Chương 34: Chapter 33 - What Would We Know About Weirdness

They called Ansel around seven in the morning. By then, the adrenaline boost I'd received at four had faded and my energy had disappeared. Time stretched out like bleary taffy, and the weariness grew on me until I felt stretched out too. I knew I was in trouble when the chief's questions and everyone's answers, including mine, became a monotonous drone that whiffed by my eardrums and sailed through my head without ever reaching my brain. Two eons later, Ellis left for work and Ansel finished what she needed to do.

She offered Nylah a ride into town. The rest of us gathered in the kitchen to be morose together. When the constant stream of coffee I'd been pouring into my empty stomach wasn't enough to keep me alert, I knew I had to get out of there. I slid off the tall stool I'd been sitting on.

"Where are you going?" Olivia asked. She was sitting on the stool beside me.

"I need some cold air," I said.

"I'll go out for a short walk, maybe look for some footprints." Big Jacky was standing by the kitchen door.

"Emerra," he said, "I didn't find any footprints, and I told Officer Ansel as much." I didn't really think I'd find anything either, but I didn't have the energy to explain to Jacky the many reasons why a walk would do me good, and I knew how to beat him at his own game.

"Yeah," I said, "but did you search everywhere?" His skull jerked back slightly.

"Not everywhere. That would've been impossible. I only searched the most likely areas."

"Then I'm going to go find a few unlikely areas."

"But—" Olivia said, "It's all right, Mr. Noctis."

"You won't be long, will you?" Rall asked.

"Nylah usually makes breakfast on the weekends, but since I've been left in charge, it's going to be waffles."

"Waffles sound wonderful," I told him.

"Olivia!" Rall cried.

"You've been conscripted." She groaned and dropped her head on her folded arms.

"You can't whine," Rall said.

"A soldier never whines! Now, fetch the flour. I'll dig around and see if your mother's found where I hid the bacon." I put on my boots and grabbed my coat from off the rack near the door. Then I walked out into the peaceful morning. The moment the door clicked shut behind me, I decided in a numb, not-thinking kind of way, that I wanted to retrace the thief's path. It would've been easy for them to get away from the front door without leaving any footprints. It'd been weeks since the last major snowfall.

The dusting that had fallen early last night had gathered on top of the old snow, but it had soaked into the shoveled walks and drives. All our mysterious thief would have had to do was follow the walk down to the front drive and out onto the plowed street. It's what I would've done. Especially if I was barefoot.

"Weirdo," I muttered under my breath. And if that's what they'd done, then we really did need Conrad. No one else would be able to follow the trail. Thinking about my wolf-boy made me feel a pang of homesickness. I checked the time on my phone. It was later than I thought. Back in the Noctis mansion, breakfast would've been served and put away, and Igor would be working on the dishes.

Kappa would start stirring soon, moving from the warmth of his nest to the warmth of the kitchen only when his rumbling belly compelled him to. Conrad usually skipped his workout on Sundays, but he'd occasionally go on a walk with me to get out of the mansion. What would he be doing without me there? Whatever he wants, my brain said. You know, like he did for his whole life before you arrived. I crammed my hands deep in my coat pockets, turned away from the road, and walked up the sidewalk.

I didn't have anywhere I wanted to go. I just wanted to leave that thought behind me. I had no business feeling homesick, and it wasn't good to get attached. That only meant it would hurt more when they left me. Maybe they won't leave this time, another part of my brain said. And Big Jacky told you that you could stay for as long as you wanted. My stomach clenched around the knot it'd already been working on, and my head flushed with anger. Why was I thinking crap like that?

It didn't matter how tired I was—I knew better. If I could've taken my head off my shoulders to screw it back on straight, I would have. I couldn't control who stayed or went. It wasn't their responsibility to take care of me, nobody owed me their friendship or company, and where I lived wasn't always in my control. All I could do was be grateful and savor the time I have with the people I like. I knew that. I knew it. I played those facts through my head, again and again, like a mantra.

But no matter how many times I repeated them, it never filled that hollow place in my chest. My phone was in my hand, then up against my ear before I could stop myself. I listened to the dial tone and tried to stuff my growing shame back into whatever mental Pandora's box it'd burbled out of.

"Hey, Mera." When I heard the low rumble of Conrad's greeting, a smile sprang to my face. I closed my eyes and felt my chest heave. I couldn't tell if it was a sigh or some kind of relieved laugh.

