The Charm Runner (Broken Throne Book 1)

by Jamie Davis

  Danny had no doubt about neighborhood demand, but now he had to find a way to secure what they needed. To do that, he needed Winnie on his side. His plan would work, but he had to give her something of value to make her trust him. He had a secret, something he’d never shared with anyone. It might be the thing that would help get Winnie Durham to trust him.

  He’d tried texting and calling, but she hadn’t responded. Her only reply had been a single text: Busy with the shop. He assumed that meant she’d somehow found a way to stay open in the face of Resolution 84. There was nothing left for him to do but hit the Enclave and visit Charmed in person. Danny needed Winnie’s help to put his plans into motion, and he’d tell her anything to get it.

  Danny got in his car, a sporty two-seater convertible that always invited the attention of girls, and drove downtown.

  He parked close to Charmed and walked to the entrance, looking in as he reached for the doorknob, surprised to see a crowd inside the store. He wasn’t sure what she was doing to keep her shop open, but it seemed to be working. He saw they’d rearranged things in the store and the sales counter was now right beside the entrance. Winnie looked up as he entered, flashed him a smile, then turned back to her customer.

  “It’ll be ready to pick up on Saturday, Ma’am,” Danny heard as he approached. “You’ll find it good as new when you return.”

  “And the other thing we discussed?” asked the well-dressed businesswoman.

  “Everything will be as you expect it when you return,” Winnie said. “I assure you.”

  The woman nodded, then turned, almost running into Danny on her way out of the shop. She seemed nervous and in a hurry to leave and didn’t even spare him a glance. Women like that usually checked him out, appreciating his looks with a smile and a nod. She barely glanced at him as she passed by with a mumbled apology.

  There were a few other customers, but Winnie’s employees seemed to be taking care of them. He’d seen them both before, including the tall blonde with the short hair and the small mousy one with longer brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. Were they friends? And if so, how would that affect his plans?

  Danny approached the counter, smiling at Winnie. “You’ve been avoiding me. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you weren’t interested in seeing me again.”

  “I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve been busy. You got my text, right?”

  “I couldn’t believe you were that busy, so I came down to see for myself. Looks like you landed on your feet. How did you get the shop back open? I thought you were forbidden to sell magical goods.”

  “I can’t sell them, but I can repair existing magic and charms. It’s a loophole in the law. What about you? I thought you’d be moving on to some upscale princess more worth your time.”

  “I think you underestimate the power of your charms, Winnie. I’ve been thinking about you since the other night. You won’t respond to my messages, so I figured I’d have to come and talk to you in person.”

  “So talk,” she said, scribbling something on a ticket then fixing it to a glass mixing bowl sitting on the counter beside her.

  “Is there somewhere we can go?” Danny asked, eyeing customers and employees. “Maybe in the back, away from prying ears? I have something I want to ask you.”

  Winnie stopped and looked at him. Then she nodded, pointed toward the back of the store, and started walking. Danny threaded his way past the waiting customers and around the counter behind her.

  “I have some business, Cait,” she called to the blonde. “I’ll be in the back if you need me.”

  “Yeah, business,” the blonde laughed. “I think we can manage without you for a while.”

  Danny wanted to laugh with her, but kept it to himself. He remembered her response to his casual advances the other night.

  He followed Winnie into the back, looking around the office and storeroom. She pointed to a chair next to the desk then sat in the one behind it. She was acting so professional. This wasn’t going as had planned. He expected Winnie to want to see him again, to be excited that he’d showed up to see her. This was different, throwing him off his game.

  Danny took a moment to gather his thoughts.

  Winnie patiently waited, smiling. Then, finally, she said, “It’s good to see you again. I’ve been so busy with getting the shop back open. Then we got this rush of customers, and now there are all these repairs that need doing. I’ve wanted to see you, but couldn’t get away. There is something I want to discuss with you. It’s business but it would mean we would have an excuse to see each other.”

  “It’s alright. I’ve spent the last few days thinking of a way we could spend more time together, too. I finally thought of something that could benefit both of us and give me an excuse to come down here. But you thought of something, too, so you go first.”

  A moment’s hesitation, then, “I think there’s an opportunity for the two of us to work together. The other night, I was making the sort of delivery that people in your neighborhood want. But I couldn’t come and go without getting noticed, and that almost got me caught. I think we can solve that problem, without exposing either of us to the other night’s risk.”

  Danny pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair. “Go on.”

  “You’ll be our conduit for charm running in Assembly Hill. If things work well there, I’m sure you have connections in all the city’s poshest neighborhoods. The opportunity for expansion is huge.”

  “And you need me to connect you to all of this? What’s in it for me?”

  “Besides the excitement of being the connection for all your friends’ magical needs, you’d get a cut of everything we make. I figure if we make three of four big deliveries, we can be set for the whole year.”

  Danny looked at Winnie. He saw a fire in her eyes and it excited him. She was living a real life, a dangerous life, and he wanted in.

