Miranda’s rage must have been clear on her face for Sara laughed. “Feel free to disagree all you like. I welcome constructive argument. But if you’re just going to be miffish, you’d better get over it quickly. Those who can’t take an honest opinion don’t last long down here. Right, Sparrow?”
Sparrow, who’d given up on Gin’s tail and taken a seat on the couch, merely smiled. “No one lasts long with you, Sara.”
“Not so,” Sara said curtly. “You’ve been with me five years.”
“That’s because I care more for your money than my ego,” Sparrow said. “Get to the point before the Spiritualist girl becomes terminally insulted and my trip becomes a waste.”
Sara turned to Miranda. “Right. Then let’s see it.”
Miranda stared at her. “See what?”
“Your Great Spirit,” Sara said, giving her a look that said this should have been obvious. “If you’re going to be working for me, I have to see what I’m dealing with.”
Miranda started to object, but stopped. It wasn’t actually an unreasonable request. Swallowing her temper, she closed her eyes and gave Mellinor a little mental nudge. A nudge was all it took. With that curious, skin- crawling feeling of being a faucet, the water spirit poured out of her. When Miranda opened her eyes again, Mellinor was floating beside her, a ball of pure, blue, strangely smug-looking water, spinning slowly before Sara’s obviously rapt attention.
“A Great Spirit,” she whispered, stepping forward, smiling and as bright eyed as a child. “I’ve met several, but I’ve never seen one come out of a person.”
“Nor will you,” Mellinor said. “So far as I know, my circumstances are unique.”
Sara reached out, tracing her fingers across the water’s surface. “Absolutely marvelous.”
Mellinor puffed up a little at that, and Miranda covertly rolled her eyes. Her sea could be as bad as her dog sometimes.
Sara didn’t notice. She was busy walking around Mellinor, stepping high over Gin’s paws where there wasn’t room. “Do you still have tides?” she asked. “Currents? What about your salinity?”
“No tides,” Mellinor said. “Not enough water. My currents were always my own. I changed my salinity to match Miranda’s blood. It seemed the easiest thing to do, and I don’t care for much salt, anyway.”
There was something dark in his voice as he spoke that last bit, but Sara just nodded and jotted several notes on a pad that she fished from her pocket. Miranda, however, was busy staring at her water spirit. She’d never even thought to ask questions like that, and she was starting to feel ashamed. Mellinor was her spirit. She should know all there was to know about him, not leave it to some stranger.
Sara looked as though she had more questions, but a whistle outside made her put away her pad.
“Well,” she said, “if the sea’s on your side, the tide may wait, but time never will.” She gestured at Miranda as she went back to her chair. “You can pull him back now. You’ve made the team.”
“Team?” Miranda said, stretching out her arm. “What do you mean?”
Mellinor took his time coming back, obviously appreciating the attention from Sara. Miranda resisted the urge to nudge him along.
“I’m the Head Wizard for the Council of Thrones,” Sara said, sitting back down at her desk. “Officially, I’m in charge of all wizards working for the Council, though I don’t bother with most of them. They’re dull dropouts from the Spirit Court mostly, with no will to speak of. They’re better left in the copy rooms ordering ink spirits around. But you,” she said, grinning. “You, Miranda, with your shining sea and your dog and whatever else you’ve got on your fingers, are different. I thought you would be. That’s why I had Phillipe Whitefall send you that letter.”
Miranda frowned. “I thought I was appointed as head of the Eli Monpress investigation on account of my experience with the thief.”
“Yes, well, that was the reason I fed the bounty office.” Sara took a long splinter from a box on her desk and held it near her lamp. At once, a spark jumped from the lamp flame to the splinter’s end. “Only way I could get you away from Banage, really. He doesn’t have much patience for me,” she said, touching the burning splinter to her pipe. “It wasn’t hard. Phillipe jumped at the chance to make the thief someone else’s problem. Of course,” she said between puffs, “it would be wonderful if you could catch Eli for me. I’m even more keen to meet him than I was to meet you. I’m very interested in the way this world works, you see, the different aspects of wizardry and spirits and how they interact. Things like how a Great Spirit could shrink himself down small enough to fit into a human while maintaining his essence as a Great Spirit. These are the curiosities I love to surround myself with. It keeps the mind young. But Eli’s the greatest mystery of them all. A wizard whom every spirit obeys.” Her voice grew almost wistful. “Now that is something I’d love to examine for myself.”
