by Holly Evans
“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Logan said to her with an easy smile.
Erin smiled and looked over to me.
“What now?” she asked.
“Now we get a new hotel and figure out how to get into that auction tomorrow night.”
37
Finding a new hotel wasn’t too difficult. We headed back downstairs and informed the manager that the room was full of corpses when we arrived. The manager apologised profusely and tried to offer a discount should we wish to return again. We politely declined. It wasn’t his fault, but we had to cover our asses.
Erin and Tyn took the room next to Logan’s and mine. Both had declined my offer to help them heal their injuries. Logan, however, was quite eager to help me undress and apply the soothing paste to my aching ribs and tender stomach. The scales had saved me from the worst of it, but my assailant had hit hard. It wasn’t long before our hands wandered and gentle kisses became fierce passionate embraces and firm bites. We finally slept a few hours later, both completely satisfied.
I woke up in Logan’s arms with my head on his chest and his familiar scent of sandalwood and amber bringing a smile to my face. The temptation to run my fingers over his firm muscles, exploring the dips and crevices, was strong. Unfortunately, the sun had risen hours prior, and we had to prepare for the auction. I buried my face against Logan’s neck and hid from the day for as long as I could. Adventures were fantastic fun, but I’d missed him and the calm happiness he brought. He stroked the back of my neck and trailed a finger down my spine.
“We have to get up, Kit, treasures to be procured,” he said gently.
I gently bit his bottom lip and lost myself in his silver-green eyes before tearing myself away and preparing for the day. Voices came from the hallway before someone knocked on the door.
“Have you finished screwing yet?” Tyn called.
Logan and I laughed.
“That depends, do you want to come in and join us?” Logan called back.
I could see the horror and embarrassment on Tyn’s face in my mind.
“You should hold off on the innuendo and such with him,” I said quietly.
Logan looked at me questioningly. He was a thing of beauty standing in the sunlight in nothing but his black pants. I shook my head and focused.
“He has a tragic past,” I said.
“Ah. Alright, I’ll behave.”
I pulled on a pair of shorts and a well-fitted short-sleeved t-shirt. Practical and pretty, the perfect combination. We stepped out into the hallway to find Tyn and Erin laughing about something.
“What did we miss?” Logan asked.
Tyn shrugged and smiled. “Nothing. You missed breakfast. We need to get appropriate clothing for this auction.”
“Pretty dresses and tailored suits?” I said.
“We’ll head into the magical quarter. We need to look like social elite,” Tyn said.
“And where’s the money for this clothing coming from?” Logan asked.
The type of clothing Tyn was talking about would set us back tens of thousands. That wasn’t something to take lightly.
“Fein will reimburse you when we return with the stone.”
I had the money sitting in my bank account. The pale colour Erin had gone suggested she didn’t. I gave her a reassuring smile.
“I’ll cover our dresses. You’ll look gorgeous in a sage green, we’ll see if we can get something with some starlight woven in to add a silver-white shimmer; it’ll bring out those beautiful eyes of yours,” I said.
She blushed furiously and mumbled a thank you.
“We’ll split up then. Tyn and I will go and get suits. We’ll see you back here at six,” Logan said.
He kissed my throat tenderly before leaving with Tyn.
“You really love each other,” Erin said.
My stomach squirmed. I hadn’t really thought about it.
“Do you know where this magic quarter is? I’m dying for breakfast and coffee,” I said with a grin.
The magic quarter was easy to find. The blood-red and amber wild magic sprawling across edges of the buildings made a stunning marker. The magic was languorous in the warm afternoon sun. It pulsed in a slow lazy beat, moving through rippling reds and bold oranges. The area teemed with life, from the flowers tumbling from every balcony to the lyric birds that perched just out of reach. The birds were barely as big as my fist. Each had a unique coloration and was as bold as the rest of the city. They got their name from mimicking song magicians and singing snippets of their lyrics back at anyone who would pause and listen. It resulted in a joyous cacophony of broken songs and bright happy music.
