by Krista Walsh
“From what I understand, the closure was sudden,” Daphne said, sending her ball of flame flitting around the reception area. “Employees went into work on Tuesday morning, and by noon, the severance packages went out. They were gone by two o’clock, and the doors were locked. The rest of the clearout happened within a couple of days. Trucks were seen as early as five o’clock that afternoon. I haven’t heard anything about someone coming back since then to start renovations, so it’s possible they’re trying to be sneaky about it. Add that to why they want the orb and the sheer number of demons involved, and it points to something that makes me want to run for the hills.”
She shuddered again, and Zach couldn’t blame her. If it weren’t for the infernal heat constantly running through his veins, he was sure he’d feel the same chills that had her so unsettled.
They stepped into the corner office, and Zach cursed. There was nothing. The desk was gone, the wardrobe had been taken — even the fake plant in the corner had been cleared out.
They encountered the same situation in every other office on the floor, and even in a few they checked on the floors below.
Daphne crossed her arms and stared around the final room. Her hair fluttered with a faint draft coming through the ventilation system, but she didn’t appear to notice the cold.
“At least we know they plan to come back here. We can work together to stop that from happening. What do you think? Should we burn down the building? An unfortunate accident?”
Her ball of fire flared brighter.
Zach shook his head. “They have the money. They can rebuild faster than we can destroy them. This place means nothing. If we can’t find their headquarters, they could pop up wherever they wanted.”
Rage simmered deep in his core and bubbled upward until his arms trembled. The effort to keep his emotions restrained was starting to grate on him, and frustration now threatened to push him out of control.
They had left him with nothing to go on. They were taunting him by taking the one person they knew meant something to him. This was what he got for forming an attachment, allowing a weakness into his life. Not only did they have Molly, but now they had the orb and a powerful book. What else did they need to set their plan into motion?
Thoughts bombarded him, and the fury rose like a tempest in his blood, drowning out all reason.
Before he knew what he was doing, he had slammed his fist deep into the wall, through to the other side. Despite the damage, he’d barely felt anything.
“Feel better?” Daphne asked.
“No,” he growled, drawing his arm back into the office. “Let’s get out of here. There’s nothing more we can learn.”
They started back down the stairs, the fire ball once more leading the way. When they reached the bottom, the unmistakable prickle of magic hung in the air. Zach grabbed Daphne’s arm and pushed her behind him, taking up as much of the corridor as his wide frame could manage.
Behind him, Daphne made a noise of disgust. The fire ball went out, and she pushed her way to his side, her hands covered in a soft golden glow.
“You’re not going in alone, big guy,” she hissed.
Together, they moved forward, scouting each side of the corridor. No sounds reached them from ahead, but that didn’t mean anything to Zach. Someone could be waiting for them in the lobby, and he didn’t intend to make it easy for them to get the upper hand.
Scalding heat flowed through him, and the backs of his hands erupted in red scales that stretched up his arms and across his chest. The sensation itched, burning to the point of pain, but he drank it in, appreciating the discomfort as the price of his strength. The scales crept up his neck and covered his cheeks. The top of his head stung as the points of his horns pressed through the surface. Even the back of his throat scratched as the skin thickened.
They stepped out into the lobby, and Daphne closed her eyes. “There’s a trace of someone being here recently, but whoever it was, they’re gone now. Do you think they knew we were here?”
“Unlikely,” Zach said. “If they did they would have come for me. We’re past them playing games, I think.”
She dropped her hands to her sides, although the glow lingered over her fingers. Turning in a slow circle, she stopped when she faced the wall across from the door. Her eyes widened, and she grabbed his arm.
At the sudden touch, his instinct flared to attack, but he reeled back and clung to his remaining self-control.
“Zach, look,” she whispered, and pointed to the wall.
He turned on his heel and his heart thudded heavily against his ribs, creating a melody in his ears with the rush of his blood. He wanted to punch another hole in something. Or someone.
