Page 31 of Vanish Into Light

Her Beck, first beloved. And her Lance, so sweet and good.

Her boys.

Beck’s lips had brushed her ear, his breath hot when he said, “You can have us both, sweetheart.”

She’d slept, and when she’d awoken, it had been to Beck laying Lance down beside her, and then crawling in on the other side of him, spooning around him and reaching over his sleeping body so he could tangle his fingers with hers.

Rose had never cared if what she had with Beck made sense to others. It had always been right.

And that moment, Beck’s gold eyes shining at her over Lance’s shoulder, had beenright.

But Lance was rattled. Even if he did seem drawn to Beck – that much was outwardly obvious. Whether or not he would choose to act on that…was a different story.

“There,” Morgan said, both behind her and in her earpiece, dragging her out of reverie – dangerous reverie. This was not the time nor place for spacing out. Morgan’s skinny arm lifted over Rose’s shoulder, and pointed to the right – toward a relatively intact shop front. “There’s something in there.”

“Did you catch that?” Rose asked, shooting a glance toward Lance.

“Yeah, copy. Tris, you and your guys double back. Meet us here and you can watch the bikes. We’ll park a block down. There’s an alley ahead.”

A chorus of “copy” responded.

Beck said, “And what about me?”

“Keep watch up there,” Lance said, curtly.

Beck sighed, but murmured, “As you wish.” He swooped low, briefly, right over their heads – Rose could feel the breeze from his wings – and then lifted up, and alighted on the ledge of a building, perched with tail flicking, like a gargoyle.

She couldn’t suppress a smile, and even from a distance, thought that he smiled back.

~*~

The storefront Morgan had indicated bore a faded, soot-streaked maroon awning whose acid-eaten, once-white lettering labeled itHouse of the Mysterious.

“Original,” Lance muttered, as they stood on the sidewalk outside the smoked-glass windows, all plastered with posters and old, tin signs advertising every manner of occult spell, keepsake, and knick-knack.

“Palm reading?” Rose asked, noting a sign that advertised it. She glanced toward Morgan, who’d traded her helmet for an oversized ballcap, pulled down low to hide the glowing blue of her eyes. “Are you sure about this?”

Morgan glanced up at her, and blinked once.Yes, I’m sure. “I don’t know that it’s a weapon,” she said. “It might not even be useful. But something from heaven is in this shop.”

“You sure it’s not a conduit?” Lance asked.

“I’m sure.” She reached for the door handle, and led the way inside.

A bell jangled, and that little, domestic touch amidst this hellscape of a city was so unexpected that Rose jumped.

Lance touched her back, briefly, right between her shoulder blades. She nodded without turning, acknowledging the gesture, and followed Morgan fully inside. When the door shut – with another jangle – they stood in a dark space full of dim, flickering light.

The posters and signs on the front windows blotted out what meager sunlight was on offer, and instead, they were left with – candles. Lots, and lots of candles, she noted, glancing toward the counter. It was unmanned, currently, and comprised of an old, heavy wood table layered with moth-eaten, dark velvets, spired with mismatched candlesticks, all bearing lit candles. Some tapers, some squat round ones; she even spotted a menorah; tarnished silver and brass candelabrum, and a half-dozen chipped hurricane vases. A beaded curtain behind showed evidence of an office or back room – and surely whoever was in there had heard the bell.

To their right stood aisles of shelves, all of them of differing heights, all of them bearing candles along their tops; wax dripped like icicles off the edges of each shelf, half-obscuring the wares on offer below.

The whole place stank of incense that failed to cover the dark odor of mold.

“Nice place,” Lance deadpanned.

Rose set a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “Any idea where it might be?”

Morgan almost sounded frustrated when she said, “No, it’s – it’s faint. And it’s small.”

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