Edge of Magic (Tara Knightley Series Book 1)

by Jayne Faith

  “Language,” Mom warned Sasha.

  My niece sighed loudly. “Ass isn’t a swear word. Besides, I’m fifteen. People my age say way worse than ass. You should be glad I’m not dropping F-bombs.”

  “Do as your grandmother says, and check the attitude,” I said with some sharpness in my voice. Sasha wasn’t a bad kid as far as fifteen-year-old girls went, but I couldn’t stand even the slightest whiff of sass toward Mom.

  “Sorry, Grandma,” Sasha mumbled.

  “Is Felicity around?” I asked Mom. “I need to talk to the two of you.”

  Pausing with a piece of whole-grain bread in one hand and a knife laden with “healthy” mayo alternative in the other, Mom gave me a hard look, examining my expression. She must have picked up something of a serious nature because she handed off her things to my niece and asked Sasha to finish lunch preparations.

  Mom wiped her hands on a dish towel and then beckoned to me. “Fel’s folding laundry in the living room.”

  Luna and Nolan were side-by-side on the sofa watching a movie, and Felicity had clothes spread all over the dining table. She was picking items out of a laundry basket stacked so high I wondered how her skinny arms had managed to haul it out there from the dryer.

  “Come in my room for a minute?” Mom asked Felicity quietly.

  My half-sister glanced at me and then back at Mom, nodded, and followed us to the short hallway leading to the master bedroom. Mom closed the door, and the three of us sat on the folding chairs set up around the second-hand card table next to her dresser. It had a pretty floral table cloth over it to disguise the paint-stained surface. Mom used the table as a desk and project bench, and occasionally it was the meeting spot for the adults in the house.

  “What’s happened?” Mom asked.

  “I got suspended from Volkov Retrieval for two weeks,” I said. “I’m losing a paycheck.”

  “Why?” Fel asked, frowning.

  “I was busy with Judah in Faerie, and I missed a message when I was supposed to be on call.”

  I gave my sister a hard look, challenging her to scold me when she was the one who’d been so enthusiastic about me helping Judah. But she didn’t look angry. She looked a little sick.

  Fel and Mom exchanged a glance.

  It was my turn to frown. “What?” I demanded.

  Mom pursed her lips. “We’re behind on the rent. And a few other things.”

  I looked back and forth between the two of them. “How? I’ve been depositing checks. I thought we were good.” My voice rose in volume and pitch. “And why is this the first I’m hearing about this?”

  Mom cast her gaze down at the table, but not before I saw the sadness in her blue eyes. I could tell by the guilty, pained way Fel looked at me that she felt terrible about the situation. I also guessed that it was worse than they were letting on.

  I slumped back in my chair, folded my arms, and passed a hand over my closed eyes. “Okay, first, how much are we in the hole, total?”

  Felicity reluctantly gave me a figure.

  My eyes popped open. “How did this happen?” I thundered.

  Mom jumped, which made me feel like a jerk.

  “Please, quiet,” she said, glancing at the closed door.

  “Spring sports payments came due,” Felicity said softly. “Several of my customer accounts are delinquent on their payments to me. And we’re still paying off Christmas presents.”

  I let out a loud sigh. “I thought we’d caught up on Christmas.”

  She shook her head. “Mom and I hadn’t.”

  “We didn’t want you to worry,” Mom said. “You work yourself ragged already, and Felicity and I, well, we were determined to catch up. We had a plan, but . . .”

  Felicity started to tear up. “These competitive teams that Nolan’s on now, they’re so much more expensive than the rec teams. I didn’t realize how much it was going to be. But I couldn’t bring myself to make him quit a sport.”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t want him to, either. How many months behind on rent?”

  “Our last payment was for February.”

  It was April. Shit. We needed to come up with three months’ worth of rent money before I’d get my next paycheck. Even then, we’d still be in the hole.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I said.

  I didn’t have the energy to chew them out. Mom and Fel had never been great with money, and I shouldn’t have let so many months go by without checking on our financial situation. I also shouldn’t have gone frolicking through Faerie with Judah while I was on call. I’d slipped. This situation was as much my fault as Mom’s and Felicity’s.

