Chapter Twenty-Two
The missing hiker was somehow connected, Simon thought. It was just too much of a coincidence that Col had been abducted, and now an athletically fit man, roughly the same age as Col, give or take a few centuries, was gone without a trace. The likelihood that an accident had befallen him in the woods was extremely low. The wolves had been able to search where few humans were able to, and their sense of smell was superb – if he was out there, Simon believed that they would have found him.
The group didn’t explain why Col had come back earlier than the others, and Col was unsurprisingly tight-lipped about it as well. Simon was under the impression it had something to do with the telepathy that they shared in wolf form, which fascinated him, but it wasn’t important for him to worry about at this point. He had his own mysteries to solve. Chief among them was if there was a connection between what had happened to Col with the anomalies that his trusted head of Ops was reporting.
For that reason, they were now at the HR office, where Rika was helping process everything they needed to have official access everywhere, and unlimited credit with the vendors on site. He only hoped that Katie’s instructions on etiquette would stick, as the boys were let loose with their credit on the food vendors and Staff Caff.
He made a mental note to have Katie spend some time with them about when it was appropriate to use the electronic card keys to enter, and especially when it was important to knock first.
Otherwise Rika would be inundated with more HR complaints.
Looking at his efficient, but overworked HR Director, he realized once again how fortunate he was with the people he entrusted with so much responsibility. Rika was indispensable, as was Puma, and of course Miller. He couldn’t imagine handling any of this —the five large males who were crowding the too-cramped office—without the older man who had become like a father to him.
And now Katie was fast joining that rarified group. He was looking forward to that lunch with her in the Royal Court of Food.
If only he had the guts to ask if he could have one of the fake dates with her. She made him feel that it was possible that one day he could have a real date, with someone who appreciated him for him. Someone perhaps like Katie.
* * *
Cadmus glowered at his reflection in the mirror. His expertly coiffed salt and pepper hair, the exact look of which was carefully crafted by a stylist once a month, was now crammed into something that Jordy called a “dad cap.” He shuddered with revulsion at the similarities that emerged between Jordy and Micah. He would have to carefully hide his thoughts, as he needed to win her back. His own recruit, his own weapon.
At least Jordy had brought him a decent breakfast when she showed up this morning. The wrapper was still on the kitchen table, with only crumbs remaining. It hadn’t been half bad, the egg sandwich she had gotten from some place she had referred to as the Staff Caff. Or equally nonsensical syllables.
She herself had eaten a slab of breakfast pastry that looked like it could be used for a doorstop, and polished it off with a strawberry milk drink that resembled house paint.
Cadmus forced himself to smile at her, even nodding as if he agreed, as she kept babbling between bites and noisy slurps about Micah and how “rad” he was, or whatever slang further revealed her terrible lack of taste.
“How would you like to help me utilize this object that I charged the last few days? It’s been crafted to locate a very specific target, for an offering that will really impress His Terrible Majesty.” He held out the crystal pendulum between his middle finger and thumb, and the sunlight glinted off it as it quivered at the end of the small chain.
“Can you feel the energy already? It’s already been powered with blood from the target. In fact, the being in question may yield a tremendous source of power. But only if we succeed in acquiring it.”
“Ooh,” Jordy breathed, a milky strawberry ring around her mouth, her eyes wide with interest. “Like amagickalGPS?”
Cadmus smirked. “More likemagickalhunting as a predator, with very specific prey in mind.” He knew the words would work, as the girl’s enthusiasm became palpable. She was almost vibrating as much as the pendulum.
Or it might have been from all the sugar she was consuming.
“I would love to!” Jordy slammed the rest of her artificially flavored, colored, and manufactured beverage down her throat and crumpled the carton in a small fist. “Ready to go when you are, Boss!”
“No time like the present, then.” Cadmus said. His cap was starting to make his scalp itch. They couldn’t get into his rental car fast enough, with Jordy in the seat next to him, holding the pendulum and navigating. She was oohing and ahhing over the energy emanating from the object, through the chain and into her fingers, holding it as she had seen Cadmus do.
The pendulum bobbed and weaved, acting much like the dowsing rods that he had used when he had first embarked on hismagickalstudies. The same excitement shone in the young girl who was behaving as she should, a student with her teacher, an apprentice with her Master.
At least the object looked as if it were working so far, he wouldn’t know until he spotted the man-wolf again. And even so, he was cautious not to sharethatlittle detail with Jordy. He had seen her and Micah exchanging numbers on their phones, and promising to “give a holla” and “text each other up.”
He’d have to find a way to put a stop to that, too.
But one step at a time.
“It’s pointing to the left,” Jordy said. She looked up through the windshield. “But that leads to—”
They were approaching the Faire.
