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“What do you mean, trade?” I asked.
“The twins pretty much only trade in magic.”
But I don’t have any magic to trade, I thought.
It was too late to turn back now. I set the obsidian where Brooks instructed. It locked into place. At first nothing happened. Then slowly, the door began to glow blue, and it creaked open.
And we stepped inside.
24
In spy movies, all bodyguards are identical, with crisp black suits, massive shoulders, and murderous stares. They even wear their hair slicked back the same way, and their square faces look like they were carved from marble.
That’s exactly what was waiting for us behind the door. A half dozen guys who could either be pro wrestlers or well-paid thugs. They stood shoulder to shoulder and didn’t even blink when we walked into the dim classroom-size space.
I thought maybe the guards didn’t breathe, either, it was so quiet. Except for the bom bom bom of a drum so far away I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t my heartbeat.
“Where are we?” Hondo murmured.
“Security pit stop,” Brooks whispered. “Shhh… just follow my lead.”
In front of us was a ticket booth lit with a sickly yellow glow. There was an opening in the glass but no ticket-taker behind it. Brooks stepped up to the window, set the obsidian stones on the counter, and mumbled some words that were definitely not English.
An instant later, a gray-bearded skeleton materialized. Out of thin air! Eyeballs floated in his eye sockets, and he wore a long white tuxedo jacket with a dead red rose pinned to one of his silk lapels.
Hondo gasped. “What the…?”
The bearded skeleton was weird enough, but on his shoulder was a small brown monkey with reptilian eyes. Its long tail thrashed through the air and it clasped its hairy little paws together like it was smothering something between them.
“You have inveetation?” the skeleton said with a deep raspy voice.
Brooks pushed the obsidian stones toward him and said, “Just let us in, Flaco.”
“No inveetation, no travel to top, even for you,” Flaco said. “Them the rules.”
Brooks wasn’t going to give up so easily. “I’ll be sure to tell Jordan and Bird you turned away fresh meat.”
Hondo gave me a sideways glance and mouthed slowly: Fresh meat?
“Do you see what I see?” he whispered to me. “That esqueleto’s wearing a tux!”
“Seriously?” I whispered back. “How about the fact he’s a living skeleton! Or that he’s got an evil little monkey that probably has fangs?”
Hondo folded his arms across his chest and leaned closer. “You think it has fangs?”
Flaco studied the stones, then handed them back to Brooks. “No entrance with no inveetation.”
Brooks propped her elbows on the booth. “Listen, Flaco, I lost it. And this is a surprise visit. So I can wish them a happy birthday… in person.”
Stroking his silvery beard, the skeleton eyed me. “You a gimp? Is that why you here? You want favor?”
Brooks turned to me and whispered, “He can see through the enchantment. It’s why he’s got this job.”
I wanted to whack Flaco upside his bony head, but I held my cool.
“He’s a magician,” Brooks said casually to Flaco. “It’s part of the birthday surprise.”
The monkey clapped and smiled. Its silver chompers were huge, and when it clicked them together it sent chills down the back of my neck.
