Since it was the end of lunch, Lily and I closed up the Safe Harbor Café so we could start gathering everything the witches would need to do a location spell for the missing women. Our first stop would be the forest, where the missing dryads’ tree was. We took my car since Lily drove a classic car to match the pin-up doll thing she had going on.

We rode along in silence. The first part of the highway was lined with strip malls, car lots, and office buildings like you’d find on any road. But at some point, we hit the tree line, and everything changed. The air smelled damper and purer. The light shone more cleanly without buildings and neon signs to absorb and reflect it. It also softened as the day got later, and the sun itself sunk lower into the sky. I thought about the dryads we were going to visit. Did the dryads still believe the sun was a son of Zeus in a chariot riding across the sky? How strange it must be to be so very far from their homeland. Did they live all over now? If they went to a place without trees, what happened to them?

I was thinking about this when I pulled up at the overlook where Amara, the dryad, said she would meet us when she called us about her missing sister. Tall trees surrounded the parking lot and littered the parking lot with dry red pine needles. They crunched under my feet when I got out. It was quiet in the early afternoon. Lily had fallen asleep. In the peaceful calm of the woods, it seemed wrong to wake her. Her vampire boyfriend must be keeping her up all night.

I walked a little ways away from the car and waited in the trees. The fairy dust on my forehead buzzed a little as if it recognized that I was returning it to nature. In the still calm of the forest, protective fairy dust was probably overkill.

“Guardian?” a dark-haired woman said as she materialized out of the tree. Literally out of a tree. She lowered her brown arms from the branches above her head and pulled her feet free of the roots. Her eyes were wide above sculpted cheekbones. Her hair was full and messy, with a trail of leaves that could have fallen on her or could be growing out of her head. Despite the weather, she was wearing a tank top and yoga pants. I guess it was true that no one could resist the comfort of a wide, fold-over waistband.

I stared at her pants for longer than was strictly polite. “Amara, I assume?” I asked when I regained my composure.

“In the flesh. I have done as you bid me and found you something of Vasalik’s use for a seeking. I believe this will serve perfectly.” She held out her fist.

I reached out an open hand below her closed fist and waited. She opened her fist and let fall a single black cylinder. It took a moment for me to realize it was a tube of lipstick. MAC lipstick, to be exact. “This was hers?”

“Indeed, it was. She would have never left it behind either. Since it was something she used daily and it touched her body, it should be the perfect conduit to find her,” Amara explained. When I looked at her more carefully, I realized that her face was very artfully made up. The impressive cheekbones were more contour than nature. The wide eyes were rimmed with a fan of false lashes. Who knew dryads wore makeup?

“Thank you for getting it for me. I hope to be able to get you some more information on her disappearance tonight. If you think of anything, call the Safe Harbor Café and leave a message. The café will be able to pass it on,” I told her.

“Guardian, we are grateful for your assistance in this matter. We remember a time without guardians. And we remember when the spirit of the café was not as it is now, so very powerful. We are very grateful to live in a time and place such as this. While it is sad that our sister has gone missing, we are glad that someone cares enough to look for her and that the seeker has the power to do something.” Amara reached forward and placed her hands on both sides of my face, and drew my head down toward her. She kissed the top of my head and then touched her forehead to mine, just missing the dust. At that moment, I suddenly got a flash of how very far she was from home and how very long she had lived. She was completely alien.

“Thank you,” I said and backed away slowly. I didn’t want to turn my back on her for fear of being disrespectful, but I also was ready to go. I walked back to the car. Lily was still asleep. I was surprised that she could sleep so hard in a car as an adult. She must be even more worn out than I thought from the healing. I wasn’t really sure what to do with the lipstick, so when I got into the car, I stuck it in the center console and hoped it wouldn’t get lost.

I started the drive back to the café. I kept expecting Lily to wake up so that I could tell her about my meeting with the dryads, how strange and almost modern they were, and also how very, very ancient they were. I also wanted to know if she thought they mourned for the trees. But by the time she woke up, we were very close to the café. “Did we forget something?” she asked.

“No, you missed it. You slept through the entire thing. I’m sorry. I figured you needed your sleep,” I told her.

“Yeah. Chris keeps vamp hours even when he’s human. He can’t afford not to. All his business partners are vamps, and they would think him weak if he switched over to daylight hours,” she said.

“He runs a blood bank, right?” I asked. I knew he ran the blood bank, but I was suspicious that he had other more nefarious interests. I’d never known a vamp that didn’t have a get-rich slow scheme and a plan to spend the rest of their death in the lap of luxury. Some even managed to do it.

“Yup. He was an early investor in the technology. Now he runs a blood bank. He considers it a win-win situation. The vamps get the blood they need, and the money they spend to get it goes to help humans get the blood they need. He’s really a very considerate, caring man. You just wouldn’t believe the amazing things he’s done. He’s helped so many people. That’s one advantage to such a long life. He can really make a difference to people,” Lily said, smiling foolishly.

