A Risky Proposition

by Dawn Addonizio

  I winged a throw pillow at her.

  “So?” she demanded, catching my missile and placing it behind her head.

  I dropped onto the loveseat with a sigh. “Well first, Emily took me on a twenty minute nature hike in the pitch dark to find Lauringer’s disappearing cabin in the woods…”

  I told her all about my meeting with Lauringer and the trip to the containment room in the Seelie Police Department. When I concluded with Lauringer’s lack of success, Sunny frowned and shook her head.

  “After all that, she didn’t find anything?”

  “I’m afraid not. But at least now the police don’t have to waste any more time examining those souls, and they can concentrate their efforts elsewhere. Plus, there was another big death djinn arrest tonight, so hopefully this time something more conclusive will turn up.”

  “Really?” Sunny’s eyes lit with interest. “They found more unaligned souls? That can’t be good for the death djinns.”

  “I’m not really sure what they found, but Sparrow promised to come by later and let me know what happened.”

  “You saw Sparrow again? And he’s coming by later?”

  I bit my lip, trying to temper the wickedness from my grin. “I saw Sparrow—I saw him in his office, and then I saw even more of him at his apartment afterward.”

  Sunny’s mouth dropped open. “You had sex! I was wondering why you weren’t more upset by the Lauringer thing. Oh, just wait until Angelica hears that you finally had yourself some of Sparrow’s beautiful erection. How was it?” She looked as excited as a kid on Christmas—a kid with an expression naughty enough to earn her a lump of coal.

  “Well, technically we didn’t get around to actual sex, since he got called back to the office to deal with the death djinn thing. Come to think of it,” I frowned, “I didn’t even get to see his bedroom. I saw lots of the living room and the couch, though.”

  Sunny huffed out an amused breath. “Didn’t even make it to the bed, huh? In a hurry, were we?”

  “Not at all. On the contrary, Sparrow seems to be extremely proficient at taking his time.” I smiled at her from beneath heavily lidded eyes.

  “Oh, you are a bad, bad girl, Syd,” Sunny said on a choked laugh. “So, is hot tattoo boy everything you’d hoped?”

  “All that and more,” I breathed, a shiver running through me at the remembrance of Sparrow’s touch.

  Suddenly I wasn’t sure how I was going to survive the wait until 6pm.

  Chapter 15 – Deceptions

  The blaring of my alarm gradually penetrated my sleep-fogged senses and my brain groaned a curse that I was too tired to verbalize. I managed to cast a heavy arm in the general direction of my nightstand, intending to hit the snooze button just once—just to get those extra nine minutes—but my hand found only empty space before coming into contact with the wooden surface. I tried again, scooting my complaining body all the way to the edge of the bed and stretching my arm out further, but I still couldn’t reach.

  I grumbled and cracked an eye open. My alarm had been moved to the far side of my nightstand. Lorien hovered above it, her arms crossed and a perturbed look pinching her small face. I forced my other eyelid up and stared at her warily.

  “I can’t believe you went to see Lauringer without me!” Her tilted violet eyes sparked with resentment.

  “How did you know…never mind,” I croaked. I wearily pushed myself into a sitting position and leaned over far enough to turn the blasting alarm off, ignoring Lorien’s glare of outrage when she was forced to dart out of the way. I was willing to bet that my bad mood rivaled hers. I was so not a morning person.

  I groaned and rubbed my hands over my face. “I had no choice, Lorien. Emily was in a frantic rush to get me there before Lauringer’s cabin could do its crazy disappearing act to keep people from finding it. I tried to call you, but apparently there are all these protection spells around it so no one can blink in or out—just like in Seelie City. Emily said you couldn’t hear me calling from there, and if I tried to get far enough away to reach you, I could have missed the meeting.”

  I rose and stumbled toward the white marble vanity sink to splash cold water on my face, making a mess all over the countertop in the process. When I looked up from toweling myself and the counter off, Lorien was floating behind me in the mirror. Her anger appeared to have faded into resignation and disappointment, and I winced, unsure which was worse.

  “I was really looking forward to meeting her.”

