Charms & Clouds

by Emilia Spring

  “You can cook?” Mabel reappeared, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

  I pointed a finger at her. “I can cook.”

  “What about cook things people can actually eat?” Mabel’s snort could be heard throughout the silence. “I thought so.”

  Even Gianna was hiding a grin. “I suppose,” she said. She still looked uncomfortable, and her hands twisted in her lap, but she didn't full out say no.

  “How about you come to the Main House and I set you up in the bedroom with movies?” Especially after the orange juice and the exhaustion I really didn’t want to leave her by herself.

  “I’m fine,” she said, exasperated.

  Part of me wanted to push her on it, part of me wanted to respect her. She was eleven after all, she was allowed to have some autonomy. “You text me every half hour, okay?” I pointed at her phone.

  As far as I knew, it was going to be a normal family dinner, not that that really meant it was going to be drama free in any way, shape, or form. My family created more than enough drama for themselves. My biological family, anyway. My adopted family – my Mom and Dad – were long gone now.

  It was easy for my mind to drift back in time. What was my biological mother like? She had been missing for 30 years. From what I could tell, she had gone missing less than a year before I’d been born. At least that’s what I’d been able to piece together from what Marguerite had said. Why had she given me up? Had she known that she was hiding me from my family here? Or had she been forced to?

  Looking into my biological Mom’s disappearance had been on my list, but the whole murder thing had got in the way. And even now, as much as I wanted to look into it, I needed to take care of Gianna, and Marguerite, first. Otherwise I wouldn’t have a mentor, and Gianna depended on me.

  I wasn’t avoiding it or anything. Nope.

  “Go.” Gianna looked at me. “I’ll even send you selfies.”

  “You’re too young to send selfies,” I muttered.

  “You’re too old to appreciate them.” Gianna sniffed.

  I hid a smile. “Call me if you need anything,” I said, reaching out and touching her shoulder.

  Gianna smiled at me, and even though it was little bit cracked, it was the most genuine smile I'd seen from her. “I will,” she said. “Now go, before you're late.”

  I reached over and gave her a quick hug around the shoulder, then I grabbed my stuff and bolted out the door. I could easily make it a shorter dinner, make my appearance and run. “I wonder who's coming,” I muttered to myself as I got in Ruth, then drove to the main house.

  I held the key to the main house in my hand when I finally arrived, looking at it. I still wasn’t used to having family, or having people trust me with this sort of thing. I let myself in.

  “Hello,” somebody said, her voice warm. It was a tall, brunette lady. Somebody I didn't recognize.

  I blinked, then smiled at her. “Hello.”

  “Stop being rude,” Sam called from the other room.

  The person I was talking to giggled, and then snapped her fingers.

  I stared down at Avery. Avery, who was standing exactly where the other woman had been. “What, am I hallucinating this time?”

  Avery bit back a smile. “Nifty little gadget,” she said, pointing to her finger. “It's a ring that carries an image and helps you project it onto yourself.”

  “Do you ever get bored of inventing tech?” I asked.

  Okay, I had to admit it was a stupid question. How could you get bored doing something so cool?

  “So is it just the family tonight?” I asked, ignoring the flutter in my stomach.

  Avery and Sam exchanged evil looks. “Riley,” Avery called, heading towards the door. I shot her a glare, and watched Sam scamper back to the kitchen. Both of them were giggling.

  Riley's head popped around the door, and she stopped when she saw me. “Hello,” she said, probably remembering our last tangle at the police station.

  “I'm surprised you're here,” I said. And I meant it, too. Marguerite could be quite frightening when she wanted to be, and I doubted that she was particularly happy with Riley after Riley’s almost arresting her.

  She looked at me with a wry smile. “I'm surprised too,” she said, taking a step my way. “But she insisted, and you don't defy her.”

  Well wasn't that the truth. There was a loud bong that echoed throughout the house, and I looked at Avery with a raised eyebrow.

