by D. N. Hoxa
And Thame spoke again. “But I can find someone who can.”
Phew. He sure knew how to keep someone on their toes.
“Thank you,” Logan said. Thame smiled, showing us his perfectly white teeth that were definitely not natural. Nobody’s teeth were that white.
“I expect you to send word to Jora that my debt to him is repaid in full,” said Thame.
Logan tensed visibly. “As soon as we have what we are looking for.”
Thame jumped to his feet with his arms wide open. “Please. Take a seat. My friend will be with you shortly.” And he stepped away from the seat. What the hell?
“We’d prefer to do it downstairs,” Logan said, but I pulled his sleeve.
“Right here’s just fine.”Surprised, he widened his eyes at me. I pretended I didn’t see him. “Thank you, Mr. Thame.”
“The One-eyed Hawk,” the asshole said, sizing me up shamelessly. I only grinned. “The MM is paying good money for your head.” It was a threat, all right.
“I suppose I’d be a temptation to someone who’d need MM money to do business,” I said, feigning innocence. “Lucky for me you’re loaded!” I said as loudly as I could. “Also—still in debt.” I didn’t need to say Jora’s name again. I just patted Logan’s shoulder.
For some reason, Logan didn’t like that. The way he was watching me now…
The smile fell from Thame’s lips. “Enjoy your stay, Miss Monroe,” he said, and that, too, was a warning. Because the second we walked out of here and his debt to Jora Richardson was paid, I was fair game.
For now, Thame took his glass of whisky and walked out of the strip club, raising his glass to every one of his guests as he went. The second he disappeared behind the door, all of them turned toward us. Logan sat down on the black leather seat, and I felt completely defeated. It wasn’t Logan who was going to sabotage my search for Nana. I could do that all by myself with the price I had looming over my head and with the eye patch that would make hiding in plain sight impossible.
I sat down beside him with a sigh.
“Can I ask why you wanted to stay here?” he asked. I could tell he was trying really hard not to shout.
I pointed at the strippers. They were still right there.
“Are you kidding me? Look at those girls.”
“You wanted to stay here to watch the strippers?” He sounded like he was in disbelief.
“Well, yeah. I mean, they’re very good, don’t you think? This takes talent. Real talent.” And a very elastic body, which I didn’t have, to bend over like some of these girls were doing.
“Okay,” said Logan, still completely surprised. “Well, did you have to piss Thame off?”
“I didn’t have to, but he had it coming. He threatened me right to my face.” I wasn’t just going to sit around and let him, screw his reputation. Also, I knew he was in debt to Jora, and that kind of made the whole thing easier. But Logan didn’t need to know that.
“He didn’t threaten you. He simply stated the obvious. The MM does have a price on your head.” He was more than a little pissed off. Worse yet, he wasn’t paying any attention to the dancers and was instead looking at me.
“Look, look!” I pointed at the third woman on the right, who bent over backwards and was still spinning on the pole. Logan was unimpressed. “But wait, you researched me, didn’t you?”
It made sense. He didn’t know who I was when he met me at Gwendolyn Love’s Enclave.
“Of course I did. Thirty thousand dollars is not a very small sign over your head,” he said. Almost an accusation.
“Well, the MM can shove that money up their asses. I’m innocent and they know it.” They just didn’t have anyone else to blame—and Nana let them blame me. Which, I’ll admit, hurt more than anything else, even the lock on my magic.
“What are you accused of?” Logan asked. He was being completely serious, even though he probably already knew if he’d researched me. Way to ruin the mood.
“Who’s Jora Richardson?” I asked instead.
“You have a price on your head, Eye Patch.”
“And you already knew that when you came after me, Sparkle.” He knew the second time. It counted.
He watched me for a second in silence, then smiled and shook his head. Like I amused him, when the strippers should have done that. What a strange man.
“We can’t talk to anyone up here. Look at them,” he said, nodding at the men and women watching the strippers. So I looked. And he was right—they were all still looking at us, whispering among themselves. Thame’s two men were still there, by the stairs, watching us, too. And the guests weren’t all Nixes. I could spot two vampires in the company of one, which was a shock. It was easy to tell them apart when you focused because they literally looked like walking dead bodies. They were very pale, with extremely sharp features and the ability to hide their true nature as great as any other magian. Vampires kept together and normally didn’t like to mess around with other magians, but here they were, in Thame’s strip club. I wasn’t afraid—vampires were pretty weak in a fight. They were dead bodies, after all, and though they healed incredibly fast, they weren’t unkillable. Cut their head off or drive something sharp through their heart and they usually stayed dead. But it did make me wonder what they were doing here and why Thame allowed them in his secret strip club. “We should go downstairs to the restaurant where it’s quieter and where it will be easier to get out.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Are you expecting Thame to betray you?”
But he shook his head. “I’m expecting everyone here to come after you once we’re done.”
“Oh.” Well, I was expecting that, too. That, or Thame would report me to the MM, like everyone always did.
It was no longer a question. I stood up and walked out of the room with my head up, ignoring the people watching me as I went by. It sucked that I was probably never going to come back to that place, and I was never going to see those dancers again.
