Derrick shrugged. “There is a risk, but machines process most food, and food workers are required to wear gloves, so most food has minimal impressions.” He turned to me. “Go ahead, you get one free question as well.”
I frowned at him. “I doubt quizzing you about your wyrd ability is why Briar asked us here.”
“Ten points for Craft,” Briar said, saluting me with her milkshake. “We’re here to strategize and try to pin down our next lead.”
“And I wanted to give you something,” Derrick said, opening his briefcase once again. He pulled out a silver charm on a thin black cord. He looked it over a moment, and then he held it out, letting it dangle over his gloved palm.
Falin scowled at the necklace in Derrick’s hand. The silver charm looked like a cartoon fairy from before the Magical Awakening, complete with glass-jeweled butterfly wings. “Is that a joke?”
“No,” I said, reaching out but stopping just short of touching the cord. “That’s one of the most potent defense charms I’ve ever felt.” I let my ability to sense magic wrap around the small charm. With Briar and her magical arsenal within arm’s reach, it was hard to focus on the spells in the pendant, but I could sense a lot of protective magic packed into the tiny glass bobbles in the fairy’s wings. “You’re giving this to me? In exchange for what?”
“No catch.”
The look on my face must have been more than a little suspicious because he laughed.
“You’re too young to be that jaded. How about in exchange for putting up with Briar?”
Briar grunted but didn’t put down her milkshake as she said, “I’m sitting right here, you know.”
“You’re going to need it,” Derrick said, leaning forward to hold the charm closer to me.
When a premonition witch says you’re going to need one of the most potent defensive charms you’ve ever felt, you don’t second-guess the urgency. That doesn’t mean you don’t ask questions.
“Do we have a lead?” I asked as I accepted the charm, careful not to brush Derrick’s gloved fingers as I took it.
He only shrugged.
Which didn’t explain why I needed the charm. Briar had said he shared only what he had to about his premonitions. I guessed I should have been happy to have the warning and extra protection, but I was more than a little terrified that something was going to happen that I would need it.
“It will need to be personalized,” he said, nodding to the charm.
I grimaced. Personalizing a charm wasn’t hard, but the best way to do it was a type of blood magic. Many of the strongest protection spells used blood as a focus. As did the very strongest offensive spells. I flipped the little fairy over and saw the small well between her wings where the blood was meant to go.
If I needed a protection spell this strong, it was probably because of the items the necromancer had stolen to use as a focus. But he didn’t have blood. It made sense to give the protection charm the best focus I could provide. Unfortunately, the only dagger I had on me liked to draw blood a little too much and I didn’t want to give it access to mine.
I turned to Falin. “Do you have a knife that isn’t enchanted?”
He hadn’t stopped scowling since this bizarre conversation had begun, but he didn’t argue, he just handed me one of his silver daggers. Pricking the side of my finger, I squeezed the smallest drop of blood onto the charm.
It was enough. I immediately felt its magic lock with mine. The protection spell that had been waiting idle, coiled inside the glass bobbles, expanded, crawling over my fingers where I touched the charm and then sliding up my arm, over my elbow, across my shoulder, and down my torso. It was an odd sensation, but not a bad one. Kind of like taking a dip in warm bathwater. Within moments, the spell had coated me in a thin layer of magical protection. It wouldn’t completely deflect an offensive spell, and if I’d stepped into the ambush spell at my office wearing it, the charm couldn’t have shielded me from all harm, but it felt strong enough that I probably would have walked away. I would have needed medical attention, but it wouldn’t have killed me.
“This is amazingly done,” I said, my voice sounding as awed as I felt as I clipped the charm onto my bracelet.
“I’m not so sure I like my partner giving other girls jewelry,” Briar said, and while the words were light, playful, there was something in her dark eyes as she said them that made me think she meant the words more than she wanted to admit.
“Don’t worry, I got you something too.” Derrick held out his hand, where a tiny silver crossbow with a ruby-colored bolt dangled from another cord.
“Oooh, what does it do?” Briar asked, accepting the charm.
“With any luck, it should keep the smell of decomposition out of your leathers,” Derrick said as the food arrived, and the waiter almost dropped my plate of pancakes.
“Am I the only one getting increasingly worried about the things the precog is not telling us?” I asked. Because this case was sounding worse and worse.
“No,” Falin said, and while there had been a hint of despairing amusement in my question, Falin’s voice was anything but amused.
The waiter finished setting plates in front of us but didn’t ask if we needed anything; he just hightailed it away from our table. He could have stuck around. The conversation petered out as we all tucked into our respective breakfast choices. I would have thought I’d be too preoccupied to eat by the fact that Briar would be covered in decomposition at some point soon and I needed a protection spell—which indicated a spell was going to hit it and I didn’t know how much would make it through or what condition I’d be in afterward. Then the first bite of perfectly cooked fluffy pancakes hit my stomach and my body realized I’d skipped too many meals yesterday and hadn’t had enough sleep. I barely tasted the second or following bites as I devoured them, and I’m not sure a single thought entered my head.
When everyone was done and the bills had been paid, I said, “So where to next? Do we have a lead or don’t we?”
Derrick glanced at his watch. “We may have to order dessert first.”
“Dessert isn’t usually part of breakfast,” I said, but as I spoke Falin’s phone buzzed.
He took a glance at the display and excused himself to take the call outside.
Derrick lifted his gloved hands in a mock shrug. “Alas, it appears we will have to do dessert some other time.”
I frowned at him. I wanted to tell him this wasn’t a joke or a game, this was my livelihood going up in flames around me, but I held my tongue. Maybe he wasn’t quite as sane as Briar touted.
Or, maybe he’d been stalling.
Briar pulled her phone from her pocket. I hadn’t heard it ring or buzz, but she answered it saying, “This is Darque.”
Falin rejoined us at the table as I pulled on my sweater.
“They found the getaway car the intruder at your house used this morning,” he said, scooping up my purse and handing it to me.
Briar looked up from her phone call. “A red hybrid sedan?” she asked, and then listed off a license plate number.