“That’s still stealing,” I muttered. But I was a little too distracted by the fact he’d said he was trusting my instincts. “I can’t exactly conceive of why that particular book is useful, though. I… I used my ability to find the truth earlier with Ming,” I confessed, “and maybe it sucked up all my powers.”
“I thought Max told you to be careful about finding the truth? I thought he told you that it’s extremely expensive and you should only try to do it judiciously so you don’t turn into a dribbling mess of ineffective stupidity.”
“A dribbling mess of ineffective stupidity?”
Josh shrugged. “I couldn’t help it – I’m in a colorful mood. The point is, you should never overuse your magic. That being said – did you find out anything useful?”
I shrugged. “Just that Ming was lying, and he definitely suspects that Peter was deliberately trying to steal Isabella’s contract.”
Josh shook his head disappointedly. “You wasted your power on that? Of course Ming suspects that, and of course Peter was doing that.”
“But you said—”
“I just didn’t want you to publicly cast aspersions on one of the kingpins. But this changes everything,” he said as he frowned at me. “If you’ve already wasted your magic on attempting to find the truth, maybe you are out of juice. Which means we’re frigging wasting our time,” Josh said as he crossed his arms, turned his attention up to the ceiling, and shook his head.
“So are you going to put the book back?”
“Hell no. It’s coming with us. Is there anything else in this library of interest?”
“No—” I began.
Josh, moving like a lion, snapped his hand out, clasped it on my shoulder, and made a hushing noise.
A blast of adrenaline ricocheted through my stomach. “What—”
He pressed his free hand to his lips and told me to shoosh. He leaned forward, tilting his head to the side, obviously straining his hearing.
I quieted my breath to try to figure out what he was doing.
I heard voices. One was timid, and one was as strong as all hell. Because one belonged to Jason.
I think I snapped up, as tall as a tree, my whole body reacting to his presence. Josh didn’t pull his hand from my shoulder.
Even if Josh had tried to move me, he wouldn’t have been able to. He kept his hand anchored on my shoulder as we both listened to Jason’s voice.
He was talking to someone – a man. And though the man was trying to keep the conversation quiet, Jason was like a foghorn. Or maybe he was just that way to me. Maybe my brain fixated on him so much that even the slightest breath of his could be misinterpreted as if he was shouting my name across a valley.
“There’s no real time for this,” the other man said, his voice quiet but clipped with fear.
Jason chuckled. “If we don’t find his diary and locate the spell he was working on, we won’t locate him at all. So I suggest you make time for this. You said you owed your brother everything. Why not start by saving his life from Jeopardy and saving his girlfriend to boot? Without them and their assistance, your little secret would have been found out years ago.”
When I forced my body to stop reacting to Jason’s mere presence, I started to appreciate that what he was saying was critically important. It felt familiar, too.
Josh leaned close to me, so close his mouth was practically crammed up against my ear. “They must be talking about our case,” he said excitedly. “I guarantee you that guy’s brother is Isabella’s boyfriend.”
A thrill of recognition passed through me as Josh said that, and I realized, unequivocally, that he was right.
Despite the fact Josh had spoken in low tones, there was a pause in the conversation, and I could feel Josh’s grip on me tighten. Just when I could fear that Jason had heard me or sensed my presence, I heard him let out another gruff breath. “Listen up, Bradley – I want to help you. But in order to help you, you have to help me. If your brother has cast one of these spells to try to get away from Jeopardy, there’s no telling what it could attract and how much damage it could do to the city. The dimensions are already pretty porous around here – as you would well know,” he said with the kind of pointed growl that would tell anyone his comment was about something more.
There was a long pause. I heard Bradley take a sharp, hissing breath. For some reason… it didn’t quite sound human.
It wasn’t just me reacting to it, either – despite the fact Josh already looked as if he was standing to attention, he somehow managed to elongate his back and stand all the taller.
I swear I could feel the fear pulsing through him, too. I wasn’t stupid enough to ask him what he was worried about – Jason and Bradley had now come so close, they were in the aisle in front of us.
“I don’t know which book it was,” Bradley began speaking again, and I swore that strange note was back to his voice. It was almost… God, it was almost as if it wasn’t a voice at all and was rather the sound an intelligent animal might make if it could speak. Though my mind chanced upon that description, as soon as it did, another thrill of recognition danced through me. I almost gasped, but either Josh was suddenly clairvoyant, or he was watching me like a hawk, because he managed to dart forward and wrap a hand around my mouth before the sound could echo out. He also started to pull me back slowly but carefully.
“If you give me as many details about the book as you can remember, I’ll find it,” Jason said, a promise punching through his voice. It was a promise that was absolutely filled with Jason’s arrogant bravado. I knew his skills as a finder – especially a locator finder – were limited.
“All I remember is he brought the book from home. That’s not enough—”
“Of course it’s enough. It tells me that if it was his book to begin with, it wouldn't be coded into the library. That’s enough—”
“We’re going,” Josh said as he whispered in my ear. He pulled me back.
Though my mind wanted to go with him, my body didn’t, and for a moment I ground my feet into the floor.
