by Lysa Daley
He just nodded.
I slipped into the hallway, trying to look nonchalant. Luckily, the hallway was empty as I started down. I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this would work. But just as I arrived at the library’s dark, locked front door, a wizard I didn’t recognize, carrying an oversized plastic soda cup, came around the corner. “Are you Lacey?”
I thought about lying and saying no, but instead I replied, “Yes. Can I help you?”
“Hi, I’m Barry from Spectral Phenomenons. I sent a request for some books on wraiths yesterday. I’m still waiting,” he said impatiently, swirling the ice in his cup.
“Oh hey, Barry” I said, hesitating at the door. “I will pull those books ASAP and give you a call.”
Actually, I pulled the books he’d requested yesterday, and they were sitting in a neat little pile waiting for him.
He seemed annoyed. “I really need them.”
“I’ll pull them right now and send a messenger with them over to your office. How’s that sound?”
“Fine. But please be quick,” he grumbled and headed back the way he came. “This wraith is causing lots of trouble in a middle school in Sherman Oaks.”
“Will do, Barry.” I tried to assure him. “Lickety-split.”
After Barry marched off, disappearing round the corner, I waited a second then whistled. Sam’s head poked out from the stairwell, then he made a mad dash across the hallway in through the grand library door. He looked around in awe. “This is a pretty fancy library for an office building.”
“Yep. This place is pretty great.” I opened the door to Mr. Morty’s office and led him inside. “Stay in here where no one can see you.”
He continued, “This library feels like it should be at a university or in an old cathedral or something.”
“I know.” I nodded. “We even have our own ghost.”
He laughed, then his smile faded. “You’re kidding, right?”
We heard the front door boom open. “Lacey McCray, where are you?” called an angry female voice.
“Stay here and don’t come out.” I poked my head out to see Karolina, again dressed from head to toe in black leather, scowling at me.
I guess that was an agent thing.
“Hey, Karolina.” I moved back to the circulations desk. “What’s up?”
She stomped over to the desk and leaned her elbows on it. “You’re trying to steal my reward. Huh? Is that it? ”
“What reward?”
“You know what I’m talking about.” She jabbed a pointy red-nailed finger at me. “The Paranormal Society for Stupid Elves put up a big fat reward to find Mr. Morty.”
“I don’t think that’s what the society is called.”
“I don’t care what they’re called.” Her nostrils flared. “You’re not going to weasel in on my money.”
“As far as I know, it’s an open reward. So how exactly am I trying to steal it from you?”
She laughed. “I know you’re working with him.”
“Who are you talking about? I’m not working with anyone.”
“Stryker, you dumb bitch. I oughtta kick your ass here and now.”
“Hey!” Sam shot out of the office. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
“Sam!” I said, furious that he was trying to defend my honor. “I got this under control.”
“Who’s this?” Her eyes went wide. “He’s human! You brought a super-nothing into the building?”
Great. This was a disaster.
“I can explain.” My mind raced.
“I can’t wait to hear,” she replied.
“What’s a super-nothing?” asked Sam.
“Obviously, he’s human.” I rolled my eyes like she was an idiot. “This is Officer Sam Brown, special liaison with the LAPD. He’s here at the request of the police chief to do some highly specialized research.”
“Oh…” She squinted. “Is that one of the new outreach programs?”
“Exactly,” I replied, then changed the subject. “Where is Stryker?”
“How should I know?” She shrugged bitterly. “He’s not returning my calls. We were supposed to meet at the beach around lunchtime, but he never texted me the directions. And he isn’t responding to my messages.”
Now I understood why she was upset. “And you think that he bailed on you to work with me.”
“I heard you were out in Malibu this morning with task force dealing with that dead body recovery. I figured you gave Stryker some hot tip, and he decided to throw me over to work with you.”
Having been previously screwed over by Stryker on a case, I could understand why she was suspicious. He’d stolen an invisibility helmet right out of my hands.
“Wait, you were meeting him in Malibu?” I asked, getting a very bad feeling. “Was he meeting someone else too? A woman named Serena?”
“Yeah… this chick that worked at some hotel said she knew how we could capture the mermaid that’s been luring the men to sea.”
So they were still stuck on the mermaid theory.
“But it’s a siren who’s been killing at least some of the missing men. That was confirmed this morning.”
“I know that now,” she said, practically rolling her eyes. “Why do you think I’m leaving messages for Stryker. I figured you already told him that and were going after the siren.”
My bad feeling was getting worse. “I’m pretty sure he’s walking right into a trap.” I pulled out my phone and called Stryker.
Stryker was a werebear. Kelly Jackson said that Serena needed her tenth live heart to be a were’s heart. If she could trap Stryker with her deadly voice, could she rip out his living heart and permanently change herself into a land living siren-were?
“Oh honey, you don’t need to worry about Stryker,” she said with a dismissive shake of the head.
“But he doesn’t know what he’s walking into.” While it rang, I asked her more questions. “Have you used the scrying glass or any spells to try to find him?”
“Ugh.” She flipped her hair, sounding bored. “I hate all that old-fashioned stuff. You know what? I’m done with that creep. He’s too much of a player.” And she started for the door.