  “The two of you will have to deal with the landlord, though,” I said.

  They both nodded. My way of speaking tended to be too direct for a lot of people’s taste, especially when I was under pressure, which made me abysmal at sweet-talking people into things or begging for favors. The three of us were well aware that I was the worst choice to try to gain leniency for the rent.

  “I’m sorry,” Felicity said.

  I touched the back of her wrist and then stood. “I know. I am, too.”

  Not in the mood to sit there in a cloud of misery, I let myself out of Mom’s room.

  My phone jangled in my pocket. I pulled it out and Ray Artois’s name showed as the caller.

  “What?” I barked into the phone as I stalked across the living room.

  Luna and Nolan turned to stare at me with wide eyes, both of them holding their sandwiches and pausing mid-chew.

  “I want to explain myself,” Ray said. “And apologize.”

  I went to the front door, let myself out onto the porch, and plunked down in a chair.

  “You have one minute,” I said icily. “Go.”

  “I’m sorry about the way things went,” he said, speaking fast, which nearly made me smirk. I hadn’t expected him to take the one minute limit seriously. “I didn’t set out to double-cross you or take advantage of you. It wasn’t until after I told you Darren Baumgartner had Balisarde that I discovered Eric Gilligan was involved. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to try and take something out from under the Gilligans. If there’d been time to contact you before going to Darren’s, I would have.” He paused for a breath.

  I wasn’t completely buying Ray’s claim that he would have tracked me down if there’d been time, but it wasn’t an outright lie so I had to take it at face value.

  “Spelling Judah and Blake with Druidic magic and then stealing the sword was a total dick move,” I said.

  “It was a dick move. It was wrong, and I’m an asshole for doing it. Can you forgive me?”

  I narrowed my eyes. Ray was practically groveling, and that wasn’t like him. He was really, really trying to smooth this over. That probably meant he was hoping to get something.

  “That depends,” I said. “What is it you want from me?”

  Hesitation on his end.

  “You still want my help finding the thing that was stolen from the Artois clan, don’t you?” I asked, not bothering to mask my annoyance.

  “Yes.”

  “Why would I ever want to help you?”

  “Well . . . I did give you the Dullahan skull,” he said, his trademark charm returning to his tone. Not that it was working, given the mood I was in.

  I tipped my gaze up, considering the fluffy clouds overhead.

  “Yeah, but you negated that favor and went back on our deal when you stole the sword,” I said.

  Plus, with the contract Shaw had made me sign, it wouldn’t do me any good to go after the skull.

  “I suppose you’ve got me there.”

  “So did karma. That whole thing didn’t work out so well for you, did it?”

  He sighed. “No. With Balisarde in Shaw’s hands, I’ve lost my chance to one-up the Gilligans.”

  Ray was obviously on a mission to avenge his mother’s clan, but I wasn’t in a sympathetic state of mind.

  My thoughts turned to something
else. Someone else. Isaac O’Malley. Ray knew O’Malley.

  Shaw was trying to shut me out of the hunt for the skull, but what if I went after it anyway? What if I found it and took it to O’Malley? Surely he’d be interested in it. He couldn’t help me with my debt to Shaw, but he could pay me in other ways. My blood ran cold at the thought of crossing Shaw that way. But another part of me started to awaken to the idea, turning it over and examining it.

  “That’s too bad for you and your clan,” I said to Ray, my tone still cool. “Again, I ask, why would I do anything for you?”

  “There must be something you need,” he said, his usual chill but calculating way of speaking returning.

  “I need money,” I offered.

  He made a disappointed noise. “I don’t have much to spare at the moment. I had to take out loans to get my business off the ground.”

  “Hmm. Maybe you can help me a different way,” I said. “Let’s start with this. Who is that Isaac O’Malley guy?”

  “How do you know O’Malley?” I could almost hear Ray frowning on the other end.

