Chapter 4 #2
“I’m sure he does.” I sighed. “It looks like you’ll be getting your check sooner rather than later.”
The car ride was excruciating, Griffin examining the entire back seat with interest. Out of sheer awkwardness, I made small talk with Nathan, who gracefully kept the conversation on some of the household minutiae I’d missed over the past few weeks—a rabbit getting in the garden, one of Mother’s favorite watches going missing, only to be found in the butter dish.
We pulled through the wrought iron gates, the gravel of the circular drive crunching under the car tires. Griffin whistled as he slid from the car, staring up at the stone manor.
“So, this whole starving academic look you have going on, is that just a front or a phase, like when every teenager wears black for a few months?”
Nathan opened the front door before I had to answer the question that everyone else seemed to have an opinion on. As we walked through the entryway, I heard heels on the stairs, and Mother practically threw herself down the last few steps.
I had years to practice catching her during these dramatic descents, and she enveloped me in an enormous hug as I did, her slender arms scented with her favorite perfume.
“Bradley! MEA lockup! I almost fainted. Didn’t I, dear?” Mother turned and reached her hand out for Father, who was coming downstairs at a much more staid pace.
“You did, Charlotte, and I told you that Lambert would handle it. Why else are we paying them so much money?” Father opened his arms awkwardly, and I gave him a brief hug.
He was still wearing a suit despite the hour.
Even Mother had put on a dressing gown, her face bare of makeup and a band holding her graying curls back.
“I’m sorry to have worried you both,” I said, looking away.
“It’s alright, son,” Father said. He coughed, clearing his throat. “And who’s this? Lambert said you asked him to get the both of you out.”
“Griffin Gallows,” my former cellmate said, extending his hand. “It’s great to meet you, Mr. Brooks.”
“Yes, yes,” Mother said. “Now, it’s late. I’ve had Bernadette prepare your old room, Bradley, and the blue room for your guest. We’ll talk in the morning. Come, dear.”
“Of course, Charlotte.” Father nodded to me, and I watched them go up, Mother resting her hand on Father’s arm affectionately.
“Are you hungry?” I asked. “I’m sure Bernadette could make you something.”
“I’m fine,” Griffin said. “The blue room? Like, how many guest rooms does this place actually have?”
“I’ll show you,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. “This way.”
Once Griffin had settled into the blue room, I walked across the hall to my own room.
It was the same as it had been for years.
In movies, that would mean posters from high school on the walls, but Mother would have had a heart attack if I’d dared put pins or, god forbid, tape on her walls.
Instead, the prints of ancient texts were framed and hung by professionals, with earthquake-proof attachments.
I fell asleep and dreamed of nothing, which was a relief after the relentless dreams of the Hive I’d been having for years.
When I woke from a dream of endless gray, sunlight was streaming in the window, and the clock said it was nine.
I got up, finding a fresh set of clothes in the closet.
I was almost positive that, at some point in the last year, Mother had sent Bernadette to my apartment and then purchased identical clothes on the chance I came home.
As I walked downstairs after freshening up in the en suite bathroom, I could hear loud laughter coming from the dining room. For a moment, I thought about running away, but the smell of bacon and eggs drew me in.
Griffin was sitting to my father’s right, across from Mother, with Elaine on his right side. He was using a piece of toast to gesture.
“Then the wizard yells down that he will burn the entire mountain if I don’t give him the opal, and I told him good luck, because opals crack when exposed to flame, so he’d be left with a handful of charred pebbles and a murder charge.” He grinned. “Needless to say, he let me off the mountain.”
My father laughed, the morning paper abandoned to the side. Even Mother had a delighted smile, looking across to Elaine, who was smirking into her coffee.
Father, at the head of the table, saw me first. “Bradley! Good to see you up. Your mother had Bernadette check on you earlier, but you were out cold.”
“Thanks for letting us stay the night. We’ll be out of your hair today.” I sat down and served myself from the platters in the middle of the table.
Mother stood and poured a cup of coffee from the carafe on the sideboard, placing it in front of me and pressing a kiss to my temple.
“Eat, but then we need to talk before you leave, Bradley,” Father said.
For a moment, a quiet tension settled over the table, then Mother cleared her throat and asked Griffin if he’d ever been to Italy, and he started a complicated story involving a secluded magical cult, an ancient gauntlet, and a tornado.
When Father stood, I pushed aside the plate I’d picked at and followed him to his study. He closed the door and gestured for me to sit.
“Bradley, you understand that we’ll always support you,” he started, and I dug my nails into my palm to keep from blurting out what I wanted to say. “We understand that you want to find your independence with your research and preservation. But now you’re involved with the MEA?”
“It was a misunderstanding,” I said. “I’ve hired Griffin to help me resolve it.”
“You’ve hired Griffin?” my father asked, his eyes going slightly distant as he thought. “With what money?”
I wet my lips, straightening my back. “I have some savings…”
“No, no. He seems like a very capable young man.” Father nodded, turning to the bookshelf behind him and tapping on a book with his finger.
A portion of the shelf disappeared, a safe appearing in its place. I sighed. Father’s casual display of magic wasn’t anything new, nor was the pit of inadequacy that opened in my stomach.
“Here. Based on what Lambert said about your current predicament, this should cover his expenses.” Father handed over a stack of cash, and I straightened my chin, about to tell him no, but practicality won out. I accepted the money.
“I’ll pay you back,” I said, tucking it into my jacket pocket.
“Pay me back?” Father waved his hand. “Don’t think of it! Just visit more often. Your mother worries about you.”
With that, he waved his hand again, and the safe disappeared as though it had never been there. He stood, nodding at me and walking out, leaving me alone in his office.
I stared at the books on his shelf. When the door opened and Griffin walked in, I wasn’t even surprised. He offered over a plate of food.
“You didn’t eat much at breakfast,” he said. “Your sister said you’d be here.”
“In the light of day, this all appears rather foolish,” I admitted.
“What does?” he asked. “You still haven’t told me the job.”
“The man who had me authenticate his manuscript, JA Williams, is about to do something very dangerous. He’s trying to summon the Hive—or a specific Hive member. I’d need to see the manuscript again to be sure.” I picked at the food, chewing and swallowing before looking up.
Griffin was staring at me, a quirk on his lips making it clear he thought I was chasing ghosts. It didn’t matter if he believed me.
“Williams vanished with the manuscript just as MEA showed up. I need it back. He’s planning to kill a lot of people with it, and I know that the magical blowback from me just reading it was enormous.
MEA doesn’t seem interested in that,” I said.
“So, there’s the item you need to retrieve. Are you up to it?”
“Sure,” Griffin said. “I can do that. Do you have any idea where he’s going to have it stored?”
“I don’t,” I said. “I’m not even entirely sure MEA didn’t take it when they… apprehended me. But I do know where I met him when he interviewed me for the job.”
“Why does that sound so ominous?” Griffin asked, squinting.
“Maybe not ominous,” I replied, “but not someplace I care to go again. And I doubt he’d be hiding the document there.”
By the time I finished telling Griffin the story of my first meeting with Williams, his eyes were bright with an impish amusement that made me squirm uncomfortably.
“Well.” He tilted his head, assessing. “I just don’t know how we’ll get in. Unless… How’s your dancing?”