“And so humble, too,” I said.

“Oh, hush. You’re just being rude,” Lily said.

“Probably. But you’re still in that sappy stage of being in love. It’s annoying. I’m happy for you—I am. I hope it always stays this easy. It won’t. But it would be nice if he kept that new boyfriend smell forever,” I told her.

“Maybe it will always be this easy? It’s so effortless now. And he’s had enough practice at relationships. He should be a master at it by now?” Lily said.

“He may be a master at romance, but I don’t think you can be a master at relationships. There’s always another person mucking it up for you.” I pulled into the parking lot of the café. “Run in and grab Mr. Wasp. We’ll stop by Jen’s and then head straight to the witch’s gathering.” I waited in the car until Lily, and the fairy came out. He flew along next to her head. They were chatting, but I couldn’t tell what about. I hoped he was ready to give testimony to the witches about the dark witch who hurt him. Lily got in, and Mr. Wasp flitted around for a bit. I waited for him to land. He didn’t.

“I don’t think I can drive with you flying around.” He landed on the dashboard. “I don’t think that’s going to work? Unless your balance is really good?” I told him. I wasn’t sure how to suggest that he was probably safest sitting in the cup holder. It seemed rude. But there wasn’t anywhere in the modern car designed to safely hold a tiny person.

“My balance is excellent. Better than yours,” he said.

“I’m sure that’s true. Hang on.” With that, I pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Jen’s house. The fairy was silent the whole ride over. He flew back and forth between the rear windows, his wings making a high-pitched whine.

Jen lived in a cheerful yellow house in the older section of town. I wasn’t sure how she afforded the place, although it could have been built by a relative. Wolf families always helped each other out. When we pulled up, we texted her to let her know we had arrived. She came out and gave us a shirt of her sister’s in a plastic Ziplock bag. There was something so depressing about that. It somehow made it all the more real that we were collecting evidence, not borrowing a friend’s shirt, expecting to return it a day or two later. I tried not to think about what it would be like if we had to tell everyone the women were dead.

Perhaps Lily was thinking the same thing because she was silent as we pulled away from Jen’s house. Sometimes it was a fun little mystery to solve, but other times, I was struck numb by the reminder that these were real people we were looking for. I hoped that everything would be wrapped up at the witch’s meeting and that they would try this woman and find where the other women were. But what then? I wasn’t stupid. I knew that the odds were against this having a happy ending. I tried to focus on the idea that this bad witch was somehow keeping the women sedated and draining them for their magic. But that seemed increasingly unlikely the more I thought about it. These were powerful, magical beings. Just taking down a were or a vamp would take a lot of skill. I couldn’t imagine keeping them alive and unharmed for any period of time. Perhaps my nerves were just running hot with anticipation of the coming trial.

“Can you drive this nightmare box any straighter, or is the wind blowing you off course?” asked the fairy, interrupting my thoughts. He fluttered under the rearview mirror. His stained green jacket rumpled around his tiny body.

I looked at him and tried not to laugh since I was pretty sure I had been gravely insulted. “What are you talking about? I’ve been driving along on a straight road for like five miles now.”

“No, you haven’t been driving straight. You go sort of squiggly. It’s very hard to stay upright. And it’s making me feel ill. Can’t you slow down a bit? Nothing’s meant to travel as fast as this,” he said. I glanced down at him and away from the road. He did look a little peaked.

“If you’re feeling car sick, the worst possible thing you can do is fly with your back to the road,” said Lily.

“You think sitting there and letting it all fly into my face would be better?” he asked her incredulously.

“Yes. It is. Car sickness happens because your brain can’t process that you’re moving when your body is holding still. If you look at it in a way that distorts things, it makes it worse.” I nodded in agreement.

“Hmm. Maybe.” He tried to land on the dash and promptly fell over.

“Here, Mr. Wasp, may I help you?” asked Lily, holding out her palm face up as if she was greeting a strange dog. He silently flapped into her hand. When he landed in her hand, he fell over again, and she had to scramble a bit to catch him. I didn’t say anything for fear of insulting his pride. “Where would you like to ride? Perhaps in the center console, the area between the two seats? I would, of course, be honored to keep holding you.”

“Put me between you guys. There looks to be some sort of hole I can crawl into like a worm and hide,” he said, sounding weak.

“Of course.” Lily lowered him down, and he climbed into the cup holder. It dawned on me that he had no idea what it was for. He had no idea what any of it was for. This was probably only his second time riding in a car and the first time he had been deathly ill. Heck, I probably could have just told him the cup holders were designed for tiny riders. I wouldn’t lie like that, but I almost felt bad for not doing so. He had to be ready for the upcoming trial. He couldn’t arrive carsick.