Elemental (Arcane History Book 2) by Scott Thrower

Author:Scott Thrower [Thrower, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Periodically Productions
Published: 2019-12-12T22:00:00+00:00

22

There was a light on in the museum, as I expected. Henry loomed in the darkness, watching the street for any sign of pursuit, but it took five minutes of pounding on the staff door before Betty answered.

“I knew you’d be here,” I said with relief, hefting the luggage I was carrying.

“Some might call me predictable,” she answered. It didn’t look like she’d slept in a while. She wore the same dress as the last time I saw her, though most of her dresses rather blended together. There were three pencils stabbed though what remained of the bun in her hair, so it didn’t seem her evening was going well either.

“What happened to you?” she asked, looking at all of my scratches.

“Car accident,” I replied.

Henry entered behind me but fell behind as he checked and rechecked the door, making certain it couldn’t be opened.

“And Henry?” she asked, leading the way to her workroom.

“His leg’s hurting,” I replied. “And we stole a car to get away from a plant creature.”

She glanced back over her shoulder. “If I wasn’t already on edge listening for an invisible man all the time, I’d think that was a joke.”

I shook my head. Whatever she muttered I was fairly certain was indecent, but even that couldn’t make me smile.

“So, we’re circling the wagons?” she asked.

I nodded, looking back as we turned a corner to make sure Henry was following. He was, but not in any hurry.

Fine by me, I thought. We’d had a silent cab ride over, and I was in no hurry to inflict that awkwardness on others.

“We should bring Jane in,” I said. “She’s gotten herself involved in something big.” I blinked as we walked into the brighter lights of Betty’s workroom. “That woman who’s been trying to get your pieces back using legal means has changed her pattern. Now she’s tearing up city streets, and she’s a bit less human than we expected.”

Betty sat on her stool next to the assembled fragments. Several mugs were scattered around the periphery, along with scraps of drawings and a few books opened at various places.

“What do you mean less human?” Betty asked.

“Exactly that,” I said, falling back into a chair. I immediately got back up as Henry appeared in the doorway, switching to a stool so he could have the lower seat and stretch out his leg. “My source,” I continued, “called what she did elemental, and he identified the language on the bottom of the seal as something not human, which is why I’m having trouble reading it.”

“Your source?” she repeated suspiciously, her eyes moving from Henry slumping down into the chair to me, clearly sensing that something was off. Fortunately, she was too polite to ask.

“An old friend.”

“Well, in any case, Jane won’t come here anyway. She says the museum gives her a headache.”

I rolled my eyes. Typical Jane.

But then I gave it another thought. Last year, there’d been an otherworldly creature after us, one we’d briefly thought Jane had summoned. Despite managing to

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