Page 96 of For Dear Life

Muttering, I continue to press buttons in a random number order but the door doesn’t budge. I crouch down and slide fingers beneath the small gap between the green roller door and concrete.

“Violet. What are you doing?” asks Rowan.

“Opening the door?”

“Can we use a more subtle entry point than a huge, focal loading dock door?” he asks. “There’ll be somewhere nearby that you can vandalize instead.”

Rowan blends into the darkness he created by breaking the lights, and I rush after him. One thing—I’m not letting the guy out of my sight. Last time something threatened Rowan in the dark, and threatened me too, things headed in a troublesome and shadowy direction. I can’t have that distraction.

“Here,” he calls in a hushed voice.

A smaller set of steps leads to a black door, again with a keypad, but easily opened with one kick of my boot. I smile at Rowan as he rolls his eyes, then walk inside.

We’re immediately in a small wood-paneled office space, a dark wooden desk and chair with a laptop, and a narrow metal filing cabinet. Notices with lists and dates are pinned to the wall—nothing of note. No magical items or energy.

Rowan squints through the darkness. “I don’t think this is Sawyer’s office. His would be much bigger and better furnished.”

“And I doubt he wears the perfume that’s lingering,” I reply and pick up a framed photograph from the desk.

Two boys in school uniform posing for the annual class photograph. If the academy commits such atrocities, I will not be involved. Nobody’s taking a photo of me in that preposterous, ugly uniform. Holly already warned me about a photographer at the Spring Ball. Thankfully, I’m sneaking away from that one with Rowan.

“Definitely not his office.” Rowan takes the frame. “These kids are too young, and Kai doesn’t have a brother.”

“Any word on Kai yet?” asks Grayson from the doorway. “Has Holly heard anything or seen him around since the arrests?”

“The idiot’s resumed his social activities, but so far no clashes with shifters,” I reply. “Holly told me the shifters stay away from town. At least they have sense.”

“They were probably told to by the elders,” says Rowan, who now flicks through a filing cabinet. He pulls out some papers. “Inventory. Orders. Nothing else.”

“Nothing magical in here,” I say as my annoyance flares.

Grayson cautiously opens the second, unlocked door opposite our illegal entry point, and peeps out. “Warehouse floor.”

I join him, pushing the door wider. Row upon row of metal shelves reach from the concrete floor to the corrugated ceiling, an impressive 75 feet tall at least. The high ceiling is reinforced with steel trusses and the large, unlit industrial lights hang down.

The shelves are laden with neatly labelled boxes, and the aisles wide enough for the small forklifts stationed close to the inside of the roller door

No sound anywhere.

Confident there’s nobody here, I step out, boots tapping on the polished floor as I wander the aisles and examine the identical boxes. Most are cardboard and stacked on shelves constructed from metal rebars.

“If we’re looking for magic, this’ll take forever,” grumbles Grayson. “There could be anything hidden in the warehouse.”

Rowan stands at my shoulder. “I can barely see anything—you two have vamp sight.”

I pull at the small, black rucksack he carries over one shoulder. “Flashlight?”

“Why did you bring a bag anyway?” asks Grayson, as Rowan sets the rucksack down and retrieves his flashlight. “A picnic for later?”

“Ha ha. No. Because my pockets aren’t big enough.”

“For what?” Grayson frowns.

“I don’t know. In case we actually find something we could use for psychometry.”

Grayson’s mouth parts in an ‘o’. I already knew—makes total sense to me. The flashlight not so much when he could create a witchlight, but Rowan insists he doesn’t want to use more magic than necessary.

Despite our hushed voices, words drift upwards. A metal-floored mezzanine wraps the warehouse walls above and I wander towards the clanging steps, the others following. Glass-paneled rooms at the top offer a clear view of the entire warehouse floor, and I approach a black door.

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