Erin and I visited a good number of shops before we found one that had something suitable. The dresses before us were elegant and bursting with magic from whispering breezes that made delicate skirts flutter like feathers to sunbeams that made dresses glow. I spotted the perfect dress for Erin almost immediately. Its pale green complimented her beautiful copper skin and brought out her golden eyes. I pulled it off the rack and held it up to her. The tailoring would highlight her slender figure while remaining demure.
I grinned at her. “You have to try it on!”
She chewed on her bottom lip and glanced at the price tag. I handed her the dress.
“Fein will reimburse me, now try it on.”
She accepted the dress and went to the changing room. I looked through the other dresses, hoping to find something in a rich red or perhaps a silvery blue, something striking and feminine. I was relishing the opportunity to dress in something pretty. I didn’t get the chance to be feminine often enough. Of course, I adored the adventuring, there was nothing quite like climbing up the side of a waterfall or exploring a dark forest, but I enjoyed looking pretty, too.
Erin stepped out of the changing room and my jaw dropped. She was absolutely stunning. The delicate fabric hung to her slender curves and brought out the gold in her eyes.
She blushed. “It looks awful, doesn’t it…”
I restrained myself and didn’t say the first thing that popped into my head, which was something incredibly lewd.
“You look incredible. You’ll turn every head,” I said, unable to take my eyes off her.
When I finally found a dress for myself, it was a deep red with a touch of fire magic woven in to make it flicker and shimmer. The neckline was verging on scandalous, and it was backless. It hugged my curves and required high heels to make the length of the skirt work, but I loved it. When I looked in the mirror, I saw a strong woman with a figure I was proud of. It made me feel good, and that was what mattered.
We returned to the hotel room expecting Logan and Tyn to be waiting for us. Logan hated being late for anything, and we arrived at a minute before six. We checked both rooms and saw no sign of them.
Where are you? I texted Logan.
Concern began to gnaw at me when I had no reply ten minutes later. I rang him as I paced around the space between the large bed and the desk while Erin sat looking out of the window with the panoramic view over the city.
No reply. He was only suit shopping, there was no reason for him to ignore his phone.
Tyn burst into the room. His hair was a mess, and his shirt was torn.
“They took him. They kidnapped Logan.”
38
“Who? Where? Why? How do we get him back?” I asked.
“Are you ok?” Erin asked.
Wispy shot back and forth between me and Tyn. He knew something was wrong as he chittered and wailed, but he wasn’t helping.
“Wispy, enough.” I turned back to Tyn. “Sorry! Yes, are you injured? Tell us everything. Fuck,” I said, dragging my fingers through my hair.
Wispy settled himself on my shoulder and pressed himself against my neck in apology. I smiled and took the solace he offered. The guilt over Logan’s being taken gnawed at me. I’d been so happy being girly; I should have stayed with them. No, that was foolish, Logan could take care of himself. I’d seen him take on entir
e packs of shifters before. He didn’t win, exactly, but he came pretty close.
“I’m fine, I’ll heal. I don’t know who they were, but I saw they had matching tattoos - a navy-blue star on the back of their left hand. They didn’t say anything, not a word. They grabbed him as we were coming back to the hotel. They must have had a shadow walker in their number, I didn’t see or hear them until it was too late. We fought, but he was gone,” Tyn said.
I took a deep breath and teased out the important information. They only took Logan, and the assailants had matching tattoos.
“We’re going to lean on every contact we have and find out who has those tattoos,” I said calmly.
Erin chewed on her bottom lip.
“Surely they won’t kill him…” she said.
Neither Tyn nor I answered. We didn’t know what exactly they wanted.
“We have to assume that they’re trying to stop us from getting the stone. This is another delaying and scare tactic,” I said.
