Page 51 of Road To Runes

I chuckled, hanging off the wall with one hand. But as I looked down, a lone figure leaning against the far wall caught my eye. Wearing a suede jacket and a pair of the shiniest formal shoes I had ever seen, he looked up at Penny and me with interest. I nearly lost my grip on the handhold.

It was the private investigator.

Chapter 26

"Don't look now, but we've got company," I said.

"Where?" Against my exact wishes, Penny looked around in search.

"I saiddon'tlook now. Just get down and we'll go see what he wants."

"Okay." Penny watched me with wide eyes as I scaled the wall down to the ground, leaning back tentatively as she tested the hold of the attendant holding her rope down below.

Without waiting for Penny, I dusted off my hands and made my way over to Shawn. He unfolded his arms and pushed away from the wall as I approached.

"You're not following us, are you?" I said. "Because that's pretty creepy."

"An unfortunate part of my job." Shawn slipped his hands into his trouser pockets. "Do you have a moment?"

"Penny's just coming down." I gestured behind me at Penny, who was spinning around and around on the end of her rope, and I stifled a laugh.

"Actually, it's not Penny I need to speak to. It's you," Shawn said.

The adrenaline spurting through my veins eliminated any fatigue the climbing had accomplished, and I pulled my most surprised expression. "Me? Why?"

"Perhaps we should go somewhere less public? I wouldn't want to start any rumours between you and your peers."

A prickly sensation blossomed in my gut. Was that a threat? Either way, he clearly thought I had a little more to do with the Franklin break-in than before.

I didn't exactly want to be alone with this guy, but a short walk out of earshot of other people would give me a little time to collect myself and prepare for whatever he was about to throw at me. Besides, saying 'no' to him would only raise his suspicions.

"Sure," I said, throwing a casual shrug in there for good measure.

Shawn nodded his thanks and headed for the door to the main corridor that connected all the leisure rooms. I followed him, glancing back to see how Penny was getting on. No longer spinning, she clung to the wall for dear life halfway up as the attendant shouted instructions up to her. Well, we would have time to talk alone if that was anything to go by.

Out in the corridor, a strong smell of chlorine assaulted my nostrils, and the sound of bowling balls crashing into pins echoed from the other end. Shawn led me straight to a small adjacent hallway where a janitor's trolley stood and a stack of yellow caution signs leaned against the wall. Strange how he knew exactly where he was going to take me to talk. Almost as if he had this planned.

He can't know it was me.I was certain of that. Nobody had seen anyone but Hecate, and there was no way Shawn could link me to her.

"What's all this about?" I asked, as he checked up and down the corridor to make sure nobody was coming.

"I've come across some rumours and I just wanted to run them past you to see if they have any validity," Shawn said.

"Rumours?"

"Yes. I hear through the grapevine that you may have a certain power...to remove supernatural abilities from other people."

I snorted, ignoring the dread gathering in the base of my stomach. "I wish."

Shawn tilted his body a little further in my direction, one of his hands emerging from a pocket to scratch the back of his head. "Are you saying you don't have that power?"

"I'm saying I don't haveanypower. Not that I know of, anyway."

That was what I told everyone who knew my name. Anyone whoknewI had that power didn't know my name, besides everyone I lived with, and Penny.

Except...

"Who exactly did you hear that from?" I asked, folding my arms.

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