Priya pushed Arkady down a seat. “I’m Priya. You’re a super nerd and my new best friend.”
“Suzy Jones is going to be so disappointed,” I said.
Pri patted the chair. “Sit beside me.”
The Queen raked a shrewd glance over my bestie and I stiffened, reaching for my magic.
Oh. Right. I sighed.
Her Majesty smiled warmly at Priya. “Isabel will be lucky to have a new friend such as yourself.”
Isabel scowled at her mother. “I’m not five.”
“That is too bad,” the Queen of Hearts said, “because I had hoped to prepare goody bags.”
I shivered. That could go so, so many ways and I was both intrigued and really afraid to find out what they would look like.
“Is your entire party not here yet?” Moran said, counting heads.
“We’re here,” I snapped.
“I believe this belongs to you.” The Queen pressed the gold token into my hands. “Levi told me what happened. You and I will talk soon. Nothing has changed between us.”
Would hugging her land me in the Garden of People? Best not to test it. “I appreciate that.”
“Great. Go now,” Isabel said pointedly. “You too,” she added to Moran.
“I’ll sit by the bar,” he said. “You won’t even know I’m here.”
Arkady barked a laugh. “Not likely.”
“Ark,” Miles warned.
Isabel pointed at Arkady. “What he said.”
Miles sighed, directing his words to the Queen and Moran. “I’m betting you know exactly who each of us are and what we can do. Isabel will be fine. I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that, Mr. Berenbaum,” the Queen said. She pressed a kiss to the side of Isabel’s head. “Have fun. And no drinking.”
Isabel rolled her eyes and sat down next to Priya.
“Yes, yes. I am not wanted. Come along, Moran.”
Moran made an “I’m watching you” gesture from himself to me.
As soon as he and the Queen left, Jodie came over to take our drink orders.
“Coke,” I said.
Jodie’s eyebrows shot into her hairline. “And rum?”
“No. Just Coke.” Better stay sober on Isabel’s first night out. Also, there was a one hundred percent less chance that I wouldn’t drunk dial Levi before I had to chance to reflect on the ramifications of our next meeting with a clear and sober head.
“I’ll have the same pale ale as Priya and…” Isabel glanced at the chalk menu over the bar.
“Fries,” we all chorused.
“Oh. Okay.”
Jodie fiddled with her silver earring that was shaped like a snake while the guys gave their orders.
Isabel leaned across the table. “Is she even listening?” she whispered.
“Somewhat?”
“Thunderation!” Jodie held the back of her earring. “Nobody move.” Stiffly, she bent down to find the jewelry on the floor. She pushed our legs aside, making her way methodically around the table with no success.
After having her calf groped, Isabel asked directions to the washroom and fled.
Jodie gave up the hunt with an annoyed sigh.
“Are the earrings special to you?” Priya said.
“Yeah. My ex gave them to me. I was going to scratch his car with them. Now I only have one to throw back afterwards in his smug, cheating face.” Her voice was rising.
A glint caught my eye. “Hang on.” I reached under the table leg and extracted the silver snake from where it had lodged. “It’s right here.”
She took the earring and poked the sharp tip. “This cheap piece of shit will wreck his Mustang.”
“Jesus, seriously?” I said. “Your ex is a jerk who didn’t deserve you. He’s not worth a vandalism charge.”
She blinked at me. “You’re right.”
Arkady frowned. “She is?” Priya elbowed him. “I mean, yeah, she is, but does this change of heart not feel abrupt?”
Actually, it did. People usually got mad at me once I’d solved their problem, let alone when I tried to keep them from making a worse mistake.
Fucking fuck balls. This was three times now. My suspicion was right.
“Jodie,” I said urgently, “if you want to key that bastard’s car, then you go for it. Carve your name over every inch of his special edition paint job. In fact, I insist.”
“Naw. I needed some sense talked into me. I’ll be okay.” Jodie threw her arms around me.
I sat there, wide-eyed.
