“Maybe not. But I bet I could hack in Persh’al’s system if I gave it enough time.”
“Ha! I’d like to see you try.” The troll spun and pointed at the halfling. “Please don’t try. You’ll just hurt yourself.”
Smiling, Cheyenne just looked back down at her sandwich and started to unwrap it. Not a bad idea. I won’t hurt myself at all.
Persh’al slapped his desk again, but this time, it came with a laugh of triumph. “Wow! Take a look at that, Corian.”
The Nightstalker tore a huge chunk from the top of his sub. His eyes widened at the picture on the screen.
“Professor Mathilda Bergmann, Ph.D.” The troll looked at his friend. “Look like anyone we know?”
Corian chewed his bite and swallowed. “Finish up.”
“Yeah, I’ll find her in less than a minute. Make sure you save me one of those sandwiches, huh? I know how you go through those things.”
Turning toward Cheyenne, the Nightstalker shoved another huge bite of fully-loaded sub into his mouth and raised his eyebrows.
Yeah, congratulations. You found your missing general.
She lifted her sandwich toward him in a half-assed salute before taking a massive bite.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Persh’al leaped out of his chair and grabbed his phone from his back pocket just as it let off a chirping notification. “We got it.”
“Okay.” Chewing thoughtfully, Corian glanced around the mostly empty warehouse. “What about the terror twins?”
The troll snorted. “They wouldn’t shut up, so I told them to go take their crap out back and pull some weeds.”
“Weeds?”
With a dubious grin, Persh’al shrugged. “I’m thinking about bringing them on as full-time gardeners. Nice thought, right?”
Corian took another bite of sandwich and muttered through the mouthful, “Go tell ‘em we’re on the move.”
“Yep.” Persh’al rounded the corner of the desk and snatched up a bag of subs before heading for a plain metal door on the other side of the warehouse.
After only three bites of her sandwich, Cheyenne wrapped it back up and stood from the couch. Corian watched her silently until she set the sub down on the corner of the center desk.
“Not hungry?”
“Not a fan of banana peppers.” She sucked the bread from between her teeth and wiped her hands on the sides of her pants.
“You’re kidding. Who doesn’t like banana peppers?” The Nightstalker stuffed his face again with another bite.
“Me, for one.”
“Well, just pick ‘em out. I’ll eat ‘em.”
She shook her head. “I’m good.” And I’m not hungry. Not before we go shove Mattie’s past under her nose and call it asking for a favor.
The back door of the warehouse squealed open before Persh’al stepped back inside, followed by the goblins.
“We’re not driving all the way to Richmond, are we?” Byrd whined. “Seriously, four hours in a car with you guys was as much as I need for another century.”
“You’re unbelievable.” Lumil shook her head as she wiped dirt-covered hands on her pants. “We found Maleshi Hi’et, and you’re crying about having to ride in a car.”
“If I have to ride bitch again, then yeah.” Byrd spread his arms and leaped away from the goblin woman’s solid swing. “I need my own window.”
Corian took one more massive bite of his sandwich before finally setting the thing down on the desk.
“Hey, watch the setup, huh?” Persh’al pointed at his computer. “Last thing I need is Nightstalker crumbs gunking up my keyboard.”
Ignoring the troll’s half-joke, Corian stepped toward the center of the warehouse and moved his fingers in a quick series of gestures. His lips moved too, silently uttering the words of his spell before a small, dark sphere opened in the air.
Byrd stopped when he saw the Nightstalker’s new portal and grinned. “Finally.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Corian shot the goblin man a warning glance and nodded at the quickly growing portal. “We’re going in dark for this.”
“Stealth mode. Nice.” His comment made Lumil roll her eyes, but she was smiling just like Byrd.
Cheyenne moved around the three long tables and joined the others gathered around the portal. “I’m guessing there’s some other kind of spell we need for this.”
Byrd let out an uncharacteristic giggle, ending in a snort. “Good one. Just keep ‘em coming, halfling.” His turquoise fingers moved swiftly and precisely, then the air shimmered around him and he vanished.
Smiling at Cheyenne, Lumil reached out and punched the empty air beside her. Her fist hit home with a thump, followed by the quick scuffle of staggering feet.
“For real?” the invisible Byrd shouted. “I just can’t catch a break.”
“You would if you got out of the way fast enough.” The goblin woman wiggled her eyebrows at the halfling before casting a spell and disappearing like Byrd.
Persh’al went next, and Corian stepped toward Cheyenne before muttering in a low voice, “Keep that pendant on for now. We’re going back to our regular precautions.”
The halfling nodded and gazed into the dark, shimmering air of the oval portal in front of her. On the other side, a short cement walkway cut through a yard of green grass toward a small white one-story house with navy-blue shutters and a matching door. “No candles for this one?”
He snorted. “This warehouse has enough wards to keep an ogre den out, Cheyenne. Nobody’s picking up a portal trail from in here.”
When she turned toward him to make a quip about ogre dens, the Nightstalker was gone. “Woah. Okay, I’m adding this to the list of spells you’re helping me with.”
“Sure.”
Byrd chuckled softly on the other side of the portal, his voice growing louder and closer as the other invisible magicals apparently lined up behind the halfling. “You’re teaching our girl spells now too, Corian?”
Cheyenne eyed the empty air and turned by instinct when she felt the heat of three more bodies behind her. “Anyone gonna work that invisibility thing on
