Darkness & Discovery (The Bespelled Trilogy #2) (8 page)

I grinned at that.
“Maybe it’s a killing you with kindness kind of thing.”

“That or killing me
with his cooking. He tried to serve me a raw pork chop. He didn’t know you were
supposed to cook it, and seemed baffled when I explained that to him.” Now Bryn
was grinning a little too.

“That’s super gross.”

“But kind of sweet that
he’s trying so hard. And damn! See? It’s working. I’m warming up to that
bastard!”

“It’s probably ok to
warm up to him. As long as you don’t start trusting him.”

“Indeed.” Bryn pressed
both hands to his forehead, one over the other. “Ugh. I think I’ve completely
sobered up. I need another drink.”

“No more drinking.
Let’s finish cleaning you up,” I said, opening his medicine cabinet. He had an electric
Iron Man toothbrush, which I handed to him. “You and Iron Man get reacquainted.
Then let’s go see if Joey’s murdered Augustine yet.”

Bryn’s foray back into the world of the speaking was
short-lived. Throughout the course of the afternoon and evening he slowly
withdrew again, until he was curled up in the window seat of his palatial
living room, looking out of place among the powder blue and white in his
head-to-toe black.

He was staring out the
window at featureless darkness. But then he did something to change the view,
and from over his shoulder I glimpsed an exquisite snowy landscape with a
stately home nestled among bare trees, smoke rising from the chimney. Apparently
he was remembering something again, but instead of making himself a participant
in this scene, he’d made himself an outsider.

Augustine came into the
room, freshly showered and dressed in jeans and a black cashmere sweater (the
one set of clothing he had here). “Aw, don’t let him do that,” he whispered to
us before heading over to Bryn and guiding him off the window seat with an arm
around his shoulders. “Come here Brynnie, sit on the couch where it’s more
comfortable.” He led him over to the sofa and deposited him at one end, and
Bryn immediately curled up in the corner and hugged his knees to his chest.

“So, now that it’s dark
out,” Alastair said, watching Bryn closely, “we were thinking about heading to
Chinatown to see if we can track down Jin.”

“I was there last week,
looking for him,” Augustine said. “His family has moved out of their apartment
on Washington. I didn’t have a chance to follow up, though, and find out where
they’d gone.”

“Why were you looking
for him, Gus?” Joey asked. “Did you think of some other terrible thing to do to
Alastair, and needed Jin’s help again?” Augustine sighed almost imperceptibly.

My phone beeped and I
pulled it out of the pocket of my jeans. It was a text from Carrie that said:
Just
went by and took a look at your house. It’s fine. Been keeping eyes and ears
open for the Order, but they haven’t reappeared. Hope you’re well. C.

I sent a reply and a thank
you and stood up. “So, let’s go to Chinatown and start asking questions, find
out where the family moved. Bryn, why don’t you come along? It’d do you good to
get out.”

“Rather stay here and
sulk, thanks,” he murmured.

“Augustine, do you need
to go out and feed before we take off?” Alastair asked.

“Already did, soon as
it got dark. I got takeout.” He put a blanket over Bryn as he said, “And if you
or Joey want any, there’s plenty in the fridge.”

“I swear to God, there
had better not be a person stuffed into the Subzero,” Joey growled.

Augustine stared at him
for a long moment, one eyebrow raised. And then he said, “No, you git. I got a
bunch of blood units from the county hospital. I compelled a doctor to bring
them out to me.”

“You know, you’re not
actually British,” Joey pointed out. “I’m not sure what brand of eurotrash you
are, exactly. But whatever it is, I’m sure calling people gits doesn’t fall
under your jurisdiction.”

“In all, I’ve spent almost
six centuries living in the UK over the course of my life. Which makes me more
British than everyone in this room, combined,” he huffed.

“Is there nothing you
two won’t bicker about? Joey, come on, stop goading Augustine. Let’s go track
down that warlock,” I said. We said goodbye to Bryn and headed out the front
door.

