Midnight Reynolds and the Agency of Spectral Protection

by Catherine Holt

  “Oh no.” Louisa leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I really shouldn’t say anything, but I’m friends with the duty manager. And the daggers dripped away, plain as the nose on your face. To make it even stranger, some security footage from five days ago was erased.”

  Midnight and Tabitha stiffened.

  It was the same modus operandi as the museum. Which meant whoever it was had managed to access both places easily. But the girls still had no idea why the villain had taken the daggers, unless they wanted to arm themselves with weapons. It wasn’t a comfortable thought.

  As to why the villain had taken the time to once again erase the security footage, all Midnight could figure was that they’d destroyed it without bothering to look at it first. Otherwise, they would’ve known that their image was already blurred beyond recognition. Still, that might work in their favor. The villain didn’t know what he or she looked like on film.

  “So they really don’t know who did it?” Midnight asked in case Louisa had more insider gossip.

  “Not a clue,” Louisa confirmed. “A security guard tried to touch the daggers—to stop them from melting—and his entire arm was burned. Doctors have no explanation of how it happened, but they’ve cordoned off the area until further notice.”

  Tabitha’s mom went pale. “I didn’t hear that. Is he okay?”

  “He’s still recovering, though I think police will be speaking to him soon,” Louisa said as her cell phone beeped. She studied the screen and then frowned. “Oh no. This is terrible. Our booking’s been delayed by half an hour. I suppose we have to make exceptions, considering what’s happened.”

  “We should go and have a drink while we’re waiting,” Tabitha’s mom said.

  “Actually.” Tabitha coughed. “I’d like to use the restroom first.”

  “Sure, it’s just down the corridor and to the right,” Louisa explained. “We’ll go and get a table.”

  “Sounds great,” Tabitha said before exchanging looks with Midnight.

  “I might use the restroom too,” Midnight quickly said before they hurried down the corridor. She tightened her grip on her backpack, where CARA was nestled. The ghost app had been going off all day, and in the end, she’d turned her cell phone off for some peace and quiet. Besides, as soon as she started to search the buildings, she’d find the trapped spectral energy.

  “Okay, so since we only have about five minutes, why don’t you go look where the daggers melted, and I’ll go ask around,” Tabitha said. Midnight quickly agreed and hurried away in a random direction, her shoulder sagging from the weight of CARA.

  She pressed her glasses up her nose, determined not to miss anything. Especially after talking to Peter Gallagher last night. It was obvious by the tone of his voice that he was increasingly worried about what was happening in Berry. That made two of them. She’d once again ventured Logan’s name as a possible way of figuring it out, but he’d simply referred her to page sixty-five:

  All spectral protectors must submit to the rulings of their superiors without question.

  Midnight walked past a gymnasium. The instructor was shouting out moves while Taylor Swift blasted out. The corridor split in two directions, and she was about to head to the sauna when a familiar buzz slammed into her ears. Her mouth went dry, and she staggered back like she’d been hit.

  A woman walking past looked at her in surprise before continuing on her way.

  Midnight forced herself to go in the direction of the buzzing. It increased in intensity and the temperature dropped, sending long fingers of black fog crashing into her legs and almost pushing her over with their icy-cold touch.

  As she went, she reminded herself that the spectral energy was only acting like that because it was trapped. Scared. Alone. All it wanted was to be released so it could cross over to the Afterglow. To be its true self.

  Something Midnight could relate to.

  The thought calmed her shaky nerves as she reached the cordoned-off corridor. Police tape was everywhere, along with warning signs. In the distance was the empty wall where the daggers had once hung. But what really hit her were the dark flames swirling around the space. Flickering and pulsing every time someone went near them.

  This was different from regular spectral energy and the planodiume ruptures she’d been dealing with. A whole other level of different!

  Midnight swallowed hard.

  Somehow, the dancing fire was powered by spectral energy. And while no one but her could see the flames, they could still be hurt by them. Which is what had happened to the security guard.

