by Zoe Arden
"The head of Zulubar's security staff, Perx, came to see me and my aunts the other day. He asked us to look into Zulubar's disappearance."
"Why would Perx ask you to do that?"
"It wasn't really us he wanted, it was Sheriff Knoxx. He thought that by getting to us, he could get to the sheriff." I shrugged. "It makes sense if you think about it, but it didn't work. Sheriff Knoxx wants nothing to do with the case."
Dean became eerily silent. He steepled his fingers together and looked at the wall behind me.
"Dean?" I asked after several minutes had gone by. "Are you okay?"
Dean's eyes shifted back to me. They widened slightly. It was like he'd forgotten that I was even there.
"Do me a favor," he said, "and I'll do one for you."
"Okaaaay... what favor?" I was in no position to argue, but there was something about the way Dean was looking at me that made my hair stand on end. He was looking at me like he was a mouse and I was a piece of cheese.
"Forget this case. Forget Zulubar."
" Forget him? "Why?"
Dean licked his lips. "I already have people looking into Zulubar. I don't need you muddling things up, which is almost certainly what would happen."
I thought it over. "So, that's the favor you want me to do for you? Stop looking for Zulubar?"
Dean nodded.
"And what's the favor that you'll do for me if I agree?"
"I'll forget about this mess you caused tonight."
My jaw dropped open. "Forget about the break-in?"
"It'll be like it never happened. No jail time. No record."
Something didn't make sense. "Why would you do that for me?"
Suddenly, Dean broke out into a wide grin. On anyone else, it might have looked genuine. On Dean, it looked frightening and false.
"Colt is one of my best agents." He shook his head. "No, not one of my best, thee best. I wouldn't want him to return home to find you locked away in a prison cell."
"So, you're doing this for Colt?"
"Of course."
If Dean was lying through his teeth, so could I. "Okay. Zulubar's case is forgotten," I said.
"Excellent." Dean smiled at me. He actually walked over to me and shook my hand, as if we'd just settled a major business deal. He tapped on the door and a few seconds later it opened. Mark and Henry were both standing there, their faces tight and irritable-looking. Dean whispered something to them and they nodded.
"These two guards will show you out," said Dean. "Oh, and Ava? Don't come back here, whether we're open or closed."
"Will do," I told him and hurried from the room before he could change his mind.
When I got outside, my nerves finally gave out. My body shook and released a wave of tension that I'd been holding onto since I'd gotten caught. I looked back over my shoulder at the building I'd just been escorted from.
Something really strange was going on here. Why should Dean care so much about Zulubar or the goblins? What did any of that have to do with Colt?
I'd promised Dean that I wouldn't look into Zulubar's case anymore, but what Dean didn't know wouldn't hurt him. I just had to be more careful. I shuddered at the memory of that tiny interrogation room. A lot more careful.
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CHAPTER
NINE
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"What were you thinking?" my dad shouted. He was flapping his arms wildly around him, as if he were a bird trying to take flight.
We were in the back room at the bakery. Just now, it was worse than the interrogation room at COMHA. The smells of chocolate and vanilla bean mixed and mingled unpleasantly with my father's gravelly cries. Dean had gone easy on me by comparison to my dad.
"I wasn't thinking," I told him, thinking that sounded like a good, conciliatory answer. It only seemed to anger him more.
"Not thinking?" he scoffed. "You mean to tell me that I raised a daughter who doesn't know how to think?" He flapped his arms some more, even faster than before. "Did something happen to your brain?" He finished with the flapping and began to walk back and forth like a lion in a cage, his whole body shaking with anger. He'd been yelling for ten minutes straight and wasn't through yet.
"First you chase after some goblin killer, then you break into a federal magical building." He overemphasized each word like I was having trouble understanding him.
Eleanor poked her head into the back room and gave me a sympathetic smile. She'd done a good job of telling my dad about what had happened with Bisnunk—from what she'd told me, he hadn't been nearly as upset as I'd feared he'd be—but that was irrelevant now. It was just bad luck that the incident with Bisnunk had been so closely followed by my break-in to COMHA.
"Eli," Eleanor said softly. "You're starting to worry the customers."
My dad's face turned red. He cleared his throat and pulled at the collar of his shirt. "I'm almost done," he said, but he glared at me for the thousandth time and I didn't think he looked like he was almost done.
I'd gotten home so late last night that it had been closer to morning. My dad had been waiting up for me, Eleanor and Trixie both at his side. The second I'd walked in, he'd pounced on me. Eleanor had managed to calm him down enough to pounce later, after we'd all gotten a little sleep. Eleanor had gone home, and I'd gone to bed.
I'd snuck out early, before anyone had even started the coffee, thinking that if I made it to the bakery before they did I'd be safe. That my dad wouldn't yell at me in front of customers. I'd been right—he'd taken me to the back room to yell at me.
"She has to understand—" my dad said, pleading with Eleanor to let him continue his rant.
"I know, and I think she does." Eleanor stepped all the way into the back room to cut him off. She shot me a look. "Don't you, Ava?"
