Obsidian Son (The Temple Chronicles Book 1) (16 page)

I glanced around the store, sensing all eyes on us. After a few seconds I shook my head. “Nothing.”

Kosage assessed me for a few seconds, but then shrugged. “Thank you, Master Temple.” He began to turn away, but stopped. “I see you are spending time with the FBI. Might I ask in what regards?”

Gunnar’s hackles raised territorially, but I spoke instead. “You may not.”

“Interesting. I think we’ll be keeping our eyes on you over the next few days. For your own safety of course.” His smile was slimy. “Parents murdered, making you the new CEO of Temple Industries, which you seemed to lie to me about. Bookstore broken into while you are conspicuously absent, but nothing stolen. Escaping handcuffs without permission. Arguable assault when you departed the interrogation room. And playing with the FBI, but…” he looked me up and down. “No credentials to that effect. Those things could give you some trouble down the road, Master Temple. There’s already blood in the water. No point in thrashing about.”

“I think your work here is done. Pack up. Now.” He turned to look at me then, a hint of anger in his eyes at the loss of face in front of his men. I smiled.

“You heard him, men. Pack up.” He slowly turned to face me, clasping his hands behind his back. “I’ve got my eyes on you, Temple. If I hear even one whisper of your name at another crime scene, things will get ugly. And I know just the judge to call. I believe you met him last night.” His smile stretched wide at my reaction, then he left.

My employees slowly materialized from around the store, watching me carefully as if they felt that they had somehow failed me. “You were all hired for your unique qualities, your ability to roll with the punches. Show that to me now, and get this place up and running within the hour. Business as usual.”

“Aye, aye, Cap’n!” They crowed, soothed by my subtle compliment.

“Anyone seen Jessie?” I asked aloud after a few seconds.

“He left after he called you. Had to get to class or something.” I heard someone answer. I grunted.

“Alright. I need to head out with Gunnar. You guys got it from here?” The only answer was the bustle of work as they began cleaning up the store like a team of pixies. “Oh, and can someone call that window guy again?” Someone laughed before answering an affirmative. Then I whisked out the door with Gunnar on my heels.

“Nothing fazes you, does it?” He asked as we climbed into his car.

“It wouldn’t change anything. I’ve heard that you can either choose to smile or cry about problems, but either way, it doesn’t change the fact that they still happened.”

He was silent for a spell as he pulled out into the street. “Wise words. Who told you that?”

I smiled as I stared out the window. “Some Amway guy.” The buildings whizzed past me, threatening my unsettled stomach. The cops would now be breathing down my neck at every turn. And the dragons had crossed a very dangerous line. It was time to take off the gloves. “Smiles and cries… either way, it doesn’t change what I’m going to do to them when I see them next.” I almost whispered.

“Within the limits of the law, of course.” When I didn’t answer, he continued. “Right, Nate?”

I traced my fingers along the magic around me, spinning it around my fingertips like a silk ribbon in the wind, imagining what horrors I could cause with my power. It felt more vibrant than usual, stronger. I shrugged noncommittally. “Sure, Gunnar. Sure…”

Chapter 17

W
e were silent for a while as Gunnar drove, pondering the day’s events. “What have you got?” I finally asked him.

Gunnar’s face became stony. “I had a technician run the kerchief. It was human blood, and it was a match to your father. He had his blood on file from the… murder.”

I nodded, letting out a heavy breath. I hadn’t doubted it, but it was still a lot to take in. Gunnar handed me the kerchief sympathetically before continuing. “Well, a lot of people are coming into town for the eclipse event. All the hotels are practically full, so no luck on your dragon hunter friend.”

“Plural. He said
we
. He’s got friends.”

“Irrelevant. Did you hear me say that every hotel is full? I need more information if you want me to find him.”

I fished out the card the dragon hunter had given me. “Does this help?”

Gunnar scowled back, snatching the card from my fingers. “Tomas Mullingsworth.” He blinked. “Have you tried simply calling him?”

