Chapter 15 #2
She checked the time and hurried down the stairs to the main floor.
The delivery would arrive at any minute.
She made her way across the bar’s main floor by rote, barely taking the time to flick on the lights above the drinking well before pulling up the inventory spreadsheet on her phone and shouldering through the door to the kitchen.
She hit the kitchen lights, and the fluorescents stuttered to life.
Blinking her vision clear of white dots, she made a mental note to have Des check the overhead bulbs.
She double-checked a couple of items on her list, verifying that the numbers were right, then headed to the dented metal door at the back of the space that led to the service elevator.
It was the one thing she, Cass, and Des had agreed to sink money into when they’d taken over the bar.
In this part of downtown, the streets were narrow, and with Wonderland’s main structure sitting at basement level, having an elevator that opened into the alley was the easiest way to get deliveries without going up and down the steep stairs in front.
She hit the button, and it flashed red in warning.
Shit, right.
She reset the security ward to Standby, irritated all over again with the over-the-top requests from the males in her life.
When the security light went to a steady blinking orange, she jabbed the button again.
This time, the door slid open. She rode it up to street level and got out to wait at the curb.
A boxy white paneled truck proclaiming Spirits and More was turning in to the alley.
Perfect timing.
The truck made its way over and lumbered to a stop.
The driver got out and came around, his hat pulled low, his sunglasses dark, and his smile white against a tawny, weathered face.
“Hey, afternoon. Got a delivery here for…” He checked his phone.
“Wonderland?” He looked up, his smile notching up a bit.
“Says to ask for a Des Ward or Isa Serrano. I’m guessing you’re Isa. ”
“You guessed right. And you are…?”
“Mitch.”
“Nice to meet you, Mitch.” She started for the back of the truck, letting him fall in beside her. “Is Georgie off today?”
“Yeah, he’s currently riding the waves of the Caribbean. Anniversary thing with the wife.” They got to the rear of the truck, where Mitch unlatched the ramp, pulled it into place, then shoved up the rear door. “Hey, thanks again for being so flexible. I hope I didn’t mess anything up for you.”
“No, you’re good. Just glad we were able to connect.”
They stood inside the back of the truck, going through the order, stacking items on the handcart, loading them into the service lift, and then doing it again. There was a bad moment when it looked like a scotch order was missing, but fortunately, Mitch found it buried near the back.
He added it to the other boxes, his grin a little rueful. “Sorry about that. Must have set it over there this morning to get it out of the way and forgot to move it back.”
“No harm, no foul,” Isa said, checking off the last of the order on her spreadsheet as she followed him down the ramp.
They got to the elevator, and Mitch set the last of the boxes next to the others. He shifted his handcart back out and pulled his phone from his pocket. “Okay, I think we’re good. If you could just sign here.” He turned the phone to her, and she initialed the receipt. “Thanks.”
“Welcome,” she said as he started to turn away. “Enjoy your afternoon.”
“You too,” he called with a wave.
Isa waved back then hit the button. The elevator’s door slid closed, and it made its way back down.
After setting it to hold its open-door position, Isa started hauling the wine and beer to the walk-in cooler.
During one of her many back-and-forth trips, she tied her phone to the Bluetooth speaker they kept in the back, queued up her favorite playlist, and let the music fill in the space.
It made restocking less of a workout and more of an enjoyable time-out.
She was up on a step stool, arranging bottles on one of the cooler’s top shelves, when she thought she heard something over the music.
She set down the bottle she held, climbed down, and stepped out of the reinforced-metal-walled walk-in.
The instant temperature change between the cooler and the kitchen pebbled her skin.
“Lower volume.”
The music took a step back. Rubbing her arms, she crossed the kitchen and caught a glimpse of a steadily flashing orange near the elevator. Isa winced. Des is going to kill me. She had forgotten to reset the security ward after the delivery, and it was still in standby mode.
A muffled thump came from the main floor.
The endless warnings from Des and Locke returned, rattling her nerves. Her gaze skittered to the clock set on the wall as she noted the time. It was probably Locke. He’d said thirty minutes, and it was now closer to thirty-five.
“Locke?” she called out.
No one answered.
Unnerved, she moved to one of the last cartons sitting open on the counter and pulled out a thick bottle of gin.
Maybe she was overreacting, but better safe than sorry.
She adjusted her grip until she was holding the bottle like a makeshift hammer.
Her magic pooled under skin, wanting to be let out to play.
She held it back as she moved toward the door.
“Locke, is that you?”
She took a second to hit Pause on her phone, which lay on the counter.
The music cut out abruptly, heavy silence taking its place.
She waited a heartbeat then two. Everything remained quiet, almost too quiet.
Instead of calming, her breath sped up, and she could feel her skull light up with tension.
She set her back to the door and, with her free hand and shoulder, pressed it open, bottle held at the ready.
She had a momentary regret at not turning on more than the light above the bar, because the faint glow from the sigils buried in the mural along the back wall wasn’t enough to beat back the varied shadows filling the floor.
She stared into the murkiness, wanting to call Locke’s name but unable to get it out past her tight throat.
She swallowed hard and stepped fully through the door.
Something moved to her left. She turned, swinging out with the bottle.
It hit something, the impact rattling up her arm, and a pained grunt sounded.
She went to swing again but was too late.
Magic punched her, searing across her senses.
She stumbled back. Somewhere far off, glass shattered, but she was gone, swallowed by the sudden dark.