by Martha Carr
Cheyenne peered around the counter to take in the empty storefront. “Oh. Is there some kinda button to keep this thing from goin’ back down before we get everyone out?”
Joe set his magazine down on the counter and scowled at the crack in the door above her head. “I swear, if that crazy troll puked in there again, I’m gonna make her mop it up with her face.”
“Why the hell are you trying to kill me, you bastards?” Bhandi shouted, followed by some quick thumps. “I’ll rip your arms off and shove ‘em in your ears!”
“Hey, grab her arm, will ya?”
“What does it look like I’m tryin’ to do? Woah, woah, wait! Hold the door.”
Cheyenne slipped into her drow form long enough for her enhanced strength to pull the thick elevator doors apart again. They banged back into the wall with a shudder, then she opened the door again, met Joe’s gaze, and shrugged.
“No button. Just pull her into the bathroom ‘til someone gets her under control.”
The halfling let her drow form fade and opened the door before turning back to the agents. “You hear that?”
“Yeah. I just don’t know how to—ah! Fuck!” Yurik clamped both hands over his nose, and blood dripped from beneath his palms. “We’re tryin’ to help you, asshole.”
Bhandi flailed around against the back of the elevator, her arms whipping in every direction.
“Was that her elbow?” Tate asked with a grimace.
“Yeah, and my face.” Yurik stalked out of the elevator, turning sideways to slip past Cheyenne, and headed for the bathroom across the narrow hall.
“All right.” Tate held up both hands in surrender and waited for Ember to wheel herself out of the elevator before he backed out of it too. “Bhandi.”
“Nobody fucks with this.” The troll woman tapped her chest and lurched toward him, her eyes flitting everywhere but his face. “I’ll send all your ancestors to the grave!”
“Well, too bad they’re already there. But hey, we got another pitcher. Waitin’ for you right in that room across the hall.” Tate gestured toward the bathroom, where Yurik leaned over the sink, cursing at his bloody nose in the mirror. “See? Your favorite goblin’s already getting started.”
“He’s not my favorite.” Bhandi blinked and dropped her hands against her thighs. “You say another pitcher?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, shit. You shoulda strat…stratted…just say that next time, huh?” As Bhandi walked calmly out of the elevator, the doors rumbled shut behind her. She kicked the Employees Only door, and Cheyenne caught it before it could crack against the back wall.
“Hey, put your mask on, huh?”
The troll woman swung around to face Cheyenne and pointed in her general direction. “Like you?”
“Yeah.”
“What the hell for?”
“It’s a themed party.” Cheyenne shrugged and glanced at Tate for reinforcement. His mouth dropped open, and he shook his head.
“Everybody’s doing it,” Ember added.
Bhandi tried to slip her hand into the front pocket of her tight burgundy pants, crouching sideways before she withdrew her illusion ring. She held it up in front of her face, and Tate had to grab her other hand and aim a finger into the ring for her. Her purple troll skin and scarlet braids melted into light-amber skin and long, straight brunette hair. Then she jerked her hand out of Tate’s grip and headed toward the bathroom. “Now let’s go.”
Yurik stumbled out of the bathroom with his own human illusion returned and snarled over his shoulder, “Next time I see your ugly mug, asshole, I’m gonna make you eat it.”
Ember snorted and choked back a laugh.
The goblin slammed the bathroom door shut behind him and thumped it with the side of his fist. “Can you believe that? Douchebag took our pitcher.”
“Oh, hell, no.” Bhandi rushed the bathroom door, but Yurik caught her in one arm and spun her toward the front of the froyo shop.
“I took care of it. Look.” He gestured toward the blood smeared under his nose and nudged her forward. “He got in a good hit, but I laid him out. Time to go.”
“Aw, man.” Bhandi glanced over her shoulder at the bathroom but let herself be guided toward the front of the shop. “Hey, Joe.” She stopped and blinked, trying to focus on the man’s expressionless face. “What are you doing down here?”
