“Oh, of course. I have heard you use this phrase before. Still, elves outside their own race is too unusual to not be of concern.”
“I am aware. That said, I think he may be of help. So, I will trust him with Ev’s disappearance and see what happens.”
“Remember, it is not just your neck but mine…”
Our drinks arrived and Perchaladon leaned across the table, holding his goblet up. “A toast. To getting to know one another better.”
I clinked glasses with him and after we’d both sipped our wine, he asked again how I knew his friend was blond.
“We visited a movie set while we were in New Orleans. The presence of a male elf was noted as strange and I was told he was blond. Given your race’s penchant for not mixing with others, and the fact I’d not seen any other elves while I was there, I made an assumption.”
“You assumed correctly. My friend is involved in a film currently being shot in the Garden District and I know he was there, looking into things.”
Looking into things. As in ensuring everything was screwed up? I wondered if Perchaladon knew his friend as well as he thought he did.
“Were you aware that there are all sorts of accidents happening on that set? I even saw one myself; a hole opened up underneath a ladder, spilling the camera and its operator.”
Perchaladon squirmed in his seat. Had I hit a nerve?
“May I ask what, exactly, you were doing in New Orleans? Unless my information is incorrect, you are not romantically involved with Mr. Tremayne so it wasn’t a weekend getaway for lovers.”
“Elves cannot tell a lie. They can, however, misdirect or choose not to answer at all.”
“You didn’t answer my question. Were you aware of the accidents?”
“They’ve been reporting them in the human tabloids, haven’t they? Anyone who follows the movie industry, as do I, would know about them.”
That didn’t exactly answer my question, but I couldn’t rephrase without sounding suspicious. Oh, hell. Did I care? Not really. I wanted to know what happened to my boss.
I sipped more wine. I was going all in and damn the consequences. “Let me ask it another way. Is your friend responsible for the accidents?”
Perchaladon’s eyes narrowed. “Your question makes it sound as if my friend and by extension, I am an unsavory character. Is that what you think? If so, why are you here with me, in this glorious setting, knowing my magic is stronger than your own?”
More misdirection. But he knew something, and I wanted answers. “My boss invested in that movie, went down to check on his investment and, at the same time as those accidents were happening on the set, disappeared. My gut tells me the two are connected and you are my only connection to the unusual appearance of an elf on that set. I will go to almost, almost any lengths to find out what happened to my boss. That includes dinner with an elf I do not know well.”
Perchaladon leaned back in his chair and let out a guffaw loud enough to draw attention from the other diners. “Your red hair does you justice. You are a feisty one, aren’t you?”
We were interrupted by the waiter, asking if we’d made our dinner selections. Fresh-caught fish with rice pilaf for both of us had him nodding and scurrying away.
Perchaladon leaned forward once again and as he did so, I felt a bubble of air form around our table. Unlike anyone I knew who could ward a space, he didn’t wave his hands or do anything to indicate he’d cast a spell. And I didn’t feel any energy expended, either. Impressive!
“All right, Miss McCollum, I will answer as best I am able. Yes, my friend is disrupting progress on that film. He is being paid handsomely to do so. As you probably know, our magic is undetectable to other species so he’s perfect for the job.
“As to your ogre’s disappearance, I know nothing. I have no reason to want him gone. On the contrary, should I need funding for another company, I would want him hale and hearty to put some of his money into it.
“Now that I have answered your questions, may we get down to the business of a nice dinner?”
My butt buzzed again. “Excuse me,” I said as I pulled it out and saw another text message.
“Want your boss back? Call when you are alone.” This with the sending number noted as “private.” How had whoever sent this gotten my cell phone number? And how was I supposed to call someone when they blocked their number? This wasn’t sounding good. I quickly forwarded it to Gregory then sat staring at the screen.
“Is something amiss?” Perchaladon asked.
Wordlessly, I turned the phone so he could see it. His face creased in a frown.