Then my mind kicked fully into gear, and I realized I really didn’t want to run into Jason here. I turned and allowed Josh to lead me forward. But just when he tried to hook a right around the end of the aisle, it was my turn to shove a hand out, grab his shoulder, and yank him back. He turned on me, shooting me the kind of gaze that told me we didn’t have time to play games.
I pressed a finger to my lips and shook my head. I pointed around the corner. “They’re coming that way,” I whispered.
Josh blanched. Then he nodded at me, making it clear it was time for me to lead. There would’ve been a time not that long ago when the great Josh McIntosh would never have allowed me to take charge. After having saved his life twice and now being one of the most valuable witches in the city, that time was long gone.
I’d been in some pretty harrowing situations over the past month since becoming a witch, but for some reason this one was worse. I wasn’t being chased – Jason didn’t even know I was here. But for some reason that made it all the worse, because my heart kept trying to imagine what would happen if he saw me. What expression he’d shoot me, what he’d say, and most importantly, what he’d do.
For whatever reason, Jason had kept his distance after our first meeting. He hadn’t called, he hadn’t come around to see me, and he’d pretty much left me alone. But not forever. He’d sent me a letter, you see. An actual letter – like he was still in the sixties or something. And that letter had said that when the time came and the place was right, we would meet up once more. The language of the letter had been florid, almost like a love poem written by some old time fancier.
At the time, it had made my stomach curl and yet tingle. Because I swore that whenever I was around Jason I would feel diametrically opposed sensations that threatened to pull me apart and see me pop.
Now was no different. Now my imagination ran wild as it told me that this could very well be the time and place that Jason ha
d promised. My mind, on the other hand, told me that both Josh and I had been employed to track Isabella down, and the book in Josh’s pocket might just be the key. You could very well ask why I didn’t just announce myself to Jason, hand the book over, and ask what he knew about the case. The reason? It was complicated.
Jason worked for Internal Affairs as a trainee sorcerer – that was pretty much all I knew about him. Apart from one fact. He was after the Hidden Grimoires, and he would do anything – and I two mean anything – to get his hands on them. Even sacrifice me, and I was meant to be his glorified stupid future wife. And that told me that if a hidden grimoire was on the line here, Jason could and would happily use Bradley to get to it, sacrificing Isabella and her boyfriend along the way.
So I ran a little faster, pausing as I reached the end of the aisle, Josh right behind me. I fancied he was just as stressed as I was, even though this wasn’t our usual dangerous routine. We weren’t being chased by a warlock, and nor were we facing off against some of the most dangerous criminal gangs in town. All we were doing was mucking about in the library, trying to hide from Max’s stupid brother.
Still, Josh’s hand shook as he kept it on my shoulder. I half closed my eyes and concentrated, trying to find out which direction Jason would take. I needed him to turn his back, to give us a chance to flee without him seeing.
In between my pounding heart and stilled breath, I finally saw an opportunity, and I jerked forward. Out of the corner of my eye as Josh and I flitted across the break between the aisles, I saw Jason. Sure enough, he and Bradley had their backs to us. Jason was in casual clothes, even though he, like his brother, looked as if he had the kind of physique that had been made precisely for suits. Almost as if a tailor had been in control of his proportions, engineering him precisely so he looked perfect in three-piece Cashmere.
I also saw Bradley. Though, granted, my gaze didn’t linger on him nearly as long as it lingered on Jason.
Bradley was a full head shorter than Jason – which meant he was normal height. He had rough, sandy blond hair that ran down to his shoulders and was a little knotted and matted from lack of care. The line of his shoulders was odd, too. It was broader than it should be – or maybe he was just hunched over?
Though he was wearing clothes – unsurprisingly, as this was a public place and not exactly a nudist beach – they… didn’t look right. They were two stretched in strange places, almost as if Bradley had a set of unusual muscles.
Despite the fact the time between Josh and I running out of cover and ducking behind the safety of another aisle was all of about two seconds, I managed to notice a heck of a lot. I also managed to appreciate that Josh clapped eyes on Bradley too, and my partner stiffened as if he was set concrete.
Once we made it behind the safety of another aisle, I waved Josh forward again, and we twisted down yet another aisle until we were safely in the opposite direction to which Jason and Bradley were going. I paused, actually bringing up a hand and cupping a fist like they do in the Army when they give a silent command to stop.
Josh leaned close to my ear. “What are you doing? We have to get out of here.”
“I want to find out more about what they’re talking about. You’re right – it’s definitely about our case,” I emphasized the word definitely with a powerful blast of breath.
“Have you forgotten something, Beth?” Josh demanded.
My mind reeled as I thought. Had I forgotten something? God, probably everything. My mind turned into total jelly around Jason.
When I didn’t answer, Josh answered for me. Still leaning close to my ear, he hissed, “Jason is a finder. Granted, he doesn’t have your skills – but he can still find objects. And I bet the book he’s after is here,” Josh said as he patted his pocket quietly.
A thrill of nerves traced hard along my back, down my scalp, and into my neck. It made me snap around and stare at Josh.
He arched an eyebrow pointedly, then jammed his thumb in the opposite direction to where Jason and Bradley were. “Move,” he mouthed.
