“This won’t take long,” Brownstone assured them as he pulled up in front of the church. “Just have to talk to Father McCartney for a quick moment.”
“I’m fine. Not going into a church,” Shay muttered. The last thing she needed was any Catholic guilt.
Alison sighed. “I wonder what kind of religion my mom believed in.”
Shay and Brownstone both looked at the girl.
Even now Alison looked normal enough, the only visible hint of her otherworldly heritage the natural white ends on her dark hair, but she wasn’t a normal girl. She was a half-Drow princess with a powerful magical heritage who could see people’s souls and the energy from magic.
“Maybe that’s something you can find out at the school,” Shay suggested. “There are Oricerans there. Some of them might be as old as your mom was.”
Her mother’s massacre of the Grayson mercenaries had proven just how dangerous a Drow could be. Shay and Brownstone were lethal, but Alison’s mother had killed scores of men while close to death.
A good killer always recognized the killing talents of another. Brownstone could kick a lot of ass and she respected him for that, but even he would have to be careful around a Drow based on what they’d seen.
Alison smiled, oblivious to the lethal thoughts running through Shay’s head. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
Shay still hadn’t told Brownstone about Lily. There was time and things were complicated enough. Better to see if Lily was even going to last. Besides, Shay had spent a lifetime taking care of her own business. Some habits would be a little harder to bend, much less break.
Brownstone patted the girl on the shoulder and stepped out of his truck.
Shay waited until the bounty hunter had stepped into the church to speak. “He’s done a lot of research about the school. So have I.”
Alison smiled. “I know. It’s just a lot of changes. I was living with my mom and dad, and now Mr. Brownstone is looking after me, and I’m going off to a magic school. I know it’ll be good for me, but I’m still a little scared.”
“I think the scariest parts are over. You’ve been through a lot, and you’re strong, to not have let it take you down.”
“Was it hard for you to leave home?”
Shay chuckled. “Nah, I didn’t like my parents. I was doing my own thing around your age too, but I didn’t get to go to a fancy school or anything.”
“You turned out all right.”
Shay laughed. “That’s a matter of opinion, but I’m glad you think so.”
Alison let out a contented sigh. “Then I’ll try and concentrate on all the cool stuff that’s going to happen at the school. It’ll be an adventure! And they’ll be a lot of kids with magic so I won’t be weird or strange.”
“Exactly.”
Shay resisted a snort at the domesticity.
Soon, she’d be flying with Brownstone to Virginia to drop the girl off.
How the hell had this happened?
The flight from LAX to Richmond International had gone smoothly enough, and finally they had reached the school.
They pulled into a side road and drove for a few moments, until finally an elaborate wrought iron fence with a gate in the middle blocked their way.
Brownstone slowed the SUV as they approached the fence, looking for some sort of security guard, and drove up to the gate. “They didn’t say anything about who to call. I assumed there’d be someone here.”
Shay laughed. “Maybe it’ll magically know who we are.”
The gates swung open as if pushed by invisible forces. No obvious mechanism was visible.
Magic after all, huh? Shay thought.
Several minutes later he parked in a circular drive surrounding an elaborate fountain resembling a burning phoenix. Shay helped Alison grab her single suitcase from the back and they headed toward the front of the main building, a Georgian-style mansion—or so Shay informed him.
They were intercepted by an older woman who called, “You must be Mr. Brownstone.” She smiled at the teen. “And Alison.”
“Am I...supposed to bow or something?” James asked.
Shay slapped a hand to her forehead, rolling her eyes. “Seriously, Brownstone?”
The woman laughed and extended her hand. “How about I just offer you my hand? I’m Eleanor Hudson. I teach magical history and basic spells here.”
They spoke for a while longer and finally the woman said, “Well, I do hate to be rude, but I’d like to get Alison’s orientation started. In the beginning, many things about the school may be overwhelming to new arrivals, so the orientation is critical to integration.”
After James and Alison had finished their goodbyes and Alison had left, Shay turned away and put her hand to her face.
“Problem, Shay?”
She snorted and turned back around, eyes slightly red. “Just the pollen in these Virginian trees.”
Brownstone nodded but wisely remained silent.
“C’mon, Brownstone,” Shay urged. “We still have a flight back to LA to catch.”
Chapter Five
They were supposed to be on their way back to the airport. Instead, they ended up back in a parking spot.
“Problem, Brownstone?”
“We should check the place out more,” he rumbled. “To make sure it’s safe.”
Shay chuckled. “And what…verify that their griffin riders all have their licenses up to date?”
“They have griffins? Kids shouldn’t fly around on monsters.”
“I don’t know. Just saying.” Shay shrugged. “Probably. But what else? Gonna inspect some wands to make sure they are UL compliant?”
The bounty hunter grunted. “It wouldn’t hurt to look around a little more.”
Shay sighed. “No, it wouldn’t.”
They stepped out of the SUV and made their way toward a sidewalk. The density of students was decreasing.
Shay tried to wrap her mind around Brownstone’s paternalism. The truth was, he didn’t know Alison that well, but he’d thrown himself into making sure the girl
