by Martha Carr
“Already here?” Correk echoed. “That could mean a lot of things. It could mean something like, ‘Don’t come to Earth, the magic is already here, and it’s too dangerous,’ or it could mean something like, ‘All our forces are already here and ready to invade.’”
“Yeah, it could. Not claiming I know what the total message says.” She frowned. “So I’ve given you some info. Now I want some in return.”
“I’m under no obligation to give you anything. How do I know I can even trust you?”
Shay snorted. “Because I risked my life to grab the Scepter of Dagobert and deliver it to the Professor instead of selling it to whatever sketchy asshole would pay the most.”
Correk’s eyes narrowed.
The tomb raider smirked. “Yeah, I bet you were involved in that behind the scenes. I almost know you were.”
The elf didn’t speak. Instead, he turned and watched the silent crowds flow past with a distant look in his eye.
“What do you want from me, Miz Carson?”
“I want to know something I don’t already know.”
Correk gave a small nod. “Show me the pictures. All the symbols you have.”
Shay locked eyes with him. For all she knew, the Light Elf had some sort of total recall spell. The minute she showed him the symbols, she’d lost a lot of her leverage. She did have a stone, but she wasn’t sure if it had power, and it wasn’t like she could trade Brownstone’s amulet.
“Fine,” she spat, reaching into her purse. Shay pulled out her phone and brought up the photo containing all the stones and a close-up of the amulet.
Correk stroked his chin as he looked over the symbols. “These aren’t from Earth.”
“No shit.” Shay rolled her eyes. “Thanks for nothing.”
He held up a hand. “But I’ve seen them before, and I don’t mean on the stone you recovered for the Professor.”
Shay slipped her phone back into her purse. “Oh?”
“I’ve seen them on Oriceran, but they aren’t Oriceran. I assumed they were from Earth, but your research, among other information I have seen, points to the fact that they aren’t.” He furrowed his brow. “And this is troublesome.”
“Why? Does this involve some sleeping alien god or something?”
“Maybe.”
Shay blinked. “Maybe?”
“I’ll be honest—I don’t know yet. Many odd things have happened on Oriceran throughout the millennia that can’t be explained, even with appeals to magic. When odd things have happened on Earth it’s been easy to assume that someone from Oriceran was responsible, but the converse is a bit more difficult to justify.”
“So you’re saying E.T. showed up not just on Earth but on Oriceran?”
“’E.T.?’”
“Yeah, like, E.T. the Extraterrestrial from the old movie.”
Correk shrugged. “Haven’t seen it.”
Shay smirked. “Bet you haven’t seen a lot of movies.”
“You might be surprised, but that’s beside the point. You’ve stumbled upon something important, but there’s a more pressing question here. Why should I tell you anything more about this?”
“Not impressed by my super-wand recovery?”
Correk chuckled. “Not enough. You gave me some information, and I’ve given you some information, but that doesn’t mean I trust you, nor should you trust me.”
Shay ran her tongue inside her cheek as she thought that over. “I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately.”
“Always a good hobby.”
Guess it’s time to drop the bomb on him and see how he reacts.
“And it’s led me to some interesting things. Things you might find interesting.”
Correk leaned against the column and crossed his arms. “Such as?”
“A very important being known as the Fixer.”
“Oh? Isn’t that a criminal who helps criminals find things or something like that?” Correk grinned. “It’s hard to keep track of human culture at times, let alone American culture.”
Shay shrugged. “It’s just kind of funny.”
“I agree. Human culture is often amusing.”
“No, it’s just there’s a similar title for Light Elves.” She held up a hand. “I know, I know. It’s some ridiculous music-sounding thing, but translated, it’s ‘the Fixer.’”
“Oh? Do tell.”
Shay gave the Light Elf a feral grin. It was time to prove she wasn’t just a badass.
“The Fixer is a Light Elf chosen about every eight to nine hundred years. The Fixer has access to a library of spell books and books on magic.”
“A lot of elves have access to spell books and books on magic. What’s so special about the Fixer?”
“Yeah, but this isn’t a normal library. The whole point is this Fixer has special access to special knowledge, things the average Light Elf or even the average magical being won’t have access to.”
Correk uncrossed his arms. “And what does this Fixer do with it?”
“Help magical beings on Earth. Not just Light Elves, but all magical beings.” Shay chuckled, her mercenary heart making it hard to get the words out. “It’s an honored position and very respected. Revered, even, by people in the know in the magical community. There has been a Fixer on Earth for thousands of years. Maybe longer.”
“What a fascinating tale. Very educational. And what does it have to do with me?”
Shay took a deep breath. Time to cross the Rubicon. “The Fixer was Turner Underwood.” She laughed. “Which explains a lot about the School of Necessary Magic, but you are now the Fixer. Both Light Elves.”
Correk stared at her, his expression unreadable for what felt like an agonizing eternity before he raised a brow. “Impressive, Miz Carson. I’ll be honest—you’re more resourceful than I gave you credit for.”
“A lot of people underestimate me. Don’t feel too bad.”
“You already know my background.” He pushed off the column, all the ease gone from his stance. “I did my homework, too.”
