Chapter 19
“The problem is, if I auto-generate a password, nobody is going to remember that shit.” Everett spread his arms as he walked down the hallway, side to side with Simon. “Including me!”
“They’re safer than whatever you can come up with on your own,” Simon said.
“You’re not serious. That password is so weak a parrot could figure it out.”
“Good thing we don’t have parrots in the company, then,” Everett mused. He hurried up toward his office, turning back to face him. “Don’t worry. I’ll auto-generate most of them. But this one … I might use it for something. Just for fun.”
***
“Yeah, that was a kea.” The forest ranger scratched the back of his head as he observed the damaged car. “Classic signs.”
“It’s a known culprit?” Simon asked. “Why haven’t you caught him yet?”
“It’s a parrot.” The ranger pronounced the word slowly, as if Simon didn’t know what parrots were. “About this big, olive green.” He spread his hands about a foot. “Lives in the forest. They love to wreck cars and steal stuff.”
“A parrot took my things?” Shanna said, incredulously.
Simon threw his arms up. “Is there a bird in this country that doesn’t steal stuff?”
“What do we do?” Shanna asked the ranger.
“Nothing much, I’m afraid. I hope they weren’t valuable.” The ranger nodded goodbye and left.
Simon rubbed the bridge of his nose and leaned on the car. “This isn’t happening. They’ve got to be joking.” What kind of twisted version of “the dog ate my homework” was this? And they were so close to breaking the bond. They had the bracelet.
Maybe it was a sign they shouldn’t pursue the ritual.
They should let things be. He and Shanna would be bound together forever, and it would be slightly annoying but also kind of sweet.
Simon smiled as he imagined his future life.
Maybe they would have to make neighboring offices for themselves.
One next to his at Aries, where she could do her crafting.
They’d have to walk out perfectly parallel with each other so as not to yank one another into a wall.
They’d have to sync their whole lives, but suddenly, it didn’t sound exhausting anymore.
It sounded fun, because it included Shanna.
“I could try tracking the box,” Shanna interrupted his thoughts.
Then maybe, he was being fanciful. When it came to bonds and other witchy stuff, Shanna knew better.
“Like how you sensed where your mom was before?” he asked.
“Not the same. That spell is more about following the feelings. But I know exactly what I’m looking for this time, and I’ve touched the object myself.
I could do it with a dowsing rod or—oh, a pendulum!
” Shanna fished her heart-shaped golden locket from under her shirt.
“Already on a chain, has a pointed end. Perfect!”
“Uh, what are we doing now?” Chris asked, a glimmer in her eyes betraying her interest despite her folded arms.
“If I use this is a pendulum for dowsing, it can lead us to the bracelet.”
“Which is somewhere in the forest, we’re assuming,” Chris said.
Simon looked down the valley, bordered by endless forested mountains. “How precise is that … tracking?”
“I can ask the pendulum yes or no questions, but if I get a map of the area, I can also try to pinpoint the location on it.” Shanna shrugged. “It’s the best I can do.”
Said the woman who literally brought on a biblical storm yesterday. Oh, Simon had no doubt she could do it. “Then let’s try it. We have nothing to lose except another day.” And honestly, he didn’t even mind losing that day.
“I’ll go find us a map. And maybe a guide. Maybe both.” Chris walked away.
Simon looked at Shanna. “How does it work, then?”
“I’ll have to charge it first. Give me a few minutes, please.
” She went to a bench by the side of the parking lot.
Her privacy extended to what the bond allowed, so Simon stayed fifteen feet away; still close enough to be able to spy on her and sate his curiosity.
He did stay silent, though, letting Shanna perform her magic.
For several minutes, she stayed sitting, cradling the locket in her closed fist, leaning over as she murmured something under her breath.
Then she straightened up and dangled the locket by spreading the chain between her thumb and forefinger.
With the locket lying perfectly still, she gently brushed the fingers of her other hand down the chain and across the locket, pausing at the pointed end of the heart and holding it for a few moments.
The gestures were slow and tender, as if the locket was her greatest treasure …
And Simon would probably be kicked out of the first witchy coven for finding them erotic, instead.
Maybe it was because of what the locket represented—their wedding in Vegas. Maybe it was because Simon’s spirit had inhabited it for three years. Maybe it was because Shanna always carried it close to her skin, and he knew that locket was warm from it, from her.
