I made myself a promise to drop in for a visit soon to introduce myself. From the looks of the woman’s aura, she had magical power of some kind. And I wanted to know what kind.
I blinked at the thought, realizing I could see her aura. It was shimmering, pale green color like her frothy skirt.
I’d never been able to see auras before. Hadn’t even known what an aura looked like. The newly discovered skill was surprising. And icy. Once I got over the thrill of it, I wondered what the color meant.
“Ms. Griffith? Are you coming?” Detective Grym had rolled down the passenger side window and was calling me like a naughty pooch. His manner suddenly irritated me. So I deliberately offered the woman my hand. “Hello, I’m Naida Griffith.”
“Leandra Coleman. But my friends call me Lea. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Do you work with Detective Grym?” As she asked the question, her gaze slid over my jeans and tee-shirt, the latter of which I realized with horror had an oily stain on the front from banger juice. “No. I’m in training next door. I’d like to chat sometime soon. If it’s all right with you?”
Lea’s ocean-tinted gaze sparkled with pleasure. “I’d love that. Stop by anytime.”
“Ms. Griffith, I’m leaving without you if you don’t step it up.”
I rolled my eyes and the other woman laughed, the sound light and carefree. “I’ll see you again,” she told me, waving at Detective Grumpy Pants before starting to sweep the sidewalk in front of her store.
I climbed into the car, feeling happy with myself for having made the connection. “She’s nice.”
Grym grunted noncommittally.
I scanned him a look, narrowing my gaze in an effort to read his aura. There was a slight, grayish shimmer encompassing his big form, but nothing like the shimmering lightness surrounding Lea.
He caught me staring. “What?”
“Nothing.” I wasn’t exactly up-to-speed on supernormal etiquette, but I was pretty sure it would be considered rude to come right out and ask him what species of magic user he was. He was probably some kind of shifter. Judging by how prickly he was, probably a porcupine. I grinned at the thought. “Where are we going?” I asked.
“There are three shoe shops and two department type stores in Enchanted. We’ll start with those. Hopefully, we’ll get lucky.”
I nodded. “That shouldn’t take too long.”
He glanced over at me, giving me a pitying look. “You wouldn’t think so, would you?”
I frowned. “I’m sensing that you disagree?”
He sighed. “They can smell a predator a mile away. They were spelled by a black witch and given a sort of innate intelligence. The last time I searched for them, they kept ducking out of every store I entered and returning to the first store I’d looked to throw me off. If the shoes are hiding in a stock room somewhere, we’ll have to go through every single box looking for them. If they’ve already been purchased, we’ll have to chase the buyer down, hopefully before she succumbs to the siren’s song of the shoes. And then there’s the worst-case scenario…”
I couldn’t imagine what would be worse than going through every single shoebox in the back room of five different stores. “What’s that?”
“If the shoes managed to find a wearer without even going to a store.”
I realized he was right. For all we knew, they could have thrown themselves down in front of someone walking down the sidewalk. If I found a pretty pair of shoes that looked new, abandoned on the sidewalk, I would definitely pick them up. I was sure I wasn’t alone on that.
“At least they’re limited to only women who wear that size,” I offered helpfully.
The pity in his gaze deepened. “Wrong again. The shoes will size themselves to the wearer’s feet.”
Of course they would. I thought bitterly.
Grym narrowed his eyes on me. “How long have you been working with artifacts?” His inference was clear. He was asking me why I knew so little about how things worked in the supernormal world.
I shrugged. “I wasn’t raised by supernormals.”
Just when I thought he couldn’t find me any more pathetic, he looked at me as if I were a one-armed blind woman trying to tie her shoes.
We sat in uncomfortable silence for most of the short trip. I tried to break the tension once by asking about his robbery case. But he didn’t seem to want to talk about it. All he would reveal was that the police couldn’t figure out how the thieves were getting into the banks and jewelry stores they were robbing.
By the time the detective finally pulled into a small, paved lot on a quaint, cobblestoned street in the market section of Enchanted, I was considering just opening my door and flinging myself out onto the cobblestones.
The detective wasn’t driving all that fast. Maybe I’d even survive.
“Okay,” he said. “Fortunately, two of the target stores are on this street.”
I followed his lead and climbed out of the car.
Grym pointed to a shop called The Cobblers Heels and glared down at me. “I’ll take the lead. I just need you to quietly throw out your Keeper magic to see if the shoes are there.”
I swallowed hard, nodding.
Alice had briefly explained how that worked, but we hadn’t practiced it yet. She’d told me the skill was a second week of training kind of thing. It had seemed like the most important skill of all to me. I’d attempted to argue with her, but she’d plowed on to the next item on her personal slave list before I could utter a single word.
With the sun shining high overhead and a flower-scented breeze wafting over us from the enormous pots of flowers along the street, I realized the boondoggle with the detective was actually a vast improvement on dusting shelves and checking tags with Alice.
My dusting skills had never been all that great anyway.
4
Flip Flopped With Extreme Prejudice
“Can I help you?” a soft female voice asked when
