by L. EE
The bellboy looked confused, but Nia knew what she was talking about. You know, when Connery’s terrifying illusion swallowed us for an entire day and we all nearly died. Nia folded her arms over her chest, one hand twisting a bit of blood red fabric.
“I wonder how he knew I was here,” Gail continued. “He must have pestered it out of the Academy. Now, that takes dedication.” She looked over at Nia and Arthur. “I get the feeling this might take a while. This jerk never takes a simple no for an answer, but I can’t just tell him to take a hike. He pays well for a jerk. Why don’t you to go on ahead without me and I’ll meet you at dinner?”
“You think you’ll be on the phone for the entire picture show?” Arthur asked doubtfully.
“Well, no, but long enough that we’ll miss all the good parts. I told you this guy doesn’t shut up. I’ll let him rant at me for half an hour then tell him that if he’s angry about me being busy, he can take it up with the Academy. Politely, of course.”
“We could wait for you,” Nia suggested. “This was your idea, it wouldn’t feel right to go without you…”
“I won’t miss the whole evening, promise. Anyway, I see too many movies as it is. There’s not much else to do in your time off when you live alone.”
Nia didn’t get the impression that Gail took much time off and she doubted even more that she spent that time off at picture shows, but the detective was already turning away, closing the subject.
“Why don’t we have dinner here after the movie?” She prodded Mr. Rivers with her elbow again. “We can listen to Xavier play and then if we feel up to it we can go for walk or something.” She looked briefly at the wide dark window. “If it doesn’t rain.”
Arthur snorted. “It always rains.”
“Maybe you’ll get lucky,” said Mr. Rivers with a smile. “Sometimes the weather this time of year can surprise you.”
“Ah, yes, of course, maybe.” Arthur was fussing with his tie again. Nia supposed he probably wasn’t used to speaking to laymen. She wanted to glare at him for bringing up the rain, but then he would probably ask why she was looking at him that way and then everything would just be awkward.
“That’s Xavier for you,” said Gail with a grin. “Always an optimist. Anyway, I better go get the phone before he hangs up and calls the Academy again. See you guys back here in around two hours?”
Nia knew there was no arguing the point even if she had felt up to the task, which at the moment she definitely did not, not with Detective Lin smiling at her like that, the chandelier light still gleaming in her hair.
She shook her head. They were right. You do need a break. You’ve overworked yourself and now you’re being silly. “Very well, we’ll be back soon. Don’t –” – let your client yell at you for too long? – let Mr. Rivers distract you from your work? – put your hair up again tonight; it’s very pretty down? “– work too hard.”
“I won’t, princess.” Gail turned to the bellboy. “All right, lead the way.”
“I’ll walk you over,” said Mr. Rivers. “I should be getting back anyway.” He turned to Nia and Arthur. “It was good to see you both again. I hope you have a nice evening.”
“Thank you,” said Arthur almost before Xavier was finished talking, perhaps to make up for his earlier shyness. “You too. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to – uh – hear you play.”
“Yes, indeed, that would be lovely!” Nia added, trying to be as bright and cheerful as possible. Perhaps she had ended up a shade too bright as Mr. Rivers blinked at her for a moment while Arthur gave her that infuriating look that meant he thought her unfit to be around other human beings.
But Mr. Rivers recovered his smile quickly and said, “I’ll look forward to it, ma’am.”
Gail gave them both a last wave before starting off toward the phones with Xavier. Nia couldn’t help noticing that she somehow managed to stride just as confidently in her heeled shoes as she did in heavy boots.
She tore her eyes away when Arthur, apparently now satisfied with the cleanliness of his tie pin, came up beside her and gave her one of those superlatively annoying smirks of his. “So are we going to the movie or do you prefer the show here?”
“Oh, shut up, Arthur.”
