My weariness lifted at the realization that the last few days hadn’t been a total loss. In fact, looking back at them, I realized that I’d felt more alive during the ten days since Agent A.P. had shown up at my grandma’s home and told me that I was destined for a magical vocation, than I had the entire twenty-two years previous.
The constant, nagging unease that had tightened my belly and made it hard to breathe for the last several days suddenly loosened. I’d just performed my first solo artifact retrieval. Granted, it hadn’t been complex or dangerous…except to my self-esteem…but it had been a real job. And I’d completed it. All. By. Myself.
I was full-on grinning when I turned my head at the sight of a slender man walking briskly down the street.
My eyes met his. His expression darkened. And I gave a little shriek as he took off running the opposite way down the street.
I yanked the steering wheel to the right and headed for the curb, slamming on the brakes as one front wheel hit the curb and slid off with a jarring bump. I turned the car off and jumped out, digging in and racing after the retreating man, who, unfortunately, was a block ahead of me.
My thoughts spun as I ran. I had no idea what I was going to do if I caught him. But since I’d engaged the chase, my pride and a strong practical streak wouldn’t let me give it up.
I’d found our killer. And goddess only knew when I’d find him again. My hand slid to the pocket of my jeans and found my phone. Unfortunately, I didn’t dare take my eyes off him long enough to call Alice. I told myself I’d follow him to his destination…run him to ground…and then call for help.
It was a solid plan.
But, best-laid plans and all…
The man stopped in front of an empty storefront and flung out his hands, an oily black mist rising from each palm and spreading into a cloaking wall between us.
By the time I reached the dissipating magic barrier. There was nothing there except an oily black stain on the sidewalk.
My breath heaving in and out of my lungs, I glanced around for a possible hidey-hole. The stores were all closed, dark, and silent. There were no vehicles nearby that he could be hiding behind.
Had he created a vortex like he’d done at Croakies and slipped through it to escape? My admittedly rudimentary knowledge of vortex magic told me he’d have to have a destination in mind.
I wondered if there were a distance limit on that destination.
Disappointment rounding my shoulders, I walked the remaining two blocks of Arcane Avenue and found no sign of our killer.
I turned and started back to the car. Five blocks up, the ugly Croakies sign swung gently on a warm breeze. I had a horrible thought. What if he’d been coming back from Croakies? What if he’d hurt Alice? Or Fenwald?
I picked up speed, starting to run again as possibility turned to certainty in my overstimulated brain.
I whipped past a dry cleaner’s, the taco shop where Alice had gotten us dinner, and a travel agent. Alice’s ugly sedan was parked a half-block ahead, its back end sticking too far into the street and its front tires turned at an impossible angle. The driver’s side door was hanging open.
Oops. Not one of my better parking jobs.
I was so focused on getting to the car, I nearly missed it. In fact, my eyes skimmed over it and I was several strides past the store before my brain registered the fact that the door to the travel agency was unlatched.
I skidded to a stop and backtracked, peering through the window with my hands on either side of my eyes to block the bright morning sunshine. The place was dark and appeared empty of people. Movement deep inside caught my eye. I realized I was seeing just a sliver of an open door. And someone was moving around in there.
Maybe whoever it was had seen or spoken to my mystery wizard.
I shoved my phone back into my jeans pocket and pulled the door open, sticking my head inside. “Hello?” Silence met my greeting. I stepped inside. “Is anybody here?”
The office smelled of old coffee, slightly newer flowers, which I saw wilting in a vase on the desk, and something else I couldn’t immediately identify. Something unpleasant.
I looked around the place, seeing a snack area along the back wall, a plain wooden desk in the center of the room, and a long bank of gray file cabinets against the sidewall. One of those water dispenser things burped softly beside the door, and a brightly-hued travel poster rustled gently in the draft caused by the heating vent in the ceiling above it. Depicting white sand and turquoise waters as far as the eye could see, the poster declared, “Freedom from responsibility” and urged the wistful traveler to “Visit the beautiful beaches of the Caribbean”.
I thought that sounded like a wonderful idea. Though it seemed unlikely I was going to get that chance any time soon.
“Hello?” I tried again. “I just wanted to ask you a couple of quick questions.”
Although I couldn’t see anybody, the air around me felt tightly strung, as if something hung there waiting to ignite.
My nose twitched under the elusive scent I’d finally identified. Sulfur. Dark magic.
The door at the back of the store was closed. I was sure it had been open when I’d been peering through the glass. I took a step toward the door, not even sure I’d have the nerve to open it and verbally intrude on whoever was back there.
As I stood there, dithering, I noticed a black mist oozing across the floor in my direction. My pulse spiked and I stepped backward, keeping an eye on the sulfurous-smelling magic.
Uh, oh. I’d stumbled on my wizard. I turned around and started quickly toward the door. As I reached for
