Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Margo Bond Collins

  “That said,” Zane continued, “she clearly had plans in place if something were to happen to her. She had some other Hallows at the funeral to plan the kids’ extraction. She had a message of some sort that she left in her studio, though hell if we could find it. I imagine the person she left it for will be able to find it just when she wants them to. And then, knowing Milena, she’s probably put a dozen other things in motion right now that we have no clue about. She always thought out everything in meticulous detail. She always had a web of plans and contingencies.”

  The waiter came by with the check for their mean, which Zane paid with a credit card. She found it funny, especially because most of her transactions were in cash. She wondered how many in the Archworld had credit cards and blended into the earthlie dimension as easily and smoothly as he did. Probably most.

  “It hurts me to hear you say these things about Milena,” Sirena admitted. “You knew her. You really knew her. I didn’t. I don’t. And now, I never will.”

  He watched her sympathetically. “I’m sorry for your loss. Your sister was something special, and she will be missed. I wish I could have done something more to help her.”

  She shook her head. “I wish I could have too.” She felt tears brimming at the corners of her eyes, but she didn’t want to get emotional in front of Zane. If she did he might comfort her, and then they could end up in bed together, and the last thing she needed right now was a one-night stand with her ex-boyfriend.

  She abruptly shifted topics. “If you were me, where would you look next?”

  He took a deep breath. “I honestly have no idea,” he said. “Kerr Fitzgerald would know more, but I think he’s a dead end for you, and I don’t have a strong enough relationship with him to get him to confide in me. There’s her kids and ex-husband—”

  “They’re earthlies,” Sirena said. “They won’t know anything.”

  “Probably not,” he conceded. “Plus, I guess they’re even more of a dead end for you than Kerr would be.”

  “Exactly,” she said. “I can’t possibly explain to them who I am, and I look too much like their mother to be a long-lost relative. Plus I just can’t bring myself to enter their lives like that. Those kids have been through enough.”

  “You can reach out to those other Hallows.”

  “True,” she said. “Cora Adebowale has already promised to keep me informed on anything they learn regarding the kids. That’s covered.”

  He nodded, scribbling something on the bill, and stood up. “Then I guess all there is left to do is try to figure out the location of the object and the location of the handoff.”

  She stood up and let him guide her out of the restaurant. “Seems like a longshot based a bit too much on theory to me. If there was a handoff, like you suspect, would that lead me to the murderer?”

  “Possibly. It would at least give you another data point in the timeline and more information about those last hours before she died.”

  “So I’m looking for an object and a handoff,” she repeated. They reached the sidewalk outside, where her real fears about their dinner becoming a date came out. How exactly did she say goodbye to Zane, after everything he’d given her that night? She didn’t love him still, she didn’t even necessarily want to be friends with him. And yet… he was so much more than a source of information to her.

  She held her arms out awkwardly. “Thank you for your help today.”

  “That’s it?” Zane asked tenderly as he embraced her.

  Sirena nodded, pulling away from him quickly. “I appreciate all of this, I do. You know I appreciate what you’re doing for me. But you—” she waved her hands in front of his body “—you’re something I can’t unpack right now. You understand, don’t you?”

  He stared at her as if she’d physically wounded him. “I think I understand.” He raised his eyebrows. “At least I’ve moved from someone you want to choke to death to someone you may want to unpack someday, whenever you’re not dealing with your sister’s secret master plan.”

  “Exactly.”

  “And you’re sure I can’t come with you?” he asked. “I have a few days off. I may be able to help you out a bit with this.”

  She shook her head. She could definitely use his help, but she knew if she spent any longer with him, she’d fall right back into his bed. She couldn’t have that distraction in her life right now. Her emotional register was already off the charts with everything she was dealing with. Zane needed to stay packed away for now, stored in a dusty attic where he wouldn’t be opened for the next decade or so.

  “Will I see you again?” he asked quietly, his hand reaching for her face. He obviously wanted to kiss her, but no. She couldn’t let him.

