I looked around, my heart breaking at the devastation inside our shop. Half the shelves and possibly as much inventory were smashed. “I think we’re going to save that for another day.”
“Yeah,” Nix said. “I don’t think I can face that right now.”
“Same,” Del said.
“All right,” Claire said. “We’ll head over to P & P and get cleaned up. Come on by for food later.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at my friends as they limped out.
I glanced at Aidan. I wanted to ask him to leave so that I could speak freely with Nix and Del, but he’d never do it. Not until we’d at least discussed some of what had happened here.
“Who was that guy?” Nix asked.
“The guy from the temple in Norway,” Aidan said. “He’s got the scroll.”
“What kind of Magica was he, Del?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He threw a lot at me. Fire—he’s got at least one elemental gift. But he was also hitting my mind with horrible memories. So he’s got some telepathy too.”
“So a mystery mage wants the scroll and the Chalice of Youth,” I said. “But he grabbed the original too.”
“Do you think he realized?” Del asked.
“I guess so, but I don’t know how.” I turned to Aidan. “Do you have any idea why that guy would want the Chalice of Youth and the scroll?”
“No. They’re unrelated, as far as I know.”
“Damn. I don’t get it. We need to go find him.”
“You need to heal, first,” he said.
“I will. But could you go get us some plywood or something to cover up the door?”
Aidan looked at me suspiciously, like he knew I was trying to get him out of here for a minute.
“Please? I can’t leave until the shop is at least closed up. We need something to put over the door. And we need to hire someone to enchant it.” I wished I could put security enchantments on things, but I couldn’t. Then I remembered what Aidan did for a living. “You’re the perfect guy for it. Don’t you have someone on your payroll who can come over and enchant it?”
He gave me one long look that said he wasn’t going to let this go. “Yeah, I’ll make a call. Then we’ll deal with your back.”
“My deirfiúr will help.” My chest felt tight as I watched him rise gracefully and walk out of the shop.
“What the hell is going on?” Nix hissed as soon as he was gone. “Weren’t those the shadow demons you mentioned before?”
“Yeah. I have no idea what’s going on. Dr. Garriso said there are thousands of them. They can’t all work for the same guy. After I talked to him, I decided it was coincidence. The demon who guarded the chalice was separate from the ones who were trying to steal the scroll. But now that they came for the chalice, it’s clearly no coincidence.”
“So we hunt them down,” Del said. She gripped her sword.
“Yeah,” I said. “We hunt them down.”
“We’ll go with you.”
I nodded. Though part of me wanted them to stay here where it was safe, I knew they’d laugh in my face if I suggested it. Just like I’d laugh in theirs if they suggested I stay behind the front line.
“Let’s get cleaned up. When Aidan gets back, we’ll close up shop and follow them. The tracking charm should still work.” In my panic, I’d left it in Aidan’s car. I hoped he’d make sure it was all right.
Aidan walked in the door a second later.
“That didn’t take you long,” I said.
“I wasn’t going to the hardware store for plywood.”
“No?”
“No. I just made a call. It’ll be here soon.”
“Oh, right.” He was filthy rich. Of course he didn’t go to the hardware store himself. And if he did, it wasn’t in moments like this, when he’d rather be interrogating me or hunting down our prey. “We’re going to get cleaned up. Then we can go after that guy.”
“All right. Let me help you with your back,” Aidan said.
“Nix or Del will do it.”
“I’m way too beat,” Del said.
“Same,” Nix said. “I need a shower.”
I glared at them. Seriously? They were doing this because they wanted to force me and Aidan together. “Monsters”, I mouthed at them.
They both shrugged, then helped each other to their feet. Del looked particularly wobbly. No surprise, considering the strength of the mystery mage.
My back burned as I stood. Every movement wiggled the glass lodged in my skin. My jacket had kept a lot of it out, but there were still some good-sized shards in there. Even the little ones burned.
A van pulled up outside the broken door. A logo on the side said Origin Enterprises, and two men in blue polo shirts hopped out. They nodded at Aidan and went to the back of the van.
As they pulled out big pieces of plywood, I asked Aidan, “Can these guys watch the shop while we get our wounds taken care of? We’ll only be ten minutes, then we need to go after the thief.”
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s do this upstairs.” I’d have to take my shirt off, and I really didn’t want to do it in the middle of the shop.