by D. R. Perry
“You’re waiting for Monday, huh?” Only mundane banks opened on Sundays. No one would keep amulets or magic items in one of those.
“Yeah. They have a tunnel entrance for vampires. I’ll head over first thing tomorrow, see what I can find.” He shrugged. “Maybe my mentor’s memory is in one of the amulets. But mainly, I have to look for anything I can find on the Extramagus, Brodsky, too.”
“Well, yeah.” I scratched my head. “So they arrested him. But Olivia had the Grim’s anchor. How’d the Police get evidence for an arrest?”
“The fang. They also found two sets of remains.” Henry curled his hands around his teacup. “Horace from the Skeleton Crew made a statement last night. People forget ghosts are legal witnesses if their Mediums support them. He saw the Grim attack the Lounge.”
“Is the Lounge fixed yet?” I raised an eyebrow. It had to be done by now.
“I don’t know. I’ll ask Tony or Fred next time I see one of them.” Henry wrinkled his nose. “Ugh, I forgot. I have to give a report to Josh’s dad. With Blaine.”
“When?” I sat up, stretching my arms over my head. Henry stared, licking his lips. I blushed and pulled the comforter back up to cover myself. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to be that distracting.”
“You can distract me like that later all you want.” He winked. “Supposed to be this afternoon. It’s still technically afternoon, right?” Henry put on his shirt, then his jacket. “And how do I get to the tunnels from here to make it to Campus Police?”
“Why go down there? Just call.”
“He said I had to do it in person.”
I wrapped the comforter around myself and got out of bed, stepping over to the chair where I’d left the umbrella leaning. One touch told me it was completely depleted. I thought about recharging it, but when I picked it up the calculator clattered to the floor. I shrugged, grinning apologetically at Henry. No one would have brought super glue down here while setting things up earlier.
“How about we call him over here?” I tucked the calculator in my satchel, losing my grip on the comforter. “He could meet you in the basement.”
“We could try that.” Henry’s eyes roamed slowly down and up my body before he looked me in the eye. “You’d need to wear something a little less revealing, though.”
“Oh.” I felt my cheeks heat up as I gathered my clothes. “Um, yeah.”
I got dressed while Henry called Chief Dennison to explain the situation. They agreed to meet in the laundry room, which also had no windows. Henry got a bag of blood from the mini-fridge and drank that from a mug while I had some tea. After he’d finished, he poured the rest of the bag into his cup. My stomach growled again.
“You really should have some food.” Henry reached out and patted my tummy.
“After you make that report.” I pulled his hand up to my mouth and kissed it.
A knock came at the door. Too early for Chief Dennison. Henry went to it, asking who was there. He opened the door for Lynn.
“Nox called and told me to bring food, but you're a vampire. Isn’t that the weirdest thing ever?” Lynn blinked at me, then shook her head after I activated my amulet. “Oh, okay. The food’s for you then, Maddie. Here you go.”
“Thanks so much.” I opened the bag to see a bagel with some peanut butter and a plastic knife to spread it on. In moments I went to work setting up the super tardy meal, then tried not to eat it too fast.
“I’m going across the hall to meet Chief Dennison now. See you when it’s all done, Maddie.” Henry leaned down and kissed me on the mouth. Nothing super-passionate or anything, but it was enough for Lynn’s eyebrow to reach new heights. Once he was out of the room, she dragged a chair next to the one I sat in and leaned forward.
“No wonder your date with Josh was so weird.” She shook her head. “I mean, I thought it was strange that you were out with him instead of Henry in the first place, but still.”
“What happened after I left?” I swallowed the last bite of my bagel. “With Nox and Josh and Blaine, I mean?”
“Oh, boy.” Lynn shook her head. “Blaine’s got a reputation and Nox was just giving him grief about it. Definitely no interest there on her part. Josh almost went ballistic, though. I’ve never seen him like that about a girl before. What kind of Magus is she?”
“She’s not one. She’s a Kelpie.”
“Oh, no.” Lynn sighed. “Poor Josh.”
