“Very good.” The voice coming from the interior of the office bristled with magic. I shivered, wondered for a moment what the hell I’d gotten myself into. My hands tingled, as if I could reach out and touch the currents. So this had been the Cameron who had called. Good to know.
“He can see you now.” She frowned at me and looked at my left earlobe.
Of course, the iron. I’d had some special horseshoe nails forged centuries ago, and had turned two of them into earrings. The nails looped around my ears, the posts set deep in the head of the nails. I wore them mostly because I loved how they connected me to my past. Here, they served a different purpose of protection as well. I entered the office. A sterile looking room with a glass and chrome desk. Two comfortable chairs sat before the desk, and his windows looked over the horse pastures. A bit modern for my taste, but nice. Two plants sat in the window soaking up the light, one a type of ivy, the other some kind of common houseplant. No pictures adorned his desk, and the man sitting behind it exuded power. His tailored charcoal gray suit clearly had cost more than I’d spend on clothing, his white-blond hair cut impeccably.
“Cameron Littlemarsh.” He held out a hand. I ignored it.
“Ettie Mareach,” I replied. “Thank you for agreeing to meet me.”
“Oh the pleasure’s all mine.” He stood, unfolding his over six foot frame from behind the desk and I steeled myself against the allure all fae had. Like Flora, he’d dominate whatever room he entered, all heads turning to see the newcomer. “I think you’ll enjoy what you see here. Your fame proceeds you and we’d hoped you would come to use our products as other trainers have.”
“I’m very interested. I’ve heard good things.” I kept my smile in place. After seeing how deeply the Unseelie had steeped themselves in this place, I wished for the Morrigan to come and burn it all to the ground. Wars kept her busy elsewhere, and I wouldn’t ask her for something petty like this.
“Very good.” He smiled and strode around his desk. He didn’t offer an arm or a hand, but instead, went to the door and opened it. “We’ll have to don protective equipment, but I can show you the entire process. Our lab is off limits, though there are some windows we can view it through. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. I fell into step beside him, ignoring the woman’s haughty glance as we exited the hallway and crossed the main area to a hallway on the left. I mapped the place in my mind, in case I needed to come back later or had to make a hasty exit. Unlike the other hall lined with doors and offices, this hallway held large windows, through which I saw people working in protective gear. In the window closest to me, healthy ingredients like I might see on any health food shelf—goji berries, chia seeds, turmeric—were piled as if on display at a market. And for all I knew someone had created the display there to reassure the trainers. The hall had no door on the end. A tunnel, rather than a passage way, that bored into the heart of their scientific realm showing just enough to reassure a trainer or owner that they were following good practices and all was on the up and up.
I knew better. The food looked real enough, as did the people taking carts full of it to be extracted through juicers or ground in massive industrial-sized blenders. I believed them when they talked about fresh, natural ingredients, from the layers of dried kelp on one trolley to the rich blueberries and cranberries on another. The vitamins boasted of extra anti-oxidants, as if that were all it’d take to make horses run fast. For Cameron’s sake, I smiled and went along with things, until we reached the end of the hall.
“Are you ready to see where the real magic happens?” His eyes twinkled, and power brushed over my senses. “This is important. We have to start with good ingredients and good processes. But what really does the work is over in the north lab.”
Danger lay in the north lab. I sensed it in his words and on the property. The cloying sassafras smell grew more powerful, made me believe that whatever happened there held more magic than the more mundane work here in this building. I smiled. “Sure.”
“Very good. I was hoping you’d say that.” He turned and led me down the hall, paused long enough to tell the woman that he’d be going to the north lab. Her eyebrow raised, though she gave no other sign of even hearing him.
We stepped out the front door, and I appreciated the fresh air as we took one of the narrow, concrete walkways toward the building on the north. Large containment cylinders sat behind it. A stable, windowless and with armed guards walking alongside, sat behind them, and I wondered why they were keeping things so buttoned up. Not even Premarin barns, as horrific as they were to the horses, had this kind of security and they were targeted—and rightfully so—all the time by animal rights activists. I frowned.
The sense of magic grew thicker, as if wards covered this place. As we approached the building, I noticed small sachets, invisible to those without magic, tucked into the upper corners of the door frame. The herbs and trinkets inside were designed to repel Flora’s court. No such protection against deities existed, though without Cameron I might not be able to see the building. He opened the door. “After you, my lady.”
Chapter 8
Dean had no idea just how deep he was in over his head. My venture into this may have started chasing a trainer with a penchant for pushing
