simple, I could manage it. “But remember, I won’t be around for the next couple weeks. And remember, Killian and I are taking a modified honeymoon.”

  “True. Hey, what do you mean by ‘modified’? You know I’ll give you plenty of time off for a non-modified honeymoon if you want it,” Tad said. “All you have to do is ask.”

  Tad was the best boss I could ask for, if I had to have a boss.

  “Killian can only take a week off. He can’t leave the practice longer than that. So we’ll take one week for a honeymoon, and next week I’m off to get ready for the wedding. Eventually, we’ll take more time, but for a week, we’ll either stay home, or go over to Port Townsend and spend the week there.”

  “That sounds like fun. Port Townsend is beautiful,” Wren said.

  “It’s close to Whisper Hollow,” Tad warned. “Don’t go there for your honeymoon unless you’re willing to attract unwanted attention.”

  “Not planning on stopping in there,” I said. Whisper Hollow was a dark shadow town, and I really didn’t want to delve into its mysteries. “I’ve been to a lot of places around here, but I haven’t gone over to the peninsula much.”

  At that moment, my phone rang. I glanced at caller ID and saw that it was the fire marshal. I stopped. “I have to take this,” I said, moving away as I answered the phone.

  “Good morning,” Captain Wentworth said. “January?”

  “Yes, it’s me. Do you have any more news?”

  He cleared his throat. “Yes, I do. It didn’t take nearly as long as we thought it would. First, the house is salvageable. You can go in but be cautious in the living room/office area—the floor’s not too stable there. But the stairs, the supporting walls, are all still intact. Your house needs some work, but it will live on.”

  “Whew,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief. “I’m so glad to hear that. I’ll talk to the insurance company later today. So, any idea of how the fire started yet?” I wasn’t prepared for his answer.

  “Yes, actually. We did the preliminary tests we do at every fire in Moonshadow Bay, and it was positive. Magical fire. And magical fire is seldom ever accidental. This was arson, January.”

  I caught my breath, the relief streaming away. “Magical fire? You’re saying someone targeted my house deliberately?”

  “As far as I can tell. We found the remains of a metal poppet, the kind used in fire magic. I’ll text you a picture of it. First, though, I need to ask you some questions. Can you come down to the station house for a few minutes?” He sounded hesitant, as though he were uncomfortable.

  I knew that they had to clear me of torching my own house. “I can be there in half an hour.”

  He gave me the address. Pocketing my phone again, I turned back to Tad. “I’m sorry. I can’t meet with her today. That was the fire marshal and he wants to talk to me, as in now. It looks like my house was targeted—the fire was magical, set by someone.”