  Sweat beaded at her brow, and indecision churned in her stomach. She had to clear the trapped energy. But trying to do it while she was so exposed was impossible. She scanned the area and spotted a supply closet almost opposite the blazing flames. Several police were at the end of the corridor, deep in conversation. Midnight crossed her fingers and darted to the closet, scrambling in there before the policemen turned around.

  She left the door open just enough so that she could poke CARA out toward the blazing inferno of darkness. White light exploded out, filling the room. The spectral energy howled in protest. Flames danced up to the ceiling, crackling with anger. Midnight kept her arm steady until the hideous fire finally disappeared, replaced by tiny separate entities, and floating away.

  She took out the measuring device to collect readings for when she wrote up her report later on. Then she stepped out of the closest and hurried to the restroom so that she could recover without fear of being caught by the police.

  Her sneakers scuffed against the bathroom tiles, but Midnight hardly noticed as she splashed cold water on her face. Her hands were shaking, and she glanced at her reflection. Her face was pale and her mouth was tight and her brown hair looked like she’d just crawled through a hedge. She looked every bit as bad as she felt. And now she had to play tennis?

  She was about to text Tabitha and tell her what had happened when voices drifted into the room from the outside corridor and the door opened.

  It was Malie. Again.

  Midnight blinked. How did this keep happening?

  “Oh my God. Are you stalking me or something?” Malie demanded as her hands automatically rubbed her temples, where the tiara was sitting on her pulled-back hair. She looked ill.

  “Are you okay?” Midnight said.

  “I’m fine,” Malie snapped before sighing as she pulled off the tiara and untied her hair. Her wild curls sprung out around her like a halo, and it took all of Midnight’s willpower not to be jealous of Malie’s amazing hair. “There’s a piece of wire in this tiara that keeps digging into my scalp. I can see it, but I can’t fix it. Go on, you might as well laugh. Or say I told you so and give me a whole freaking speech on how I should just be myself.”

  “I was going to say that small pliers would probably be best.” Midnight looked at the tiny sliver of metal that was poking out the bottom of the tiara. The end was sharp. No wonder Malie had looked so grumpy. “I have some if you’d like to use them.”

  “You have pliers in your backpack?” Malie’s dark eyes filled with uncertainty. “Are you messing with me?”

  “Of course not,” Midnight said. She also had a carbonic resonator, a laser pointer, and several devices that could change the room temperature if needed. She swung her shoulder to stop Malie from seeing the contents of the backpack as she reached for the blue pencil case where she kept the tools she sometimes needed in her role as spectral protector. “Here you go.”

  Malie stared at the pliers for a moment before taking them. A moment later, she held them up so she and Midnight could both see the tiny metal nail that had been causing all the problems. She dropped it into the trash can and gave Midnight back the pliers.

  “I’m still not sure why you had them—or why you wanted to help me, but thanks.”

  “It’s no big deal,” Midnight quickly said. Especially since she’d recently thought Malie was a crazed, money-hungry person who’d do anything to fit in. In
cluding steal souls of the dead. Unfortunately, Midnight couldn’t exactly apologize for that, so helping Malie with the tiara was the least she could do.

  “I’d better go. Sav and Lucy are waiting for me outside.” Malie quickly put her tiara back on, pausing to check it was straight. Then she let out a soft breath. “If you stay in here for a couple of minutes, the coast should be clear. I know that they’ve been giving you a hard time.”

  Now it was Midnight’s turn to be surprised. “Okay, thanks.”

  “It’s no big deal,” Malie echoed Midnight’s words and gave her tiara one final glance in the mirror before walking toward the door. “See you around, Midnight.”

  “Yeah,” Midnight said, not quite sure what had just happened. She was still trying to figure it out as she headed back to the art wing, where Tabitha was waiting. Despite the tennis outfit, her friend was smiling.

  “There you are. I thought you were never going to get here. Was everything okay?”

  “If by okay, you mean was there a wall of spectral fire all around where the daggers had been,” Midnight said.