“But Stryker actually needs our help!” I called after her.
Karolina didn’t care. “Good luck! If he thinks I’m a sucker, he has another thing coming. You can waste your time on him.”
After she left, Sam finally spoke, “What’s going on?”
Before I answered, I called Stryker’s cell again and this time left a message. “Don’t meet with Serena by yourself. She’s the one who’s been killing the men. She has a gang of selkie thugs to back her up. Call me and I can explain more.”
Sam listened carefully, obviously recognizing Stryker’s name. “That’s the wizard who made the gargoyles fly? That’s the guy that pretty much saved my life.”
I nodded and grabbed my bag. “I gotta go.”
As I approached the front door, I saw Mr. Stroud with two security officer trailing behind him marching toward the library.
“Oh no,” I said, grabbing Sam’s arm. This was the last thing I needed. “You have to hide. My boss is coming.”
“The Englishman in the suit who’s trying to wipe my memory?”
“Along with two massive security guards.”
Where could I hide him? We both realized at the same moment that this wasn’t going to work.
“I’m dead,” Sam said, defeated. “I’m totally dead.”
Dead! That was it.
I pushed passed him into Mr. Morty’s office and opened the secret nook that Headie the ghost had shown me.
“Get in here.”
He looked alarmed by the tiny space. It was small but he would just fit. “In there?”
“You got a better idea?”
Dismayed, he shook his head and smushed himself inside. I pushed the door closed, grabbed a book off Mr. Morty’s desk, and pretended to be reading as I casually strolled back to the circulations desk
.
“Good afternoon, Lacey,” Mr. Stroud said, waiting for me at the circulation desk with the two security guards flanking him.
“Oh hi.” I acted surprised. Then I remembered Stryker. I’d been so focused on keeping Sam hidden that I’d nearly forgotten about what Karolina had just told me. “I’m so glad you’re here, Mr. Stroud. I was just coming to find you.”
“Were you?”
“I’m worried that Stryker is in trouble.”
“Why?” he asked, and I quickly got him up to speed. Then he just laughed. “Stryker is our most experienced agent. I’m sure he can take care of himself.”
“But, he isn’t aware that —”
“You left him a message, right?”
“Yes but what if he doesn’t listen to it?”
“Seriously, Lacey. Don’t underestimate an agent with as much experience as Stryker. He’ll probably have her in custody already. We put out an all-point bulletin for her. I’m sure Agent Smith saw that. It’s probably why he’s going to meet her,” he replied, but I felt almost certain Stryker wasn’t up to speed. “That’s not why we’re here, Lacey. Our security camera caught something very interesting this morning.”
“What’s that?” I asked sweetly. My stomach tightened. They knew about Sam.
A dark-suited security guard held out a phone playing video. “This was recorded a little over an hour ago.”
Sharp black and white footage of the exterior of parking garage played. It showed Sam waiting until a car exited the garage so he could duck under the closing security gate.
I crossed my arms in front of me and pretended to be shocked. “I thought Officer Brown was still in the hospital.”
“He was scheduled to be released today,” Mr. Stroud replied, offering no more information. “Have you seen him, Lacey?”
“Why would I have seen him?” I said, avoiding answering the question directly.
“You’ve been visiting him at the hospital, yes?” Stroud continued, his eyes glued to my face.
“I haven’t been to the hospital for a couple days. You should check with his fiancé.”
“Fiancé?” This momentarily threw Mr. Stroud. “Lacey, we have reason to believe that the initial memory wipe was not as effective as we had hoped. Memories of his encounter with the vampire may be returning. It may make things difficult for him in the future.”
“He didn’t say anything to me that would make me believe that he remembered anything.” I instantly felt bad for lying.
“You realize that you’re on probation. You have to report him if you know where he is.” Mr. Stroud tried to read my face.
“I understand.”
He turned to the security officer and said, “Take a look around.”
They both nodded, heading off into the back stacks.
“They’re wasting their time. They’re not going to find him.”
“I can’t tell you how dangerous it would be if Officer Brown decides to report his encounter. It will ruin his career. No one, none of his supervisors, will believe him, and he will likely be deemed unfit for duty. They’ll whisper behind his back that he’s a lunatic. It won’t go well for him.”
“That would be unfortunate,” I replied dumbly.
All this time I thought Stroud was worried about the Society. About how Sam could draw unwanted attention to our work. But he was actually concerned about what would happen to Sam.
“Look, Mr. Stroud, even if he does remember something, he wouldn’t say anything. I know he wouldn’t.”
He shook his head. “I’ve seen this before. You can’t be sure.”
After having made a circular tour of the library, the security guards returned. One of them shrugged. “He’s not here, boss.”
“Thank you, Davos.” Stroud nodded, but looked at me pointedly. “Call me if you hear from Sam.”
I nodded as Mr. Stroud headed for the exit with his security guards, I started to breathe a sigh of relief. But then, right before he exited, he stopped in the doorway. He looked over his shoulder, like something had alerted him. My heart leapt into my throat. Was he suspicious? Then he swiveled around and left.