Written in large letters on the wall, in what appeared to be blood but Zach recognized as an illusion, were the words You and the orb for the girl. Think wisely, daemelus. You know how to reach me.
Karl’s crumpled business card burned a hole through Zach’s pocket.
“If they didn’t know you were here, they definitely knew you’d be coming,” Daphne said.
“Son of a bitch.” Zach squeezed his hands and the muscles in his chest bulged, stretching his coat. “I knew I should have dug deeper when this place was open. I should have come back after the first time to learn more. Molly’s abduction, this plan closing in, this is on me.”
“It’s not, Zach,” Daphne said. “We were working on this together. If that’s the case, we both failed. But I refuse to let the guilt sit on my shoulders. Whoever these monsters are, it’s their fault, all right? It’s all on them. We’re going to find them and make them pay for everything they’ve done to us.”
Zach growled. He appreciated her attempts to make him feel better, but he was beyond comfort or reassurance. Nothing would put him at ease until he was guaranteed that Molly was safe.
And if she wasn’t…
He didn’t care what gods Karl and the others prayed to for protection. He would spite them all to claim justice for the girl, even if the entire world had to burn for it.
7
The clock ticked over to ten thirty. Gabe watched each step of the second hand on its journey around the clock face, certain that time had never moved as slowly as it had tonight.
He wiped his hands over his face, sliding his fingers under his sunglasses to rub his eyes.
“They’re taking forever,” he said.
Vera squeezed his shoulder. “It’s only been forty-five minutes. I’m sure they’ll be a while yet.”
He’d spent most of that time going over every inch of Molly’s room. He’d traced the source of the jump to the exact spot where she was taken, but no matter how hard he concentrated on the lingering Fae magic, he couldn’t track where the rift might have taken them. It had been a long shot, but he still felt frustrated by his failure.
Now all they could hope for was that Daphne and Zach’s luck had been more generous. Anything to get them closer to the Book of Universes. And to Molly.
He and Vera were sitting in the kitchen, accompanied by the ticking of the clock and the faint voices from the television in the living room, where Ara sat with Fred and Dana. She’d convinced them to move somewhere more comfortable and do something to distract themselves. On his way down the stairs, Gabe had poked his head into the room and found both parents staring absently at the wall, oblivious to whatever show Ara had turned on.
The sight brought too many unpleasant memories to mind, from the years after the death of his brother, Rick. His mother had bounced back eventually, but his father had walked out only a few years afterward, unable to cope with being in a house where one son was dead, the other cursed.
How many more families were going to be torn apart before they were able to put a stop to whatever was causing it?
“It’s not wishful thinking to believe the book and Molly’s abduction are connected, is it?” Vera asked. As usual, it seemed the woman was capable of reading his thoughts.
“With Lozak involved in both?
” he asked, keeping his voice low so the girl’s parents wouldn’t hear him. “Hardly. While I believe him capable of many kinds of atrocities, we know he wasn’t working on his own. He’s taking orders. If Zach is right that it has to do with Mayzell, then we’re close to finding him.”
Vera shuddered. “I hate to think of Molly anywhere near that monster.” She wiped her hand over her eyes. “At least we can be fairly certain she’s alive.”
Gabe raised his eyebrows. “How do you figure?”
“Because if they were in a rush to kill her, they wouldn’t have bothered taking her with them. They would have finished her off upstairs.”
Gabe couldn’t argue with her logic, but he wasn’t about to dump all his hopes on it, either. He took her hand and squeezed it tightly. “I hope you’re right.”
The sound of the doorbell sent them both flying to their feet. Gabe started toward the door, but Dana beat him to it, shouldering him out of the way to wrench the door open.
“Steve?” she greeted, and Gabe was certain the woman was about to burst into tears of disappointment, although her hopes couldn’t have been too high. He doubted Molly would have rung the doorbell.