  Clearly it hadn’t occurred to Ray that I’d followed his trail from McStaggers Tavern using O’Malley as my source.

  “That’s not important,” I said. “How do you know O’Malley?”

  “I’ve met him a while back, when I was on business.”

  “What kind of business?” I asked.

  “I can’t say.”

  Could he be more cagey with his answers?

  “Listen, Tara,” Ray said. “I’m not trying to dodge your questions about O’Malley, but . . . why are you interested in him? I only ask because I think it’d be really unwise for you to get involved with him.”

  Okay, now we might be getting somewhere.

  “Why would it be unwise?” I asked. I suspected I already knew the answer.

  “Because O’Malley is a rival to Shaw. Or he aspires to be, anyway.”

  Yep, there it was. My heart bumped against my ribs.

  “Is Shaw aware of him?” I asked. Goddess, sometimes trying to pull information from other Fae was like a never-ending game of twenty questions.

  “Yes,” Ray said.

  My brows rose. It was ballsy of O’Malley to be taking meetings in public only a few miles from Shaw’s estate, and at the bar where Shaw’s people liked to congregate, no less. The newcomer was definitely aiming to make a statement.

  “Is O’Malley a true challenger to Shaw’s organization?” I asked.

  Ray hesitated. “O’Malley is just starting to get his business off the ground, so it’s early days yet. But I will say this. He’s very, very driven.” His tone was so dead serious, it made the pit of my stomach tighten.

  “I take it there’s enough crossover between O’Malley’s business and Shaw’s interests that there’s going to be a major conflict at some point, if it’s not brewing already,” I said.

  “O’Malley does have a keen interest in valuable items and really anything that gives him power, so yes, there’s enough crossover to cause a problem. Which is, of course, part of O’Malley’s plan.”

  “What about people?” I asked. “Is O’Malley trying to recruit from Shaw’s organization?”

  “I’m not sure, but it’s possible.”

  I leaned back, wrapping my forearm around my waist and tucking my fist under the other elbow, propping up my arm that held my phone.

  “Are you part of his organization, Ray?”

  “Not officially.”

  “But you’re aligned with him.”

  “Uhh . . .” Ray hedged. “I’m willing to do some work for him, so if that makes me aligned, then I guess so. But I want to reiterate to you that it’d be dangerous for you if Shaw discovered any link between you and O’Malley. I hope that’s obvious enough by what I’ve said.”

  I let out a slow breath through my nose, my lips pressed together. “Yeah, I get that. Look, I’ve got to run.”

  “But you’ll get back with me about what I can do to make up for my assholery?” he asked, his voice smoothly confident and apologetic all at once.

  I allowed myself a faint, wry grin at his self-assurance. “Yep.”

  I disconnected, set my phone on the arm of the chair, and then gazed off down the street.

  Others had tried to challenge Shaw in the past. It’d happened a few times since I’d joined his organization. None had been serious contenders, and all mysteriously disappeared. But when I’d sat across from O’Malley, there’d been something about him that felt . . . significant. Dangerous and real. And my conversation with Ray only seemed to confirm that feeling.

  My thoughts turned to Ray himself. He was awfully eager to get back in my good graces. I wasn’t sure how to utilize that yet, but an opportunity would arise sooner or later. It was calculating, maybe, to think of him that way. But he considered me in the exact same light, so I didn’t feel too bad about it. It was unfortunate he couldn’t help me on the cash front. At the moment, there was nothing I needed more desperately than money.

  Maybe I could do a one-off job for Ray. It was against the rules of my contract with Katerina, not to mention a violation of my agreement with Shaw, but If I asked, I knew Ray could come up with something. I considered it for a full minute, and then discarded the idea. Too risky, when I was already in the dog house with both bosses.

  The truth was, I needed to focus on the problems at hand because I could never find the skull fast enough to make up for my lost paycheck.

  I shook my head and cast my gaze down at my Nikes. I felt so useless. I was shut out of both jobs, and my hands were tied to take more work. Meanwhile, the family debt was piling up. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t been evicted yet, but that surely wasn’t far off. We’d pushed our luck with our landlord too many times in the past, and we’d never been this far behind on payments.