The guardian of the elevator into Peridosh raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
“Keep moving.” Yurik gave her another forceful nudge and Bhandi stumbled forward again, knocking into tables and chairs. Then he turned to glare at Tate. “Another pitcher in the bathroom? Really?”
“You ran with it. Kinda testin’ our luck to say someone stole it, though, doncha think?”
“Yeah, sure. Next time, you can tell her it was just a trick to get her mask on. Deal with that shitstorm on your own.”
Bhandi shoved the glass door open, rattling the bell dangling from the handle, and marched out onto the sidewalk.
“Shit.” Yurik sped up to follow her outside. “Somebody’s gonna run her over.”
“Or get run over.” Tate turned back to give Ember and Cheyenne an apologetic shrug. “Nice to meet you, Ember.”
“Yeah, you too.”
He pointed at the halfling. “Hit us up if you find anything else that would be remotely helpful. You know, for keeping our heads attached to our shoulders.”
“Same.” Cheyenne jerked her chin at him. “Yurik has my number.”
“Uh-huh. Later.” Tate slipped out the front door and stopped, clapping both hands to his bald head. “What are you doing?”
Ember leaned forward in her chair as she and Cheyenne headed toward the door, peering through the windows. “Should we, like, help them or something?”
“Nah. They’ll figure it out.” The halfling held the door open for her friend, and by the time they peered down the street, the FRoE agents had disappeared. “See?”
“So vanishing into thin air is ‘figuring it out’ in your world, huh?”
Cheyenne chuckled and headed in the opposite direction down the sidewalk toward the parking lot across the three-way intersection. “Really?”
“Yeah, it totally is.” Ember laughed as she pushed herself quickly down the sidewalk. Brief flashes of purple light helped her navigate the cracked, bumpy pedestrian ramp before they crossed the street.
A jogger turned the corner in front of them, glanced at the glowing wheels, and nodded. “Nice lights.”
The girls gave him ten seconds to jog down the street before they burst out laughing. “Oh, man. People see what they wanna see, don’t they?”
“That’s a lot easier when the lights are the only thing I can do.” To prove her point, Ember wheeled up to the curb of the sidewalk lining the parking lot. Another pulse of violet light illuminated her hands and the wheels, lifting her up and setting her gently back down. “And I don’t even have to think about it.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s how magic is supposed to work, Em.” Cheyenne pulled her keys out of her pocket and pressed the unlock button. The Panamera chirped on the other side of the parking lot, headlights flashing. “Like moving your limbs, right? Hey, which is something else you can do now.”
“Don’t get my hopes up.” Ember smirked up at her as they navigated the parked cars at Union Hill. “It was one little kick. Barely anything. I’ve been trying the whole time to do it again.”
“You did it once. You’ll do it again.”
“You don’t know that.”
Cheyenne shrugged and opened the passenger side door. “Just a feeling, but when I have a feeling about something, I’m usually right.”
“Ha.” Ember locked the wheels and pushed herself up on the armrests so the halfling could help her transfer. “Now you do sound cocky.”
“I’m cool with that.” With Ember in the passenger seat, Cheyenne folded up the chair and took it to the back of the car, popping the trunk.
“I’ll tell yo
u this, though,” Ember called through the open door. “I’d take cocky Cheyenne over chasing a wasted troll all over Union Hill any day of the week.”
The halfling opened the driver’s side door and slid behind the wheel. She tossed the machine-bug leg into the back seat and started the engine. “Thanks, Em. I’m flattered.”
Laughing, the fae strapped herself in. “Yeah, you should be.”
Chapter Twenty-One
As soon as they got out of the elevator on the top floor of Pellerville Gables Apartments, Cheyenne glanced at the empty elevator. “This place has some serious soundproofing.”
“What?” Ember laughed and gestured at the end of the hall and the only two apartments on it. “I heard that bass halfway up here.”
“Huh. Guess I was really focused on not hearing it.” And way more focused on why a giant crawling machine dug its way into Peridosh. Especially when Corian and his little gang are supposed to be on top of that.
