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  Robin.

  Hood.

  “Hey, you’re not just any mouse,” I said. “You’re Robin Hood.”

  The mouse grinned, his white fangs gleaming, and tilted his head. “The very same.”

  “No one ever said you were a mouse,” I said.

  “No one wants to admit to being robbed by a mouse,” he countered. “And those I help keep my secret.”

  “You actually had the upper hand with the ferrets,” Lachlan said.

  “Most likely.” Robin nodded. “But I appreciated the help. Now I’ll return the favor.”

  He stepped up to the door and banged hard, sticking his eye right up against the green gem. “Witch! Open up!”

  I shivered. His voice was downright intimidating. The squeak was long gone, and this was a mouse who took care of business.

  “Go away!”

  “You owe me, Torlock! Don’t forget it.” He gave a low growl. “And I always collect on my debts.”

  There was a shuffling sound, and a few curses, then the door swung open. A woman with a wild cloud of dark hair peered out, her black eyes gleaming brightly. The rest of her body seemed to be made of shadow. Her name was not ironic, then. She really was Torlock the Dark.

  “Robin.” She spit. “What do you want?”

  “My friends want something from you.” He turned. “I never asked what you wanted.”

  “Answers to some questions,” Lachlan said.

  Robin Hood grinned, and it was really quite charming. He turned back to Torlock. “Just questions. That’s not so bad, is it?”

  She scowled, her dark magic flaring. Unable to help myself, I pressed a hand to my nose and mouth to block the stench of old fish.

  “Wiiiitch,” Robin cajoled. “You know you want to answer the questions.” He stroked his sword, and I’d never been so afraid of a mouse before.

  She nodded sharply, then turned and entered the house.

  Robin led the way, and we followed.

  “I’ll just wait out here,” the wolf said.

  When I got all the way into the house, I had to agree that waiting outside was a pretty good idea. This place was gross. Every surface seemed to be covered in dark grime. Several cauldrons sat on the floor, smoking with dark magic that gleamed green and purple. The hearth flickered with yellow flame, and a large lizard warmed its belly in front of the fire. A long green tongue flicked out as it glared at me with beady eyes.

  This was nothing like Lachlan’s organized potion workshop. This was pure dark magic.

  “What do you want?” Torlock hissed.

  I turned to her, taken aback by how she seemed to melt into the wall behind her, becoming one with the creepy workshop.

  “We found a Sylthian potion at the site of a crime,” Lachlan said. “We know that you’re one of the few people who can make them, and we want to know who you sell to.”

  She grimaced, clearly not wanting to divulge her information.

  Robin stepped forward, glaring. “You owe me, Torlock. Answer the questions, and our debt is settled.”

  She hissed. A few seconds passed.

  Come on, creepy lady.

  “Fine,” she spat. “Only one customer wanted Sylthian potion. About two weeks ago, a demon from Magic’s Bend came here, asking about it. Said he needed it for a big job. Just in case he ran into trouble.”

  The whole of the Protectorate counted as trouble, so it made sense he’d be worried about running into some of us while robbing the castle.

  “Magic’s Bend?” Lachlan asked, his eyes gleaming with interest. “You’re sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. I’m no idiot.”

  “Never said you were.” Robin’s voice was soothing. “What else do you know?”

  She frowned.

  Hmmm. Clearly she knew something else, but didn’t want to share. She was a shit actress.

  “What can you tell us about him?” Lachlan asked. “His name? What did he look like?”

  “Fine. He was a more human-looking demon, with pale skin and sawed-off horns. Blond hair and a slick red coat.” She walked to a dirty table. It was so dark and grimy I hadn’t even noticed it was there. It pretty much blended in with every other gross thing there.

  She pulled a little object off the table and returned to us, holding out the shining gold coin so that we could see. “He paid with this.”

  I squinted at it, making out the unfamiliar symbol. It looked like some kind of old-fashioned money. “What is it?”

  “A coin from Grimaldi’s, you moron,” Torlock hissed.

  “What is Grimaldi’s?”