  “Someone got Clementine a gong for Christmas,” Avery said, making a face. “Now she uses it whenever she wants to feel fancy.”

  How, exactly, had I ended up living in a place where people summoned others with gongs?

  I didn’t know if it was Sam and Avery’s intention, or if by accident, that I ended up sitting next to Riley. Maybe it was the fact that Marguerite didn't really want to sit next to her, or talk to her, or potentially acknowledge her at all. She probably wouldn’t forgive her for the whole arresting thing for a while. Not that I could really blame her.

  “How have you been?” I asked Riley once the meal started. It was easy enough to break into some side conversations, but sooner rather than later Marguerite would bring it back into a group. She was surprisingly good at controlling that many people.

  “It's been a long week,” Riley said finally. She grabbed some of the stew, ladling it into her bowl. She put a dollop of rice on top, which I thought was personally weird, but whatever. I didn't judge how she ate her soup.

  “Still burning both ends of the candle?” I asked, probably botching the metaphor.

  “Yep,” Riley said. Her hair was down, so she scrubbed a hand through it and then rubbed her forehead. “We think there's going be another victim of the human case, soon,” she said roughly. “What about you?”

  I looked at her. “Me?”

  I could see Sam and Avery grinning, and I kicked Sam under the table. I couldn't reach Avery, but hopefully Sam would get the notion and pass it on. A few seconds later I heard Avery make an oof noise, and I bit back a smile. Excellent.

  “The usual,” I said. The words were on the tip of my tongue about what Gianna had learned, and about everything that had happened. But I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t think this was the time or place.

  “Learn anything new lately?” she asked, glancing at me. I wasn't sure if she was interrogating me or making small talk. Either one was an option.

  I carefully considered her words. “I'm doing a lot of research on reef aquariums.”

  “Always useful information to have,” Riley agreed. “So you want to reopen the shop?”

  I nodded. “Hopefully by the end of next month,” I said.

  She looked at me, surprised. “You can afford to keep it closed that long?”

  “I have to get everything set up.” I smiled faintly at her. “Can’t sell fish without fish.”

  She chuckled, the exhaustion on her face easing.

  “I hope you find who did it soon,” I told her, and I meant the words sincerely.

  She turned to look at me, giving me a tired smile. “Me too,” she said. “Me too.”

  Chapter Nine

  I walked into the police station, surprised to see Marguerite out of the interrogation room and staring pointedly at Riley. “Why are you still investigating me?” Marguerite asked, her voice the nice tone that I’d learned to associate with everything bad.

  “You're the one with the long-standing grudge against her,” Riley pointed out. “We have to rule you out. Until then, you’re a potential suspect.”

  “Come,” she said imperiously, gesturing at me.

  Like the obedient student I was – not – I headed over, nodding to Riley. She looked slightly better, the bruises under her eyes less pronounced. She'd actually gotten some sleep.

  It was sort of funny. I would like her more, if she wasn't busy interrogating my grandmotherly figure. It was actually technically probably my actual grandmother, but none of that was important at the moment. Why was I still re
sisting accepting that they were my family? Part of my family, at least.

  “These are yours.” Marguerite looked at me, shrewd. “You have pierced ears, yes?”

  I nodded. I hadn't worn earrings in a while, but I still had them. She extended her hand, and I extended mine. Then I felt the two glass baubles drop into my palm, smooth and glossy. I looked at them, and my eyes widened.

  “These are –”

  “The lightning jewels, yes.” Marguerite looked smug. “I had Avery turn them into earrings for you.”

  I looked down at them in awe, feeling the cool weight against my hand. They were almost like marbles, but I could see little hints of static flickering under the surface, constantly moving. I wasn't sure if anybody else could, but it was clear as day to me. “Thank you,” I said, closing my hand around them.

  “Put them in,” Marguerite said.

  I opened my mouth, then closed it. I wasn't really going to admit I sort of sucked at putting earrings in. Plus, these had the long sort of loopy backs, that you had to feed in and then twist. I wasn’t sure what the name for them was. But they were dangly.