As they walked to the door, Nia pulled on her coat, fingers brushing briefly across the spot on her lapel where her flame pin usually lay. She wasn’t technically required to wear it if she didn’t wish to, but every magician she knew always displayed their badges of rank with pride and for the first couple of days, she had done the same, but… well, Detective Lin didn’t wear a badge; she kept her identification in a worn leather book in her pocket. In fact, it seemed laymen never declared their professions with anything more ostentatious than the occasional uniform. So, after some thought, she had started leaving the badge in her handbag. It just seemed a little... well, tawdry flashing it everywhere she went.
Both she and Arthur had umbrellas hooked over their arms, but when they stepped outside, they found the night chilly and brisk and amazingly dry. Immediately, any lingering shadows on Nia’s mood were brushed away as she found herself on the streets of New Crossbridge, ready for her first ever proper ‘night on the town.’
“Looks like you were wrong, Arthur,” said Nia, holding out her hand. “Not a drop.”
“It’ll be raining in an hour, trust me.” But Arthur was smiling too as they started down the street. “Do you really want to see a movie?”
“Of course! Don’t you?”
“We can see movies at the Academy.”
Nia waved her hand. “Oh, that’s hardly a proper theater. It’s so small and the same people come to every show. This will be a proper theater with proper theater patrons.” She thought for a moment. “And proper theater popcorn!”
Arthur was looking at her in exasperated amusement. “Nia, you don’t even like popcorn.”
“I might like this popcorn, I’ve never had it.” A man and a woman passed them on the street and Nia smiled at them simply because she felt like it. The man gave her an uncertain look, but the woman smiled back. “But we might need to stop on the way. I promised Marianne I would get her a souvenir. She can’t stand the city, but she won’t be satisfied if I don’t bring her a porcelain dog or something else horrible like that.” She sighed. “Oh well, maybe I can find her a porcelain dog wearing a funny hat. I – what are you laughing at?”
Still laughing, Arthur said, “Nothing, Ni.”
28
Nia Graves
The Carrington Boulevard in early evening was a maelstrom of light and sound. Nia and Arthur walked arm and arm to keep from being separated in the crush of people. Cars rumbled by in a steady stream. Once Arthur accidentally stepped off of the curb and nearly lost his foot.
But he was smiling, which only made Nia even surer that he and Gail had been right. We all needed this. Of course that just made her think of poor Gail back at the hotel, possibly still being yelled at by her client.
Or possibly talking with Mr. Rivers again, sharing a drink or...
“Oh, honestly,” she muttered to herself. When Arthur gave her a questioning look, she made herself smile at him and gave his arm a light tug. “What do you think I should get Marianne?”
“I don’t see why you have to get her anything. You’re not exactly friends.”
Nia and Marianne Baum had been good friends once and perhaps would have been more than that if Marianne hadn’t seen fit to make a disparaging remark about Arthur.
“I don’t see why you spend so much time with him. He can’t be very interesting to talk to. Does he even know anything outside of fixing cars and cutting people up?”
And that had been the end of that. Nia had managed to resist slapping her at the time, though she almost wished she hadn’t because that probably would have stopped Marianne from continually trying to repair the irreparable – as well as asking her for presents, which was just the height of bad manners.
But Arthur didn’t know any of that; Nia
had taken great pains to make sure he never found out, so all she said in response was, “Yes, yes, but she asked me, and you know she won’t forget, so I have to bring her something or I’ll never hear the end of it.”
He smirked at her. “I thought you were going to get a porcelain dog with a funny hat?”
Nia sighed as she squinted down the street. The night was still dry, but there was a light fog rolling in. It couldn’t hurt them, but it blurred the signs, making them difficult to read. “I don’t see any – ah, here!” She pulled Arthur across the street, both of them just barely dodging an oncoming trolley. It jangled an angry bell at them as it rolled on its way.
“What is it?” Arthur laughed as they finally stumbled on to the opposite sidewalk.
“Here.” Nia pressed her free hand against the thick glass of the display window. Inside were several beautiful hats adorning plastic heads. “Marianne likes hats.” It had been, Nia had realized later, one of the very few things they actually had in common. “What about that purple one with the ribbon?”
