by Logan Byrne
“You’re positive that this brick was the right one?” Charlie asked.
“I’m as positive as I can be. This was it,” I said.
“They must’ve come back for it,” Xelia said.
“How would they even know?” I asked.
“Maybe the old man tipped them off about somebody asking about it, or maybe they enchanted the brick to alert them when it was removed. We can’t know for sure, but I think it’s safe to say that it isn’t here any longer. We’re going to have to finish this case the old-fashioned way,” Xelia said.
“Let’s get out of here before somebody comes,” Charlie said. I put the brick back in place, turned off the lights, and we ran out to the car and drove off. There was nobody around to spot us. I had a sour feeling in my stomach, like I’d been duped, and I just hoped that they believed me when I said it was here last night. I shouldn’t have come here alone, or I should’ve just taken that stupid box with no regard for what happened.
18
“It’s so nice to have some time to hang out again,” Britta said. The five of us got back together, having finished our work for the night, and just hung out like old times. It felt like it had been so long. I didn’t even really know what was going on with Britta, and I lived with her. These cases, and this job, consumed everything about our lives, but I was confident it would get better once we were out of this first month.
“It’s nice to not be around nerds anymore,” Faus said.
“But Faus, you’re a nerd,” Blake said, smiling.
“Okay, maybe, but not like these other people. I’m really starting to go crazy in there with them,” he said.
“What are you up to, job-wise?” I asked.
“I’m working on a system that will make booking more efficient. It involves an algorithm using special barcodes that will expedite the process to save on paperwork,” he said.
“Thank you!” Britta exclaimed. “I can’t tell you how much I despise paperwork.”
“It’s definitely the worst part of this job,” Blake said.
“How about you guys?” Faus asked, looking at Charlie and me. “What have you two been up to?”
“The most intense, crazy case ever,” Charlie said, rubbing his face with his hands.
“That bad?” Faus asked.
“It’s just been very time-consuming and it involves much more participation than I think we both expected. It’s very advanced, let’s say, for a first-time case,” I said.
“Well, what’s going on?” Faus asked.
“We’re undercover, kind of, in an illegal casino operating pretty close to here, actually. We’re trying to collect evidence against them to build a case,” I said.
“We had a good lead recently, but it turned out to be nothing,” Charlie said, obviously alluding to my wild goose chase.
“We’ll get them, I’m sure of it. We just need some help taking them down, I think. I know Xelia is experienced, but this is a big takedown, not like some corner drug dealer or something,” I said.
“Well, maybe I can help?” Faus asked.
“I appreciate it, but I thought you weren’t allowed in the field,” I said.
“Not that way. My mentor developed some tiny cameras, like really tiny cameras, that you could maybe put on yourself or something. You can get pictures or videos and use them in court,” Faus said.
“That’s actually pretty genius,” Britta said.
“I like it, we should do it,” Charlie said.
“What about Xelia?” I asked.
“You’ll have to tell her, but I’m sure she’ll be on board. How could she not be?” Faus asked.
“I’ve been thinking lately that we’re going to need to plan an attack, a raid,” I said. Charlie perked up.
“How would we do that?” he asked.
“Well, we need to get Xelia on board, and then get other cops to join in,” I said.
“We will,” Blake said, and Britta nodded.
“See, we already have support. It wouldn’t be hard, we could even bring in the auditors,” I said. The auditors were a group of mages who did slightly more dangerous or top-secret missions for M.A.G.I.C. They were cops, but they had higher authority and could go toe-to-toe with more dangerous foes. It was considered the top honor of the force to join them.
“That will be a tough sell, but I think you could do it,” Blake said.
“Should we talk to Xelia?” I asked, looking at Charlie.
“Yeah, maybe we should. We already saw the kitsune racing and the casino itself. I think we have enough evidence to take those guys down. The cameras from Faus will only accelerate it,” he said.
“What is this? Shouldn’t you all be in bed?” Mirian asked, coming up behind us, smiling.
“Oh come on, we’re adults now, we don’t have a bedtime,” Charlie said.
“Still, I’d rather you all be in bed and rested for your work tomorrow,” Mirian said.
“How are things?” I asked, looking at him.
“Things are moving along,” he said, glancing around before continuing. “We may have a position on some duskhowlers and are looking into it. I also heard news that Kiren Nightstorm is going to be visiting the precinct soon,” he said, lowering his voice.
“What? Why would he come here?” I asked, making a sour face.
“To inspire the force and kick us into gear, I hear. I think he’s coming to recruit some new cops and put them on his payroll,” Mirian said.
“We have to stop him,” Britta said.
“It’s not our place, not now. This is a game of chess, and his king isn’t quite out in the open yet. We will do it, just have faith,” Mirian said. “But I was serious about bed. All of you up, now,” he said, waving his hands up and down.
“Yes, Dad,” Charlie said, laughing.
“Lexa, can I talk to you for a second?” Blake asked, catching up with me as I walked to my room.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“How have you been?” he asked, his hands in his pockets.
“Good,” I said, drawing out the word, “and yourself?”
