Sienna's Thorn [Paused]

Chapter 5

'I can't tell if the flower petals were the same,' one of the forensics technicians said, shaking his head. 'The only thing I can really say is they're both organic.'

'Organic? Like...everything alive?'

'Yeah.' He flashed a smile and ran a hand through his red hair. 'Not very helpful, I know. But whatever happened to those petals, they're just ash now.'

'Ash? Did someone burn them? But how?' Sienna was bewildered. They'd been locked up in the evidence room, and she was the first one to ask for them. She had to go and ask the dryad if she knew something they couldn't tell by science.

'No idea. Did you get any sleep tonight?' he asked and leaned back against the worktable, rattling a rack of small glass test tubes.

'Yeah. A little. Still tired after last night's chaos though.' She laughed. Last night. Her smile faded. It had been the worst crime scene she'd ever been to. And the killers were still on the loose. She looked back at the tech, recalling his name was Liam. His white lab coat hung open, revealing a khaki green polo, bringing out his eyes. 'I guess you've had your hands full too?'

'Totally. But that's what we signed up for.' He smiled warmly at her. 'But I can always squeeze in an extra test for you.'

'Thank you, you're a hero!' she laughed. 'But hey, gotta go. Time's scarce.'

He saluted with a grin, then left her, going back to the lab.

Sienna sighed and studied the report he'd written. It was short and inconclusive. What had happened to the petals. She lifted the plastic bags containing a pile of ash, and three yellow petals. She stared at the still recognizable ones. They seemed normal. How could they turn to ash? Turning on her heels she went back to evidence with the bag of ash and returned it along with one of the still normal petals. Then she hurried out to the car. She had to ask the dryad. Bruno was busy, helping out asking for witnesses in the neighbourhood around the murders. People should have seen, or at the least heard, that something was going on. She doubted the teenagers had died in silence.

She walked to the garage, unlocked the car and jumped in. Tossing the petals onto the seat beside her, she twisted the keys in the ignition and drove out. Traffic was bad and she didn't get far before it slowed to a crawl. Peering ahead she spotted the curved brown back of a giant beetle, a tiny goblin sitting on top, steering it.

'Dragon's breath,' she muttered. The beetles were useful, but they were always in the way in the cities, slowing traffic down. She kept glancing at the petals as the cars slowly inched forward, expecting them to turn to dust at any minute. But nothing happened. Going through the crimes in her head she turned on the radio. Moonday, boy in the cabin, killed from internal injuries, like from barbed wire or thorns, petals all over. Edge of the forest. Sunday, nothing. Skyday, teenagers killed in mysterious ways. Pierced, stabbed, cut in half, bleeding out from internal injuries. Petals at the crime scene, leading towards the centre of the city. Suburbs at the edge, then outer reaches of the city proper. Where to next? When?

'Where are you going, monster?' she muttered as the traffic started moving again. Turning, she left the main road. It would probably go faster with a detour around the more trafficked roads. With or without beetles.

The radio caught her attention. "... yesterday's gang violence where five teenagers were brutally murdered. It's not known which gang they were up against, and the VPD are silent. But many speculate the goblin gangs or nagas were responsible for the carnage. On to politics. Today, a prominent visitor flew in over Vauldrak City. President Goloragh, the red dragon lord from Siwult is here to participate in the efforts against..."