“It would look better on you.”
“I don’t need any more hats,” said Nia, reaching up to adjust the jeweled flower in her hair. “Though it is rather nice, isn’t it?” Too nice for Marianne.
“Get that one.” Arthur tapped the glass over a hat that seemed to be trying to hide itself at the very edge of the window – and for very good reason. Nia thought the base color was white, but it was impossible to be sure under the graceless swirls of sequins that covered the rim and the orange flower that sprouted from the top like it had grown there.
“Oh, Arthur, that’s awful,” Nia laughed.
“You know Marianne never leaves the Academy. Tell her that’s what all the fine layman ladies are wearing these days.”
Covering her mouth with her hand so passerby wouldn’t stop and stare at the strange woman giggling wildly in front of a hat shop, Nia prodded Arthur with her elbow. “You, sir, are terrible.”
“I know.” Arthur leaned closer to the glass, nose wrinkling at some distasteful thought. “Maybe you should get one for Connery too. It might make him easier to look at.”
That image made Nia laugh even harder and a passing couple exchanged bewildered looks as they stepped around her.
Turning his head to look down the street, Arthur lifted his arm and pointed. “There’s the theater. We had better hurry if we want to see a show and get back in time for dinner with Detective Lin.”
“Oh yes, let’s hurry.” Nia moved away from the window at once, practically dragging Arthur behind her.
“What about the hat?” asked Arthur as he stumbled to keep up.
Nia waved a careless hand. “Oh, it can wait. After all, it’s not as if anyone else is going to snatch it up.”
Arthur chuckled. “You have a point.”
Nia’s mind wandered back to the pretty hat with the purple bow. It was far too nice for Marianne, but perhaps… It would look quite lovely against Detective Lin’s dark hair, wouldn’t it? That thought led to another and then another and as they crossed the street, more carefully this time, Nia couldn’t help gently offering the thoughts to Arthur.
“So…” she said as they approached the brightly lit theater.
“So?”
“So… That friend of Gail’s, Mr. Rivers. He’s rather handsome, isn’t he?”
Arthur’s pace faltered slightly. “I – uh – do you think so?”
“Oh, well, I don’t know,” Nia said quickly, looking away as her face heated. “Obviously, I’m only speaking objectively, but I was thinking that perhaps someone might think so. And he’s a teacher as well. That’s a noble profession. It wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility to think that someone might…”
“Might what?” Arthur sounded like he had choked on a balloon.
Nia looked at him curiously. “Are you quite all right?”
“I – yes, of course, I’m fine. I was just – why did you ask me that? ”
“Well, you saw him. You’ve spoken to him. Who else would I ask?” Nia turned back to the marquee in a huff, wondering why Arthur always had to be so difficult. “I was just wondering if perhaps he and Detective Lin had – well, I don’t want to sound like I’m gossiping about our associate. I just wondered if perhaps they had a history of some kind. I mean, it’s possible, isn’t it?”
Arthur was silent for a moment then he burst out laughing. Nia stopped walking to stare at him and probably would have been crushed by a passing car if he hadn’t tugged her up on to the curb. When they were safely out of traffic, he smiled and patted her hand in what Nia felt was an excessively patronizing manner. “I’m not sure how you expect me to judge these things any better than you, but even if they did have a history, they’re clearly not together now. She said herself it’d been months since they last saw each other.”
“Oh, really?” It was embarrassing how quickly the news lightened her mood, but – well, it was her night off, she was allowed to be a little silly. Realizing Arthur was still watching her – and worse, still smiling – she knew she had to say something else. “Not that it really matters, of course. I was only curious – idly, you understand.”
“I understand.” But the knowing smile hadn’t budged from Arthur’s face.
Nia tugged on his arm with a scowl. “Don’t you dare tease me. You’re the one who got flustered by a simple question.”