"Yes, of course," I told them both. "Never again." I raised my hand like I was swearing an oath.
My dad blew out a heavy breath. "All right," he relented. "I'm through." He shot me a look. "For now. If you do anything else or break into anyplace you shouldn't be—"
"I won't."
"—then I'm locking you in your room till your thirty."
Eleanor smiled but knew better than to laugh. At least she and Trixie had decided not to yell at me. They'd figured my dad could say it all for them, and they'd been right.
"Do you think it's okay if I go home?" I asked them. "I'm exhausted."
Eleanor looked at my father. She seemed ready to consent but this time my dad cut her off.
"I think it's better if you stay where I can see you today. You can sleep later."
Eleanor shrugged, and I accepted my punishment. Actually, I wasn't all that tired. I should've been, but I was still riled up from everything that had happened. The real reason I wanted to get out of there was that I wanted another look at Colt's file.
Dean, for all his smarts and arrogance, hadn't thought to have his goons search me. Oh, they'd patted me down and had me turn out my pockets, but they hadn't considered that I might've enchanted my pockets.
All I'd had to do was pull a half inch of pocket out for them to see and they'd been satisfied. If they'd insisted on checking for an expansion charm, they'd have discovered that my pockets ran six-feet deep and contained all sorts of things they wouldn't have liked, starting with Colt's file.
I'd glanced at it when I'd gotten home last night but couldn't make sense out of anything. I'd figured I was too tired and had gone to bed, hoping that when I got up in the morning it would all become clear. It hadn't.
I needed a closer look at the thing. I needed to study it without worrying about my dad or Eleanor or Trixie standing over my shoulder. I'd considered telling my aunts what I had, but I was afraid they might make me return it, so I'd kept my mouth shut for now, at least.
The day dragged on. Natalie Vargas made an appearance, along with Lottie Mudget. They were two of the town's biggest gossips and were dy
ing to hear the details of Bisnunk's murder.
"I heard that poor goblin melted after he was shot," Natalie said, her eyes going wide.
"And I heard he turned to stone," said Lottie.
I confirmed for them that neither story was true, but I got the feeling they didn't believe me. A melted goblin was much more exciting than one shot with a bow and arrow.
"So, where are they?" asked Natalie, posing the question first and foremost on my mind aside from Colt's whereabouts.
"Who?" Trixie asked, looking up from a display case she'd been refilling with snickerdoodles.
Natalie rolled her eyes. "King Zulubar and Kyrab."
Lottie gasped. "Oh, my goodness! Do you think they eloped?"
I tilted my head to the side, considering Lottie's question. That would actually have made sense if it weren't for the mysterious circumstances surrounding their disappearance. Bisnunk had told me that someone had been chasing them. He'd said looking into their disappearance was dangerous and then he'd gotten shot.
"I don't think that's it," I told Lottie, deflating what she'd thought was a brilliant idea.
I still had very little to go on. Eleanor had been questioning people when she could, as had Trixie. My dad, though not completely onboard with the whole investigation, had said he'd talk to his girlfriend, Sadie. She worked at Sweetland Hospital and often heard things from people that they wouldn't normally divulge to others. People gave up a lot of secrets when they were on medication.
Of course, that had been before the incident at COMHA. Whether or not my dad would still speak to Sadie for me, I had no idea.
By the time evening rolled around, I'd had about a million people ask me about Bisnunk and Zulubar, but not one person had asked about my break-in to COMHA. I'd been certain that would be the bigger news, yet no one seemed to know anything about it. People in Sweetland were not subtle. If they had known, they would have said something.
I was grateful for their silence but confused by it. I sent a quick text to Lucy.
Did you hear about the break-in at COMHA?
A minute later, she responded with:
Someone broke into COMHA? When?! Who?!
I scrunched my face, debating on whether I should tell her the truth, then decided it was too long to text and I'd tell her about it next time I saw her. Lucy liked to gossip with the best of them, but she'd never divulge my secret if I told her not to. I'd let her drill me for details another time.
It worried me that no one besides my dad and aunts had heard anything, though. Clearly, my family wasn't going to spread it around, but why wasn't Dean? Normally, if someone wronged Dean, he made fast work about spilling it to everyone he knew. He did everything in his power to destroy that person, not protect them.
The fact that Dean wasn't spilling my name all over Sweetland, berating me for my illegal tendencies, made me suspicious. The only reason he'd keep quiet was if he didn't want it getting out. Was he afraid if he said anything that I'd go back on my promise and start investigating Zulubar again? I was planning to do that anyway, but he didn't know that. What was it about Zulubar's disappearance that Dean wanted to hide?
None of this made much sense. I lay down in bed, trying to push any thoughts of Dean firmly from my mind and concentrating on the file before me. It was just after eight. My dad had finally relented and let me leave work an hour before closing so that I could get some extra rest. It was Colt's file I was interested in though, not sleep.
The file was encrypted, or at least it appeared to be. The sentences were strung together in ways that made no sense.
Gandolf baited Colt never cookie home.
Xxyyyzzss.
