Page 19 of The Thief's Mark

He tossed the club aside with a sigh. “All right, I’ll admit, that’s pretty nifty. I’ve never seen something like it before. Is it a custom piece?”

Some emotion Cal couldn’t read flitted over Griff’s face. Instead of answering, he started for the door.

Cal tried to remain behind, but the instant Griff reached the bracelet’s maximum distance, he found his feet following of their own accord.

If there was one word that described Cal, it wassurvivor.And while it was possible he’d get a chance to escape en route, the odds weren’t seeming in his favor. Performing some quick mental gymnastics, he discarded several potential ploys before settling on the most desperate gambit he had available to him: the truth.

Or at least, some portion of it.

“All right, let me level with you,” Cal said as Griff guided him like a dog on a leash past the unconscious bodies of the Brotherhood brutes into the apartment building’s narrow, dirty hall. “It’s possible Imayknow about this orb they were talking about.”

Griff slowed, turning to raise a silent eyebrow at him.

Cal took that as permission to keep talking. “I went to The Last Drop last night to collect a commission for a job. While I was there, I saw Bald Locke handing this chest off to someone for a hefty fee. Naturally, I was curious, so I followed them out.”

“And stole it,” Griff said in sudden understanding.

Cal rolled his eyes at the obvious judgment in Griff’s tone. “We both know that anything Bald Locke is selling didn’t enter Derimay legally, so it hardly counts as some grand crime. But yes, I…procured the chest. And when I got back here and opened it, I foundthisinside.”

He reached up and pressed a finger to the thief’s mark on the left side of his chest. Magic flared, and an instant later, the orb materialized in his hand. He held it up toward Griff, frowning when the inspector recoiled. Griff’s stoic face had twisted with a grimace somewhere between disgust and fear.

“What in the name of the Goddessisthat? Its foul aura is clawing at my skin.”

Cal glanced down at the object, then back up at Griff. “You said something like that before. You can sense auras?”

The self-conscious look that crossed Griff’s face was deeply amusing. The inspector shrugged. “Have been able to since I was a kid. Comes in handy when I’m working a case.” He fixed Cal with a meaningful look. “Or trying to track a source of magic. Speaking of talents, what about that trick with your duskflame?”

It was Cal’s turn to feel uneasy, his amusement vanishing. He didn’t like anyone knowing about his ability,especiallyan inspector. Even if he got out of this jam, that could prove problematic. One of Blackjack’s key advantages so far had been the element of surprise. Maybe after this, it was time to leave Derimay for good.

Instead of answering, Cal gestured to the orb he still held. “You seem pretty freaked out by this thing. I can’t read its aura or whatever, but I have to admit, I don’t like it much either. I was planning to hock it the first chance I got. What is it supposed to do?”

Hesitantly, Griff stepped closer, his gaze locked on the orb. Cal caught a whiff of some rich, woodsy scent and had to stop himself from breathing deeper. He watched as Griff extended a hand toward the orb. His fingers hovered right above its dark violet surface for a moment. Then, Griff exhaled as if to steel himself and pressed his palm to the top of the orb.

The effect was near instantaneous. The orb abruptly blazed with unholy light. The empty void in its heart churned into a raging whirlwind. All the hairs on Cal’s arms stood on end as raw power crackled in the air. He swore he could hear voices whispering insane gibberish in his mind, and monstrous shapes slithered in the edges of his vision, vanishing the instant he spun his head.

Judging by Griff’s wide eyes and pale face, whatever he saw and heard was at least as bad. The inspector yanked his hand away, cradling it against his chest as if burned. The instant he broke contact with the orb, the effect winked out. The swirlingpower vanished and the voices quieted, leaving nothing but the empty sphere behind.

Cal stumbled a step back. “What the Void did you do? It’s never reacted like that whenI’veheld it!”

“I…I don’t know. All I did was try to get a better sense of its aura.” Griff swallowed. “I’ve never encountered something like this before. This is an incredibly dangerous artifact. Who knows how much damage it could cause in the wrong hands!”

Seeing the stoic inspector so unsettled left Cal even more ill at ease. Not that he had any intention of letting the inspector see that.

Plastering on a cocky grin, he shrugged and took a shallow bow. “Well, then, you’re welcome. Glad to have done my civic duty by getting it off the streets. Now that you’ve gotten what you came for, I guess you’d better hurry up and let me go so you can go take care of it.”

Griff leveled him with a flat look. “How magnanimous of you.” He snatched the orb from Cal’s grip. Thankfully, it remained dormant this time. “I’ll make sure this ends up with the proper authorities. Now, come on.”

He resumed his stride down the hall, quickening his pace.

Cal yelped as the cuff on his wrist dragged him after Griff. “Wait!” he sputtered. “You can’t do that!”

Griff didn’t slow. “And why not? Seems to me like if I’m getting one danger to the city off the streets, I might as well bring in another.”

“Thatwouldbe true…if you could be certain you trusted who you’d be handing us over to.”

Cal held his breath, praying to the Dark that Griff took the bait. He bit back a relieved sigh when Griff stopped near the top of the stairs. He glanced back at Cal with a frown.

“All right, I’ll bite. What are you talking about?”