The smile immediately dropped from his face. “I was not flustered! I was simply – confused, because I didn’t understand what you were getting at.” He shook his head a few times as though he felt the explanation needed further emphasis. “I was not flustered.”
Nia studied him closely. “Arthur, what on earth has gotten –”
“I’m going to get the tickets.” Arthur dropped her arm, leaving her waiting on the sidewalk, while he made his way to the ticket line.
Nia watched him for a moment, then shook her head, giving up on pondering Arthur for the time being. She couldn’t believe he called her strange. Instead, she turned her attention to the marquee, squinting up at the name of the film, spelled out in lights above the theater entrance.
The film of the evening appeared to be a thriller of some kind about a family of criminals trying to evade the police. Rather appropriate, given their current assignment.
Turning in place, Nia took in the blinding lights and streaming crowds. Of course, she had walked through New Crossbridge at night before, but never without a senior Illuminator hurrying her along, complaining about the crowds of laymen. She had never had a chance to truly see it before. With a contented sigh, she tilted her head back and let the wind catch her hair. She loved the Academy, of course, with its peaceful greenhouses and quiet libraries, but every now and then, even a born academic like Nia enjoyed being a little overwhelmed by the chaos of the outside world.
Someone brushed against her, and she turned expecting to see Arthur. Instead, she was confronted by two pale men in matching suits. One was big and had an ugly smile, the other had a greasy fall of reddish hair and looked like he might have been a relative of New Crossbridge’s rodent population.
“Excuse me, miss,” said the big one with the unpleasant smile. “Are you lost?”
“No, thank you,” Nia replied, turning her back on them.
Unfortunately, they refused to give up. One of them stepped in front of her, still smiling a smile that made Nia want to gently tip him face-first onto the pavement.
“Are you out here all by yourself?” he asked, running a hand back through his greasy red hair.
Nia sighed. “No.” She really should have worn her badge. Then they would have been scurrying in the other direction before one slimy word could pass their lips.
“Who’s here with you?” the other man asked. “A boyfriend?”
A passing woman gave Nia a concerned look, but Nia just smiled at her. Only a week ago, she had fought off an ocean of murderous disembodied arms. These two were hardly going to frighten her. In passing, she
wondered if there was a spell to create an ocean of murderous disembodied arms right here on the street. Sadly, she didn’t know one, and even if it existed, it probably wouldn’t be Academy-sanctioned.
“I asked you who you were with?” the man repeated, actually making a grab for her elbow.
She stepped away, brushing the almost-touch from her sleeve. “I’m here with my brother, so if you wouldn’t mind –”
“Nia, are you all right?”
“Yes, Arthur, I’m fine.”
Standing rigid with his eyes flicking suspiciously from man to man, Arthur didn’t look convinced. Nia hoped he held on to his temper. Arthur had always been protective of her, ever since they were children. She appreciated it, of course, but these troublemakers were a greater danger to him than they were to her.
“Is this your brother?” The redheaded man blinked his watery eyes, clearly reassessing the situation. Arthur wasn’t a large man, but his work in the Academy garage gave him a wiry kind of strength and he wore a scowl like some people wore knife-fight scars.
“Yes.” Nia took Arthur’s arm. “Why don’t we go inside? It’s getting rather crowded out here.”
“Aww, going so soon,” the other man said with another sour grin. “We were just getting to know each other.”
“No,” Nia replied coolly. “We weren’t.”
Pulling out of her grip, Arthur took a step forward. “I think you should go now.”
“Arthur…”
The redheaded man only snickered, but his friend couldn’t let it pass. “Why’s that?”
“Because this is a public street, people don’t want to see garbage on it.”
Nia closed her eyes for a moment. There were times she wished Arthur didn’t have such a way with words.
For a moment, the two men just stared. Then Arthur’s meaning seemed to sink in and their posture changed. The redhead’s face turned roughly the same color as his hair and his friend’s hands tightened into fists.
Nia reached into her pocket, fingers closing around a slip of paper. “Arthur, we really should go inside now. We’re going to miss the beginning.”