I waited a good five minutes, pacing back and forth in the doorway, to make sure he wasn’t going to come back. When I finally opened the ghost cabinet, Sam practically sprang out, looking pissed.
“He thinks people will think I’m a lunatic?”
“I guess you heard everything.”
“It’s important that other people learn what I already know. They need to know that magic exists, and it can be dangerous.”
Listening to Sam, I finally understood what Stroud had been trying to tell me. “No, you’re wrong. People don’t want to know that magic, especially dark magic, really exists. I’m a witch and for years I didn’t want to deal with magic. It doesn’t fit into the modern world like it used to. You are crazy if you tell people about what you’ve seen.”
He frowned. “Maybe you’re right.”
“And I’m also right about Stryker being in trouble.” I had the gun that Stroud had given me in my bag. But I needed more ammo. I’d stashed a box of silver bullets in a drawer in the circulation desk. “I have to get out there.”
“I’ll come with you,” he said. “The least I can do to pay him back.”
“To Malibu? To help me find Stryker?” I asked, grabbing half a dozen bullets and sliding them into my bag. One tumbled down to the ground. I picked it up and slipped it in the pocket of my jeans. I didn’t need Mr. Stroud finding it and wondering why silver bullets were lying on the floor of the library.
“You can’t take on a siren with a gang of selkies alone.”
“Selkies and sirens?” I grinned. “Suddenly, you seem to be adjusting to the existence of the supernatural world.”
“Thanks.” He half grinned. “I like to think I’m a quick study.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
We couldn’t go back into the parking garage to get my car. With prowling security guards on the lookout for Sam, it wasn’t worth the risk.
“Where’s your car?” I asked as we hurried down a narrow alley behind the Ironwood Building. We’d used the service stairwell, again in the dark, to get out of the building.
“I parked at the end of the block,” he said, turning left at the mouth of the alley to head down a side street.
It was already mid-afternoon. We had a couple hours of sunlight left. Tonight would be last full moon in this cycle. Technically, the moon was only “full” for the very instant -- the split second -- that the Earth was directly between the moon and the sun. However, the moon was considered to be “full” for the night before and after that moment. Three nights in total for a full moon.
If Serena hoped to add another heart to her menu, she would have to do it tonight or wait another month to perform the dark magic ritual. If Kelly Jackson was right, then she was pretty desperate to complete the ritual so she could stay on land and fight off whoever might’ve been after her.
Nearing the end of the block, I saw no more automobiles on the street. “Wait? Where’s your car?”
“I never said I had a car.” He gestured across the street.
Confused, I looked the direction he was pointing.
“Oh no. No way,” I said, shaking my head at the sleek red racing Asian racing motorcycle. “We can’t take that all the way to Malibu?”
“Why not?”
“Um, because motorcycles are dangerous. Very dangerous.”
The truth was the thought of a motorcycle scared me to death. I’d never been on one before, and I was perfectly happy to keep it that way.
“It’s fine. I ride one for work,” he argued. “Do you think the LAPD would let me ride a motorcycle if I wasn’t a very safe driver?”
I quickly thought up an excuse. “But I have to explain exactly what’s going on with Mr. Morty’s disappearance. How will I be able to do that if we’re on a motorcycle?”
“Do you have earbuds for your phone?” he asked.<
br />
I instinctively touched my messenger bag, where I did, in fact, have a pair of headphones squirreled away. As soon as he said it, I knew what he was getting at. We could use our phones to communicate as he drove.
“I’m not sure.” I lied.
“That’s okay. I probably have a second set.” When I hesitated, he read my expression and added, “Look, I’m open to a better idea if you have one. But you said your colleague is in trouble, and you need to get to the beach. Do you have a better idea?”
I could run back and get my car from the underground garage. There were two problems with that idea. First, I was hesitant to leave Sam alone out here knowing that Stroud was looking for him. And second, it would take me ten minutes to go around to the other side of the building, get the elevator, find my car and make it back here.
I took another look at the motorcycle and reluctantly nodded. “Let’s just do this.”
Since there was only one helmet, he made me wear it. He climbed on first and quickly got settled, then I threw a leg over to straddle the bike. The seat wasn’t very big so I slid forward pressing what felt like my whole body against his. I was glad to have the helmet on because I could feel my cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
Sam seemed to ignore, or was unfazed by, the fact that our bodies were pressing against each other. It was a whole lot more physical contact that I had expected.
“Hold on.” He started the motorcycle. The bike’s engine growled as we pulled into traffic with a jolt, and I held on for dear life. After a few nervous blocks, I started to get the hang of riding on the back. Not that I would tell Sam, but the motorcycle wasn’t as bad as I had expected.
Once we got out of the thick stop-and-go downtown traffic and onto to the freeway, I got him up to speed on Serena and her dark obsession. I couldn’t answer all his questions, but I told him the basics.
Fifteen minutes into our ride, my phone buzzed in my back pocket as we wound our way through a twisting highway cut through soaring sandstone mountains called Topanga Canyon Road.
“It’s Stryker!” I said trying to read the screen through my helmet. “He’s calling me back.”
“Great!” Sam said through my earbuds as the motorcycle sped up. “Tell him were ten minutes away.”