“I believe this takes precedence over a nice meal. We will get ours to go and return to your office.” He raised his hand to summon the waiter and gave instructions to package everything up in a hurry. Pulling out his own phone, he hit a speed dial number. I heard him tell his driver to get the picnic supplies out of the trunk and prepare the limo. We would be leaving for the city shortly.
“Picnic supplies?” I asked.
“One never knows when one must eat on the run. I prefer to dine rather than just eat so yes, picnic supplies. China, silver, and crystal for two, all in a lovely little basket that I carry just in case.”
My phone buzzed again. It was a reply from Gregory. “Do not call. I will handle.”
“I’m on my way to office. Meet you there?”
“One hour.”
The waiter returned with a large bag. Perchaladon exchanged it for a wad of bills and we made our way back out to the parking lot where the driver stood with the door open. I crawled inside to find a small table dropped from the center backrest, covered with a white linen tablecloth and settings for two laid out.
Perchaladon proceeded to unload the bag, serving up the fish and rice pilaf with a practiced hand. He reached inside another compartment and after a little bit of clinking bottles around, pulled out a bottle of pinot grigio, held it between his hands for a moment, then pulled out the cork and poured each of us a glass.
“Do not worry. We will find your ogre and put this behind us so I can take you out properly. Now, enjoy.”
I sipped my wine, which was nicely chilled. I raised my eyebrows over the glass.
“Another perk of being an elf and having our magic. We can chill or heat objects with our hands. I am glad you are a wine drinker, though. I can only chill, not freeze, so I can’t make ice cubes for cocktails.”
I laughed. “Nonetheless, it’s a nice ability.”
We both dug into our food. The driver was a good one. Despite sometimes curvy roads and the vagaries of traffic, I didn’t spill a drop of wine or miss my mouth with the fork.
Forty minutes later, we’d finished eating and the limo was just sliding into the curb in front of the office. Gregory’s Hummer was already there.
“Please allow me to accompany you. I don’t know how but I may be able to help.” Perchaladon looked at me with what seemed like pleading in his eyes.
I sighed. “I don’t know how Gregory will take your presence but okay, come on.”
We sprinted up the stairs. Well, I did. Perchaladon’s long legs allowed him to easily walk up, taking two stairs at a time. Gregory must have heard the noise because he greeted us at the door.
“What is he doing here?” Gregory demanded of me.
“Perchaladon, this is Gregory. Gregory, Perchaladon. He seems to think he can help.”
Gregory gave Perchaladon a gimlet eye as he ushered us into the office. “Yes? And how?”
Gregory leaned against the wall. I perched on the corner of Sally’s desk. Perchaladon seated himself in one of the ogre-sized chairs, leaned back and crossed his legs. Unlike me, he didn’t sink into its depths. “Amy tells me you suspect a friend of mine has something to do with your employer’s disappearance. While I know nothing about it, I have contacts you may find useful in locating him.”
Gregory turned to me. “You told him?”
I nodded. “It seemed the thing to do at the time.
And he appeared genuinely surprised when I told him.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know about you but any help I can get finding Ev is welcome.”
Gregory blew out a breath. It sounded more like a snort. “Okay. Fine. The number that sent the text message is from southwestern Louisiana. The ID of the phone’s owner is masked, even to law enforcement, which suggests magical interference.”
“How did you get it? My phone said whoever sent the text blocked their ID,” I asked.
“The call can still be traced, if you have the right connections, which I do,” he replied.
He did. He not only knew mundane law enforcement folks but was rather cozy with the paranormal enforcers. Not just the enforcers but council members, too. Gregory was very well-connected. It was one of the reasons Ev liked him so much and paid him rather handsomely, to boot.
“There is an enclave in that area of Louisiana,” Perchaladon offered. “My father heads it. If you will give me the number, I will ask him to investigate.”
“I have already done so,” Gregory retorted.
