The Hex Files: Wicked State of Mind

by Gina LaManna

  Tink’s eyes grew wider. “How did you know that?”

  I shrugged. “I have powers that help me see spells.”

  “I have powers too,” Tink said in a whisper. “And so does my mom. That’s why they took her. That’s why she tried to bring me to you. To keep me safe. But my mom said I was supposed to keep my powers secret.”

  Willa silently stood and left the room, closing the door behind her. Meanwhile, I made my way back to the kitchen table and found Tink’s little hand and held it tight.

  “Except, you didn’t keep it a secret,” I said. “Did you?”

  Tink looked surprised, then guilty. “What do you mean?”

  “You said he was going to kiss me,” I explained gently. “I think you, and several other elfin ladies, have the power to see the future. Clairvoyance. Am I right? If you shake your head, you still haven’t told me. Really, I already know the answer, don’t I, Tink?”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “You’re not supposed to know.”

  “I swear I will take your secret to my grave. But I would like some help understanding how your powers work, if you don’t mind.”

  “Will it help my mom?” she asked. When I nodded, she bit her lip. “You can see spells?”

  “I can.”

  “Then watch.” Tink closed her eyes and reached out, touching my shoulder with her hand.

  In the next second, she glowed a golden color. A halo appeared around her head and ten tiny beams of light shot from each finger. Just like her mother in the alley. I understood suddenly that Lisa hadn’t been in on the kidnapping as I’d initially thought—she’d merely seen the future. That’s how she’d known exactly where to jump, when to vanish, and how to escape. And it was probably how she’d known to bring Tink to the pizzeria for safe keeping. She had known we’d be the ones to put the puzzle pieces together. All thanks to one special little girl.

  “Here,” Tink said, reaching a hand up to tug at her necklace. “I need your help. Take this off, please.”

  I helped Tink take her necklace off, a simple silver chain with a fat pearl attached at the bottom. It was a beautiful piece that seemed a sin to remove.

  “You need this,” she said, sounding insistent. “You must take it.”

  “Where’d you get this necklace?” I asked, holding the chain in my hand. I was hesitant to take it because it felt precious, a sentimental gift more than a monetary one from someone important to Tink. “This belongs to you.”

  She shook her head. “Not right now—you need it more than me. It will keep you safe, and it will bring mama back to me.”

  “But—”

  Tink closed her eyes and glowed for a moment. “Please!”

  I fastened the chain around my neck, more to prevent a temper tantrum than anything else. “What did you see?”

  “I can’t tell you that. You know too much already.”

  “You touched my shoulder,” I said. “That means you must need some sort of physical contact to read the future.”

  “For little kids,” she said with a shrug. “My mom is better at it than me.”

  “I bet she’s had years of practice.”

  “My mom thinks they’re going to bring us to Gilded Row when the elders test my powers,” Tink said. “I’m very strong.”

  I smiled and gave a soft laugh. “Stronger than you know, Tink. I’m sorry I can’t spend more time with you, but—”

  “It’s time for you to go,” Tink said matter-of-factly. “I know.”

  I laughed again. “Of course you do. Thank you for trusting me.”

  “I didn’t,” she said. “Mama did. I think she used her powers to see you.”

  “Your mama is a strong woman,” I said. “And so are you. I’m going to get Willa, and you can hang out with her until your mom comes back. Sound okay?”

  “Can I have pizza?”

  I smoothed her hair. “Of course. Whatever you’d like. Just don’t eat so much you get a stomachache, or I’ll be in trouble with your mom.”

  Willa was waiting outside the door with an anxious smile on her face when I went to retrieve her. “Did it work?”

  “I hope so,” I said, touching the pearl around my neck. “I sure hope so.”

  I’d barely cleared the front door to the pizzeria when my Comm rang with a message from Matthew.

  “Damien got away,” he said briskly. “Where are you?”

  “I just left home,” I said. “I can’t explain yet, and I’m sorry. But I made a promise.”

