by Willa Hart
“I might have already recruited them,” I squeaked.
He sat silently for such a long time, I finally peeked up at him. His eyebrow was quirked up, but a small smile played at his lips. Relief washed over me.
“Have you now?”
“I didn’t want to,” I explained in a rush, “but Bertram wouldn’t talk to me, and I know how fast these kinds of cases can go sour, and I had to get a dragon to help me, but Aunt Shirley said Rufus wouldn’t be the right choice, and they helped me—”
“Favor,” he said in a soothing tone that seemed to resonate through the whole room, “it’s okay.”
“Really? You’re not mad?”
“Not in the slightest. In fact, I couldn’t be more proud. I entrusted you with a very important case, and when you encountered a stumbling block, you did whatever it took to work around it. You took decisive action in the right direction, and moreover, you didn’t let your emotions hold you back.” It was his turn to shift his gaze away and look embarrassed. “Unlike some people.”
I smiled at his self-deprecating remark. Poor Uncle Max. He’d spent years holding a grudge against his nephews, only to finally realize they weren’t so bad after all.
“You’re brighter than me in many ways, Favor. I may have been around long enough to see Oxford turn itself into a halfway-decent university, but that doesn’t mean you can’t surpass me in ways you don’t expect.”
“Max—“
He held up a hand to stop me. “I’m glad you’re already working with them. We’ll need them very soon.”
“For what?”
“Don’t worry about that just yet. Everything’s under control.”
I stared up at him, trying to get a sense if he was lying, but the static in the room seemed to be messing with all of my senses — even the sixth one. He wasn’t outright lying, that much I could tell, and it didn’t take a psychic to know he was keeping something from me. I’d learned from experience not to press him at times like this. He loved putting on an air of mystery.
“Our two jobs,” I said, peering at him closely to watch his reaction. “They’re connected, right?”
Max shook his head in amazement. “You figured it out already. Impressive. Especially considering how little time and direction you’ve had. Which is also my fault. You’re going to make an impressive P.I. one day, kid.”
My heart swelled up with pride, and I couldn’t stop smiling. Even in a bizarre half-dream, compliments felt pretty awesome.
“Now let’s get down to business. First, don’t worry about Archibald’s stolen item. I’m handling that. I need you to find Enoch. He has answers I need right now, and time is working against us.”
I assumed Archibald was his Big Bear client and made a mental note to ask the boys about it later. I tried to hold onto every word, worried I’d forget it all when I woke up…or left…or however I’d get back to the real world. I had no idea what was happening or how I was here — or even where here was — but I knew with unshakeable certainty this wasn’t a dream.
“Make use of Ash and Hale for that,” he continued. “The twins are like bloodhounds. They could find a polar bear in a snowstorm. And don’t use that damnable internet!”
Again with his hatred for modern technology. “It would make things a little easier.”
“It would do no such thing,” Max said stubbornly. “If I could track down that English poet who was so popular a few hundred years ago to that hospital in Paris with nothing more to go on than his name, description, and a shoddy sketch, you can manage Enoch without that Faced Book garbage.”
I opened my mouth to correct him, but thought better of it and just nodded politely. “Gotcha.”
“Beat him out from whatever rock he’s hiding under the old-fashioned way. And once you’ve got him, hold onto him until I can get there to interrogate him.”
“How do I get in touch with you? Is there a number I can call, or…”
Max gave me that annoying smile that said I should already know the answer. “Favor, you obviously already know how to reach me.”
I started to explain that I had no earthly idea how I found him in the first place, but then I just had to go ahead and blink. It only took a split-second, but that was enough time for the room to disappear, replaced by a glowing darkness. Voices echoed around me, but I couldn’t quite make out the words. Finally, a few started making sense.
“She’s breathing okay,” Kellum’s voice said, with more than a hint of urgency. Warm fingers wrapped around my wrist. “Her pulse is normal too.”
“What the hell was that anyway?” said another voice I didn’t recognize. It sounded younger which meant it was probably Ash or Hale. “Didn’t feel like any earthquake I’ve ever been through.”
