“My private property is what it is.” The girl stuck out her hand. “Give it back.”
“Fine, I’ll figure it out myself.” Maya held up the stone, as if preparing to probe it with her magic.
“No!” the girl said in frustration. “It’s an opener.”
“An opener?” Maya scowled. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know how to explain it. It’s...like a garage door opener.”
“What does it open?”
“Everything.”
Maya continued to study the stone. She’d never heard of a rock that doubled as a garage door opener. There were demon relics that allowed them to pass through magical barriers, and a rare few that also opened locks, but they had been banned by the Cabal for centuries. And the one she’d confiscated from a goblin ten years ago had been a seven-foot crystal figurine that glowed with a crimson power. They weren’t exactly user friendly.
Was it possible that the demons had managed to create a new artifact that was smaller and less conspicuous? A daunting thought.
“How does it work?” she demanded.
“Magic, I guess,” the girl said. “I just know when I’m holding it, the stone lets me go into places most people can’t get into.”
“Like locked vaults?”
The girl continued to hold out her hand, snapping her fingers at Maya. “Can I have it back?”
“No. Where did you get it?” Maya demanded.
“I found it. Don’t ask where. I don’t remember.”
Maya narrowed her eyes. Normally she admired a young girl with confidence. She didn’t even mind a little cockiness. How else would women ever change the world? But there was spicy attitude and you’re-wearing-on-my-freaking-nerves attitude.
“Do you think this is a game?”
The girl gave an angry toss of her curls. “I think two old ladies lured an innocent child into a trap and now you’re holding her against her will. It’s called trafficking. Google it if you don’t believe me.”
Peri leaned against the side of the staircase, her lips twitching as if she were enjoying the show.
“Told you,” she murmured softly.
Maya sent her fellow mage a chiding glance. With friends like that, who needed enemies? With a click of her tongue, she returned her attention to the thief.
“We are not old.”
“Okay, boomer.”
Maya paused, forcing herself to count to ten before she did something stupid. Maybe shewasgetting old.
“Where did you get this?” She nodded toward the stone lying in the center of her palm.
“I told you, I found it.”
“Where?” Maya tightened the bonds of the snare. Not enough to cause pain, but a physical warning that she was in charge of the situation. “And don’t tell me you don’t remember.”
“Fine.” The girl sniffed. “It was in some junk I found when I was walking through the Everglades.”
The mention of the Everglades prompted a memory of the complaint that Maya had received last summer from a witch who demanded that Maya do more to track down and punish thieves. It was an early warning that something was wrong. Unfortunately, Maya had been too busy dealing with the demons from her past to check into the complaints. After that, she’d been caught up in her new school for young mages and joining her life with Ravyr, not always an easy task.
Now she regretted letting the child continue her stealing spree. Obviously she’d managed to get her hands on objects that were far more powerful than Maya had assumed. Some of them might be dangerous in the wrong hands.