“Hi, Mrs. Harris,” a male voice said. Gabe peered over Dana’s shoulder to take in the young man standing on the front porch. He appeared to be about the same age as Molly, sixteen going on thirty. He wore a brown leather coat, worn jeans, and a ratty white band T-shirt. A style Gabe could appreciate. Steve’s frame stood on the heavier side, with full cheeks on a baby face. Sandy blond hair swept over his brow, and his clear brown eyes offset his somewhat snub nose.
Dana released a breath and stepped aside to let him in. “What are you doing here so late?”
Her voice trembled, but she seemed to have wrangled her emotions under some sort of control, as fragile as it was.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I was hoping you might have heard something from Molly.”
Her mother’s eyes glittered as they welled with fresh tears. “Nothing yet. But these people have come here to help look for her.”
Just as Gabe finished scanning Steve over, the younger man returned the favor. He eyed Gabe and Vera warily, and Gabe was relieved that Zach wasn’t here to undergo the same scrutiny. Under the circumstances, he wasn’t sure how the daemelus would have handled the curiosity.
“You’re a friend of Molly’s?” Gabe asked.
“I am,” Steve said. “Her best friend. Who are you?”
Gabe extended his hand. “Gabriel Mulligan, private investigator.”
Steve arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “You’re a PI? You don’t look like one.”
Gabe smirked, dropping his hand to his side. “I’m glad to hear it. It would make my job that much harder if I stood out, wouldn’t it?”
“Why are you wearing sunglasses at ten o’clock at night — inside?”
“Because they’re cool,” Gabe said, readjusting the frames. Vera rested her hand on his back, and he leaned into her touch. He hated this part of social interaction. It was always a treat coming up with reasons for his accessory choice that weren’t the truth. He wondered how this kid would react if he told him that without the glasses, no one in this room would be going anywhere ever again and Molly would be coming home to a family of statues.
“So, why are you here?” Steve asked.
“Steve,” Dana scolded gently.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “but I find it a little weird that only a few hours after Molly goes missing, some strangers are sitting in your house offering to help you find her. How do you know they’re not involved in why she’s missing? They might have taken her and are just covering it up by trying to appear helpful.”
Dana opened her mouth to say something, but Gabe raised a hand. This sort of question, he could handle.
“I like the way you think, Steve,” he said. “You’re cautious and not willing to accept things without questioning them. You’d make a good detective yourself.” His response did nothing to ease the distrust in the younger man’s eyes, which he’d been prepared for. He was sure his next words wouldn’t be taken as calmly. “We know Molly. We met her almost a year ago in a situation that made her pretty unforgettable. When we heard someone had taken her, we wanted to do what we could to help.”
His explanation didn’t go nearly deep enough into the bizarreness of circumstances that had brought them all together again, but he figured Steve and Dana wouldn’t be interested in the whole story. That was something the other members of the ‘invisible entente’ would need to try to piece together on their own when the opportunity arose.
Although Gabe had expected a certain amount of curiosity at his explanation, the change that came over Steve’s face took him aback. He exchanged a glance with Vera, whose eyes had widened.
“You’re a bunch of those people, aren’t you?” Steve asked. “What does she call you? Alterworldly?”
Dana stiffened beside Gabe, but she said nothing, allowing him and Vera to handle what sounded like an accusation.
“Otherworldly,” Gabe corrected, too stunned to do otherwise.
Steve brushed his fingers over his hair, then dropped his hand by his side. “Wow. I don’t — Well, I feel like a jerk. I’d lumped you guys in with tarot cards and magic spells. You know, the stuff that’s only real to people who believe in it. I was such an ass to Molly about it, but she was right. So you’re all…different?”
Gabe crossed his arms. “That’s a friendly way of putting it.”
“Then maybe you know something about this.” Steve reached into his pocket and drew something out, hidden inside his tightly closed fist. “I brought it with me…I don’t know why. Maybe because Molly left it with me, and I wanted something of hers nearby. A talisman or something.”
He opened his hand, and Gabe stared down at the plain glass ball sitting on his palm.
“What is it?” Dana asked, leaning over it.
