Spies in the Dark (The Nightcrafters Book 2)

by Ramsey Isler

  But now that Dominique was back and the situation was returning to the controlled chaos that passed for normal nowadays, I actually had a moment to take a breath. I walked away from the office and started thinking about hailing a cab. I kept telling myself I’d fix everything with Newton once I got back from Hawaii. But, as I made mental preparations to leave, some part of me screamed that putting this on the back burner was a bad idea. As much as we were trying to keep our distance, it didn’t feel right to cut him out of my life for any longer.

  As I left the United Nations campus, I took out my new and thoroughly-secured cellphone and dialed Newton. He answered in two rings.

  “Hey stranger,” he said. “What’s up?”

  “The queen is back on the throne,” I said. “The peasants have been given a reprieve.”

  “I understood the first part,” Newton said, “not so clear on the second.”

  “We’ve been given leave,” I said. “It’ll be a little vacation. No work. We’re not going to get another chance like this for a while. We’d better take it.”

  “Alright,” Newton said. “I guess I can’t turn that down. When are you thinking about leaving?”

  “I’ll pick you up in thirty minutes.”

  * * *

  If you haven’t been to Hawaii yet, go. Put it on your bucket list. Skip your daily overpriced latte to save up. Eat nothing but oatmeal for a week if you have to. Any sacrifice you have to make to get here is worth it.

  I hadn’t been back to my home state in a few years, but nothing had changed. The second we stepped off the plane, the unique experience of Hawaii started. I’d paid a little extra to arrange for Newton to get the traditional lei greeting at the airport, and a smiling young lady placed a necklace of fresh purple and white flowers around his neck. It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen him wear.

  We walked out of the airport and it felt like I was a boy again. The tropical night air smelled fresh and salty. A small storm had brought a sprinkling of rain just before we landed, and it felt like our surroundings had been freshly laundered just for us. I couldn’t help but smile. It was like a twenty pound chain had been draped across my shoulders for months and I hadn’t even noticed until it fell away.

  “When’s the luau?” Newton asked. He was smiling almost as broadly as I was.

  “Maybe tomorrow,” I said. “But right now I have some other things to take care of.”

  “Right,” Newton said. “I’ll be at the hotel ordering the fruitiest drinks with the biggest little umbrellas I can find. You know how to find me.”

  “I do,” I said. “And I will. Soon. I promise.”

  Newton just nodded and gave me a pat on the back before he turned and made his way to the taxi line. I still didn’t know how I was going to balance my time here between him and my parents, but I was going to make it happen one way or another. At the moment though, I had to focus on seeing my mom and dad.

  I picked up a rental car and drove to their place. During the trip, I ran through all the different things I wanted to say to them. I still couldn’t explain exactly what was going on, but that was really the least of my concerns. I just wanted them to feel safe and happy. And to tell them that I loved them. I hadn’t said that enough over the past two years. I was going to say it a lot tonight.

  But when I got to the perfect little house Dominique had them staying in, and I saw them waiting in the doorway holding hands, I forgot about everything I planned to say. All the rehearsed lines and carefully crafted phrases meant to maintain secrecy just dribbled right out of my brain. I just ran up to them and hugged them. Then there were tears — sweet, free-flowing tears that mixed with the misty rain. There’s a line in one of the Lord of the Rings books that goes, “Not all tears are an evil.” I never fully appreciated those words until today.

  After the best cry I’d ever had in my life, we started the happy process of reconnecting. My parents had been told that they’d been placed under protective custody because one of my mom’s old business partners from fifteen years ago was actually a serial killer and she might have been next on his list. Oddly enough this was actually half-true — the guy had killed his new partner over an embezzlement scheme gone bad, but had escaped to South America and hadn’t been seen since. Dominique’s ability to take advantage of practically anything was uncanny.

  You might think that months of hiding under the pretense of evading a murderer might make a person uneasy, but my mother is a rock. And she isn’t exactly the stereotypical Asian mom. She wasn’t obsessed with getting me into the best schools, she didn’t hover over me at every opportunity, and she actually let me play outside as often as I wanted. Her father had been a celebrated Judo master so she knew how to kick ass, and on more than one occasion she put me in my place when my dad wasn’t available. I wasn’t always an easy kid to deal with, but she always had exactly the right approach for whatever trouble I was getting myself into. She was strict when she had to be, but her preferred style was to always lead by example instead of forcing views on me through admonitions and beatings. She also had an impressive career, and more talents and hobbies than I could even keep track of. When I came back home after missing for months during my nightcrafter training with Kellar, I found that she had been the one keeping my dad sane and upbeat.

  While my mom didn’t quite fit the norm, my dad is everything you’d expect from a guy whose ancestors had called Hawaii home for thousands of years. He’s got a big smile, a big heart, and big arms. He’s at his happiest when he has sun in his face and sand in his toes, which often makes me wonder how he ever agreed to make the move to New York City. We’ve never really spoken about it. For years I’ve just believed he would’ve followed my mom wherever she wanted to go. But I also think he likes to prove he can make it anywhere, and the challenge of giving up the Big Pineapple for the Big Apple was too much to resist.

