MAKING MAGICKAL ALLIANCES: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Novel by Leigh Raventhorne (best color ereader .txt) 📗

his head curiously, as if rolling the information around in his head. Finally, he nodded. “Yes, is good you no go out wit’out protection, Ms. Roxanne.”

Letting out a slow breath of relief that he hadn’t put two and two together, I forged ahead. “Do you mind if I put up a privacy spell? I’d like as few people to know about this as possible for the moment.” At his nod, I closed my eyes and envisioned a privacy bubble expanding from my center until it encompassed all of us. Almost as an afterthought, I envisioned it keeping nosy ghosts out. When I opened my eyes, I could see the faint shimmer of the bubble around us. Satisfied, I quickly explained about the missing children. To his credit, Jeremy stayed silent, listening intently until I finished.

“Dis bad.” He shook his head, his beak flashing slightly in my Sight. “Der many bad t’ings in dis world, but t’ings dat steal babies is ver’ ver’ bad. How can Jeremy helps?”

Tess sat forward. “We think whoever took them may have found a way to get to them through some of the packages they received, possibly here at the resort. We need access to everything you’ve got regarding who has received what and what company delivered the orders. Any records you’ve got, no matter how unimportant they might seem, could be helpful.”

He nodded, his eyes worried. “No problems. Jeremy keeps good logs o’ ever’ting. Anyt’ing you needs, Jeremy gets.”

Movement from the side of the room caught my eye. It was all I could do not to laugh as Suzette made a dash for Jeremy and bounced off the bubble around us. She began cursing as she kicked the bottom of the bubble. It must have hurt, because she fell back, hopping on one foot, as she spewed more obscenities. Tess’s eyes grew wider than I’d ever seen. When she looked over at me, I could almost see her rolling several phrases she’d never heard before around her mouth. Rand could hear her, but somehow managed to completely ignore the screeching ghost, not so much as glancing her way.

I held out my hand to Tess. “Time to give it up.”

She pouted a little, but took it off slowly. “I totally want one of those rings, Rox.” She dropped it in my hand.

Jeremy watched our exchange. When he saw the ring, his eyes glinted brightly, almost greedily. Crows like shiny things, I knew, and I’d polished the band on this ring until it nearly glowed.

I set it on the desk between us and slid it toward him. “This is for you. It will allow you to hear the ghosts in the park more easily. Tess was just . . . testing it out for me.”

He reached for it almost reverently. “Dis for Jeremy?” I nodded. Wincing a little as he slid it on—Suzette’s curses were becoming steadily more creative—I waited for his response. He cocked his head and smiled happily, tears welling in his eyes. “Jeremy hears his Suzette.”

Tess and I exchanged a look, shaking our heads. Already regretting having to do so, I pulled the magick of the privacy bubble back into myself, proud of how smoothly I was able to do so. Suzette lashed out with her fist and fell through, blinking out just before she hit the floor, and there was blessed silence. Managing to keep a straight face, I said, “I’ll continue to try to work on something that will allow you to see as well as hear ghosts, Jeremy. I just thought this might be helpful to you in the meantime.”

He nodded, rubbing the ring with his thumb. “Dis helps. Jeremy t’ought he’d ne’er hears Suzette’s beautiful voice ag’in. T’ank you.”

Yeah. “Would you show Tess where those delivery logs are for the water fae?”

He stood, gesturing to us. “Come, come.” We followed him out the door. He took one wistful look back at the office, probably hoping to hear Suzette again, then began walking toward the restaurant. “De computer in de back of de restaurant, dat one closer to de water. Easier fer de fae der.”

That made sense, especially if most water fae only had limited time on land and wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible. Rand kept a watchful eye out as we walked, looking every bit the part of a bodyguard. He caught me watching him and winked at me. I felt heat bloom in my center and shoved it down. Gods, I missed him.

Slowing his steps enough to allow us to fall behind Tess and Jeremy, he murmured, “Has it only been a few months that we’ve been here?” His voice was soft enough that even the shifters in the area would have been hard pressed to overhear his words.

I smiled, thinking back to when we’d first arrived in New Orleans and how strange everything had felt. “So it would seem. It feels like a lifetime ago.”

We passed a small group of shifters, all chattering animatedly. One of them did a double take at the sight of me, and spun back. “Miss Roxanne?”

I felt bad, but I didn’t remember her name. Rand and I stopped.

“How is Gloria doing? I haven’t spoken to her in ages.” Ah yes. This girl was a dog shifter and had been one of Gloria’s roommates.

“She’s well. I’ll tell her you asked about her. She’d probably love to hear from you.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“Do you mind answering a question or two for me?”

“No, not at all.”

“Have you noticed any water, er, shifters around here?” Belatedly, I realized I didn’t know what kind of water shifters there even were and that it might be a bad idea to mention fae of any kind.

She cocked her head. “No,” she said slowly. “I didn’t even know there was such a thing.”

“It’s probably not. A thing, that is. I was just curious.