Chapter 38
I’m slipping.
That’s twice now I’ve exposed my power to Drakeward. A dumb mistake, and I don’t make dumb mistakes.
Mistakes are what happen when emotions are involved.
My eyes flick to Theo, whose mouth is making a perfect O of surprise. A flash of lust washes over me, which I quickly tamp down. Not the time, not the place.
Actually, it will never be the time or place, so I might as well take my frustrations out on the trust-fund baby I’ve got pinned to the folding chair.
“FENIKS, LET ME GO!” he roars.
Oh well, step in cow’s dung, might as well dance in it, as they say in the old country.
“No,” I say with a patronizing smile. “Now settle down and answer some questions.”
Drakeward doesn’t take this lying down. I feel his magic warring with mine. Gods, he’s strong. Neither of us moves a muscle; it’s a battle of internal spell-casting—something only Elite witches can do.
The tension is broken by a series of loud bangs on the basement door. My grip falters, and Drakeward pushes himself to his feet. At the same time, Ludo moves himself in front of Theo, an impenetrable wall of muscle.
Another round of knocking starts on the door, and Theo peeks her head around the janitor’s torso. “Um, you guys stay quiet, I’ll go see who it is.”
I don’t see why that should be a problem, so I nod. Drakeward has also fallen quiet. Ludo, of course, continues to be silent. Knock, knock, knock. Louder this time.
Theo darts up the stairs. “Who is it?” she asks through the door. I don’t hear the answer, but my stomach drops when she slides the bolt back. “Come in,” she says, her voice calm, “but don’t freak out.”
And that’s when I see her new visitors. It’s Theo's friend, the Bloomhower kid, and some other Defectivum boy.
“This is a fucking circus,” Drakeward growls, his jaw ticking.
“What’s up, guys?” Theo asks the two students, who are looking around at the assembled party with big eyes.
“Er, we wanted to see if you were alright. Dunc saw him,” Bloomhower glares at Drakeward, “and the professor bundling in here at top speed.”
This Duncan is clinging to a laptop computer. “Yeah,” he says, in an approximation of a stern voice. “If you are bothering Theo, you need to stop it and get out right now.”
Drakeward lets out a derisive snort, but I find myself liking the kid. Good for him, standing up for his friend.
“It’s all good,” Theo says, making a calming motion with her hands. “We, er, are kind of working on a project together.”
“The mystery of the missing twins project?” Bloomhower asks, planting her hands on her hips. “Do you need back-up? There’s an awful lot of dick and ego in this room.”
Theo looks around at me, her face conflicted. “These are my friends,” she says, “who I trust implicitly. I’m going to tell them what’s going on, either now or later. So I might as well do so now.” Turning back to Willow, she lets out a long sigh. “Yes, we’re all working together to find the twins.”
“Even the professor?” the Defectivum girl half whispers, glancing in my direction, her eyes wide.
“And Cosmo, Cosmo Arsehole Drakeward, to use his full name, is helping too?” I snort out a laugh, but her friend, Duncan, ducks his head, like he doesn’t want to be associated with the girl’s fiery snark.
“It’s complicated,” Theo mutters. “And maybe dangerous, so you two should head out.”
“Don’t be a dumbo,” says Duncan, clutching his laptop tighter like a shield. “We want to help too. I’m not a huge fan of danger, but I’m not chicken shit either. Also, who are the twins?”
I guess I can’t police who she invites into her room, but I can't help but be concerned with whom she shares our secrets. There are too many variables. Too many risks. “Theo,” I growl, a warning in my tone.
“Just chill, professor.” She throws a bag of chips at me. “Willow already knows most of it, and Duncan is completely on our team too; he just doesn’t know it yet.”
“What she said,” Duncan says, settling into a chair.
“A fucking circus…” Drakeward groans again, his head tilted towards the ceiling and eyes closed. Meanwhile, Ludo continues to loom menacingly from the corner of the room.
And me? I think I’m going to let Theo take charge. Not my normal modus operandi at all, but in her understated way, she’s the leader of this pack.
“Then that’s settled,” Theo says, a note of finality in her voice. “You want a sandwich, Willow? Duncan?”
So we sit, crammed into Theo's moldy basement room, chewing on cafeteria sandwiches, as Drakeward finally details the run-in with Singleton-Smith to the room. “It was unexpected to see him turn up here, so I decided to do a little spying.”
“And?” Theo prompts, leaning forward.
“He went into the building site, but the usual listening spells were useless; the site is warded, with extremely advanced wards,” he tells the room, who are focused on his every word. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ludo hand Theo a steaming coffee.
“I couldn’t hear anything until the gates opened again and Singleton-Smith and the other man exited.” Drakeward sighs, running a hand through his unusually disheveled hair.
“Other man?” Theo asks.
“Some henchman, probably. It looked like he was from the Magicheskiy Soyuz, if you ask me. You know how thuggish Eastern Europeans are.” Drakeward looks at me as he says this. I don’t rise to the bait.
“Go on,” I tell him.
Drakeward shrugs, a little disappointed. “That’s when I cast another listening spell, this time with some success.” He pauses to look at his cell phone.
“If you could bring yourself to concentrate for just a little longer, Drakeward?” I say in a patronizing tone.
He scowls but puts down the phone. “The Russian guy was talking about stabilization and money. Singleton-Smith was snapping at him about the time. Then the Russian, or whatever, said something about ‘moving bodies being a problem and needing replacements’.”
“OK, now I’m a little freaked out,” Duncan mutters under his breath.
Theo takes a sip of her coffee, quite calm and steady. “So there’s some shady shit going on, we already knew that. What happened then?”