  “You’re too skinny!” My dad said before rushing off into the kitchen. He always thinks I’m too skinny. But in this case, he was right. I had not been eating well for months. Luckily, my dad is a master of Hawaiian dishes that are sure to put meat on your bones in no time. So we ate and we laughed and we talked about the island and the weather and how they weren’t even missing New York. They were seriously considering moving back here. I was glad to hear that. There’s no Rift in Hawaii.

  We finally called it quits at three in the morning. I slept in the guest room that had never been used, and I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. No dreams. No nightmares. Just fitful, relaxed sleep.

  * * *

  My parents wanted me to stay at their place for the rest of the trip. They started planning things to do, arranging meals to cook, and cajoling me into parent-child conversations that would take hours and hours and many glasses of wine to finish. I was fine with this, of course. I wanted it. Needed it. But I also needed something . . . someone . . . else. It would be difficult to steal time away from my parents though, and I didn’t really even want to.

  There was only one solution to this problem: invite Newton over.

  “I haven’t had a friend over to my parents’ place since I was fourteen,” I said to him during the drive from his hotel to the house my parents were using. “I’m sure they’ll love the novelty of it all.”

  “Won’t it be a little awkward?” Newton asked.

  “No. Why would it be?”

  “It’s kind of odd for you to bring along a friend to meet your parents whom you haven’t seen in ages and who are also supposed to be on the run from a killer.”

  “They don’t pry,” I said. “If I want you there, that’s good enough for them.”

  “Surely they’ll assume some things,” Newton said.

  “They will assume you are someone very important to me. And you are.”

  “Okay then. I’m not sure if that makes me feel more nervous or less.”

  “Relax,” I said. “My parents love to entertain and they haven’t seen anybody other than me and government agent
s in months. And my mom makes the best fruity drinks with the biggest little umbrellas you’ve ever seen.”

  “Tempting,” Newton said. “But I think I should stay sober. Wouldn’t want to spill the proverbial beans.”

  “Did they teach you that in spy school?” I asked.

  “Yup. First day.”

  We didn’t say much else on the remainder of the trip. I got the sense that Newton was genuinely nervous, but I wasn’t going to change my mind. There were only three important people in my life, and I was not about to waste precious time trying to see them separately.

  It was around sunset when we arrived at the house. The top of the sun was still peeking over the ocean like the yolk on a sunny side up egg. We walked up to the house and my mom was already at the door, welcoming us with a smile and a bowl of fresh pineapple slices. I introduced Newton, and my mother gave him a smile and a gentle handshake. Then the party was in full swing.

  I lost track of all the fun we had that night. My dad grilled up some amazing stuff; everything from ahi tuna to beef ribs to the legendary Spam that Hawaiians love for some reason. We talked about the island, the beach, the neighbors, and other random things I only half-listened to. My dad told surfing stories that I’d heard a thousand times before, but somehow they seemed new and interesting this time. My parents kept the conversation light and fast-flowing, never bringing up anything about me or Newton. In fact, I don’t think they ever asked him a single question that didn’t involve what he wanted to eat next. By the time the night was over, nervous Newton was happy and relaxed, although my dad’s spice mix had him sweating and flushed.

  All too soon, it was past two in the morning and we are all getting red-eyed. My parents offered to house us for the night but I couldn’t impose on them more than we already had. I promised to be back for lunch the next day before our flight to New York in the evening. After a healthy round of hugs and pats on the back, Newton and I hit the road and headed to the hotel.

  “Your parents are wonderful people,” Newton said as he yawned and stretched in the passenger seat.

  “They are,” I said. “I missed them.”

  “It’s a shame we have to leave tomorrow night. It would be nice to spend more time with them.”

  “It would be,” I said. “But if you stick around too long they might adopt you.”

  Newton laughed. “Your parents have a habit of taking in strays?”

  “My dad actually does. He used to take care of the stray cats in the neighborhood. Some people even started calling him Catman.”

  “That’s adorable,” Newton said.

  I just nodded and kept my eyes on the dark road ahead. Driving is a bit more difficult when I don’t have magic to help me out.

  “I’m stumped on something,” Newton continued. “I’m still trying to figure out why you would leave a loving home like that for the world of nightcrafting.”

  “I was a teenager,” I said. “Hormones.”

  “Insufficient explanation,” Newton said.

  “Okay then. Hormones and inferiority complex.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I never thought I was deserving of those two wonderful people. I was always a screw-up who wasn’t particularly good at anything. I was an average student, a below average athlete, and I’m completely tone deaf. Nightcrafting was the first thing that made me special.”

  “I’m sure your parents didn’t feel that way.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” I said. “I felt that way.”

  “Do you still?”

  “No, of course not. It was a phase. I grew out of it. Like I said, nightcrafting was the first thing that made me special. There have been other things since.”

  “Like?”