  There were little silver backs, too, so I took those off the earrings and sat them down on the counter near me.

  It was even worse, now, because both Riley and Marguerite were staring at me. Riley probably because of the whole interruption to her potential interrogation thing, and Marguerite because she was Marguerite.

  I turned away from them, feeling self-conscious, and pinched my earlobe until I found where the earring was supposed to enter. I carefully put the tip of the earring in there, and navigated it in. It fit smoothly, the small lightning ball dangling just below my ear lobe. For all that the baubles had felt heavy in my hand, I could barely feel them on my ear.

  I looked down at the silver back, and decided wisely to put the other earring in first. I could save the backs in my pocket, and wait to deal with them until later. It was so much easier said than done to attach something small behind your ear, especially when you were out of practice.

  Yes, I was a woman who couldn't handle a basic woman task. But hey – earrings were quite complicated.

  Carefully I slid the other earring in, wincing a bit. That one had closed over slightly, but it worked well enough that I could get the earring through.

  “Here, let me help.”

  I looked up at Riley, narrowing my eyes.

  “Don’t want to wait all day for you to do it.” Riley winked. “I don’t wear them, but my ex-girlfriend did.”

  I scowled to make a point, but turned slightly to offer her my ear. Jealousy curled in my stomach.

  Deftly she picked up the annoying little silver back, slid it carefully across the earring dangle thing, and settled it against the back of my ear. Her hands were warm, and they made my skin tingle. It was hard to stand still, especially when her finger brushed the curve of my neck and I wanted to shriek.

  Not from any type of like, overblown desire, but because I was ticklish.

  She did it again on the other ear, and this time I squeaked and shivered, and she nearly dropped the back of the earring.

  “Ticklish,” I apologized, my cheeks turning pink.

  There was something close to amusement in her eyes. “I'll keep that in mind.”

  My heart skipped a beat, and I glared at her. “If you use that against me, I'm going to stalk you until I have something on you.”

  She raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you threatening an officer?”

  “I don't know, am I?” I postured right back at her, but I was grinning.

  “If you two are done with the foreplay,” Marguerite said, extremely rudely in my opinion, “can I leave yet?”

  I didn’t go scarlet, mostly. Okay, maybe my cheeks heated up a little bit. Because what she was insinuating wasn't a thing. At least she wasn’t fazed by the whole lesbian thing.

  Riley rolled her eyes, but there was a sparkle there. She winked at me. Was she flirting? Joking? I shut that out of my mind. I didn't have time to worry about it right now.

  “We’re not done.” She looked pointedly at Marguerite.

  “Of course not,” Marguerite said with a sigh. “Can I go somewhere else so you can flirt some more and get it out of your system?”

  Riley's gaze flickered to me, and then back to Marguerite. “We’re not talking about her, we’re talking about you.”

  Not entirely certain I wanted to be present for this whole conversation, I edged towards the door. All it took was Marguerite turning to me, one of those almost-white eyebrows raised, for me to freeze.

  “Tell me again the events of the day.” Riley looked patiently at Marguerite, a notepad in her hand.

  Marguerite looked as if she was the most put-upon person in the history of put upon people. “We had the summit meeting to introduce the new member, Zane. The induction ceremony went fine and we retired for the evening. We were coming together for the ritual, and when I went to look for Clara, I found her dead.”

  “What were your movements prior to that?” Riley asked.

  “I was busy.” Marguerite looked entirely unimpressed.

  Riley looked exasperated. “Busy doing what?”

  “Dancing naked in a lightning storm.” Her eyes glinted.

  I bit back a laugh.

  “Is there anybody that can attest to that?” Riley asked patiently.

  Marguerite cackled. “Nobody who still has their eyes in their head.”

  Internally I winced, because that probably wasn't the right thing to say when you were being investigated for a potential murder. Then again, maybe she was right.

  “Are you sure?” Riley asked. “No traumatized goats?”

  Marguerite looked thoughtful. “There may be an eagle.”

