by Chant, Zoe
“You guys,” Merlin said despairingly. To Roland, he said, “You’re the one who’s always telling us we need to be more professional!”
“You do need to be more professional,” replied Roland with a perfect deadpan. “Stop turning into a dinosaur in the workplace.”
“I was very impressed with your size,” Dali assured Merlin, grinning. “And Cloud loved mini-dinosaur-you.”
Merlin gave in and laughed. Then he spun around with that incredible grace of his, saying, “I’m sorry, I didn’t get a chance to introduce you. Dali, this is Roland Walker, our boss. Roland, this is Dali Batiste.”
“Oh,” Roland said, looking her over with new interest. “You’re Tirzah and Pete’s neighbor. You were a sailor, right? I was in the Army.”
As Dali nodded, Merlin said to Pete, “How come you told Roland about her but you never mentioned her to me?”
“You were there,” Pete said. “You were too busy babbling about tightrope walkers falling out of clown cars to listen.”
“Tightrope walkers falling on to clown cars,” said Merlin.
“Guys,” Tirzah said peaceably. “I think she came up once. Roland has a good memory.”
“And what can we do for you, Dali?” Roland asked.
“She’s my new client,” Merlin said. He stepped closer to her as he spoke, as if he might need to shield her with his body. Dali could smell the shampoo he’d used on his drying hair, an herbal-spicy aroma. She inhaled appreciatively.
“You mean, she’d like to hire us and you’re requesting her,” Roland said.
Dali recognized this kind of turf war. Given the state of the office, she was unsurprised at the lack of a clear chain of command. She moved to break the tie. “I’m requesting him. If you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” Roland said. “You can think of this little interlude as a Merlin’s demonstration of his skills.”
That reminded her of the other thing she’d heard Roland say. “Pete, you can turn into a cave bear?”
Pete gave a reluctant nod.
Dali turned to Roland. “What sort of dinosaur—I mean prehistoric animal—
do you turn into?”
“None,” Roland said. “The experiments they were doing weren’t just with prehistoric animals, but mythic ones too. That is, magical animals. I’m a phoenix.”
Looking into his steady gaze, Dali found it impossible to doubt what he said. “And you can all change your size?”
“No, that’s just me,” Merlin said. “The rest of us have other powers. Also thanks to the wizard-scientists.”
“I don’t thank them for mine,” said a new voice.
Dali almost jumped out of her skin. The tall man with the dark red hair, the one she’d met when she’d first come in, had returned without her noticing.
“And I don’t need any powers to know who’s responsible for... this.” He waved a long-fingered hand. Dali, following his gesture, saw that the giant velociraptor had made the general mess even worse by breaking coffee cups, knocking over stacks of files, and scattering papers all over the floor. “Merlin.”
“Ransom Pierce,” Merlin began. “Meet—”
“Dali Batiste,” said Ransom. He shook her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
“How did you know my name?” Dali inquired. “Were you standing with your ear to the door this whole time?”
Ransom looked mildly amused. “In a manner of speaking. That’s my power: I know things.”
“That’s very... broad,” Dali said.
“Yes,” said Ransom, and said nothing more.
“So, do you know who stole my necklace? And who’s after Cloud or me?”
Ransom shook his head. “Knowledge comes to me. I don’t choose what I know. It’s much harder to find specific information.” The hard lines of his face softened a little as he said, “Merlin’s the terror of the office, but he’s an excellent bodyguard. You’ll be safe with him protecting you.”
Dali smiled, warming to him. Anyone who praised Merlin was all right in her book. “I know. Hey, everyone’s been telling me what they turn into. Or showing me, in Merlin’s case. So, do you turn into something prehistoric, or something magical?”
She regretted asking when his face froze over again. “Magical.” Then, after a long pause, he added, “A hellhound.”
What the hell—so to speak—is a hellhound? Dali wondered. But his expression forbade further questioning.
Tirzah broke the uncomfortable silence by saying cheerfully, “I’m the boring one. I don’t turn into anything.”