Another unfamiliar-yet-familiar voice said, “She’s human. Should we call 9-1-1? Maybe she needs a blood transfusion.”
“Oh sure, Hale,” Ryen said, his sarcasm coming through the fog loud and clear. “Let’s start a round of transfusions all around, just for good measure.”
I wanted to laugh, but all I managed was a sad, little grunt.
“Ryen, I think your dumbass crack actually made her smile.” Danic’s gruff voice came as his heavy footsteps brought him toward me. I tried to open my eyes.
“Wait, seriously?” Ryen said. “See, Kellum? If I can’t knock ‘em dead, I just do the opposite. Turn me loose in a hospital next, see what happens.”
“Can it for a sec, Ryen,” Kellum commanded. “Favor? Favor, are you with us?”
I tried my eyelids and they fluttered open. Five handsome faces huddled around, peering at me. I smiled at them.
“Hey,” I managed.
The twins cheered and high-fived each other triumphantly. Ryen grinned, but relief also washed across his features. Danic looked pissed off and Kellum turned from worried to serene in a heartbeat.
“Does anything hurt? How do you feel? Talk to me,” Kellum said. I cracked my eyes open and turned my head to look at all five of them briefly.
“I had the strangest dream,” I said, sitting up with the help of Danic and Kellum. “I dreamed that Uncle Max was a dragon. There were lots of dragons in my dream.” I looked to each one. “And you were there, and you, and you, and you, and even you, Scarecrow.”
Ryen caught on to my Wizard of Oz joke immediately, just as I knew he would, but poor Kellum and Danic looked panicked. Ash and Hale just seemed confused. I couldn’t put on the show anymore and burst out laughing.
“Don’t pull that one on Max,” Kellum said, giving me a relieved smirk, “he’ll have a heart attack.”
“I think you’re right,” I chuckled.
Danic and Kellum moved to help me stand, but I waved them away and managed on my own with no trouble. I didn’t even feel woozy.
“How long have I been out?”
Kellum answered. “Couple minutes, tops. How do you feel?”
I paused and mentally checked my body. Nothing hurt or ached, though I felt a little tired, while at the same time completely energized. But there was something else as well, something that seemed far more important than if I was injured.
“Good,” I finally said. “Actually, great. You know that feeling when you’ve been working on a problem or trying to remember something for a while, and it just suddenly ‘clicks’? That’s how I feel.”
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected from them, but total silence wasn’t it. Finally, Ryen broke it.
“Me too,” he whispered, casting an alarmed glance at Kellum who nodded his agreement. The rest followed suit. “Kinda…sparkly? Dunno if that’s the best word for it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to turn my nose up at feeling like a million bucks, but that’s normally not how I feel after an earthquake.”
“If that’s even what it was,” one of the twins mumbled. Then he smiled at me and gave me a little wave. “Hi, I’m Hale. That’s Ash. Don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”
“Favor,” I said, waving back. “Bu
t you already know that.”
“Yeah, we are, quite literally, a room full of PIs,” Ash mused. “I’m surprised we don’t know all of each other’s deep, dark secrets yet.”
“We’ll get there soon enough,” I said with a wink. A little color rose in Ash’s cheeks, which made me inexplicably happy.
“I wish Uncle Max were here,” Kellum said with a sigh. “He’d probably be able to shed some light on what’s going on. He carries the knowledge of the elders in him.”
“Yeah, well, wish in one hand and shit in the other, see which fills up first,” Danic grumbled.
“Unless someone took my advice and LoJacked his car,” Ryen said, “we’ll just have to wait until he turns up to ask him ourselves. The guy’s a ghost.”
My lips twisted up in a little smirk. “Oh, didn’t I tell you?” I said, looking at each of their perplexed faces. “I just talked to him.”
Chapter Eleven
I wandered over to the pastry tray and grabbed another Danish. Suddenly, I was ravenous. I cracked a bottle of water and chugged it, amazed at how strong I felt. Stronger than ever, and I considered myself to be pretty strong in the first place. At least strong enough to not faint over a small earthquake.
