“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Cheyenne laughed. “No knives so far, but it’s good advice. I appreciate this too.” She nodded at the jar on top of her basket, then turned toward the parking lot. “Can I give you guys a ride?”
“Oh, no. We’re not that far, Cheyenne. Just a few more things to do today. Have fun with all your…work.” R’mahr pointed at her basket, then wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulders again.
“Okay. Thanks. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Bye, Cheyenne.” Bryl waved, and her parents repeated the gesture.
The halfling crossed the street toward the parking lot, miscellaneous ingredients rattling around in the overflowing basket. She had to set it down to pull out her keyless fob and unlock the car, then everything went into the back seat.
When she got behind the wheel, she flicked the Heart of Darkness pendant resting against her chest. Then she stuffed it down under her sweatshirt and started the car. It’s nonstop today.
The halfling heard the voices coming from behind her apartment door the second she stepped out of the elevator. Mostly, it was Ember’s laughter. And some dude in there making her laugh.
When she opened the door, she found Ember sitting beside one of the black leather armchairs. In it was their new neighbor Matthew. They both turned to look at her, and Matthew grinned. “Hey, Cheyenne.”
“’Sup?” With a quick nod, the halfling turned left and hurried toward her bedroom at the other end of the apartment. Right. Like a basket of crazy magical stuff and this leather case under my arm aren’t gonna catch the guy’s attention.
Ember and Matthew muttered something to each other, but Cheyenne was too busy jerking open the bedroom door to pay much attention. Then she was too busy staring. “No way.”
The basket of supplies went slowly to the polished hardwood floors, followed by the case holding the magical web. Cheyenne took a few more steps into the room and laughed. “She freakin’ did it.”
Black-out curtains hung over the single window on the right. A black chest of drawers sat in the far right corner, with silver skulls on each drawer instead of knobs or handles. In the left corner was a massive Victorian-style wingback chair, the armrests studded with silver buttons and the rest of the upholstery done up with black lace around the edges. Beside that was a tall standing lamp, and the lampshade was an inverted chandelier with sheer purple fabric draped over it. The queen-sized bed hadn’t been changed out, but a canopy of black satin and black tulle fell from the ceiling to hang over the side of the bed.
Laughing again, Cheyenne went to the bed first and poked her head inside the canopy. The head of the bed was covered in black and silver pillows of lace, velvet, and satin. One had an intricate dagger printed on the front. Another had a very fancy design of a disembodied hand flipping the bird. With a chuckle, the halfling spread her hands on the comforter. Christmas came early, didn’t it?
“Purple fucking velvet. Ha.” She spun around and headed back to the door, reaching out to flip the light switch on. The intricately curving light switch case with more skulls on it made her pause, then she turned on the light. The purple chandelier only gave off enough of a glow to confirm what she already knew.
“Em. You for real made me a—” Cheyenne stopped when she saw the back of Matthew’s head rising over the back of the armchair. Shit. I really don’t like people in my space.
“You like it?” Ember wheeled away from the armchair so she could get a better view of her friend’s reaction.
“That’s an understatement, and we can talk about it later.” The halfling couldn’t hold back a smirk, then she moved farther across the living room to look at Matthew and raise an eyebrow. “Looks like you two are having a lovely chat.”
“Just thought I’d stop by and see if I could help.”
“He helped hang those paintings.” Ember pointed at the wall beside the front door.
“Those are kinda cool.” Cheyenne tilted her head to one side and then the other, squinting at the splotches of black, gray, and yellow paint. “What are they?”
“Abstract.” Ember shrugged. “I like them.”
“That’s the only thing that matters when you’re the one putting it all together, huh?” The halfling smiled at her friend, glanced at Matthew, then jolted and pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Crap. I have that meeting in like twenty minutes.”
“Oh, yeah. Good luck with that one.” Ember shot her a thumbs-up.
“Not sure luck’s gonna help me with this, but I’ll take it anyway.” Cheyenne picked her backpack up off the floor beside the couch and double-checked to make sure the copper legacy box was still inside.
“Who has meetings on a Saturday at six o’clock?” Matthew asked.
Slinging the backpack over her shoulder, the halfling spread her arms and walked backward toward the door. “Question I’ve been asking myself for two days, Matthew. Just can’t figure it out. Go ahead and eat dinner without me, Em. Save something if you want. I’ve been weirdly busy today.”
“No problem.”
Cheyenne spun around and opened the door, then peered over her shoulder and muttered, “Be good.”
Ember’s laugh came through the door even after the halfling shut it. Then Cheyenne was off again. Maybe I should think about building a Goth-box on wheels. This back and forth thing is killing me.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Cheyenne pulled out her phone just as she reached the door to Conference Room A in the Computer Sciences building on the VCU campus. One minute to spare. That’s gotta be good enough for these people.
When she opened the door, all five of her professors sat around the conference table. Four of them gave the halfling a tight smile; the only one who looked happy to see her