“Why?” I blinked, wondering why Lynn looked so sad. “They’d be great together. Wolves marry other shifters all the time.”
“But Alphas can’t marry Faerie creatures. If they get together, it’ll look like the Dennisons took the Goblin King’s side. The pack has to stay neutral, or it might implode.”
“There’s really no way?”
“Maybe. If another high-ranking pack member got together with a Seelie, then there’d be a balance. It’d have to be a sibling. I don’t even know if Josh has any of those. Which rules out other options like passing on being the Alpha or going packless. If he’s the only heir, he can’t do either of those things.”
“Well, there’s a bit of hope then.” I wiped my hands on the napkin from the bag.
“Dunno, Maddie. Not everyone gets a happy ending. I mean, look at Professor Brodsky.”
“Him? He’s got to be better off now, right?” I bit down on toasty bread and nut goodness.
“What, in jail for crimes against Extrahumanity?” Lynn gave me the Mr. Spock look while I chewed. “He’ll go to trial by autumn and spend the rest of his life in prison. How’s that better?”
“Better as in out from under the control of whoever had him.” I ran my tongue over my front teeth, making sure they didn’t have peanut butter all over them.
“Wait. I didn’t hear about that.” Lynn put one hand over her mouth.
“We just found that out this morning.” I told her about confronting the Spite, how Nox had transformed them and the information they gave and still owed us.
“Wow. Maybe Olivia should intern with whatever legal firm is representing Brodsky. We might want a woman inside on that trial, and she’s an Extrahuman Law student. Anyway, that’s more info for the Blaine tinfoil hat theory pile.”
“You’re calling my hunt for an evil cabal of Magi a tinfoil hat theory?” Blaine leaned diagonally across the doorway, the back of his hand on his forehead. “Oh, the indignity!”
“Move it, dragon-breath.” Henry shouldered past him.
“Anything for the big vampiric hero of the morning.” Blaine arched an eyebrow at Lynn. “Did you hear about his stroll through the rosy-fingered streets of the dawn?”
“Maddie just told me.” Lynn smiled.
“Good. Stick it in the tinfoil hat files, will you?” Blaine stuck his tongue out.
“I kind of need some actual rest, and Maddie needs more than a bagel to eat.” At Henry’s words, Lynn stood up.
“You sleep?” Blaine glanced at the rumpled bed. Then, he winked at me.
“Yes, actually.” Henry smirked at Blaine.
“Okay, then.” Blaine stepped out the door, waiting. Lynn left , brushing past him.
“I’ll see you later, then.” I gave Henry a kiss worthy of a Psychic impression and went off with my other friends to let him rest.
Chapter Nineteen
Henry
I headed down the tunnels an hour before sunrise after confirming I could go to the Nocturnal Lounge after the bank. I waited until the teller came to unlock the tunnel entrance at seven. He opened the door, ushering me inside.
“Mr. Ricci, hello.” I nodded.
“Henry Baxter. I haven’t seen you since the twentieth century.” The wrinkles around the little man’s mouth deepened as he smiled. I grinned back, understanding that not everyone was as comfortable seeing my fangs. The gloom that thought usually caused was nowhere to be found.
“I’d like to see my box, please.” I handed him my I.D. and showed him the key.
“Of course.” He nodded, beckoning as h
e limped down the hall. I thanked Mr. Ricci when he set my box down.
Once he’d settled me in a lightproof safe deposit room, he left me alone. The box was small because my amulets were never big. Any memory, no matter how detailed or important, would fit in an object of any size. It’d be easy to become a packrat, collecting items to put memories in. That’s why everything in my box was necessary. The memories in the bank were too painful or too dangerous to keep in my head. Still, there were more than I’d have the energy or emotional fortitude to check out that day. It’d take months to get through them.
I used my key to open it and reached inside, letting coincidence guide my hand. The object I touched was smooth and almost flat, except for a concave depression on one side. Without looking, I knew this was a worry stone.
The memory came back as I pulled my hand from the box. Images of the past flooded my mind, walking down Camp Street in the morning past Holy Name Church, except it all seemed bigger. Memory me was seven years old, and I looked up at the overcast sky to the west as I walked. The sun had risen, but storm clouds kept its light at bay.