“You’d have to get in line,” Miranda said, crossing her arms over her chest. “There are a lot of people who want a piece of Eli Monpress.” Sara gave her a sharp look, and Miranda glared right back. “Perhaps I haven’t made this clear, but I am a Spiritualist first, foremost, and forever. I agreed to work for the Council to get support and information in my hunt for Monpress. With all due respect, Lady Sara, that doesn’t include being one of your ‘curiosities.’ If I’m only here so you could have a look at Mellinor, I’ll be on my way.”
Sara gave her a smoky smile. “Direct,” she said. “I like that. Very well, Spiritualist Lyonette, I will answer in kind. I pulled the strings to bring you here because we have a delicate matter on our hands. One of my dear friends, a Shaper and a great scholar of wizardry, has vanished. Though he’s not formally involved with the Council, it would be a great loss for all of us if Heinricht Slorn were to remain missing. Therefore, I am putting a group together to find him and bring him safely back to Zarin under the Council’s protection.”
“Slorn?” Miranda frowned. The name was desperately familiar, but it wasn’t the one she’d been waiting for. “I’m sorry to hear about your missing friend,” she said. “But I don’t have time to—”
“Slorn has many friends from all walks of life.” Sara’s voice rolled right over her. “Including a certain thief.”
She paused, and Miranda had to swallow her words, motioning for the woman to get on with it. Sara did no such thing. She merely sat there and smoked, watching Miranda squirm. Finally, when she obviously felt Miranda had stewed enough, Sara continued.
“We have a good tip that Slorn has asked for Eli’s help as well as mine. However, Eli doesn’t know where Slorn is.” Sara smiled. “I do.”
Miranda’s eyes widened as Sara’s implications hit her. The idea of getting somewhere before Eli did was almost intoxicating. “Where?”
Sara arched her eyebrows at Miranda’s abandoned aloofness. “You’ll go on the mission then?”
Miranda stopped cold. Powers, she’d stepped right into that one. She took a moment to think, keeping her eyes away from Sara’s cool, sure expression. If she left Zarin and Sara was wrong about Eli going after Slorn, she could miss his next theft altogether. Besides, one look at Sara and the company she kept was enough to set off a whole tower full of warning bells. Miranda’s eyes slid over to the couch where Sparrow was sitting with his legs crossed, watching her. Just being in the same room with him put her on edge. But if Sara was right…
She felt a warmth against her back as Gin leaned in behind her. “You should take it,” he growled low in his throat. “Even if Eli robbed Lord Whitefall’s mansion tomorrow, we’d still be eating his dust. A trap is always better than a chase.”
Miranda nodded. You could always trust a predator about these things. Still, she decided as she glanced at Sara, no need for the old lady to know her intentions just yet.
“If I went,” she said slowly, “where would I be going?”
“No, no, no,” Sara said, shaking her head. “That’s not how this works. You don’t get confidential information for free. I asked you, are you joining us? Answer, yes or no, and I’ll decide what to tell you after.”
Miranda took an angry breath and nearly marched out right then and there. It was her need to catch Eli that kept her in place. Could she really throw her chance at catching him away over rankled pride? After all, she had no other leads, and just the thought of going back to paperwork nearly made her ill. Miranda grimaced and looked over her shoulder at Gin, who flicked his ears as if to say it was her choice. Miranda bit her lip. Well, she’d already come this far. She might as well go in all the way.
“All right,” she said, looking Sara directly in the eyes. “I’m in.”
Sara grinned in triumph. “Are you familiar with Izo the Bandit King?”
Miranda nodded.
Sara waved her pipe in a grand gesture. “That’s your answer.”
Miranda stared at her. “What?”