There were pictures and images, but most of them had been blacked out or part of the image blurred. I sighed and glanced through it all one last time. If nothing jumped out at me, I was shutting off the lights and going to bed.
Something did jump out though.
Mack's Bar.
That was a real place, and it wasn't far from here.
I checked the time. It was only eight-thirty. I still had a good hour before my dad and Trixie would be home. I jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, and ran to find Snowball.
"Snowy," I said excitedly, "can you do me a favor?"
Snowball was curled up in her favorite chair in the living room. She opened one eye and blinked at me.
"Will Snowy get tuna?" she asked.
"Yes. Lots and lots of tuna."
She stood up, giving me her undivided attention.
"I need to go to a bar and talk to some people. Can you be my lookout?"
"Lookout?" Snowy asked.
"Yeah. I just need you to stand outside the bar and if you see anyone who you think looks like trouble, come and tell me."
"Snowball can do that for Mama," she said, hissing loudly to show her fierceness.
I patted her head and picked her up. It wasn't that the bar was seedy, exactly. It was set off from Sweetland Cove just a bit and had become more of a hangout for COMHA agents and members of the Witch's Council. They liked that it was farther away from the tourists and often stopped there when passing through Heavenly Haven.
However, it also drew in the odd paranormal. Colt had told me once that a werewolf had shown up there one night looking for his dinner. After all the chances I'd taken, I had no intention of taking any more.
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CHAPTER
TEN
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Snowy plodded easily along beside me, even running ahead. The bar was too close to drive; it would've been silly. Plus, if my dad and Trixie got home before me, they'd notice it was gone and want to know where I'd been.
Snowball was super fast and could climb a tree almost like she was flying. She'd been my familiar for almost two years now and at times it was almost like she could read my mind. I had yet to learn how to read hers, though.
"Okay, just stay out here and if you see anything strange, come and get me," I told her when we got there, giving her a treat that I'd brought with me. She purred and rubbed her head against my hand. I went into the bar.
A few people glanced my way when I went in, but this was the type of place where people preferred to keep to themselves. It wasn't meant for tourists, and it wasn't typically frequented by locals, except for agents like Colt, but he was the only COMHA agent currently stationed on the island.
The Witch's Council members were a bit more plentiful, but the bar's real business was made up of agents passing through on their way to somewhere else. It was entirely possible that one of those agents might know Colt, or could at least tell me where he was at.
"Hi," I said to the bartender, taking a seat on a stool.
"Drink?" he asked. He had an egg-shaped head and small eyes. He wasn't a wizard, but I didn't know what he was.
"I'm looking for someone."
"There's a lot of someones here."
I smiled. This wasn't going to be as easy as I'd hoped. "Maybe I said that wrong. I'm looking for my fiancé, or rather information about my fiancé—Colt Hudson."
The bartender blinked at me. "You want a drink or not?"
I sighed. "How about a cranberry spritzer?" He rolled his eyes and made the drink. When I'd paid him, he walked away and didn't return.
Strike one.
There were a couple of men sitting together in the corner watching me. I walked over to them.
"Hi," I said. "Mind if I join you?"
"Yes," said the one with dark hair.
I paused.
Strike two.
I turned to his friend. He had lighter hair and bright blue eyes—almost unnaturally blue. "I'm looking for my fiancé, Colt Hudson. He works for COMHA."
"I know who he is," said the man.
"You do?" I asked, my heart starting to thump.
"Yeah. He's a good guy."
"Do you know where he is?"
"Yo
u're his fiancée. If you don't know, why should I?"
I sighed. "Have you spoken to him recently?"
"No. I haven't been to Bulgaria in years."
"Bulgaria?" I said, my eyes widening. His dark-haired friend smacked his arm and gave him a look.
"I uh... meant Bolivia," the light-haired guy said. His cheeks colored, and he looked away.
"Why was Colt in—"
"We can't help you," said the dark-haired man. They stood up and switched tables.
The bartender glared at me. "My customers don't like questions. Sit down or get out."
I sighed and took a seat back at the bar. There was a woman in another corner and three more women with two men sitting in a group near the front. They all eyed me warily. I was trying to figure out the best way to approach them when Snowball came running in.
"Mama, Mama!" she said excitedly. The customers watched her, even more suspicious now. "Snowball saw strange man lurking outside."
"You did?" I asked. "Strange in what way?"
"Snowy thinks he was watching Mama through the window."
I rose from the stool and left my drink unfinished on the bar. Outside, there was no one there.
"Snowy is certain. Snowy was not imagining things."
"I believe you," I said, scratching her head. "Maybe we should just get out of here."
"Snowy agrees."
Snowball ran happily ahead of me. I followed, just barely able to keep up. I didn't know if someone had really been watching me or not, but Snowy's suspicions usually panned out.
I followed along behind her, a hollow, echoey sound coming from behind me. I paused and cocked my head to the side.
Footsteps.
I was being followed.
I started to run, and the footsteps ran after me. Something about them sounded familiar. I dared a glance behind me and saw the outline of a man in a long overcoat even though it was a warm night.