  “What about Artos Merrilyn?”

  “I have an arrangement with him for other things. I don’t see the need to involve him in this.”

  “I’ve heard he doesn’t like it when others deal Sable items without his permission. Maybe we need a safety net, a secret that would lead him to look favorably on us if we’re caught.”

  Winnie looked at him. “What kind of secret are we talking about? I’m not as worried about Artos as I am about the loose lips of your friends.”

  “Two things. First, you don’t need to worry about my friends. I’ll be the one they see, not you. I won’t share my connection with them. They’d just try and go around me to get straight to you and that would put us both at risk. Second, you’re never going to get ahead just repairing magic here in this shop and running the odd charms through to your customers. You could have a much better life and I’d like to show it to you and help you reach it for yourself.”

  “How do I know I can trust you?”

  “Because, I’m willing to share a secret with you that I’ve never told anyone. And I’m going to tell because I think it’s something you would want to know, and something that could be used to protect you should you run into some sort of troubles with Artos Merrilyn.”

  “I’m intrigued.”

  Danny looked at the closed door, wondering if they were audible on the other side.

  Winnie read his concern. She waved her hands in the air and muttered something under her breath. “There. No one’s listening. I made sure of it, so tell me this secret that will convince me to go into business with you.”

  Danny looked around, a little uncomfortable with magic being used this close to him. He drew a deep breath then started talking.

  “When I was ten years old, my parents took me to witness an Assembly session. They were proud of the fact that they would receive an audience with Director Kane himself and wanted to present me to him, show off the Temperance movement’s newest generation. I don’t remember much about the visit except that I was bored most of the time.

  “When the time came to meet Director Kane, I wa
s frightened. I got so nervous after shaking his hand that I almost had an accident. I asked my parents to take me to the bathroom, but they didn’t want to cut their audience short. So they sent me out of the chamber on my own to find the restroom. But I didn’t get far — just out of the room, I turned back to ask my parents something, I don’t even remember what. But I do remember what I saw.”

  “What?” Winnie asked, leaning forward.

  “My parents were frozen, their eyes wide and mouths slack. Director Kane was standing over them, whispering in some sort of language I didn’t understand and wiggling his fingers in front of their eyes. I hid behind a curtain next to the doorway, watching as he cast a spell on my parents. I knew that was what he was doing. Then he snapped his fingers and they both resumed a conversation, mid-sentence.

  “Neither of them realized that anything had happened. I was terrified. I slipped back out of the room and hid in the bathroom until my father came looking for me. The audience was over and I never saw Director Kane in person again. But from that point on, my parents were more than just Temperance followers — they became fanatical. I’m convinced he cast some sort of spell on them that cause the reaction. I don’t know why he would do such a thing if he was a chanter, but I know what I saw.”

  “Let me get this straight. You’re telling me that you saw Director Nilrem Kane, the head of the Department of Magical Containment, the man who hates magic more than anyone in the world, using magic? Nils Kane is a chanter? That’s impossible. It does sound like a ten-year-old’s imagination.”

  “I’m telling you what I saw. I’ve been skeptical of all of the Temperance leaders ever since. How could they all be so fanatical in their devotion to anything Nils Kane tells them to do without magic? I’ve seen it in action. They watch his speeches and take everything he says as gospel without any question. Even his most outrageous claims against the use of magic and its dangers are taken at face value. They’re all under his thrall.”

  “But it doesn’t make sense. If he’s a chanter and uses magic himself, why would he seek to have it all outlawed?”

  “I don’t know, Winnie. I only know what I saw. And I’m telling you now, as an object of my dedication to us working together. No one else knows this, and it couldn’t be proved anyway, but I swear it’s true.”

  Danny sat, waiting and watching as Winnie processed what he told her. He’d never shared this memory with anyone and it scared him to share it with her now. He barely knew her. She could betray him, use this to secure a favor from Director Kane for herself by turning him in. Who knew what the Director would do to silence this secret?

  “Alright, Danny. I believe you. That’s a good secret to have in the pocket, should we need it. Artos won’t be happy if we get caught running behind his back. That might just be the insurance card we need.”

  “So that’s it. We’re in business.” He leaned over and shook her hand. He wanted to do more, but he settled for the hand shake. The rest would come in time. This chanter girl was something special.

  CHAPTER 20

  “So that’s it. We’re in business.”

  Victor Holmes sat in his squad car around the corner, stewing in disbelief.

  Could it be true?

  He heard a gasp in the seat beside him — he wasn’t the only one to be blindsided by the revelation about Director Kane. The constable looked over at Morgan. She looked back, aghast at what she’d just heard. It confirmed for him that he hadn’t been hearing things.

  Victor had given Morgan two micro transmitters to place in the shop, one near the register and the other hidden somewhere in the back office. They were tiny enough to be practically invisible, and each had a six-month battery. Victor had convinced Morgan to place them that morning. The girl had gone into her sister’s shop and he’d listened as she’d greeted Winnie and her friends while roaming around, making small talk. She’d come back after her brief visit to Charmed, sitting in the squad car with Victor while he checked to make sure they were transmitting properly.

