Tully grunted and followed me. I felt the man’s gaze on me as we left. I could have sworn that he had sized me up, but he seemed too scared to give me the creepy look-over that jerk-type men liked to do.
Tully leaned down to me as we walked. “You should really watch where you’re going,” he said.
“Thanks, Dad.” Nothing like the rookie lecturing the veteran. “We don’t have time to waste.”
“But haste makes waste.”
I rolled my eyes. “Quoting the Academy’s first rule of investigation back at me isn’t a great move,” I said. “I’ve been--" I broke off.
More looters sauntered from the weed and wine shops, and the electronics store, but continued to ignore the jewelers. The jewelry store was lit by faint silver flashes, so faint I could barely make them out.
“Why are they ignoring the best looting opportunity in the mall?” I asked.
Tully peered intently at the store. “There’s a magical concealment barrier.”
“What?” I asked.
“Didn’t you study concealment barriers to magical sight at the Academy?” he asked, gaze still laser focused on the jewelers.
“I must’ve been sick that day.”
“You’ve got to pulling my leg,” he replied, still staring at the front of the jewelry store.
“Fine. I know what one is, but it’s Burner magic, not my department.” I shook my head. “So, how is one being cast here? And where’s the caster?”
Tully slowly turned, scanning the area around us. “I don’t know. Whoever is doing it is very good.”
I shivered. “It’s rare, but not unheard of.”
The faint sound of breaking glass came from the jewelry store--maybe. I strained to hear. It was a high-pitched sound, actually more like cracking ice than breaking glass. We had to get inside now.
I dashed to the door of the jewelers.
“Marquez, wait!” Tully called behind me, followed by the sound of pounding boots. He sprinted up beside me, looking annoyed. “Let the seer go first.”
The whole time the looters ignored us, running off into the night with their stolen prizes.
I stepped to one side, letting him go to the door. He tried the handle. Locked.
Time to take advantage of the fact that we R.U.N.E. agents came in pairs. “You have a lockpick?” I asked him.
“Yes.” Tully drew it from inside his duster. That was a nice-looking spindle-style artifact.
I reached up and plucked it from his hand.
“Hey!” Tully protested.
I ignored his objection.
“Let’s follow standard procedure,” I said.
“Snatching your partner’s artifact out of their hands isn’t exactly standard procedure,” he pointed out.
“We’re a team. Share and share alike.”
He sighed. “Somehow I suspect that only goes one way.”
I put a hand to my chest. “I resemble that remark.”
He didn’t laugh at my attempt at humor. Jokes help break the tension for me. Very few of my fellow R.U.N.E. agents seem to feel the same way.
“You expect me to wait here while you go in the back, assuming there’s a back door.”
I nodded. “There’s a back door. There’s always a back door.”
“Not necessarily.” He looked very unhappy at the idea of me leaving him out front.
The thing was, if the gremlins made a break for it, we needed to know which direction they were headed in. I was the binder.
I walked around to the rear of the building, Tully’s lockpick trembling in my left hand. This was a new artifact, never used. New artifacts had a different sort of potency than ancient ones. Powerful, but with little stamina. I held the blood amulet in my right hand. Insurance, in case the gremlin chaos magic screwed things up again. Another reason to leave Tully guarding the front door.
I found a narrow parking lot, empty. Staff doors dotted the back side of the strip mall. Security lights strobed above the doors.
The jewelry store’s door looked like it was made out of titanium and could stop a tank round without even trying. I peered at the lockpick. It had a simple activation word, in ancient Greek.
Just as I made out the activation word, the rear door to the jewelers crashed open. Something sleek and low to the ground emerged, moving fluidly.
I couldn’t make out the manifestation’s features. It was a dark shadowy form, just a purple outline of mana edging it. I backed up, trying to put some distance between me and the thing, my hand gripping the lockpick like it was a wand. If only it was.
My finger brushed against the spikes of the blood amulet I held in my left hand. Without thinking I jammed my fingertip on a spike, and pain stabbed through me. Latin fell from my lips in a singsong chant.
I clenched my fist and tendrils of silver magical light shot from my knuckles and ensnared the manifestation.
The manifestation reared up, becoming visible as my spell took effect. A bullet-shaped head thrust forward, the creature’s shaggy gray fur tinged blue. A boggart. Now that was an old-school manifestation. I hadn’t seen one of those in the wild ever. I’d seen modern versions, but not an ancient one.
“Freeze,” I commanded in Latin.
It stood stock still, holding a bag brimming with gold and pearls.
“Tsk-tsk,” I told it. “You come from a proud lineage and the best you can do is loot a jewelry store. Reveal— “
Something long and snake-like fell right beside me, crackling and sparking. I jumped away and lost control of the spell. A powerline! My heart drummed in my ears.
“Hee-hee!” A trio of gremlins chorused from the strip mall’s roof above me.
The boggart sprinted away, legs moving in a blur. It charged around the corner to the front parking lot.
I stumbled after it. Tully stood by the front door to the jewelry store. He whirled around as the boggart and I ran past.
He began to cast a spell, but his wand clattered to the pavement before he could finish.
Cursed gremlins.
Meanwhile, the boggart bounded toward where we’d encountered the frightened bystander. I peered into the night, but there was no sign of the man. He must have run for it, like a sensible ordinary. That was one less thing to worry about. Thanks
