Drink Deep - Chloe Neill [23]
Jonah’s eyes went big as saucers, which made me roll mine. “And that makes my visiting her a bad idea because . . . ?”
“Because you wouldn’t come back,” Catcher dryly said. “She’d be magically bound to seduce you, to entrance you, and you’d be stuck in siren limbo for the rest of your immortal days.”
“Again, I’m not really feeling dissuaded.”
“You’d feel dissuaded when you’d forgotten to eat or drink because you couldn’t stand to be out of her presence. Dying of starvation ain’t a pretty way to go.”
“Okay,” Jonah said with a grimace. “That’s a better argument.”
“And that’s why we’re sending Boobs McGee.”
I slowly swiveled my head to glare at Catcher. “Seriously. You’re, what, twelve now?”
“The point is, men don’t visit a siren on purpose. She’d have no choice but to seduce them, and that’s not really going to help us drill down into the magic problems.”
“Then I guess that settles that,” I agreed. “My boobs and I will go. But I’m not crazy about the idea of getting in a boat in that water. Transportation ideas, anyone?”
“I’ll take that one,” my grandfather said. “I’ll make some calls and see if I can find a helicopter pilot willing to visit an isolated island over a lake tainted with magic. Of course, there’ll be paperwork, so it will be tomorrow before we can take any action.”
“And in the meantime?” I asked, looking at the group. “What do we do about the lake?”
The question set off the nymphs again. When Jeff knelt down to pat the closest nymph on the back, she turned, wrapped her arms around him, and began to sob with impressive dramatic flair.
“Well done, vampire,” Catcher muttered.
“It was a legitimate question,” I said. “We still have a crisis—and since we can’t travel at night, an entire day will go by before we’re talking to the siren about it.”
“First step is move the nymphs inland,” Jeff said over the shoulder of his embracing nymph. “Farther from the water and whatever is going on out there. Maybe that will help them retain some strength in the meantime.”
Cue the crying.
“I know, honey,” he said, patting her back with brotherly affection. “But we need to let the lake heal, don’t we?”
She bobbed her head while sniffing, but maintained her vice-like grip on Jeff.
“I’ll coordinate the move,” Catcher said. “Maybe the fairies will host some of them overnight.”
“The Breckenridges have a huge house in Naperville, but putting shifters and nymphs together probably isn’t a good idea.” As if on cue, I watched the nymph’s hand sneak down Jeff’s butt and get in a good squeeze. He yelped and politely pushed her away, but she smiled unapologetically. I wasn’t sure if she didn’t know Jeff had a girlfriend—or just didn’t care.
“That would be a ‘no’ on the Brecks,” Catcher grumbled.
“What do we do about the humans?” Jonah said, watching as more lines of people moved toward the lake to get a look. “They are going to freak out.”
I couldn’t blame them. As paranormal events went, this one was very disconcerting, and it hit something close to our hearts. Chicago curled around the lake, and the river ran through the heart of the city. They were bound together, and humans would inevitably see this as a paranormal violation of that connection. I didn’t look forward to the outcry.
“I’ll work up some talking points for Mayor Kowalczyk,” my grandfather said, “although God knows how we’ll explain it.”
“Focus on the part about how this isn’t the apocalypse,” I suggested, but a frisson of fear still tightened my chest. “And try to make sure they don’t automatically blame it on vampires. We have enough to deal with right now.”
He patted my back. “We’ll work the problem, do a little research. You kids get home. I know you’re short-staffed at the House. I’ll give you a call when we’ve got the transportation lined up.”
I nodded, although I hated bailing on a project. Sitting around and anticipating things to come wasn’t exactly a favorite pastime. To keep busy, I made a mental note to check out the House’s world-class library;