  “I know. I’m sorry,” I sighed, squeezing a blob of toothpaste onto my toothbrush. “How was Obie’s party?” I asked, hoping to distract her with thoughts of her nephew. It worked, kind of.

  “It was fun,” she said with a gloomy half smile. “All the neighborhood kids came and they played ‘pin the tail on the hobgoblin’ and ‘musical toadstools’. I think Obie really liked his rocking horse.” Her smile brightened.

  “That’s good,” I said with a tired grin as I finished up at the sink. “Listen Lorien, I’m really sorry about you not getting to meet Lauringer. I’ll tell you all about it, but I need caffeine first. And I’m going to have to get some work done on my computer before my boss calls. I’ll make some tea. Do you want some? Sunny makes coffee, if you’d rather have that.” I trudged toward the bedroom door, Lorien trailing behind me as I made my way to the kitchen.

  “I guess I could use some tea,” she answered, still sounding disheartened.

  Sunny stood watching the progress of the coffee pot, humming to herself and looking a lot livelier than I felt. “Morning Syd; morning Lorien,” she intoned when she saw us.

  “How come you’re so cheerful?” I asked as I pulled my favorite red mug from the dishwasher.

  Lorien perched on a clear section of counter next to the sink and conjured her own tiny earthenware mug out of thin air.

  Sunny smiled serenely at both of us. “Incubi rock.”

  I snorted as I dropped a tea bag into my mug and filled it with hot water from the dispenser. “So does a certain half-sidhe detective—but getting barely four hours of sleep still sucks. And there’s nothing like waking up to a pissed off faerie who’s decided to move your alarm clock out of your reach. Milk and honey, Lorien?” I asked in a syrupy tone.

  “Yes please.” She ignored my complaint. “You saw Agent Sparrow last night too?”

  “Mmhm,” I answered. A helpless grin stretched my lips, despite my determination to hang onto my sleep-deprived grumpiness. I looked down to hide it as I stirred my tea.

  “How did that come about? No wait—tell me about your meeting with Lauringer first. What was she like? Was she brilliant and mysterious? Does she really glow golden?” Lorien’s wings buzzed with excitement as she dipped her tiny mug into my larger one and then followed me out to my makeshift office.

  “Well,” I answered thoughtfully as I waited for my laptop to fire up, “she definitely glowed golden. Her skin, her teeth—even her eyes looked like they were coated with gold dust. What’s up with that anyway? Is she part faerie or…what is she?”

  Sunny appeared and plunked herself into one of the dining room chairs, a ridiculously large ceramic latte mug of steaming black coffee in her hand. Her eyes were trained on Lorien as she awaited a response to my question.

  Lorien practically quivered with enthusiasm at the chance to discuss one of her favorite topics. “It’s a mystery—no one knows for sure.” A conspiratorial gleam lit her eyes. “She won her fame for casting the binding spell over Seelie City, and in the beginning, everyone assumed she was a human mage who came to train in the Faerie Realm. But that was around two hundred years ago, so she either has immortal blood, or she gained immortality somewhere along the way.”

  Lorien’s wings slowed to a flutter and she took a sip from her mug. “Of course, I doubt she’d have a problem casting a permanent illusion spell to make herself look however she wants,” she mused.

  “Anyway, she’s managed to avoid publicity quite well, and there are precious few pict
ures of her to be found. I came across one in an old book where she didn’t seem to have that golden glow. But the strongest faerie magic is cast with golden dust, and I suppose prolonged use could eventually make the caster appear golden. It sounds like the revolving protection spells around her house alone would require a constant use of power.”

  “Huh,” I grunted. “She had a bunch of canisters on her kitchen table and I saw her stir some golden powder from one of them into her tea. Then later, she used some silver powder from another one to heal my stubbed toe and clean me up. I didn’t see what was in the rest of them.”

  “Really?” Lorien said with interest. “Faerie healing dust is silver. It sounds like at least some of Lauringer’s magic has been influenced by ours.” She looked pleased by the thought.

  “Do you think she’s part faerie, then?” asked Sunny.

  Lorien shrugged. “Not necessarily. She could have just studied our magic. Tell me more about her Sydney. What was she like?”