  “Are you serious?” Tabitha’s face went as white as her tennis outfit while Midnight filled her in. “Thank goodness you managed to release it. You should’ve texted me.”

  “I was just about to. But then I got interrupted. You’ll never believe by who.”

  “Sav, Lucy, or Malie?” Tabitha said before confessing. “I saw them too, so I ducked into the sports wing to avoid them. Which means we kind of have them to thank.”

  Midnight’s brow furrowed. “Thank for what?”

  “For helping me figure out who our villain is.” Tabitha grabbed Midnight’s hand and led her over to a tall glass cabinet that ran up the side of the wall.

  “Are you serious?” Midnight’s heart hammered.

  “I’m deadly serious,” Tabitha said as she pointed to a photograph in the cabinet. It was for the winner of last year’s golf tournament. Lifetime member. Jerry Van Meek. Midnight stared, not quite sure what she was seeing until she noticed the long, red beard. Her mouth dropped open as she turned to Tabitha.

  “Phil’s best man. Jerry. He’s a member here?”

  “That’s right.” Tabitha ticked off her fingers. “So, let’s see. He’s head of security at the museum and a lifetime member here. Oh, and that button you found might have come from his museum uniform. It looked like it was from something like that. Midnight, I think this is our guy.”

  Midnight’s mind sifted through the information, and she frowned. “But he’s out of town until tomorrow. Phil said so.”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.” Tabitha gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “After all, what better alibi could you have than saying you’re out of town? For all we know, he went away to try to fence the gold and then snuck back to steal the daggers. It could all be part of his cunning plan.”

  “You’re right.” Midnight nodded, impressed with her friend’s use of the word fenced. And Tabitha did have a point. If you were going to steal a valuable piece of gold with a weapon powered by the souls of the dead, a little lie was hardly going to bother you. “So tomorrow when we meet him, all we need to do is take a photograph, and we’ll have our proof.”

  “And in the meantime we can research his financial history, just be sure—”

  “There you girls are. We were worried you’d gotten lost.” Tabitha’s mom appeared, followed by Louisa and Chloe. They were all holding tennis rackets. “Anyway, good news. Our court’s ready. Let’s go have some fun.”

  Midnight and Tabitha stared at each other and then burst out laughing. Fun was hardly the word to describe the game they were about to play, but having finally found their breakthrough made it easier to bear.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Okay, once you take the photograph and confirm he’s been affected by planodiume, then you need to contact me immediately, and on no account are you to approach him,” Peter Gallagher said from the other end of the phone as Midnight and Tabitha stood outside Berry Community Hall. It was a single-story red building with ivy climbing up the walls, and the continuing rain made it sparkle like a diamond.

  “But what if he hurts someone else?” Midnight’s fingers tightened around the cell phone. “Should we try to stop him?”

  “Absolutely not. And that’s an order,” Peter said. “The readings you took from the planodiume flames at the country club have just confirmed how dangerous he is. As soon as you positively ID him with the photograph, I’ll have a team fly out. They can administer an antidote to the buildup of planodiume in his system.”

  “Okay, so we take a photograph, and once we can confirm it, I’ll let you know,” Midnight obediently repeated while next to her, Tabitha shuffled from side to side impatiently.

  Midnight put her phone away, and they stepped into the hall to be met by the clanging of steel on steel. Two Vikings held up long swords, while a third person shouted out instructions.

  “Guard up. Cover your right. Pivot.”

  The scuffing of leather shoes against the floorboards rang out as the men parried, and the air was filled with the heady scent of what Midnight now knew was Viking ale.

  Phil was in the distance, but Midnight ducked behind a large potted plant before he could see her. Right now, they wanted to take their photos of Jerry. Midnight scanned the hall until she finally saw him. He had broad shoulders and a red beard that covered his chin and a good section of his neck.

  Last time she’d met him, his red hair had hung down his back, but now it was plaited and pushed over one shoulder. She nudged Tabitha, and they held up their phones and took several shots. Jerry was oblivious as he took off his helmet, allowing them to get a better photo.

