“Maybe not, but you haven’t lost your powers.”
“Neither have you.” Sarah let out a deep sigh. “It’s alright, Reg. I know you tried. I know you would if you could.”
Jessup cast Sarah a glance. She wasn’t quite so sure. Had Jessup told Sarah about Reg’s past? That Reg was a liar and a cheat? That she had stolen and conned her way across the country? Sarah would never trust Reg if she knew everything.
⋆ Chapter Ten ⋆
R
eg returned to the cottage, tired and wrung out as she always was when she performed a task that took a lot of psychic energy. She really had done her best for Sarah, whatever Jessup might think. Reg stumbled and Jessup caught her arm. She made sure Reg was steady before letting her go again. Reg walked up to her door and leaned against it briefly.
“Something is wrong.”
Jessup hovered just behind her. “What’s wrong, Reg?”
“I don’t know. Something.”
“Because you couldn’t find the necklace? No other psychic would have done any better. Some objects just can’t be found that way. Maybe Sarah is right. Maybe it was stolen and whoever stole it is shielding it from any attempt to seek.”
“It’s not just that.”
“What else?”
“There’s someone…” Reg scowled, finding it hard to focus. “I can’t get their face out of my mind.”
She looked back at Jessup, who raised her brows. “Who?”
“If I knew that, I wouldn’t have said ‘someone.’”
“Where did you see this face? Was it in a vision? Maybe it’s the person who is in possession of the necklace. Maybe you’re seeing the possessor rather than the necklace itself.”
Reg considered this. “I don’t know… I don’t think so. Her face was already in my mind before I tried to find the necklace. I’m not sure where I saw her.” She shook her head. “It’s just one of those things, like having a word on the tip of your tongue. I’ll probably wake up at two in the morning and know who it is.”
“Not important, then? Not related to this case?”
Reg breathed out in frustration. “No. It’s nothing.”
Reg was aware of people coming and going to and from Sarah’s house. She didn’t see them, but she heard their cars and she could feel them close to her, as if she were in Sarah’s basement and could hear their footsteps and voices overhead. She remembered thinking that Sarah had been talking to someone when she and Jessup had first gone to the main house. Had there been someone else in the house that Reg and Jessup weren’t aware of? Or maybe she had been talking on the phone. Or it had been the TV.
Reg felt restless, anxious for everyone to go back home so that she could have some peace. A few times she peeked through her front curtains, but she couldn’t see anyone. She could just feel their presences there.
As it drew into the evening, Reg was getting hungry, but she didn’t want anything in the fridge. She decided she needed to get out of the house. She’d had too much pizza and Chick fil A the last little while, so she decided to see what she could find that appealed to her at the Crystal Bowl, a hangout for the paranormal community. That was where she had originally met Sarah on her first day in Black Sands.
Bill, the barman she knew best, was on duty. He smiled at her. “Miss Rawlins. Haven’t seen you around for a while.”
“I’ve been sort of busy. But I’ve been around a couple of times when you were off, too.”
“Well, as long as you’re not starving.”
“No, I get plenty to eat.”
He drew her a beer and placed the glass on a napkin in front of her. Reg took a few swallows and sighed. “Oh, that feels good.” She closed her eyes for a minute, feeling the warm flush spread over her. “This is a strange place, Bill.”
“The restaurant?”
“Black Sands. I’ve never known anywhere like it.”
“Don’t know that there is anywhere like it,” he agreed.
“I’ve never been anywhere that so many people actually… believe me.”
He chuckled. “Those with powers have never been particularly well-received.”
Reg nodded.
“But that’s not what has you so unsettled,” Bill suggested.
Reg looked at him, surprised. “No, I guess not.”
“What’s on your mind?”
“I’m just feeling so out of sorts. Everything seems like it’s out of sync right now. People who are usually calm and happy are upset, I can’t find anything, and there are just too many people coming and going!”
Bill raised an eyebrow. “It is a restaurant and bar. People are going to be coming and going all day long.”
“I know that. I didn’t mean here. I meant at the house.”
“Your house?”
“No, not mine. Sarah’s. Every time someone comes, it feels like they’re walking over my grave. I get all anxious and can’t wait for them to leave. And then I feel worried about why they were there in the first place. It’s none of my business.” She shook her head. “I know that. It’s never bothered me before. But now I can’t stop noticing.”
“You heard about her missing emerald.”
“Yes, of course. I’ve helped look for it.”
“Maybe you don’t feel safe. Like someone might steal something valuable from you.”
Reg thought instantly about Corvin, then pushed him out of her mind. He wasn’t going to take anything else from her. He was never going to get the chance. She thought about what Bill had said.
“I don’t know. Maybe. If she valued it so much, why didn’t she keep it somewhere safe? Having it right there at the house, that doesn’t seem very smart. There are banks. Services that store jewels and keep them in top shape until you need to use them again. Why risk it? It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“It needs to be near her to perform its function.”
“What?”
“For it to benefit her. She needs to be in the same vicinity as the emerald. Having it in a bank wouldn’t have helped her.”
