center, where Brody and the security manager stood. A box no bigger than a suitcase was between them, but their bodies shielded everything but the edges.
Then Brody reached out and opened the thing.
The force of the pulse was so strong I was shoved back three feet, shooting out the other side of the shelf and sprawling onto the floor like a flipped lizard. Alarmed cries rang out and I spun into a sprint-crawl, barely making it onto another pallet between two piles of bags as the cops came around the corner. Brody’s voice cracked through the stillness. “Report!”
“Sounds, sir, something falling. Could have been a shifting bag.”
I tried to breathe without making a sound, but the energy racking my body made it feel like my bones were coming apart. There’d been no light, no flash of any sort emanating from the box holding the scroll cases. There’d been no sound. But as soon as Brody had lifted that lid, it was if a hand had reached out and punched me in the sternum.
What was in those scroll cases?
I managed to quell my gasps, closing my eyes to stop the clanging in my head. Meanwhile Brody returned to his inspection with the cargo supervisor. I’d stuffed my hands beneath me to quiet their trembling, but it wasn’t until the inner room had been closed off and the electronic wards reset that I could begin to breathe more normally.
Brody, the security woman and the last of the cops finally left. Carefully, gingerly, I crawled out of my hiding place, oozing onto the floor. I pulled myself up to my feet, then felt a new touch on the very doorstep of my mind. “You do not have to go further, Miss Wilde.”
“Those are definitely the real deal, Armaeus,” I murmured. He wasn’t here, and I could just as easily think the words to him as speak them, but muttering into thin air somehow seemed less crazy right now than talking in my head. I felt the pressure mount and narrowed my eyes. “Rules, Armaeus. Talk but don’t touch.”
The Magician obligingly quit pushing on my brain and I moved forward, my legs post-bender wobbly, and braced myself on the nearest ledge. “Almost there.”
“Stand down, Miss Wilde.” Armaeus’s voice was rich with satisfaction. “ You’ve accomplished what you needed, without laying a hand on the scroll cases. Which you couldn’t do anyway, now that I’ve seen their strength.”
I frowned. “I’ll be careful.”
“Your reaction is all that was required. Fuggeren will have to present these artifacts in such a way that the Connecteds attending the Rarity are not compromised. Or, alternatively, that they are, depending on his goals. Either way, we will be prepared.”
I passed a hand over my forehead. “So, what do you want me to do?”
“Exit quietly. If you are waylaid, it’s important that you leave nothing behind to trace you to the Council.”
“Pack in, pack out. Got it.”
Armaeus said nothing further, and I turned away from the artifact’s holding cell, a little too grateful to show it my back. Then I turned toward it again, despite the Magician’s orders. The glow around the closed door remained, but something else was there, too. Something that called to me. I moved toward the room and stood in front of the door for a long minute. The glow seemed to envelop me—teasing. Taunting. Hovering just out of—
The hand around my mouth jerked me backward into a sturdy chest, the voice at my ear achingly familiar.
“Why did I somehow know I’d find you here?” Brody Rooks murmured.
Chapter Nine
Going against my natural instincts to drive my elbow into Brody’s gut or my heel into his instep, I held perfectly still until he dropped his hand from my face to lock it onto my left shoulder. “This is completely not what you think.”
“Yeah?” The detective wasn’t moving, and he wasn’t letting go. I was pretty sure that wasn’t exact police protocol, but I tried to keep my cool.
I’m super professional like that.
“I was following someone,
Then Brody reached out and opened the thing.
The force of the pulse was so strong I was shoved back three feet, shooting out the other side of the shelf and sprawling onto the floor like a flipped lizard. Alarmed cries rang out and I spun into a sprint-crawl, barely making it onto another pallet between two piles of bags as the cops came around the corner. Brody’s voice cracked through the stillness. “Report!”
“Sounds, sir, something falling. Could have been a shifting bag.”
I tried to breathe without making a sound, but the energy racking my body made it feel like my bones were coming apart. There’d been no light, no flash of any sort emanating from the box holding the scroll cases. There’d been no sound. But as soon as Brody had lifted that lid, it was if a hand had reached out and punched me in the sternum.
What was in those scroll cases?
I managed to quell my gasps, closing my eyes to stop the clanging in my head. Meanwhile Brody returned to his inspection with the cargo supervisor. I’d stuffed my hands beneath me to quiet their trembling, but it wasn’t until the inner room had been closed off and the electronic wards reset that I could begin to breathe more normally.
Brody, the security woman and the last of the cops finally left. Carefully, gingerly, I crawled out of my hiding place, oozing onto the floor. I pulled myself up to my feet, then felt a new touch on the very doorstep of my mind. “You do not have to go further, Miss Wilde.”
“Those are definitely the real deal, Armaeus,” I murmured. He wasn’t here, and I could just as easily think the words to him as speak them, but muttering into thin air somehow seemed less crazy right now than talking in my head. I felt the pressure mount and narrowed my eyes. “Rules, Armaeus. Talk but don’t touch.”
The Magician obligingly quit pushing on my brain and I moved forward, my legs post-bender wobbly, and braced myself on the nearest ledge. “Almost there.”
“Stand down, Miss Wilde.” Armaeus’s voice was rich with satisfaction. “ You’ve accomplished what you needed, without laying a hand on the scroll cases. Which you couldn’t do anyway, now that I’ve seen their strength.”
I frowned. “I’ll be careful.”
“Your reaction is all that was required. Fuggeren will have to present these artifacts in such a way that the Connecteds attending the Rarity are not compromised. Or, alternatively, that they are, depending on his goals. Either way, we will be prepared.”
I passed a hand over my forehead. “So, what do you want me to do?”
“Exit quietly. If you are waylaid, it’s important that you leave nothing behind to trace you to the Council.”
“Pack in, pack out. Got it.”
Armaeus said nothing further, and I turned away from the artifact’s holding cell, a little too grateful to show it my back. Then I turned toward it again, despite the Magician’s orders. The glow around the closed door remained, but something else was there, too. Something that called to me. I moved toward the room and stood in front of the door for a long minute. The glow seemed to envelop me—teasing. Taunting. Hovering just out of—
The hand around my mouth jerked me backward into a sturdy chest, the voice at my ear achingly familiar.
“Why did I somehow know I’d find you here?” Brody Rooks murmured.
Chapter Nine
Going against my natural instincts to drive my elbow into Brody’s gut or my heel into his instep, I held perfectly still until he dropped his hand from my face to lock it onto my left shoulder. “This is completely not what you think.”
“Yeah?” The detective wasn’t moving, and he wasn’t letting go. I was pretty sure that wasn’t exact police protocol, but I tried to keep my cool.
I’m super professional like that.
“I was following someone,
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