“What’s wrong?” Veronica asked, seeing my expression.
“I thought this Balthazar guy was a sorcerer?”
“He is.”
“No way,” I said, pointing at the page I’d ended on. “This is a record of sacrifices. As in offerings. The only reason a magic user would be doing this is to appease a deity. Balthazar was a warlock. He made a pact with some divine creature for his powers, and continued to offer sacrifices to them to maintain it.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head and yanking the book from my hands. “That can’t be right.” She skimmed the pages, flipping them with so much ferocity that I thought she might tear one. “Hetaughtus about warlocks. Hehatedthem, said they took the easy way toward power rather than working on it the way a sorcerer should.”
“Projection,” I said, leaning back in the chair. “Usually the ones who are most vocal about hating something are the same ones allthat hate should probably apply to. That is a ledger to his patron god. I’ve never seen one in person, but that isexactlywhat I’ve heard they look like.”
“I don’t…” She shook her head, still flipping through pages. “This makes no sense.”
“Look, we’ve been here too long as it is. We need to get back before someone finds us. Smash that totem and we can get back to The Shadow Streets. Once we’re safe, we can do more with that ledger. Sound good?”
She nodded reluctantly and stuffed the journal into her bag, then reached into her pocket to bring out the totem. As she pulled her hand out, the pair of lensless glasses that had belonged to Wendy came tumbling out to the floor.
“Shit.”
The moment she went to grab them, the glasses spun and shot off to the right of their own accord.
“The fuck?” I hissed. “Did you do that?”
Veronica shook her head. “No. That wasn’t magic from me.” She went to grab the glasses again, but this time they shot farther away, skittering along the floor toward the office door.
“Damn it,” she said as she hurried after them.
My eyes shot from her, to the glasses, to the door, and I had a sudden realization of what was about to happen.
“Wait,” I said, as the glasses slipped under the lower gap in the door into the hall outside. “Do not go after those.”
Ignoring me, Veronica cracked the door open and glanced around outside. “They’re right there,” she said. “No one’s around. I’m gonna grab them.”
“Does the termtoo stupid to livering any fucking bells with you?” I said.
Once more disregarding my words, Veronica slipped into the hall. Sighing, I hurried after her.
“Get your ass back here,” I muttered under my breath, stepping into the hall.
She looked ridiculous scampering along the floor, trying to grab the glasses as they slid and skidded down the hallway.
“I’ve almost got them,” she whispered, lunging to grab them, but fell on her stomach when the glasses shot away again.
Panic set in as I tried to chase her down. We were making too much noise. Someone would come check if we weren’t careful. Plus, whatever was moving the glasses was most likely magical. For all I knew, they were leading us to our fucking doom. I felt like a fish chasing down a worm on a hook, unaware that it was the last meal I’d ever have.
Veronica chased the glasses, and I chased her, though my own speed was hindered by stopping every few feet to listen for voices or footsteps. By the time I actually caught up to her, we were back at Wendy’s room.
The glasses shot under the door and into the girl’s room.
“Why thefuckam I not surprised,” I growled, joining Veronica at the door.
“No idea. I’m pretty damn surprised.”
Pulling my pistol out, I slowly opened the door. Stepping in, I swept the gun around the room, eyes darting to each shadow, inspecting every corner for someone who might have slipped into this room while we’d been gone.
Instead of finding a shadowy magic user huddled in the corner waving their hands maliciously to weave spells, I found something more…confusing.
On the bed, a medium-sized stuffed unicorn, with a rainbow-colored mane, stared back at me, Wendy’s glasses perched on its nose.
