“It’s an old tradition among dark-arts practitioners to kidnap their enemies’ offspring and brainwash the kids into serving them.” I pulled my knees up, tucking closer to Aaron. He curled his warm arm around me. “Yesterday evening, Varvara kidnapped Nadine.”
“Wait,” Aaron said incredulously. “The dark sorceress kidnapped Nadine from the dark druid who originally kidnapped her?”
“Well,” I mumbled, “Nadine technically went with the Ghost of her own free will, so he didn’t kidnap her … by the strictest definition of the word.”
“Did she go with Varvara willingly?” Kai asked. “If Nadine only knows Varvara as her human neighbor, she probably thought she was being rescued.”
“No, she …” I thought frantically, trying to figure out how to explain it without revealing details about Zak. I couldn’t repeat anything he’d said, but what about things Nadine had said? “She thought she was safe from her parents’ killers.”
Aaron rubbed his hand through his hair. “What did the Ghost think of a rival rogue poaching from him? Can’t imagine he was too happy about that.”
“We’re the only ones who can save Nadine,” I evaded, unable to discuss Zak’s opinion on the matter. “We have to get her back from Varvara before they vanish. Will …” I coughed slightly, steeling myself. “Will you guys help me save her?”
Asking for help. Why was it always so difficult?
But I’d barely gotten the question out before Aaron nodded. “Of course.” He squinted thoughtfully. “My only concern is whether we should expect the Ghost to show up in the middle of our rescue.”
“I promise this isn’t a trick the Ghost is playing—”
“That’s not what I meant,” he cut in hastily. “I’m worried he’ll go after Varvara for payback and we’ll get caught in the crossfire.”
“Oh.” I tugged on a lock of my hair. “I don’t think that will be an issue.”
“Are you sure?” Kai’s brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t he retaliate?”
“Varvara has a … frightening reputation.”
“Are you saying the Ghost is afraid of her?” Aaron let out a low whistle. “We definitely need a solid game plan before we make a move. We don’t want to mess around with someone the Ghost thinks is scary.”
“How long will that take?” I demanded, pushing away from Aaron so I could face him. “Varvara might be scary, but that’s all the more reason we need to act fast. Why doesn’t anyone care about Nadine?”
“We care about her,” he protested. “But—”
“But what? Why am I the only one who gets the urgency here?” I flung my arms into the air. “That idiot druid is all, ‘Knock yourself out, Tori, but I won’t raise a finger to help even though I’m so powerful I can—’”
I choked on the words, slapping my hands over my mouth. My whole body went ice-cold. Oh god. What had I said? Sitting rigidly on the sofa, I waited for the oath spell to strike me dead.
“Whoa, Tori,” Aaron exclaimed. “Did the Ghost let you go so you could help Nadine?”
“I didn’t say that! I didn’t say anything.” I waved my hands wildly. “You didn’t hear anything. Forget I said that!”
His blue eyes gleamed with intensity as he latched onto my blurted suggestion. “But—”
Ezra’s hand closed around Aaron’s knee. Breaking off, Aaron glanced at his friend and a silent understanding seemed to pass between them.
“The fake parents,” I prompted, changing the subject as my gaze flicked between him and Ezra. “Nadine gave me the impression they weren’t nice people, but they cared enough to search for help. Varvara is their neighbor. They might know more about her, and we can find out how they came to be Nadine’s adoptive parents.”
“We can check Varvara’s home as well.” Kai pulled out his phone. “See if there are any clues about her other hideaways. Let me call them.”
We waited silently as he brought the phone to his ear. “Hello, Mrs. River? This is Kai Yamada … I’m doing well, thank you. Would you and your husband be available this evening to meet with me and my associates? We have a potential new lead to discuss. Yes … Yes, that works. We’ll see you then.”
He disconnected the call. “Eight o’clock. It’s the earliest the husband will be available. He’s working late.”
“Are you sure this is okay?” I asked hesitantly. “Investigating Varvara? Girard and Felix don’t want to do anything about Nadine until I—”
“We’ll worry about them,” Aaron interrupted with a wink. He stifled a yawn. “Not that I don’t want to kick sorceress ass, but I’d been hoping to get some sleep.”