“I’ve been doing well. Listen, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to, you know, get together sometime soon? Maybe just you and me?” he asked.
“Like a date?” I asked.
“I guess you could call it that, yeah. We never got to have the one we planned at the camp, after all,” he said.
He looked so cute standing there, a nervous smile on his face, but I still didn’t know if now was the time. My stress level was at an all-time high from this case, and I wasn’t sure I had the time to commit to him. I barely had enough time to use the bathroom every day, it felt like. Still, I knew I couldn’t push this off forever. He wasn’t going to give up—not that I wanted him to—and I missed talking to him. He always did make me smile, and I could use some cheering up.
“Sure, we can,” I said, much to his shock.
“Okay, great, I’ll think up something and get back to you. Maybe this Saturday or Sunday?” he asked.
“That sounds lovely,” I said, smiling, before turning around and going into my room.
“Somebody looks happy,” Britta said, pulling out her pajamas.
“Blake just asked me out,” I said.
“I thought you weren’t doing that,” she said.
“I’m not, I just, I don’t know, it seemed right. Besides, I could use just a fun night to forget about my case, forget about the stress of being here, and have a nice night with a friend,” I said.
“With a friend?” she asked.
“We’ll see,” I said, smiling.
“What about that Asher kid?” she asked.
“What about him?” I replied.
“Didn’t he ask you out, and you told him no? That now wasn’t a good time?” she asked.
“Well, yeah, but I meant it. It wasn’t a good time,” I said.
“I just think his feelings will be hurt is all. Besides, didn’t you like him?” she as
ked.
“I didn’t like him, I don’t know him. I just thought he was nice and sweet. I don’t know, you’re making this all so confusing right now. It’s just a harmless little date, it’s not like we’re getting married. Don’t make me think too much about this,” I said.
Asher would get over it, I knew it.
“We hit the mother load,” I said, walking into Xelia’s office with Charlie the next morning.
“Why am I scared that this is going to be bad?” she asked.
“This is our ticket to success,” I said, and we set three tiny cameras down on her desk.
“What are these, dead flies?” she asked, looking down.
“No, they’re cameras,” I said, laughing.
“For when we go back to the casino. We can use the footage to nail those idiots to the board,” Charlie said, pumping his fist.
“I love it,” she said, shocking us both.
“You do?” I asked.
“I think they’re small enough, especially if you wear black, and they’ll never see them. I agree that we need physical evidence, and pictures and video are exactly that. We’ll use them tonight,” she said.
“And when will we actually do something about this? The whole arresting thing? They know somebody is snooping around, so what’s stopping them from getting rid of the casino or moving it somewhere else?” I asked.
“If we get the evidence we need tonight, we can plan it for a few days from now. This is going to be a coordinated effort, and we’ll need all hands on deck. There are a lot of people to take in, creatures to rescue, and drugs to confiscate. I’d say we need at least twenty officers, if not more for good measure,” she said.
“Why do I feel like this case is much bigger than what we should’ve had for our first case?” I asked.
“Because it is. Mirian asked for it to be,” she said.
“Wait, what? He never told us about this,” I said, looking at Charlie.
“Well, of course not, that’s not the point. He has high hopes for the two of you, and he wanted to see how you would do with a bigger case. Anybody can catch a drug dealer or burglar, but properly and successfully taking down a case like this is a sign of a future rock-star cop,” she said.
“Well, that doesn’t make me nervous at all,” I said, my arms crossed.
“I would like to make a deposit,” Xelia said later that night as we re-entered the antiques shop. We had cameras fixed on us, a live feed being sent to Faus in the lab, where he was recording and analyzing it in real time. We had no earpieces, no way to talk to him in case he found something or recognized somebody, because we needed as little on us as possible. There was no way they were going to see these cameras. I was sure.
We still had our old chips and showed them to the host. We bought a few more, just to look like normal patrons. “Hoping to win tonight?” he asked as he took the money from Xelia.
“We’re sure hoping so, aren’t we, guys?” she asked, smiling and looking at us.
“I feel lucky tonight,” I said. If only they knew what kind of win we were going to score.
“What kind of racing do you have tonight, do you know?” Charlie asked.
“Tonight is the last of the kitsune division before we bring in manticore duels,” the man said, sounding excited.
“What are those?” I asked, trying to look intrigued.
“You take two manticores and put them in battle with one another until one wins. The betting works the same as it does for anything else, with you betting on a victor,” he said.
“I can’t wait,” I said, smiling while secretly throwing up on the inside. We had to shut them down before that started. It was one thing to have kitsune race around a track, and another to force creatures to fight to the death. If only I had my wand right now, he’d be feeling as hurt as if a manticore had just stung him.
“I think I’m going to switch it up and play some cards tonight,” I said, heading over to the blackjack table.
I’d learned a couple of card tricks during my time as a thief when I scammed a few drunk players, but I’d never tried them against a dealer. “There’s a twenty-chip buy-in,” the dealer said.
I pulled out a twenty chip, pushing it towards him, and he dealt me a hand. I had a ten and a seven. I opted to hold, forcing him to hit. He hit one card, a three, taking the ten and three he already had to sixteen, and another hit forced him to bust. I was already up.
