16
MISSING
Gasping, I stumbled through the beaded curtain and into my kitchen. Footsteps thudded up the stairs behind me. The prince and Wiley shoved past, wands drawn, and Francis swept into the room in bat form. He squeaked and swooped near the ceiling, then in a black cloud of smoke he materialized as a man again, his toes dangling above my stained carpet.
My chest felt as though someone were sitting on it. The place was empty. No Heidi, and none of the two dozen trapped shifters. They were all gone. I knew, even before the prince and Wiley finished sweeping through my bedroom and bathroom—there wasn’t the usual sound of monkeys and parrots and bouncing antelope.
I wanted to collapse into one of my kitchen chairs, but whoever had done this had broken them to shards. The couch had been overturned, stuffing scattered everywhere. The torn curtains hung askew on the window that looked out into the street. Even the clock on the wall had been smashed.
I put a trembling hand against the cracked countertop to steady myself. Ludolf’s goons had ransacked the place. I pressed a hand to my stomach. What had he done with my friend and all the shifters?
Imogen, Maple, and lastly, a huffing Rhonda, emerged from the stairwell behind me. They stared wide-eyed around my trashed apartment.
Maple sucked in a quick breath. “Oh, it’s, uh—” She swallowed. “Homey?”
I shot her a flat look. “It doesn’t normally look great, but it’s not this bad!”
She winced. “Sorry.”
I blinked back tears, my hands clenched into tight fists. “Ludolf did this.” And what was he doing now to Heidi and the trapped shifters?
Wiley, the prince, and Francis emerged from my bedroom.
“Is anyone in there?”
They shook their heads.
“Looks like someone torched all your clothes, though.”
“Oh.” I let out a humorless chuckle. “So that’s what that smoke smell is.”
“Oh.” Maple bit her lip. “I thought the smell might be the animals.”
I huffed. “Yeah, okay, some of the odor is the animals.”
“Jolene?”
My heart stopped, and I spun around to find my landlady standing in the doorway behind me. Her nickname around the Darkmoon was “the dragon,” not only because it was rumored she was a dragon shifter but also because she had the personality of one.
I glanced around at the utter destruction. Cabinet doors had been ripped from their hinges, insulation poured from holes in the walls as big as my torso, and the whole place reeked of smoke and animal droppings. As horrified as I was that Heidi and the shifters were missing at Ludolf’s hands, I was nearly as terrified of my landlady’s reaction. She’d once yelled at me for putting holes in the wall to hang my beaded curtain. I could only imagine the tirade I was about to face.
I held up my palms. “Mrs. Kim, I can explain. I just—”
She cut me off with a sharp swipe of her hand. “No need. I know what happened.” She narrowed her dark, glittering eyes. “You can thank me later.” She sniffed and glanced around the room, all eyes on her. “You can pay me later, too. You have rich friends, I guess.” She sneered, revealing several missing teeth.
I froze. Had I been transported to a different reality? Who was this, and what had she done with Mrs. Kim?
I frowned. “Uh… what did happen, exactly?”
She studied me for a long moment, her expression hard and difficult to read. She shuffled in her sandals and half turned toward the beaded curtain, as though about to leave. “Ludolf’s little busybodies showed up, carved on door, wanted in!” She threw a hand up. “Ha! They think they own everybody.” Mrs. Kim narrowed her eyes at me. “I know what you’re up to. You think you’re so clever with your sound spell? Ha! I know you have animals up here, whole time.”
That was news to me. “Really? And you didn’t evict me?”
She paused a long time, her expression growing stony. Finally, she lifted her chin. “My father was a very good man. Ludolf took him from us. I have no love for the sea slug. I told Ludolf’s little errand boys that if they wanted in, they had to go through me.” She jerked her head to the side. “Gave your friend time to get everyone out through the fire escape.”
I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling as though I could breathe again. “Heidi got out? And the shifters, too?”
My landlady nodded. “She said to tell you they’re at Will’s now.” She shrugged. “Whatever that means.”
Tears welled up in my eyes, and I swiped them hastily away. “Thank you.” I let out a breath and with it all the tension and adrenaline coursing through me. I suddenly felt like I could collapse and take a long nap.
“Ha!” Wiley chuckled. “These guys ran away from a little old lady? We should probably just send Annie into the sewers after them.”
Mrs. Kim glared at him for a long time, then smirked, just the tiniest bit. “They didn’t run from a little old lady.” She drew herself up taller, though she still probably only came to my shoulder. “They ran from the dragon.”
Oh, shoot. I couldn’t wait to hear about this from Heidi.
“Sorry about your clothes, by the way.” Mrs. Kim shrugged. “Fire breath, couldn’t be helped.”
I curled my lip. “That was you?”
Mrs. Kim looked arch. “Yeah, well, you ask me, I did you a favor.” She looked me up and down. “About time you wore something not filled with holes.”
I nodded. Touché, Mrs. Kim, touché. Buying a new wardrobe was a small price to pay for my friend and all the shifters being safe.
Apparently, the prince felt the same way. He started forward, hands clasped, an earnest expression on his face. “Mrs. Kim, allow me to thank you on behalf of all—”
She whirled and shook a finger at him.