When I got to Rochambeau Street, I stopped in my tracks. One man stood over another, hunched on the ground. Bloodied fists and a pile of polished wood shards stood stark against the gray concrete. The man on the ground scrambled to pick up the pieces of a violin. He was past middle age, and when he reached out, I saw a row of numbers tattooed his arm.
“Beat it, kid.” The man standing glared across the street at me. I felt a sick powerless futility, along with the understanding that no one around could stop this guy. I looked up and down Rochambeau Street, certain it’d be empty. But it wasn’t.
Another kid stood on the corner diagonally from me. He was blond and tall, but my age. The kid shook his head, then extended one hand. Even across the street, I felt the chill air that knocked the attacker flat on his back. The attacker snatched a gold chain with a ring on it off the ground, then got up, and tried to run away. The survivor with the broken violin called out something about giving his mother’s ring back.
A blond boy across the street dropped me a wink and extended his arm again. This time, I saw a shimmer of heat rising over his hand. He aimed his pointer finger like a gun at the thief, who screamed, dropping the ring like it was on fire. He sank to the sidewalk, clutching his blistering hand. I crossed Rochambeau, heading toward the scene as fast as I could. As I went, I did a deep breathing exercise.
“I’ll keep him from bothering you ever again, Mr. Kazynski.” The boy strode toward the thief, gesturing with his hand again. A stream of water shot out, and I blinked. I knew he was a Magus, but I’d never seen one who could do more than one type of magic before. “I’m way under eighteen, and my grandpa’s got major connections.”
“No! I’ll never come back, I swear.” The thief shivered in fear as the water hovered in front of his lips and nose. Mr. Kazynski looked on in abject horror. It was the expression on the victim’s face that made me think the other kid’s threat was genuine.
“Uh, I have a better way to stop him than that.” I wasn’t sure why I’d interrupted a dangerous and probably batty Magus, but it felt like the right thing to do.
“Oh, really?” His smile glittered like the grill of an oncoming truck.
“Yeah. I can make him forget he’s ever seen Mr. Kazynski.”
“Go for it.” The kid arched an eyebrow. “Better make everyone forget while you’re at it. Bad tempers and long grudges run in my family.”
I nodded. As I approached the thief, the water moved out of my way. I clutched the worry stone Mom had given me and focused on everyone present. I started with the thief, touching the stone lightly to his right temple. He blinked, then headed down the hill toward North Main Street in a daze. Next, I turned to Mr. Kazynski. He’d put all the pieces of his ruined violin into its case by then. I noticed a pair of seals embossed on the velvety lining. This musician was talented enough to be honored by both Faerie Courts. I hesitated.
“What’s the problem?”
“I don’t want to piss off the Sidhe Queen and the Goblin King by messing with their fiddler.” I pointed at the seals.
“Huh. Maybe you want to piss my family and me off even less.”
“Dunno.” I shrugged.
“I guess if someone has to remember it, Mr. Kazynski can.” The kid smiled at the flustered violinist.
“Okay, then. You’re next.”
“No. You get both of us at the same time.”
“What do you think I am, a master-level Psychic?”
“I think you must be to come running over here.”
Again, I didn’t answer him. My hand trembled a little as I held the stone up to his head. If I couldn’t remove both our memories at the same time, he’d never know he’d told me not to. Then again, he seemed like the kind of kid who’d throw a fireball at my head for kicks. I went ahead and siphoned more memories into the stone, his through his forehead and mine through my hand.
The scene faded out, and I finally understood why I’d been on the wrong side of the street to catch my school bus on the first day of second grade. I felt exhausted because the stone held three perspectives. After that, I had to stop checking for the day. I thought about taking a few amulets with me, but with Brodsky in police custody, who knew what the Extramagus might throw around next. After tying the ring and worry stone together in a bandanna, I locked the box, then rang the bell to call Mr. Ricci.
I headed for the Nocturnal Lounge. Josh was in the trolley tunnel, leaning against the wall. He smelled like cloves, and cigarette butts littered the ground at his feet.