Perchaladon’s eyes opened to the size of saucers. “You know my father? How? He does not normally mix with non-elves.”
This time Gregory did indeed snort. “He is already involved in the investigation. He approached us while we were in New Orleans, thinking perhaps you were involved. I have been in contact with him and through him, Alberon.”
Hey, did you know? Elves blush! At least this one does. He turned a beautiful shade of pink at Gregory’s statement.
“I will admit my father and I haven’t always seen eye-to-eye on some things. But in this, he is wrong. I know nothing about the ogre. But if you have already spoken with him, I don’t know how else I can help.”
Gregory’s phone rang. He held up a hand to forestall any conversation as he answered it.
“Yes? Yes. No, he is sitting right in front of me and claims to know nothing. Yes. He apparently took Evander’s assistant out to dinner and decided to accompany her after the text message. I see. Yes, of course. I will await your call.”
Hitting the ‘end’ button, Gregory turned his attention back to Perchaladon.
“It appears your friend, Obrist, is up to his eyeballs in this. The number that texted Amy belongs to him. That said, your father does not know where he is, nor can Alberon trace him.”
Perchaladon chuckled. “It is a game we played when we were young and wanted to get out of schooling. ‘How to hide from the mage?’ We got rather good at it by the time we were teenagers. I thought Alberon had figured out all our tricks by now but apparently, Obrist has come up with some new ones.”
“So, how do we find your friend and by extension, my boss?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Alberon is the strongest mage I’ve ever heard of. If he can’t find Obrist, I don’t know who can. Perhaps you should call him as instructed?”
“But I’m not supposed to know the number, am I? He hit star-sixty-seven before texting me, so I wouldn’t see the number. Is he really that dumb?”
Perchaladon sighed. “Dumb? No. Impetuous? Unfortunately, yes. He doesn’t always think things all the way through. I guess you will just have to wait until he texts again. I will be curious to know what he wants.”
“As will I. I suggest we all return home until the next text arrives,” Gregory moved toward the door. “May I drop you at home, Amy?”
“I would like to see the lady home if it’s okay with you,” Perchaladon said.
“Guys. Guys. I’m fine and I don’t need a ride home, but thank you. Gregory, I’ll call you when I hear something, okay? Perchaladon, thank you for what probably would have been a lovely evening. I’m sorry it was cut short.” I dropped off the corner of the desk and, picking up my purse, motioned everyone out so I could lock up.
At the foot of the stairs, Perchaladon put his hand on my arm. “I really would like to see you home. I think that’s the chivalrous thing to do, isn’t it? I would also like to see you again, hopefully when our evening won’t be cut short. I find you intriguing.”
“Thank you for the thought but I really would prefer it if you didn’t see me home. And yes, once things calm down, dinner without interruption would be nice.”
We exchanged phone numbers and I watched as he climbed into his limo and drove away. I also noticed that the Hummer had only traveled a half block. Gregory was undoubtedly looking through the rearview mirror to ensure my safety. I turned towards home.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Now what are you going to do?”
I only had one foot in the door. I finished entering my apartment, kicked the door closed behind me and threw my purse down on the desk. “Wait for the next call, I guess.”
“You seem to like the elf. Why? In my experience, elves are untrustworthy.”
“Perhaps your experience has skewed your perception. He seems nice enough and now that I know he’s not involved in Ev’s disappearance, I don’t see the harm in perhaps getting to know him a little better. He’s definitely handsome enough!”
Fudge grunted. “Humans and their fascination with physical appearance. It is what is inside that counts.”
“I know. And if you will recall, I have dated men who do not live up to fashion standards. But having something nice to look at while you’re discovering what’s inside is no bad thing.”
“If you say so. By the way, you have a lesson to prepare for.”
I groaned. “Don’t remind me. I got off this last week because we were out of town. Gregory told me on the plane I now have two weeks’ lessons to learn.”
“So you should study.”
