The Supernormal Sleuthing Service #1 by Gwenda Bond

Author:Gwenda Bond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Stephen and Ivan stood in the stairwell on the lobby floor. They were waiting for Sofia to return. She’d laughed and said she’d handle keeping the eyes of the Perilous Guard off the boys as they undertook the first part of Stephen’s plan. She’d sworn that whatever she had in mind would work.

Phase one of the bigger task of misdirecting the night clerk later required some groundwork, a distraction before the real distraction that night.

“What’s taking her so long?” Stephen asked Ivan, checking the time on the screen of his phone for the fifth time. It was clutched in his right hand and also part of the plan.

Ivan said, “I have been standing in your presence for the entirety of the eighty-five seconds since you last made that query, and I have received no visitors, no messages, no phone calls, and no psychic revelations, so it will no doubt come as no surprise to you that my answer is the same as it was a minute and a half ago. I . . . don’t . . . know.”

“I win,” Stephen said. “Finally you admit you don’t know everything.”

“Ha,” Ivan said.

Thankfully Sofia came gliding down the steps then. She somehow managed to move gracefully despite her big, clunky boots. As she rounded the corner of the landing above, she also managed not to bang the wall with the sword belted at the waist of her dress.

The sword? Yes, that was definitely a sword.

“You’re carrying a sword,” Stephen said. He bounced onto his toes nervously. “Are you sure whatever you’re planning will work?”

Ivan rolled his eyes. “He’s been like this ever since we came in here. You’d think that since this is his plan, he’d be calm and collected.”

Stephen said, “I am calm and collected!”

“Quiet down, both of you,” said Sofia. “If Dad and his guards hear us arguing in here, my distraction won’t work at all.”

“Um, what kind of distraction do you have in mind that requires a sword?” asked Stephen.

Sofia drew her blade from its scabbard with a ringing sound.

“Epic sword battle,” she said.

The boys stepped to one side, giving her access to the door, which she pushed open.

It swung shut behind her, leaving Stephen staring at Ivan.

“Before you ask,” said Ivan, “the answer is yes, she’s serious.”

“She’s going to challenge her father and the Perilous Guard to an epic sword battle?”

“Just for fun,” said Ivan. “That was her practice blade. You no doubt noticed the blunted edge.”

“My first thought when she drew her sword wasn’t ‘Aha, I see from the blunted edge that she’s using her practice blade.’”

Ivan said, “Touché.”

A clash of steel and the full-throated roar of what sounded like a sizable crowd came from the other side of the door.

“That’s our cue,” said Ivan. “Stay low, and try not to attract any attention.”

When they emerged, there didn’t seem to be any danger of that. Everyone in the lobby was looking at the Gutierrez father and daughter, who were facing each other, both smiling broadly, in the center of the vast lobby.

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