Linda Robertson - Wicked Circle

Closer was the Rock Hall to my left and the Great Lakes Science Center just ahead. I was on the William G. Mather, the steamship that built Cleveland—now a museum.

I laughed, delighted to be free. How do I get off of here?

A shrill screech in the sky stole my good humor.

With a frustrated groan, I straddled the railing. I had to touch the water to invoke it.

Then my attention caught on the water. This was going to be cold.

I leapt.

It was more than cold. I surfaced, shivering and treading water. The mantle remained around me, and its soft glow helped Liyliy locate me. I couldn’t release it; only with it active could I access the elements. My teeth chattered as I gathered my will. I pointed with my pinky fingers while still paddling the water with my hands. Liyliy was diving in, talons forward.

Stream, river and beautiful lake

Element of water, crest and break

Froth and splatter, splash and spray

Reach and cast my enemy away!

The calm water stirred around me. Waves built and crested over me. The current carried me away as the owl was slapped with a mighty wave. With a flap of her wings she gained altitude and circled back.

Again she made a try for me, and again an uncanny wave rescued me.

Dawn was a long way off. I would succumb to the cold long before the sun rose.

I swam closer to the ship. Because of the inward slope of the ship’s hull, she couldn’t dive at the same angle. She adjusted, preparing to swoop in straight at me. She might drown me, or squash me against the side of the ship. There were many possibilities, but it was unlikely letting me live was among them.

As I was heading toward the rudder, thinking that there was more cover there, it hit me—

Combine what you have earned.

Splashing forward, I put my thumbs against the ship’s hull, pointed up with my index fingers and kept my pinkies in the water. And I kicked like hell to stay afloat.

Element of fire, give me heat!

Element of water, boil and seethe!

Element of air, combine with these . . .

Over my shoulder I watched the dark form descending. I focused, hard. I reached deep within me, and I finished,

Lake Erie, arise, and give me steam!

The talons gleamed in the moonlight, silver and sharp. The owl wings spread, adjusting her aim. A sharp cry of triumph exploded from her beak.

Air swirled behind me. About three yards away, a blast of boiling water burst free of the surface. Pulled into the whirling wind, it was transmuted by the touch of wicked air.

The owl crashed into the thick veil. She screamed as it hit her huge eyes and blanketed her fleshy talons. She screeched and flapped and stumbled through the air. She lurched out of my sight, and it sounded like she crashed into the hatch and was flopping around on the deck.

A wave of heated water flowed over me, and I was grateful for its warmth.

I heard an awful screech, then a dark shadow flew away over the lake.

I swam toward the rocks of the North Harbor. With my arm feeling so bad, “swimming” was actually more like floating on my back and kicking to propel me in the proper general direction.

As I neared the steep slope, the large, slimy rocks ahead made me wary. I wasn’t fondly anticipating that climb barefoot, and I wasn’t hankering to be dripping wet in the cold night air as I made my way downtown, either, but here I was.

Wading out of the water, I saw a flash of light above, but it disappeared. I tried to wipe the silt from the shreds of my gown. I’d ruined two nice dresses in seventy-two hours. Laughing at myself, I scrambled on, slipping but determined. I was halfway up when I heard someone say, “May I help you?”

I looked up.

Menessos.

He’s alive.

Of course it was him. My Arthur, I could count on him.

His shoulders lowered. His eyes softened, expressing the relief that filled him.

I offered him my hand.

Liyliy could barely see out of her filmy eyes.

Consumed with a bitter, malefic rage, she flew. In time, pain wore her down. She tapped a ley and healed herself enough to keep functioning, but some of the damage was permanent. She feared returning to her human form, feared knowing what new curse was hers to own.

The revenge she would reap upon the Lustrata would have to be profound.

Another thought occurred to her.

She would need help . . . and she knew exactly who would want to help her.

Giovanni.

At the hotel, despite checking in so late, Johnny was showered and dressed by 7:00 a.m. The gym bag had held dark blue jeans, a white tank undershirt, and a button-front shirt. It was black and had silk-screened eagles and guitars on it. The short sleeves barely hid his armband tattoos.

He shoved the suit into the gym bag and, in the lobby, used the available computer to search the internet. First, he did a local white-pages search for the name Hampton. Among the fewer than six thousand residents of this city—according to Wikipedia—there were no Hamptons.

My mother has moved away. Or married. He had no hope of finding her on his own, but a private investigator could search the records.

Undaunted, he began his second search, perusing articles about boys raised without fathers, about absent fathers reappearing in their sons’ lives, and the challenges these men and their sons faced.

The statistics were discouraging, the facts heart wrenching, but Johnny vowed to not screw this up. To be better than the data he’d found.

At 8:45, he checked out, and the guest services lady suggested the Blue Moon Café for breakfast. He thanked her and wondered if she had any idea she’d been talking to a wærewolf.

Sitting in his car, his phone beeped. He had a text from Kirk. Your GF was found safe. Where R U?

Johnny sighed, eyes shutting momentarily with relief. He’d been so consumed with all that had happened to him in the last twenty hours that Seph’s danger had slipped his mind. He fought back the twinge of guilt with the knowledge that she was okay.

He texted back: Alls well. Should return l8r 2day. Let u kno when I kno.

Saranac Lake wasn’t very big, but it seemed like a nice place to grow up in. I must have grown up here. In the Adirondacks. With all these trees. He recalled Toni saying the kid was a climber.

What if the kid doesn’t like me?

What if I don’t like the kid?

What if I do?

The café on Main Street was easy to find. When Johnny parked and walked into the café, the people there quieted. He wondered if they did because they’d seen the news yesterday, or if they just did that to all strangers.

Sitting at the counter, he ordered the Café Steak-and-Eggs and a Tupper Stack of pancakes with two glasses of orange juice. By the time his food was served, the chatter had picked up again, and as he ate, he heard whispering about his car.

One old man wondered too loudly, “Maybe it’s stolen.”

“Stolen?” another questioned.

“A cop’s pulled up to the curb. He’s just sitting there.”

The other man scolded the first, “There’s all kinds of fancy cars ’round here during skiing season.”

“But it ain’t ski season yet. Did you see that fella’s face? He’s got tattoos around his eyes! That’s a shady character, there.”

He glared openly at the man, who hunched into his seat. Johnny shook his head and resumed eating. He was nearly finished when his phone rang. “ ’Lo?”

“John,” Toni said. “You can head over now.”

Johnny downed what remained of his juice, placed a fifty on the counter and headed out. He noted that there was a police car up the road, but it didn’t follow him. A green Crown Victoria seemed to trail him out of town, but it turned off before he arrived at Toni’s house.