Page 5

CHAPTER THREE

Back at the office, Sophia had once again turned on the computer.

On the way home, the storm had moved east, over to the Eastside.

While it was still raining, we were out of the main thunderstorm threat, and back to the drizzly downpour.

A quick sprint across the parking lot, and Carson and I were in the building, heading back upstairs.

Sophia smiled as we entered the office. “Coffee’s hot and waiting in the breakroom,” she said. “I also ordered some doughnuts. I figured it might be a nice change on such a dreary day. Where’s Dante?”

“He’ll be back in a bit. He needed to talk to his landlord first. We didn’t find any bugs or cameras, but we did figure out what she stole.”

“Lovely,” Sophia said. “Your next client will be here at one-fifteen, so we have another hour or so. What do you want for lunch? I was about to place an order at Chang’s.”

“Yum, Chinese,” I said. “I want potstickers, chicken fried rice, two egg rolls, and some orange chicken.”

“Got it,” she said, jotting it on a paper. “What about you, Carson?”

He thought for a moment. “Fried rice, potstickers, and spicy pork.”

“Okay, got it. What do you think Dante might like?”

“Get family size of everything and we can mix and match,” I said. “Have you heard anything from Orik, yet?”

She shook her head. “No, but I was going to suggest that you should call him to see how things are going. Or I can, if you like.”

“No, I’ll do it. Order lunch. Let me know when it gets here. I’ll be in my office,” I added. I headed for my office, stopping at the breakroom for more coffee. After filling my mug, I returned to my desk, settling in before I pulled out my phone and called Orik.

“Hey, Kyann,” he said.

“How’s it going? You have Rowan under surveillance?”

“I do,” he said. “She apparently works at Guilder’s Floral. She’s in there, behind the counter, making bouquets.”

“Well, that’s something new that we didn’t know. She’s there?”

“She is, but given it’s noon, I’m going to follow her to see where she goes next.”

“Good. I’ll let you go. You have anything to eat with you?” I asked.

“I do. When should I come back to the office?”

“See what she does on her lunch hour, then return here so you can meet our new client. We can’t spend all our time following Rowan.

Dante’s getting his locks changed, and she’s banned from his apartment building.

His landlord likes him and he’s not going to let someone in who might be detrimental to the tenants. ”

Orik hung up, and I went back to my computer, trying to figure out what the hell to do about the unhinged Ms. Leaf. But ten minutes later, I was interrupted by a call from Benny. Frowning, I picked up my phone.

“Heya, Benny, what’s up? No hard feelings for last night, right?”

“Last night? No. You had a right to blast me, and I’m grateful that you let me go with my skin intact. I have some intel for you, Legs.”

I put down my pen. “What is it?” Benny volunteering info was probably his way of underscoring his promise to stop playing a double-game.

“I hang around a lot of the lowlifes in Lower Seattle, and I heard something as I was sitting at a coffee shop near a couple of sorcerers. They’re not witchblood, I think.

At least they didn’t seem like it, but they do use magic.

They were talking about some organization called Brim Fire. I know you’ve mentioned them before.”

I perked up. “What did they say?”

“They were talking about “the gates” and how they—I’m not sure whether they meant themselves or the organization—thought they might have figured out how to manage opening them.

I don’t know what that means, if anything.

I don’t know if it’s important, but even I didn’t like the way those guys felt. They’re beyond shady, Kyann.”

“They are beyond shady,” I said. “Brim Fire is a dangerous group, Benny. While I appreciate any info you can give me regarding them, I don’t want you putting yourself in danger for it.

” Benny might be a goblin and a little putz, but that didn’t mean I wanted him putting himself in the line of fire. Literally, demon fire.

He paused. “When you’re warning me off something, I know there’s a problem. I won’t take any chances, but I’ll see if I can find out more.”

“You do that and I’ll double what I pay you. But as I said, don’t take any chances. You didn’t by chance hear any names, did you?”

“Let me think…” He paused, then said, “No real names, but I did hear them talking about Glider Park.”

Why did that sound familiar?

I frowned, then it hit me. There was a portal to the UnderRealms in Glider Park, and Penn was the one in charge of watching over it.

