by Tegan Maher
"I don't know," Eli said, his gaze drifting to me as he grinned. "I guess it depends on how broadly you define romance, right Sage?"
My face got hot and I coughed because I knew he was picturing exactly the same thing I was. "Okay, then, so back to doing stuff like, you know, saving lives from evil curses and stuff." Yeah, I realize I used "stuff" twice in one sentence when my Mom was constantly on me not to use it at all, but sometimes some words are better than no words, and my mind wasn't quite on task right then.
Luther gave me a knowing grin and winked at me before turning back to the book, and I wondered if he'd climbed inside my head again. He'd promised to stop doing that, but the man just didn't seem to grasp the concept of boundaries unless it suited him.
"Back to business, then." Eli turned to Luther and wagged a finger at him. "For now. But once we get this lantern out of circulation, you and I are gonna have a long chit-chat, Mr. Booty Boy."
I barked out a laugh and the tension in the room popped like a bubble. His ability to come up with the most amazingly inappropriate double entendres was a superpower that never failed to make me giggle.
Luther, who wasn't always blessed with the best sense of humor, surprised me. "Sounds good. But that's Mr. Booty Man. I graduated beyond boy way before your great-great-great grandaddy was a gleam in his daddy's eye."
Eli tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, giving him the once over. "Meh. I like alliteration, and the absurdity of it amuses me. Boy stays."
"I concur," Axel said, sitting back on his haunches. "Mr. Booty Man reminds me of a bad seventies song."
Luther arched a brow. "As long as both you realize it's absurd."
I reached out and gave them both a pinch and scowled at Axel; otherwise, I didn't think we were ever going to get anything done. "You're all little boys. Can we please bring this back around from the ridiculous and focus?"
Eli cleared his throat as he turned back to the book. "Aye, aye, Capt'n. I guess we know who runs this ship."
I crossed my arms and gave a satisfied nod. "And don't ever forget it."
Chapter Seven
Now that we had a general idea of what we were looking for, it was time to head to his office. The sun had dipped down below the tree line, so the air was cooling down just a little. A nice breeze played through the streets, making it a nice evening for a walk.
Eli looped his arm through mine as we strolled down the sidewalk. We were taking our time just in case anybody had gone in on a Saturday. "I wonder if these are ever going to be easy. Just once, it would be nice to just find one sitting on a shelf somewhere."
I lifted a shoulder. "That kind of happened with the ones Sadie got. She recognized them for what they were, cleansed them, and now they're just pretty decorations. For all we know, that's not the only time it's happened. There are a lot of magical folks in this town."
Luther sighed as he adjusted his long stride so that he stayed beside us. "Somehow, I don't think it's going to work that way much. It seems like magic like this does everything it can to find a way to wreak havoc. We can hope for the best, but it's definitely best to be prepared for the worst."
That was my take on it, too, but I didn't want to burst Eli's bubble, not that he was prone to be fanciful.
Axel, who'd hopped onto my shoulder, had been uncharacteristically quiet. "I'm almost afraid to ask, but what's goin' on between those furry little ears up there, big guy?"
He pulled in a breath so big I could feel his little body expand against my neck. "I don't like to meddle in the ways of people much because over the years, I've noticed one thing—you don't change, as a species, I mean. Century in, century out, you do the same thing. Your species is a ton of work for not much reward, and outside of our family, I don't have much interest in anyone."
I laughed. "Thanks, I guess. I feel like there's more to the story, and since I can't read your mind, you're gonna have to spell it out for us."
He paused so long that I didn't think he was going to continue.
"Larry. He's come to feel like family to me, too. And now he's dating this redheaded dame, and I don't trust her."
Ha! Finally, my suspicions were confirmed. "What makes you think that? Just a gut feeling? Because I got the same vibe."
