I cleaned up the mess. The Pizza King is not yet vanquished.
Shay cleared her throat. “Just thought of something.”
Peyton winced. Please don’t ask about the pizza.
“Since the Ainu thing’s on the backburner, go ahead and look into those symbols. I’ve got some interesting leads, but I want to see what you turn up.”
“Oh, sure. Will do.”
“Don’t call me unless it’s important.” Shay hung up.
He let out a sigh of relief. He’d say one thing for online magical research—it didn’t end with the building smelling awful.
“You look like you got away with something, Peyton. Keep a perspective. It’s smelly pizza. Not like you gave away our location or something.”
Chapter Fifteen
Alison smiled. “I’m glad you’re going to be able to spend the next few days with me, and I’m sorry I can’t cancel all my stuff.”
Shay shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I was just in the area and figured I’d stop by. You never know when I’ll be able to, so I might as well when I can, right?”
“I’ll be back in my room in an hour.” Alison waved as she stepped out of the lunchroom.
Shay forced a smile on her face as she sat back down at a table. The school agreed to let her stay for a few days. She found herself wanting to call and check on Lily even more. Something about seeing all these teenagers running around worrying about passing a test in Spells class.
Shay hadn’t bothered to lie to the headmistress, even though she’d not given Alison any hint of the truth about why she was there. Something about Headmistress Berens told her it’d be pointless.
Fucking witch or elf—whatever the hell she is.
Instead, Shay had explained how Alison’s foster father had gotten wrapped up in some trouble with unsavory characters. Not that it was hard to figure it out given some of the news coverage coming out of LA
The staff didn’t seem worried. They all but laughed the threat off.
“I think you’ll find,” the headmistress had explained, “that this school has excellent defenses.”
There was only one problem with Shay’s brilliant plan. Alison had material to study and friends to chat with, and the headmistress didn’t want Shay following the girl all over campus or disturbing the students.
That had led to her eating chicken soup in the cafeteria and thumbing through her phone in the middle of the afternoon to check dark web forums for updates on Brownstone.
A young dark-haired elf girl around Alison’s age wandered by the table with a tray in hand.
Shay narrowed her eyes. Something about the girl seemed very familiar. Tension suffused into her muscles. She didn’t want to freak out on some poor kid Brownstone-style, but it wasn’t like she’d dealt with a lot of elves, let alone elf kids. She couldn’t just ignore this instinct.
Is this some sort of Yulia shit?
The elf girl stopped and blinked at Shay. “Something wrong?”
Shay shook her head. “Sorry, just looking around.”
The girl nodded. “Hey, you’re Alison’s sort-of aunt, right?”
“Yeah, you could say that.” The tomb raider laughed. “Shay.”
The girl set her tray on the table and sat across from Shay. “Izzie.”
“Izzie, huh? Didn’t expect that.”
“What?”
Shay shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I still have this stereotype that elves will have names like Windsong or something.”
“Maybe some Wood Elves. I don’t know.” The girl chuckled. Her smile vanished. “It was good of you and Mr. Brownstone to bring Alison here.”
“Oh? Glad you approve.”
Izzie nodded. “It must have been tough to lose her parents like that, but it’s really cool how you and Mr. Brownstone are helping her.”
“It’s more him than me.”
Shay couldn’t help but stare at the girl. The sense of familiarity had only grown with the conversation, both with her appearance and her voice. It went beyond the sensation of having spotted her during an earlier visit to the school. Shay had barely talked to any of the students in her previous visits, let alone this girl.
“What about you, Izzie?” Shay inquired. “Come from fifty generations of grand elf masters of magic or something?”
The girl sighed and shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“I grew up in an orphanage. I never knew my parents.”
“Kind of like a guy I know.”
Izzie blinked. “Huh?”
Shay waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it, kid. Tough break.” She nodded toward the door. “But now you’re in a magic school, so not everything’s bad. But you better eat your food before it gets cold.”
“Oh right. Yeah. Thanks.” Izzie smiled and picked up her fork.
Shay forced a smile as she watched the girl. Instinct had saved her life many times, and she didn’t want to ignore it now. Her instincts screamed that the orphanage story was bullshit.
The simplest explanation was that the girl was lying. She might be an elf at a magic school, but she was still a teen. She might crave a special background to impress people with. She might also be confused.
Magic sat at the heart of a much darker explanation: the spell on the front gate affected people’s memories. It wasn’t so hard to imagine the girl was under some sort of enchantment.
“Great school you’ve got here,” Shay offered.
Izzie nodded and smiled.
“Do the teachers keep a close eye on the students?”
“For the most part.”
“Glad to hear it.”
It’s a good thing I’m spending a few days here to keep an eye on Alison, just in case the threat’s inside the gate already.
Alison was sleeping…finally. Shay was still wired from her day.
Alison’s phone rang and Shay rushed to grab it. She hurried into the bathroom, closed the door, and answered the call.
“Alison, I hope it’s not too late,” Brownstone’s deep voice began. “I figured I’d call as soon as I got a chance, and it’s just...been a busy day.”
“It’s me,” Shay told him. “Alison’s asleep.”
They filled each other in on what was happening, which, given it involved Harriken bounties and exploding artifacts, took a while.
The rustle of Alison shifting in bed caught Shay’s attention.
“Okay, I think I better go. Stay alive.”
“I’m trying. Talk to you later.” Brownstone hung up.
Shay glanced down