“I’m good to go,” Ezra said lightly. “You can stay home if you want.”
“Yeah, right. Like I’d miss this.”
As they bantered, I leaned back against Aaron’s warm side. Eight o’clock. A few more hours and maybe we would finally have answers. I hated to wait when Nadine had been Varvara’s prisoner for twenty-four hours already, but we didn’t have a choice. She would have to hold on a little longer.
The River family lived in a tidy split-level duplex on a heavily treed street full of cute cottage-style houses. By the time we pulled up in Aaron’s car, the sun hung low in the west, on the verge of slipping below the horizon. Throwing my door open, I climbed out and took a deep breath of cool evening air.
It was so quiet. We were well outside the downtown core and the absence of traffic, honking, shouting, wheezing buses, and the clattering roar of transit trains was just bizarre. Half a block away, a young couple was walking their fancy Schnoodle-doodle-doo designer dog, and hopscotches were drawn on the sidewalk in pink chalk, but other than that, the neighborhood was deserted. Were the suburbs always like this?
The guys piled out of the old sports car, completing our foursome. Weren’t we a strange bunch? Aaron, in jeans with knees torn out, a slightly wrinkled blue t-shirt, and his copper-red hair in a tousle. Kai, in a V-neck shirt, slim-fit jeans, and his dark hair neatly combed back, looking suave and professional. And Ezra, who’d pulled a ball cap over his mess of loose curls, using the brim to hide his mismatched eyes.
Then there was me. Since we were supposed to be private investigators, I’d worn my lone pair of black jeans, a deep purple blouse, and a pair of “just in case I need to flee for my life” runners. My hair was twisted into a bun, and I’d even done my makeup—first time in two weeks. Go me.
Ezra scrutinized the house, then strolled away down the sidewalk, leaving me with Aaron and Kai.
“Where’s he going?” I asked.
“Scouting around,” Kai answered. “He leaves this stuff to us. People tend to stare at him and forget to talk.”
I snorted. “So he has a scar. Big deal. People need to grow up.”
Aaron passed me, heading for the front walk. “The fact you don’t care is one of the reasons he likes you.”
We piled onto the front stoop and Kai knocked. The door opened almost immediately, and a portly older fellow smiled wanly.
“Mr. Yamada,” the man droned. “Thank you for coming.”
I worked to keep my expression neutral. Hearing Kai called Mr. Yamada was just weird.
We filed after Mr. River into a neat living room with faded floral-pattern sofas from the same design era as floral wallpaper trim and curlicued oak end tables with white doilies under the frilly lampshades. The room featured all three.
As we crammed onto the sofa in front of the doily-laden coffee table, Mrs. River inched into the room, carrying a silver tray stacked with a teapot, cups and saucers, and a plate of biscuits.
“Oh,” she murmured, setting the tray down. “Let me fetch another teacup.”
Based on the tea set, her strong English accent shouldn’t have surprised me, though her husband sounded local. She disappeared through a doorway and returned with another cup and saucer. Adding it to the tray, she sat down beside her husband as Kai reintroduced Aaron. He then introduced me with a fake name, explaining how I was an expert on teen
runaways. It sounded damn official and I straightened my spine, practicing my “professional consultant” face.
“Have you found anything?” Mr. River asked anxiously, twisting his hands in his lap. “You said you had a new lead?”
“First, I’d like to review some information for Miss Erickson”—Kai gestured to me—“so she can hear it in your own words. How long have you lived at this house?”
“We moved in about fourteen years ago. Nadine was two years old.”
“As we discussed before, seventy-six percent of child abductions are committed by family members or acquaintances. Let’s go over the people in the neighborhood that Nadine knew and interacted with.”
Obediently, Mr. River described the various neighbors who lived on the street, including Varvara. But though Nadine had claimed she was close with the old woman, Mr. River mentioned her only in passing.
As he talked, my gaze passed over Mrs. River. She sat stiffly, her narrow shoulders bent forward, her neat brown hair hanging around her face. Seeing me looking at her, she made an obvious effort to relax.