“Sounds good though, right?” Ember bobbed her head as she wheeled down the hall.
“If you say so.”
“I mean, I’m not normally a fan of dubstep, but this song could maybe grow on me.”
Cheyenne shook her head and eyed their neighbor’s front door with a raised eyebrow. “I think it just sounds better through thick walls and a closed door.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“It’s not my jam.”
With a snort, Ember stopped in front of their apartment door and searched through her jacket pockets. “Crap. I never grabbed my keys.”
“Good thing you take me with you.” Cheyenne caught up with her and unlocked the front door. Just as she pushed it open into their apartment, Matthew Thomas’s front door opened too. The heavy electronic music blasted into the hallway, and the halfling ducked at the sudden blaring volume. “Jeeze, that’s annoying.”
“Hey! Right on time.” Matthew stood in the open doorway, his arms spread wide.
“For what?” Ember shouted across the hall.
“To join us. I know you guys just got back, but it’s still early, right?” He grinned at them and tilted his head, arms still open and weirdly inviting. “I mean, if you’re up for it. Of course.”
Cheyenne felt Ember looking up at her and gauging her decision. The halfling ignored her and raised an eyebrow at their overly friendly neighbor. “You got a lotta people in there, huh?”
“A few, yeah.” Matthew chuckled. “All good people.”
“And everybody’s making a lot of noise. Fun party gets pretty loud.”
“I know.” His crooked smile didn’t waver as he glanced over his shoulder. Someone inside cheered, and the shouting swept across his apartment to enter the hall. “We’re the only ones on this floor, so I figured I could get away with it.”
“Okay, Matt. I’ll make you a deal.”
Ember’s eyes widened, and Matthew perked up despite the halfling’s use of his unapproved nickname. “Let’s hear it.”
“Ember can do whatever she wants, obviously. But I’ll come to your party and do a little schmoozing if you can explain how you knew we were here without it sounding like total bullshit.”
The fae girl choked and brought a fist to her mouth to hide a surprised cough. Matthew Thomas cocked his head. His smile remained, but this time, the side of his nose wrinkled so much that it made him squint.
Like he knows he’s been caught.
He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not following.”
“Oh, yeah?” Cheyenne cast a suspicious glance through his open apartment door across from her own and lifted her chin. “Okay. Have a good night. Neighbor.”
Without waiting for a reply, she turned to her front door and stalked inside, heading straight for the side of their apartment with her bedroom so Matthew couldn’t watch her any longer. But her drow hearing picked up every word of the conversation in the hall.
“She having a rough night or something?” Matthew asked through another casual chuckle.
“You’d have to ask her.” Ember’s wheels rolled along the floor.
“What about you? I’d still love for you to come join us. You don’t have to stay long, and from what I hear, your Uber ride home is pretty cheap.”
The fae laughed, but it fell flat. “Maybe another night, Matthew. We came home early ‘cause I was feeling really tired. I won’t be doing myself any favors if I don’t get to bed in the next five minutes.”
“You sure? There are some people here I’d really love for you to meet.”
“I’m sure. Thanks. Have fun.” Ember wheeled quickly through the doorway and grabbed the door to throw it shut behind her. It didn’t quite slam, but it wasn’t quiet, either. Then she put both hands over her mouth and stared at their black and silver area rug. “Oh, my God.”
“Yeah.” Cheyenne tossed the broken machine-bug leg onto the couch and folded her arms.
“Oh, my God.” Ember glanced at the door and grimaced in disgust. “Do you think he’s watching us?”
“Depends on how you define that, Em.”
“I don’t mean with his eyes. Well, I do.”
“I can see where you’re going with this.” Cheyenne slumped into the closest black leather recliner and dangled one leg over the armrest. “So I’m gonna take a wild guess and say yeah. I think our day-trading, cyber-security-CEO of a neighbor has cameras all over this floor. Maybe in other parts of the building. Who knows?”