“That was a great hand,” the man next to me said, pulling his cigar out of his mouth. “The name’s Holden,” he said, extending his hand.
“Nice to meet you, Holden, I’m Lexa,” I said, smiling.
“Would you like to play again?” the dealer asked.
“Hit me,” I said, smirking. I won my second hand, narrowly, and my third hand was blackjack off the bat, which seemed to make the dealer squirm a little in his booties. Holden egged me on, a small crowd starting to form around me. I looked over at Xelia, who was motioning for me to cut it out and get out of there. I was bringing too much attention to myself. “I’m going to have to pull out, boys. It’s been fun,” I said, collecting my chips and putting them in my velvet pouch.
I must’ve won a thousand chips, easy, maybe more. I didn’t have time to count them. As I walked over to the slots I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, seeing the man from the memory, the one with the soul patch, standing there smiling. “Good evening, miss, how are you tonight?” he asked.
“I’m doing well, and yourself?” I asked. His pretty little face looked like it needed to be punched right about now.
“I’m doing very well, thank you for asking. I couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of your performance over at the blackjack table just a bit ago. It was quite impressive. How did a girl like you, so young, learn to play so well?” he asked.
“My grandfather taught me when I was a girl,” I lied. I didn’t break eye contact, no veins in my neck bulging, as I kept my poker face so he wouldn’t call my bluff.
“Ah, that’s nice. Well, I can see my staff need me, it looks like we have a problem with our baked goods. If you’d just excuse me, thank you,” he said, walking off.
Was that some kind of nod to me? He couldn’t have known I was the one who talked to the old man and found his secret stash in the bricks. I was fully disguised that night, even down to my fingers, and I left nothing behind to indicate it was me. I turned around, seeing him dealing with his staff over an issue with some cake, which made me calm down a little. He wasn’t talking about you, Lexa, just keep calm and focus on the task at hand, I thought.
“Kitsune racing starts in ten minutes. If you want to place a last-minute bet, now is the time,” a man said over the speakers. I looked over at Charlie. He nodded in the direction of the window and I got up and walked over.
“Number two, please,” I said, picking the same fox as last time. I handed him a hundred chips, a drop in the bucket compared to how full my pouch was this time around. He cashed it in and gave me my ticket.
“Where did you learn to play cards like that?” Charlie asked softly as we walked towards the portal.
“I was a thief, Charlie. I picked up more skills than just grabbing an old vase off a window sill,” I said.
The crisp smell of fresh air cleansed my palate as we walked through the portal and back into the woods. The stars were twinkling above, the moon a crescent. The chips in my pouch clinked together as Charlie and I walked to the covered platform.
“Thank you,” Charlie whispered, seeing the table once again filled with steaming food. He immediately stuffed his face. The precinct cafeteria food wasn’t as good as this. Looking around while he ate, I noticed someone I recognized.
“That guy, the one in red,” I said softly to Charlie. “He works at the precinct.”
“I’ve never seen him,” he said, his mouth full.
“I know I have, I’m positive of it. He works in intake,” I said. Mirian and Xelia had both said there were corrupt cops, ones who worked for
Kiren and were under his control, but I never expected to see one here. I knew he would recognize Xelia if he saw her, and there was no way he’d believe that she’d joined up with Kiren and he didn’t know about it.
He seemed a little tipsy, a partially empty drink in his hand, and he didn’t look twice at me when he saw me. Maybe I was too new to the force for him to recognize me. That was my only saving grace right now. “After the race, we need to get Xelia and bail out before he sees her,” I said.
“Why not just leave now?” he asked.
“We need the evidence of the racing. We should both go to opposite ends and get different footage,” I said. Charlie nodded.
The kitsune were brought out onto the track, the people cheering as the kitsune cowered while being dragged by their leashes. Charlie went towards the right and I stayed on the left. I looked down at my camera, hidden right under the bust line in my dress, and prayed that it was still recording for Faus.
The kitsune were lined up in their pens, the handlers walking off the track, before the lights turned on. They flashed green and the doors of the pens jolted up. The kitsune burst out and started to chase the fake rabbit again. This time another one was limping a little, and its fur looked a bit too dirty to be healthy. I felt rage overcome me, a light rash forming on my chest and neck. When the race ended, number six won. I motioned for Charlie before I walked off alone towards the portal, letting him catch up to me. I was too angry to even be there. I knew I was one step away from releasing the mark and using my magic against them.
We walked through the portal, grabbed Xelia, and told her we needed to leave. I started gagging, acting sick so the host up front wouldn’t think twice about getting us out before I threw up. Once we were through the portal we high-tailed it out of there and headed back to the precinct.
“What’d you get?” I asked as we walked into Faus’s lab.
“Everything,” he said, pushing his glasses up. “It will take me a little time to compile the footage, but it should be done by tomorrow.”
“I can’t believe we have them,” Xelia said. “Getting these men off the streets will be catastrophic for their businesses, if you can call them that. This will take a lot of power away from them.”