My phone rang again, and I looked down to see Nick’s name on the screen. “What do you want?”
“To talk about the case. It’s been a while since we’ve worked a case together.”
“That’s what happens when you die,” I shot back. “I’m out of town for now.”
“Word is the King has the Princess on lockdown.”
I snorted. “You know me, I wouldn’t bow to Levi’s wishes like that. Never have, never will.” There was no need for him to know.
“Then where are you?”
“On vacation. Enjoying myself.”
He hmmed for a moment. “Fine. Once you look over the files, you need to call me to keep me up to date. Do you know where Liz is? She’s not answering her phone.”
“My guess is taking the day easy. She was just released from the hospital. I’m not sure what happened, but it had to be a doozy. She sounded shaken.”
There was an agitated noise on the other end. “You know more than you’re letting me know.”
“No, but I would think if you’re working with Liz, you’d respect the fact that she just got out of the hospital.”
“You used to work in the hospital.”
“Not everyone is a workaholic like me, Nick. Give her twenty-four hours. Then she’ll be back to her old self.” Or at least back to pretending everything was okay.
Nick snorted. “Know her so well?”
“We’ve been through a few tough spots together. Look, as soon as O’Donald gets me the files, I’ll look over everything and tell you what I think.”
“Okay, I have one more question.”
Here it was, I’d have the truth on if he had intentions of hurting me or not in the office.
“How come O’Donald won’t go into our office?”
That’s not what I was expecting.
“I have no idea. He hasn’t wanted to go since he took over for Boss Man.” I shrugged, even though Nick couldn’t see it. “I’ll talk to you after I get the files. For now, I’m going to go make coffee.”
I disconnected the call. This was going to complicate things more than I wanted, but I would have to do deal with it.
Throwing off the covers, I got up and headed to the kitchen. It was empty, but there was a fresh pot of warm coffee and a mug waiting. Either Levi preplanned my wake up, or Liz was up for the day.
I fixed myself a cup of coffee and headed down to the chamber. I’d let Liz have her space if she was awake.
When I entered the chamber, I found her sitting in the middle of the floor, a cup of coffee in front of her, and her eyes closed. Her hands were open, face up on her crossed knees, and her breathing was even and deep.
Meditation.
The lines in her face were eased out in relaxation as she continued to focus. I tried not to make a noise, so I wouldn’t disturb her. I slowly started back up the stairs.
“You can stay. I’m just finishing up,” she said before I’d even gotten two steps up.
“Okay.” I came back down and sat against the wall, cradling my coffee in my hands. I sipped on it as she finished whatever breathing routine she was working on. After a few moments, her eyes opened.
“Good morning.”
I looked at my watch. “It’s barely still morning.”
She picked up her coffee and nodded. “I think we both needed the sleep.”
“I would have slept longer except O’Donald called me.”
“Yeah, he was blowing up my phone early this morning.”
“So you know that he’s pulling me back in?”
She nodded. “I pushed for it. I wanted someone I could trust completely at my back and not just Nick. I’ve never worked with him, so even if he hadn’t died and come back from the dead, I wouldn’t have trusted him at my back.”
“Yeah, he called me too. I’m not sure how I feel about him being back, but he was able to get into the office.”
She looked at me. “Past the protection spell?”
I nodded. “So I think I’m safe from him while at the office.”
“Doesn’t mean he won’t fuck up on a mission and get you killed,” she muttered.
“I know, so I’ll be cautious.”
“But now you get access to the files and everything you and I need to get through this.”
I nodded. “So all we have to do is survive the party tomorrow.”
She cringed. “Is Samuel really as scary as Levi makes him out to be?”
“He’s terrifying, but in a completely different way than anyone else I’ve met is. He’s Levi’s maker.”
She nodded. “You’re worried about the commands he might give?”
“Without a doubt.” I sipped my coffee. “And I’m a sitting duck here and at the party.”
“After this is over, we should go to a beach.” She stretched out her legs and wiggled her toes. “With warm sand and water.”
I smirked. “That sounds like a good vacation, but I think I’m almost out of vacation time.”
“I don’t really care,” she said honestly and laughed. “I’d be worth a couple days of no pay for a vacation on the beach.”
I laughed. “Maybe, just maybe we can go on vacation together, but I don’t think PIB would survive.”
“Poor O’Donald.”
My small laughed turned into rolling laughter as I tried to image him handling black magic cases without us and just with Nick.
When the files finally came through, Liz and I had finished a pot of coffee and had moved into the dining room. We both had our computers up with the current case file and the case file that O’Donald wanted me to look into.
“I have to ask why Nick isn’t the one doing this since he has the case file right there?”
“Because Nick hates paperwork. He probably convinced