I nodded. “Late last night. No answer. Think you can find him?”

“Yes, but you could have given me this last night, Nate.”

“I was too busy buying you this Aston Martin. Want to guess how much it costs?”

“I’d rather not. Then I might feel like I’m indebted to you.”

“Oh, you
are
indebted to me for this.” I showed him my teeth. “Besides, I have so much going on right now that it kind of slipped my mind. I have to keep my participation in this out of the media. A request from my lawyer. And now the cops will be sniffing around my every move after the break-in.” Gunnar nodded, looking pissed.

“And there’s all this other stuff to focus on. I mean, Peter, a closet wizard, asks me to get him some bullshit book for a client, a dragon attacks me at my shop, then I go to my parents funeral and receive a message from beyond the grave by a creepy old man, wizard, bodyguard, and then I was attacked
again
. And apparently, some Spiderman-wannabe has gone rogue, teaming up with these dragons, or dragon hunters.” Another thought came to mind and I groaned. “And
tonight
, I’m supposed to duel with the Minotaur in some shit-infested field over a dumb book about-” My mouth went dry as I recognized the connection. Everything had happened so fast that I hadn’t even thought about it. “Dragons…” I finished.

Gunnar gazed at me askance, making sure I was all right. “Huh. That’s the kind of thing that we in the Bureau call a
clue
.” He turned left at the light and continued on, the Aston Martin purring as he downshifted. “Still no idea who this client is? Or
what
he is?” I shook my head. “Seems pretty sketchy that he wants a book about dragons that is dangerous enough to warrant risking your life for, right around the time that a group of dragons is also seeking a
book
. One that they say belongs to them. One that they’re willing to kill for. Then a group of dragon hunters arrive, saying they are hunting a rogue dragon.” He was quiet for a moment. “How much is this book worth?”

“Fifty-thousand-dollars.”

Gunnar swerved the car a bit, stripping a gear in the process. “I need a new job.”

“You can fight the Minotaur if you want.” I smirked.

He considered that for a moment. “I think I could take him.”

My eyes widened, and then I began to laugh, deep belly laughs. It felt so good after all the drama. “You? Take the Minotaur? An immortal monster? Do you have any idea how many innocents have died by his hand? Theseus was the only one to ever defeat him, and he was lucky, having help from the goddess Ariadne with her ball of thread to help him navigate the Labyrinth.”

Gunnar was quiet for a time. “I’m guessing a ball of thread won’t help us, right?”

I smiled. “No. No it won’t. But then again, he’s Buddhist now, so maybe we’ll just have a nice political debate or something.”

“Probably not, Nate.”

“Yeah. Probably not.” I had no idea how I was going to fight the Minotaur. I had magic out the Wahoo, but Asterion knew that, and was probably ready for it. I was just going to have to wing it. This book could give me answers about my parents, or the kid might know something. Either way, I had to win. That settled, I took several deep meditative breaths, trying to banish my anxiety. The sound of Gunnar’s scanner going off with a squawk almost made me jump out of my skin. “I think I just peed a little.” I said, glancing down at the seat.

Gunnar shook his head. “Gross.” He fiddled with the radio, hit a button, and then spoke into the mike. “Agent Randulf, here.” Gunnar’s boss answered, voice garbled.

“Looks like you got another one just over the river. Owner found dead this morning after the neighbors heard a loud ruckus last night.” Gunnar sighed wearily, and asked for the address. Reinhardt gave the store name, and forwarded the address to Gunnar’s GPS unit. It blinked at us a few second’s later, instantly blaring directions at us in a feminine English accent. Neat.

“Alright. I can get there…” he smiled at me. “Pretty fast.” He down shifted the car with a metal click, and the engine tried to tear free from the frame as we launched around an old blue-hair driving in front of us. Agent Reinhardt signed off with some jumbled response that couldn’t be heard over the engine.

“It’s just over the river,” I noted, watching the GPS. “In Illinois.”