  “Gambling den. The demon looked real twitchy, like he was just dying to get back to the tables.”

  “I’ve been to Magic’s Bend a few times,” I said. “I’ve never seen Grimaldi’s. Where is it?”

  “Bats if I know.” She shrugged. “I’ve told you everything. Now get out.”

  “We want the coin,” Lachlan said. “We’ll pay you double for it.”

  She frowned, clearly debating. Then she nodded. “Fine. Five hundred dollars.”

  Lachlan pulled out his wallet and retrieved some bills, then handed them over.

  She gave him the coin. “Now be gone with you!”

  Robin studied her for a minute more, as if trying to figure out if she was lying. Then he nodded. “All right. Thank you, Torlock. Our debt is settled.”

  She spit on the ground. In her own house!

  Ew.

  We made a hasty retreat out of Torlock’s creepy lair. I sucked in the clean, fresh air outside.

  Fine, it wasn’t that clean or that fresh. But compared to inside her house, it was delightful.

  The wolf turned from where he was leaning against the wall. “Any luck?”

  “Yes. Thanks to Robin, here.”

  “Excellent.” The wolf grinned at the giant mouse. “Well done, pal. Come by for a beer sometime.”

  “It’s a plan.” Robin turned to us. “Best of luck with your mission. I must be off now.”

  “Thank you.” I grinned at him, delighted with Robin Hood. A mouse! So much cooler than just a regular old dude.

  “Thanks, mate,” Lachlan said.

  “See you around.” Sparkling green magic flared around the mouse again, and he shrank back to his original size, then scampered off down the street.

  I turned to Lachlan. “I really like this place.”

  “Aye, so do I.” Lachlan turned to the wolf. “Ready to get out of here?”

  “Am I ever,” the wolf said. “Just being here makes me feel like I need a bath.”

  10

  Fortunately, we didn’t have to climb back down the beanstalk. Since we knew where we wanted to go and it wasn’t some crazy magical realm, Lachlan was able to make a portal.

  We said goodbye to the wolf, who had dressed back up in his grandma dress and bonnet, then departed the fairytale world for earth.

  Lachlan made a portal, and I’d never been so grateful to get sucked away. If going up that beanstalk had been hard, I could only imagine that going down was twenty times worse.

  The portal delivered me to the lawn in front of Lachlan’s house in the French countryside. He’d said that he preferred to live in Scotland, but his best workshop was here.

  It was night in France, with the moon high above. A cold breeze drifted over my face, and the air smelled of winter.

  Lachlan stepped out of the portal and stopped next to me. “Give me a few moments to check on the tracking potion and the scrap of the cloak. And I’ll make a few restorative drafts for Arach, Florian, and the pugs. The drafts won’t save them, but they might help them hold on longer.”

  I turned to him. “Thank you. For everything.”

  His dark eyes met mine, and a connection sparked between us. It felt like a live wire, pulling us closer together. His gaze lingered longer than necessary, warming me from within.

  He blinked, then stepped back.

  Clearly, he was fighting some kind of internal battle,
because the idea that we couldn’t pursue this because we worked together was crap. But I had no idea what the battle was, and I definitely had no idea how to ask.

  I swallowed hard and stepped back as well. “Mind if I get a shower?”

  “Of course. You know where it is.”

  I gave him one last look, trying to figure out what it was that I saw in his dark eyes, then turned and went toward the house. Unable to help myself, I snuck one peek at him as he walked toward the large barn that held his potion workshop.

  The door to the house opened as I entered, and Mildred the pretty ghost smiled at me.

  “You’re back!” she said.

  “I am indeed.”

  She gestured me inside. “You’re the only woman to ever come here, you know. Besides me and the housekeeper. And now you’ve come twice!”

  “Um, yes.” I had no idea what to say to that.

  “Well, it’s exciting is all. He must really like you.”

  I had no idea how to answer that. Fortunately, Mildred didn’t seem to need a response. She could carry on a conversation just fine without me.

