Chapter 6 #3
“You have a good feel for this,” Ryan said, and I spun. “If Marshal Owens doesn’t put you in jail, have you given any thought to taking over the morning meeting?”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking, and I looked at the marshal, her curly mop of hair hiding her face as she worked her phone. “I do not want your job,” I said. “Your job sucks.”
Mood good, he chuckled, arms over his chest as we waited for everyone to leave.
“That’s too bad,” he said lightly. “I like the idea of retiring. And seeing you and Pluck together eased some of their fears, especially the freshmen. They walked out of here with a lighter mind than when you walked in.” Sighing, he reached a hand out for Pluck.
“Good to see you, sir. I appreciate your discretion appearing as a friendly dog.”
Pluck huffed, rose, stretched, and went to bump his head under Ryan’s offered hand. A wash of gratitude flooded me at Ryan’s easy manner. Maybe he was right. Maybe I had been keeping myself at a distance. But that didn’t mean that I was going to take over herding the university’s sweepers’ guild.
“Cold.” Ryan pulled his hand from Pluck and tried to massage the warmth back into it. “You look good, Petra. Different. I almost didn’t recognize you in the doorway.”
The need to find Thoth made me fidget. “Because I have one long stick instead of three normal-size ones?” I said as I slung it over my shoulder.
“No.” He beamed at me as if proud. “You’re wearing head-to-toe black. I usually see you in bright spandex.”
“Oh.” I glanced at my dark pants and shirt: large pockets for angsty shadows, dark colors so Pluck wouldn’t show up so clearly when he perched on my shoulder.
What I needed, though, was a big, floppy hat.
The sun hurt both of us when Pluck was touching me.
Sunglasses didn’t cut it anymore. “Ah, it’s for Pluck,” I added.
“Which reminds me. Any chance the university can fund a shopping trip out to the rock and gem show?”
Ryan’s gaze jerked back from the last of the sweepers leaving. “You broke another one?”
A fizzing annoyance twined through my embarrassment. Tell him I will replace it if given access to raw crystal. I will tune as many as he wants—provided I retain the best.
My lips quirked at Ryan’s obvious distress. “Pluck will tune as many stones as the university wants. He gets a tuner’s fee, though. One crystal of his liking. For free.”
Ryan’s cheeks puffed out in relief. “The board has been bitching at me about when Pluck would be outgrowing his lodestone. They’re anxious for the two of you to turn a profit.
A Spinner stone or two would do it. I’ll get the paperwork through.
Buy as much moldavite as you want.” He hesitated. “Ah, three to five pieces.”
The shadow dog flicked an ear, dark matter evaporating in a silver smoke.
Ryan jostled my shoulder, nodding to the door. “Marty, huh? You scared her? Bad luck. I’m sure you both will get better at this.”
Careful, fizzed through me like a cold fire, and I put a hand on Pluck’s head. Well, I tried. It was more like putting a hand in his head. “I got excited,” I said, truthfully enough.
Ryan followed me, one step behind. “We’ll find her. Calm her down. Get the two of them together safely.”
Worry was a cold zing, my pace faltering.
“You’ll tell me the instant someone sees her, right?
” I said. “Pluck thinks the shadow who followed her here is not a good match and it might react badly. We’ve come a long way in convincing everyone that shadows can be safe, but some aren’t, and I don’t want anyone hurt. ”
Ryan ran a hand over his chin, eyeing me in speculation. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Sometimes I really hated that he knew me so well, and I forced myself to smile when Pluck’s warning hit my heart like an icicle.
“Nothing,” I lied, head down as I pushed into motion again.
“I don’t want to screw this up. People do stupid things when they’re scared, and being a weaver isn’t an easy thing to come to grips with.
” I stifled a shudder when the memory of my own confusion and selfish fears flooded me.
I didn’t want Pluck to sense them, but he did.
Sorry, frosted up through me, his green eyes holding a hint of guilt.
I’m not, I thought, fingers prickling as they touched his essence. He was bone-aching cold if I let him past my surface thoughts, but his soul was warmer than the sun.