  Midnight sucked in her breath as she dared look at the screen.

  “Noooo,” Tabitha wailed as her fingers scrolled through all the shots. Not one of them had a black smudge on it. “I was so sure it was him. I mean, it made so much sense.”

  Midnight tried to swallow her own disappointment as she sent Peter Gallagher a text with the bad news. She didn’t want Phil’s best man to be evil, but now that he wasn’t, they were back to square one for the third time.

  “Midnight, there are you. Come and meet Jerry.” Phil waved them over, and the two girls reluctantly walked around the edge of the hall, careful to avoid all the swordplay that was going on. Phil made the introductions and then excused himself as his cell phone rang.

  “I hear you’re working on an article about the mysterious thefts. I’m happy to talk to you, but please don’t mention my name. Alan Staunton has forbidden us from talking to the media,” Jerry said with a broad smile, making Midnight feel even worse for suspecting him.

  “Of course,” she said, recalling the museum director from their school visit. “We don’t want to do anything that will get you in trouble.”

  “Don’t worry. I don’t really know much. Just that a small portion of footage from five days earlier was smeared with black before mysteriously being erased. It was the weirdest thing.”

  “That is weird.” Midnight nodded since she couldn’t exactly tell him the truth about why the tape was covered in black. “Do you have any idea who went to Elsie Perkin’s house to collect the quilt collection that she donated? We’ve left a couple of messages with Alan, but he hasn’t returned them.”

  Jerry frowned. “Sorry, I don’t know, though I’m happy to look into it. As for Alan, don’t take it personally. He isn’t returning any calls. I heard he has a lot going on right now.”

  “If you could find out who collected the quilts, that would be great.” Midnight swallowed her disappointment. “Thank you for your help.”

  “Of course.” Jerry grinned. “Phil’s always talking about how smart you are. It’s my pleasure to help.”

  “He is?” Midnight’s mood improved. If anyone had told her six months ago that she’d care what Phil thought of her, she would’ve laughed. But now the idea that her mom’s fiancé—her future stepda
d—thought she was smart, filled her with happiness. Then her mood dropped again. Of course if she didn’t figure out what was going on soon, there might not even be a wedding.

  “Sure is,” Jerry agreed before his mouth dropped open. “Well, I’ll be. If that isn’t Ruth Perkins.”

  “Ruth’s here?” Tabitha turned as Ruth walked toward them all, a warm smile on her pretty face. As she walked through the hall, all the Vikings stopped what they were doing and stared at her in admiration.

  “Midnight, Tabitha, hello. And, wow…Jerry Van Meek. Aren’t you a sight?” Ruth’s brown eyes widened. “I haven’t seen you since senior year.”

  “Last day of school. You signed my yearbook, kissed my cheek, and rode off into the sunset. I didn’t even know you were back in town,” Jerry said, his face going the same shade of red as his beard.

  “It’s a long story.” Ruth dimpled. “But perhaps we can get together sometime and I’ll tell you.”

  “S-sure,” Jerry stammered as Midnight and Tabitha exchanged surprised looks. Then he seemed to remember where they were, and he coughed. “Er, so are you here to see Midnight and Tabitha?”

  “Actually, I am,” Ruth collected herself as she fished around in her purse for something. “When I was cleaning yesterday, I found this, and when I showed it to Elsie, she thought it belonged to the person from the museum who came to see her. Anyway, I thought you girls might be interested, so I called your house and your mom said you were here. I was coming this way so I figured I’d stop in. I’m sure glad I did.” The last bit was directed at Jerry, but Midnight and Tabitha were more interested in what she had her in her hand.

  It was a silver button.

  “I take it by your expression, this means something.” Ruth’s face lit up.

  “We found a similar one in the museum,” Midnight said, not bothering to add that it had been in an out-of-bounds section where spectral energy had been trapped in a mirror. “I’ve been trying to figure out if they belong to some kind of uniform, but I haven’t been able to find any information.”