“Hey!” I blurted out. “I really need you to focus. Can you do that for me?”
“Anything for you, my prince,” she said with starry eyes, attempting to stroke my cheek with a finger.
“I’m serious,” I uttered in exasperation. “I need you to concentrate.”
“You are so cute when you’re angry,” she said, tapping my nose with a fingertip, which made Monique giggle.
“It’s not funny,” I hissed at my cousin.
“I know,” Monique conceded, covering a wide grin with her hand.
“Okay, I need to get her home for something,” I told my cousin. “I’ll bring her back when we’re done and she can sleep it off, detox, or whatever needs to happen to get it out of her system.”
Without giving Monique a chance to reply, I then teleported me and Myshtal.
Chapter 49
We popped up in Myshtal’s bedroom at the embassy. Unfortunately, when we reappeared, she appeared woozy for a second. Teleportation can occasionally disorient people, and to the best of my knowledge, this was the first time I’d teleported someone who was stoned.
I immediately put my arms around her to make sure she didn’t fall. As before, she responded by putting her arms around my neck.
“So you’ll catch me if I swoon?” she asked cheekily. “I’ll have to remember that.”
Now wondering if she’d feigned being lightheaded, I made sure she was on her feet and then removed her arms from my neck again.
“Look,” I began, “you said you’d do anything for me. You remember saying that?”
“Of course, my sweet,” she replied.
“Okay, then. I need you to take a good look around this room and tell me if there’s anything missing.”
“If you insist,” she said, sounding more somber than I’d thought possible. Then, just when I thought she was taking me seriously, she stretched out her arms and began spinning in a circle, shouting, “Wheee!”
I groaned aloud in frustration, wiping my face with my hand. This wasn’t going at all how I had envisioned.
Stepping towards Myshtal, I firmly (but gently) gripped her shoulders.
“Listen,” I said. “This is serious. I really need you to–”
“My ring,” she said, cutting me off.
I looked at her in confusion. “Huh?”
“My ring,” she repeated. “One that the queen gave me before we left Caeles. It’s missing.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes,” she stated with a nod. “I looked while I was spinning around. I usually keep it on the dresser and it’s not there.”
“Okay, great,” I said, as this proved my theory.
Part of the reason Myshtal had left Caeles was that she had some budding superpowers, which Queen Dornoccia had felt would be more properly developed on Earth, where such abilities were more common. One of her talents was the ability to find things.
Of course, there were limitations on this particular power. First and foremost, the thing she sought had to be something she had a close connection to, whether a person or object. In short, she probably couldn’t find someone like, say, Smokey, whom she hadn’t known for long or developed any kind of bond with. (In fact, it was probably safe to say I was the only person on the planet she had that kind of affinity for.) However, something like a precious heirloom from a beloved family member would be an entirely different story.
Basically, my hypothesis was that Mouse wanted me to find him, but for some reason couldn’t directly tell me where he was. Thus, he had set off the alarm to make sure I’d know he’d been in the embassy, and – being aware of Myshtal’s power – he had taken an item from her room that he felt she’d be able to trace.
Bearing all this in mind, I then asked Myshtal what was probably the most important question: “Do you think you can find it? The ring, that is?”
She gave me a dazzling smile. “Of course.”
Chapter 50
I teleported the two of us to Mouse’s lab. Based on the fact that he’d left his bug-out bag, I had to assume he was somewhere close by. (And if that were the case, Myshtal would find him – or rather, the ring he’d taken.) As before, it was dark when we arrived, but after a few seconds, the lights started coming on.
“Okay,” I said to her. “Do your thing.”
Myshtal simply nodded as she cupped her hands in front of her and closed her eyes. I watched as her brow furrowed in concentration for a moment, and then a small white spark began to form between her hands.
Having seen her demonstrate this ability before, I smiled in anticipation. In a moment, the spark would become a white flame and then zip away from her hand, leading the way to her missing ring – and presumably Mouse’s location – like a bloodhound.
Much to my dismay, however, the spark simply seemed to fizzle out.
“Hmmm,” Myshtal droned – more to herself than to me – as she opened her eyes. She appeared to frown in confusion for a moment, then closed her eyes again.
Once more, the spark began to form between her hands; however, just as with her previous attempt, it seemed to wither and die a short time later.
Somewhat frustrated, Myshtal turned to me, saying, “It’s not working.”
“How’s that possible?” I asked. “I thought you were supposed to be able to find anything you had a connection to.”
“I can,” she insisted. “But something weird is going on. It’s not simply that I can’t locate it. It’s like the ring doesn’t exist anymore.”
I frowned, thinking her supposition sounded ridiculous but not wanting to say anything to distress her. The truth of the matter was that – while she was showing a bit of lucidity at the moment – Myshtal was still high. It was entirely possible that her mental state was affecting her power in some way (or, more appropriately, her ability to use her power).
“Why don’t we do a dry run?” I suggested. “Instead of the ring, try to find me.”
“But you’re standing right there,” she pointed out.
“I know,” I agreed with a nod, “but we’re just trying to