  “Fine.” Matthew was smart enough not to argue. “I need you to get ahold of Felix. He buzzed with an update, but I didn’t have time to take the call.”

  “I’ll take care of Felix,” I said. “Find Damien.”

  Matthew ended the Comm without fanfare.

  Hard to believe we’d been in his bed hardly an hour before, wrapped in a tender, passionate embrace. No wonder we’d found it hard to maintain a relationship—we never had time to finish what we started. But that, I vowed, would change. Just as soon as we wrapped this case.

  A small voice in my head told me I’d said the same thing before, time and time again. There was always another case. Another innocent that needed saving, another murder that needed solving. And often, combinations of both.

  When would it end?

  “Felix,” I said into the Comm. “I’ll be to the lab in five minutes. Have your results ready.”

  “Thank you, Felix,” he muttered in a nasal imitation through the Comm. “I really appreciate your speedy results, and the fact that you put me first above everyone else who needed work done yesterday.”

  “Felix.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “It’ll be ready. And Detective, I think you’ll be surprised.”

  Chapter 24

  “I’m not at all surprised,” I said to Felix. “Sorry, champ.”

  The tech wizard shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced down, a keen look of disappointment on his face. “What do you mean you’re not surprised?”

  “I mean your results make perfect sense. It fits snugly together with everything else I’ve discovered today.”

  “What sort of discoveries have you made?” Felix asked, a curious glint to his eye. “Explain to me how a Siphoning Spell fits into the rest of this case.”

  There was silence for a moment as we both looked down at the silver bangle on the table. The bracelet I’d nabbed from Reina’s arm at the casino the other night, the one touched by her magic.

  “You first,” I said. “I’d like to know how an ancient Siphoning Spell has found its way onto the bracelet of a casino dealer.”

  “A very good question. In fact, I thought you’d never ask.” Felix shoved a thick pair of glasses up his nose and rubbed his hands together with glee, before tugging up the sleeves of a crinkled white shirt to his elbows. With an excited trill, he launched into a description of the centuries-old magic. “It all began when—”

  “No,” I said, cutting him off mere seconds into his explanation. “I’m on a time crunch. I’m going to need you to dumb it down for me.”

  Felix chewed on his lip, again disappointed. He was probably the greatest mind in all of Wicked, regardless of the fact he couldn’t seem to keep food stains from collecting on his shirts. I watched, striving for patience, as he struggled to find a simpler explanation.

  “What we have here is a very old school of magic,” Felix said, nobly launching a second attempt to make me understand. “A mixture of runes and curses that have been created specifically to funnel magic through its wearer. It’s implemented exclusively on the bangle.”

  “Right, I’ve got that,” I said. “Fast forward.”

  Felix gave a flustered sputter. He hated to be interrupted, so I made a good effort to close my mouth and keep it shut. I wanted to get out of the lab and back to the precinct in case Matthew, Nash, and Marcus needed a hand roping in Damien.

  “Anyone who wears this bracelet,” Felix said, lifting up the silver so it glinted under the lab
lights, “has what’s called a channeling power. It’s been illegal for years, hence the reason it’s centuries-old magic. Because most people aren’t stupid enough to use it any longer. It’s heavily punishable by prison sentence, as evidenced by the Goblins vs Elves case of 1799.”

  “Breaking laws doesn’t exactly stop most criminals,” I said. “How often have you seen this sort of channeling magic come through the lab?”

  “Rarely. I saw it once a long time ago,” Felix said. “It’s difficult magic to perform. Besides the fact it’s extremely hard to get right, it doesn’t often make sense as a solution to a problem—even for criminals. There’s not usually a reward great enough to bear the risk of breaking these laws.”

  “But in this case...”

  Felix gave a grim smile. “I’m assuming the reward well exceeds the risk.”

  “I would agree,” I said darkly. “I’ll bet you the mastermind behind this has cut a deal with the casino. A deal of this level would make someone very wealthy.”