  “Stopping nightcrafters,” I said with a smile. “That’s even more special because there are even fewer people who have done it, and most of them are in this car right now.”

  “So I’m special too?” Newton said.

  “Yes,” I said. “You are.”

  “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

  “There are more nice things I could say about you, but I space them out so you don’t get spoiled.”

  We both laughed at that, and it was a great way to end the night.

  * * *

  We landed back in NYC very early on a Sunday morning. The city was about as quiet as it gets, but it didn’t remotely compare to the nighttime tranquility of Oahu, where you could hear the ocean waves crashing on the sand. I already missed Hawaii, and my parents. But I returned to the city recharged and sure that we all had this situation under control, at least at the moment.

  “Well I am thoroughly jet lagged,” Newton said as we left the airplane. “I need to find a way to grab at least six hours of sleep before The Queen calls us in.” We had taken to calling Dominique The Queen lately, even though that wasn’t her official codename. Her actual codename was a Swahili word neither of us could pronounce or spell very well.

  “I could use some sleep too,” I said. “And some breakfast. Actually I’d really like some of that awesome oatmeal you make. Let’s go to my place.”

  “Your triangle house?” Newton asked. “Probably not a good idea. Even if Cecil isn’t around anymore we still have to worry about his buddies. We have to assume they know where you used to live.”

  “That is all perfectly logical,” I said. “But it’s morning. The sun’s out, and that means there’s not as much magic. And if Dominique has taught me anything recently, it’s that sometimes the safest place to be is the obvious place. Besides, I miss that house. It was absolutely stunning. How often am I going to be able to live in a place like that?”

  “You’re seriously going to risk all kinds of havoc just to spend a day in one of the nicest places in the city?”

  “Yes.”

  Newton rubbed his temples and shook his head. “I knew you’d say that. Can’t say I blame you though. Okay, let’s go.”

  We called a car service to come pick us up and we were off. Sunday morning traffic isn’t that bad, so in short order we were in front of the office building that served as the foundation of my house in the sky. We did a quick security sweep and found nothing amiss, so we entered the dark private staircase. A quick spell brought us up to the rooftop.

  The house was just as beautiful as I remembered it. As the morning sun continued its rise into the sky, shafts of golden light streamed into the living room. There was a little panel at the top of the window pane facing the east. The panel was a crystal prism and when the sun reached just the right angle, the light split into a banded rainbow that covered the white wall opposite the window, making it look like an elaborate multicolored paint job. It was my favorite part of the house, and pretty much the reason I wanted to come here today.

  “I didn’t know that was here,” Newton said, marveling at the display.

  “Yeah, it’s amazing,” I said. “I never got to see a lot of early mornings here since I was always in the office or sleeping late. But once I figured out this little hidden part of the house I really wanted to start waking up earlier.”

  “Screw the nightcrafters,” Newton said. “We gotta find a way for you to keep this place.”

  I was just about to agree with him when there was a knock at the door. Newton looked at me with surprise. “Expecting company?”

  “No,” I said. “Nobody can even get up here.” I slowly poked my head into the foyer and looked at the door, not knowing what to do. The door didn’t even have a peephole, but it did have basic locks at least. Those locks wouldn’t help if the person on the other side decided to put a few bullets through the wood. I decided it would be safest not to walk up to the door directly. Instead, I’d slip out a side window and swing around. I whispered to Newton, “Stay here and call for help if necessary.”

  I grabbed a nice, sharp knife from the kitchen before I went outside. I held it behind my back as I tiptoed around to the front, and peeked around the outer wall to see who was a
t the door. When I saw them, I relaxed. If these people meant me harm, they certainly had a thousand better ways to do it than showing up here in broad daylight. I went back through the same window I came out from and walked toward the door to let them in.

  “Who is it?” Newton asked.

  “Frenemies,” I said. I opened the door, and Newton’s eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw Kellar and Madison there.

  “How did you know I’d be here?” I asked them.

  “We’re magicians,” Kellar said.

  “But it’s daytime,” I said.

  “He really doesn’t know much, does he?” Madison said to Kellar.

  “He knows plenty,” Kellar said. “He’s just missing some of the basics. The dark is never completely gone, Kal. If you invite us inside I can explain that further.”

  “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,” I said. “Like you said, I’m missing some basic info here. Maybe inviting a nightcrafter inside is like inviting a vampire into your house.”

  Kellar gave me a condescending look I’d seen all too often back when I was his student. “Are you done joking now? We do have other things to do.”

  “Come on in,” I said. “But you leave when I say you leave.”

  “We won’t be long,” Kellar said, stepping inside. Madison followed him and shot a nasty glare my way.

  “So how did you know we were here?” I asked again.

  “I set up an alarm spell attached to the shadows in the private stairwell,” Kellar said. “It alerted me to any disturbances in the usual darkness. Since you’re the only person with access to those stairs, it stood to reason that it was either you or someone planning to harm you. Either way, it was worth investigating.”

  “Neat trick,” Newton said. “I’ll have to figure out how you do it.”