White Witch, Black Curse

If Ivy looked out of place in the bedroom, she looked like she was from Mars next to the crib, frilly lace curtains, and brightly colored expensive toys. The child had been lavished with attention, from the looks of it. And where Ivy stuck out, Jenks fit right in, hovering with his hands on his hips and staring in disgust at a framed shot of Tinker Bell.

"We're gathering information for a trial more than searching for a way to find them," Edden said to keep the conversation going and cover the pain in the back of his eyes. "I'm not letting a lawyer uphold the Constitution so far that we have to let them go."

I jumped when one of the toys burst into music. Jenks just about hit the ceiling in a cloud of dust, clearly the guilty party.

"You can't pack up a baby and go that fast without leaving a trail," I said, adrenaline flooding me. "I heard the woman dotes on her kid." I gazed at the mounds of toys. "All you'll have to do is post a man at the toy store. You'll have them in a week."

"I want them now," Edden said grimly. The music cut off, and seeing Jenks hovering miserably in the middle of the room, Edden added, "Don't worry, Jenks. We were done here."

Oh, sure, I get yelled at, and the pixy gets told it doesn't matter. But as Ivy poked around, I drifted to the books in the overstuffed rocking chair, smiling at a familiar title. I reached for them, not wanting to leave this spot of innocence and good taste. A feeling of melancholy had overtaken me. I knew it was from my dilemma about having kids. If it had just been my blood disease, I might have taken my chances, but I couldn't face my children being demons.

I had let the hide-and-seek book slip from my fingers when Ivy gingerly came to a halt among the stuffed animals and pastel colors, standing as if the soft domesticity might be catching. "Is this the last room?" she asked, and when Edden nodded with a tired motion, she added, "Are you sure Glenn wasn't attacked somewhere else and dropped here?"

"Pretty sure. His prints on the walk come right to the door."

Her calm face showed a glimmer of anger. "There's nothing in this room either," she said softly. "Nothing. Not even a whisper from a cranky baby."

Seeing her ready to go, I stacked the books on a small table. The thump of a small cardboard doll hitting the floor drew my attention, and I picked it up. The lavish hide-and-seek book was extravagant for a small house in a depressed neighborhood, but after seeing the bedroom, I wasn't surprised. It was obvious they spared no expense when it came to their kid. Nothing fit. Nothing made sense.

Jenks flitted to Ivy's shoulder, clearly trying to cheer her up. She was having none of it and waved him away. Edden waited for me by the door as I leafed through the book to put the doll back. But there was already a hard bump in the pocket where it belonged.

"Just a minute," I said, using two fingers to dig it out. I didn't know why, but the doll needed to go back in her bed and I was the only one who could do it. That's what the oversize print said. And I was feeling melancholy. Edden could wait.

But when my fingertips connected with the smooth bump in the pocket, I jerked my hand out, jamming my fingers into my mouth before I knew what I was doing. "Ow!" I yelped from around my fingers, then stared at the book, now fallen onto the chair.

Edden's face became wary, and Jenks flew to me. Ivy stopped dead on the threshold, staring with eyes black from the surge of adrenaline I'd given off. Embarrassed, I took my fingers out of my mouth and pointed. "Something's in there," I said, feeling quivery inside. "It moved. Something is in that book! And it's furry." And warm, and it shocked the hell out of me.

Ivy came back in, but it was Edden who took his pen and stuck it in the pocket. The three of us crouched over the book while Jenks stood nearby and bent to look in.

"It's a stone," he said as he straightened, looking at me quizzically. "A black stone."

"It was furry!" I backed up a step. "I felt it move!"

Edden wedged the pen in, and a black crystal came sliding out to glint dully in the electric light. "There's your mouse," he said dryly, and I felt the blood fall to my feet as I recognized it.

It was a banshee tear. It was a freaking banshee tear.

"That's a banshee tear," both Ivy and I said together, and Jenks gave a little yelp, taking flight to flit madly between me and Ivy until he finally landed on my shoulder.

I stepped back, wringing my hand as if I could erase having touched it. Damn, I'd touched a banshee tear. Double damn, it was probably evidence.

"It felt furry?" the pixy said, and I nodded, eyeing my fingers. They looked okay, but it had been a banshee tear, and it gave me the creeps.

Edden's expression of confusion slowly cleared. "I've heard of these," he said, tapping it with his pen tip. Then he straightened to his entire height and looked me directly in the eye. "This is why there's no emotion here, isn't it."