Shay smirked. “Did you now? What did you find out?”
“For one thing, you’re looking rather well for a dead woman.”
Shay’s jaw tightened.
Correk gave a broad smile. “But I can see why you’d want to leave such a vicious and self-serving life behind, and you were right about the Scepter. You’ve gathered several dangerous artifacts and could have passed them along to less than scrupulous people, but you’ve kept your word.”
“Don’t get me wrong…I’m not a good person. I just believe in the value of maintaining positive relationships that lead to mutual benefit.”
Correk let out a weary sigh. “I’m far, far older than you and I’ve dealt with evil you couldn’t possibly imagine, so excuse me if I’m not overly impressed by your jaded act. So what’s it to be, Miz Carson?”
“Nothing special. I just want to know more about the alien stones. It’s both a professional and personal matter. I figure we can swap information.”
"I can see value in us working together." Correk turned and stepped away.
“Where you going?”
“We both now know where we’re coming from and what the other knows, and someone is waiting for me.” The elf waved. “When you get in your car, you’ll see that my number is in your phone.”
The silence gripping their small slice of the Lincoln Memorial vanished, and the chatter of tourists and excited school children broke over Shay. Correk walked down the steps, his hands in his pockets.
The Professor acts like he knows my background too, but he keeps working with me. This might bite him and his elf buddy in the ass in the end. I’m not the good person they seem to think I am.
Shay waited until Correk had disappeared into the nearby crowds to make her way down the steps and back toward the parking lot and her rental car.
Hanging around a guy like Correk might get me targeted by some dangerous assholes. Maybe it’s not worth it.
Shay spun,
a frown on her face. She couldn’t shake the feeling of someone’s eyes on her. There were plenty of people on the street, but no one she could pick out as a spy. She sighed and turned back around. A quick check under the car didn’t reveal any evidence of tampering or explosives. Everything looked fine.
She pulled off her purse and set it on the passenger seat. It fell over, and a tiny ball of light rolled onto the seat. She reached into the car to grab the ball.
“Son of a bitch. Is this a tracking spell?”
Shay snatched her phone and checked her contacts list. There was a new entry: NOT UNDERWOOD.
She snorted and texted the number.
I saw your little light. Not smooth, dude.
Her phone chimed seconds later with a response.
Just seeing if you were paying attention. Have a nice day.
The ball popped in her hand.
Shay groaned. “Elves.”
15
Shay drummed her fingers on her leg. She didn’t like being in the passenger seat, even with her friend Bella’s nice leather seats. A lack of control never sat well with her, but she’d screwed up before by driving very nice vehicles. Now she just never let her friends see her in anything fancy. She was supposed to be a humble professor, not a globe-trotting adventurer who earned millions per job. It was the details that blew a false identity.
She stared out the windows. It was nice to spend a night with her girlfriends after all the craziness in recent weeks. This would just be a good dinner with friends, no crazy witches with powerful wands or mysterious elves. No gunning down hundreds of cartel douchebags, either—not that she hadn’t enjoyed the last.
Shay frowned, tension suffusing her body. They were damned close to Warehouse Three.
This is stupid. I have no reason to worry about that. A lot of places in LA are close to a warehouse. I’ve got five of the damned things, after all.
“Where were we going again?” she inquired, keeping her tone casual.
“A modern Italian fusion place called Bestia,” Janelle chimed in from the back.
“Italian, huh?”
Maybe I should make James take me to a nice Italian place. That shouldn’t be too weird for him to handle. It’s not super-exotic, and there’ll be plenty of meat, even if it isn’t barbeque. The man needs to broaden his horizons.
“I wish we hadn’t gone this way,” Kara commented, rubbing her shoulders.
Bella frowned. “Why? This is the quickest way to get to the restaurant, according to my GPS.”
“Yeah, I know. My office isn’t that far from here, and my carpool often drives this way.”
Shay looked over her shoulder at her friend. “So? What’s the big deal?”
Kara looked down. “It’s just… I think there’s a haunted building on the route.”
Janelle, Bella, and Shay laughed.
Kara sighed. “There’s this weird old building about two blocks down. It’s some sort of old warehouse, but I don’t think it’s used for that anymore. Sometimes I hear the strangest things when going by it, even from the car.”
Shit. Of course, she had to notice Warehouse Three.
“Maybe they shoot porn there,” Shay suggested.
Everyone laughed, and the tension melted off Kara’s face.
Shay kept a smile plastered on her face.
Shoot something there.
Shay downed some Spaghetti Rustichella, enjoying the citrus notes and sweetness of the Dungeness Crab as her friends chattered. It’d been a while since she’d had good Italian.
At her insistence, the group had been seated at a table in the rear. Shay sat with her back toward the wall, giving her a full view of the dining room. It was a perfect defensive seating arrangement. She hadn’t announced to her friends that she had a 9mm pistol sitting in her purse, but even if they found out it wouldn’t be a huge deal. People packing heat in LA weren’t rare.
The adamantine knife might be more difficult to explain. Shay smirked at the thought.