The office had taken on a faint shimmer, sort of like a mirage of glistening water on a long stretch of desert highway. Only it wasn’t a mirage, or a lie, or a trick of the eye. It was real and it was everywhere. The walls, the doors, the ceiling, the floors. It was in my fists when I clenched them and the smile spread slowly across my face. It was in the eyes of the five dragons surrounding me in a semi-circle.
And judging by the way they were staring at me, it seemed I wasn’t the only one seeing stars. They looked at me as if I was something shiny and new, and maybe a little confusing to the eye. A puzzle to be solved. A mystery to crack open and pour out the answers locked inside. Only none of them dared to. I wasn’t theirs to pick up and shake, I was something to be almost afraid of. Revered. Looked at with awe.
All of these complicated thoughts slammed through my brain all at once like a bowling ball crashing through the pins, except there was no pain. Only understanding. But just as quickly as the realizations dawned, they danced away into the shadows, leaving me with the boys, all of us confused.
My gaze landed on Ash, and I knew what he was about to say. I had no idea how, but I did. Then he spoke and proved me right.
“You mean dreamed of Max while you were conked out?”
“No. Not a dream. I spoke to Max.”
The men all exchanged expressions of doubt. Kellum looked worried about me.
“Favor, you passed out,” he said, truly worried. “Are you okay? Did you hit your head?”
The genuine concern in his voice melted my heart. “I’m fine, Kellum. Truly. But I would feel a whole lot better if you would all believe what I’m saying.”
“You realize how crazy it sounds, right? How could you have spoken to Max? He’s not here, Favor. Let’s forget the fact you were unconscious.”
Just like Danic, always cutting to the chase.
“I know. Trust me, I know. But it wasn’t a dream. It was more like a vision. I promise you that.”
I wanted them to believe me. I needed them to believe me. If we were going to follow Max’s instructions, they needed to at least be open to the possibility I hadn’t hallucinated the whole thing.
“What did he say?” Ryen asked. I could tell he still didn’t quite buy it, but at least he was humoring me.
“He wasn’t the least bit angry with me for bringing you all in to help me on Enoch’s case. He said I was right to reach out to you. He also seemed pleasantly surprised that we’d already connected our case to the one he’s working in Big Bear.”
“Did he tell you who his client is?” Kellum asked. I could tell he was hoping to trip me up so I could finally admit I was dreaming.
“Just a first name. Archibald. Does that mean anything to you?”
The color drained from Kellum’s face. “Archibald Thrush?”
I shrugged. “Dunno. He just said the guy’s name was Archibald.”
Kellum looked to the others. “Archibald Thrush is very wealthy, and he happens to have a home up at Big Bear. If he’s Max’s client, that explains why we couldn’t find any paperwork. He’d do the job off the books as a favor.”
“Max said not to worry about Archibald’s stolen property, just worry about tracking down Enoch. He holds all the answers, apparently.”
Danic gave me a side-eye. “Where did you see him? Here?”
“No, it looked like a cave. With a bunch of old furniture that looked like it might have been worth something at some point. Lots of books and weird little lights glowing in the walls.”
“Sounds like Max’s lair,” he said, shooting Kellum a questioning look.
Hale still didn’t seem convinced. “And Max told you all of this?”
I wasn’t offended at his disbelief. I probably would have thought I was crazy too, if I hadn’t been there.
“That’s not all he told me. He said you and Ash were the ones to hunt down Enoch. Said you were bloodhounds.”
Two sets of matching green eyes opened wide in shock. The Novak brothers exchanged glances.
“Uncle Max always called the twins bloodhounds,” Kellum explained, his voice rumbling low and reverberating through my body. “What else did he say?”
Finally! They were starting to realize I wasn’t suffering a delusion.
“He forbade us to use the internet to find Enoch. He said we need to do some good, old-fashioned legwork.”
Ryen chuckled and the others smirked. “Sure sounds like Uncle Max, the old Luddite.”