A missing piece of the puzzle was falling into place. It wasn’t just valuable because it was a great big emerald, it also had magical properties.
“What exactly does it do?”
Bill looked the other way and found it necessary to retreat to the other end of the bar to polish the counter and talk with his patrons there. Reg waited for him to return to where she was so they could continue their conversation.
“So the emerald is a powerful object?” Reg asked.
He looked sideways at her. “You didn’t hear it from me.”
“I’m sure you’re not the only one in town who knows. What exactly can it do?”
“Of course Sarah has never said directly, but…”
“You might have some idea.”
“Rumors and gossip. Nothing you can put any stock in.”
Reg raised her eyebrow, waiting. He seemed determined to tease her, but Reg knew how to handle a gossip-monger. She took a sip of her drink and looked away as if distracted by other thoughts. Bill couldn’t stand the show of indifference.
“Word is,” he leaned in closer to her, “that it provides certain health benefits.”
“So it keeps her from getting sick?”
“Perhaps.”
“Well, seeing as she is a witch, she probably knows about all kinds of potions and other things for her health. An apple a day…”
“This goes far beyond protecting her against colds.”
“Hmm.” Reg supposed that was why Sarah had bragged about being older than she looked. She was apparently in good health for a senior. She kept up her appearances, at least until recently, and while she was a little overweight, she still seemed to be strong and active. “I guess that explains why she felt like she had to keep it in the house, then. I don’t know why she didn’t just tell me that. And if it was me… I still would have had some kind of security system.”
She realized that she probably shouldn’t be gossipin
g with the bartender about how lax Sarah’s security was when she had fantastically expensive jewelry there. That was just asking for a burglary.
“But you didn’t hear that from me,” Reg said quickly. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Your secret is safe with me.” Bill pantomimed locking his lips.
Reg shook her head at the contrast between Bill’s appearance and the juvenile gesture.
“You want some food to wash that down?” he asked, nodding to Reg’s nearly-empty glass.
“Yeah. That is actually why I came here. Whatever’s fresh today.”
He nodded and went to the kitchen to put in an order for her. He busied himself with other customers and cleaning up before he drifted down her way again. He looked past Reg.
“Well, speak of the devil.”
Reg turned her head slightly, far enough to see Sarah just getting settled. Despite how often Sarah ate there, Reg hadn’t expected to run into her. She thought that with the theft, Sarah would stay home, being miserable by herself and not wanting to deal with other people. Reg smiled at Sarah, but Sarah just stared blankly back. She sat down and got settled, not motioning for Reg to join her. Reg had been getting ready to jump off of the stool and go sit with Sarah, so the fact that Sarah didn’t want Reg there threw her off balance momentarily. She perched there, body tensed, for several long seconds before finally slouching back down, a bit embarrassed and wondering whether anyone had been watching to see her spurned by her friend.
Reg turned back toward the bar, giving Sarah her back. She wasn’t going to stay there gawking, looking like a hurt puppy kicked to the side. Bill was hovering nearby. He motioned to her empty glass.
“Refill?”
“Thanks, yeah.”
Bill filled the glass back up, making no comment about the situation. At least he didn’t try to tell her that Sarah just hadn’t seen her or that things would get better and be back to normal soon.
“Your dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”
“Thanks.” Reg slid her phone out and started to look through her social networks, no longer wanting to talk with Bill or to engage with anyone else.
She heard the restaurant door open and, before turning to see who had just come in, Reg felt a noticeable increase in the temperature of the room. She turned her head partway to see Corvin Hunter standing in the doorway.
Reg turned and looked for Bill to tell him to cancel her order and she’d come back another night, but he had her dish in his hand, already approaching to put it in front of her. Reg rubbed the center of her forehead, which was beginning to throb, and tried to think of what to do. She’d ordered and her meal was there, so she needed to just eat it and go home. It wouldn’t be fair to Bill or the restaurant owners to have to eat the cost of her meal just because Corvin Hunter had come in. They couldn’t exactly ban him from eating there. Or they wouldn’t want to, anyway.
Reg accepted her plate with murmured thanks and looked back over her shoulder to see where Corvin was. He had moved over to Sarah’s table and was talking with her. Sarah didn’t really even like Corvin, so why was she talking to him? She certainly knew that she couldn’t trust him. She’d told Reg a million times.
Reg shoveled a few bites into her mouth and looked back again. Corvin was not just standing there talking to Sarah, but had sat down with her. And Sarah didn’t appear to be objecting. They leaned toward each other, talking quietly, walling off the rest of the room with their bodies and paying attention only to each other. As far as they were concerned, Reg didn’t even exist.
Reg didn’t even know what she was eating. It was some kind of seafood, but it might as well have been fish and chips from the grocery store freezer section for all she knew. There was no reason for her to be feeling like the outcast little girl that no one wanted to play with at recess. She had plenty of things to do to entertain herself. She hadn’t made arrangements to have supper with Sarah or Corvin and there was no reason they couldn’t have dinner together and not invite her. She wasn’t even friends with Corvin, and Sarah knew that. In fact, it would have been thoughtless of her to invite Reg over when she knew Corvin was going to be there in a few minutes.
