“Of course, honey. You okay? You sound out of breath,” she said.
“Just hurrying to get to work,” I mumbled. “I overslept.” The lie escaped me even before I had the chance to think about it.
“Oh. Well, don’t let me keep you then,” Mom said.
“Just take a look at that list, okay? I’ll be waiting.”
In the time that it took me to throw on a shirt and some trousers, comb my hair and put on my sneakers, I had a message waiting for me on the app where I usually spoke to my parents. Mom had read the list, and she’d identified ten of the ingredients, as well as written down plenty of information on them.
I took a screenshot of everything she'd written, then thanked her a million times. On my way to Headquarters, I texted Hunter and the girls to get to the office as fast as they could, too. Then I started reading everything Mom had sent me.
Denkin’s dustwas apparently a rare plant with tiny yellow flowers, which, when squeezed properly, produced a transparent liquid that could be used as a numbing agent when paired with the right additions.
Heridonswere leaves of a plant that grew near rivers, needed a lot of water, and at least four years to take root properly, and it was usually used by dryads to ward off bad spirits, and as a spice for some of their traditional dishes.
Then there wasTriphoy, Estermac,and another six names that sounded made up, but apparently weren’t if my mom knew all about them.
I only got about halfway through everything she’d written by the time I made it to Headquarters. I was over half an hour early, but when I got there, Hunter was already sitting behind his desk, eyes still swollen with sleep on his pale face.
“This better be good, Pink,” he said, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes while I practically threw myself on the chair. There were still about ten agents working (some sleeping) at the office, but hopefully the girls would be there soon, too, and I wouldn’t need anybody else’s help with this.
“The research crew have all the ingredients. I need help finding where each of the plants on the list I’m sending you grow,” I said in a rush, then sent him the screenshots. “The sooner we know where they’re getting these things, the better.” I was so excited, my hands shook when I typed the password in my computer.
“Boring,” Hunter muttered but turned his phone on anyway.
“High fae,” I said with a grin. “Robinson said it’s high fae magic without a doubt.”
“Chief is gonna love this,” Hunter muttered and turned to his computer, forcing his eyes to open all the way.
Patricia and Eva came in ten minutes later, armed with coffee I had been too distracted to pick up on my way here. But they got to work right away—maybe because they saw the urgency on my face or maybe because Ibeggedthem to leave rumors for later and find me those locations first. Either way, by the time the hour was over, we had a list of all places where these plants my mom had identified grew—and only two of the rare ones could be grown in New York. Triphoy and Denkin’s Dust.
I picked up the phone and called the scout center after I sent the email, markedUrgent. I needed every available scout in the area to go searching for any place where there was enough of these plants to be used in bulk. If everything went right, we’d have at least a couple of locations by the end of the day.
Ifeverything went right.
Then, I typed a quick email to Chief Randall to tell him what we were waiting for, and I finally could allow myself to sit back and close my eyes for a moment.
“Fuck, I hate it when you get like that,” Eva said with a loud sigh. “You get under my skin, Pink.”
I smiled. “Thanks for the help, guys. I appreciate it.”
“I don’t get it. Why do you need to do everythingright away?” Eva continued, squinting her eyes as she turned her whole body toward me.
“Because it’s Crackdown. It’s a dangerous drug. The faster we figure this out, the less chance of somebody dying from it.” Somebody likeDominic.
And just like that, all the excitement and the good mood of finally having some real leads on this case dwindled away into nothing.Stupid brain.
“People die from drugs every day,” Eva said with a shrug.
“I’m just glad it’s over,” said Patricia. “I swear, I’m not even fully awake yet. And I didn’t even catch Cecile on the way here.” She was talking about the brownie who worked at Headquarters and who heard everything about everything and everyone, then shared that information with anyone willing to pay her price. I still had no idea how Patricia bribed her, but so far it had worked. She came in loaded with rumors every morning—all courtesy of the brownie.
“It’s not over yet,” Hunter said. “Just imagine when we have to actually go search these places.” And he groaned.
“Oh, c’mon, guys. It’s exciting,” I said, but even I didn’t sound excited. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with the case, now that I’d remembered…
Then Hunter pointing his finger at me. “There’s something about you this morning.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks instantly. “Yeah—the case.”