“Can you tell us what you saw? What you heard?” I asked Aeneas, and looked at the case. An empty patch of navy velvet revealed the imprint of the missing object. “What was taken?”
“I saw nothing.” Aeneas frowned, clearly bitter. “But I did hear a commotion. Two, actually. One after the other.”
“Two people?” I asked. Did Lachlan have a partner that I hadn’t seen?
“I do not know. By the time I came downstairs, it was over. The artifact was gone, and the museum was empty.”
“What did he take?” Lachlan asked.
“An artifact called the Moon Stone. It has been in our collection since the founding of the museum.”
The Moon Stone? I shivered. Could there be a connection between that and the crescent moon mark on my palm?
After what the seer had told Lachlan, this couldn’t be a coincidence.
I was connected to whatever Garreth was doing, and I wanted to find out what the hell that was.
“Where did it come from?” I asked. “What is it?”
“Wait here, and I will bring you what information we have. You’ll need to know what it looks like if you’re to return it to me.”
The old man disappeared, and I whispered to Lachlan, “He trusted us quite quickly.”
It’s me. Ralph’s voice sounded from the ground. I’m very trustworthy.
I looked down at him and grinned. “Thank God you’re here.” Actually, I mused, I shouldn’t joke. My familiar could be useful. “Why don’t you go sneak around and see if anything else has been disturbed?” I knelt and picked up a piece of broken glass, then handed it to him. “Careful with this. Take it to Carrow when you’re finished here.”
Ralph gently gripped the glass and nodded, then scampered off, clearly enjoying having a task.
“Carrow?” Lachlan asked.
“She can read information from objects. Perhaps if she touches the glass, she’ll get an idea of what happened here. Maybe see if Garreth had a partner that I didn’t see.” He could have been just ahead of Garreth, already around the corner by the time I’d spotted him.
Aeneas returned a moment later and handed me a simple cardstock folder. “That is all the information we have on the Moon Stone.”
I flipped open the folder and looked down at the paper, then frowned at how blank it was. There were only a few sentences, along with a picture of a glowing white rock that looked smooth as glass. “This is it?”
He nodded. “Records were not always very good in the past.”
“Perhaps the antiquarians should have left things where they found them,” I said.
“There is an argument for that, yes.” He nodded to the folder. “But as you can see, we don’t know much about it. I’ve got no idea why the thief would want such a thing when we have so many more valuable items here.”
That was what frightened me. Quickly, I scanned the document. The Moon Stone had been found in the center of an ancient building on the Isle of Wyre, one of the Orkney Islands in far northern Scotland. A man named Sir Lawrence Keith had discovered it on an antiquarian expedition. He’d dug it out of the center of the building’s floor, apparently.
“Wyre is one of the little islands, isn’t it?” Lachlan asked.
Aeneas nodded. “Barely inhabited, but it is home to only supernaturals.”
“What kind of supernaturals?” I asked.
“I do not know. But I would announce myself before stepping ashore.”
I nodded and raised the folder. “Thank you for this.”
“You’ll have to give it back.”
“Of course.” There wasn’t a lot of info on it, but I didn’t want to leave that behind, either. I pulled my mobile from my pocket. “May I take a photograph, at least?”
“Fine,” he grumbled. “But be quick about it. And be quick about returning the Moon Stone.”
I nodded. I didn’t mind his grouchiness, and I knew I didn’t want Garreth to have the damned stone. Aeneas could have it back, for all I cared.
But then the cluttered glass cases caught my eye. Perhaps the stone didn’t need to be here, after all. Perhaps I needed to return it to its rightful resting place.
I shook away the thought. First things first, I needed to find the bloody thing and figure out why Garreth wanted it.
And I needed to find out if it could fix my magic. At the thought of it, pain sliced me so fiercely that I nearly went to my knees. I gasped, pressing a hand to my abdomen.
Something was very wrong.
I swallowed hard, knowing that my face was far too pale.
“Are you all right?” Lachlan frowned, worry flashing in his eyes.
“Fine.” My voice was reedy as I stood upright.
The Moon Stone had to be connected to whatever was wrong with me. Had to be. The coincidence was too much, and the seer said Garreth’s goal was connected to my magic.
Wishful thinking.
Fates, I prayed not.
Quickly, I handed the folder back to Aeneas. “We’ll be in touch.”
He nodded.
Together, Lachlan and I left the museum. On our way out, I saw Ralph rooting through a drawer in one of the side rooms. I had no idea if he was still on the mission I’d given him or if this was something personal, but I left him to it.
Outside, we paused on the pavement, and I looked up at Lachlan.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “Do you need to rest?”
“I’m fine. No time.” I frowned. “Strange that he trusted us right away. We’re not with the police or government.”
“Perhaps he doesn’t want them involved.”
I thought about the collection. It wasn’t usually illegal to have an old collection like that, no matter how ethically questionable it might be. As long as the artifacts hadn’t been taken recently—now that it was definitely illegal to take artifacts from ancient sites—he should be in the clear.
“I bet a lot of that stuff was bought on the black market,” I said. “The core of the collection is old enough to be within the laws, but there was a lot in there.”
“So he’s just grateful we might return the thing to him without asking too many questions.”
“I think you’re right. Have you heard of this Isle of Wyre?”
“Only in passing. It’s supposed to be dangerous.”
“It doesn’t matter. We have to go.”
4
Eve
* * *
Lachlan escorted me back to the Shadow Guild tower. Though he had to return to his own place, he insisted on walking me up to the courtyard where our protections began. We made the entire journey in silence, as if by unspoken agreement we could only communicate about Garreth and the Moon Stone.
We were halfway across the courtyard when the air in front of me shimmered.
“Do you see that?” I asked.
“See what?”
A moment later, the Maker stood in front of me. He wore the same dark, simple clothes that he’d worn previously, and an unholy fire burned in his eyes.
I lunged backward, my heart shooting into my throat.
Lachlan grabbed me by the shoulders, supporting me from behind. “What is it?”