Gunnar’s teeth showed through the smile. “Which is what the FBI calls
jurisdiction
. This is the second attack across state lines, confirming our authority. We can kick the local police out easily this time.” He looked over at me. “Which is a good thing, considering Kosage’s hard-on for busting you. I wonder what you did to piss him off so much…” He trailed off curiously.

I chuckled. “I spilled his coffee in the interrogation room.”

Gunnar rolled his eyes. “I’m sure that was it.” I leaned back in the seat, enjoying the G-force pull of the car as Gunnar broke every speed limit sign we passed. Street signs blurred past, then Interstate signs, and then I was staring out at the Mississippi river as the rails of the bridge whizzed past me.

My phone rang in my pocket. I plucked it out, glancing at the screen. Peter. “Just the man I wanted to talk to.” I answered, reproachfully. Gunnar scowled silently.

“Yeah, listen. We should probably talk. You free now? I wanted to talk to you about that book.” The line was quiet for a moment. “I think I wrote down the wrong title.”

“No time now, I’m running errands with my new chauffeur.” Gunnar’s knuckles cracked on the steering wheel in disapproval.

“Oh. Well, where are you? Maybe I could meet you?”

I glanced out the window. “Not likely. Heading into Illinois to talk to someone near the warehouses just over the Eads Bridge.”

There was a silence on the phone. “Okay. How about tonight? At the Cave?”

“Sure,” I glanced at my watch, thinking of my schedule with Asterion, and then if I survived, the book exchange with my client. I also wanted to swing by the Expo Center to see if anything seemed off at the eclipse convention that was starting tonight, like maybe a group of dragons murdering the attendees. Maybe I could squeeze Peter between everything. If I wasn’t dead. “How about around nine? I might be a few minutes late.”

Peter answered quickly. “Sure, sure. Just leave the security down so I can wait inside. It will be cold outside tonight.”

“You know, seeing as how I know magic, I seem to recall a way for the cold not to bother you. Just a simple spell for a
wizard
to teach another
wizard
. Might be something that, if I were just learning how to use magic, I would have sought out another wizard to teach me.” I growled.

“I know, I know. We have a lot to discuss. My client is really pestering me about this stupid book. He’ll pay whatever you wish.” He added the last quickly. He didn’t realize that money was no longer a motivator for me. Looking at the sticky notes attached to the cards I had been given had surprised even me. That many zeroes made things confusing.

I hesitated before speaking the truth. “What’s the new title? I have to know that if you want me to help you. And how much is it worth?” I asked curiously. Having studied his note yesterday, I had soon found that I already owned a copy of the unremarkable book at
Plato’s Cave
. It was even in my personal collection in the loft, not downstairs in the shop. But now he had fudged the title. Nothing is ever easy.

He paused, speaking into the background. “High five-figures.” I repeated his answer aloud. In the span of a week, I could make six-figures by selling two books. Gunnar grunted in disbelief, shaking his head. “I’ll tell you the title tonight.”

“Ookay. You realize I can’t find something if I don’t know what it’s called, right?” Peter sighed on the other end. “And I am doing no more favors until we have a nice long chat about your new ice cube making ability.” I added.

I could feel Peter tense on the other end. “Okay, okay. See you then.”

I hung up. We drove on in silence, Gunnar glancing at me now and then, but saying nothing. So far, I had accounted for two of the three books that had been requested of me. Now, just one, thanks to Peter’s inability to write down the correct title of the book his client wanted. It should be simple enough to find though. If it was in any way similar to the original request. The important one was the odd book the Raven lady had asked me about,
Sons of the Dying Son
. I pondered several possible sources, my mind distant from the sounds of traffic fleeing the British sports car. But it would have to wait until after my duel.

“Is that the first time you have talked to Peter since…?” He waved a hand at the air, implying the attack two nights ago. I nodded. “What do you think it means?” He asked carefully. “Wouldn’t you have known a long time ago if he had…” he searched for a word, “the ability?”