Swallowing my discomfort and putting on a brave face, I took the guy’s direction and kept walking. I shut my eyes when I got close, expecting-but-not to have my face smashed when I walked into the wall. Nothing happened. Well, nothing except a slight tingling sensation against my skin and my footsteps suddenly being muted by carpet.
Opening my eyes, I saw Arnold watching me expectantly from across the room. I took it all in, feeling a mix of elation at having survived walking through the wall with my dignity intact and disappointment for the plain homeliness of the room he’d brought me to. There was a big, beat-up desk in the middle of the room, one leg propped up with a bit of cardboard to keep it level. There were tons of papers scattered around the room and on the desk, piled on a table off to the side and on top of the two tall filing cabinets shoved into a corner. A pizza box was perched on top of one pile, an open box of Chinese food, and a couple of coffee mugs on the desk. One held pens and pencils, the other what looked to be very old tea. The smell was a mix of old pizza and gym socks, with a very faint undertone of incense.
I knew it was Arnold’s office almost immediately, not because of the clutter but because of the scatter of dice on the desk and the dinosaur and alien action figures on top of his monitor.
“I just need you to sign a form for me, then we can go into the vault.”
I shrugged and took the form he deftly pulled from somewhere in the middle of the stack in his arm. Looked like a standard requisition form, nothing terribly exciting. I signed and dated it and left it on the desk. He dropped the rest of his stack of papers next to it with a muted “thump” and moved behind the desk, twisting a ring on one of his fingers before placing a hand against the wall. I blinked as he revealed another wall behind it as the first simply blinked out of existence at his touch.
This one looked like the back of a cave, all sandstone and multicolored layers of reddish rock. It curved inward a few feet behind the desk. There were a pair of arched double doors made out of some kind of gray stone, closed tight and covered with intricate patterns—runes or something like them, I supposed.
The hair on the back of my neck rose when I realized the runes were moving and changing even as I stared at them. Solid stone is not supposed to move.
An idle wave of Arnold’s hand and a short “Aperto” and the thick, rune-inscribed doors slowly opened inward.
Chapter 10
“Don’t touch anything while we’re inside without asking first,” Arnold said before we walked through the doors. “Some of the stuff in here is dying to get out and might try to attach itself to you.”
Oh great. Sentient artifacts, just the sort of thing to make my day.
He led the way inside. The walls here were of red sandstone marked with runes similar to the ones on the doors. Every few feet there were arches with burning torches for light. The flickering lights drew my attention to the runes that moved and swirled in a way that was making me feel dizzy. I had the sick feeling we left New York behind the minute we walked through those arches.
“What did you need exactly anyway? Vero didn’t tell me what to give you.”
I sighed, hoping I wouldn’t sound too ridiculous and unprofessional. “I was hoping you might be able to tell me. I was hired to find a statuette in the possession of a vampire.”
He snorted laughter, drawing my attention sharply to him and off the weird walls. “Oh, that. I’ve got just the thing.”
We continued on for what seemed like forever. I should’ve worn flats instead of heels. Abruptly, the tunnel opened up into a large circular chamber with other tunnels branching off in four other directions. I noted the five-sided star etched into the sandstone, each point set before a tunnel opening, including the one we now stood in. There were fat candles set on each point of the star, none lit.
“Luminare,” he whispered, and I took an involuntary step back as the candles simultaneously lit themselves up. “Guidare.”
One by one, the candles flickered out, leaving only one with a steady flame. He gestured cheerfully, his voice resuming normal tones. “That way. Follow me.”
I did. My curiosity was really getting the best of me. “What’s down the other tunnels?”
“Traps. Death for the really stupid.” He was pretty nonchalant, considering the topic. “Most of the ones who make it this far don’t know enough or are too arrogant to ask for guidance. We put that little safeguard in a couple years ago. Works like a charm.”
I swallowed hard. “Who comes down here? Aside from you, I mean.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Disgruntled former employees, rival corporations and covens, people like you who get a glimpse once and think they can make it past our safeguards.” He laughed softly, the sound making me shiver despite the nasal quality. “Greed getting the better of them, I suppose.”
“People like me?”
I knew my voice had an edge, though I didn’t mean it to come out as harsh as it did. The way he said “people” led me to believe he didn’t think very highly of us plain ol’ magic-less humans. It’s one thing when you voice your little bigoted thoughts in private, quite another to do it to the person’s face.
He laughed again, a little more heartily this time. “Don’t take offense. I meant outside contractors.”
“Oh.” My turn to be embarrassed.
“Here we are.”
He waved me into another large cavern, this one positively overflowing with junk. It looked worse than his office. There was old dusty crap scattered everywhere, all over the floor, piled on tables, everything from books and scrolls to rusty suits of armor and old-fashioned weaponry. There was jewelry and vials and gems and statues and coins strewn as far as the eye could see.
Despite the mess, I had to admit I was impressed. The Circle had literally tons of junk. And because it belonged to The Circle, all of it, every piece, had an element of magic to it. My respect for them went up a notch, despite their obvious lack of house-cleaning skills.
Arnold waded into the mess, carefully stepping over and around the stuff on the floor. He picked up a little stick-looking thing from underfoot, made a surprised “huh,” and continued on. I stayed behind, not sure I’d be able to follow in my heels.
He disappeared around a mountain of books. I’m not kidding. There were so many, I couldn’t even begin to count them.
“Wait there, I’ll be back in a sec.” His voice sounded far more distant than I would’ve credited, considering he was only a few yards away.
So I waited. And waited. After a little while, I pulled out my cell phone and checked the time, noting with dismay that it was nearly five o’clock. Had we really been down here that long?
“Arnold?” I called, hoping he hadn’t gotten distracted and forgotten me down here. I’d never find my way back to his office, not without help.
“Just a sec, almost got it!” came a faint reply from somewhere in the midst of the mess.
Despite his words, I was sorely tempted to go look for him and see if I could maybe help move this along a little faster. I still
