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The next day, I left a sleepy, satiated fae draped across my bed and searched out breakfast. There was a note on the kitchen counter and a stack of warm, magical waffles in the oven.
Full and satisfied, I made my way downstairs to find Con in the office, pouring over an antique book and muttering to himself. His brown hair was a mess of chaotic curls, as if he'd been running a hand through it constantly, and a pair of reading glasses was in danger of falling off his face. I crossed the room and set my coffee mug in front of him, then went behind him to squeeze his shoulders, massaging to get him to stop hunching.
He groaned and leaned back in the chair, the knots in his shoulders slowly releasing. I moved my hands up the strong column of the back of his neck, the way Oisin often did for me when I was pissed off. "Thanks," he sighed, reaching for the coffee.
I pulled up one of the wingback chairs and sat beside the desk. "No problem. Looks like you need the caffeine and sugar more than I do right now."
He sipped the coffee and gave me an appreciative salute with the mug. "I think I found your creature. Maybe."
I turned his notes toward me. Unlike my chicken scratch, his writing was neat and legible. "A boggle, huh?"
He shrugged. "So far, I think that's the closest fit. There was a chunk of swamp land out past the north part of town that was drained and paved over about a year and a half ago. My theory is the swamp dweller got shoved out and doesn't have the right...I don't know, ecosystem? Environment? So, it's losing its mind and gnawing on wildlife. Maybe leaving the kills on the doorsteps of human businesses is its way of getting revenge?"
I tilted my head and watched him, feeling a bit of a ping on my gryphon abilities. "But...you don't think any of that is true."
He smiled at me. "Sometimes I forget you can do that." He turned his notes back toward himself. "I just...this is the most likely thing I've found. But something tells me I'm on the wrong track, you know?"
I nodded. "Did you find anything out about White?"
He shook his head. "Nothing relevant to the animals or the DNR." He gave me a meaningful glance with those golden-brown eyes. "His secretary went missing a couple weeks ago."
I sat forward, on alert. "He went missing?" I knew it was nothing good. Hell, White had pretty much told me that at the restaurant.
"Well, the thing is, I kind of got side tracked when I was looking into White. I wanted to know what happened to the guys...the ones his secretary bought. I knew I wouldn't find anything, but still, I had to try." His eyes were fierce now. I felt like an ass for just assuming the guys were dead and not looking into it. Con had been kidnapped by the same deranged kappa. Of course he would want some sort of closure.
"I know where they are," I said, putting a hand over his where it rested on the desk. "I sort of...met with White today. He introduced me to the missing guys—or at least he said they were the same ones. Cameron, Nick and... Reese, I think he said. Apparently White offed his secretary or something and gave the kids jobs at his casino. I didn't want to believe it, but...they actually seem happy there."
Con squeezed my hand and a big grin split his lips. "That is so cool! How do you do these things, Gesa? It's like magic."
I shook my head. "More like I just attract bullshit. White offered me a job. I told him to go fly a kite. I'm probably next on his hit-list. What happened to his secretary?"
Con withdrew his hand and leafed through his copious stack of notes. "He just vanished. He hasn't been reported missing. It's like he never even existed. I found his name on a document that had been filed with the patents office for one of White's businesses, but literally everything else that should have his name on it is gone and it's like that person never existed." He shrugged. "It's creepy. I think that one document was a mistake—something that got missed when someone wiped out his existence."
Maybe it wasn't an accident. Maybe it was a warning to anyone who was looking. I shook my head. "How does he even do something like that?"
Con stared at me. "Well...magic, obviously."
I frowned. "It really doesn't work that way. It wouldn't be that clean. What the hell is White?"
We just stared at each other for a beat. I might be fucked.
Oh well, onward and upward. I sighed and stood. "I guess I'm off to find a boggle. Can't be too hard in a town full of misfits and drifters, right?" This was going to blow.
I went back upstairs and found Oisin face-down in a mound of pillows. Grinning, I smacked the perfect, round globes of his milky-white ass hard enough to leave a red handprint behind. He barely twitched. "Not now, gryphon. Even fae have to take a break once in a while."
I snorted. That was a lie and we both knew it. His sex drive was terrifying. "Get up. We have a boggle to hunt."
He was on his feet in a flash of pale skin and bright red hair. His eyes sparkled. "Hunting?"
I laughed at his childlike joy about the idea of tracking and fighting. "Yes, you little terror, hunting. But put on some pants first, we don't need your club for this one."