Her eyes flicked to the side at some quick movement. No assassin with a knife or gun was there, only a waiter, wiping his brow in relief at catching a plate that had fallen. Another sweep of the front revealed only a room filled with well-dressed people enjoying their meals.
Young, old, men, women, different races, and even a few elves in the far corner. It was like most places in LA—a cross-section of modern America.
Situational alertness wasn’t a bad skill to practice, and her encounter with Correk had only reinforced that no matter how far she ran from her past, she couldn’t be sure someone wouldn’t dig it up and come looking.
Her original plan to stockpile money and hide in some tropical paradise far from urban civilization didn’t seem so bad in retrospect.
She resisted sighing. The plan hadn’t seemed so bad before because she’d had nothing holding her back, but now she did: James and Alison. Hell, even Peyton and her girlfriends.
Friends and family. Still can’t tell if they are making me better or weaker.
Bella smiled at Kara. “So, how is everything going with your guy? Didn’t know if this was a burning-through-quickly kind of thing or the start of something more. You’ve been spending a lot of time with him.”
Kara shrugged. “It’s going great. The sex is great, but I don’t know. We’re still in that initial stage where everything feels good, and we’re ignoring each other’s flaws. I don’t know yet if this is going to be something long-term.”
“It doesn’t have to be. Just have fun, and if it grows into something more, then it does.”
Janelle sipped some wine and nodded. “I had to kick Darius to the curb in the end, but I can’t say I regretted our time together. It was fun for a while.”
Shay resisted a smirk. She’d had a confrontation with Janelle’s ex-boyfriend to keep him from harassing her friend, though the more time she spent around her friend, the less convinced she was that the woman couldn’t have handled it.
“So, any plans now?” she asked.
Janelle shook her head. “Nope. I think I’m just going to spend some time rediscovering who I am.” She offered Shay a sly grin. “And so when were you planning on telling us about your man?”
The other two women’s eyes widened, and they leaned in to stare at Shay.
“You bitch,” Bella offered with a laugh. “You snagged a guy, and you didn’t even tell us.”
Kara nodded her agreement.
Shay blinked and looked between the three women, her fingers tightening around her fork. There was no way Janelle could have known about James. Even though Shay had briefly discussed him absent any real details before, she’d never shown them any pictures or talked about him after that.
Dark scenarios ran through the tomb raider’s mind, with Janelle as a spy or a cat’s paw of Yulia or even Correk.
Wait, that doesn’t even make sense. The timing would be too weird unless…
“How…” Shay began. She sighed.
Admitting she was in a relationship shouldn’t be such a big deal. If they insisted on meeting James, she could always just make up an excuse. Telling the truth wasn’t an option, given how famous the bounty hunter had grown.
I’m trying to hide in the shadows, and he’s showing up on the news. Interesting pair we make.
Shay gulped down some wine under the careful gaze of her three friends. “How did you know?”
Janelle smirked and leaned back. “I can just see it. You’ve always been so tense. I think you need to switch jobs, because all that archaeology is going to give you a heart attack.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“Exactly, but now you’re not as tense, which means two things: You’ve got a man, and you’re getting some.”
All the women laughed.
Not as tense, even though I’ve been searching the room for threats?
Shay finished her wine, the pleasant buzz slicing away some of the paranoia. “Okay, I admit that I’ve got a new guy, but you were
all wrong. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to say anything.”
Bella tilted her head. “We were all wrong?”
“I told you about the guy, but everyone said he was gay.”
“Oh, that guy.”
The three other women exchanged looks and grins.
“Why don’t you tell us a little about him?” Janelle prodded.
“He’s a really private guy,” Shay offered. “I think he’d be annoyed if I talked about him too much. He’s not all that used to relationships. He’s been career-focused most of his life. His whole life is his job, barbeque, and this girl he’s adopting.”
Shit, that’s probably too much information.
“Wow, a family man already,” Kara commented.
Janelle looked thoughtful. “Be careful. Those career guys don’t always know what they really want from life. They play around, but don’t want to commit. Just because he’s got a kid doesn’t mean he’ll commit to you.”
Shay chuckled. “I’m not sure I know what I really want from life.”
Janelle smirked. “You do what you need to do, girl. Just make sure you’re running things.”
Am I running things? I don’t know. James isn’t exactly clued into a lot of this stuff. I had to practically throw myself at him to get his attention, but it’s also not like he’s staring at other women and waiting for his chance to step out, either.
“I am really happy for you,” Bella offered. “I’ve been so worried about you working too hard. I know you’re an archaeologist and everything, but the future is always more important than the past.”
Shay chuckled and refilled her wine glass. Not all that long ago she might not have believed that, but now she wasn’t so sure. Things were starting to change, albeit slowly.
The women lapsed into reflective silence as they continued to sip their wine and attend to what was left of their entrées. The varied conversations of the nearby tables flowed over and around them.
Shay took the opportunity to survey the restaurant again. Her attention lingered on a few men in a booth on the opposite end of the room, but their rowdy, drunken laughter made it unlikely they were hitmen trying to sneak in a hit.
A couple of waiters emerged from the back. She focused on them to ensure they were staff she’d seen already that night. Dressing as waitstaff and shooting someone was something she’d done more than a few times.