  Riley rubbed her forehead. I was trying not to grin, but it was really hard. Marguerite may have been terrifying, but she was also sort of hilarious.

  They continued their question and answer session, and I snuck out of the police station. I was waiting there to take Marguerite home, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to go wander around a bit. It wasn't often that I found myself down in this part of town. Besides, we weren't even that far from the main house.

  I headed a few streets down, glancing at the coffee shop, the laundromat. Such little things, but I could see people inside each of them. I turned down a small alley, curious to see what was back there. And stopped.

  Leaning against the wall, staring at the sky, was Gianna.

  I raised my eyebrows and glanced at the clock. Gianna was supposed to be home doing homework, supervised by Mabel. Unease prickled down my spine. Maybe I had been overestimating her. “Gianna?”

  She jolted up, guilt flashing over her face. But she didn't say anything, instead tucking her hands firmly into her pockets.

  “You okay?” I asked instead.

  Surprised crossed her face and she shifted, hunching her shoulders defensively.

  That hadn’t exactly been my intention, but instead of scolding her, I wanted to find out what had drawn her out of the house in the first place.

  “Couldn't sleep,” Gianna said, looking at the ground and scuffing it with her foot.

  I didn’t think that was entirely the answer, especially given it was dinner time, but I let it slide.

  “Is there anything I can do?” If Gianna needed anything I could do, I would do it. But I could see the Council Building from where we were standing. It would be so easy to go in and look around. Maybe I could find some clues as to what Clara was working on, if there was a chance one of her cases could be related to why she had been killed.

  Maybe it was something I could do with Gianna, to help distract her from what was going on.

  I glanced around, and then leaned forward. She looked at me, tensing again.

  “Want to help me break into the mansion?” I asked in a stage whisper.

  The stress disappeared from her shoulders almost instantaneously, replaced by amusement. “Where'd you get those?” she asked, n
odding to the earrings.

  “Marguerite,” I said dryly. When I took a step back and started walking in the direction of the mansion, Gianna fell into step easily next to me. We were quiet for the short walk, about four blocks. But Gianna was definitely tired by the end of it, I could see her eyelids starting to droop. Something in her was fighting sleep.

  I knew that feeling; I had been there several times. There was a point in time where you didn't want to sleep, because you didn't want to see what there was behind your eyes. While sleep was a refuge for some, it didn't serve that same purpose for all.

  “If you need to talk to anybody,” I said, keeping my voice carefully neutral, “I can set that up.”

  Before I finished the words, Gianna was shaking her head. “I'm good,” she said. It was pretty much the most unconvincing display of being good ever.

  I nodded and let the subject drop. If she wanted to talk about it more, we could, later. I took a deep breath as the giant mansion came into view. I couldn’t really get over how buildings were built in Arizona.

  In Minnesota, it was fairly common to have two or three stories, big buildings built of wood with wood roofs. Here, everything was practically stucco, or brick. Something made to withstand the heat. The roofs were also more like slatted tiles, instead of the familiar shingles that I was used to. Yet, the mansion still looked elegant. And terrifying, for that matter.

  Most of the lights were off, and I took a deep breath. “We should not be doing this,” I muttered to my feet.

  “But this is fun,” Gianna looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

  I didn't scold her for that, because it was true.

  On the bright side, it was dark enough this close to dinnertime that there were few people around. We walked casually up to the front door, purposeful, as if we meant to be there. I pulled a bobby pin out of my hair, looking at the fairly standard-looking lock in front of me.

  You would have thought I would have learned my lesson after being detected by Charlotte’s wards, but hey. Maybe they were more lax here.

  “Does that actually work?” Gianna asked me skeptically as I bent the bobby pin with my teeth. I was getting a lot more experience with lock picking here than I’d intended. I mean, to be fair, I’d used it more in Minnesota. It was always fun dropping by somebody's house and them refusing to let you in. Especially when you had a warrant to be there. Picking the lock was much cheaper on the property than barging in with a battering ram.