  She shook her head, pushing his hand away. She ran her fingers down the middle of her hair, tousling it out of her face. “Not for awhile,” she said in her firmest voice.

  “I guess this is goodbye for now.”

  She nodded. She hugged him one last time, then turned before he could see a single tear fall.

  She would never love or trust him again the way she used to… but friends? Perhaps she could use one of those.

  Someday.

  In the meantime, she knew exactly what her next move was. But she would need the Seven Brothers network’s help to come up with the exact profile of who she was looking for, and keep their feelers out for anyone who fit the description.

  She wasn’t sure if they were up for it. She wasn’t sure if they would cooperate.

  But she was out of other options.

  Brie

  “Look at this one,” Jackie said, holding out her phone. “Brie, you look like you’re going to fall over in this one.”

  “She almost did!” Andy said, reaching the van first and rolling the door open. “If I hadn’t caught her—” He made a splat sound with his mouth, that sent them both into a fit of giggles.

  Adele shrieked with laughter at another picture in their share drive, which Ben made a face about.

  “Oh my gah,” he said, placing his head in his hands.

  Brie pulled her ski mask from off, laughing hard as they got into their cab van. Andy, she, Adele, and Ben squeezed into the three-seater in the back in that order, while Tony hopped in the right side seat in front of them and Jackie hopped in the left.

  Andy pulled her halfway onto his lap to make room for the other two. He draped his arm over her shoulders. “I got ya,” he whispered to her, leaning in for a kiss.

  She let it happen, let herself get lost in it for just a moment, until she heard laughter to her left. They both looked up at the same time, only to find Ben taking pictures of them.

  Adele looked over his shoulder, raising her eyebrows and looking at them.

  “Dude, delete that,” Andy said playfully. He reached around her to try to snatch Ben’s phone from him, but Ben squirmed as far away from him as he could.

  “And…” Ben clicked several buttons on his phone in rapid fire. “Shared.”

  “Shut up,” Adele said. She grabbed his phone. “I said no pictures on social media!”

  “Relax,” he said. Adele passed the phone to her and she looked, Andy glancing over her shoulder.

  “Not a bad looking couple,” he said. “But we can delete it if you want,” he added quickly.

  “It’s not a big deal,” she said, handing the phone back to Ben, but feeling a bit shy now sitting on Andy’s lap. The kisses meant nothing to her, especially when she knew she would be leaving New York in less than a week. She had confided in Adele, but made her promise not to tell anyone else. She didn’t want a goodbye party. She just wanted to disappear, write herself out of the narrative, like a dream or a legend that everyone remembered, but no one could confirm.

  “Okay, no more making out, you two,” Adele said, looking at Brie specifically. She nodded, knowing exactly what Adele was thinking. Andy actually liked her, and she was using him and leading him on. She didn’t want to hurt him.

  “Exactly,” Ben
said. “This is supposed to be a friends activity. No drama.”

  “Alright,” Andy agreed, though he brushed his lips against the tip of her shoulder, imperceptibly to everyone else but her.

  She didn’t acknowledge it. She would talk to him later, privately, and apologize for her behavior when she knew they had no future.

  “Last envelope,” Adele teased, holding up a decorative envelope with Brie’s handwriting on it.

  Jackie squinted at the words on the envelope. “What does that say?” Her eyes lit up with recognition and she turned to the driver. “Upper Bay Bridge, please.” The driver acknowledged her, and she turned back facing them. “Not exactly in New York City.”

  “We could go to Jersey,” Tony piped up. “Let the girl have her Jersey.”

  “It’s getting a bit late for me,” Jackie admitted, looking at her phone. “I have marching band tomorrow. We start at like, 8am.”

  “Okay, so Upper Bay Bridge, then we’ll go back to my house, and those who want to stay can keep partying,” Adele said. “Those who need to go home for their crazy schedule, or because they have a crazy protective older brother, can take off.”