But she still couldn’t help feeling resentful of their meeting and eating there without even giving her an acknowledging smile or nod.
Reg was nearly finished shoveling her meal into her mouth and they had barely even moved, talking intently, not putting in an order as far as Reg had seen.
She put down her fork, the fish like an iron ball in her stomach. She couldn’t eat another bite. She threw down enough money to cover the drinks, meal, and a generous tip for Bill, and headed for the door.
⋆ Chapter Eleven ⋆
C
orvin’s eyes caught on Reg as she moved toward them. He said something to Sarah that made her turn around and look at Reg.
“Oh, hello, Reg. Nice to see you,” Sarah said, her voice and manner as bland and colorless as a bowl of oatmeal.
Reg paused, looking for something to say. She looked at Corvin, shaking her head as he started to speak.
“I didn’t know you’d be here,” she said flatly, “or I would have stayed at home.”
“No need to cut yourself off from the world for me,” Corvin’s voice was as smooth and warm and enticing as it ever had been. Reg made sure to stay back, giving him a wide berth. “I’ve tried to call you.”
“I know. I’m not interested in talking to you.”
“Regina…” Unlike Dave Smith, Corvin always pronounced it correctly. Not only that, but he sounded like a lover murmuring it, intimate and sexy. “I’ve told you how sorry I am for what happened. It was a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes…”
“Uh, no. Not everyone makes mistakes like that. Only you make mistakes like that.”
His face flushed and his jaw clenched. “And I’ve apologized.” He ground the word out like it was a personal affront that he should ever be expected to apologize to anyone. He thought he was special. He thought the rules didn’t apply to him. As far as he was concerned, he should be able to do whatever he wanted to. And if he were forced to apologize, she should have to accept his apology.
He was a predator. That was what he was. He had appetites, like anyone else, but he thought that he should be allowed to satisfy them, no matter what the cost to anyone else. He was different, a special breed of warlock, and the world owed him.
“Is everything okay, Sarah?” Reg asked, deliberately turning away from Corvin as if he were of no concern to her.
Sarah looked at Reg vaguely. Her thoughts were probably muddled by being so close to Corvin. She was seeing Reg through a fog. “I’m fine?” Sarah made it sound like a question. As if Reg had told her that she was fine and she didn’t quite believe it.
“I don’t know if you are. Maybe you need to get some fresh air. Get away from the warlock’s glamour.”
“Corvin hasn’t done anything,” Sarah sighed. “What would he want with an old witch like me?” Her tone was tired and distant. Despite the fact that she had dressed and done her hair to go out, she seemed to be aging right before Reg’s eyes. Her wrinkles were deeper than Reg remembered, with makeup caked between them. The bags under her eyes could not be disguised. And her dyed-blond hair was fading to gray.
Corvin raised one hand slightly so that it hovered over Sarah’s. She didn’t appear to take any notice of this. But Reg had seen Corvin do this before, had even been on the receiving end. This was not what he did when he was stealing powers; rather, he was boosting Sarah’s physical strength. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t do both at once, or use the one to get the other, but he didn’t lean in to kiss Sarah, as he would have to take her gifts. He just kept his hand over Sarah’s, watching her face.
Reg could see that Sarah’s complexion was improving, getting more pink and losing some of its dullness. Sarah put her other hand to her head.
“Yes,” she said faintly, “that’s better.”
Corvin sat ba
ck again, pulling his hand away. Reg had to admit that he did sometimes do something nice for someone else. But there was almost always the expectation of something in return. Reg didn’t know if he was expecting some kind of compensation from Sarah, but if he was, it didn’t appear to be immediate.
“You’ll feel better after you’ve had something to eat,” Reg said, not looking at Corvin. “Have you ordered anything?”
Sarah looked at her glass of water, not answering. Was she slipping that quickly? Reg had always known her to be bright and engaging, on top of everything. Seeing her so vague and distant was disturbing.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Reg said, whispering to Corvin in spite of her determination not to talk to him. “This is all because of the emerald?”
“She has relied on its merits for a long time.”
“But at this rate…” Reg looked at Sarah again. Sarah didn’t appear to be paying any attention to what Reg was saying. “At this rate of decline… she’s not going to last very long.”
Corvin shook his head.
“What about… other things? Couldn’t she take some potion, or maybe some other emerald… even if it’s not as big…”
“Letticia is putting together a restorative for her. But its effects will only be temporary, and every time she uses it, it will have less efficacy. And there is only so much strength I can give her. Her aging process must naturally catch up, and when it does… she won’t survive.”
“How can you say that? Even if she’s older, that’s not a death sentence. We can find ways to help her to stay healthy and… bright. She’s always a little funny when you’re around, you have an effect on her.”
“Reg… you don’t understand what we’re talking about. I’m not talking about her being eighty years old, or even a hundred. As her natural age catches up to her… she will die.”
Reg looked at Sarah sharply.
“You can’t talk that way around her. And what do you mean? She’ll be more than a hundred years old? She is more than a hundred years old?”
A Catastrophic Theft Page 6