10
It took thirty minutes for Thame’s man to come find us at the restaurant. We chose the table closest to the door. It was farthest away from other people, too. Thame’s men, the two who’d welcomed us and another friend, sat on the opposite side and watched us, never taking their eyes off Logan and me. I’d say it made me feel uncomfortable, but after the first few minutes, I got used to them. Now I watched them, too, as I sipped my gin and tonic.
The man who came to us was probably in his sixties, with grey hair around his ears and a navy-colored jacket two sizes too big that hid his shape perfectly. I wasn’t expecting to be attacked while Thame was still in debt to Jora Richardson, who was possibly Logan’s boss, but one could never be too sure.
He didn’t greet us, didn’t ask us who we were. He simply sat down at our table and analyzed us for a second. His skin was awfully pale, and it was pretty obvious that he didn’t want to be there. His brown eyes stopped on my eye patch for a second too long, then he looked at Logan.
“I understand you need to translate Egyptian runes,” he said, his voice scratchy and low, like he was afraid someone would listen. But there was nobody close enough.
“I’m Logan and this is Ruby,” Logan said with a nod. “And you are?”
“Call me Mathias,” the man said, trying to pick his fingers apart. He was very nervous. I couldn’t figure out what he was, either. Possibly a Nix. “May I see the picture?”
It looked like Thame had already given him the details. I took my phone out of my pocket and showed him the picture of the floor in Nana’s Enclave. “Can you read them?”
With shaky hands, Mathias took the phone from me and looked at the picture. For a long time.
I was actually getting a little nervous myself. What was this man so afraid of? Was it Oliver Thame? The runes? Us? I couldn’t figure out what would have him shaking like that.
Finally he shook his head. “The language is old, at least several millennia. Coptic, if I can see correctly.” He put the phone
down on the table. “This eye here is an R, but I can’t figure out if this is a snake or a U shape. That would either be S or J. These symbols were used in ancient rites, mostly for speaking to the dead.”
The dead? That wasn’t a thing. Nobody could speak to the dead.
“But that’s impossible. There is no magic that connects to the afterlife.” That’s what Nana had told me.
“Egyptian runes bend the rules when it comes to magic. It’s why they’re unpredictable,” Mathias said, never meeting my eyes. “The best I can do is translate the individual runes. Other than that, I’m afraid I can’t help.”
I looked at Logan. Did he want to press this guy for more answers?
When he looked at me, Logan was just as confused. I sighed.
“All right. Do you have a pen?” I asked, and Mathias took one out of his oversized jacket. I offered him a napkin from the napkin box on the table. It would be as good as a piece of paper.
“I must warn you. Egyptian runes tend to be similar, and one wrong letter could transform the spell completely. Before you use this, please make sure you know what you’re doing.”
I laughed. Couldn’t help myself. “You think we want to use these runes?”
The man blinked like he didn’t see why I was laughing.
“We are not going to be using any runes, Mathias. These were used to kidnap very powerful people,” said Logan.
“The high priests of the city. You probably heard of them. Whoever took them did it through those runes, and that’s what we’re trying to figure out,” I assured him. Maybe that was why he was so nervous.
Mathias smiled and sat straighter in the chair, as if a heavy load was lifted from his shoulders. “I’ll get to work then.”
***
Thank God for the Latin alphabet. Old Egyptians must have had it really hard. I mean, literally every second letter Mathias wrote down on that napkin could have a different meaning.
The spells in Nana’s and Gwendolyn’s Enclave were almost exactly the same, except for one letter which could have about four different meanings. My guess? The spells were personalized.
“Thank you, Mathias,” I said, looking down at the napkin he’d just handed to me. I couldn’t understand shit.
“You’re welcome,” the old man said, and he just couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. He stood up and nodded. “Goodbye.”
“Hey, wait,” I said, standing up, too, which made him jump in place like a little kid. I wasn’t that scary, was I? The man was looking at me with his eyes all big, begging me to just get it over with. “Can I call you or something if I have questions?” I probably would have questions. Lots of them.
But Mathias shook his head. “No, miss, I’m afraid that’s not possible.” And without looking back, he slipped out of the restaurant and practically ran to the main street.
“We should get going, too,” said Logan under his breath, and put his hand on my back as he stood up. “Come on.”
Thame’s men, who’d been sitting on the other side of the restaurant, watching us, were standing, too. They were also looking at me like they wanted to eat me.
Right. So Thame’s debt to Jora Richardson was officially repaid. Now I was fair game.
I put the napkin in the back pocket of my jeans and with my eyes on the men, I walked to the door, slowly. Two of my chakris were in my hands, and I was as ready to throw them at someone’s head as ever. The cold air outside covered me in shivers. Logan walked out behind me and headed for the main street while I walked backwards still because I’d rather not get caught by surprise.
“Move, Eye Patch,” he said under his breath, almost in a growl, and grabbed me by the back of my hoodie. He pulled so hard, I almost lost balance.