I… almost lingered. Almost. Then my brain caught up with me, reminded me that now and here was not the place to meet Jason again, and I scurried off.
Josh took the lead, obviously knowing these libraries much better than I did. He quickly found us a way to the back exit, and the next thing I knew, we were outside, the late afternoon breeze buffeting my hair.
I planted a hand on my chest, leaned back, closed my eyes, and breathed as if I’d just been chased by a lion.
I wanted to say Josh looked as if he was a heck of a lot calmer than me, but he wasn’t. His cheeks were red, and his eyes had a wild, flighty quality to them that told me he’d been just as freaked out as me, if not more so. “That was hell.”
“I thought you said that Jason wouldn’t try to find me—” I began. Then I shook my head as I realized how stupid that sentence was.
“He was after the book, Beth – you know that. And apparently,” Josh’s teeth clenched hard, “he’s after our case, too.”
I straightened and looked at Josh. “What… I mean who…. No, I mean what—”
“Was that thing back there?” Josh looked at me, an almost prideful quality to his gaze. “All that study you’re doing is really paying off, isn’t it? You recognized that Bradley wasn’t… entirely human, didn’t you?”
Another thrill chased up my back at his words. “Entirely human?” I asked with a shaking voice.
He nodded hard. “He isn’t. He’s some kind of hybrid. Either he was born that way, or someone made him that way,” Josh’s voice pitched low.
I shook my head, my stomach tumbling with the horrible promise of what he was describing. “I thought crossbreeds were a myth?” I tried.
Josh snorted. “You didn’t know anything about the prophecy to save the world, you had no idea about Hidden Grimoires, you didn’t know about Jason, and you thought sorcerers were an urban legend – should I go on?”
I shrugged. Then I looked back at the door, my eyes wide.
Josh stiffened. “He isn’t coming, is he?” Josh’s voice pitched up high, and his words ran together in a slur of fear.
I paused and concentrated, then shook my head. “He’s still looking for the book.”
“Which is still in my pocket,” Josh reminded me through clenched teeth. “Let’s hightail it out of here. Now,” he said when I didn’t immediately scurry over. He tried to grab a hand around my arm to pull me along, but I shook my head and took a step back.
“I don’t think Jason can find anything unless it’s right in front of him.”
“I don’t want to trust what you think right now. He’s a trainee sorcerer, with emphasis on the sorcerer.”
“And I’m a finder,” I said as I tilted my head back and looked at him defiantly. “And I know I’m right. Jason already admitted that finding magic is the hardest to learn. He… needs a teacher,” I said, actually surprising myself when my tone was even. It didn’t shake once, and nor did a single tingle rush through my stomach and jump into my heart. Because I knew what I was talking about.
Maybe that fact played over my face, because Josh scrunched his brow down low and looked at me from out of narrowed eyes. “Are you finding the truth of a statement again, Beth? I really don’t want to have to carry you back to the car. You’ve already used truth magic once today, and you certainly don’t have the strength to use it more.”
I shook my head. “I just… I know it. I always managed to get this sense around Max when he was using his finding magic, and I think it’s the same with Jason. I’m relatively certain he can’t find anything unless it’s in close proximity to him.”
Josh sighed. He also took the opportunity to shoot me a questioning look. I didn’t know what he was thinking. Maybe he was taking the time to remind himself that I was no longer the frightened young woman he’d found in that testing office. I’d grown into something else entirely.
Josh shrugged, his shoulders dropping, but he still b
rought up a hand and jammed his thumb in the direction of the car park. “I still want to get out of here. After all, we’ve got that book. So our case is what… half solved?” he asked as he flapped his hands around and looked hopeful.
I snorted and smiled. “We’ll see,” I said as I turned, shoved my hands in my pockets, and we both made our way to the car park.
That quick afternoon breeze I’d talked about before started to pick up, swirling around the tails of my coat and catching my loose hair. It promised me that what defined this day would be chasing.
I settled my hand on my heart and realized it was beating all the harder. I followed Josh to his car to get this case solved. Because we were running out of time.
Chapter 4
“I still don’t think this is safe,” I said for what felt like the fiftieth time as I hung about in the doorway, reluctant to take a step in as I kept twisting my head this way and that, searching down the corridors of the apartment block. And who was I looking for?
“Jason isn’t coming. He’ll still be looking for that book,” Josh said as he threw his hands up in exasperation. He was wearing some kind of specialized latex gloves. Though Josh always liked to point out that we were not the police, and that we only tracked down bounties, he’d obviously had more than one lecture from the Justice Department about messing up crime scenes. While the police had allowed him entry, considering his unique position, he wasn’t allowed to abuse that privilege.
We were now in Isabella’s apartment. Josh had pulled some strings to get access. And to be honest, he hadn’t needed to pull that many strings. The Justice Department seemed just as nervous to track down Isabella as Ming was – if not more so.
Maybe there was more to this case. God, why was there always more to every case? Hell, why did everything always feel so connected? From Carson Black, to Frank, to the Cruze Gang, to D 20, to frigging Jason?
Forgotten Destiny Book Three Page 4
