“I know.”Phinny nodded as if trying to convince herself.“That’s the only reason I’m agreeing to this.Well, one of the reasons.Here.”She reached into the voluminous pocket of her apron and withdrew a box made of polished, dark wood, fastened with a golden lock.She thrust it at Cha, who took it, bemused.
“The combination is Dy’s birthday,” Phinny said, pushing her fists into her now empty pockets.
Cha keyed in the numbers, opened the lid, and whistled.An array of gemstones glittered with perfect clarity, securely tucked in velvet nests.“Phinny…aren’t you full of surprises?”
“For a rainy day,” Phin replied, hunching her shoulders.“Or an angry fae, in case something from Dy’s past caught up to her.”She glared at Cha.“I figure you count as one of those somethings.”
Cha let that go, as it was painfully accurate.
“You know the relative values?”Phin demanded.“I wrote out a key and put it in the bottom.There’s no telling what any of them are worth in any of the fae realms but Obsidian, so that’s what I noted for each.Still, the relative worth shouldn’t change much.Start with the lowest and work up.”
Cha didn’t retort that even she knew that much.She might not be a financial whiz, but she knew how to bribe.“Thank you, Phinny,” she said quietly.“I’ll bring as many back to you as I can.”
“Just bring home the one jewel that matters,” Phin replied with dignity, quickly lost when Dy tackle-hugged her.
“We’ll be back before you know it,” Dy promised.“I’ll have Otto’s next advance couriered over, so start shopping!”She whispered something in Phin’s ear that had her blushing, so Cha turned away and climbed into the jag, all the home she’d ever needed.
Dy climbed behind the wheel of Big Betty, her sorcery palpably juicing the ley line that led out to the main drag.Cha loved to ride a line that Dy had magicked.Pure speed and the freedom of the road beckoned.As it should be.
“For coin, glory, and thrills!”Cha shouted to Dy, who grinned out the window at the sound of their old rallying cry.
“Let’s haul ass!”she shouted in return, pumping her fist.
And they were off.
~9~
The Plan
“There’s my golden-hairedprincess of the ley lines!”Otto exclaimed with a fatuous smile creasing his shiny face, holding open his arms as if Dy would embrace him.“Give us a kiss.”
“You can kiss my petite ass, Otto,” Dy replied with barbed sweetness.
“I’d love to,” he answered, grin turning lascivious.“Given up on the other team, have we?”
“Let’s skip the sexual harassment and focus on important things like coin and deets,” Cha suggested with silky menace, subtly interposing herself between Dy and Otto.
Not subtly enough, as Dy thumped her on the sword arm, making Cha aware she’d reflexively put her hand on the hilt.
“Don’t slice up the boss till we get all the money,” Dy said.“Besides, I can take care of myself.”She flicked a finger and a tiny ball of sparkling white flew past Cha’s head to put itself out on a yelping Otto’s cheek.“Down, boy,” Dy instructed with satisfaction, sliding Cha a smug glance.“See?Top of my game.”
Hand clapped to his singed cheek, Otto gave her a wounded look.“Motherhood has changed you.”
“Yeah—it’s made me too tired to deal with stupid shit.I’m here, so extortion accomplished.”Dy snapped her fingers and opened her palm.“Like Cha says: gold and deets.”
“A true team.”Unperturbed, Otto shrugged and went around his big, glossy desk.Outside the big windows of his fancy office, the human city of Rockton, capital of Granite, sprawled in varying degrees of relative splendor.Of course, nothing in the human principalities could compete with the elegance of the fae realms, both the sort humans had actually seen for themselves and the kind featured in the embroidered tales of bards and imaginative attempts at imitation.Still, the wealthy and nobles among the humans invested considerable coin in trying tolooklike they lived like the fae.
They built fanciful spires tiled in gleaming ceramics that counterfeited the palaces of the fae and ignored the rumble-tumble of wooden and sod shacks that encircled the city center like dead leaves shed from a living tree.Otto’s office sat at the top of one such tower, where he pretended to be a legit businessman.Most of his expansive view centered on the racing stadium that stood not far away, a scintillating monument to illicit magical entertainment—and a pointed reminder of the true source of his wealth.Or, rather, one of those sources, all of them questionable.
Otto produced another of his ubiquitous velvet bags, the coin within clinking with softly musical promise.He set it on his side of the desk, well out of reach, as if they might snag the bag and run.Half-tempted to do exactly that, Cha reminded herself of the even greater wealth that awaited them if—no,when—they pulled off this job.
As long as they didn’t die, get imprisoned, or mutated, that is.Not that she was worried.
“Please sit.”Otto waved a hand at the visitors’ chairs.
“We’ll stand,” Dy said.
“It can’t take that long to tell us,” Cha agreed.“What’s the exact gig?”