  “You know, I really think he seems a bit happier,” she said. “It’s nothing obvious like smiling. Lord no! But something in his demeanor, you know?”

  “What do you mean?” I shut the door behind me, enjoying the warmth of the old farmhouse.

  “He just seems more cheerful. He’s been here the last couple of days—besides today, of course—working in his workshop on that piece of cloth. Apparently, it’s a terribly hard thing to figure out. But anyway, he just seems better somehow.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Of course it is, you ninny. I think it’s because of you!”

  “I think you’re reaching,” I said. “Lachlan and I are just friends. Work colleagues.”

  “Oh, likely story.” She wrinkled her nose as her gaze traveled up and down my form. “You stink of old fish and look like you climbed up a chimney.”

  I looked down. The smell I’d become used to. But I hadn’t realized that Fairy Tale City had also left a coating of sooty magic on me. It was very faint, but Mildred had an eagle eye.

  “You’d better get cleaned up.” She drifted toward the bedroom. “Come on. Let’s get you into a nice dress.”

  Because Mildred was nice and I was a wimp—and also because I didn’t want to smell like old fish—I ended up wearing some of her clothes. The old-timey style wasn’t growing on me, but I did like wearing something clean, that was for sure. Not even Muffin would be down with the fish stink that I’d been wearing.

  By the time I made it out into the living room, Lachlan stood there, his back to me. His hair was wet and his clothes were clean, so he must have taken the fastest shower in the history of the world.

  “Well?” I asked. “How’s the tracking potion coming.”

  He turned, his gaze bright. “The cloaked figure is connected to the theft.”

  I stopped. “What?”

  “The tracking potion finished, and it points to Magic’s Bend. It can’t be a coincidence.”

  “Holy crap.” I blinked. “That’s… Shit, that’s not good, is it?”

  “Not particularly, no. He—or she—is powerful. They’ve managed to get into the castle, or send other people in. It’s not good news for us.”

  “No kidding. But maybe we can use this. Now we’re hunting two birds in the same bush. Better than two bushes.”

  He nodded. “We just need to find them.”

  “And tell the Protectorate. This is a good clue. A really good clue.”

  “Let’s go.”

  I joined him, and he raised his hand to create a portal. This time, however, it took a lot longer for the glowing magic to appear. I glanced up at him, worried, and noted that his face was pale, his eyes drawn.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Nothing.” He nodded toward the portal, which was finally big enough. “Get in.”

  I stepped through, letting the ether suck me in and pull me through space, spitting me out on the lawn. Lachlan followed, and was definitely paler when he arrived.

  “Seriously, what’s wrong?” I demanded.

  “I’m fine.”

  “I’m fine,” I mimicked. “Such a man.”

  “I am a man.”

  “A man who is not fine. What’s wrong? You look like you’re low on magic, but we didn’t use that much back in the fairytale world.”

  “I used it to create the restorative drafts.”

  “Oh.” I got it. “You put your magic, and your life force, into the potion. Kind of like with the Oblivisi potion.”

  “Aye. I’ll be fine after I sleep.”

  I smiled. “Well, thank you. Arach and the ghosts will appreciate it.” I appreciated it. They were my friends, not Lachlan’s. But still, he helped them.

  “Did you find something?” Jude’s voice echoed across the lawn, and I jumped away from Lachlan.

  “Yes!” I hurried toward her, noting the stern glint in her eyes. “We found something.”

  “Good. Because things are getting dire here.”

  I followed her into the main entry hall, stopping abruptly when I spotted Florian. He floated near the stairs, a forced cheerful expression on his face. But his body was so much more faded. It was like he was half gone already.

  Farther up the stairs stood Potts, the day librarian who hated Florian.

  Except…. He looked clearly distressed. As if he’d been walking down the stairs, just spotted Florian, and stopped in shock.

  Apparently, he didn’t hate the night librarian at all.

  Oh fates, this was bad, if even Potts was distressed.

  “We can’t find Chaos,” Jude murmured.

  “What?” Shocked, I turned to her. “What do you mean?”