Pete leaned down and kissed her cheek. “That’s because you’re perfect exactly the way you are.”
The door flew open as if it had been kicked, and a man in an expensive-looking suit came in. Dali couldn’t see his face, as he was carrying a machine big enough to block it.
“All right, guys,” he proclaimed. “I made this so I could have a reliable source of coffee if I happen to be here. I’ll let you use it on the condition that you read the instructions I wrote for it and follow them to the letter. I’m putting it...”
The man lowered the machine, revealing his face. He was handsome, with black hair and hazel eyes that widened as he took in the state of the office. He looked absolutely aghast, then pulled the thing that Dali figured must be the world’s most elaborate coffee machine defensively close to his chest. “On second thought, maybe I’m not putting it anywhere. It won’t last ten minutes in this madhouse!”
“No, please, Carter,” Tirzah begged. “I need coffee! Put it in the tech room, it’ll be safe there.”
“It better be,” Carter said, directing an ominous stare at Merlin. Then he noticed Dali. “Hello. I’m Carter Howe. And I don’t work here!”
“Hi, I’m Dali Batiste,” Dali said, baffled by his vehemence. “I’m a client too.”
Merlin burst out laughing. He was quickly joined by Tirzah, then Pete.
Carter looked exasperated. “I’m not a client. I do tech work—as a favor—for the team. Occasionally. Rarely.”
“Okay,” Dali said, still puzzled by why he was telling her all this.
“Carter’s a shifter too,” Merlin said.
“Merlin!” Carter shouted.
“It’s fine, Carter,” said Roland. “She already saw Merlin turn into a velociraptor.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” Carter said.
Merlin went on, “Carter’s been invited to join the team. Repeatedly. He keeps saying he’s not interested, but he keeps hanging around, so it does give the impression that he works here. It reminds me of when I was in the circus and there was this girl who was also raised in it, but she kept saying she didn’t want any part of the life and she refused to be part of her family’s act. But she never did leave. One night, her brother sprained his ankle right before he was supposed to go onstage, and—”
“I don’t ‘hang around,’” Carter interrupted, glaring at Merlin. “And enough with the circus stories! Nobody believes in your imaginary circus!”
Dali felt oddly protective of Merlin. Everyone kept accusing him of making things up, but even the most outrageous things he’d told her had turned out to be absolutely true. Borrowing his own argument that one impossible thing proves another, she said, “You guys, Merlin turns into a velociraptor! Why wouldn’t you believe that he was raised in a circus?”
“Because his stories are ridiculous,” Carter said.
“More ridiculous than a flying kitten?” Dali inquired.
“If you’d been in the Marines with him and heard all his stories...” Pete began, then trailed off, looking uncertain. “I mean, I believe that the circus exists. I’ve seen posters for it! I just don’t believe that Merlin, a white rat, and three performing seals discovered the lost crown jewels of the queen of Latveria—”
“Latveria doesn’t exist,” Tirzah said helpfully. “It’s Doctor Doom’s kingdom. I think it was Latvia. Or maybe Lithuania.”
“That’s what I mean,” said Pete. “His
stories are so unlikely, they might as well involve Doctor Doom!”
Merlin glanced from his teammates to Dali, then seemed to make up his mind. Standing up straight and looking them in the eyes, he said, “My stories are true. All of them. The one about Queen Juliana’s crown jewels included. I haven’t told you everything, but I’ve never told a lie. The circus is real. It’s the Fabulous Flying Chameleons, and you can see them for yourself.”
The Fabulous Flying Chameleons! Dali, delighted, imagined Merlin on that crowded, joyous billboard. In a skin-tight leotard, swinging from a trapeze...
But his teammates didn’t look as happy. Instead, they looked uncomfortable, confused, and maybe even a little guilty. A silence fell.
Finally, Pete said, “Why didn’t you ever say it like that before?”
“Would you have believed me?” Merlin asked.
“Yes,” said Roland simply. Except for Ransom, the rest of them nodded their agreement.
Merlin’s sharp gaze turned to Ransom. “You wouldn’t have?”
