Page 62 of Elven Lies

She wasn’t the same Rebecca Bloodshadow, that was certain.

She still had to be careful with him.

Surprisingly, though, Rowan didn’t voluntarily make any more trouble for them as she led him across the city toward the Chicago branch of Nexus. In fact, he seemed rather amused to be walking around in broad daylight among so many ignorant humans living their lives, clueless to the two old-world elveswalking among them. Let alone the Bloodshadow Heir and the Scion of the Blackmoon Clan.

Rebecca let him have his moment of sightseeing, like the interworld tourist he was.

This wasn’t about hiding in plain sight from the humans, anyway. This was about finding out what Aldous had unwittingly left behind, and hopefully, it was something they could use to Shade’s benefit.

The Nexus building was especially hard to miss—a high-rise in Streeterville with a large sign of glinting silver letters proclaiming the building’s name for everyone to see, magical or otherwise.

“Ah, yes,” Rowan said as they gazed up at the enormous sign from the opposite side of the street. “Hiding in plain sight. What a brilliant strategy.”

“It seems to work most of the time,” she said.

“Oh, I have no doubt.”

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go see what kind of access this key grants us.”

At the next lull in traffic, Rebecca stepped off the sidewalk and hurried toward the large commercial building, all bright metal and glass glinting in the sunlight. The place might have looked magical out of context, but here, it blended perfectly into the urban setting.

That was the point.

The double doors of the building’s entrance swung easily open in Rebecca’s grip. Then she and Rowan entered the grandiose lobby—high ceilings, polished marble floors, a large desk along the righthand wall, and a collection of tastefully matching armchairs, couches, and tables filling the room with modernist decor.

The place looked more like the lobby of a four-star hotel. Excluding them, it was empty.

“Doesn’t say much about their customer service, does it?” Rowan nodded toward the unmanned service desk.

“These places are more of a self-service kinda deal.”

“Ohyeah. I’ve seen some of those on the road. Like…” He snapped his fingers and clenched his eyes shut until they flew open with realization. “LikeU-Haul!”

Rebecca paused halfway across the lobby and shot him a deadpan look. “Have youbeento a U-Haul facility?”

“No. Why? Are they even nicer than this?”

He was dead serious.

“Somuch nicer,” she said, fighting back a smirk. “That’s about as high-end as you can get.”

“I knew it.”

Choking back her laughter was impossible. What Rowan didn’t know about human storage facilities and moving services wouldn’t hurt him. It wasn’t like he’d ever find himself in need of either.

After a quick perusal of the lobby, which offered no doors at all beyond the front entrance, Rebecca headed for the golden circle painted in the center of the lobby’s floor and pulled the key from her pocket again.

“The place is easy enough to find,” Rowan mused as he headed after her, turning in tight circles as he walked to take in everything. “But my question now is how do we find this secret box or whatever?”

“One of those trade secrets, I guess.”

“Oh, I get it. The kinda trade secrets you’d need to know to keep your hold over a joint like this, right?”

“Something like that. Sure.” She waved him toward her. “Get over here quick, though, or you’re gonna miss it.”

He finally joined her inside the golden circle, then Rebecca held the key out in front of her and waited.

The cool metal grew slightly warm in her fingers, then a large bright-yellow number five illuminated within the center of the key’s handle, as if etched into the metal with green flame. She ignored Rowan’s hum of approval from over her shoulder and waited for the next bit.

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