“It’ll probably be sold out so close to the flight.” I waved Callie away. “Seriously, it’ll be fine. I don’t need help. And anyway, they’re paying me.”
“I find it interesting that you won’t be talked out of going, but you assume we will.” Callie pushed me toward the car. “Get in, you’re wasting time. Besides, I’ve never been to Seattle. I hear it’s nice this time of year.”
“Actually, let’s stop by our house.” Dizzy pointed at my face. “It’s only a matter of time before you burn off your eyebrows again.”
He had a point.
“Dang it. Fine. But you’ll have to take a back seat if there’s any danger.”
Callie snorted and pushed me again, bustling me into the car without a word. The woman had skills. She turned to tell Dizzy to hurry up, and I saw the word Bounce written across the butt of her velvet orange sweats.
“It’s just not right to put those sayings on girls’ butts,” I said, wisely not attaching an age to that pronouncement.
“Why? I got bounce yet.” Thankfully, Callie didn’t prove it.
After stopping at their house, dropping off their car, and getting more supplies, Callie, Dizzy and I sat in the back of the Town Car as Callie scowled down at her phone.
“I don’t see any flights going to Seattle at this time of day. Are you sure it’s not an a.m. flight?” she asked me.
“Oh. Uh…” I tapped into the email and handed my phone off.
She squinted down at the screen before shaking her head and handing it back. “That’s too small. Make it bigger.”
“Do you not know how to work a cell phone?” I did as instructed and handed it back.
“I don’t want to mess with your phone. Some people have issues with that.”
“We both know I’m not one of those people.”
“You never know,” she mumbled. “This isn’t flight information. It says when to be ready, when you’ll get picked up…and then there’s hotel information. Good gracious. Are they paying for that hotel?”
“Yes. Why?”
“I’ve heard of the Edgewater. It’s fancy.”
I peered at the screen. The font was gigantic. “Get some glasses, woman.”
“She thinks they make her look old.” Dizzy glanced over at the phone.
“Well, this makes you look blind.” I pointed at the screen. “It’s probably a sister hotel or something. This is the MLE office. They aren’t splurging. They don’t even have the money to splurge.”
“If you say so.” Callie handed the phone back. “Driver, which airline are you going to?”
“You’ll be going by private jet,” he answered.
“Is this an FBI investigation or something?” Dizzy sounded confused.
I knew how he felt. “Whose jet is it?”
“I wasn’t given the particulars, ma’am,” the driver said. “I was just told when and where to get you, and where to drop you off.”
“You really should question more often,” Callie said in a low voice. “He could be taking you somewhere, right now, to kill you. And you don’t even have your sword on you.”
“I don’t need my sword to use my magic,” I said. “And besides, we’re headed in the right direction for the airport.”
“She’s right, though, Reagan.” Dizzy looked out the window. “You are too trusting.”
“The email came from the captain. I trust him. Clearly he’s got something worked out. This is all on the books.”
“You belong to the magical world.” Callie’s voice was still low—an effort to hide her words from the driver, but it ended up a whisper-shout, still perfectly audible. “People sell out other people all the time. I don’t care who it is—don’t trust anyone.”
“Even you?” I grinned.
“Of course not me. Is this your rebellious stage? Because I’m not liking it.”
“I had that when I was a teen. This is just me taking the piss.”
“That means making fun of you, dear.” Dizzy patted Callie on the thigh.
“I know what it means,” Callie snapped.
Dizzy and I smiled harder.
A half-hour later, the driver pulled right up onto the tarmac by a waiting private jet. Outside stood a woman in a flight attendant uniform with an aviator pin at her breast. Stairs led from the jet’s open door down to the ground, and a red carpet led away from them.
A sinking feeling lodged in my gut as I got out of the car and retrieved my bag.
“This seems awfully luxurious for what we’re doing here,” Dizzy said with a furrowed brow. He took his suitcase from the trunk and stood beside me. “That’s a big one, too. It can fly internationally.”
“How do you know?” Callie looked wary as she looked up at the gleaming white jet cut with blue at the bottom.
“I’ve looked them up. I dream big.” Dizzy hitched up his pants.
“Ms. Somerset, so good of you to join us.” The woman standing beside the steps came forward with a red-lipped smile. “Will your friends be joining you?”
“Yes, they will. Whose jet is this?” I let her lead me to the stairs.
“Just go ahead and leave your bags here. I’ll have those stowed for you.”
I hugged my duffel a little closer. “Actually, I think I’ll hold on to it.”
“I’m afraid your bags have to be stowed. Please, take out whatever you need before you board.” She nodded at us and moved away toward the driver.
“She didn’t answer your question,” Callie said, digging into her suitcase for her satchel. She flung it over her shoulder.
“We might not be able to take that in.” Dizzy pointed at Callie’s newly donned bag. “And we definitely shouldn’t take a gun on an airplane.”
That last comment was directed at me, but I slipped the weapon into my waistline anyway. “It’s fine. No one has to know.”
“Well, I’ll know, and if you miss, I’ll head straight down to the ground with you.” Dizzy shook his head.
“Go,” Callie said, pushing me. “I don’t want to give them time to take away my spells.”
“I feel like a fugitive.” Dizzy crowded in behind me.
“Just go ahead up the stairs,” the flight attendant called out. “We’ll be underway within the half-hour. My assistant, Ms. Eddings, will make sure you are comfortable.”
“I’ve always wanted to fly in one of these. I half worry they’ll shut the door as soon as they have Reagan onboard.” Dizzy looked over the banister and down at the ground. “Our own private runway, too.”
“It’s not a private runway.” I pointed at the huge 747s lining up to fly out. “This is just our own boarding site.”
“Our own boarding site. With no security!” Dizzy shook his head and smiled. “This is a good day.”
“They might still be ferreting us off to kill us.” Callie glanced over her shoulder at the black car creeping along the tarmac, heading back the way we’d come. There went our ride.