He pulled far enough away from me to give me a look that clearly asked what was wrong with me. "No, not just a gut feeling. See? That's why I'm not a fan of humanity. You just jump to conclusions and go with your knee-jerk response because you don't want to put the time in. I met her at the bar with Larry a few nights ago, and she seemed okay. But I was napping in the marina office yesterday, and she came in askin' all sorts of questions about the Sea Urchin. What size, what year, what brand ... just nosy stuff."
Eli cast him a sideways glance as we slowed in front of the Emerson Foods building. "Why didn't she just ask Larry all of that?"
"That's what I'm wondering. Like I said before, humans are predictable. They're greedy and very rarely do things that don't benefit themselves, so why does she need that information about Larry's boat?"
I ground my teeth together while my mind flipped through the few possibilities and settled on the most likely one: she wanted to know what it was worth without flat-out asking him. "I don't know, but you can bet I'll find out."
"We're here," Luther said, pulling us around to the side of the building. It was big for Old Town—four stories, which was as big as the city would let you build because they wanted to keep the small-town, exclusive vibe.
As required by code, there was a fire escape up the side of the building with landings on all three floors.
I didn't want to explore the whole place trying to find the right room. "Where do you think his office is?"
"Top floor," Luther replied with confidence. "This was his baby. I promise you he has a whole suite up there complete with glass walls and a corner office with million-dollar views."
Even though we were only a couple miles from the beach as the crow flies, he probably couldn't see it for the trees, but he'd be able to see the large green with its fountains and walking paths that Old Town took such pride in.
"Top floor it is, then," I said, closing my eyes and teleporting to the top platform of the fire escape.
It would be a whole lot easier to magic our way into a side door than the front. I waved my hand over the knob, and when the lock clicked, I pulled it open and motioned for the guys. Axel hopped off my shoulder and darted into the building. He was a scavenger at heart and by nature, so this job was right up his alley.
The door had opened into a hallway that led down rows of—Luther had called it—glass-walled offices. A light shone from a central area, but I figured that was probably one they left on for security.
The guys and I hadn't made it ten feet through the door before a woman's scream broke the silence. Luther bolted past me in the direction of the sound, and Eli and I followed tight on his heels. As it turned out, the light was coming from a central lobby-type area, and a twenty-something blonde woman with a stylish bob stood there screaming and pointing at axel. Her other hand was grasping the mauve scarf at her throat like it was a lifeline, and her legs were spread so far apart in fight-or-flight mode that I feared the seam on her gray pencil skirt was going to give.
Luther rushed forward and grabbed her by both arms, forcing her to look him in the eye. "You're okay. We're supposed to be here, and the little skunk is friendly. You like skunks. You're going to give us honest answers and helpful information."
Something in his soft tone tugged at me, and I took an involuntary step forward. Eli pinched me on the back of my arm, hard, and I snapped out of it. The girl, however, was putty in Luther's hands. She'd gone almost limp and was staring into his eyes slack-jawed. "I want to help you. I like skunks."
He held her look for a few seconds longer, and Eli stepped forward, his face pinched in anger when she wobbled on her feet. "That's enough! You've got her where we need her, now get out of her head."
Luther sucked in a
breath and stepped back, shaking his head a little.
"As old as you are, I'd think you'd have that under control by now." Eli's tone was sharp, but I had no idea what he was talking about. I did know, though, that he took a hard stance on mind manipulation, which is what it looked like Luther had been doing.
"I know," Luther growled, clenching his jaw as he stepped back from the girl.
"What's your name, sweetie?" Eli asked, laying his hand on her arm.
She turned to him, her gaze still slightly unfocused. "Candy. Candace."
"Okay, Candace. We need to know where Carl Emerson's office is. Maybe you could come with us and help us out. We need to figure out what happened to him."
"Of course. Right this way." She seemed to be coming around and led us in the opposite direction than we'd come, then stopped in front of a large corner office.
Luther grinned, and it seemed he'd shaken off whatever had just happened. "Told you so."