Ember dropped her hands into her lap and stared at the halfling. “That’s what I was thinking, but, I mean, we can’t prove that, can we?”
“Not yet. Shouldn’t be hard to do, though.”
The apartment fell silent as they looked at the vaulted ceiling and the wide expanse of their shared loft. “You don’t think he had them here?”
“Well, it was a show unit for a long time.” Cheyenne ran her hands through her black hair, smoothing it away from her forehead as she dropped her head back against the recliner. “I’d be more creeped out about him running surveillance in here before we moved in than if he stuck something under our noses after we met.”
“How the hell is that creepier?”
“If he bugged our apartment after falling madly in love with you at first sight, Em, that makes him a stalker. Which isn’t ideal, sure, but it’s focused. If he had stuff in here way before that, though, I’d say that ventures into psychopath territory.”
Ember snorted. “That’s funny, coming from you.”
Cheyenne glanced quickly at her friend, and they burst out laughing. “Almost. But people who watch everyone constantly for no reason other than because they can have a lot more issues than one lonely dude with an obsessive crush.”
“That’s messed up.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t.”
A chill raced down the back of Ember’s neck, and she shuddered, shaking her head. “You think he can hear us right now?”
“If he can, serves him right.” The halfling grinned at Ember and stuck her middle finger in the air, waving it back and forth at their apartment. “Just for fun.”
“How can you be so calm about this?”
“Come on. No point in freaking out until I can prove something one way or the other.”
With a deep breath through her nose, Ember grimaced and wrapped her arms around herself. “Just the idea is enough to convince me. I mean, all the pieces fit. He always shows up at the worst times.”
“Or the best times. For him.”
“Yeah, mostly when you’re gone.”
“I know.”
“Oh, shit. If he’s watching us in our apartment, he saw me with that illusion charm.”
“Yeah. Hypothetically.” Cheyenne stretched her arms above her head before sinking back into the recliner.
“But it makes sense!”
“Hypothetically, Em. Look, if he’s got something in our apartment and he saw you put on that ring, he did a damn good job of acting like it never happened.”
“Well, if he’s like u
s, it wouldn’t surprise him, would it?”
The halfling raised an eyebrow. “Do you honestly think he’s like us?”
Ember opened her mouth, paused, then said, “No. No way. I can always tell.”
“Yeah, me too. At least, now that I know what to look for.”
“So, you’re saying that he didn’t freak and he’s not a magical, so he didn’t bug our apartment?”
“Or he’s got an insane poker face, and now he’s even more curious than he was in the beginning.”
Ember slapped her hands on the armrests and gripped them tightly. “You’re not helping.”
Cheyenne couldn’t hold back an unapologetic chuckle. “This wasn’t supposed to be a helpful conversation. I knew there was a reason I had a weird feeling about that guy.”
“Please don’t say, ‘I told you so.’”
“I’m not. I still don’t know what’s going on with him.” The halfling nodded at the couch and the metal leg. “He didn’t give that thing a second glance when we showed up.”
“Oh, shit. You think he had something to do with that machine in the market?”
“I seriously doubt it. I mean, that thing right there does look a lot like a crowbar.”
Ember snorted. “Yeah, I wouldn’t think twice about you walking around with a crowbar, either. Fits your whole ‘Back the fuck up and don’t talk to me’ vibe.”
“Thanks.” Still staring at the broken leg, Cheyenne pulled her phone out of her back pocket and frowned. “I don’t think I’ll be carrying that around with me for much longer. Probably not a good idea.”
Ember swallowed. “Okay, I know you don’t like loud noises and everything, but Cheyenne, I swear, if that thing starts moving on its own, I’m gonna scream.”
“Really?” The halfling turned her frown on her friend. “Never pegged you as a screamer.”
The fae cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. “I can’t tell if you’re serious or if that was a poorly timed innuendo.”
Cheyenne shrugged and glanced at her phone. “Whatever.”
“Who are you calling?”