Good thing, too. The bullet that came flying down on us landed right where I’d been barely a split second before. I ran after Logan as fast as I could. It was no surprise that they’d shoot at me. The one thing Nixes couldn’t do was use their magical powers to fight someone too far away. Water was too heavy. It required too much energy to keep it together, moving, and to carry it for long distances. That’s why it was so important to just run. I was doing a lot of that lately, and after having run from Cornelius’s Enclave and Detective Dumont, my muscles screamed in protest much sooner. Logan must have noticed because one second he was running beside me while Thame’s people came after us, and the next he pulled me by my arm and we were inside a bar with very loud music on. I didn’t even get to see if I’d been there before or what the people in there were, before he pulled me through the back room, pushing away several people who shouted something at us, and we were outside again.
“Just keep going,” he said and led me down the alleyway to the metal fence at the end of it, which we were going to have to climb.
“God, I hate running,” I whispered, but I kept on going.
***
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to go back to the apartment I rented,” Logan said under his breath.
I flinched. “Where the hell are we going to go?” It wasn’t even midnight, and at the rate things were going today, I was willing to bet someone would find me if we spent the night in the streets.
“A hotel,” said Logan, but I shook my head.
“I’ve risked it enough with hotels.” If Dumont was serious about finding me, and I believed he was after he caught me spying at the Graneheart mansion, he would have gone to every hotel in the city by now, to give them a picture of me and to tell them to report me as soon as they saw me.
“Do you have any better ideas?”
“I have another idea. I’m just not sure if it’s better.” In fact, I was pretty sure it was worse. But what else was I supposed to do? “Follow me.”
Fifteen minutes later, we were in a quiet neighborhood east of the city, looking at a cute two-story house with a brown roof and a pale yellow exterior. One light on the left side of the house was on so that gave me a bit of hope. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be here. The last time I checked, Katherine Trent owned this house together with a Sylph, whom I assumed was her boyfriend.
Katherine used to be one of Nana’s students. She was a mage, like me. We used to be friends, too. She was a couple of years older than Avery and me, and she was very interested in joining our little “movement” back in the day. God, we were so young. We were clueless. We let Katherine join us on one of the most dangerous missions we’d ever done. I lost an eye, Avery lost her life, and Katherine almost lost hers, too. When it was all over, she left Nana’s Enclave and swore to never practice magic again. I didn’t know if she’d broken that promise, but the last time I’d checked on her, this was where she lived.
Now, I was about to knock on her door four years later and ask for her help. Wish me luck.
I was more than a little nervous as I walked up the driveway to the front door. There were a couple of planters with dead-looking plants on the porch, and two pairs of flip-flops—one pair awfully small. Which made me wonder if Katherine had moved away a long time ago.
But I had nowhere else to go, so I had to give it a try. I sucked it up, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
Deep inside, I prayed that no one would answer the door, even though a light was still on in the house. And five seconds later, someone turned the lock and pulled the door open.
Whoa. It was Katherine Trent, all right.
She looked exactly the same but also completely different. Her hair had been brown once and cut close to her shoulders. Now, it was dyed blonde and tied in a low bun at the base of her neck. She seemed taller and definitely rounder, which suited her perfectly. The light brown of her eyes hadn’t changed a bit, and neither had the oval shape of her face.
I smiled because it really was good to see her. Her face took me back to better days, sleepless nights spent hiding under covers with our small flashlights, planning to hunt down bad guys. How I missed that life.
“Ruby?” Katherine said and then coughed, as if the word got stuck i
n her throat.
I raised my hand in a weak wave. “Hi, Katherine.”
I couldn’t tell if she was happy to see me, too. Do narrowed brows, a hand to her chest, and slightly parted, non-smiling lips mean happy? No?
“What are you doing here, Ruby?” She then looked behind me at Logan and tensed even more. The screen was still between us, but I doubted she was afraid. She knew I wasn’t going to hurt her.
“I’m sorry to come here so late. Just wanted to say hi,” I said, sounding like the kid I was when I last spoke to her. “Also, to ask for your help. Just a little bit…of help.”
Katherine looked shocked. Still couldn’t figure out if she was happy, but it wasn’t looking good. I held my breath and waited for her verdict. If she turned us away now, we would be screwed. The night hid monsters the best, and I couldn’t afford to be caught by them.
Finally, Katherine sighed. She shook her head and mumbled something I didn’t catch under her breath before pushing the screen door open. “Come in.”
Win! This was a total win. I walked inside full of excitement, eager to sit down with her and talk so she could tell me what she’d been up to. I couldn’t wait to hear everything!
Her house was very homey. The foyer was small and full of things—toys, for the most part. She took us to the left and into a very warm living room. The lights she turned on hurt my eye for a second, but it adjusted quickly. I thought she was going to invite us to sit down on one of the two grey sofas, which looked like someone had mistaken them for a piece of paper and had drawn all over them with markers. Lots of markers.
Instead, Katherine stood in front of me with her arms crossed. “Well?”
Oh. I think it’s time I accepted that she was not, in fact, happy to see me. At all.
I cleared my throat. “Like I said, I’m very sorry to come here like this. I wouldn’t have if I had any other choice. But I’m in trouble and I need a place to stay for the night. Just until sunrise,” I quickly added when she widened her eyes at me. “Just until sunrise and I’ll be out of your hair for good.”