"It's locked, though." Candy motioned toward the glass door that had Carl Emerson, CEO etched into it in blocky, no-nonsense letters.
"That's okay," I told her with a smile. "He gave me a key."
I stepped up to the door and, with my back to her, waved my hand in front of it to unlock it. I concentrated on the tumblers inside the lock, and satisfaction washed through me when I heard them click into place. Picking locks by magic wasn't much easier than doing it with a set of lock picks, which I was also adept with. You still had to know what type of lock you were dealing with in order to get it open. It had taken me years to perfect it.
"You know, it's a little terrifying how good you are at that," Luther said, arching one raven brow.
"Come in handy though, doesn't it?" I gave him a sassy smile as I pushed the door open.
Everybody entered the office, and I scanned it in search of the lantern. When I didn't see one, I did another scan, this time magical. There wasn't so much as an enchanted flower in the room, though, and my armband was cool as a cucumber. I huffed in frustration.
"Candy, can you tell me if Mr. Emerson had a lantern here?" Eli asked, shooting a near-lethal glance at Luther when started to ask.
"Oh, Carl has lots of lanterns. Would you like to see them?" Her gaze had turned from loopy to puppy-like, which I assumed was her normal expression.
I nodded and returned her smile. "We really would."
"Found 'em, and you ain't gonna believe it!" Axel's raspy voice was barely audible, but we were already heading in that direction. She turned into a conference room, and a table long enough to seat at least twenty people guided my line of vision to the wall at the far end of the room.
My head spun as I stared at what had to be 50 lanterns glowing from the effects of the inset lighting inside a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall cabinet. The shelves were decorated with thick nautical rope and fishing net, and I couldn't seem to find the buttons in my brain to make my feet move forward.
"Carl and Rob—Thompson, the president of Emerson Foods—have a running joke." Her blue eyes teared up. "Or had, I guess. They both love fishing and antiques, so they go to auctions and sales a lot. Way back when they were starting out together and Carl had just taken over from his grandpa, Rob got Carl an old boat lantern when his first original ice cream blend hit the shelves, then Carl did the same for him. It sort of turned into a tradition to mark successes, and"—she waved toward the wall—"here you are."
I pulled in a deep, steadying breath and joined the guys at the end of the table in front of the display. There were all sorts of lanterns in all colors and sizes. There were even some mini ones like you'd use to go camping. The longer I looked, the more differences I was finding in the shape of the handle or the glass, but the picture in the book hadn't been much to go off of. Unlike the pictures of the diadem and the necklace, it had been generic.
I shook out my hands. "We can do this. All we have to do is check for magic, right?"
Luther examined the lanterns, rubbing his chin in thought. "In theory, yeah."
Since finding yucky magic was my specialty—it was my official job at the gallery—I took a deep breath and did my thing. Nothing. I went over each of them individually, and aside from a little residual energy on two of them that was likely just from being owned by people who had died, the second sweep came back a big fat goose egg, too.
I shook my head. "It's not here."
Eli turned toward Candy, who had stayed by the door. "Are these all the lanterns here?"
She moved a little closer and examined the shelf, then furrowed her brow. "This is the only place we keep them, but there's one missing—the newest one that Mr. Thompson got Carl for launching the gluten-free line is gone. It went there."
She pointed a long peach-painted nail at a spot toward the bottom. "That's strange. It was there this morning. Carl just put it there yesterday."
I scrubbed my hand over my face and paced in front of the shelves. "I need you to think, Candy. Who would have taken it? Who had access to this room? Carl Emerson wasn't in today, correct?"
Her eyes were wide and brimming with tears, and I couldn't figure out if it was from grief or because she thought she was in trouble for something. "It's okay. As far as we know, nobody did anything wrong. It's just important that we find it. Do you understand?"
She nodded but pressed her hand to her mouth. "I honestly don't know who would have taken it, but it's going to be hard to narrow down. Even though it's Saturday, there were at least twenty people in and out. You see, Carl and Rob liked to keep things fluid."