  “Wealthy enough to disappear from Wicked forever and live a very comfortable life?”

  “And more.”

  “Except for one problem.” Felix raised a finger and looked expectantly at me. “You.”

  I smiled back.

  “He’s not getting away with it, thanks to you, DeMarco. Speaking of, do we know who he is?”

  I shot him a wary look. “This was off the record, remember?”

  “I’m assuming it’s going to fall on the record if this breaks open in as big a way as I suspect. You need all the help you can get, Detective.”

  I rolled my eyes, but I didn’t respond because the truth was that pieces were starting to fall into place. Only, I didn’t trust my theory enough to loop in Felix—not yet. He was right on one front: This development could break the case wide open, and I had to be absolutely positive that I was correct before I dragged names through mud.

  “Can you tell what sort of magic ran through the Siphoning Spell?” I picked up the bracelet Reina had worn. It was about an inch thick and quite heavy. “I have a theory, but I’d really like more than theories at this stage in the game.”

  “It’s strange,” Felix said, watching as I spun the bangle in every direction under the blinding lights. “I can’t get a read on it. Now, Residuals of any sort are hard for me to pick up—hence the reason we keep you around. I imagine there are protective enchantments keeping me out. Maybe if I had more time...”

  “We don’t have more time,” I said, thinking of Lisa and Linsey. “Thanks for this—I’m going to need to take it with me.”

  Felix’s eyes lingered on the peculiar bangle as I clutched it to my side. Felix’s tests had all but confirmed my newest theory. It felt safe to assume that the kidnapping cases, the murdered elves, and the casino scandal were all related.

  I imagined how things might have gone. Damien, or possibly a partner, had found a way to pinpoint young elves who had the gift of clairvoyance. When he’d isolated the unsuspecting women, he lured them to Dust. Once inside, he’d ply them with a potion that would confirm the existence of elfin clairvoyance.

  At that stage, the rest of his plan would have been simple. He would have conned his father, Jim, into helping him move the women. Maybe Jim would have resisted, but once he was too far down the rabbit hole, he would have had to continue on or risk death.

  Once the girls had been moved to a secure location, Damien and/or a partner could begin the long and painful extraction process. If I wasn’t mistaken, Lisa and Linsey would be at this location awaiting their sentence.

  Even as I reviewed the solid-sounding plan, something didn’t sit right. I suspected it had to do with Damien. I couldn’t see him killing his own father, or maybe I simply couldn’t picture him as the mastermind behind it all. But something was missing, and I heartily suspected the involvement of another mystery party.

  I briefly considered Bran, though it didn’t feel quite right either. He had plenty of cash, a successful business, beautiful women throwing themselves at him. He seemed sated and cocky enough as is, but I’d been wrong before.

  Bran was certainly powerful enough. Intelligent enough. He could have wormed his way into The Cavern and put Reina under a spell...

  Reina! The answer hit me like a pile of bricks. For some reason, I’d assumed Reina had been a pawn in this scheme, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe, she had been the mastermind behind it all, and she’d merely used the men to sniff out powerful elfin women—good candidates for her clairvoyance extractions—while keeping herself out of the spotlight.

  Once Reina had secured the clairvoyant elves, she could offer her services to the casino. Funneling the elfin magic, Reina would be able to predict the decisions each player would make in the heat of the moment, just as Lisa had predicted the carriage’s impending crash through the brick wall. Reina could promise the casino complete control over which players won and lost each round.

  More importantly, Reina could ensure a hefty cut of the profits for the casino. The house would never be on the losing end of the game, and when the stakes were as high as they were in The Cavern, each round added up to huge amounts won and lost. The casino would likely kick back a cut of the winnings to Reina, and both parties would come out on top with no one the wiser.

  I had forgotten that I was standing under the harsh lights along with Felix while my mind worked in overdrive. Glancing up, I realized Felix had been surveying me, studying my every expression as if it held the secrets he longed to know.

  “I have to go,” I said simply.

