by Oxford, Rain
“What about the red-headed woman that Astrid killed? How did you find her?”
“Instinct. And I’m surprised her twin isn’t hunting us down to try to kill us.”
“Twins?” Henry asked.
“You said the bouncer saw one of them get her earring bit off by Ghost. Was that the one Astrid killed or not?” Darwin asked.
I thought back to the woman on the ground. “No, I think her ears were fine. Hang on, Ghost gave us an earring more than a month ago. Assuming it was hers, we can do a tracking spell to find her. Surely she can’t be too far away from the amulet.” I pulled the small box out of my drawer and emptied it onto the desk. Between my spare change, an extra lighter, and a couple sticks of chalk was the metal earring.
It was one of those dangling things that were just thin metal. I pulled out my tracking kit that I got from Remy. Darwin got one also, but he didn’t believe he had the magic necessary to use it. I handed the white plastic bottle of gallium to Henry.
“Warm that up.”
He frowned, but did as I asked. When the metal started to melt in his hand, he gaped. “What is this?”
“Gallium,” Darwin explained. “It melts at just over eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit.”
He looked at me with a darker glint in his eyes. “Do you know what you could do with this? You can make decoy keys. You can make a key that will unlock something important and use special gloves so that you can use it. If the key gets stolen, it would melt in the thief’s hands because they wouldn’t know to use the gloves.”
“Okay, give me burglary tips later. That could definitely be helpful in my job, but we need to get this case done with first.”
I dropped the earring in the glass cup and directed Henry to pour the liquefied metal into the cup. Using the focusing techniques I learning in Tanaka-sensei’s class, I concentrated on the women from my vision. Picturing their red hair, slender bodies, and the creepy auras I would liken to a black widow about to eat her mate, I poured the gallium out onto the plate.
When it stilled and fogged up, it showed me a bedroom with the woman sleeping under thick white blankets. “Don’t do that. I need a location,” I told the metal.
The fog changed to show me the front of a motel room. It was a chain motel, which would have been perfect if I had the town name. I imagined a blank, green street sign.
“Hey,” Darwin whispered.
I looked down to see a street sign, just like I imagined, with addresses on it. It was between Twenty-Eighth Street and Ironwood. “How long would it take you to track that motel?”
“With the street sign, the motel name, and knowing that it’s close to Stephen’s coven? Half a second if I had a computer,” Darwin said.
A knock on the door broke the thoughtful silence. Henry and Darwin began cleaning up the mess while I opened to door to find Astrid standing there. I glanced out the window to see it was barely dusk.
“It’s only direct sunlight that hurts me,” she said. “Can I come in?”
“I know you don’t need to be invited in. You’ve been in here while I was sleeping.”
Her expression was sad, almost resigned. “I’m not coming in again unless you invite me. I’m tired of trying to hold onto it when you never give an inch.”
“Hold onto what?”
“My humanity.” She turned and started to leave.
“Wait.” Before she could take two steps away, I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room. “You can come in.”
“Hey, you got a computer?” Darwin asked her. She shook her head. “A mobile?”
She pulled a flip-phone out of her jacket pocket. “It doesn’t have internet. And you can’t tell Hunt. He told me we’re not allowed to have electronics here.”
Darwin dialed a number and put it to his ear. “Hey, Mum!” His voice was high with excitement, but it sounded more like he was hiding disappointment. “Is Dad there? No, I’m not in jail. I just need to talk to Dad. No, I haven’t found a wife. Can I talk to Dad? Mum, stop telling me about the neighbor’s daughter… yes, I’ll see the list when I get home. Take the phone to Dad. Mum! I need to talk to Dad! No, I really love you, but I need to… Please, Mum. Please just take the phone to Dad. What do you mean he’s in a meeting? Okay, bye, Mum. No, I’m hanging up. I love you, but I’m still hanging up. Bye. No, I’m not doing drugs!” He hung up.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“My mother is a bit talkative and she has no computer skills.”
Henry took the phone, dialed a number, and scowled as he put it to his ear. “I need the address to a motel,” he said, growling. He gave the general location, the motel name, and the street addresses. A few seconds later, he snapped the phone shut without another word. “I have an address.”
“Was that your parents?” Darwin asked.
“That was my mother, and she is not talkative.”
“Is that normally how you talk to her?”
“Yes. Why?” He handed the phone to Astrid. “I would destroy this phone if I were you,” he told her.
“You should have warned me before you used it,” she said. She hadn’t forgiven him for his weird behavior when the shifter said she was marked for death. “I’m here to tell you I’m going back to the coven.”
“Why?”
“I have a job to do.”
“Do you work at the blood bank?” Darwin asked.
She rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” I said.
“I hunt paranormals that kill others, particularly those that kill humans.” With those parting words, she turned and walked out.
* * *
Darwin, Henry, and I went to Hunt to ask to borrow his SUV, since none of us had brought our own vehicles. The headmaster was in his office, once again arguing with Remy. Instead of risking getting caught when we already knew what the argument was about, I knocked.