“I didn’t need to hear it from you to believe it,” Ransom said. “I always knew it was all true. I know things, remember?”
Merlin’s voice rose in frustration and annoyance. “Then why didn’t you say so?”
Ransom shrugged. “You never asked.”
An argument promptly broke out again. Dali listened incredulously. How did this team of squabbling misfits ever get anything done? Then Roland raised a hand and cleared his throat, and she realized that was how as they subsided into silence.
“Dali?” Roland said. “We’re a small team, and we often pitch in on each other’s cases. I know you’ve already spoken with Merlin, but would you mind telling the story to the rest of the team?”
“I’m not on the team,” Carter said. But she noticed that he didn’t leave. Instead, he sat down, holding his coffee machine protectively in his lap.
“To the rest of the team and Carter,” said Roland patiently.
Dali repeated her story, with everyone listening intently. Merlin chimed in occasionally. When she got to the part about the black darts, she noticed the blood drain from Ransom’s face, leaving it white as paper. Pete reached out as if he was going to put a hand on Ransom’s shoulder, but Ransom gave him a chilly stare. Pete dropped his hand to his side.
“Them again,” Carter sighed.
“At least the pteranodon guy’s dead,” Tirzah said.
“Pteranodon?” Dali said incredulously.
“It’s a long story,” Merlin said. “It all began when Tirzah here—”
A chorus of “Not now!” arose.
“The wizard-scientists went after me and Tirzah,” Pete explained. “They were trying to get their magical creatures back. That’s probably why you and Cloud got shot at—they were after Cloud.”
Dali held the kitten close. “Well, they’re not going to get her. And what about those pigeon shifters who stole Grandma’s necklace? Are they the wizard-scientists too?”
“No, I’m sure they’re not,” said Merlin.
Roland turned to Merlin. “You seem to know a lot about methods shifters can use to commit crimes. Where exactly did you learn all that?”
Merlin shot a glance at Dali, chewed on his lip, then mumbled, more to her than to Roland, “My circus.”
“The Fabulous Flying Chameleons is a crime circus?” Dali blurted out.
“Of course it is,” Carter remarked. “What other sort of circus would have raised Merlin?”
Merlin ignored Carter and replied to Dali. Earnestly, he said, “It’s not a crime circus. It’s a completely legitimate circus which has real acts and earns real money from real ticket sales...”
“And does some real crimes on the side?” Tirzah inquired.
“And does some crimes on the side,” Merlin admitted.
Dali felt like her head was about to explode. “Your crime circus stole my grandmother’s necklace?!”
“No!” Merlin exclaimed, madly waving his hands as if that possibility was flying at his face like a rabid pigeon. Startled, Cloud leaped off Dali’s shoulder, digging in her claws painfully, and flew as far away from him as she could get. “No, no, absolutely not!”
Everyone looked at him. Dali folded her arms and glared.
In a small voice, he said, “It can’t have been anyone from my circus because none of them are pigeon shifters. But someone from the Fabulous Flying Chameleons might have told the pigeon shifter thieves how to do it.”
“A crime circus,” Pete said, shaking his head. “Only you, Merlin.”
Merlin, looking deeply and rather desperately into Dali’s eyes, said, “Financial and property crimes only! Absolutely nothing violent! And only to people who can afford it.”
“Well, of course you only steal from the rich,” said Carter. “Poor people don’t have enough money to make it worthwhile.”
“Stealing is stealing,” Dali said to Merlin, ignoring Carter’s sarcasm. “Just because you’re not ruining anyone’s life doesn’t make it okay.”
Once again, she expected Merlin to blow her off. Once again, he didn’t. “I know. I mean, I did leave it.” He hesitated, his frank gaze sliding off to the side. “Well—there were other reasons.”
For a moment, Dali was frustrated. Why couldn’t he just tell her... whatever it was. Then she remembered that the last thing he hadn’t told her immediately was that he could turn into a raptor. Maybe he had his reasons for not dropping everything on her all at once.
“Is everyone in it a shifter?” Carter asked.