“Don’t call him that to his face,” I suggested. “Unless you want a history lesson.”
All five of them groaned, as if they’d already suffered through that particular lesson.
“Good to hear he hasn’t changed, I guess,” Danic said with a snort.
“So our top priority is to find Enoch,” Kellum said, bringing us back on point. “I think we knew that already, didn’t we?”
“He wants to interrogate the guy himself,” I explained. “Says I already know how to contact him when we find Enoch, but…I really don’t.”
“But you just did,” Hale said.
“I-I know, but I have no idea how I did it.”
Kellum squeezed my arm gently. “You will. When the time is right, you will.”
My brain wasn’t as sure, but I didn’t feel that crippling panic I might have the day before. At least my body seemed confident that I could find Max again if I needed to.
“So what’s next?” Kellum asked.
Me. He asked me. For a brief flash, I wanted to blurt out “How the hell should I know?” but I actually did know. I knew it just like I knew I hadn’t dreamed about Max.
“Big Bear. That’s where we go next. We need to talk to this Archibald fellow and see if he can shed any light on Enoch.”
“Why doesn’t Max do that if he’s with the guy?” Ash asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t think he is. Not anymore. I’m pretty sure of that.”
“Cool,” Danic said. “Kellum and I can drive up there today.”
“And me,” I said, giving him a firm look.
He shook his head. “No, you should stay here. It’s too dangerous.”
“Good grief, how dangerous can it be?” I scoffed. “Enoch already got what he wanted.”
Danic scowled while Ash answered. “The danger may be minimal, but it’s still there.”
I appreciated their concern for my well-being, but their overprotectiveness was getting out of hand. They’d had no qualms about me going on a stakeout in San Bernardino. Surely interviewing some rich, old dude at a ski resort was safer than that. I stood and slung my purse over my shoulder.
“I’m going. Now, who’s coming with me?”
They exchanged meaningful glances, then Kellum sighed. “Fine. But we need as many boots on the groun
d as possible. Ryen and I will handle our cases at Drakonis. Ash and Hale can delve into their underground network of scumbags.”
“Hey!” Ash and Hale said at the same time.
“Sorry. Let’s call them informants, if that makes the bloodhounds feel any better.” Kellum turned his gaze on me. “And considering what happened the last time you went on a witness interview, Danic will go with you. Just in case.”
My heart fluttered. I hadn’t spent any time alone with Danic at that point. My eyes locked with his gray, stony gaze, and I thought I saw a flicker of something akin to happiness.
That wasn’t all I noticed. Nobody argued over the plan. Nobody tried to fight over who would go with me or who would follow what step of the plan. It was almost as though somehow we had all been plugged into the same big picture. Without discussing it, we all knew what needed to be done, and we all knew there was no sense arguing over it. We all had our roles to play, and we fell into them effortlessly. Naturally. Every moving part meant to work in coordination, like a well-oiled, mystery-solving machine.
Five minutes later, Danic and I headed for the SUV parked next to Kellum’s. Because it was smaller, older, and a generic silver, it didn’t stand out quite as much. He opened the passenger side door for me, just like a gentleman. Honestly, I was a little surprised by the gesture. He’d always struck me as the brutish Novak brother, the toughest and most fiery, but he’d just shown me a much gentler side.
He surprised me again when he turned on a mellow adult contemporary radio station when he climbed in. I would have pegged him for a heavy metal guy. This time, I couldn’t help laughing.
He glanced over, frowning slightly. “What?”
“Nothing,” I said, swallowing my snickers. “You’re just full of surprises.”
“I could say the same about you,” he replied with a wry smile.
As he pulled out onto Pico, we eased into a comfortable silence. He was the very definition of the strong, silent type, and I could appreciate that. Sometimes I had the tendency to overcompensate for my awkwardness by talking too much, but with Danic, it didn’t feel necessary.
The last time I’d driven this way, Ryen and I had been going to San Bernardino, and without even having to ask, I knew that’s where we were heading again. We needed to check on Crystal, make sure she was safe.
