Page 19 of Some Swans Don't Swim
“Well, stop it,” he rumbled. “Or next time I won’t be so nice.”
“Promise?”
We both laughed.
“Merry Christmas, Belle.”
I sighed and wrapped him up even tighter. “Merry Christmas.”
* * *
AS SOON AS THE SUNwent down, we used Night’s Fall to transport to the swans in the park. It was snowing hard but gently at the same time since no wind cut through the air. With no sounds of screaming or jingle bells, I took the opportunity to study the stone statues in more detail. Sawyer kept close to me while Jacek and Eddie scoured the rest of the park for where Krampus might’ve been keeping the children.
“Why here do you think?” I asked Sawyer, and the swans, too, if they cared to answer. “Why this park?”
He crossed his arms as he stared down at one statue, frowning. “Krampus has always had a weird fascination with kids. Eddie’s book said Krampus used to punish them before he was caught. There’s probably a psychological reason for it, maybe something to do with his brother, Santa. The park reflects that.”
I looked over at him, nodding. “Damn, Sawyer. You’re good.”
“Almost nine hundred years of human observation will do that.” He shrugged. “It’s why I’m good at my job. Humans are complicated, sure, but we all have the same basic needs.”
“Like love for one.”
He smiled as snowflakes collected on his long lashes. “Like love.”
“Is it weird to feel a little sorry for Krampus? He missed the mark so badly with these swans trying to make himself hot with kids’ blood, but hewastrying. Trying to get love, when he couldn’t from somewhere else.” It was sad, really. No one should ever feel that alone, especially during Christmas.
Sawyer nodded. “I think it’s normal to feel sorry for him.”
“Maybe he just needs a hug. Not from me, though.” I turned back to the swan statue in front of me, then knelt on the ground with one knee pressed to the snow to get a closer look at the tip of its wing. “Sawyer?”
“Yes?” he said, crossing toward me.
I peered closer and then pointed. “What does that look like to you?”
He lowered his bulky frame next to me, his movements just as graceful as the birds we studied. “A ring... A ring made of stone.”
“Yeah.” I stood and dusted myself off, keeping my ears peeled for any sound that shouldn’t be there. “Swans don’t wear rings.” I skated my gaze over the rest of the statues, catching on the rings fastened to their wings. Their left wings, all in the same position...almost like wedding rings.
Uh-oh. The devil had said that someone in his employ had helped Krampus escape and had made him seven rings. Had Krampus forced the rings on them, sort of like the devil’s marriage proposal he’d forced on me? From these swans’ positions and expressions, they weren’t happy. At first, I’d thought they looked terrified, but now... Maybe they were pissed. Maybe it had been the ring to turn them into stone long enough to keep them out of Krampus’s fur so he could collect the blood of seven children. Since the swans were supposed to turn Krampus to stone, maybe somehow the rings turned their magic back on them.
Tricky dick move.
In the distance, the ring of jingle bells sounded.
Sawyer and I whipped around.
“I’ll distract him for as long as I can so he can’t take another child,” he said and ran off toward the post office across the street.
“Don’t get eaten!” I called after him.
“You either,” he called back.
Didn’t plan on it. I started searching again, scouring the park through the falling snow. Sometimes I’d catch glimpses of Eddie and Jacek searching, too, as well as hear the sound of jingle bells, coming closer.
If I were Krampus, where would I hide the kids? I couldn’t even wrap my brain around the question, let alone the answer. I retraced the path Francisca had taken when she’d run away from Krampus. He’d been leading her behind the jungle gym, so that had to have been on the way to where he kept the rest of the kids. Or near it, at least. But, as I already knew, there was just snow-covered ground.
A light rush of blustery wind creaked the swings behind me, and as I turned, I saw something jutting up from the snow behind the line of trees to my left. One of the trees still lay on its side, its icy branches resting in a pile from our wrestling match. I strode closer to whatever poked out of the snow, which was two trees down from the fallen one.
