It was a dark and stormy afternoon when the teens trooped into my office. I heard the shuffling feet outside my door. It creaked open, and I looked over the top of my battered paperback. They were thirteen, maybe fourteen. They wore jeans and shirts that were faded and worn. Their shoes were barely held together with duct tape.
“Are you Glen H.E. Robin, P.I.?”
“That’s what my door says. What can I do ya’ for?” I asked.
“We need you to find our friend who’s been missing for a couple of days.”
The taller of the two girls set a pair of crumbled twenties on my desk and said, “We can pay.”
Months without a paying case. Living on peanut butter sandwiches. This wouldn’t pay the rent. But their grim faces told me this wasn’t a social call.
I knew what it was like to be alone, unwanted, and these kids looked the part. There was no way I couldn’t take the job, if their friend was really missing.
“What makes y’all think she’s missing?”
“She’d never skip out on Thursdays at the skatepark.” The boy said.
The second girl slid an old cell phone across the desk towards me. “This is the last text we received from her.”
I looked at the cracked screen then up, confused. “This it?”
“Yeah. Got that yesterday morning and after that nothing. Angelo tried checking with her stepmom but she was no help.”
Angelo seemed distracted, not looking at anything but the floor and pulling at a loose thread on his T-shirt. He nodded when the girl said his name. “Cora’s right.”
I read the text aloud scratching at the two-day stubble on my chin. “I can’t go out there, there’s pollen.”
“Did she have allergies?”
“Lucy, do you know if Amanda had any allergies?” Cora asked the taller girl.
“No. That is why we were confused.”
”Is there anything special I need to know before I go snooping around?”
I leaned back, crossed my arms and gave my best glower. He shifted his weight and picked at a hole in his jacket. He was hiding something.
”I can’t help you if you aren’t gonna be honest with me.”
Only then, I noticed their aura and scent. The boy even had a slight yellow glow in his aura. I wasn’t human either. When I lost control of the Wild Hunt, I left that world behind.
“Yeah, we were told you could help.” Angelo said
It made me wonder who told them that. I had been living outside the Realm for ages. I didn’t think there was anyone left alive who knew what I was.
The rain had let up, so we walked to the skatepark. The slick pavement and continued drizzle kept the mortals away. The veil here was thin enough that the Realm pulled at me. I looked over to the kids to ask if they had used the portal.
“AAAchoo!” Suddenly Cora disappeared into a cloud of yellow dust. In a crack in the concrete, a dandelion sprouted where she had just been standing. My goblin senses picked up the scent of Summer: humidity mixed with sweet floral and cut grass. An ancient memory of prior hunts.
Gowan… He was a wyldfae, and it seemed he was up to his old tricks. Sowing chaos in my town. Even if I don’t lead the Wild Hunt anymore, I am still Herne Goblin, former Erlking.
I looked back at Lucy and Angelo.
Lucy’s nose was scrunched. Her chest shuddered. Her hand went up to her mouth. “Ah-ah-”
“LUCY! NO!” I yelled. “Don’t-”
There was another poof of yellow and a second dandelion sprung up. I just stared at the space where the girls had been standing moments ago. The only sound was the intermittent rain drops hitting the ground around us. Two changlings taken on my watch, and one more missing.
Angelo stared down at the flowers in the crack. I dropped to my knees and put my head in my hands. I could run away, forget I met the kids and go back to my dusty office and battered books. No one would know.
. No. Gowan was not going to get away this time. I may not lead the hunt anymore, but I still belonged to the Realm, and I was still one of its greatest trackers.
“Angelo, do you have a pocket knife?”
“Use it to dig out both the flowers. We need to keep those with us. I believe if we find the creature responsible for changing your two friends, we will find the third.”
I pulled out a bottle of nasal spray, and handed it to Angelo. “First take preventative measures so you don’t end up a poof of yellow too.”
He looked at me skeptically, but sprayed his nose, and handed the bottle back.
I took a good look at Angelo as he dug the flowers out. I shook my head. He was still hiding something.
The hairs on the back of my neck tried to crawl into my hat. There was a shimmer on the wet pavement behind Angelo and the heavy smell of humidity, and a tall, thin Sidhe appeared. Gowan.
“Good Job, my son. Hand me the flowers. I will take it from here.”
“Wait? What?!?” I looked at them both.
Angelo looked at me and grimaced. “Dad needed the power. Lucy and Cora were acceptable, so I turned them in.”
“Amanda figured it out and tried to warn Lucy and Cora, but they didn’t make the connection.”
I was reminded of our initial meeting, the scent and the color I saw in his aura. It made sense. I had been duped.
“You were hoping I would find Amanda, so you could take her too.”
Father and Son disappeared without answering. I was on the hunt again.
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