Erin sat on the bed and picked at the edge of the satin bedspread. I pulled out my phone and went through my phone book, trying to think who would know Barcelona’s underground. Tyn was already speaking in sharp tones on the phone. We weren’t going to lose Logan. My chest constricted at the thought. I’d be lost without him.
After a tense hour of sharp words and threats, we had a name, time, and location for a meeting with a scryer. I hadn’t met a scryer before. They were secretive and usually hidden away from people such as myself. Scryers were very rare and only occurred in male hedgewitch lines. The hedgewitches usually guarded them. I had to wonder why this one wasn’t under such protection. Still, I didn’t know how Tyn had managed to pull that particular string, but I was very grateful. The scryer didn’t work for the assholes that kidnapped Logan, but as a scryer, he’d be able to find us information that would lead us to Logan.
“I will do the talking. You’re too close to Logan,” Tyn said to me, “and I saw what you did to that woman with the chair leg,” Tyn said to Erin with an impressed grin.
She smiled back. “I might not have any real magic, but I have all of my parents’ fire.”
She had more than fire, she was downright vicious when she wanted to be. Still, I wasn’t going to argue. She was on our side, and I was glad of it.
We took a taxi across the city to the edge of a park, where a lanky man with dark blond hair and shifty eyes stood waiting for us. He played with one of the many silver and copper rings on his long fingers and kept taking small steps from one side then the other. He looked at us with a look somewhere between horror and resignation. Tyn had put his shoulders back and approached the skittish man with predatory determination. The scryer held up his hands in defence.
“Not here. I’ll take you to my place,” he said in a faintly reedy voice.
“Anders?” Tyn confirmed.
The man gave a sharp nod before he strode across the road in front of an oncoming car, which he didn’t acknowledge at any point during the driver’s tirade in a mix of Spanish and Elvish. He took us to a less well-kept building with a dark terracotta-coloured door and more terracotta inside. The interior appeared to have been a bright sunshine colour at one point, though now it was faded and slightly grey. The stairs creaked under each step, bringing me to cling onto the wooden banister in the vain hope it would hold up better than the stairs, should they give way. Fortunately, he was on the first floor. I didn’t feel particularly good about risking a second set of stairs.
A nest of pixies nestled in the corner at the end of the hallway. The little beings weren’t more than six inches high, but they caused no end of trouble. If they felt happy and well-treated, they did nothing more than steal shiny objects and food. If they felt mistreated, then they’d do anything from spoiling food through to cutting brake lines on cars and fucking with the electrics so someone died when they tried to turn on the light. They were fast asleep when we entered Anders’ apartment, fat little bodies piled on top of each other within the circular nest formed of a stolen bowl and who knew what else.
The scryer’s apartment was about what I’d expected. Abused wooden furniture stood against the walls. A couch with a missing cushion sat in the middle of the pale tiled floor looking at a pock-marked wall.
“Don’t try and get smart, Anders,” Tyn warned.
The scryer didn’t look back at him. He stretched his long body up and reached for a round black mirror that had been perched on top of the tall bookshelf. Where someone else would have filled the shelves with books, he had filled them with small stones and tiles of every shape, size, and colour imaginable.
“They soothe me,” Anders said as he caught me looking at them with bemusement.
I held my tongue. We all have our quirks, after all.
39
Anders made himself comfortable on the floor, which I had thought was an impossibility. How anyone could sit on the tiles with their legs crossed like he had and be comfortable enough to focus for more than a few seconds was beyond me. Erin, Tyn, and I stood in a loose semi-circle behind Anders and watched as he held the black mirror up in front of himself. The glass looked like an oil slick, and the frame had the same consistency as burnt wood.
Scryers were the male equivalent of female hedgewitches with the seer ability. The difference was the ability to look through time. The seers could see that which had happened, or was going to happen. The scryers could only see that which was currently happening.