Ryan glanced at Pluck. “Well, I’m glad you’re back. We’ve got to get you out more. You and Pluck. You used to be on the streets all the time. People knew you by sight.”
“They still do,” I said, remembering being gassed by a truck that morning.
“We need to show you and Pluck doing something good for the university,” Ryan continued, pace slowing as we neared Cameron. “Something that will foster a sense of trust. Finding whoever cracked the vault will do that.”
Cameron tucked her phone away in a pocket. “Which is why I want to talk to the shadows at the memorial,” she said, butting seamlessly into Ryan’s and my conversation.
“It wasn’t them,” I said bluntly. “They agreed that it needed to be built. Not that I would blame them if they had done it, seeing as somehow the new vault has neglected to be fitted with a shadow release valve. Why is that, Marshal?”
The short woman eyed me up and down. “Because if a shadow can get out, it can get in,” she said. “No escape valves until we know who broke the vault.”
My eye twitched, but I didn’t need Pluck’s heady warning to keep my mouth shut about Thoth. He was right. We’d handle this ourselves. Anything else was too risky.
And yet I couldn’t let that go. “Have you ever been on fire, Marshal?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Ryan raised his hand. “Marshal, Grady was simply pointing out that active dross burns shadows the way fire burns us. She was not threatening you with being burned.” He glared at me. “Right?”
Cameron’s smile never dimmed. “I understood her question. That’s why she’s still standing and my knee isn’t in her spine while I cuff her.”
My eyebrows rose, and I shifted my stick more firmly onto my back. You want me to kill her? iced through me, and my lip twitched.
“Marshal Owens,” I started, and the short woman shook her head to cut off my words.
“Cameron, please.”
As if. “Marshal, I would love to spend the day answering stupid questions, but I need to find Marty.”
“No problem.” She shrugged out of her coat and draped it over her arm. “I’ll come with you. I suggest we start at the memorial garden.”
Pluck flicked an ear, his dry amusement fizzing up through my annoyance, coloring it. “Great. I need to tell the shadows about Marty anyway. You can ask them which one of them sabotaged the new vault. I’m sure you can fit your size-ten shoe between your teeth just fine.”
“Lots of practice,” Cameron said brightly. “I do it all the time. I’ll take you wherever you want after that. Your personal for-hire. Seemed to work fine last night.”
That I could not get a rise out of her was starting to bug me. Still, I wasn’t going to start another shadow war by telling her who had busted the vault. We’d play it out if only to give Pluck and me the time to find Thoth.
“Well…” Ryan looked between us nervously. “If you two have this, I’ll be in my office, coordinating the search for Marty. The gardens aren’t on anyone’s dross-cleaning grid. It’s not a bad place to start.” He hesitated, bumping into my shoulder. “The marshal has a car,” he coaxed.
“I’ve seen it,” I muttered, and the small woman hid a smirk.
Accept her services, Pluck bubbled through my thoughts. It will make the search for Thoth faster. Unless you want Benny to drive you around?
God, no, I thought, not wishing to put him in any danger, and Pluck stood, stretched, and then spiraled into a haze that vanished into my pocket.
I couldn’t get a new piece of moldavite soon enough.
He was far too wispy for my liking, and some time spent in the dark surrounded by inert dross would do him some good.
Cameron froze as the shadow evaporated, but Ryan took it in stride, his thoughts already somewhere else as he patted his pockets with an absent-minded, “Good, good, good. We’ll find Marty before the end of the day if she hasn’t left St. Unoc.
” Beaming, he turned to Cameron. “Thank you for driving Petra around, Marshal. I’m sure she and Pluck will answer any questions you have. ”
Not likely, Pluck fizzed as Ryan touched my shoulder in farewell and left the room.
Breath held, I looked at Cameron. Today had not started well. I had a feeling it was only going to get worse. “After you, Marshal,” I said, and the woman strode forward as if uncaring if I followed or not.
Funny. I felt the same way.