  She fiddled with the envelope, tearing it open. “So is everybody ready to hear the last and final Selfie Dare?”

  Tony drumrolled against his legs, while Ben hummed the tune to Star Wars.

  Adele pulled the card out of the envelope and read it out loud. “Here’s the dare,” she said, grinning. She stared at the card, blinking twice. “Above waters dark and deep, hang on the brink of sleep.”

  The cab van fell silent.

  “Um—” Ben said. “That’s not a real dare, is it?”

  Brie felt everyone’s eyes on her. “That one was mine,” she admitted. “Sorry. Let’s just skip it? We’ve done a lot of dares for the night already, and Jackie needs to go home—”

  “No way,” Jackie said, pulling the card from Adele’s hands. “We are not going to quit when we’ve already come this far. Besides, everyone had done every single dare so far. We need a tiebreaker.” She read the card again to herself. “Okay, so above waters dark and deep. Above Upper Bay Bridge, I’m assuming. Hang on the brink of sleep…”

  “Like a bat?” Tony asked. “Don’t bats hang upside down under bridges sometimes?”

  Adele laughed. “No, that’s not what Brie meant.” She looked at her. “Is it?”

  Brie shrugged. “Why not. You said be creative with the dares.”

  The car fell silent again.

  “Dark, Brie,” Ben said, finally breaking the silence.

  “You can’t be serious,” Adele said, watching her. “Tell me you’re not serious.”

  “We don’t have to do it!” Brie exclaimed. “It was stupid. I just… I had these rhyming lyrics in my head and I wanted to use them. But yeah, it’s probably, I don’t know, dangerous or whatever.”

  Andy seemed to sense her discomfort. “Well, we should at least go check out if it’s possible,” he said diplomatically. “We’re almost there anyway.”

  “Yeah,” Jackie agreed. “And if it’s not, we’ll take a picture on the bridge, just the six of us, no masks. And it’ll be our secret.”

  Adele stayed uncharacteristically silent about this plan, gesturing with her finger for Brie to move closer. Brie leaned in, and Adele cupped her hand over her mouth.

  “This is the bridge near where your mom’s plane crashed, isn’t it?”

  Brie shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Can we change the address?” Adele called up to the driver. “We’re going back to the Upper East Side.”

  “Wait, why?” Jackie asked. Several others in the car echoed her.

  Adele didn’t say anything.

  “Okay,” Brie said. “You guys all know the elephant in the room, the thing we’re not supposed to talk about tonight. That my mom died in a plane crash. Well, the plane went down near Upper Bay Bridge. And I just—” she took a deep breath. “I need to see it for myself. James wouldn’t let me go. I’m sorry for hijacking the game like this.”

  Andy inhaled sharply, then slowly let the breath out. “Let’s go see the bridge,” he said.

  Jackie reached back and patted her arm. “Let’s go see the bridge,” she agreed.

  She could see that her best friend didn’t agree with them. Adele crossed her arms over her chest, but she was far outnumbered.

  They reached the Upper Bay Bridge and the driver dropped them off at the edge on the New York side so they could walk across. As promised, Jackie led them out into the middle of the bridge, still on the New York side, and they stood in a single file line, one behind the other. Andy was the tallest, so he stood in front and held the camera above their heads for a selfie—once with the ski masks on, once with them off.

  “Yay,” Adele said, seemingly cheered and focused on her phone. “These pics are amazing. This night is perfect!”

  Everyone trooped back to the end of the bridge, so they could find a cab to take them back to Adele’s house.

  Brie hung back a bit, taking her time on the bridge, running her fingers against the metal railings, feeling the movements underfoot as cars and trucks clunked across the bridge, one after the other.

  “Need a few minutes alone?” Andy asked.

  She looked up to see him watching her. She nodded. “Yeah. Just a few.”

  He walked away, catching up to the others. She heard him telling Jackie to hold off on ordering the cab.