“Would you like some tea?” Not waiting for my response, she poured steaming liquid into the cups. “Sugar?”
“Uh … sure, thanks.”
She passed a teacup to everyone then took one for herself, grasping the tiny handle with her pinky sticking out.
“Nadine loves tea and biscuits,” she mumbled.
Uh-huh. Morgan and Nekhii had made tea every night I’d been at the farm, but Nadine had never partaken. How well did these people even know their supposed daughter? I hadn’t forgotten what Nadine had told me about her fake parents—the low-level verbal and emotional abuse I was so familiar with from my father.
“Where were you the night Nadine disappeared?” I asked, cutting right through Mr. River’s long description of the neighborhood boy who shoveled their walks in the winter. We were here to get information from the couple, and that meant winning their cooperation—but I couldn’t tolerate their bullshit for another minute more.
The question seemed to startle him. “I was working late, and my wife had an appointment. We told Mr. Yamada that, last time we—”
“An appointment where?” I pressed, ignoring Kai’s warning look.
“At the spa,” Mrs. River answered miserably. “If I’d known what would happen, I never would have—”
“But you knew it was her birthday.” I sat forward, almost spilling hot tea on my lap. “She was turning sixteen. Why weren’t you home at all?”
“I don’t see how this relates to Nadine’s disappearance,” Mr. River said stiffly. “I thought you had a new lead?”
“We’ll get to that shortly,” Kai jumped in, shooting me a glare. Feeling guilty for derailing his careful interrogation, I hid my expression behind my teacup. Blowing on the hot liquid, I inhaled the earthy-scented steam as I took a sip.
My nerves twanged and fear plunged through me. It took a moment for my brain to catch up to my instincts.
I spat the tea all over the coffee table.
“Whoa!” Aaron yelped. “Are you okay?”
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize it was so hot.” Leaping up, I shoved my cup and saucer onto the table, then put my back to the Rivers. Eyes wide with emphasis, I added, “Don’t drink the tea. You’ll burn your tongue.”
Kai set his full cup on the side table. “I’ll let it cool off.”
Aaron ditched his tea too, and I spun back around, smiling toothily at the gawking couple. “So sorry about that! Can I help you clean up?”
“No, no, let me.” Mrs. River pressed one hand to the tea-splattered coffee table, mumbling something else—but not quiet enough that I didn’t catch the first word: ori.
My Queen of Spades card was already out of my pocket. “Ori repercutio!”
The air rippled—then a blast of inky red light rebounded on the couple. Mrs. River flew back into the sofa beside her husband, and the red light formed glowing ropes around their bodies, binding them.
Aaron and Kai were on their feet, but they were gaping at me and not the immobilized couple. Shoving my card back in my pocket, I pushed the tea tray aside and flicked the doilies off the wood surface.
“Wow, look at that,” I declared in mock surprise, pointing at the table-turned-artifact. “Sorcery inscriptions carved right into your coffee table! Weird, huh?”
“I don’t know what—what you—” Mr. River gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “What have you done to us, witch?”
“You did it to yourselves.” I folded my arms. “So, you two are in cahoots with Varvara, aren’t you? She set you up with spells and poisons and stuff.”
“Poison?” Aaron muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
“The tea is poisoned.” I tsked at the couple to hide my swoop of fear. If not for the simple coincidence that I’d helped Nadine cut up those poisonous roots, I never would’ve recognized the smell. “That’s really impolite, you know.”
“Hmm,” Kai murmured thoughtfully. He cracked his knuckles. “I suppose we’ll have to proceed to a more aggressive form of questioning.”
Mr. and Mrs. River went as pale as their icky doilies.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ve got just what we need.” I pulled out the two crystals I’d taken from Zak. Stuffing the red one back into my pocket, I dangled the acid-green one by its leather cord and advanced on the couple. “So which one of you wants to talk, hmm?”
“We—we won’t say a word,” Mrs. River declared shrilly.
