“Sparkies?”
“Aye. Sparkies. Power. Real power. Knack.”
That was a word I understood. Theo usedknackto describe his magical ability.
In discussions with the gang over the past couple of weeks, we agreed there had to be a draw for so manyothersto have made the Hotel Fulbright their home. Like Pinkie’s had the portal. But there was no portal here. Izzy told us the hotel was located on a ley line—an energy line underground. But it was a single line, not an intersection—so no portal to other realms. But the necromancer had insisted there was a source of power here. A magical well of energy. Maybe Barry had found our draw.
“This side o’ the panel’s hooked tae the grid. The big, clunkin’ power grid for the toon. But this bit here—” His massive index finger tapped the right side of the circuits. “This one’s tappin’ intae some other source. An alternate one. That’s yer knack, fer sure.”
“Where is this… knack?” I asked.
Barry shrugged his big shoulders. “Kenny’ll ken.”
“Kenny the bartender?”
“That be Lenny, Kenny is yer downstairs lad.”
“The maintenance guy.” I nodded. Kenny and Lenny were so identical in looks and demeanor that we were convinced they were the same employee. We never saw both of them at the same time. In fact, Regge only issued one check. To a single employee named Leonard Kenneth.
“So can we use this knack to like run the HVAC system? Or the lights?” I loved the idea of not having to pay a thousand-dollar electric bill every month.
His heavy brow crinkled. “No’ regular. It’s a fickle bastard. Comes an’ goes, like a cat in heat. Too risky fer a blowout. But as a backup? Aye, nae bother. I kin rig up a wee cascade fault.”
I sighed. “A what?”
“A switch, lad. If the grid buggers aff for mair than five minutes, then the knack kicks in, gives the hotel a wee jolt, an’ runs the show till the main sparky’s back tae workin’ proper.”
“Barry. You’re a genius. Thank you. This knack power isn’t going to like zap anyone if they plug in their phone, right?”
His bushy brows crowded together to create one large black bottlebrush on his forehead. “I dinnae say that. I kin make sure it be safe fer ye numpties.”
“Ah… okay. Thanks.” I stepped aside as Regge hailed us from the other end of the hall. I’d just seen him at breakfast, but his grin was infectious as he jogged up to chat with us.
“Hey Barry, how fares our lighting? I see you got the hallway sconces working. Well done.”
The giant’s wide face turned a shade of pink as he ducked his head. “Cheers, Boss.”
I urged Barry to explain our alternate source of power. After listening, Regge looked thoughtful.
“Would it be possible to create some sort of looping mechanism that would alternate this well of power with the city’s power grid? Say twenty-eighty? Twenty percent knack power, regulating it against power spikes of course, and eighty percent city power? That would reduce our electric consumption by the same amount.”
“I kin give it a wee think, aye.”
Regge slapped Barry on the arm. “Good man.” He turned to me. “Let’s go have a look in the basement.”
We headed down the basement stairs.
“That was a brilliant idea, Reg.” I wrapped a hand around the back of his neck, giving him a little shake. “How did the insurance meeting go?”
“I gave a man an exorbitant amount of money, and we are now fully insured.”
I opened the steel door on the ground floor of the hotel and ushered him down more stairs. Halfway down, the usual graying out of an impending vision halted me.
“Hunter?” Then everything went black. The vision came with a flash of light and the sound of a gunshot. A man flying through the air, claws out, before he crumpled to the floor of the lobby. The vision was gone as fast as it had come.
“Trouble.” I didn’t wait. Taking the stairs two at time, I made for the lobby. Rounding the corner, I was whipped around, an arm coming over my chest and the cold muzzle of a gun pressed against my temple.
“Easy.” The stench of garlic wafted over me as he spoke. “We don’t want no trouble.”