"Hey, Conrad." I opened my eyes.

"Um…I'm sorry. Is this all right?"

"Huh?"

"I know you said any time, but if you're busy or something, we don't have to talk."

"You called. I answered. We're talking. Isn't that how it works?" I always took comfort from Conrad's off-handed, bemused reactions to my self-consciousness. It reminded me how ridiculous most of my mental drama was. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"Yeah," I said.

"You're right."

"How was the party last night?" My smile widened, and I raised my head to gaze at the smear of thin clouds.

"Oh, you know me. I upset Nylah and looked right in my host's eyes when I insulted her."

"Hmm. That sounds like the kind of party I wouldn't mind going to." I laughed. He said, "Are you calling to tell me you've been thrown out and you're on your way home?"

"No." I scuff-kicked the sole of my boot over the sidewalk and wandered as I talked.

"This case has me frustrated. I don't suppose that you could come down here for a few hours? Jacky mentioned how useful it'd be to have your nose." Conrad's voice was lower and softer than normal.

"I'm sorry, Mera. I wish I could help you, but I can't."

"This is because you're a giant wolfman, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I'm kind of hard to hide."

"But you have your wrap, right? Can't you come down in your wolf form?"

"I'm afraid not. I'm still in trouble over that Aubert thing. It'll be a lot more than a slap on the wrist if they find out I've left the mountain without permission."

"But if you're in your wolf form, how will they know it's you?" There was a pause.

"Mera, exactly how many wolves do you think hang out down there? Outside of a zoo." I grunted at my own stupidity. Conrad said, "I'd only draw slightly less attention if I went there as a wolf. And the rune wrap isn't meant to be used long-term."

"Why? Does it hurt you?"

"Well, it's not comfortable, but that's not the problem. The magic in the wrap is limited. Once it's gone, I'd have to get another one made. And we don't know what'll happen to me if I stay in that form for too long."

"All right," I said.

"Scratch that idea. We'll manage somehow."

"Has something happened?" I told him about the string of recent burglaries that culminated in the blessed silver disappearing from right under our noses. He listened quietly. When I finished, he let out a discontent huhm.

"That's rough," he said.

"To be that close, and then miss them? I get why you'd be frustrated."

"Sure, but I'm more frustrated because it doesn't make any sense."

"Which part?"

"All of it! I don't know. Where the heck were they, Conrad?"

"What do you mean?" I stopped walking and looked around. I'd been so intent on talking to Conrad, that I'd wandered into unfamiliar territory. Fortunately, I'd wandered in a straight line. I headed back the way I came.

"Think about it," I said.

"Ellis said all the lights downstairs were off, and none of us were down there until Nylah went to grab her notebook. So who turned on the light in the workroom?"

"Presumably the thief," Conrad said.

"Right! Easy-peasy. But when Nylah went downstairs the first time, the blessed silver was still there."

"So the thief hadn't found it yet."

"Sure. I'll give you that. But then where were they when Nylah was getting her notebook? That's the one that's bugging me. Say they left the room. They couldn't have hidden in the hall, Nylah would've seen them. And they didn't hide in one of the other rooms downstairs. Ansel said they were careful to wipe the door handles to fudge up any prints, but the door to the workroom and the front door were the only ones that had been wiped."

"They could have forgotten to wipe the other door's knobs. You'll have to wait to hear if Ansel found any useful fingerprints."

"I guess that's a possibility," I grumbled.

"But you don't like it," Conrad noted.

"How did they know Nylah was coming? They'd have to have hearing almost as good as Darius's! And if they did hear her coming, why would they assume she was coming to the workroom and leave?" After a brief pause, Conrad said, "These assumptions are getting messy." I knew what he meant. When things made sense, the ideas flowed from one to the next with only one or two minor questions tacked on for decoration.

Whenever I thought about last night's theft, all I saw was a glop of muddy-brown confusion that sat there, burping up noxious bubbles. I went on, "Maybe they left the workroom before Nylah went downstairs. Maybe they went into another part of the house. But that would only make it more likely that they'd get caught. And what could they have been after? Rall checked the whole house. Nothing else was missing."

"You said they took a single hypodermic needle," Conrad pointed out.