I made a cup of coffee, picked up The Big Book of Potions and Philtres, heard Professor Snape drone in my head, “Turn to page four hundred twenty-two,” and began to read about protection potions. It reminded me of the one Gregory had made just a couple of days earlier. Now that I thought about it, some of these things could come in handy. Like the recipe a couple of pages after the introduction. It was for making you uninteresting to the opposite sex. Something like that would come in handy when shopping at the discount store. “Hey baby, how’s about you and me…” gets old after a while.
It wasn’t long, though, before I started yawning. I never did sleep well anywhere but my own bed and the trip was starting to catch up with me. I put the studying aside, fed Fudge and crawled into bed.
I was positive I’d have dreams of a certain elf. After all, I’d just spent a couple of hours trying not to drool all over myself while still maintaining the eye contact expected during a date. I was wrong in this regard.
I found myself in a stand of trees. It was night, the sky was clear, and the almost-full moon was a stark contrast to the dark shadows made by the trees. The ground below my feet was soft and the longer I stood there, the wetter my toes felt. The smell of trees in full leaf and wet grass was strong.
As I observed my surroundings, bird-like shadows flitted this way and that, back-lit by the moon. They were so fast I almost thought I was seeing things until I saw another and yet another. High-pitched squeaks, so faint I thought my ears were deceiving me, came from somewhere to my right.
I heard a familiar hum and slapped at a mosquito. No bite, no itch, though. I wasn’t physically wherever I was. Over the last year, I’d grown accustomed to “true dreams” – not something my subconscious was trying to work out or my imagination had cooked up but that I was dreaming about something that was really happening, somewhere, in the here and now. I sighed. So much for a pleasant dream about a handsome elf.
More shadows silently glided across my vision.
“Bats,” I heard in my head.
Bats? Logic told me there was nothing to be afraid of but some inner demon that had listened to children’s bedtime stories set my heart to racing in fear. The thumping ratcheted up a notch when something stirred the air just above my head. That something flew away then whirled around and I saw a shadow aiming directly for me at breakneck speed. I instinctively ducked as it
neared me and I’m certain I heard a hiss, as if a steam radiator had sprung a leak, when it passed overhead.
I was so focused on my pounding heart that I almost missed the tingling feeling I get when magic is in use nearby. Magic? In the middle of a forest – or wherever I was?
I crouched down, trying to make myself less of a target for bats, slapped at yet another imaginary biting insect, and took a good look at my surroundings. There. One of the bats swooping this way and that just below the treetops had a small patch of glitter on it. I continued to watch the sparkles do dizzying aerobatics, sometimes so far over my head I almost got a crick in my neck, sometimes skimming the ground or brushing against a tree trunk. The moon gradually went on her path, making the forest darker and the sky to my right started to lighten. It was getting toward dawn.
“Time to wake up.” A soft paw batted my nose. I opened my eyes to find Fudge sitting on my chest, staring down at me. The light outside my window told me dawn – and my alarm clock – wasn’t long in coming.
“Why did you wake me? I could’ve slept another…” I looked at the clock. “…half hour!”
“So you would not stand there staring like an idiot when there was nothing else to see. The bats would be roosting in a few minutes. Also, so you could write down any details you need to remember to tell the wizard.”
I grumbled, swung my legs over the side of the bed and padded into the kitchen to start my coffee, Fudge following. I preferred my normal routine of the coffeepot timer going off ten minutes before my alarm. That way I could guzzle down a cup immediately. While I waited for my morning elixir, I made my way to the bathroom and scooped the litterbox.
My morning routine usually consisted of guzzling multiple cups of coffee, checking social media and personal email before a round of stretching then a shower. This morning, however, I called Gregory after my first cup.
“I’m up but why are you calling this early?” He sounded grumpy, even for a morning person.
“Because I had a true dream and you said to always tell you as soon as I’d had one so I wouldn’t lose details. I’m calling to tell you.”
Transformation! Page 10