“I was about to clear out when I was spotted by Dean Crankshawe and dragged over to Singleton-Smith by a couple of goons,” Drakeward replies while pointing a finger at Ludo. “You got any coffee for me?”
Ludo turns his back on Drakeward, his broad shoulders conveying absolute disdain. Drakeward’s left eye twitches. I’m beginning to really like the janitor.
"She caught you trying to listen in?" Theo asks, as, to my surprise, Ludo hands me a coffee.
“Yep, but the professor came in on his white horse and made out I was laying one of those magical scavenger hunts that freshmen do. They happily seemed to believe that. Don’t particularly want to be a replacement body for whatever shit they’re up to.” He winces as the last words leave his lips.
I stare at Drakeward for a long moment, trying to read his expression, wondering if there’s anything he’s not telling us. I don’t trust the kopeileva-prick one bit. But all I see is anger and fear. Not for himself, I’m guessing, but for those missing friends of his.
“So scary people are talking about missing bodies at the building site,” Bloomhower says, “and you are missing two people.”
“Three,” Theo interjects. “And yes, it has to be connected, but first things first. We go down the tunnel that Ludo mentioned and see what’s under the laundry rooms.”
I suspect that the energy Maximus encountered will also be present at the building site, but accessing the site through the tunnels might be easier than gaining direct entry.
“The big guy and I will go and check it out,” I reply, nodding at Ludo.
“I’m going too,” Drakeward says. “The duds can stay here.”
Ludo’s eyes narrow, a dangerous glint in their depths. If Cosmo Drakeward isn’t careful, he’s going to find himself on the end of the janitor's meaty fists sometime soon. And I, for one, won't interfere.
Duncan clears his throat. “Um, I’m OK with that, actually. Especially as I still don’t know what the heck is going on.”
“I’ll catch you up later,” Bloomhower says, patting the boy on the arm. “We’ll stay and keep Theo company.”
Theo frowns first at her friend and then at me. “I don’t think so. Willow and Duncan should stay, but I’m going with you.”
“No, Theo. We don’t know what we’ll find, and it’s probably dangerous,” I tell her, trying to lay down the law but already knowing I’m failing by the stubborn jut of her chin.
“I’m going,” she snaps, standing up.
“Whatever,” drawls Drakeward, also pushing himself to his feet. “Can we just get on with it? Anything is better than rotting in this hovel. Why are you even sleeping down here, dud?”
“Because I don’t have a trust fund the size of Texas and came here on a scholarship,” she snipes back, grabbing her phone. “Are we doing this or what?”
“Who do we call for help if you don’t come back?” Willow asks, her brow creased with worry. “What if you all become just more people missing from Validus Vale?”
That’s a good question. “In the unlikely event of our non-reappearance, I think the answer is…” Hell. Who do I trust with this? I wrack my brain and come up empty-handed. “The answer is, I don’t know.”
Drakeward’s phone beeps, and his gaze sharpens as he reads the screen.
“My PI hacked into Singleton-Smith’s onboard camera system, but there’s no audio, just visuals.
After we left, Dean Crankshawe and Singleton-Smith went back inside the compound.
They stayed for another thirty minutes. When Singleton-Smith came out, one of the guards was carrying a metal case, which he put in the back of the Cybertruck.
The GPS has him now on Interstate 27, probably headed back to the city.
And I asked her to ID the scar-faced man. ”
Drakeward’s PI is very useful. “Can your investigator be an emergency contact?” I ask him. I don’t want to have his help, but it might be the answer.
He narrows his eyes, then rattles off a quick text.
“Striker will track my phone until she hears back from me.” Then the Elite snatches Duncan’s phone out of the boy's grip. After a few seconds, he throws it back. “And she now has the dud’s details, and will contact him if I go offline. Does that suffice for everyone? Christ, what a load of pussies.”
Theo ignores the insult and gives her friends a determined smile. “Thank you for being ground support, guys. Now,” she pokes me in the arm, “it's time to go. Lead the way, Ludo.”
I meet Ludo’s gaze, and he nods, a silent agreement passing between us to keep her safe.
“Good luck, and be careful,” Willow says, hugging Theo. “Take a sweater.”
“Yes, moooom,” she laughs in return, but does grab a sweatshirt from the hat stand.
Ludo heads deeper into the basement, and Theo, Drakeward, and I follow, past dusty shelves, forgotten boxes, and piles of discarded furniture.
At the far end, he slides back a sheet of metal, revealing the dark maw of a passageway.
Theo places her hand on his arm; I watch as her lips curve into a smile.
"Secret passageway?" she says, then laughs at whatever he replies to her—but I’m not laughing.
Has Ludo had access to her bedroom without her knowledge? The idea makes me wary.
Though if I’m honest, I sense no malice whatsoever from the big man. Just unwavering loyalty to her.
Ludo pulls a flashlight from his pocket as Theo slips through the entrance. It’s easy for my pocket-sized pulu, but Ludo, Drakeward, and I don’t have that kind of maneuverability. No, we have to do an awkward, sideways crab walk into the oppressive darkness.
The atmosphere is so thick and deadened that when Theo relays Ludo’s instructions, her words are strangely muted, and I can’t hear a single echo.
“He says it’s slippery, so be careful.” I use my flashlight app, and in the beam, see Theo standing on tiptoe, pulling Ludo’s head down to whisper in his ear.
“Is she doing the fucking facilities dude as well?” Drakeward grunts from behind me, making my fists ball.
Unfortunately, space is tight, so instead of a right hook, I opt for a sharp elbow jab to his ribs.
Not waiting for his reaction, I pick up my pace.
Theo and Ludo are already disappearing into the inky blackness.