They had a lawbreaking bird to find, and here he was instead, his mouth watering over the mental image of Shanna wearing nothing but that necklace, with the heart dangling between her breasts.
He’d been so distracted he hadn’t even noticed the locket had started moving.
On its own.
Shanna murmured some more words, nodding approvingly as she watched the heart swing. She looked at Simon. “It’s working. It’s moving correctly to all the yes or no questions.”
“What did you ask it?”
“Simple things with sure answers. Is my name Shanna? Am I currently in New Zealand?” Her eyes glinted. “Why, would you like me to ask it something for you?”
Well, he already knew what the answer to “Would Simon rather go traipsing through impassable woods or have another tumble in the bed with Shanna” would be. “Eh, no need. As long as you know what to do.”
Chris returned then, saving him from more uncomfortable thoughts. A young man with curly brown hair, a short beard, and decked in sports gear, trailed behind her.
“Hey. This is Charlie.” Chris made a vague motion toward the man. “He’s our forest guide.”
Charlie nodded in greeting. “Your daughter tells me a kea made away with some of your stuff.”
Shanna and Simon began protesting over each other.
“She’s not our daughter,” Shanna said.
“We’re not nearly old enough,” Simon went.
Charlie shrugged. “You could’ve started young. I don’t judge. Anyway, I’m happy to lead you on this crucial mission to retrieve your things. We have to keep the forests clean of rubbish.”
“It’s a priceless bracelet,” Simon said.
“You know what they say, one man’s treasure …” Charlie swung a backpack off his shoulder. “Brought some equipment for you. Here you go.” He handed them each a headlamp, a whistle, and a device that looked much like Shanna’s vintage phone. “Personal locator beacon, in case you get lost.”
Simon opened and closed his mouth, then finally asked, “Are we?”
“You can never be over-prepared,” Charlie said.
“Don’t worry.” Shanna squeezed Simon in a side hug. “If you get lost, I can track you down with my pendulum. No locator beacons needed.”
“Your what?” Charlie asked—genuinely curious, not irritated.
Shanna beamed a smile at him. “My pendulum! I charged it with my energy so it can track the object we lost.”
“She’s a witch,” Simon explained casually.
Charlie’s eyes rounded, but then he said, just as casually, “Neat. Never met one before. Pleasure.”
Simon suppressed his laughter. Another day, another victim of Shanna’s friendliness.
No wonder he loved her. He’d yet to meet a person who couldn’t.
“All right then, team, let’s go!” Charlie energetically clapped his hands and headed toward the road, glancing over his shoulder. “And if you have any snacks, you can leave those here. No need for them to weigh you down. Nature will provide.”
Two hours later, they were trudging through the thickest forest Simon had ever seen.
Tree branches spread around them like spiderwebs, and giant ferns covered what available space remained.
They walked single file, with Charlie in front and Shanna right behind him.
The low whispers drifting down to Simon indicated her constant small talk with the guide, who asked them not to speak too loudly so as to not disturb the forest.
“Can you be sure it’s swinging toward the right area, though?” Charlie asked once Shanna demonstrated tracking with the pendulum over a map.
“I can confirm it with the questions and narrow it down,” she responded.
Fifteen minutes later—
“Which is when I finally realized the book was there, on the table, all along,” Shanna said, and Charlie laughed quietly.
Half an hour later—
“Oh, those are good shoes. Sturdy, I see. I’ll have to check them out, although I probably won’t need them at home …”
“You’re sure you want to stay with this woman for the rest of your life?” Chris’s voice came from behind, as flat as usual, although the tone wasn’t judging.
“Absolutely.”
“Hmm. Your romantic endeavors are too mushy for me, but I support you.”
Simon looked over his shoulder. “Thanks, I guess?”
“If you have a kid, you should name them after me. It’ll work with Shanna’s obsession with crystals.”
He was about to ask what that was supposed to mean when he bumped into Shanna. Charlie had stopped and faced them.
“We’ll stop for lunch here,” he said.
Simon saw no difference in the forest that would indicate this as a preferred stop for lunch.
“There’s an amazing podocarp forest up there on the slope”—Charlie pointed in front, to where no slope could be seen through the thick canopy—“and according to the pendulum, that’s the right direction, too.
You see, kea nest in underground burrows, and they love their podocarps for all the insects that are drawn in by the fruits.
As for our lunch today, oh, do I have some specialties for you … ”