“I’ll get your drinks and fries for the entire table.” Jodie dinosaur-sauntered off.
“What is even happening right now?” Priya said.
I shredded my napkin with my knife. “I have Charmer magic.” I told them about Isaac and Nurse Sarah.
“You got to know her?” Priya clapped her hands.
“You’re worse than the puppy with something shiny,” I said.
“You have magic again? Fucking hell.” Miles sat back.
“I knew you couldn’t be Mundane,” Rafael said. “You were tapped out. That’s why you couldn’t produce your armor.”
“Yes, but the amulet told me to make a choice,” I said testily, “and I made it, so I don’t appreciate suddenly ending up with my father’s magic, of all things.”
“The amulet speaks to you?” Arkady glanced over at Kenneth, our karaoke host, who’d taken the stage to announce the first song, before grimacing at Rafael and me. “It is locked up, right?”
“As you don’t have goddess-bestowed powers,” Rafael said, “you’re safe. Ash, tell me specifically what the choice was.”
“Destroy Isaac’s magic and lose my Jezebel power or keep my magic and the fight goes on. With the helpful reminder that immortal didn’t mean unkillable.”
“Aha!” Rafael jabbed a finger at me. “That. Your Jezebel magic. The amulet never said you’d lose it entirely, but if you think rationally about it, once the job was done, what would you need Jezebel abilities for? Unless you were planning to wander around ripping out people’s powers?”
“That doesn’t explain how I got Charmer magic.”
“It’s not Charmer magic, Holmes,” Priya said. “If it was, Jodie would have changed her mind when you flat-out ordered her to key the car. You help them choose. You’re not imposing a decision on them.”
“What an excellent way of describing it,” Rafael said to her.
Priya dipped her head. “You’re so sweet.”
“Back to me…” I said.
“You give them clarity,” Arkady said.
“Clarity magic?” I tossed that idea around and nodded. “I can live with that, but it doesn’t explain how I got it.”
“I suspect Asherah isn’t done with you,” Rafael said. “You still serve her, just in a different capacity. You were chosen as a Jezebel for your Seeker abilities, and she’s chosen to bestow clarity magic on you. She saw how much Jezebel magic allowed you to help people see things more clearly, so she gave you powers that would focus on that, without the blood magic part that took such a toll on you.”
“Like how the maiden grows up to be the wise old crone in all the myths,” Arkady said.
I threw a soggy napkin at him.
“It does fit thematically and is a logical progression with being a Seeker. You’ve sought, and now that you’ve found answers you can help share them with others,” Priya said. “And it still ties in to your P.I dreams, because in solving cases you help people achieve clarity.”
I glanced over at Jodie heading our way with the drinks, an ill-fitting smile on her face for me, and tried to hide behind Arkady. “Does this mean there is going to be more hugging?”
“So. Much. Hugging!” Priya said.
“Do you plan to be Rogue, again,” Miles said, “or do you have some other explanation to put on record that I’m also going to hate?”
Arkady pulled a stress ball out of his jacket pocket and handed it over to his boyfriend without comment, who ga
ve it such a workout the stiches were straining.
“The latter,” I said cheerfully. “A recessive gene turned on after the trauma of Pastor Nephus trying to kill me.”
“Well?” Arkady said.
“I’m thinking.” Miles drained half his beer. “There’s documentation on the event and we could categorize your magic with other Empath powers.”
“Really?” I said.
Miles shrugged. “Since my boyfriend would nag me to death if I did otherwise, yeah.”
“Boyfriend,” Arkady said smugly.
I could legitimately be verified by House Pacifica. No more hiding. My P.I. dreams could finally and unconditionally come true.
I couldn’t have done it without all my friends. I threw my arms around Miles. He shoved me off him so I raced around the table to hug Rafael, who gave me more of his awkward pats before squirming out of the embrace.
“I’m happy for you,” he said.
He meant it, even if he sounded subdued. Rafael’s life had been bound to this quest. I had my P.I. business, what would Rafael do now?
