Page 100 of Real Fake Hauntings

The man stiffened. “I’ve done nothing.”

“I’m sure that’s why you ran from us.” I arched my brows. “Council trouble, huh?” He hadn’t exactly run from us so much as from me, the obvious witch.

“Lies!” But his shifting eyes said otherwise. Someone needed to start a school of villainy or something. So far, most bad guys I’d encountered in Olmeda had come up lacking in subtlety.

“You know,” I said, “that bar you just came out of is a bounty hunter hotspot.”

The man turned a little green. “What?”

“There’s probably one coming as we speak.”

The man’s nervous gaze drifted toward the entrance of the alleyway.

“So,” I continued, “it might be better if you just answer my question. Then the berserker here can let you go, and we’ll forget we ever met you, right?” I glanced at Mark.

He shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

Fluffy barked once to cast her vote.

“Okay, okay,” the man said in a rush, still eyeing the entrance of the alleyway. “What do you want to know?”

“We’re looking for a powerful earth mage. We know he’s in Olmeda, taking illegal jobs.”

“Slater.”

THIRTY

“Who?” I looked at Mark, but he gave a small shake of his head.

The man clamped his mouth shut. Interesting. “Where can we find him?”

“Look, I told you what you wanted to know,” the mage said belligerently. “Let me go.”

“How do you know he’s in Olmeda?”

“I just know, okay? Let me go!”

An edge of panic had entered his voice. Whoever this Slater was must have a reputation.

“We can wait here all night.” I brought out my phone. “Let me call the bounty hunter.”

The man pouted mulishly. “Fine. Call him.”

That brought me up short. He’d rather face a bounty hunter for whatever had landed him in trouble with the Council than speak about this Slater? If Slater wasn’t the one helping the witch, he definitely needed to be put on my and Ian’s radars. I wondered if Brimstone would know of him.

Unless it really was Key’s brother, in which case maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to ask Key’s uncle. But what were the chances?

Then again, what were the chances of three earth mages—the rarest of mages—staying in Olmeda at the same time?

I took a photo of the man, then stepped closer and glared at him. “Do not come back to Olmeda. If I see you around here again, you’ll be dealing with a lot worse than the Council, you hear me?”

Might as well use my dark witch reputation.

Sweat gathered on the man’s temples as he nodded vigorously.

Mark freed him, then gave him a shove toward the entrance of the alleyway. “Go.”

The man ran toward the street. Fluffy gave him a happy bark as he passed by her, and he flinched but kept his course.

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