“We have a volunteer!” I leaned over her as she wiggled helplessly against the magical bonds. I lowered the crystal onto her throat, just like Zak had done to me. “This is a really cool spell. Super-dee-duper illegal, though. But I’m betting you don’t care about little things like laws and ethics, right?”
“Uh …” Aaron joined me, eyeing the crystal warily. “What are you doing?”
“Getting answers.” I narrowed my eyes on the green stone. “Ori ostende tuum pectus.”
The crystal shimmered and Mrs. River’s mouth gaped open, her eyes glazing with disturbing emptiness. Had I looked that vacant too?
“What’s your real name?” I asked her.
“Martha Emrys.”
Emrys? Uh, okay, had not expected that.
“Shut up!” Mr. River yelled. “Don’t tell them anything, or—”
Kai stepped closer. Electricity crackled up his arms. “Say another word and I’ll stop your heart.”
A chill washed over me and I hoped that was a bluff. Could Kai actually do that with his lightning magic? I focused on the woman. “You’re an Emrys like Nadine?”
“Not like Nadine,” she sneered. “I was married to her father’s cousin. We met in university and I fell for him, not knowing he was a mythic. He brought me into the family and I learned all their secrets, but they always looked down on me. I was inferior to them, the powerful, famous sorcerers. Stephen was the worst—the most superior, stuck-up, arrogant—”
“You betrayed them, didn’t you?” I interrupted.
“I wanted to divorce my husband.” The words tumbled out in a rush, like she couldn’t stop them. “Albert came to London on an overseas work assignment and I’d been having an affair with him for over a year. He was leaving soon and I wanted to be with him, but I was afraid what would happen—whether the Emrys family would let me leave after everything I’d learned about them. Varvara promised I could be with Albert and they’d never find me. All I had to do was help her.”
“Help her murder your in-laws and kidnap an infant?”
“No, Varvara did all that. She helped me move here before the Emrys family even knew I wanted out. That was six months before she killed Stephen.” She spoke of the cold-blooded murder with indifference. “Varvara brought the baby to us. I hadn’t realized she was signing me up for fifteen years of raising his kid before I was free.”
“Aw, too bad betraying your family didn’t work out perfectly for you.” I sat on the coffee table in
front of her. “So Varvara planned to take Nadine on her sixteenth birthday?”
“All she told us was to be away from the house for the day. When we came home and Nadine was gone, we thought that was it. But then Varvara came storming around, fuming about how Nadine had disappeared. She forced us to report Nadine as missing so the mythic community would investigate. When she learned the rogue druid had Nadine, she was furious. She pushed us into approaching your guild. She wanted you fools to apply pressure on the Ghost—to flush him out so she could get at Nadine.”
And that’s exactly what had happened. Damn, we’d played right into Varvara’s hands.
“You should be glad,” I told Martha, “that I’m the one who got to you first. The druid is far more merciless than me, and this interrogation spell is just one of his toys.”
She gasped. “You—you work for him?”
“Let’s not get sidetracked. Where are Varvara and Nadine?”
“I don’t know where she took Nadine.”
I squinted at Martha’s sneer and my stomach sank. Her eyes had cleared. The spell was done. The crystal hadn’t had time to fully recharge, so the twenty-minute duration had shrunk to less than half that. I silently swore. My first question should have been Nadine’s whereabouts.
Picking up the crystal, I jammed it back in my pocket. “Kai? I think we’ll need your aggressive questioning after all.”
Martha paled all over again, but before Kai could move, Ezra breezed into the room—but not through the front door. He walked in from the kitchen.
“Hey guys,” he said nonchalantly, nudging his ballcap up.
I blinked at him. “Where’d you come from?”
“I took the liberty of snooping around.” He shrugged. “Didn’t find much, but interestingly, they’ve got two fully packed suitcases sitting upstairs. Looks like the Rivers are planning a trip.”
“Ooooh?” I crooned. “That true, Martha?”
She squirmed hopelessly against the magical binding while her husband strained like he was trying to lay an ostrich egg.
Ezra smiled at her. “Why don’t you tell us where you’re going?”
Dark Arts and a Daiquiri (The Guild Codex: Spellbound Book 2) Page 18
