The strangers who wanted to speak to her were there at the wrong time. Olivia didn’t have the strength to be present for them. She could make out little of what they said. What shocked her, though, was to discover something else responded to her. She called it something else because she didn’t recognize it as anything she’d encountered in all the years she’d existed here in the Inn.             Olivia never encountered the voice on their recording. The darkness and foreboding would have chilled her to the bone if she still possessed a body. There would be no way for her to follow them to the lake. Not now, with all the energy she’d spent. The Fae within the Inn right now were extremely active as well. Something agitated them and Olivia could feel the violence in their words. She couldn’t understand them, but

             Greta followed the men, and the tiny broken tracks through the mining area. The mines started as natural caves before the miners took advantage of them and dug out sections.             The records Greta and Eric found pointed to this cave being on Liam’s claim. This may be the last place he’d been alive. No one could search it for them at the time because few knew exactly where the claim was exactly.             I claim the jumper may have found his claim and killed him for it. That’s the logical assumption and if Greta didn’t know what the spirits at the Inn said, or the storyteller’s tales. She could accept it at face value. But knowing that information, the story was all lies, and the supernatural world killed this man for some unknown reason.

With his body trembling from the cold, the slight form of Nyree slipped among the brush and tree toward the old mines. His quest to find the creature who’d done this to his humans neared its apex. One of them would return to their home realm in disgrace. They’d effectively died within this realm, but their essence would go back to what some humans called the fairy realm. Those words make it sound like sugar plums and sparkles. But it wasn’t. It’s full of darkness, pain, and bloodshed, with a thin veneer of culture and purity. It’s considered a punishment or failure to return there.“Nyree must get to the closest mine. Find their friend or foe there.” Surely, the Tommy Knockers would want their mine back from the evil Slaughter. Nyree muttered quietly to himself the whole way into the dark tunnel, thankful for the warmth once he was past the entranceway. The humans just left the mine and so he cast a small fairy light.Once he w

             Olivia felt the change in the ether. It was like a wind shifted and energy filled the very air around her, like a door opening and a crowd of people entering a quiet room. She’d not felt like this for so long. She felt giddy in response. Something must have happened.             She felt drawn to the barren shore with its snow and ice still heavy. Ruminants of the ice sculptures dotted the park about the shore. But there on the icy shore in the sunlight’s glare. Police officers with sleds pulled behind them brought something from the island. Olivia couldn’t see what it was, not at first. But in the glare, unseen by the living, hazy images of people trailed after the police.             Olivia felt her joy bubble over at the sight of the missing spirits, weak t

             Nyree watched the Tommy Knockers literally come out of the woodwork. He couldn’t believe how many there were. Each grizzled face set with a determination gave Nyree the confidence boost it needed to believe this might work. Each carried a small hammer or pickaxe.             The mob moved down the tunnels toward their target. The Tommy Knockers were all too familiar with where this dark fae lived. Nyree found himself buffeted along with them, and he could hear their excited chatter. They made plans for what they’d do when the mines were once again in their control alone.             Nyree wondered what his friends back at the inn were doing? Did his little water nymph even notice his absence? Were the pixies in the back sitting room behaving themselves while he&rsqu