My mother swallowed, her shoulders drooping. This must be so hard for her. She was once almost as powerful as me, or just as powerful. Now she had nothing but a useless trickle. At least she still had her fighting skills. She’d started weights as well. Even though she wasn’t back to 100 per cent healthy, she was looking way better than the day we rescued her. She’d been pale, skinny, haunted. Since then, she’d regained some colour and weight, and the light in her eyes, whilst not as vibrant as I’d like, was slowly brightening. “That’s a good plan, William.” She stood. “I’m going to accompany Lily and Imani.” She made her way to me and smiled. “I’m not cramping your style, am I?”
I chuckled. “Never.” I linked my arm through hers.
“I’ll stay with B for now, if that’s okay. If he needs to leave, I’ll give you a call, Lil. Is that okay?”
I smiled at Liv. “Of course. We won’t go far. I want to be close in case anyone needs us after the interview. I feel like I haven’t explored this hotel enough. Can we go and feed the pigeons in the courtyard?”
“Why would you want to do that?” Will asked, his tone of voice suggesting he thought my motive wasn’t feeding the pigeons. He’d be right.
“Just because.” I gave him an innocent smile. “Toodle-pip.” Before he could ask any more questions, I turned and made my way to the door, dragging Mum and Imani with me since our arms were interlinked. Once we were striding down the hallway, we dropped arms, and Imani gave me a “what are you up to?” look. “You’ll see.”
Once in the courtyard, I pulled out my phone and looked at Imani and Mum. “I’d love to take a photo of you both. We’ve hardly taken any of us since we got here. Can you stand in the corner over there, next to the olive tree?” There was a small tree in a terracotta pot, and if I stayed where I was, the spot where they found the statue the other night was in between me and them. I only needed my talent, so it was unlikely anyone would even know I was using my power. But I had to find more clues. Angelica’s life could depend on it. Don’t think about whether she’s still alive. I pushed my worrying thoughts away and held up my phone now that Imani and Mum were standing on either side of the tree. Being the smart ladies they were, they hadn’t asked any questions.
I brought up the photo app and held up my phone. Show me the person casting the spell on Mr Dal Lago the other night. Day morphed to night, the courtyard faintly illuminated. But no one was here. Damn. I took the shot just because. He must’ve been magicked here after the deed was done. I cut off my magic. “Smile.” Mum and Imani smiled, and I took another pic. “I’m done. Thanks.”
“Can I see?” Imani asked as she came over. I showed her both photos.
Her face fell. “Oh. I see.”
“At least we know something else now.”
“Indeed, we do,” said my mother.
“I don’t know why we didn’t do this before.” Imani feigned cluelessness.
“Because someone asked me not to.” I glared at my mum, hoping she knew I meant Angelica and not her. It was hard having a secret conversation out in the open. We could’ve used a bubble of silence, but it would look too suss. It had been easier in the bar with background music and leaving a decent distance between us and the bartender. Out here, the noise bounced off the walls and paving. If we were trying to catch someone who worked here, the less suspicion we aroused, the better.
“You know me, sweetie. I hate having my photo taken.” Phew, she got it. Of course she did. She was an agent and my mother. It was unlikely that anything would slip past her. “What do you want to do now?”
We needed to have a chat somewhere we could make a BOS. I had a genius idea to run by them… okay, so I thought it was genius. General consensus had yet to be determined. “I could be talked into window shopping for a while.”
Mum smiled. “Great. Let’s go.”
We crossed the square and slipped into an alleyway where we had plenty of shops to choose from. I picked the first shop that had glass figurines in the window and stopped, then made a BOS. “So, he was turned to glass somewhere else and moved. But it likely wouldn’t have been from that far away, considering how much power they would’ve used to put him into that state.”
Imani looked in the window. “I agree. What’s your plan?”
“Retrace his steps on the day he went missing. Well, as best I can. Obviously, if he made a doorway at some stage, I can’t follow that, but if he was turned to glass somewhere in the hotel….”
My mum nodded. “Good idea, sweetie. Although, instead of following him around, maybe you could just go into each room and ask if he was turned to glass in there?”
“That’s going to be almost impossible. What if I get caught? I’m likely to end up in jail for trespassing, or whatever. I can’t break into other guests’ rooms. If I can follow him from a public area, it’ll cut down the number of rooms I need to investigate.”
Imani wrinkled her nose. “I doubt it was a guest… although we can’t know for sure. In any case, I think it’s best to start with rooms only staff are allowed in.”
“I like that idea better. Less
