“How did you get this?” Beth asked. “He seemed adamant that he wasn’t going to give us anything.”
Lily winked. “I have my ways. Turns out he went to school with my cousin, had a big crush on her. I promised I would bring him up at the next family reunion. C’mon, let’s go.” Her hips swaying, she walked away, her eyes on a small map in her hands.
Beth looked back at the office. “Doesn’t he have to come with us?”
“He’s Facebook stalking my cousin now. Confirming that she’s still single.”
Following Lily, Beth looked back. The guy was slumped forward at his desk, his nose practically on the screen. “Must be pretty desperate,” Beth said.
“Can confirm. Our unit is toward the middle.” The inside of New Castle Storage was a small maze of metal storage units, but they ended up at a small building with glass doors. Stepping inside, Beth could feel the temperature immediately drop. The thermostat by the door stated that it was seventy-two degrees with a humidity of 0 percent.
“I feel like this building alone is worth more than the castle.” Lily ran her fingers along the stark-white concrete walls. The marble floor looked like it had been recently polished, the reflected light of the skylights scattering an eerie glow across the floor.
“Probably is.” Beth checked the room number they wanted. “The castle was built in the seventies. Up until 2004, this place was where the Renaissance festival used to set up shop. Whole thing fell apart when the guy who owned the land murdered his wife, and a land dispute started between his heirs that lasted a few years. The festival took their business elsewhere, and this parcel got picked up pretty cheap. I just didn’t know it had become the world’s weirdest storage facility.” Turning a corner down the long hall, Beth saw the large door at the end. There were no other rooms in sight. “My parents used to take me when I was little. Had my first drumstick just inside the main entrance. I had forgotten all about this place, actually.”
“I find the Renaissance to be far too romanticized for my taste.” Lily stopped at the door, handing the key to Beth. “It’s like looking at a piece of shit five hundred years later and calling it a candy bar.”
“Don’t think I’ve ever heard those words in that order before,” Beth said, then crouched to slide the key into a padlock.
“I was a history major for a bit. I can assure you it wasn’t all tits and turkey legs.” Lily crossed her arms. “Not my favorite time period.”
“Clearly. Why is that?” Beth asked, then removed the lock, grabbed the sliding lever, and pulled. It let out a pathetic squeal, then shifted over.
“Other than the smell? My last relationship. The guy I was with was obsessed with the Dark Ages, thought of it as a golden age for gaining power and ruling the masses with an iron fist.”
“Sounds like a real winner.” Beth lifted the cold metal door. The space inside was nowhere near as disorganized as she expected it to be. A large pallet in the middle of the room lifted the belongings off the floor.
“Looks like this will be easier than originally thought,” Lily said, stepping into the room. Boxes were stacked nicely in rows, allowing the two of them to walk between them with little trouble.
“This could take us hours to inventory. You realize that, right?”
“Maybe not,” Lily replied, pointing to a nearby box. Beth saw that a sheet of paper had been carefully taped to the top. It was a list of the box’s contents.
“Emily was very organized,” Beth said, grateful to see the familiar scrawl on the paper. “For now, we can assume that the boxes haven’t been opened, so it’s just a matter of going through the original list and checking stuff off.”
“Let’s get started, then.” Lily pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “I’ll read off items if you’ll cross them off the list.”
Beth nodded, hiding her smile. Lily was quickly proving to be the best intern ever.
Mike held on to Zel’s waist as she raced ahead, the cliffs appearing through a gap in the trees. A series of waterfalls cascaded down the mushroom-shaped rocks, pooling into a large basin at the bottom. Sliding to a halt, Zel practically ripped Mike off her back, her arms shaking.
“Get in and wash it off,” she commanded, stripping off her green tunic. Mike didn’t bother arguing—he was already half naked, the urge to scratch driving him out of his mind. Zel had held his hands in place the entire ride, which had proven necessary because all he wanted to do was make the burning stop. The Dragon’s Breath had worked its way inside of his clothes and onto his chest. After shaking off his outer garments, he threw himself into the pool of water.
Relief was immediate. The Dragon’s Breath reacted violently with the water, jumping free of his skin and skidding across the top, steam hissing in every direction. Mike held his breath and dove below, working his fingers through his hair. He could hear the hiss of the pollen over the constant pounding of the waterfall, a sound similar to meat in a skillet.
The surface of the water exploded, a large shape plunging into the depths. Mike surfaced, marveling at the colossal ripples bouncing off the shore. Seconds later, Zel emerged, her hair plastered against her head.
“The Dragon’s Breath comes off pretty quickly,” Mike said, watching tiny wisps of steam rise off the surface of the water.
“Not quite.” Zel lifted her arm to reveal a few red streaks. “The top layer comes off pretty quickly, but the bottom layer sticks.” She held up a small cloth. “You need to make sure you scrub it off.”
“Yeah, I can—” Suddenly, Mike’s head sank below the water, his limbs going weak beneath him. The