Augustine walked us
out, and when we reached the courtyard, he pulled out a business card and wrote
two addresses on the back of it, then handed it to me. “On top is Jin’s last
known address. The bottom one is a Chinese restaurant that smelled really good
when I was down there. Could you bring back some takeout for Bryn? He seems to
like things with pigs and cows in them.”

“Yeah, no problem,” I
said, slipping the card in my pocket.

We rode the bus across
town, and emerged into a different world. Chinatown was vibrant and alive, a
mosaic of smells and sounds and color. Alastair took my hand and we wound our
way down the crowded sidewalk, his expression guarded. Joey was the opposite,
cheerful and exuberant as he took in the experience with all his senses. He
darted into a bakery, then caught up to us and handed me a little bag of almond
cookies. “I couldn’t resist. These smelled so good,” he told me, and took a
long whiff when I handed him a piece. A block later, his nose guided him into a
little apothecary shop, and when next he caught up to us, he handed me a little
shopping bag with handmade soaps wrapped in beautiful papers. “I thought you’d
like these. There were a ton of unique fragrance combinations. And you should
have seen the herbs and medicines in that shop! I could have spent all night in
there, just smelling things.”

“Thanks, Joey,” I said
with a grin. “You make hunting rogue warlocks fun.”

“I try. Ok, that’s just
weird. I’ll be right back.” And he was off again.

Alastair paused in a
little alcove to wait for our companion, and I smiled up at him. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He grinned at me
and kissed me gently. We didn’t say anything else. We just held each other
securely, my head on his chest.

Joey rejoined us after
a couple minutes and put a little bag in my hand as he said, “Let’s keep going.
Jin’s former apartment should be on the next block.”

I started walking and
both guys fell in step, one to each side of me. “Joey, what did you hand me?” I
asked, peering in the little white bag.

“It’s a mung bean bun.
Say that three times fast. Mung bean bun, mung bean bun, mung bean bun!” Joey
smiled brightly. “It smelled really interesting. And it’s vegetarian. Thought
you might like to try something new.”

“Thank you again,” I
said.

We were in luck when we
arrived at Jin’s former apartment. The door was open, and an Asian kid of about
twelve was sprawled out on the floor, concentrating on a Gameboy while wearing
an iPod. Joey waved to get the kid’s attention, and the boy leapt up, pulling
the earbuds out as he said, “Dude, you scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry. We’re looking
for the family that used to live here. Any idea where they moved to?” Joey
asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “My
mom’s the landlord, she’s back there painting the bedroom. That’s why the
door’s open, so I don’t die of fumes,” he added, rolling his eyes. “Anyway,
they left a forwarding address, it’s stuck to the fridge. You know, in case any
of their mail comes here by mistake. They probably want to be real sure to get
all their mail, cuz I bet that’s how they get their lottery checks.”

“They hit the lottery?”
Alastair asked.

“Yeah. How lucky is
that? Their mom said she didn’t even remember buying the ticket. Next thing you
know, they bought a big house in Pacific Heights and moved out of this dump,”
the kid said. Then he looked guilty and added, “Don’t tell my mom I called it a
dump. She works real hard trying to make it nice. It’s just not exactly a big
house in Pacific Heights, you know?”

Joey jogged to the
kitchen, and returned less than a minute later. “Got the address. Thanks. What
was your name?”

“Raleigh. And yeah
dude, it was no problem.”

When we got back
outside, Alastair said, “I want to check on something. You two go on ahead,
I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes.” He kissed my cheek and took off.

As Joey and I strolled
down the street, he grinned and said, “That’s exactly what I would have done.”

“What is?”

“If I suddenly
discovered I had magical powers, I’d conjure up a fake lottery ticket for my
parents. Make sure they were set for life. I was thinking this warlock was a
total jerk, but it’s cool that he’s obviously looking after his family.”

“Well, no one’s ever
really
all
bad,” I said.

“Augustine.”