“Those things will kill you.” I leaned next to him.
“Not really.” He blew out a smoke ring that rivaled some of Blaine’s “Wolf shifters resist the ever-living hell out of diseases.”
“Huh. Who knew?” I smirked.
“Maddie did. She’s up there, by the way.” Josh jerked his chin at the hidden door.
“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Tony and Fred brought her and Blaine up to look at some books.” He pushed off from the wall, stretching.
“Well, what are you doing out here, then?”
“Waiting for you.”
“Please don’t tell me we need to have another talk.” I rolled my eyes.
“Sorry.” He dragged the glowing end of his nearly burned cigarette over the patchy brickwork of the tunnel wall. “We do. I swear it’s not like the last one, though.”
“Okay, so talk.”
“It’ll be a while before this happens, but my parents expect me to be the Dennison Pack Alpha someday. There’s some wolf politics stuff I don’t want to bore you with, but I need to run a pack before then for experience.”
“What’s that got to do with me?”
“We’re both elbows-deep in Blaine’s crazy theory. Like Nox said, we painted giant targets on our backs by helping you and Maddie, so I’m stepping up. Blaine’s too out-of-touch to be in charge. Frampton and Tremain aren’t leaders. It’s on me to keep us focused.”
“Josh, your head’s going to be too big to get through the door if you don’t stop pumping your ego. Get to the point already.”
“See, that right there is why you’re the ideal Beta.” He chuckled.
“But I’m a vampire.”
“I don’t care. We’re at PPC and handling a PPC problem. If they accept whoever’s qualified, so will I.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “Maddie told me she gave you a medallion. One of the old kind.”
“Yeah.”
“Give it here.” Josh held out his hand.
The string trailed behind the bronze disk like a long tail. It rested on my upturned palm. I didn’t have to wonder whether Josh could see it, either. He reached out and clasped my hand, pressing the medallion between us.
“This is a formal alliance between the vampire Henry Baxter and the Tinfoil Hat Pack. Our territory is PPC campus, India Point Park, Swan Point Cemetery, and this tunnel.” Josh’s
voice was clear, his tone carrying unquestionable authority. “Do you accept this alliance and rank as Pack Beta?”
“Yes.” I felt the unmistakable tingle of a supernatural oath. Wolf shifters had a weird type of energy, somewhere between Psychic and Magic. They say it comes from the moon. “Let’s get upstairs and go to work.”
“Fine.” When Josh took his hand away, he left the medallion behind. I blinked, watching him slip one around his neck. The magic in the alliance pledge had split it into two pieces. I put mine on, then knocked to open the secret door.
Josh and I went up the stairs and into the Lounge proper. All the furniture was different and half the shelves new, but most everything else was the same. I thought we were alone until I saw people in my old corner of the mezzanine, heads bent over books.
Blaine looked up from his scribbled notes. He nudged Tony. Maddie sat across from Blaine, her nose in the Umbral Affinity book. Fred Redford stood off to the side, eating a foot-long steak bomb. I didn’t mind. It was better for a hungry Redcap to eat food instead of the furniture. Olivia peeked out from one of the stacks, amber eyes wide as she looked at Josh’s chest and then mine. Her little gasp of surprise sounded more like a sleepy hoot than anything else.
“Finally, the X Generation arrives.” Blaine scribbled something else. “I’ll need to know if you found anything about weird Magi at the bank, Henry.”
“Hi, Olivia.” Josh ignored Blaine and nodded at her.
“Hoo, boy, you’ve gone and done it this time.”
“What?” Blaine looked up at Josh and me, then paled. “Oh, no, you didn’t.”
“What’s the big deal?” Fred rolled his eyes. “It’s only a couple of bromance necklaces.”
“No, it’s not, but you wouldn’t know.” Blaine shook his head. “You can’t see that magic.”
Tony stared at the medallion halves like he could see something. I remembered back to the first Grim attack, how he’d made a Glamour. I almost asked what he saw, but I remembered my promise. One of these days, someone would figure out what his deal was.