“Come in,” the headmaster called. We entered. Remy and Flagstone were sitting on the couch and the shifter’s arm was around the young witch. Hunt stood front of them, obviously having been pacing.
“Well, I think I found where the amulet is, so is it okay if we borrow your car?” I asked, trying to get a startled reaction out of them.
Remy and Flagstone stood. “Rosin and I will go with you,” Remy said.
“I will go,” Hunt said, looking at Flagstone. “You stay here and run the school.”
The shifter’s eyes glowed slightly as he growled at the headmaster. “I am not your child.”
“No, but she is,” Hunt said, gesturing to Remy. “And if you ever want to see her again, you will do as you are told.” Flagstone growled louder, his lips spreading to display his sharp wolf teeth. Hunt made a flicking motion with his hand and the professor vanished.
Remington was pissed. “He’s going to get tired of this shit one of these days and leave you on your own.”
“He will not. Mr. Mason, Mr. Lycosa, you two need to head back to your room. Remy and I will help Devon.”
“Uh, no offence, Headmaster, but Henry and I should be the ones to go with Devon,” Darwin argued.
Hunt frowned. “Why?”
“Because he trusts us and Amelia disappeared when she went to see you.”
“Because we would choose to protect him over hunting for a key,” Henry added.
“Nonsense. You two return to your room and leave this to us.”
My roommates both waited for my decision. I preferred to have Henry and Darwin back me up rather than Remy and Hunt when the two were arguing over Flagstone. On the other hand, they were both extremely powerful in magic and I didn’t want my roommates harmed.
“Go back and I’ll get in touch if we run into trouble.”
They nodded and Henry gave Hunt the address. Ten minutes later, Hunt and Remy got into the back of the SUV and I got in the driver’s seat. I knew the way to the vampire coven by then, so I got started without any instructions.
Soon, they starte
d arguing in the back. After the first half hour of this, I was looking for the next cliff to drive us off of. An hour later, Remy fell asleep and I finally had a little peace. The rest of the drive was quiet. I had to stop for gas at one point, so I got some beef jerky and coffees. At the counter, I saw penlights for sale. Realizing I might have to use one as a magic conduit again, I bought all twenty that they had.
* * *
It was nearly nine by the time Hunt started giving me specific directions to the hotel. When I pulled into the small motel parking lot, I parked away from the other cars. “Remy, you go distract the manager. Hunt, keep a lookout from the car. I’m going to go scope the place out.”
“You want me to pick a fight with the manager?” Remy asked.
“Actually, I meant for you to flirt with him.” She made a face. “Fine, you be the lookout, Hunt can to flirt with the manager.” I got out without waiting for their responses and started for the room closest to the office. The bell dinged as Remy entered the office.
I didn’t feel anything odd near the first room, so I meandered leisurely down the walkway. It wasn’t until I passed the twentieth room that I paused. There was a dark presence in this room, similar to Regina’s, but not as subtle. I sent out my power and let it be drawn to the malevolent being inside. Her mind was unguarded so I sensed it for a split second before she felt me.
I wished I hadn’t.
I ran for the vending machines about twenty feet away and managed to dive behind them just as I heard the door open. After a few seconds, the clicking of her heels echoed as she slowly walked closer and closer. There was no point in trying to hold my breath since the soft hum of the vending machine disguised it.
She stopped right in front of the machine. If she leaned over or even took a step forward, she would have seen me. I knew if she caught me that she wouldn’t be any good to us in finding the amulet. She took a step…
“Excuse me. Can you tell me where the closest mall is?” Remy asked, her accent thicker than normal.
“Sorry, but I don’t live around here,” the woman said. Her voice was deep with suspicion and irritation.
“Okay, thank you anyway.”
I sensed Remy walk away and, after a few minutes, the woman walked away as well. I didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until I heard the door snap shut. After checking that the coast was clear, I hightailed it back to the SUV, where I found Remy and Hunt waiting.
“Why didn’t you distract the manager?” I asked Remy as I got in the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“Yeah, had a bit of a problem with that. Besides, it’s a good thing it didn’t work, or I wouldn’t have been able to save you.”
“You’re right. What kind of problem?” I pulled the truck into the side parking lot of the diner across the road from the motel and parked in a spot behind a small tree. We could see the door of the room but we couldn’t be seen back.
“Well, I can tell you he would have preferred if you distracted him.”
“Oh.”
We entered the diner and asked for a seat next to the window. We were the only customers aside from a couple of bikers, so it wasn’t a problem. Remy sat by the window in the dark red booth, Hunt sat beside her, and I sat across from them. None of us said anything until the waitress returned with our coffees and left to put in our burger orders.
“What’s the plan?” Remy asked, watching the room through the window. At least motel rooms didn’t have backdoors.
“I don’t think she’s the one with the amulet. We need to capture her, get her back to the castle, and question her.”
“If she is not the one with the amulet, we need to know who she is working for,” Hunt argued. “We should follow her back to the amulet.”
“We have no idea what we might be walking into. She could be bait for…” I trailed off, distracted by the man across the street. He wasn’t looking around; he had a destination and a determination about him. By his shirt, I could tell that he was the manager.
