Page 51 of Goblins Don't Count
He didn’t take off without me, instead crouching beside me, the orange glow the only thing I could see, but it was enough to make out his body position. He leaned forward, accelerating slowly, and I followed suit, gripping the front of my disk like he did, raising the front so it started to lift from the ground.
I copied Sashimi, glad that my disk wasn’t invisible to me, just to people looking up at it. That would be disorienting to ride an invisible board. We rushed over trees, higher and higher, until we passed the fence far below. There were the steps underneath us and then the building.
He bumped my disk, spinning me around, and then I landed with the softest thump imaginable, finally not moving.
I stayed there crouched, head spinning, heart racing, wanting to leap off the thing and kiss the ground, but we were on the roof, and I wasn’t sure I could peel my fingers from the disk.
“Are you okay?” he asked, and I felt the slight pressure of his hand on my shoulder through the suit.
I swallowed hard and then straightened up. “I can’t believe that worked,” I said, stepping off the disk and falling sideways into Sashimi. Apparently, I was still dizzy from the ride.
“Are you going to be sick? If so, you should take off your helmet. Here…” he moved to lift it up, but I backed away, shaking my head.
“I’m fine. I’m not my raccoon. Just give me a second.”
“Sure. I’ll check the access panel while you catch your breath.” He disappeared into shadows, leaving me alone. What was I thinking? How was breaking into the courthouse going to help anything? Well, it would help narrow down our list of suspects. I needed to do something useful, but so far this case was a disaster.
I flipped up my face plate and took a few breaths, looking out at the lights of the surrounding buildings. The Cat’s Pause was right there, the roof where I’d gotten dress drunk with Sashimi mostly visible. I took a few breaths, opening and closing my hands while I tried to calm down. I’d enjoyed the rocket ride. Why was this stressful? Oh, right, because I had to try to not crash.
“It’s a good view,” he said from my right, voice echoing in my ear and outside my face mask, because he also had his open so he could look at the city unobstructed.
“Right? Dates should always involve fabulous views.”
He took my hand, squeezing it, his suits skin against mine. “I’ll keep that in mind. Do you want to go back home? I can send someone else to check the building’s security, to see what possible access to the office was available if you’d rather. You’ve had a long day.”
I did have a long day, but cozying up next to Sashimi’s lava fireplace wasn’t going to help things. Maybe it would help a little, particularly if he was willing to distract me. I shook my head decidedly and turned to face him. “Not long enough. Let’s narrow down our suspect list.”
His eyes glimmered and then his mask was back in place, and he disappeared into a blob of orange. I followed suit, and the next thing I knew, he was lowering me down a stone shaft.
“I’m going to drop you three feet and then follow you in.” He let go of me before I had a chance to reply, but I landed well enough, and then he was right there, behind me, probably because he’d scaled the wall. Because goblins did that, even without fancy suits.
I took an even breath while he crowded behind me.
“Go ahead. This shaft should lead out into the judge’s office,” he murmured in my ear.
I nodded and moved forward, my hands skimming both sides of the narrow passage. “What do Goblin dates usually look like? I mean, if your sister goes on lots of dates…” Did he date goblins? I mean, before he decided to date me.
“For her, it’s usually a crime of some kind. She only spends time with people who can get her into trouble.”
“Ah. It’s because she’s a princess and needs to defy the bars of her tower. What about you? What do your dates look like? I mean with goblins.”
“I don’t date goblins. I know my fate, and so does everyone else in my kingdom. My sister…my father managed to betray my mother with a goblin, but it destroyed him. He was stubborn, didn’t want the curse to control him.”
“Seriously? Like she asked him to be obsessed with her. I hope she stabbed him. It’s bad enough to steal a human away, but then to not be faithful to her?”
“Yes. She stabbed him in the heart by falling in love with someone else. The goblin he trusted to protect her, naturally. You can’t trust a goblin.”
“I hope that when I die and you’re forced into some obsession with a human, you aren’t so stupid.”
“I also hope to not be stupid, but the odds are against me.”
I ran into a wall with an oomph, and then fell back into Sashimi, who caught me, sliding his strong hand over my stomach as he held me for a moment.
“We’re here,” I whispered. “It doesn’t go any further.”
He held up his hand and the suit’s palm glowed enough to show me the stone wall in front of us. The floor was coated in thick dust, and nothing, not even a vent, went into the office. “Interesting.”
“Is it? It looks like a basic stone wall to me. No one could have gotten in this way.”