Anders’ face went entirely slack as he looked into the mirror. I tried to remain still, but the waiting was killing me. Logan was out there. Who knew where or what was happening to him? After what felt like an eternity, Anders returned to us with a vacant smile.
“He’s alive. The star born have him tied up in a small room. There’s only one guard, the rest are dressed in expensive suits. They know you’ll come for your friend. You have a decision to make. Save him, or get the stone.” Anders’ voice sounded distant and deeper than it had done before.
“Where exactly is Logan? There are thousands of small rooms in this city,” Tyn said.
“The converted factory.”
Tyn narrowed his eyes.
“If you wish to receive the entire fee we agreed upon, you had better give us more details than that,” he growled.
“The basement. Follow the blue arrows and stars. It’s not hard.”
Tyn flashed his teeth but said nothing.
“You know how to get us there?” I asked Tyn.
“Yes. I’ll book a car now,” he said as he stepped away.
“That was too easy,” Erin said.
“I know,” I agreed.
We left Anders and his mirror with a large amount of cash. I watched the pixie nest closely as we headed back to the stairs and out onto the street. Tyn took off at a jog without any warning. Erin and I were left with no choice but to follow him. We pushed through the throngs of tourists and ducked around dance magicians preparing for their first performance of the evening.
“We have three hours until that auction starts. Throw your dresses in the car,” Tyn shouted as we rounded the corner to the hotel.
Erin was grinning when we jumped into the sleek black car Tyn had procured. I can’t say that I shared her happiness, as much as I could understand the thrill of the adventure. Tyn pushed the car’s limits and broke every speed limit as we tore through the city towards the mountains. We were on a rescue mission.
The landscape changed around us, from dense colourful city to a well-established forest surrounding rocky outcrops. The roads twisted and wound their way up through the mountains where Tyn said the converted factory was. It emerged from the rock face, a collection of man-made curves and smooth walls against the craggy pale rock and trees around it. The forest had reclaimed it as its own despite people not having given up on it. Sturdy bushes grew on the round roof of the furthest section. The straight lines and small windows flickered with lights. It was practically crawling with magic. As we got closer, I could
see that a weaver had been employed to set up a security system. So much for being easy.
Weavers work with pure magic. Their name comes from the fact that they weave strings of magic together to form something new. They’re often employed to make very expensive security systems, but their talents are wide and varied. Tyn brought the car to a screeching stop in front of the imposing wooden door.
“We need to get through that security system,” he said.
“No shit,” I muttered.
He smirked at me.
“Come on, alchemist, surely you have something you can use?” he taunted.
I had my silver kris blade and a pouch of illusion powder that would allow us to hide for approximately five minutes. Erin passed me my bag, and I began looking through it for something of more use. My magic-breaking dust had been stolen at some point, and I’d given away my fire powder. That left me with my seduction ointment, and my tear of Mdregata darts. The ointment would allow me to take minor control of someone with suggestion. It had been a difficult one to perfect. It was mostly siren vocal cords with a little drake venom, but it had taken me quite a few tries to get the correct time of elemental fire to bring the magic together in a way that kept the recipient conscious and normal looking. My first few tries had turned them into glassy-eyed empty shells for a day, which, given I wanted something subtle, wasn’t good enough.
The darts were something else entirely. They would allow me to inflict great deals of pain on something. A wood elf had taught me the recipe after I’d helped him find an artifact that was very important to his tribe. A flock of crow shifters had stolen it. Unfortunately, neither would break a complex weaver-built security system.
I got out the car and approached the building. Wispy followed me and went up to the very edge of the security system, causing it to spark and begin to glow pale cream. We were still a good four feet from the building proper. They hadn’t held back when they built the system. I reached out to try and feel the magic. If I knew what exactly it did, I might be able to work around it. Lightning shot to my palm and gave me a nasty jolt that continued to sting even after I’d stepped back. Wispy hissed and threw his own sparks and small strikes of lightning at the building. Erin wrapped her hands around the wisp and took him away.