“Huh,” Calum grunted. “Not much to go on. I take it you have an idea who did this?”
“Probably. Maybe.” Alexei sighed. “I’ve pissed off a few people since I’ve been in town. But there is only one I can think of who would want me to leave badly enough to kidnap Bethany to force me to do it.” He waited for the yelling.
“So where do you think he’s holding her?” Calum asked.
“You’re awfully calm about this,” Beka said, leaning forward. “Aren’t you freaking out? I’m kind of freaking out and she’s not my daughter.”
“Yeah,” Alexei said. “Go ahead and yell at me. It’s all my fault. I got her involved with this. It’s my fault she’s in danger.”
To his surprise, Calum actually laughed. “I know my girl. There’s no way you pulled her into anything she didn’t want to be caught up in, and there was no way to keep her out of it if she decided she wanted in. She’s as stubborn as her father, and makes her own decisions.”
He stared at Alexei. “But I expect you to find her and bring her back to me in one piece, or chair or no chair, I’m going to make you sorry.”
Alexei nodded. “Oh, I intend to, believe me. As for where he’s holding her, that’s a problem. I’m guessing he took her to his boat, and that could be anywhere.” He restrained himself from banging his head on the table - just barely, and only because he didn’t have time to mend another piece of furniture.
“Not just anywhere,” Beka said, furrowing her brow. “If he’s the one who has been controlling the kraken, and I think he probably is, then we know he has been sighted in a certain area. It’s a big ocean, but we can narrow it down a little bit.”
“You said something before, about how it wasn’t impossible that he was Blackbeard’s ghost,” Alexei said. “Want to explain that?”
“Not Blackbeard’s ghost,” Beka said, a small smile playing at the edges of her mouth as she dropped her bomb. “Blackbeard himself.”
“What?” Calum sputtered. “Blackbeard lived and died hundreds of years ago. Are you suggesting this guy is some descendent of the original pirate?”
“Not at all,” Beka said. “Let me start at the beginning. When I got to the Otherworld, I started asking questions about how it would be possible for a Human to control a kraken. There were a few folks who had vague memories of hearing about something like that, but they were long enough ago that no one was sure where they’d heard them.”
“I’m not sure it is a Human,” Alexei interjected. “When I confronted this guy who calls himself Blackbeard, or Blackbeard’s ghost, he knew who I was. So he had to have connections with the Otherworld. I’m pretty sure he was a Paranormal, because he didn’t look happy when I threatened to tell the queen he was here.”
Beka waved her hand at him. “Oh, I believe it. I’m getting to that part. Give me a minute.” She waited for him to settle back down.
“So I finally tracked down a slightly shady centaur who specialized in growing exotic herbs for, shall we say, less than savory magical users. He told me that years ago, he traded some herbs to a witch for a handful of gemstones and a golden goblet. Kyler, that was the centaur’s name, still had the goblet, and he showed it to me. It was definitely from this side of the doorway. Spanish, maybe.”
“What does this have to do with our supposed pirate?’ Alexei grumbled. He’d never had much patience with long stories, unless he was the one telling them.
“I’ll tell you, if you let me finish,” Beka said. “I asked him what the witch wanted the herbs for, pretending that I didn’t believe she would have trusted him enough to have told him.” She grimaced. “Centaurs have huge egos and they are so prideful. Anyway, he swore that the witch bragged to him about being hired by - wait for it - a dragon.”
“What?” Alexei sat up straight. “You’re kidding.”
Calum’s eyes grew even wider. “A dragon? Seriously? How is that possible?”
“It’s possible,” Beka said. “They used to live on this side of the doorway, long ago. There’s a reason there are stories about them in just about every culture. But most of them retreated to the Otherworld long before the queen issued her decree forcing all the other Paranormals to move there, because it is a lot harder to hide a twenty foot dragon than it is a two foot tall sprite.” She shrugged. “Of course, they can change shape, so in theory they could have lived among Humans as long as they wanted to. But they’re much more comfortable in their own skin, for the most part, and even more proud than centaurs.”
Calum blinked a few times, digesting this. “Alexei told me that your dog, I mean, the one you travel with, is really a dragon. But I thought he was kidding.”
Beka laughed. “He is. But he’s a Chudo-Yudo. They’re dedicated to spending their lives living here and traveling with their own chosen Baba Yaga. You might say they are a breed unto themselves. And they’re used to staying in disguise most of the time, either as extremely large dogs, like mine, or occasionally a really, really large cat like my sister Bella’s Koshka.”
“Never mind that,” Alexei said, impatient to hear the rest of the tale. “What does this dragon and his witch for hire have to do with Blackbeard and Bethany?”
“According to Kyler, the dragon in question had hired the witch to create an enchanted amulet. One which could be used to control a kraken. Mind you, this was before the queen’s edict, back when Paranormal folks lived on this side of the doorway and traveled back and forth freely between the worlds. Kyler said the witch, who was apparently a regular client, bragged that this dragon was famous for taking on the guise of various Human pirates, including…”
“Blackbeard!” Alexei and Calum cried in unison.
“Exactly so,” Beka agreed. “The witch said that this dragon wanted a way to control a kraken so he could use it to attack ships carrying treasure. Dragons are big on treasure,” she explained to Calum. “It’s kind of their thing. They’re seriously into shiny objects.”
“So the witch made this amulet for a dragon,” Alexei said. “Dragons don’t leave the Otherworld much these days, although the queen gives them a little more leeway than most of her other subjects, as long as they stay within the rules. Did your new centaur pal know where the amulet ended up?”
“No,” Beka said. “He barely remembered the entire transaction until we started talking about it. That’s one of the downsides to a very long life. Lots of memories, and it is easy to misplace ones that aren’t important. The last he knew, the witch had given the dragon the amulet, gotten paid in gemstones and treasure, some of which she used to pay the centaur for his herbs, and that was it. And before you ask, he said the witch died years ago, so we can’t ask her either.”