And Edie wasso glad.
This gladness was incredibly dangerous. These were feelings.Like-her feelings. Sudden-recall-of-the-way-Cosima-had-looked-at-her-at-the-stile feelings. Soft skin, shuddering breath, gripping hands, psychic elation feelings.
When she’d found Gregory Place on the internet and did the mental no-money math, she had imagined a small respite of a hermitage from which she would emerge practical. These feelings were not practical. They were precisely what she’d been trying to avoid.
“I have some conditions, too.” Edie crossed her arms. She didn’t know what her conditions were, but she was ready to improvise.
“Which are?” Cosima’s tone was back to imperious.
“We should have the same budget.” Edie tried to match Cosima’s tone. “It’s not fair if your money means we can buy our way to every clue or bribe someone.”
Cosima made a noise like a sharp bark. “I would never!”
“You don’t think you would, but I bet your threshold of using money to solve a problem is much lower than mine. Also, if we manage to make our way to the places on the map like France or Italy, I want to see more than the inside of the Four Seasons.”
“I’m notactuallya princess. I don’t have a rider for my accommodations wherever I go.”
“But do you agree?”
“Of course,” Cosima said through her teeth.
“My second condition is that we come up with a system for resolving disagreements. If you believe the answer to a clue or the next action is one thing and I’m inclined toward anothersolution, we’re not going to have time to fight about it and then wait a week for you to emerge from your rooms. My time here is up at the end of the month.”
Suddenly, the four weeks Edie had carved out to heal felt like a pinch of sand in an hourglass.
“We’ll resolve it like we do in business,” Cosima said. “We take the dilemma to a third party to decide after we present both of our cases. Whatever this third party says goes. We can alternate choosing a third party.”
Edie smiled. “I accept. Finally, we have to agree on what to do with the treasure. If we find it.”
“What do you think it is?” Morag asked with a noisy sip of tea in a tone that was too jokey. In addition to being falsely bright, it struck Edie as… nervous.
Edie narrowed her eyes at the older woman. “What doyouthink it is? A grimoire? Flying potion for your broomstick?”
“I don’t need more riches.” Cosima’s voice was prim.
“Ugh. You know that makes you soundmoreMary Sue. And I don’t want you handing them over to little old me. Your head would explode with gratified charity.”
“You know what?” Cosima pointed at Edie, her cheeks a little pink. “Fine. We split it. If it is remotely splittable, that’s what we do. Fifty-fifty. And I’ll call my personal lawyer to draw up the contract.”
“And I’ll call my half sister Meadow, who is a lawyer, to talk toyourlawyer.” Meadow was an attorney for a school district in Florida, not really a treasure contracts kind of lawyer, but she was also free and had drawn up Edie’s LLC for Fauxmage perfectly well.
“Fifteen percent,” Morag said. “No. Make that twenty.”
“What?”Edie and Cosima’s outraged exclamations were perfectly matched.
“It’s my guest book.”
“Fine,” Edie said, at the same time Cosima said, “Seventeen.”
“Seventeen and a half.” Morag nodded. “But if I die before I spend it, my will’s not to be contested by you lot.”
Cosima held out her hand to Morag. “Deal.”
“What is this?” Edie gestured between the two of them. “Cosima is not the CEO of this treasure hunt.”
“She is as far as I’m concerned,” Morag said. “I’m not worried if you sic someone named Meadow on me, but Cosima likely owns an entire firm of lawyers.”
“We start tomorrow,” Cosima said. “EightAM.” She stood up and literally sailed from the kitchen.