  He was a good guy… a really good one. She felt sorry that she hadn’t given him a chance while they lived in the same place. In the absence of her mother and all the future memories she would now never have with her, she felt bad that there was one more thing that she’d never experience to add to the list.

  She pulled her card out of her pocket.

  Above waters dark and deep

  hang on the brink of sleep

  She watched her friends walk down the bridge, too busy talking to each other to notice she had stopped completely.

  She had written down the dare because it was something she truly wanted to do. She wanted to feel freedom…

  She quickly pulled her ski mask back on, and climbed over the railing on the bridge. She found a pillar where she could sit down and hook her feet.

  Shit, was she really doing this?

  She gulped, scooting to the edge of the bridge, dropping her seat as her legs and feet hooked under a metal piece of the pillar. It seemed to be able to hold her weight.

  She whipped out her phone quickly, bring up the camera app. She positioned it between her knees, knowing she was probably going to drop the damn thing and never get it back. She didn’t care; she would probably have to get a new phone anyway when she moved. And what if she succeeded? If she got this selfie, she would win the game.

  She set the app on a ten-second timer and squeezed the phone as tightly as she could without messing up it’s angle.

  She slowly lowered herself, crunching her stomach muscles, until she was hanging upside down on the bridge.

  She closed her eyes, crossed her arms over her chest like a bat, and held the position for ten counts, unsure if it took. When her count was up, she quickly pulled herself back up over the edge of the bridge to check the picture.

  She smiled at the results, her stomach dancing with glee. She got it! And it looked wild and awesome. She immediately started the upload to the share.

  “Brie!” Adele shouted from several yards away. Her best friend ran toward her, with Andy not far behind.

  “Oh my God,” she said, reaching out her hands. Brie grabbed onto her, and she pulled her up. Andy came up and grabbed her by the waist, his face as white as a ghost.

  Brie smile at them. “I did it.” She spun around in a circle, crazy excited. “I got it, guys. Uploading to the share now.” She hugged Adele. “We won!”

  Adele held her by the shoulders. “What the hell, Brie? I thought you were going to fall and die.”

  She looked at Andy, who also looked pre
tty upset. “We should get you home.”

  “Wait, guys,” she said. “I was perfectly safe. It was incredible. I felt like I was practically flying.”

  Adele stared at her blankly. “Do you have Pilot’s number?” she asked Andy.

  “On it,” he said, whipping out his phone.

  “No,” Brie said, pulling Andy’s hand away from pressing any buttons on his phone. “No, you guys promised that this was going to be fun, and that we weren’t going to tell my brother or try to get anyone in trouble.”

  “Babe, this was such a bad idea,” Adele said, tears falling from her eyes. “I’m so sorry I encouraged this.”

  “Stop crying,” Brie said, frustrated and angry and hurt. How could they betray her like this? “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

  “You stop saying that,” Adele said, tears increasing. “You’re not fine, Brie. Your mom is dead. She died like, less than a week ago. And you’re all fucked up over it right now. You’re not yourself. And I’m such an idiot for trying to bring you on this, and lying to your brother and Dad about it. I thought I was helping you.”

  Now Brie was crying uncontrollably. Adele was right. One fun, carefree night would never change or fill the massive hole in her heart.

  “Come on,” Andy said to both of them. “There’s a car at the end of the bridge waiting for us. Let’s all go home, and we can talk about this tomorrow when everyone has calmed down.”

  “No,” Brie said.

  Adele started crying again. “Brie, get your ass down that bridge and into that car right now.”

  “No,” Brie said. “I’m staying here. With my mom.” She backed away from them.

  “Alright,” Andy said. “You stay with her,” he said to Adele. “Keep her here? I’m going to make a call.”

  “Who is he calling?” Brie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Adele said. “If you would just come to the car—”

  “Not my brother.”

  “Yeah, I’m with my friend at Upper Bay Bridge. I’m afraid she’s going to hurt herself.”

  Brie’s mouth dropped. “Did he dial 911?”