  “You know, I shouldn’t let you take that bangle with you.” Felix frowned. “You’re lucky I’m afraid of you, DeMarco.”

  I laughed as I left the lab, not sure if I should consider that a compliment. But since the alternative wasn’t great, I decided to go with it.

  However, my good humor disappeared the second I stepped from the bright lab and out into the harsh, brilliant afternoon sunlight. What if Reina had been the key to this all along, and I’d missed it? I had assumed she was an innocent, or at least a pawn—someone paid a cut of the profits to do one specific job.

  After all, Grey had specifically said that Reina was new to The Cavern the night we’d gone together. It’d been noted that she wasn’t the usual dealer, which had caused any thoughts of her potential involvement to seep from my mind.

  However, now that I replayed the events in my mind—she’d been the one wearing the bangle. She’d been channeling elfin magic through the Siphoning Spell. Just because she’d been new to The Cavern publicly didn’t mean she hadn’t been watching, waiting, scheming behind the scenes all along.

  It made complete sense. Reina could easily have roped Damien into helping her, probably with a touch of seduction. Damien would have flopped into her hand like a limp fish and gobbled up the opportunity to associate with someone as gorgeous, as powerful, as Reina.

  By the time he might have realized he’d been a pawn—if he ever realized it—he would have been in so deep there was no hope of escape. Same with his father. Then, when they pushed back, she would have killed Jim first, scaring Damien into cooperating all over again.

  Why hadn’t I seen it sooner?

  I mentally kicked myself. Jumping on a trolley headed north, I raised my wrist to my lips and Commed Matthew. I swore when there was no answer on his end. He was probably in the middle of the hunt for Damien. I needed to get ahold of him, to let him know I was heading to the casino. I was too late to be of any help with Damien’s arrest, so I might as well get started on Reina’s.

  I was just preparing to Comm the station when I felt a clammy hand grab hold of my shoulder. I spun around, stumbling as the trolley leapt over a bump, and found a frantic face staring back at me.

  “You have to help me,” the terrified woman said. “I’ve been looking all over for you, Detective. They’re after me.”

  Chapter 25

  “Cynthia,” I said, pressing a hand to my chest and taking a moment to catch my br
eath. I’d been so deep in thought about Reina that she’d completely startled me. “What’s wrong?”

  “They’re after me,” she repeated. “Or he is. Someone. I don’t know who, but I’m in trouble.”

  “Back up,” I said, squinting as I struggled to follow her frantic explanations. “How do you know someone’s after you?”

  “They’ve got my mother,” Cynthia said. “I think they came to my house looking for me, and I wasn’t there. When I came home...” Cynthia stopped speaking and gave a full-body shudder.

  I shrugged out from under the grip she had on my shoulder, noting she looked worn and tired, her face slick with perspiration despite her cool touch.

  “Your mother is where?” I prompted her again. “I’m sorry, Cynthia, but I’m going to need you to focus. I need you to stick with me and explain so I can understand.”

  “Of course,” she stuttered. “Sorry, I’m just...I’m shaken up. I came looking for you because you’ve seen her. You know.”

  “Know what?”

  “You know about my mother,” Cynthia said in a frenzied whisper, “and her powers.”

  “I thought she didn’t remember what they were,” I said. “I thought they’d confiscated her magic a long time ago.”

  “She started remembering,” Cynthia said. “I don’t know how, but things started coming back. Pieces of the puzzle started fitting with one another, as if something triggered her.”

  “I thought you didn’t believe your mother.”

  “I didn’t for the longest time,” Cynthia said. “But after seeing you and Matthew, and hearing you talk about it as if it were real...” Cynthia’s shoulders straightened, and she stood taller. “In fact, I wonder if it was your visit that triggered her memories. It wasn’t long after you visited that she started saying things, remembering...”

  “Is it just memories?” I asked. “Or have her powers come back, too?”

  Cynthia shrugged. “I don’t know. I assume it’s just the memories, but maybe there’s some lingering powers—I have no clue how to tell.”