Merlin nodded. “Pretty much. We don’t—they don’t—have any actual animals. The animal acts are all us. I mean them.”
“No wonder you were so unfazed by learning that shifters existed,” Pete said. “You knew all along.”
Merlin grinned. “Yep. I couldn’t tell, of course.”
Despite her moral indignation over the crime part, Dali couldn’t help being charmed by the idea of shifters performing in animal acts. “The tigers are actually tiger shifters?”
Merlin grinned at her. “And the ringmaster cracking the whip at them is a white rat. And the elephant is his wife. Everyone shifts backstage, then comes back out and does another act in another form. It’s very convenient—we only need half the people that we normally would, because every performer is also an animal. And of course no one needs to train or take care of the animals. Though we do keep cages and food for show.”
It seemed to give Carter physical pain to admit this, but he said, “That’s very clever. A lot of shifters hide in plain sight—I can’t tell you how many people I know who are their own cats—but that’s not possible for wild animal shifters in cities. But if anyone sees a tiger at a circus, well, of course there’s tigers at a circus.”
Merlin beamed. “Yes, exactly. It all began hundreds of years ago, in medieval times, when we were traveling jesters with dancing bears. I mean traveling jesters who were dancing bears. It’s probably the oldest living circus in the world. And we still have a dancing bear! Not the same dancing bear, of course, or even a descendant. But the tradition—”
“Right, got it,” Carter said.
Tirzah grabbed Pete’s arm. “Pete, we have to go. And take Caro. And your mom. They’ll love it. Especially once we tell them it’s all shifters!”
“No!” Merlin exclaimed. “I, um, I might need you to do something there later.”
“Merlin’s right,” Roland said. “No visiting the circus until the investigation’s over.”
“Except for you.” Merlin smiled at Dali. “I have to protect you, so I can’t leave your side... and you can’t leave mine. How do you feel about a matinee?”
CHAPTER 6
Dali’s smile was as radiant as the mid-day sun. “Absolutely!”
Yes yes yes, chimed in Merlin’s raptor. We’ll go to the circus and roll around in the sawdust and swing from the trapeze and eat ALL the caramel corn!
“Great! Let’s go!”
“I have to drop off
Cloud—” Dali began, then broke off. “Is it safe to leave her at my apartment?”
“Completely,” Pete assured her. “Remember, I did the security system. We leave our own flying kittens there.”
“I can monitor the building from my phone,” Tirzah said. “Cloud will be fine.”
Doubtfully, Dali said, “Is that enough? If you see anyone trying to get in, you’re half an hour away.”
“I’m not,” said Roland. When she gave him a puzzled glance, he lifted his hands and made little wing-flapping movements. He was so imposing, between his size and his silvering hair and his solemn expression, that the contrast between that and his flappy-hand gesture made Merlin burst out laughing.
“Phoenix,” Merlin reminded her.
“Right.” Dali popped Cloud in her purse and waved good-bye with her prosthetic hand, keeping her other hand in her purse.
Excitement tingled up and down his spine as he escorted her to the parking lot. Finally, he was alone with her. She’d described his hair color perfectly, so she was seeing him as he was. He didn’t need to worry that he was accidentally deceiving her.
On the negative side, she had been notably un-thrilled to learn that he came from a criminal background. Not to mention that someone from his circus was probably indirectly responsible for the theft he’d been hired to solve. That could make things awkward.
He realized with a start that he was already thinking of the future. Their future.
Could she be his mate?
He swallowed, struck to the heart with the thought of it, just as he’d been struck to the heart by the first sight of her. It hadn’t occurred to him before because normally shifters instantly recognized their mates. But Pete hadn’t known Tirzah was his mate till later.
Is Dali my mate? Merlin asked his raptor.
What’s a mate? his raptor replied.
Which pretty much answered that. But Merlin replied anyway. Your true love. The person you’ll love forever, as long as you both shall live.
I like Dali, replied his raptor. I bet she’d help us steal a sofa. You should make her some hot chocolate. Look, a blinking light!