  “He may be gone. Or hiding. The other pugs are as bad off as Florian, so Chaos must be in bad shape as well. I don’t know how much longer they have left.”

  My heart tore in two for the little horned pug. And for the rest. This was awful. I turned to Lachlan, but he was already striding toward Florian. He held out the little vial that glowed with a ghostly blue light. I’d never heard of a living person managing to make something for a ghost, but Lachlan’s talents were unheard of.

  “Drink this. It will help a bit,” Lachlan said.

  Florian nodded and uncorked the bottle, then gulped down the liquid. He glowed briefly, starting to look a little more there.

  “It won’t last very long, but it will buy you some time,” Lachlan said. “We’ll find Arach’s magic. I promise.”

  “How is she?” I asked Jude.

  “In her office, resting. So you have a clue?”

  “We do. Whoever—”

  Jude held up a hand. “Let’s get everyone together so you only have to say it once.”

  “Okay.”

  “You look hungry. We’ll do it in the kitchen.”

  My stomach grumbled. “Thanks.”

  Lachlan and I followed Jude down into Hans’s domain. His eyes brightened when he saw us. Boris sat on his shoulder. He waved his little pink paw.

  “Sit! I will feed you!” Hans bustled around the kitchen, grabbing things out of cupboards.

  We sat, and within moments, there were bowls of hearty soup and cups of juice in front of us. Caro, Ali, and Haris clattered down the stairs into the kitchen, followed by Rowan and Bree, who must’ve been back from her mission in Ireland. If Mayhem was in danger, I couldn’t blame her for hurrying back.

  “I heard you found something?” Caro’s silver eyes were bright. “What was it?”

  “Yeah, spill,” Ali said. “Because we struck out.”

  Everyone found a seat around the big round table, and I explained our meeting with Torlock and the fact that the cloaked figure was in Magic’s Bend.

  “Magic’s Bend?” Jude frowned. “I suppose that makes sense, since it’s the biggest magical city in America. But I’ve never heard of Grimaldi’s.”

  Th
ere was a murmur of agreement from around the table. It seemed that no one had heard of it.

  “So we need to go there and look around,” Caro said. “Track this jerk down using his coin.”

  “That was my thought.” I eyed Jude, wondering if she’d put the hammer down on me going. “I’d like to go ask the FireSouls. They’ve lived in Magic’s Bend for over ten years. If there’s something there, they’d know it.”

  Jude gave me a shrewd look, the wheels clearly turning in her head. She leaned forward. “You know that I didn’t agree with you going rogue.”

  I swallowed hard and nodded.

  “But you were right to follow your instincts. The Protectorate runs well because we follow the rules. I gave you freedom last week to hunt with Lachlan, but the other board members were giving me pushback. On one hand, they’re right. The rules keep us safe. But sometimes, going rogue helps. In this instance, you may have saved us all.” She raised a finger. “Now don’t let it go to your head. There’ll be no gallivanting off after this. You have to buckle down and finish your training, because Arach and the board make decisions, too, and they insist on the rule. But I’ll go to bat for you this time so that you can go find Grimaldi’s. But Bree and Caro must go with you. They’re both official members of the PITs, so they’ll help keep an eye on things.”

  I grinned. I didn’t mind working with Bree, and Caro was the bomb. “Thank you, Jude.”

  She nodded. “Thank you. But be careful. This won’t be easy. And we need you back here in one piece.”

  After the meeting, Lachlan gave the three restorative drafts to Bree. I prayed that someone found Chaos so that he could take the potion.

  Worry tugged at me as we climbed the stairs back to the main entry hall. At the top, Bree and Rowan rushed off to find the pugs. Most people in the castle were hunting for Chaos, and I crossed my fingers that they would find him. Jude had ordered me to sleep, and I couldn’t say that I hated the idea. I was about to fall over, and I needed to be fresh for the next morning when we went looking for Grimaldi’s.

  Of course, Rowan was going to come. She hadn’t bothered asking permission, but she hadn’t officially started at the Academy yet, so she could do what she wanted.