“What?”

“You said no one is all
bad. But you’re wrong, because he is.”

“If that’s true, then
what’s he doing helping Bryn?” I wanted to know.

“Maybe he’s just trying
to impress Alastair or something. Who knows? I have no idea why Gus ever does
anything
.”
Joey paused and then shot me a sidelong glance. I immediately knew what was coming.
“So, speaking of families Lu, you know, we
are
back in the bay area….”

“You promised to stop
harping on this, Joey.” My mother was in prison about an hour from here for growing
and selling marijuana. I’d never visited her since her arrest five years ago, and
Joey really thought I should go see her. He subtly and not-so-subtly worked it
into the conversation every couple days. “As far as I’m concerned, my Aunt
Claire was the only parent I ever needed.”

“But Claire’s gone now,
Lu,” Joey said gently. “And your mom’s still here. I’m not saying you have to
be best pals or anything. I’m just saying maybe you should visit her. I’ll go with
you, it’ll be fun. I always wondered if prisons have gift shops, so let’s go
find out. Maybe they sell black and white striped t-shirts. Or little metal
cups to clang on the bars.”

He was trying to make
me smile, and it worked. “Even if I did decide to go, you couldn’t come with
me. Visiting hours are probably during the day, when the sun would roast you
like the super gross crispy duck hanging in that window. Oh geez, this is
actually the place Augustine suggested to get takeout for Bryn,” I said,
noticing the sign on the restaurant beside us.

“There are late visiting
hours at the prison on Thursday nights for the after work crowd. Six to eight.
And I wonder if you can buy a whole one of those ducks. Bryn might like that,”
Joey said, and I punched him in the arm. “Ow! Was that for looking up visiting
hours, or for suggesting we buy a duck?”

“Visiting hours. The
duck only merits a look of total disgust, not bodily harm.”

“I know I’m meddling.
But come on. Just once, ok? We can go tomorrow night. I’ll go with you, and you
can punch me in the arm the whole way there.”

“No.”

I’ll be your best
friend,” he cajoled.

“You already
are
my best friend. But if you keep being such a total pain, I’m going to have to
reassign that honor.”

“Alastair can’t be your
best friend. He’s already your boyfriend.”

“There’s no rule he
can’t be both. Ted was. And who said anything about Allie anyway? I was
actually thinking Augustine had BFF written all over him,” I teased.

“No, that’s not BFF,
it’s WTF. You misread it.”

I grinned at that. “Language,
Joey.”

“What? I didn’t say
anything. That could stand for ‘what the flapjacks’ for all you know.”

“You’re so bizarre,” I
said with a smile. “I love that about you.”

“Oh yeah. I’ve said it
before and I’ll say it again: I’m the total package.”

I watched Joey for a
minute, chewing on my lower lip. And finally I said, “Ok, maybe.”

“Are you agreeing that
I’m the total package?” he grinned.

“No, I’m agreeing…I
guess…to going and seeing my mom. I mean, as long as I’m here….”

Joey grabbed me in a
hug and lifted me off the ground. “Lu, that’s great! I’m so happy you’re doing
this.”

“I see that,” I said as
he put me down.

“Can I come along?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.
We’ll see.”

Alastair came up to us
then, grinning enigmatically. “Hey,” I said. “What’re you up to?”

“Who says I’m up to
anything?”

“That grin, that’s
who.”

“So, should we head to
Pacific Heights?” he asked.

“Totally smooth subject
change,” I told him. “And let’s swing by Bryn’s first with some Chinese food.
But
no ducks
,” I said, shooting Joey a look before going into the
restaurant.

About an hour later, after delivering some takeout
to Bryn, we finally rang the doorbell at Jin’s family’s palatial new residence.
“That must have been some fake lottery ticket,” I murmured.

The door swung open,
and a muscular Asian kid of about sixteen took one look at us and said, “Oh
hell
no.” He started to slam the door, but Alastair stopped it effortlessly.