Bile rose up my throat. “Yeah, but I’d have to go into the house then. I don’t want to go in that house.” Sure, I sounded like I was ten years old again, so sue me. That place freaked me right out of my big girl panties.
“Yes.” Her words were soft and sorrowful, which cut right through me. “Yes, but whatever it is that you hide would be safe there. The darkness would keep any goblin out—they’re afraid of it.”
Safe.
I wasn’t sure that safe was a word I’d put together with the Sorrel-Weed house, but darkness, I’d agree with that. “You sure? I mean, you don’t have another suggestion?”
Please, please, please, please.
Gran didn’t answer and didn’t even attempt to reappear. I sighed. “Okay, thanks, Gran. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”
A whispered “love you too” floated back and I smiled as I turned and left the house again.
“I hate you!” Alan shouted.
“DITTO!” I roared back and slammed the door behind me.
14
I sighed as I let myself out of the house and down the steps. Gran’s suggestion that I hide Grimm’s stuff in the Sorrel-Weed house next door made my skin try to crawl right off my body and run down the street. As plans went, it was a logical one: goblins did hate the dark, and the Sorrel-Weed house was about as dark as they came. But I hated that I was going to have to go into the house that terrified me so.
Robert waited for me on the stone path that led to the gate, swaying side to side. So lost in my own self-pity and fear, I didn’t see Charlotte, our neighbor’s daughter, until she shouted to me from across the street.
“Hi! Breena. I said hi twice, didn’t you hear me?”
Her call startled me, and I turned to see her waving from the top step of their house. “I’m going to New Orleans with my auntie and uncle now!” Her smile was missing just one tooth which made her all the more cuter. She was a sweetheart and seeing her always made me wish for things that would never be.
I waved back, forcing a smile to my cold lips. “Did you get cookies from Eric yesterday?”
“Yes, he sent me off with bags of them. See you in a few weeks, I hope.” She hurried down the steps, ponytail bobbing, and I watched as she slid into the backseat of a dark blue SUV.
They pulled away from the curb, and she waved at me as she went by, both hands going as hard as she could. I grinned and waved both hands back at her. “Nice kid.”
Swaying beside me, Robert lifted a hand and pointed at the small figure tucked into the side of the brick house that Charlotte and her mom lived in. The shape reminded me strongly of Grimm. Was it another goblin? Maybe one that could help?
“Good call, Robert,” I whispered. And checking out the goblin gave us an excellent reason for not going straight to the Sorrel-Weed house.
Of course, I was procrastinating—who wouldn’t when the task they’d assigned themselves was to enter a house of ghostly darkness that was freaky as hell? Besides, it was important to deal with the goblin situation head on. Suzy and I had been inseparable prior to her powwow with Eric yesterday, and there was no doubt in my mind that she’d been triggered in an attempt to take me out.
I hurried out of our yard and across the street toward our goblin neighbor. “Hi, have you lived here long? Bridgette, right?” Wasn’t that what Charlotte had said her ghost was named?
The goblin startled and pinned herself against the wall, blending almost perfectly with the bricks. “You can see me?”
“Why do people keep asking me that?” I muttered.
“Well, it’s not usual to be able to see goblins when we are trying to stay hidden.” She ran long spindly fingers through her short shorn black hair as if she could tuck it behind her larger than life ears. Interesting that she was flying so far under the radar that Charlotte thought they had a ghost, but Grimm had been staying in a hotel. Maybe he hadn’t been trying to hide as much as Bridgette? “But . . . yes, I’ve been here a few years. Just over ten.”
I stepped a little closer and she gave me some side-eye. “Do goblins live in the city often?”
Her shoulders slumped. “No, I was removed from the hive. I didn’t conform well.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Didn’t like getting told what to do?”
She tipped her face and gave me that side-eye again. “Maybe.”
I crouched, then gave up and lowered my butt to the ground so I could lean against the brick front of the house. “My name is—”
“Breena O’Rylee. I know. I’m Bridgette.” She held out a hand and I shook it. “The shadow world here in Savannah is all in a twist because of what you’ve done the last few weeks. Like you woke everyone up to the badness that’s still out there. Reminded them it’s not all cookies and ice cream.”
I blinked a few times. “I’m trying to help.”
“I know. Most of us do.” She smoothed her long fingers over her clothing. The cloth shifted color depending on where she stood, giving her an even better camouflage. Cool. I’d have to ask Gerry if she had that kind of material for a second set of work clothes for me.
I thought about asking Bridgette to read Grimm’s pages, but I didn’t know her well enough. But I could ask her about goblins in general and maybe get a read on whether Grimm was on the up and up. “Are there many disputes between goblins about family heirlooms and such?”
“Oh, shit, all the time.” She sat in front of me, crossing her legs under her. “It’s a pecking order, so someone is always trying to move up the ladder to the top. Mostly with the men, but it happens with the women, too, from time to time.”
Interesting. So that part of Grimm’s story checked out. “In the past, did goblins have much to do with—” I paused and whispered the word, “—vampires?”
Her eyes went wide enough that it was all I could see when I looked at her face. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.” There might not be a connection, but a lot of things had started happening at once, and I had to chase all the angles. Plus, if there was a vampire at the Marshall House, it could have had something to do with Grimm, or the council members’ interest in him.
My thoughts shot straight to the no-face council member, Bruce. Yeah, he was my first pick for secret vampire. That guy gave me the damn heebie-jeebies.
She shook her head. “No one has anything to do with the fanged ones. They nearly wiped out Savannah, you know. The goblins were as against them as everyone else. You could ask the court bard if you ever meet him, he knows all the stories.”
I nodded. I did know, now, that the yellow fever plague hadn’t been a disease at all, but an influx of new vampires that had killed off humans and supernaturals alike. The problem had been squashed by the rest of the shadow world, but not before many lives were lost. So why the hell would anyone want a redo?
Tapping my bag, I debated showing her the coin and, in the end, pulled it out. “Any idea why this might be important . . .”
She pulled back from it. “The stamp is that of the royal line. How did you get it?”
Well, that confirmed what Eric had told me at any rate.