I tapped my finger against my lip. “How would you feel about making the business Cohen and Behar Investigations? I don’t need an Attendant, but I would like a partner.”
Rafael blinked at me a few times, then a slow smile spread across his face. “I’d like that very much indeed.”
I held out my hand and we shook.
Isabel returned to the table. “What’d I miss?”
“The fact that it’s time for celebratory singing,” Arkady said. Miles groaned and Arkady elbowed him sharply. “Start us off, Mimi.”
“No way,” Pri said. “You’re singing?”
“Whatever.” Miles jerked a finger at Rafael. “If I have to do this, so do you. And you too,” he said to Isabel.
Arkady pressed his hands together. “All the virgins. It’s a karaoke gangbang.” He screwed up his face. “But not rapey and totally consensual.” He brightened. “Plus, singing!”
I nodded sagely. “Good save.”
“Must I?” Rafael looked vaguely ill until Priya whispered something in his ear. “I’m in,” he said.
“What are you singing, Mimi?” I said sweetly.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”
Isabel lit up. “You mean ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man after Midnight),’ recorded by ABBA at Polar Music Studios in Stockholm, August, 1979?”
Miles crossed his arms, his mouth pressed into a thin line. “That would be the one.”
Arkady barely contained his laughter.
“I love you,” Priya said to Isabel.
“Hey. You still haven’t said it back to me,” I said.
“Don’t be needy,” Pri said. She blew me a kiss.
Isabel laughed. “I love you, too? Miles, that’s a great song. I don’t know what to sing.”
Arkady made a shooing motion at the three of them. “Consult the book. You’ll find something.”
After one last scathing look at Arkady, Miles stalked off, while Rafael accompanied Isabel up to the front.
“Do I want to know how you got him to sing?” Priya said.
“Do I?” Arkady countered. They grinned at each other while I reconsidered my no drinking rule. He kicked my leg. “Commence your odes to my glory in battle.”
I blew him a raspberry.
“Be nice. That asshole did chip me.” He smacked his abs. “The bruising took forever to go down.”
“Oh, whatever, Mr. Badass with the stone fists,” Priya said. “I got us in and provided excellent cuffing service.”
“About that.” I planted my hands on my hips. “What part of ‘stay away’ was hard to understand? Change the security clearances and reprogram the chips on the keycard that Levi got hold of. That was it.”
Priya tossed her hair. “And miss all the fun? Bitch, please.”
The rest of the night marked a shift in my life. I had a solid friend group, with Isabel fitting in perfectly. Miles sang the most curmudgeonly cover of ABBA ever, Isabel bopped on stage with “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” and Rafael shocked the crap out of me with a rousing version of Blur’s “Song 2” that had the whole joint rocking. He even lost his glasses during the performance.
There was no danger hanging over my head, no bad guys to stop, and with the return of magic, my professional future looked rosy.
I was a modern woman who had it all and I was complete on my own.
I downed my third Coke, eyeing my phone, then, before I could second guess myself, I typed a single-word text.
Yes.
Chapter 29
Levi greeted me at the front door in a loose gray T-shirt and jeans, his feet bare. He pushed his glasses up his nose with a boyishly awkward gesture. “Come in.”
I sniffed the air hopefully, but he hadn’t made biscotti.
“We broke Olivia’s code,” he said.
“Mazel tov.” I slipped off my shoes.
The two of us headed into his study.
I waggled my fingers in front of the glass and a skinny little neon tetra swam over to investigate.
Levi reached into a banker box next to his laptop and pulled out a stack of ledgers. “Voilà.” He motioned me over, flipping the top book open to the first page.
“Share the deets.”
Levi tapped the page. “Olivia got suspicious when Jackson wanted Allegra to support the youth shelter because their other charities were far more high-profile. When she learned that the shelter had amended its mandate to take in Nefesh kids, those suspicions went into high alert.”
“Fueled by Jackson’s anti-Nefesh stance.”