  With my suspension, one thing I had was time. I needed to figure out how to turn that time into money. I headed inside to see what, if any, of my possessions I could sell. Then I needed to get back with Mom and Felicity and determine exactly how much more credit we could squeeze out of our charge cards.

  My feet felt like two anvils as I trudged upstairs to my room.

  The familiar knot of worry about how we’d make ends meet took up its usual spot just under my sternum. I wasn’t giving up, not by a long shot, but in moments like these, life felt like a treadmill stuck inside a prison cell.

  Chapter 19

  I SPENT AN hour tearing through my possessions, even searching a couple of boxes packed away in the attic, for anything I might be able to sell for some quick cash. But the only valuable items I owned were the things I used for work. I wasn’t going to sell my gun, and all of my shurikens and throwing knives, while very cool, were more useful to me than to anyone who might be interested in buying them. They wouldn’t bring in enough money to make the sacrifice worth it.

  I put my side of my bedroom back in order and then went downstairs to find Mom and Felicity. We convened in the master bedroom at the card table with printouts of our various credit card statements. Felicity had her laptop, and she pulled up a document that listed all our debts and upcoming expenses.

  “I still have a few hundred on my credit line,” I said. “I can put bills and smaller expenses on that.”

  “Mine and Mom’s are basically maxed out,” my sister said. “But we could each get new cards and do the old balance transfer song and dance to lower our interest rates and buy some more time. We’d be able to charge some stuff, too.”

  Mom looked pained. She’d always hated buying things on credit.

  “That still leaves a huge cash gap, though,” I said. “We owe several thousand for rent, and we can’t put that on cards.”

  Fel sighed and sat back in her chair. “Yeah.”

  “We could sell some things,” I said, wincing as the words came out. I forced myself to keep talking. “If I sold my Land Rover, we’d probably be able to cover the back payments for rent, at least.”

&
nbsp; The one thing I owned that would bring in a few thousand dollars was my car. It was twenty years old, but Land Rovers and Range Rovers of that era were incredibly popular on the resale market at the moment. Mine was in great shape, and for reasons I didn’t understand because I wasn’t a car person, buyers couldn’t get enough of the old Rovers. I’d purchased mine a few years before the craze had started, and the quick internet search I’d done on my phone when I was upstairs showed the current resale price would easily be at least as much as I’d paid for it.

  But it physically pained me to think of selling my car. I’d wanted a Land Rover ever since I’d visited San Francisco in search of a cure for Mom. While I was there, a young quarterling Fae named Robin had helped me out. He was only a few years older than me, but he’d leveraged the talents gifted by his Fae blood to build some serious wealth. He drove a brand new Land Rover that was, at the time, the nicest car I’d ever been in. It had made a huge impression on me, and I’d gotten it in my teenage mind that if I could ever buy a car like that, I’d feel like I’d attained some small bit of success in life. It’d taken me six years to save the down payment for a seventeen-year-old Land Rover in excellent condition that at the time had just under 150,000 miles on it.

  The purchase of my Land Rover was one of the only true indulgences I’d ever allowed myself. Every time I got into that vehicle, no matter what else was going on in my life, I felt a bright little ping of satisfaction. I loved that damn car.

  Mom leaned forward and touched the back of my hand. “Oh, Tara, no. Not your car.” She knew how stoked I’d been to buy it and how carefully I took care of it.

  I schooled my expression, shoving down my emotions. “It’s the fastest solution, though.”

  “What if we sell the Honda?” Fel suggested.

  “That’d only bring in a few hundred at best,” I said. “Maybe a thousand if we were lucky.”

  The Honda Pilot Mom and Felicity shared was even older than my car. It was a decent vehicle for its age, but it wouldn’t bring in anywhere near the cash the Rover would.

  “Before we do anything, I’ll make a list of stuff we could offload,” Felicity said. “I’ve got a few collectibles, and we could sell Dom’s TV. There are probably other things I’m not thinking of.”