“Evil won’t be defeated on an empty stomach.” I waved a hand like this explained everything, really just trying to clear away Rafael’s magic. “Anyway, it’ll give us something to snack on while we’re waiting for Arkady.”
Levi extracted a slim case, which he unzipped and set on my desk with the excited pride of a parent who’s nailed their kid’s birthday present.
I frowned. “Why do you have a set of lock picks?”
Levi heaved a disappointed sigh and removed a basic brass cylinder lock common to most front doors with the bolt slid out. He set it next to the case. “I trained you. You train me.”
“You did exactly one training session before abandoning me to seek help elsewhere.”
“Semantics. Now, how do I pick a lock? I’ve wanted to know ever since that time the camp staff took away our candy stashes and locked them up. Miles would never teach me.”
I primly clicked the bolt shut. “Because it’s not something a House Head should go around doing.”
“Come on, Ash.” He unlocked it again and gave me a cajoling grin. “Miles is the grumpy one, you’re the fun one. Which pick do I use?”
Even if he mastered this skill, when could he really use it? Plus, it would piss Miles off.
Levi’s eyes shone brightly and I caved.
I snatched the ridged pick rake out of his hand, replacing it with another tool. “Tension wrench. We’ll go with the fast and dirty method. Scrubbing. Essentially, you use the wrench to apply tension on the plug inside the lock, while with the pick lock, you lift the pins inside, clearing the shear line.”
Levi’s mouth silently repeated the words as I said them, like they were a spell he was committing to memory or he was afraid he’d lose them if he didn’t practice. His eyes never left my hands. Like all this was a magic trick, and if he blinked, he’d miss it.
I demonstrated how to insert the wrench into the bottom of the keyhole. “Apply the tiniest bit of pressure and turn it like you would a key. But don’t bend the wrench too much.”
Levi took the wrench from me and started practicing, following my instructions with a dogged thoroughness, a tiny smile playing on his lips.
Arkady arrived with a muted wave of apology. “Sorry. I was on the North Shore and there was an accident on the bridge that tied up traffic for two hours.”
“Arkady Choi,” I said, “Rafael Behar.”
“Good to meet you,” Arkady said.
“Likewise,” Rafael replied. No bruises were incurred in their handshake.
“Mrs. Pugson, we meet again,” Arkady said, helping himself to coffee with a liberal splash of milk. “Don’t let me disturb your rutting.”
The dog had whined until I’d brought along the damn squeaky cow toy, which she now used to conduct an experiment in friction and her nether regions.
“They’re courting,” I said. “Avert your eyes.”
Arkady took the seat next to me.
I dug in to a jelly donut. Getting through this meeting was going to require sugar. “Rafael, help yourself. I’ve got a ton of food here.”
“No, thank you,” he said. “I don’t eat sugary treats in the morning. I had yogurt and granola.”
“Surely, one little scone couldn’t hurt.” Priya wagged a flaky triangle pastry at him like the snake in the garden of Eden. “We could split one.”
Pri’s flirting generally had more subtlety than a missile guidance system. This wasn’t merely interest, it was a new and more exotic coping mechanism, with an Ash-shaped complication.
Why did it have to be Rafael of all people who’d cracked her shell?
However, the ever-present flutter of anxiety when I was around Priya lately eased at the sparkle in her eyes and the mirth in her smile, and Rafael wasn’t engaging beyond polite friendliness, so what harm could it do?
Not to mention, that polite friendliness was a heck of a lot better than what he’d thrown at Levi and me. Maybe Priya was my ticket to lowering Rafael’s guard enough for him and me to have a serious talk.
“The straights are at it again,” Arkady said quietly to me, nibbling on a muffin. “How many couples are we going to have on this mission?”
I sarcastically took a huge chomp of my jelly donut in his general direction as a response. Yeah, it was going to be weird if this kept up, but she wasn’t the Priya I could talk to about everything anymore. And I wasn’t the Ash who felt comfortable barging into her life all the time.
“You’d do well to improve your eating habits,” Rafael was saying. To me. “A Jezebel needs to be in tip-top condition, and a proper diet is the first step in mental and physical clarity.”
Levi barked a laugh. “This is Ash we’re talking about.”
I elbowed him and in return he stole a piece of my donut. “I’ll take that under advisement,” I said.
“No, you won’t,” Levi said.
“No, I won’t,” I agreed cheerfully.
Rafael took my plate with the donut away from me. “Without you operating at your best, you put us all at a serious disadvantage.”
I snatched the plate back. “We all need to bring our A-game,” I said, trotting out my best “playing nicely” smile. “Let’s just get this meeting going. Pri, could you please shut the door?” I selected the lock pick with three ridges and slapped it into Levi’s hand. “Insert this at the top of the lock. Keep the pressure up with the wrench and scrub the pick back and forth.” I mimed the motion. “Rafael, why don’t you give us a short history of Jezebels?”
“Wait. I have an update before we get started,” Arkady said. “Remember the two men we captured when we rescued those teens Chariot was stealing magic from? They committed suicide.”
My bite of donut stuck in my throat. “In a maximum security prison?”
Arkady ripped off a piece of banana chocolate chip muffin. “Handy, huh? Apparently, they didn’t want to do time and were pressing for immunity in exchange for a deal to expose some higher-ups.”
“If they didn’t realize