  Never in his darkest nightmares had he expected to discover something like this. Even if it was true, he wasn’t the only witness. Morgan had heard it as well.

  Even the in the face of the ridiculous accusation against Director Kane, there was good news. They now had knowledge of specific plans to engage in the Sable trade to the city’s upper class neighborhoods. He’d watched Morgan’s face as they’d listened to Daniel Barber suggesting that they sell illegal magic to his friends and neighbors in Assembly Hill. It was an affront to the hard work of the neighborhood’s namesake governing body that so many who lived there apparently owned or wished to secure forbidden magic.

  “What are we going to do, Constable? This isn’t what I expected. I don’t want to know any of this. I want nothing to do with it.” Morgan planted her face in her hand, looking as if she was trying to hide from this new and horrible truth.

  “None of us ask for evil to be visited upon us. This isn’t your fault. It’s your sister’s. She opened up her immoral business and suborned the Barber boy to work with her. Her unholy influence caused these lies. Clearly, she’ll stop at nothing to discredit Director Kane and all he’s done for our country.”

  Victor had to do something to smooth over the information so that Morgan didn’t go running off and sharing what she heard.

  “Morgan, we have been handed a special privilege here. We hold information that could change everything. But we cannot do anything that would help the enemy, those who would wish to tear down the pillars of our world. Director Kane is a good man. I have met him. He is working to save our world, to keep the United Americas from falling into a wasteland like Europe.”

  “You’ve met the Director?”

  “Yes, and he is dedicated to our cause. But your sister and her companions now stand in his way. They’re working for those who would do anything to discredit him, including spreading this terrible lie. We must work together to stop them. Even my own officers cannot be trusted. But I can trust you, right?”

  Victor searched Morgan’s eyes and saw something he hadn’t seen before. She had been hanging on his words, searching for an anchor. She reached out and touched his hand.

  “Tell me more about how you know Director Kane.”

  Laying his hand atop hers, Victor told her.

  CHAPTER 21

  Winnie came out of the back office with Danny and saw that the shop was even busier than before. Artos had told her that word of mouth would spread. He was right. Customers could claim that their magical device or tool used to do something that was now broken, and Winnie could add back the missing functionality, even if that function had never existed.

  There was a line at the register and Tris and Cait were hard-pressed to keep up with the backlog. That, plus the need to create the charms, was overwhelming her small business. She needed to expand, and quickly, if she expected to keep up with this while also servicing Danny’s friends and neighbors.

  Winnie was running out of people she could trust. She was wondering how to expand her inner circle while maintaining secrecy when Joey came in the front door. He had started working with Artos part time and was spending a lot of the rest of his free time here, helping out.

  Joey was always hanging around. He’d always tagged along when Winnie, Cait, and Tris had played as children. The seventeen-year-old had grown up looking up to her and her friends. He was pretty sure he had a major crush on Cait. He had his issues with addiction, but maybe he was clean now.

  In any case, she needed the help and he was a very talented spell caster. If she could teach him how to invert the flows like she did, she could double her output and cover the extra business her new arrangement with Danny needed. She knew he would help if she asked, but was he ready for the secret? Could he even keep the way she rewove the flows on magic items secret?

  She turned to Danny. It was time to move forward with this. There were always risks.

  “Danny, start finding out what we can sell to your friends
, and what they’d be willing to pay. Make sure they understand this is for top-dollar items and value. Come back with a list and we’ll work on inventory and prices.”

  “Sure thing. Maybe next time we can meet for dinner. I’d love to take you somewhere nice.”

  “I would like that.”

  Danny reached out squeezed Winnie’s hand. It was all they could do to show affection in this crowded shop, but it was enough for now. She squeezed back, then let go of his hand as he headed out to execute their new plan. She turned and saw Joey watching.

  “Hey, Joey. Why don’t you meet me in my office? I want to talk.”

  Moments later, they were alone, behind the same closed door where Winnie had heard an impossible truth just a few minutes before. “I’d like to ask you a favor,” she said.

  “Of course, Winnie. Anything.”

  “Don’t agree until I tell you what I’m thinking. It’s never a good idea to say yes until you know all the details of what someone is trying to sell you.”

  “Yeah, but that’s with other people. I know I can trust you.”

  Winnie winced a little inside. Despite all the horrible things he had seen and done, Joey still looked at things as a kid did in so many ways.

  “How much do you know about what we’re doing here?”

  “You guys are repairing stuff, fixing charms so they work again. I’m kind of surprised that so many things need repairs all of a sudden, but good for you guys, finding a way to keep the shop open. I bring you things that need repairing from Mr. Merrilyn, too. I’m sure it keeps you busy.”

  “What would you say if I told you that these things aren’t as broken as people claim?”

  “What do you mean? I saw all the people out there. Their magical items aren’t working. That’s what they said.”