“The Stygian Orb,” Vera said, sounding breathless. She took hold of it and stared deep into the glass. “It looks so ordinary. Like it’s nothing at all.”
Steve wiped his hands on his jacket. “That’s what I said when I first saw it. Then Molly told me it changes if one of your kind touches it. It blocks off your abilities and leaves you human or something like that.”
The muscles between Gabe’s shoulders tightened as Vera set the orb on the table and glanced his way. “We’ll have to be careful with that, then,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said, his heart pounding heavily, jarring his breath. “Careful.” He didn’t want to imagine what would happen if Vera held on to it for too long. If the change became irreversible. He didn’t know how he could cope with the consequences. To never look her in the eye again, to once more be blocked off from the entire world — it was enough to make his lungs tighten with panic.
On the other hand…
His thoughts were already flying about what it could mean if he claimed the orb himself. No more curse, no more isolation. A guarantee that Vera would always be safe with him.
Before he could grab the orb, Steve picked it up and held it into the light. “Molly gave this to me a few weeks ago to watch over. She told me someone was looking for it who wasn’t allowed to get it, and that I would be saving the world by keeping it hidden.”
“She may well have been right,” said Gabe.
Steve flushed red. “So I guess it was stupid of me to reveal to you that I have it, huh? It’s still possible you guys are lying and you don’t want to help Molly at all. Maybe you just wanted this.”
Vera wrapped her arms around herself. “I assure you, if I had the choice, I wouldn’t want anything to do with that thing. The implications are…disturbing.”
Gabe didn’t think this was time to argue the point.
“I don’t understand what’s happening here,” Dana said, stepping forward. “Are you saying Molly is somehow involved with this sphere thing? That she volunteered to watch over it, even though she knew it c
ould put her in danger?”
Steve cleared his throat and set the orb back on the table. “Yeah, I think that’s kind of exactly what happened.”
Dana’s lip wobbled and her eyes sparkled as they filled again. “When I get my hands on her, I’m going to throttle her. My poor little girl. She’s always so determined to throw herself into situations she’s not prepared to handle. So who has her, Mr. Mulligan? Is my baby in real danger?”
Gabe cupped the back of his neck. He didn’t know how to answer. His clients usually hired him to find something that had gone missing, or to snoop around on people. He’d never handled a missing child case before. What was he supposed to say?
Fortunately, Vera took it out of his hands. “We don’t know for sure yet, Dana, but we won’t stop until we do.”
Dana sank down at the kitchen table, and Steve took the seat beside her.
“It’s late,” Vera said to him. “Maybe you should head home and get some rest. We’ll keep you updated if we learn anything.”
Steve shook his head. “What’s the point? It’s not like I’m going to be able to sleep anyway.”
Dana exhaled sharply and pushed herself back to her feet, moving as though she’d aged two decades in the last few seconds. “Then I may as well put on some coffee. I could use something bracing.”
Vera moved to help her as Gabe’s phone rang in his pocket. Hoping it was Daphne, he rushed to retrieve it, but paused when he saw Percy Sparkes’s name on the display. His best friend, a computer genius and hermit, rarely called him on his phone, preferring to stick with their video chat as his sole means of human interaction.
“Hello?” Gabe greeted.
“Shit, man, shit, I messed up,” Percy said. “You were right, I was wrong. This is bad — this is really, really bad.”
Gabe’s heartbeat stumbled, and he sucked in a breath to ensure his lungs kept working. What was in the air tonight?
Working hard to sound calm, he said, “What’s going on, Perce?”
“Over the last few nights, someone’s been trying to get into my computer. I watched them, but I thought it was funny, right? I mean, who would succeed in getting past my security system? It’s a joke. But it wasn’t.” Gabe’s patience teetered on the edge, but he didn’t have a chance to tell his friend to get to the point. With one last deep breath, Percy plunged in. “Somehow — I don’t know how, man, I’ve been trying to backtrack it for hours — somehow they broke through and they — shit — they stole the software.”