He stopped in front of the woman’s door and knocked. Almost immediately, it opened to reveal one of the red-headed twins from my vision. It was too far to see her face, but he took a step forward…
“Here you are!” the waitress said brightly as she arrived with our burgers. I helped move the napkins and silverware out of the way for her to set the plates down. “Can I get you anything else?” she asked.
“We’re good, thanks,” I said, looking back out the window. The manager was returning to his office. “We’ll do this your way, but I’m against it.”
* * *
We stayed at the diner for two hours before it started getting suspicious. We went back out to the car and sat there, watching for another hour.
“Oh, my god,” Remy moaned. “How long before the winch moves?”
“She’s probably asleep. Let’s take shifts in sleeping or none of us are going to be any good tomorrow. Remy, you should start.”
“Why?”
“Shut up and go to sleep,” I barked. She huffed and leaned against the window to sleep. “You can sleep, too, if you want,” I told the headmaster.
“I am fine. Rosin is asleep and I try to make sure we are never asleep at the same time.”
“Are you ever going to tell me what’s going on between you and him?”
“That is between us.”
“Did you save his life or something?”
“Something to that effect. Go to sleep. I will keep watch.”
I ignored him and leaned back, watching the door as if the woman was going to get up in the middle of the night and leave her room.
* * *
“I don’t want to go to the movies!” I yelled.
I thought I understood why my mother’s expression was shocked. As far as she knew, I hadn’t left the house after night for over a year. I had even overheard my parents discussing me when they thought I was asleep. Dad had suggested I was afraid of the dark and that he needed to beat it out of me. He told her to lock me outside at night.
Had she done as he said, I wouldn’t have minded. Astrid was there for me every night, and I wasn’t going to let them take me from her. Not even for a movie night. It was only years later that I realized she was shocked because I yelled at her. She shouldn’t have been; her husband yelled at her all the time.
My mother was like a sponge; she took it until she couldn’t take any more and then she just bled tears of self-hate. I lost count of the times I found her in the bathroom crying because she didn’t do something right and my father was going to get angry again.
Astrid would never cry. She would never let anyone yell at her.
At least, that’s what I thought when I was a little kid. My mother told me many times that it was her fault, so I pitied her for making mistakes. Because Astrid never cried, I thought that meant she never made mistakes.
“I guess if you don’t want to go, we don’t have to,” she said, sadly. I looked out the kitchen window and saw that it was nearly sunset.
“We can go this weekend,” I said, trying to cheer her up. “I didn’t know you wanted to see that movie so much. I just don’t want to go out at night.”
“Don’t tell your father.”
I started to walk out when I saw her blue flowered suitcase under the table. “Are you going somewhere, Mom?”
“No.”
I couldn’t bring my feet to move. Something told me I needed to go with my mother. Her expression was so sad. She always said my smile made her happy. I opened my mouth to say I changed my mind… and then I saw Astrid through the window. She beckoned me out, excited about something, and then disappeared.
“We’ll go Saturday morning, okay?” I asked. I could only see Astrid at night.
“Sure,” she answered, still not sounding normal.
I went upstairs and crawled out my window. Somehow, Astrid had managed to get back to her room and was sitting on her ledge by the time I got there. “I got you something,” she said excitedly. She held out a
large, shiny, green, paperback book called Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart.
“What is it?”
“It’s a magic book. You can learn magic to keep your dad from hitting your mom.”
“He said magic wasn’t real.”
“He lied,” she said. There was no doubt in her words, so how could I doubt her?
* * *
I woke to a sharp tapping and hit my head on the steering wheel as I tried to get away from the window. I cut off the first couple of cuss words, gasped for air, and rolled the window down when I realized who it was. “Don’t do that!” I exclaimed.
The headmaster laughed. “I believed you would be harder to spook than that.”
“I’ll give you spooked, you old bastard.”
“Not a morning person?” he asked.
It was actually hours past the time I normally woke up, but the night classes at the university had my sleep schedule all messed up. I opened the door, missing the wizard by an inch, and stepped out of the car. My back made several ugly cracks as I stretched. “I’m getting too old to be doing stakeouts in the car.”
He gave me a sour look. “I am more than three times your age.”
I hoped he was joking.
“Hey, now, it’s not a contest,” Remy said as she approached us with a paper bag and tray of three coffees. “I hope you like it black.”
“Thank you.” I took one of the coffees and drank half of it before I stopped for breath. Remy shoved a napkin-covered glazed donut at me, which I took gratefully. Doughnuts weren’t my favorite breakfast, but they went great with coffee. “So, she hasn’t come out yet?”
Remy shook her head and yawned. Even tired, with her hair pulled up in a sloppy ponytail, the woman was gorgeous. Her exotic green eyes caught the sunlight beautifully. After a few seconds, I forced myself to look away. She and Flagstone were happy together, whether Hunt liked it or not.
We finished our breakfast standing up and tried not to be too suspicious about watching the door. When we were done eating, we got back in the car, but after another two hours, I knew something was wrong.