  I looked up from the banking spreadsheet I was half-concentrating on. “Well, she looked like an attractive young woman in a business suit. She was professional, but friendly, and she seemed pretty upset about the whole unaligned soul thing. I was surprised she was so willing to help, considering how reclusive everyone says she is. And she didn’t think finding Balthus’ goblin would be of much use, but she agreed that proving the death djinns’ guilt might get my contract cancelled.”

  Sunny frowned. “Why didn’t she think finding the goblin would be of use? I mean, we don’t have much to go on, and he supposedly gave Balthus the unaligned soul, so I’d think he would at least be worth questioning.”

  I nibbled my lip. “I think she believes a goblin’s word would be useless against Balthus’ from a legal standpoint. But I’m with you—I think any new info would help. Not to mention that the infinity tattoo still seems pretty mysterious.”

  “Did you get to see her do any major spell casting?” Lorien probed hopefully.

  I grinned. “Personally, I thought it was pretty amazing when she healed my toe and cleaned my clothes with a handful of dust.”

  Lorien looked unimpressed.

  “Okay, what else?” I mumbled, blowing a breath up into my bangs as I thought. “Oh—she also did this neat trick where she made a pen and pad of paper appear out of thin air so she could write down…some notes.”

  I still wasn’t ready to admit to having the Hell Ride incantation.

  Sunny raised her eyebrows above the rim of her coffee mug. “Hey, that’s pretty cool,” she said when she finished swallowing. “You didn’t tell me about that one last night.”

  I bobbed my head. “Yeah. She doesn’t even seem to have to think about using magic; she just wants something and it’s there.”

  Lorien’s wings drooped and I sighed. “I’m not really sure what you’re expecting to hear, Lorien. I mean, isn’t it amazing enough that she has a friggin’ disappearing cabin in the woods?”

  “I guess.” She gave a disheartened shrug. “It’s true that not many other mages would be able to maintain those types of protection and dislocation spells. I just thought that maybe she’d have performed some more active magic while you were there.”

  “How about when she transported us to the Seelie Police Station and I didn’t feel as if I was falling to my death.” I gave her a pointed look.

  “One second we were standing in her kitchen, and the next we were at the station. I think Galen—that’s Galena’s brother, who works the counter there,” I reminded Sunny, “about crapped his dwarf shorts when the great Lauringer appeared out of thin air in front of him.”

  Sunny and I shared a snigger.

  Lorien sputtered and began zipping up and down like a demented hummingbird bird. “Lauringer went to the Seelie Police Station?” she finally managed in a shocked chirp.

  “I was getting to that part,” I said smugly, “but you seemed so much more interested in how Lauringer acted than in the actual results of the meeting.”

  “You got Lauringer to go to the Seelie Police Station with you?” she gurgled again. “Lauringer hasn’t made a public appearance in decades! Why didn’t Agent Sparrow tell me this?” she demanded.

  I lifted my hands in the universal sign for cluelessness. “When did you see him?”

  “Earlier this morning. I stopped by the station to see if he had any new developments to report and the first thing that came out of his mouth was that you’d met with Lauringer last night. I was so upset you’d gone without me, I came straight here.”

  I snorted. “Well, there’s your answer. You didn’t give him a chance to tell you anything else.”

  “I…” she stammered defensively, then she puffed out an annoyed breath. “Never mind. Just tell me what happened!”

  “She wanted to examine the unaligned souls. She was particularly interested in the woman they found in the coma,” I began.

  “Makes sense since she’s the only one they were able to connect one of the souls to,” Lorien interjected.

  I opened my mouth to continue and she pre-empted me with another observation. I rolled my eyes at Sunny, who was sitting back and grinning into her second monster-sized mug of coffee.

  “That was also the soul they found the strongest traces of magic on,” Lorien mused. “Agent Sparrow had really hoped that would lead somewhere. Did she find anything?”

  “Actually no.” My expression turned sober. “She wore herself out looking for clues and by the time she was done she could barely stand. But she didn’t find a thing.”

  Lorien sank to her feet in the middle of the table. “Nothing?” she asked, her wings drooping.

