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I kept perfectly still, Agatha’s brooch warm in my hand. My skin ran hot. Bastion’s did, too. His face went red, his skin flushing from his forehead to his cheeks, down to his neck and his chest and – wait. Don’t look, I told myself, holding my head perfectly still. Don’t look.
“Bastion?” said a voice from behind us. I turned to find Prudence standing just by the front door, her expression one of deep puzzlement. “What the – why are you – did you just get out of the shower?”
He cleared his throat, raised his chin, and set his spine in an unusually erect position. “That’s none of your business.”
I wasn’t expecting Romira to show up next – neither did Bastion, apparently, from how his hands quickly flew to cover his torso. But she slunk in next to Prudence, a playful smile on her lips.
“Ooh la la, Sebastion,” she said. “Break me off a piece of that. Where do I sign up for my lap dance?”
From far above us, Luella Brandt barked with laughter.
“Why are the two of you even here?” Bastion demanded, redder than ever.
“For the show, apparently,” Prudence said, fixing him with a grim stare. “Romira, did you bring any singles? We should’ve stopped by an ATM.”
“Very funny,” Bastion huffed.
“Whatever,” Prudence said. “Get dressed. We?
?re heading out.”
I started to panic. “What? I thought it was just you, me, and Romira.”
Prudence tilted her head, frowning. “I thought the whole point of asking us to come here was so that Bastion could tag along?”
“Oh,” I said. Damn it. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Um, actually, I was just here to pick up the thing I needed for Carver. Bastion doesn’t need to come with.”
He raised his chin, glaring at me. “And why the hell not?”
“He’s right,” Romira said. “If we’re going fishing for information, more warm bodies couldn’t hurt.” She tittered, cocking her shoulder. “Teehee. Warm bodies.”
“Oh, do take him with you,” Luella called from the top of the staircase. “Sebastion can be such a bore when he’s like this, stomping around the house and pining.”
I blinked. Pining?
“We’ll get him out of your hair just as soon as he throws some clothes on,” Prudence said.
Romira giggled. “Maybe a tank top. He’s got those arms and all. Oh, and hi, Mrs. Brandt.”
Luella raised her glass at Romira and smiled. Romira nudged me with her elbow, whispering. “When I grow up, I want to be just like her.”
Chapter 10
Things weren’t as awkward as I thought they’d be, not when there were four of us, and not when Bastion insisted on calling shotgun for the rideshare. At least we didn’t have to sit next to each other. Plus we had a fifth to serve as an extra social buffer, if you counted Madam Chien, Prudence’s grandmother. Her apothecary, oddly comforting with its soft incandescent light and scores of antique chests and cabinets, was our first destination. We were hoping that she’d know something about how to communicate with the Great Beasts.
“This is a difficult one, admittedly,” Madam Chien said, rubbing her chin. Lucky that we caught her just in time, too. She was just about to close up shop for the night.
Madam Chien was the kind of old lady who was just the right mix of wizened and sprightly. She seemed diminutive, nondescript as she wandered the aisles of her musty shop, endlessly arranging and rearranging her stocks of phials and ingredients. But we knew better. The woman packed a significant punch, and probably had decades of arcane prowess to back her fists up. Both magic and martial arts ran in Prudence’s family’s blood, it seemed.
“My boss doesn’t know where to start, either,” I told her.
“That is not at all surprising,” she said. “No one simply goes off in search of gigantic monsters to ask them for trinkets or favors.” She cocked an eyebrow at me, scowling. “No one in their right mind, at least.”
I shrugged. “It’s one thing we haven’t tried, and I don’t mean to exaggerate, but we’re going to need all the help we can get when it comes to Agatha Black.”
“Yes. I’ve heard of this lioness of yours. Her prestige was quite widespread within the arcane community. She might have even come to shop here, once or twice.” I didn’t think it was possible, but Madam Chien frowned even harder, her face screwing up into a prune. “She was not the most pleasant woman.”
Bastion bowed his head apologetically. “It came with the territory, I think. I suppose the magic got to her head.”
