Page 44 of The Vampire and the Case of the Perilous Poltergeist

Danny snorted. ‘I call bullshit. I’ve never seen someone so fascinated by our “remedial” lessons. No way you were born supernat.’

I grinned. ‘How about this one? I have a wild, hoppity fighting style so my Nomo nicknamed me Bunny.’

Danny grinned. ‘You’re taking it to the grave, huh?’

‘Something like that.’

We raced downstairs and walked into class two minutes late. Captain Engell frowned at us but he was in the middle of his introduction, so we didn’t get told off. The lecture was an overview of forensic accounting, and it was also the final day the guest captain would be with us. If he was involved and he was gunning for me like Thorsen had said, then I might face a kidnapping attempt today. With that in mind, it was hard to focus on Engell’s droning voice.

I’d thought the subject would be boring but I did find some of it interesting, particularly the descriptions of how the authorities found money that criminals had hidden. It wasn’t an in-depth lecture because forensic accountants were specialists, but it gave us an idea of what they did and when we’d need one.

As the lecture was ending, Lieutenant Fischer came into class to announce a surprise squad challenge that would take place after dinner. I found myself looking at him in a whole new light and it was hard to keep the censure off my face. I couldn’t imagine how anyone could hate someone else so much, whatever our differences.

I focused on his words and kept my gaze on my notebook. The squad challenge was a scavenger hunt in the woods behind the academy and I suddenly realised that it was probably an excuse to get the recruits out of the building so that he and Engell could search for the missing documents. Thank goodness we’d hidden them – but was hiding in plain sight going to work or bite us on the arse harder than the were-bunny I’d pretended to be?

Our hiding placehadto work because I wouldn't be able to go back inside the academy until the squad challenge had finished. Connor had messaged and he was coming back at 10pm.

When Engell dismissed the class, he met my eyes and raised an eyebrow, tacitly asking if I'd heard from Patkotak. I shook my head and walked out; I wasn’t giving him chance to get me alone because I trusted him about as far as I could throw him.

Fischer herded us into the mess for dinner; no one was allowed to slip away, not even for a moment. We had to act normally since he sat next to Margi and Eben; it was obvious to me that he was sitting with the supernats to keep all of us in his sights. He knew: he knew one of us had the case.

After we’d finished eating, Fischer led us out to start the challenge. We split into our squads and gathered behind the building for our instructions: we had to locate five landmarks marked on a map using only the map and a compass – no modern tech allowed. Once we found the places, we had to take a squad selfie and the first squad that returned to the starting point won.

The prize this time was an extra two hours in bed while the rest of the recruits scrubbed the building from top to bottom. It was a great prize because no one liked cleaning duty but everyone had to do it. If I hadn’t had a kidnapping, a poltergeist and an evil government organisation looming over me, I might have even given a fuck.

‘Okay, who’s the best with navigation because I’m out?’ I asked, once our group had gathered together. Navigating by map was a weakness of mine; before I’d come to Alaska, I’d been a big city girl and I only navigated via Google maps.

Jones raised his hand and the rest of us nodded. Although he was timid, he’d been the reason we’d won the last squad challenge. Besides, no one else had volunteered.

We’d been given old-school cameras for the photos, so there was no chance we could use our phones and ‘accidentally’ check the satnav. ‘I’ll take the pictures,’ I volunteered.

We sent Jones to get the map and compass. Each squad had been given a different order in which to find the landmarks so we couldn’t simply copy each other. We had ten minutes to prepare to search for our first landmark. When the whistle blew, four squads raced up the hill and into the woods then veered off in different directions. I hated letting Sidnee out of my sight.

It was autumn and the light faded early. We had head torches since it would probably be full dark before we returned, and one squad member had a large flashlight so we could take pics in the dark; even with the camera’s flash, it would be hard to get a good photo without a proper light source.

I turned on my head torch when everyone else did, even though I could see just as well without it. Appearances were important.

Unsurprisingly, Jones did exceptionally well in leading us straight to the first spot. I took our squad photo then he mapped out the second location, which we reached just as Sidnee’s team was leaving. We exchanged grins before she jogged off.

As we raced to landmark three, my anxiety started to fade. We’d hidden the papers well; our ruse would work and we’d get the evidence safely to Portlock. I kept that outcome firmly in my mind. I’dmanifestit, dammit.

I checked my phone: just over an hour until Connor was back and I could slip him my duffle bag. It looked like we’d have finished the squad challenge before he arrived.

We took our photo and waited for Jones to lead us to landmark four. As we started after him, I heard someone mutter, ‘Where’s Danny?’

My heart froze as I looked around. I couldn’t see him. ‘Hey guys, hold up,’ I called. ‘We have to wait for Danny.’

I prayed with all my might that he’d stepped behind a tree for a piss, but the longer we waited the less likely that seemed. One minute passed, then three. Shit, this was bad, really bad. What if Thorsen had been heading me off the scent? What ifIwasn’t the intended target but Danny was? What if they’d already secured him somewhere? ‘Danny!’ I shouted, then we all started calling.

As we retraced our steps, we met up with Sidnee’s group at landmark three. ‘Have you seen Danny?’ I panted desperately. Her eyes widened as she shook her head.

Danny was officially missing, lost in the woods on an exercise – like Petrovich.

Chapter 32

The supernat recruits started to find each other; we had superior abilities, so it made sense that we’d work together to search. Eben was a shaman and Margi a water witch, but Harry and George were shifters: Harry was a caribou and George was a wolverine. Since I wasn’t familiar with those animals, I didn’t know how well their noses worked but they had to be better than human ones.

I grabbed Margi. ‘Margi, is there any magic you can do to help us find Danny?’

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