“Benny, you’re a genius. I’ve got to go. Let me know if you find out anything else, but don’t risk your neck.” I hung up, then hurried to call Penn. She didn’t answer and I was getting frantic, but then, on the fourth ring, she picked up.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“I got some info from Benny. Your portal in Glider Park, it leads to the UnderRealms, right?”

“Yeah, why?” Penn sounded preoccupied. “I need to go over there today and check on it. Duran is taking care of it this week for me.”

“I don’t know who Duran is, but I think Brim Fire may be targeting it. I don’t have precise information, but Benny overheard two men he thinks are sorcerers talking about it. He’s clueless on what that means, which is probably a good thing.”

“Did he get their names?” Penn asked.

“No, but he’s going to try to find them again. I told him to be cautious—I don’t want him getting himself killed because of me. But I thought you should know.”

“I’ll talk to Duran about it today.” She sighed. “You know that they reassigned the portal I used to watch to another keeper.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“It’s not good. And I’m only watching this one part time. I have a bad feeling that PortalWatch is inching me out.”

PortalWatch was a part of the Crystal Court—the magical court run by Queen Elsabetha.

There were several military branches belonging to the court of the witches, but PortalWatch was kept on the downlow.

There were too many chances for disaster if humans or other Supes knew about the interdimensional gates.

One other organization knew detailed information about them: Solimentary.

Solimentary was the group running the Library of Arcane Wisdom.

They gathered info on all things magical and paranormal, and they studied how Supes interacted with humans.

Solimentary was not a part of the Crystal Court, nor were they magical in themselves.

Instead, they stood outside of society, and their members were generally drawn from the older Elven families.

The Elves, unlike the Fae, were few in number and stood apart from most other races, valuing peace and knowledge above all else.

As far as I knew, Elves could inflict terrible damage when roused, but they kept to themselves.

Few people even knew about their existence.

As far as I could tell, most people thought they were part of the Fae.

The last thing I wanted was Penn heading to a portal that was a potential target.

“Who are you taking with you?” I asked.

“Who? What do you mean? I’m going by myself. Duran will be there.” She sounded so nonchalant that I wanted to shake her.

“Penn, there could be sorcerers targeting that portal right now?—”

“And it’s my responsibility to make sure that it’s secured. Don’t worry, Kyann. I’m not a little girl,” she said.

“No, but the Brim Fire sorcerers are dangerous—deadly so.”

“Yeah,” she said after a moment. “I know. I promise you, if I think there’s danger, I’ll call you. And I’ll make sure PortalWatch knows. They’ll probably assign extra guards to it.”

“All right, but I’m still uncomfortable,” I said.

“That’s because you’re a Mama Hen at heart for all of your friends, and we love you for it,” Penn said. “Okay, I’ll call you in a bit.”

I wanted to go with her, but we had a client coming in, and I couldn’t always be there when my friends went into tricky situations. I said goodbye and hung up.

* * *

As Dante and I prepared to meet our new client—well, potential client—I strove to focus. I told Dante what was going on with Penn, and I also asked Carson to check on the Brim Fire forum boards, where he was keeping watch through a hidden identity.

“Penn may be in danger,” I said, knowing that would light a fire under him, given how he felt about her. “Brim Fire seems to know about one of the portals leading to the UnderRealm—which is the one that Penn watches over. I think they want to take control of it.”

“How could they, though? They’d have the entire Crystal Court after them,” Carson said.

“I don’t think they care. Though, I can’t imagine a brawl breaking out in the park.

Nobody wants the general populace knowing about the portals.

If they think they can control the portal, they must have some plan to secure that control.

” I shook my head. “Brim Fire doesn’t make stupid moves.

So, if this is what they’re planning, it has probably been in the making for a long time. ”

“Got it. All right, let me see what I can find out.” He turned back to his computer. “Do you need me for the new client meeting?”

“No, Orik’s on his way back. He can sit in with us. I’ll brief you later.” I stood, patting his shoulder. “Get busy. I’m worried sick about Penn but she, of course, is going to do whatever she needs to do and she doesn’t want me worrying about her.”

“You got it, boss,” Carson said. As he turned back to his computer, I headed out of his office, shutting the door behind me.

* * *

Orik returned shortly before our new client arrived. “Well, I have some interesting news about our stalker,” he said.

“What is it?” Dante stiffened.