"The lady that ran the hardware store never figured out what they stole. Maybe they were after something small that Axton wouldn't notice was gone."

"Okay. Let's jump down that rabbit hole. We know they managed to get into the house without breaking in." I shrugged even though Conrad wouldn't see it.

"Maybe they snuck in with the guests. Or maybe they were a guest, and they hid until we all went to sleep. Whatever. They found the workroom, turned on the light, left the workroom for some unknown reason before Nylah happened to come down, then they returned to the workroom, turned on the light again, found the silver, and left?"

"As messy as that is, it's a possibility. But if you want a simpler explanation, then why not assume they never left the workroom?" I stopped walking and looked up. My brow furrowed.

"Huh?" When I raised my head, I noticed I'd managed to wander back to the Oliversens' house. It didn't seem important. Conrad said, "Let's say that the thief got inside, hid somewhere until everyone had gone to sleep, found the workroom, turned on the light and started searching for the silver. They only heard Nylah coming when she was already outside the door. They hid, waited until she'd left, turned the light on again, grabbed the silver, and left out the front door." I'd smiled halfway through Conrad's recital.

It was both wry and rueful.

"I love it," I said.

"Best idea ever. There's only one problem—I forgot to mention that wasn't possible. I've seen the room, Conrad. There was nowhere to hide. If the thief was in the room while Nylah was there, he must have been invisible." A cold breeze blew by me during the short silence.

"Okay," Conrad said, "why not? That makes sense, doesn't it?" A tickle of frustration crawled up my temples.

"There was no magic, remember?"

"There was no magic that left a trace," Conrad pointed out.

"That's not the same thing as no magic."

"But if the thief was using magic at all, then Nylah would have sensed it!"

"Wouldn't that depend on the kind of magic?" I opened my mouth, but no words emerged from my well of ignorance. Conrad went on, "A second ago, you were talking about someone having hearing as good as Darius's, so we're not eliminating the idea of supernatural powers."

"I was being sarcastic!" I cried.

"I didn't think they actually had super-hearing!"

"Why not? We're dealing with someone who's willing to steal blessed silver from the mistress of a coven. I don't think they're going to be a normal person. But I'm just a—what is it you're always calling me? A wolfman?" A smile crept over my face.

"Yeah. You're a wolfman. And I'm just a dead girl." He finished with, "What would we know about weirdness?"

"Invisibility, huh?" I couldn't decide if it was a joke or not. A part of me wanted to laugh while the rest of me wanted to slap on a deerstalker hat, tap a pipe stem against my chin, and hum thoughtfully. The joker part of me said, "That would explain why no one saw anything in any of the other burglaries." Conrad said, "That would explain what happened to Nolan Kirby." Even the joker part of me sobered.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He's like me." I remembered Kirby's smile, the unruly crop of dark, curly hair, his hand gently reaching out, and his light, easy-going voice. There was a distinct lack of fur, muzzle, and fangs.

"How in the world is he like you, Conrad?"

"He doesn't rely on his sight." My mind drifted off into some wide-open space. I felt like I was standing alone in a formless canyon. Conrad's explanation poured over my dull ears.

"Say a normal person hears a noise late at night," he said.

"They go down to find out what's happening. When they look around, they don't see anything. What would they do?" I thought about Barlowe and the doctor.

"They'd go back to bed."

"But if I heard noises at night, I'd go down there and find them."

"Because you'd smell them," I muttered.

"If Kirby heard something, he'd go downstairs. He can't see anything—" My voice rose: "But that wouldn't matter because he never would've seen anything anyway!" I put my free hand to my head.

"Oh, no. Oh, geez. He doesn't use his eyes. He uses his ears. He would've heard them, even if they were invisible." I knew I was blabbering, but there was no stopping me. Every fragment, part, and personality that was contained in my head was excited.

"He went down to confront them," I said.

"He wouldn't have to be that aggressive," Conrad said.

"If all he did was come down to investigate the noise, that would've been enough. No one's supposed to be able to see them, but there's this guy that keeps coming toward them, and he seems to know where they are—" I took over: "The thief panics and attacks Kirby. They don't want to kill him, but they can't let him go either. He'd warn everyone…and…"

"And they still had a lot to do," the wolfman said. I turned and marched toward the house.

"Conrad, I have to go."

"You need to talk to Olivia?"

"I have to find out if it's possible!"