Part 3 (2/2)
”A gift for you. And before you say no, hear me out. You need it.”
”I'll meet you in the park in half an hour.”
”You want me to sit around for thirty minutes waiting for you?” he asked skeptically. ”Maybe I'll just forget that I was going to help you and go home.”
”My car is in the shop. It'll take me a while to walk there.”
”And there's no way that you'd just get in my car and drive over with me?”
”No, I really can't, but thank you for the offer,” I said, glancing at his black Mercedes with tinted windows.
”Thirty minutes then.”
When I got to the park, I found him sitting at a picnic table. He looked out of place in his dark designer suit. His s.h.i.+rt probably cost more than the park's monthly landscaping budget.
The covered cage was sitting in the center of the table and my gaze went to it more than once as I sat down on the bench across from him.
”You've been in trouble.”
”I lost my great-great-grandmother's locket.”
He shook his head. ”I'm not talking about that. You were in danger sometime earlier today.”
I narrowed my eyes. ”What makes you say that?”
”I felt it. You called out for help.”
”You were a little far away to hear me.”
”I meant psychically.”
”I know what you meant. n.o.body could hear my psychic cries. They're too faint. I'd say it's more likely you heard I had trouble courtesy of Ma Bell. Zach called all my friends. They probably called all their friends and so on. My guess is that the whole town knows I went missing this afternoon and evening.”
”And the reason I know you were doing magic just before I rang the doorbell?”
I raised my eyebrows. He probably thought that his knowing would give me the w.i.l.l.i.e.s, but I took a more practical view of things. If Bryn Lyons, a known pract.i.tioner, had sensed me working, then maybe my spells might actually do their job. And that made me happier than a bee face-first in nectar.
”I'm not sure what your family told you about Duvall, but it's a tuning fork for psychic energy. Macon Hill is a tor, a ley center. Ten ley lines, conduits for the earth's heightened energy, converge at the tor. The lines travel outward for thousands of miles. If I felt you casting spells, so did others. Yours is a raw energy that's untrained, but someone experienced could exploit it.”
”I don't have enough power for anyone to bother coming thousands of miles to see me.”
Bryn folded his arms over his chest and stared at me.
”I don't. I've never had it. My momma and Aunt Melanie tried a bunch of times to bring it out of me when I was a teenager.”
”Maybe they weren't the right people to train you. Maybe your power has different origins from theirs.”
”What have you found out about the robbery? Did you hire anyone to find your Rolex?”
”I can buy another Rolex.”
”But you said that you would get even with the thieves.”
”I don't have to find them to get even with them. They've taken something of mine. I can cast a spell that will reach them wherever they are.”
I s.h.i.+vered. His eyes sparkled in the bit of illumination cast by the street lamp. I'd seen him on and off for years, but I'd never been afraid of him until now.
”Well, it's been nice chatting with you.” I stood up and he reached over and caught my arm.
”Wait.”
”Look, I can't get involved with you. If there's any training to be done, you're not going to be the one to do it. Now let go of me.”
”You don't know when or if your mother and aunt are coming back.”
”They are coming back!”
”Tamara-”
”Stop calling me that. We're not such close friends that you get to call me different than everyone else does. It's Tammy or Tammy Jo, period.”
He let go of my arm. ”When you need help, you know where I live.”
Yeah, he lived in Sh.o.r.eside Oaks, along with most of the wealthiest folks in Duvall. His back acreage looked out onto the Amanos River. He probably even had a view of Cider Falls. Nice land if you could afford it.
Bryn got up and walked toward his car.
”Hey, what about this?” I asked, motioning to the cage.
”He's yours. If you don't want to take him home, just open the cage and turn him loose. He and Angus wouldn't get along.”
”Who's Angus?”
”My dog,” he said, climbing into his car. He left me sitting in the darkness with the cage. I pulled the satin cover off. A pair of big, dark eyes reflected the lamplight and stared back at me. The cat was tawny and beautiful, spotted like a leopard.
”Hey there.”
He purred.
”I can't keep you. The gorgeous wizard probably wants to use you to spy on me or something. I'm pretty sure he's into the dark arts, which my family tries to avoid. The only thing I like really dark is chocolate.” I put my finger in the cage, and he licked it. ”It's not personal against you or anything. I just know he can't be trusted. After all, he's a lawyer.”
The cat went on licking my fingers. ”I don't think you'll starve. Mario's throws out a lot of seafood each night. You like shrimp fettuccini Alfredo?”
What am I doing talking to a cat?
”I'm going to let you out.” I opened the front of the cage and he sprang out, landing with a thump on my lap and then using his claws to pull himself up onto two paws.
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