  “No, but there was another big death djinn bust last night. Maybe they’ll find something on one of the unaligned souls this time,” I said optimistically.

  “How could she not find anything? She’s Lauringer. She’s the most…”

  “…powerful mage alive,” I finished for her. “I know. But apparently there was nothing to be found. We’ll just have to keep looking. Besides, if death djinns keep getting arresting for having unaligned souls, even old King Moab won’t be able to keep the blame off them forever, right? That’s what Lauringer seemed to think, anyway.”

  Lorien gave me a worried look. “I hope you’re right, Sydney.”

  The phone rang and I wrinkled my nose at the caller id—it was Cindy, and I hadn’t finished the morning banking update. “Sorry Lorien, but I’ve got to get some work done. You can hang out if you want. It shouldn’t take too long.”

  I pushed the button to answer the phone and Cindy started talking before I finished the word ‘hello’.

  “I have an emergency. Mickey has a big summer school exam this morning and his Hummer won’t start. I need you to pick him up and take him to school. The exam starts in forty-five minutes!”

  I mouthed a silent curse. “Give me his cell number and I’ll call him for directions,” I said, my placid tone belying my annoyance.

  “Perfect, Sydney,” she breathed in relief. “But hurry!”

  I hung up and dialed the number.

  “This is Mick,” drawled a male voice.

  Mick? Since when? “Uh, hey Mickey, this is Sydney. Your Mom asked me to give you a ride to school. Can you give me directions from the store to your house?”

  “Sydney, long time no see. How’s it goin’?” he asked, his unhurried manner ratcheting my level of annoyance up another notch.

  “I’m fine, thank you Mickey. But apparently if you want to pass the eleventh grade you need to be at school in forty minutes, so maybe we can talk in the car on the way?”

  “No prob, Sydney.” His nonchalance scraped against my last nerve. He gave me the directions and was telling me that he was looking forward to seeing me when I hung up on him.

  “Apparently I’ve got bus duty this morning,” I grumbled as I stalked toward my bedroom to throw on some jeans.

  “Be sure to tell Mickey I said ‘hi’,” Sunny called after me. The sounds that
followed bore a suspicious resemblance to laughter. But I must have been mistaken, since my friends would never find humor in my aggravation.

  ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

  I pulled my station wagon into a circular driveway behind Mickey’s massive black Hummer. A sprawling, two-storey stucco and river-stone house rose to my right, surrounded by lush greenery. I had never been to the Horowitz home before, and though it looked nice, I hoped to never have the occasion to come here again.

  I beeped the horn, and a few minutes later Mickey stepped out and waved at me. He locked the front door, grinning as he sauntered toward the car in pressed slacks and a crisp polo shirt.

  “Hey, Mickey,” I greeted as he got into the passenger seat. “Lead the way. I hope it doesn’t take more than fifteen minutes to get there.” I began backing out of the driveway as soon as his door was shut. “And buckle your seatbelt, please.”

  “It’s not far,” he assured me as he fit the metal buckle into its slot. “Sorry to put you to the trouble, Sydney. Stupid Hummer wouldn’t start. I wish the car manufacturers would make something guaranteed to never break down, don’t you?”

  “It would be nice, but if they did, they’d run themselves out of business,” I said drily.

  He made a face. “Turn here,” he grumbled.

  “So…are you ready for your big test?”

  He gave me a blank look.

  “The one that starts in ten minutes?” I prodded.

  “Oh, right. Yeah. I’ve been studying real hard.”

  “Any of your friends going to summer school with you?” I asked, trying to keep up the polite conversation.

  “No…yeah…” He seemed to be struggling with his answer and I gave him a questioning look.

  His face smoothed out and he smiled. “Not really. A couple of kids I used to be friends with, but I’ve decided not to hang out with them anymore. It’s easier to get things done without your friends bugging you.”

  I raised my eyebrows. That didn’t sound like a normal sentiment for a seventeen-year-old. When I was seventeen, my life revolved around my friends. “Well, it’s good that you’re serious about passing summer school. I’m sure when the regular school year starts you’ll have more time to relax with your friends again.”