Killian’s scowl had dissolved during the discussion, and he held out his hand to Rowan, stretching his arm across the table. “Thank you. I guess that’s what I wanted to say, but I couldn’t think of how to phrase it. Tally, you and Les are good together. And you know that the folks, Darryn, and I will never stand by if you show any signs of being unhappy.”
She relaxed. “I guess I do know that, yes.”
I spoke up. “For as long as I’m around, I’m here if you need to talk. I’ve been through a bad marriage too, though at least he didn’t hit me—not until we divorced, that is. But I promise you, if you feel there’s something wrong, come to me. I’ll do what I can to help. Except,” I added, “for changing diapers. I draw the line at that.” But I grinned when I said it.
“Then I suppose I’m ready to tell the folks. And…I’ll accept Les’s proposal. I do love him,” she said with a wistful look on her face. “And the shaman keeps him in check—you can’t be the shaman’s apprentice without toeing the line.”
With that drama solved, Rowan stood. “I didn’t mean to stay. January, I’ll be here tonight around eight. Call Sheryl and schedule a time to onboard. Make it Tuesday. Several of the Court Magika judges will be gone over the weekend, so the sooner, the better.”
“Will do. I’ll see you tonight,” I said. “Oh, before you go, how’s Tarvish doing?”
“He’s settling in fine. I thought I’d bring him for Thanksgiving,” she said. “Do you mind?”
“Of course not,” I said, amused. My grandmother seemed to have taken a real shine to the Funtime demon.
“I’ll let myself out.” Rowan paused and turned to Tally. “I expect an invitation to your wedding, young woman.”
Tally laughed. As Rowan left, I decided to make a platter of sandwiches for lunch while Killian and Tally talked over when to tell their parents.
Chapter Fifteen
After helping decorate the tree and the rest of the house, Killian went out to hang the lights and set up the outdoor decorations. I still needed to invest in more. I wanted my yard lit up so you could see it from space. I loved seeing people deck out houses so beautifully that people driving by slowed down to get a good look. After all, in the Pacific Northwest, the winter was gloomy and overcast—which I loved—but the sparkling lights of the holidays made everything seem to shimmer and they reflected off of the rain puddles, and the raindrops magnified the twinkle of the lights.
I stopped for a moment and called Ari, telling her about my grandmother dropping off the checks. “I know you’re busy tomorrow, but Rowan wants us to come on board then. Can you swing it?”
“Let me check my book.” Ari paused and I could hear the sound of paper riffling. “Yeah, after six. I’m booked solid all day tomorrow. I can meet you at seven.”
“Sounds good. I’ll give Sheryl a call. By the way, what are you doing on Friday? You want to go down to Black Friday with Killian, Tally, and me?”
“Oh good grief. I hate shopping, but there are a lot of other events, so sure. I can’t promise Meagan will come. Anyway, text me about tomorrow night when you confirm.”
Black Friday didn’t spare our little town its chaos—it was simply on a smaller scale. The stores filled up Friday morning. The retailers of Moonshadow Bay had come together and formed a pact that any store other than a pharmacy or grocery store wouldn’t open on Thanksgiving. But in Moonshadow Bay, rather than allow a frenzied mob to descend on the stores, Black Friday had turned into a citywide holiday, including supervised events for the kids and childcare at the community center where parents could drop them off for a couple of hours for an affordable fee. Runners participated in a Black Friday marathon to raise money for Harrow House—a food bank that also included a women and children’s shelter. And then, of course, there was the tree lighting ceremony that evening.
Ari’s parents were on vacation, as were Killian’s. Since Meagan’s family had basically disowned her, the two of them would be front and center at the table. I turned to Tally.
“I have one more call to make, then would you like to go shopping with me? I want more lawn ornaments.” I smiled at Tally.
“Sure thing. I’ll go finish up decorating the tree—there are two boxes of filler balls left.”
I sat down at the table and pulled the Majikoil documents over to me, then called Sheryl. It took one ring for her to pick up.
“January! I’m glad you called.”
“Listen, Ari and I can make it for onboarding tomorrow evening, around seven. Will that work for you?”
The swiftness of her answer surprised me. “Sure! I’ll text you my address.”
“Fine. We’ll see you then.”
“Don’t forget to bring the onboarding fee,” Sheryl added. “I’m so excited to have you in my downline. Of course, you’ll want to recruit members to form your own downline. Remember, you can make quite a tidy bonus for every person you bring in.”
Damn it, if I was only recording the conversation right now, we could have her on tape with no extra effort.
“I’m sure,” I murmured. Seconds after I ended the call, she texted me with the address. Try as I might, I couldn’t pinpoint which part of town it was in. I turned to Tally. “Do you mind waiting a few minutes? I want to check out where this address is.”
“Take your time,” Tally said. “Do you mind if I make myself some cocoa?”
“Whatever you like.”
I headed into my office and sat down at my desk. I still didn’t have my computer back, so I pulled out my tablet and set it up. Quickly, I tapped the address into a browser and glanced at the search results. Most of them were maps, so I clicked on a link and opened it in a separate tab.
The place was on the edge of Moonshadow Bay, tucked into a small suburb that had made actual inroads into the Mystic Wood. While the Mystic Wood surrounded Moonshadow Bay, very few people actually lived inside its borders. That alone made me suspicious. I went back to the other tab and started looking through the different links.
About six links down, I caught sight of a news story containing Sheryl’s address. It was on the Moonshadow Bay Monitor website. I opened them out to take a look. It was dated September 6, and it read like something out of the Lifestyle page. The Monitor needed better journalists, I thought.
Sometime, during the past three days, Sheryl Brown vanished. No one has seen her since Monday and authorities have no evidence where she might be.
A clerk at Mystic’s Voice, a local witchblood shop, Ms. Brown hasn’t been seen since the afternoon of Monday, September 4. She lives 2416 Weatherby Street. When Thomas Strong, the owner of Mystic’s Voice, noticed that Brown was late for work on Tuesday morning, he called her at home. There was no answer.
“I thought she might have a cold and might be sleeping,” Strong said. “I decided to wait until afternoon and call her again. When there was no answer the second time, I was worried, but sometimes people get caught up in an emergency and don’t have time to call. So I decided to wait until Wednesday and if she didn’t show, I would call her sister.”