Page 24 of All Out of Flux
And a paycheck was nice and all, and so was making sure that we stayed in Vera’s good graces. But the real reason I wanted us to settle the statuette situation so badly was how much it seemed to matter to Max. Securing this thing would effectively be sticking it to Tío Gustavo, showing him that Max didn’t need him or the Brillantes to lead a successful career and existence in the arcane underground.
And if it meant a decrease in Gustavo’s profits, then hey! That was just a neat bonus.
“Any minute now,” Max whispered.
Guillotina scoffed. “Any minute? Too many minutes, already. What are we waiting for, anyway?”
“Just trying to assess the situation. We don’t know how many people are in there — or if there are any to begin with.”
I craned my neck, trying to get a better look. No cars parked anywhere around the warehouse, but that didn’t really mean much. What if they were hidden inside the building? It was certainly big enough. What if they teleported their way in? In a perfect world, no one was in there waiting to spring a trap on us, but then this would all be too easy otherwise.
“Listen,” Guillotina said, her leather jacket squeaking as she leaned forward. “We’re just going through the motions here. There’s a ninety percent chance that Tío Gustavo has something special planned for us. We waltz in, the lights go up, Gustavo gloats about his evil plan. Let’s just get this over with. We grab the statuette, then we blast our way out.”
That was what I liked about Guillotina. Always so straightforward, and always with the senseless violence, too. But Max tilted his head toward me, watching my face through half lidded eyes, and I immediately understood his hesitation. Whatever happened, we were going to be within the clutches of the Brillantes yet again. Things didn’t go so well the last time when Divina had tried to drown me — twice.
“I’ll be okay,” I whispered, mouthing the words slowly so he could read them, ending the sentence with a reassuring smile. I was safest when I was near him. Besides, we had Guillotina and her blood thirst to help keep us safe, too. And surely none of the Brillantes could be quite as unhinged as Divina — right?
We stepped from one shadow to the next, then again, and again, until we found our way to the flimsiest looking door in the warehouse. No cameras in sight, possibly so any would-be interlopers would let their guard down. It was far more likely that the place was under magical surveillance to begin with.
Max made a complex series of gestures with his hands, pointing at the door, his face, the ground, then again at his face. I rolled my eyes and gave him a face of my own, one that said “Get the fuck on with it, already.”
“Penetrate,” he whispered, conjuring a pair of crystalline slivers, picking at the lock on the door. Somehow this entire situation felt custom-made for Max’s skill set, as if designed that way by a curious architect, or a doting and slightly condescending uncle.
We were rats in a maze, in short. Between Guillotina and myself, we could have just blasted through to get the cheese. But Max needed this, and so did his bizarre family, apparently. We strode into the darkness. Max lifted his fingers, just about to summon one of his light crystals with his Illuminate spell when all the lights in the warehouse went on all at once.
My vision swam with a kaleidoscope of colors, eyeballs aching from the brightness. I could hear the buzzing of electricity, a quiet clearing of throats. But loudest of all was the warm, almost fatherly greeting from one Tío Gustavo Brillante.
“Maximo.Mijo. It is so good to see you again.”
I rubbed the sting of harsh light out of my eyes. The portly mustachioed man in the pristine white suit was clearly the uncle in question, flanked by identical women in garish floral prints — Teresita and Luisita Mendez, the owners of Hermanas Arcanas. All along the edge of the room were goons upon goons, at least a dozen Brillante thugs.
And in the back of the room, on top of a pedestal right by where Gustavo stood: a statuette of a woman, its features worn and smoothed away by age.
Max held out his hand. “We’ll just take the statuette and go, thanks very much.”
Gustavo frowned, his features twisting with disappointment. “Is that all you have to say to your favorite uncle? You do wound me,mijo.”
“Real funny, tío. Favorite nephew? You sent your thugs out to harass us tonight. It’s bad enough that you keep sending them to the coffee shop. But a parking lot to threaten me? Come on. That’s tacky, even for you.”
Gustavo’s frown lines deepened. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. No one was supposed to visit you on this loveliest of nights. I thought that I had an agreement with Teresita and Luisita. We have their new boy at the shop drop you a hint youcan’t refuse, and here you are, come to catch up with dear old Tío Gustavo.”
Max scoffed. “Pass. I don’t believe you for a second. Let’s get this over with. Tell me what you want for the statuette, and we’ll go.”
“Very well,” Gustavo said, sighing. “We’ve heard so much about your social life these days. Hello, Guillotina. So nice to see that you and Maximo are still so close.”
Guillotina grumbled, crossed her arms, and tapped her foot.
“But what we’re truly curious about is the boy with the dragons.”
All heads turned toward me. I forced a grin, offering them a limp little wave of my hand.
“Well, you see, the problem with that is — ”
“No deal.” Max stepped in front of me, as if protecting me with his body. “Tina? Plan B.”
What was Plan B? I didn’t even know about a Plan A.
B stood for buzzsaws, apparently. Tina spread her arms, sending a crisscross of circular blades screaming throughout the warehouse. Some of the thugs scattered. Others made the foolish mistake of mounting an assault on the three of us. Max flicked his hands out, firing his crystalline slivers. One thug fell to the ground screaming, clutching his face. Another yowled as he considered the danger of plucking the knife-long crystal that had burrowed as deep as a bullet into his shoulder.
