We were in Bank’s sitting at a window table. I could feel the chill coming in from the glass. Clarence and Edrinda were there along with Burr, there was no news about baby fairies but we were probably a day early for that. I had the amulet deep in my pocket and I had my hand wrapped around it. This wasn’t leaving my control until we could find a safe hiding place.
The waiter put a platter on the table; it smelled of toast and honey, refreshed our coffees and then left.
Clarence restarted the conversation. “We should give it back to the druids.”
“They lost it in the first place. If we give it back how do we know they won’t lose it again? It’s a powerful battery,” Lionel said before the sound of crunching came from his direction.
“It is a powerful temptation, too. Are you thinking you would keep this power for yourself?” Edrinda’s voice was cold.
“No,” Lionel sounded appalled. “Imagine how much trouble I could get into if I tried to use it.”
I laughed. “You have the right attitude boy. He also has a point. The druids lost it in the first place. And they haven’t been looking for it. I thought it was a spiritual object for them.”
“What else could we do?” Clarence asked.
“A spell is going to take some work. Lionel can’t cast one strong enough to hide it from close scrutiny. I can’t guarantee anything I cast will work the way I expected. I need to learn how to cast blind before I attempt anything”
“The fairies could hide it,” Burr’s voice piped.
“Thank you, but the fairies have been through enough.” I didn’t want the amulet to go missing around the confusion of the fairy kingdom. “Can someone check with the druids to see if they even know the amulet is missing?”
“I’ll go,” Edrinda said. “You could be right about them not knowing, they have a lot of powerful stuff there. I will also suggest they may want to consider releasing the spirits soon so that the amulet is not a danger any longer.” Her chair scraped against the floor. “Shit.”
“What?”
“A human collapsed across the street. I saw her fall in the alley,” Edrinda hissed the words.
“Are you sure it wasn’t something natural. They have heart attacks.” I could hope.
“No, she grabbed her stomach and then blood started to flow from the woman’s mouth.”
I threw some coins on the table. “Clarence and Edrinda, put on your day time disguises, we need to investigate this.”
When I said we need to investigate, I hadn’t thought through the fact that I was still blind. I took Lionel’s arm and he led me across the road giving me a running commentary.
“It looks like the human has been poisoned. Her lips are blue and there’s bloody foam around her mouth.”
“Anything else?”
“Like a message or something? No, just a dead human.”
“Is there anyone looking?” Clarence asked.
“No,” Lionel responded. “The streets are empty.”
I heard a grunt and footsteps moving away.
“Clarence is moving the body,” Lionel said.
“I guessed that, thanks.”
I couldn’t think of any other questions to ask. “Let’s go back to my place. I don’t know what to do about this.”
Lionel led me but I could tell where we were based on the sounds and smells; the bakery, the florist, the butcher. Next would come a park, and then we’d pass the school. The park was now a bundle of scents, pine, garbage, someone was smoking a cigar. We would be at my place in five minutes. I could start training Lionel to remove the spell on Princess, and we could figure out what to do with the amulet.
“Shit,” Lionel said, then jerked me to a stop. “Oh, sorry.”
“What, why are you sorry?” I waited for the bad news.
“I swore. I am trying to stop swearing. It’s not becoming for a wizard.”
“Who the hell told you that?” I almost laughed until I remembered it might have been Cate.
“I just thought I should be more thoughtful.” He sounded wounded and clearly he hadn’t appreciated my comment.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to act in any way that’s not natural for you. You are a wizard, how you act is how a wizard acts.” I suddenly realized how young he really was. “So why did you swear?”
“I stepped in something. It’s mucky and sticky.”
“Where are Clarence and Edrinda?” I couldn’t help him identify it.
“Up ahead. Look, here’s a bench. You sit down and I’ll figure it out.”
He sat me on the bench and walked away. I tried to be patient, but it was not my best skill. I concentrated on listening. I could hear birds in the trees, so we must only be about a third of the way through the park. I couldn’t hear children but by the sounds of the voices I could hear, there were humans nearby. They could be on the street, though.
I heard Clarence say something to Edrinda, probably just noticing we weren’t behind them. Then I heard what sounded like an elk running toward me.
“Quinn,” Lionel’s whisper was fit for the stage not for sharing secrets.
“Lionel, hush. Get over here before you talk.” I tried to keep my voice kind, and not snap.
I felt his breath on my ear as he spoke. “It’s blood. The stuff I stepped in blood mixed with mud.”
“Did you find a body?” I hoped he was going to say it was an animal.
“Yes, it’s a man he’s been stabbed in the neck.”
Clarence sat beside me and said. “There’s a pool of blood at the edge of the path. Someone walked through it.”
Lionel explained what he’d found. “It’s all over my boots.”
“We need to get home.” I didn’t want us anywhere near a dead body. I told Lionel to clean his shoes on the grass before we started.