“Well,” he said as the bird settled on his fingers. “Isn’t that interesting?”
The pigeon tilted its head inquisitively, but the green eyed man simply kissed its soft feathers and set the bird down on the bench beside him, freeing his hand to pull a phone out of his pocket. It was an old keyboard model from before the return of magic, a veritable antique without even the most basic AR, but the lack of modern accouterments didn’t seem to bother him. He simply scrolled through the enormous contact list until he reached the Js, selected a name near the bottom, and began to type, humming the bridge of a song that wouldn’t be composed for another ten years as his fingers moved unerringly over keys that had long since been worn blank.
***
“Come on,” Julius muttered, tapping his foot as Lark’s phone rang and rang and rang. When the shaman’s voicemail kicked in, he hung up and started the cycle over. Again.
After ten calls failed to garner even one answer, he was forced to admit defeat. He didn’t know if Lark was deliberately ignoring him or if the shaman was simply too drunk and/or stoned to answer his phone. Both were possible. Honestly, though, he wasn’t even sure why he was bothering. It wasn’t like Lark had given him a bad address on purpose. The shaman had probably just passed on the information Katya had given him, and no dragoness on the run would be stupid enough to give a human her actual location. The real question was, how stupid was Julius for thinking she had?
Pretty stupid, he decided, pacing back and forth on the cracked sidewalk. And dead. Very, very dead. It was almost midnight already. Even if he pushed Ian’s deadline to the absolute limit, he had less than twenty-four hours to find a dragon who didn’t want to be found in the DFZ. He wasn’t sure he could pull that off even with unlimited money. On his current budget, it was downright impossible, but if he didn’t getsomething, he was done for. So what was he going to—
“Julius?”
He stopped pacing with a jerk and looked up to see Marci standing tentatively on the curb a few feet away, her hands clasped in front of her. “Are you okay?” she asked. “You’ve been over here for a while.”
Julius rubbed the back of his neck. He supposed she did deserve an explanation, especially since he wasn’t going to be able to pay her the way things were headed, what with him being dead and all. Then again, who knew? Marci was clever and resourceful. Maybe she could help?
The idea of pulling a human he liked as much as Marci into his problems made Julius feel a little ill, but he didn’t know what else to do. So, with a deep breath, he told her the truth. “I’m in trouble.”
“I figured,” she said with a sympathetic smile. “That parking deck was supposed to be your missing girl, wasn’t it?”
Julius nodded. “If I don’t find her by tomorrow, I…”will be declared a failure and eaten.“I won’t get paid.”
“Which means I won’t get paid either,” Marci finished, putting two and two together. “Okay, what are our options?”
He stared at her, astonished. “You’re not mad?”
Marci shrugged. “Hazard of contract work. Sometimes things fall through, and getting mad about it doesn’t do anyone any good. Besides, it’s not like you’re trying to screw me over, right?”
“Of course not,” he said, horrified, which made her grin.
“See? Nothing to be mad about. I’d much rather spend my energy trying to save the job in any case. So, ideas?”
Julius didn’t answer. He was too busy savoring the wonderful astonishment at being treated like a partner instead of an idiot and a failure. “I have several ideas,” he said at last. “But they all require money.”
“Most things do,” she said with a sympathetic sigh. “What’s our operating budget?”
“About two dollars.”
Marci giggled. “Funny. Really, though, what is it?”
Julius shuffled his feet awkwardly. “I wasn’t making a joke.”
She froze, the grin vanishing from her face. “You weren’t?”
He shook his head.
“You don’t have any money?”
He shook his head again.
For several moments, Marci just stood there, mouth opening and closing like a fish. “But,” she got out at last, “you were in Arbor Square.Everyonein Arbor Square has money!”
“I was just there to meet my brother to get this job,” Julius said. “Come on, you didn’t really think I belonged in a place like that, did you? I mean,lookat me.”
He waved his hand at his ratty T-shirt and jeans, and Marci began to sputter. “I thought you were wearing thatironically!”she cried. “You know, one of those ‘I’m wearing comfortable clothes because I’m too cool to care how rich I am’ guys.” She covered her face with her hands. “I can’t believe this. How were you planning to pay me?”
“After my brother paid me,” he said. “I never meant for things to get this bad. This job was supposed to be over at the party!”