Nodding, Levi placed the ledger on his desk. “She began documenting every conversation and detail even slightly connected to the shelter.”
“Was it because she didn’t like Jackson?”
“That and Richard had fallen ill. Olivia had a good thing going with his money laundering plan, because she was getting a cut.”
“Olivia admitted that in the ledger?”
“No. The Queen didn’t want us going public about Hedon’s existence, not wanting the attention or the thrill-seekers, so she gave us permission to speak to Luca. He told us.” Levi rubbed the back of his neck. “Moran stood over me with that damned sword for the entire meeting.”
I laughed. “Been there. Okay, so Olivia saw the writing on the wall and created her insurance policy.”
“Richard hid the money laundering from Jackson, but Olivia knew that with his death, Jackson would find out. As she put it, if he tried to take her down, she’d bury him, too.”
“Gotta love a woman with a sense of vengeance. What was the blurry part I saw? Was it just smudged ink?”
“No.” Levi reached into the banker box again and held up a key. “This was taped to the page over one section of code.”
“Ah. Isabel’s magic shows printed material and the key obscured the data. What’s it for, a treasure chest?”
“Pretty much. It’s Olivia’s gym locker key. She had Jackson trailed by a private investigator and stashed photographic and audio recordings of meetings about funneling those Nefesh teens to Chariot.”
“With all that, it has to be enough, right?”
“If it wasn’t before, we absolutely nailed the bastard now.” Levi smiled. “Talia, of all people, threatened to throw every other skeleton out of Jackson’s closet if the party proceeded with the legislation. Not just his, the party’s.”
I crashed down into his chair. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. Your mother is terrifying.” Levi’s voice was filled with admiration. “She wanted his head on a platter, but we talked her down, and now the current deal is Jackson resigning to spend more time with his family.”
I snorted and made air quotes.
Levi smirked. “The legislation is being withdrawn. Should anyone in that party attempt to resurrect it, we take everything to the media.”
“Then it’s finally over,” I said.
&
nbsp; “There are still some things to be determined.” He walked out of the room.
“Where are you going?” I jogged after him.
Levi led me into the living room where a brown wooden mantel clock sat on the coffee table next to a hammer.
“This looks like a wholesome evening activity.” I sat down on the sofa and read the inscription.
You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar, or place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it, For I am the LORD your God. Isaac’s clock.
Levi turned the hammer over in his hand. “I’ve been staring at it for two days. It was supposed to be a no-brainer.”
“Here’s the thing. Asherah took away my Jezebel magic, but she left me with clarity magic because apparently I’m not done serving her yet.” I made woo-woo motions at him. “Be clear, Levi.”
He stared at me, unimpressed.
I frowned. “Nothing? That should have worked. I thought I had this whole thing figured out.”
“Oh no, it worked. You just need to practice your performance.”
“What’s your decision, Leviticus?”
“To end this.” He swung the hammer into the heart of the clock.
The small round glass face cracked, the wood splintered.
I climbed over the back of the couch, hiding, while Levi methodically smashed the clock into smithereens.
There was a clatter of the hammer being tossed on the table and I peeked up over the top of the couch. “Feel better?”
“Yeah.”
“Great.” I scooped up my things, hands sweaty. It had been a good run, Ash.
Levi wanted to end this. That was his choice and I had to respect that. He’d gotten the closure he needed, and just because things felt unfinished for me didn’t mean that his choice was wrong.
It was just that, his choice.
Clarity. I exhaled, and headed for the foyer. Well, clarity could be a real bitch sometimes.
“Hey,” Levi said, “Where are you going?”
I stopped. “You ended it. Message received.”
“I symbolically ended the hold my father has had over me my entire life.” He spun the bent minute and hour hands on the shattered clock face, weighing things out. “I just wasn’t sure if the best way was to go scorched earth with the clock or if that meant he’d won because he’d gotten under my skin, but actually, that was very freeing.”
Revenge & Rapture: A Snarky Urban Fantasy Detective Series (The Jezebel Files Book 4) Page 29