Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

I’ll be a Catholic monk if I know why they would want to. And once they get to that point, they’d not have stopped until they’d had a bite or two. None of the ogres were particularly friendly with any of the victims on the reservation—or anyone else, except maybe Zee. There are a few others who might have been capable of it once, but most of them haven’t fared as well as Zee in the modern world.”
    I remembered the power of the sea man.
    â€œWhat about the man I met in the selkie’s…” I glanced at Samuel and bit my tongue. That ocean I knew was a secret, and it could have no impact on Zee’s fate. I wouldn’t speak of it in front of Samuel, but that left my sentence hanging in the air.
    â€œWhat man?” Samuel’s question was mild, though Uncle Mike’s words, coming right over the top of Samuel, were not.
    I could smell Uncle Mike’s fear, harsh and sudden, like his words. It wasn’t an emotion I associated with him.
    After a quick, wary look around the room, he continued in an urgent whisper, “I don’t know how you managed it, but it will do you no good to speak of the encounter. The one you met could have done it, but he has not bestirred himself this past hundred years.” He took a breath and forced himself to relax. “Trust me, it wasn’t the Gray Lords who killed O’Donnell, Mercedes. His murder was too clumsy to be their work. Tell me more of this fae raven you encountered.”
    I stared at him a moment. Was the sea fae one of the Gray Lords?
    â€œThe raven?” he prompted gently.
    So I told him, backing up a bit to tell him about the staff, then about the raven leaping through the wall with it.
    â€œHow did I miss the staff?” Uncle Mike asked himself, looking thoroughly shaken.
    â€œIt was tucked in a corner,” I told him. “It came from one of the victims’ houses, didn’t it? The one who smoked a pipe and whose back window looked out over a forest.”
    Uncle Mike seemed to come back to himself and he stared at me. “You know too many of our secrets, Mercedes.”
    Samuel set his guitar aside and put himself between us before I had time to register the menace in Uncle Mike’s voice.
    â€œCareful,” he said, his voice thick with Wales and warning. “Careful, Green Man. She’s put her neck out to help you—shame upon you and your house if she comes to harm by’t.”
    â€œTwo,” Uncle Mike said. “ Two of the Gray Lords have seen your face in our business, Mercy. One might have forgotten, but two never will.” He waved an impatient hand at Samuel. “Oh, stand down, wolf. I’ll not harm your kit. I only spoke the truth. There are things not nearly so benign who will not be happy about her knowing what she knows—and two of them already have.”
    â€œTwo?” I asked in a voice that was smaller than I’d meant it to be.
    â€œThat was no raven you met,” he said grimly. “It was the great Carrion Crow herself.” He gave me a long look. “I wonder why she didn’t kill you.”
    â€œMaybe she thought I was a coyote,” I said in a small voice.
    Uncle Mike shook his head. “She might be blind, but she perceives more clearly than I, still.”
    There was a brief silence. I don’t know what the others were thinking about, but I was contemplating just how many close calls I’d been having lately. If the vampires didn’t hurry, the fae or some other monster would kill me before she got a chance. What had happened to all the years of carefully keeping to myself and staying out of trouble?
    â€œYou are sure that one of the Gray Lords didn’t kill O’Donnell?” I asked.
    â€œYes,” he said firmly, then paused. “I hope not. If so, then Zee’s arrest was intended and he is doomed—and probably me as well.” He ran a hand along his chin and something about the gesture made me wonder if he’d once worn a beard. “No. It was not they. They aren’t above a messy kill—but they wouldn’t have left the staff for the police to find. The Carrion Crow came to keep the staff out of human hands—though I’m surprised she didn’t retrieve it sooner.” He gave me a speculative look. “Zee and I weren’t in that living room long, but we’d never have overlooked the staff. I wonder…”
    â€œWhat is