When she didn't say anything beyond that, I gave her a little nudge. "I'm not sure I understand."
Candy smiled. "We're not like most traditional corporations. Carl believed happy employees made for a successful company, and most of the staff have been here for years. Everybody knows what they need to do, so aside from a few administrative staff who have set schedules, most of the execs set their own schedules. There are, of course, mandatory meetings, group think sessions, and stuff like that that aren't fluid, but aside from that, people manage their own time."
Luther raised a brow. "That's ... progressive."
She nodded. "And insanely successful. Since he instituted the policy five years ago, production is up twenty percent, staff turnover is almost non-existent, and sick pay has been converted to quarterly bonuses. We still get personal days, of course, but after the first year when he was weeding out the people who took advantage, it's been a seamless transition."
"But that means that there's no real way to tell who was here today," Eli said. "If people come and go as they please, then there's no record."
"Oh, there's always a record. Carl and Rob are progressive, but they're not stupid. Everybody has to swipe an ID badge to get through the turnstiles downstairs." She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at us. "Speaking of, how did you three get in here without badges?"
Luther stepped forward and touched her elbow, and her eyes went a little out of focus again. "You want to help us, and there's no concern with how we got here or who we are." This time, he released her as soon as he said it.
Her eyes came back into focus, and she shook her head, smiling. "I must need something to eat. I feel a little lightheaded."
"We won't keep you much longer," I said. "But we really need to know where that lantern went."
She furrowed her brow and shifted her weight on her mauve stilettos, then her face lit up. "I don't know why I didn't think of it before. Rob had to have taken it. He and Carl are the only ones with keys to the cabinet."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes in frustration. Rather than listen to the wonderful results of progressive management, we could have already been jumping down the next rabbit hole in search of the lantern.
"We need Rob's information," Luther said, "Do you know where he's at?"
She glanced at the nautical clock hanging halfway down the wall. "Probably halfway to Orlando. His daughter goes to UCF, and she forgot her backpack. He's just running it over to her, spend
ing the night, and coming straight back in the morning. "
"Thank you," I said, brushing past her.
As an afterthought, I decided to go ahead and take the lanterns with the residual energy just in case. I still wasn't familiar enough with this type of magic to know for sure what to look for, so I figured it was better safe than sorry. I turned on my heel and rushed back to the cabinet, casting the magic to unlock it on the way. It was a simple lock that didn't take any thought at all. I pulled open the doors and, after casting a protective spell on my hands, scooped them out by the handles then headed back toward the door.
"Wait!" She rushed forward. "I didn't catch your names, and I don't think you should take those without permission."
I paused and turned. Luther moved toward her, but Eli put a hand on his arm. "I'll do it."
This was the second time I'd seen Eli use his mind magic to keep Luther from doing it, which reminded me that I had never asked him about the last time. Something was going on with Luther that Eli hadn't shared with me, and I made a mental note to find out what it was as soon as this was over.
Chapter Eight
Since there was nothing we could do until Rob Thompson got back from Orlando, we decided to call it a night. Even though it was still relatively early, I felt like I'd been put through the wringer. A day on the water always took it out of me, but I usually handled that with a quick afternoon nap before Eli, Jake, and I went to the Jolly Roger for drinks. Since I'd missed my recharge, I was done.
The early night was good for me, though, because I woke at seven the next morning refreshed and ready to face the day. Orlando was a solid three hours from us, so I figured I had time to eat breakfast and get some caffeine flowing through my brain before I had to call Rob Thompson. Thankfully, Eli'd thought to grab one of his cards off a reception desk on our way out the night before, so at least I knew how to get ahold of him.
"Hey, sleepyhead!" My oldest brother, Connell, was already at the table fully dressed when I shuffled in still wearing my pajamas and Pikachu slippers. "What are you doing up so early? It's Sunday. We don't usually see you until at least eight."
