“We’re not large,” Siobhan nodded. “Not even particularly powerful. We keep to ourselves. But we’re a family. My sister is one of the most powerful witches in our coven. She’d never want to take a leadership position, but using her magic has always come easily to her.”
Since I was watching for it, I caught the way Siobhan’s eyes flickered at the words. A hint of jealousy there. As the sister of a witch who had also found it second nature to use her power, I got it. But I noted it anyway.
“My daughter has never been in any trouble,” Maeve said. “She’s a good girl.”
I glanced at Siobhan. We both knew siblings told each other things that they would otherwise keep from their mothers. Especially sisters. She shook her head at me. Okay, so her sister wasn’t secretly running wild.
“Riona went missing two days ago. No one has seen her since.”
“How do you know it was two days ago?”
“That was the last time I talked to her and we speak every day.”
“Have you reported her disappearance to the human authorities?”
She nodded. “They’ve started an investigation, but we both know a witch will be at the bottom of the priority list.”
Yeah. Unfortunately, while witches were technically human, most of the time the human authorities focused their attention on humans without power.
“Please,” Maeve said. “Will you help us? We have money.”
I glanced around at the boxes. “As you can see, I’m kind of still getting this business off the ground. More importantly, I’ve never worked on a missing person case. It would probably be a better idea for you to work with an investigator with missing person experience.”
Siobhan shook her head. “As soon as Riona went missing, I thought of you. I watched you on the news when the McCormick coven were harnessing demon power. And I heard about how you found all those artifacts for the fae. You were raised human, but you know the paranormal world. And unlike the human police, you give a shit. Besides, you traced and hunted bad guys, right? Is a missing person case really that different?”
Yes. It definitely was.
I opened my mouth and snapped it closed at the desolate expression on Maeve’s face.
“I’ll look for her,” I said, because how the hell could I not? “Is Riona dating anyone?”
“Not seriously. She was seeing a mage for a few weeks, but you can imagine how wellthatended,” Siobhan sniffed. “He was terrified someone he knew would find out he was with a witch, and he broke up with her before the relationship could even get off the ground.”
I’d seen that before. My filthy half-witch blood had been allowed to walk the hallowed halls of the Mage Council only because I was a contractor. And because as far as everyone had known— myself included— my other half was human.
Low-level mages who were hoping to eventually get access to the mysterious power the Mage Council kept classified? They were expected to keep their personal life pristine. That meant no rubbing up against anyone who wasn’t either a mage, or human.
“What’s his name?”
“Um. Jerry, I think. Let me check our messages,” she pulled up her phone. Next to her, her mom stared blankly at the wall and I wished again that I could offer her a cup of coffee or something.
“Yeah,” Siobhan said. “Jerry.”
“I know Jerry a little,” I said. “I don’t think he’d hurt Riona, but I’ll talk to him. Take me through Riona’s schedule the week before she went missing.”
“She doesn’t live at the coven’s main house. None of us do,” Maeve said. “I’ve been thinking about moving in, now that my children are grown and have lives of their own. But Riona has her own apartment. She always loved her independence.”
I glanced at Siobhan. “What about you? Do you live alone?”
She held up her hand and the rock on her finger caught the light. “I’m engaged. That’s when I knew something had happened to Riona. I hadn’t heard from her on Friday but I was busy with a new case at work— I’m an attorney. But when she didn’t show at my engagement party on Saturday, I knew something was wrong. She never would’ve missed it.” Tears filled her eyes and she struggled to speak for a moment. Her mom took her hand and squeezed.
“I’m okay,” Siobhan said, taking a deep breath. Then she looked at me. “Do you have a sister?”
“Yes.”
“So you know. No matter how mad you are about the little things— occasional jealousies, old wounds, new annoyances… you show up when it counts. Riona never would’ve missed that party. Not unless she was hurt… or worse.”
“When was the last time you heard from her?”
