“I want my own hoard, Liam. If I’m not allowed to steal one, then I’ll earn one.” That sounded plausible, didn’t it? Mature? Even noble? Shutting the door, I leaned through the car window. “Pick me up in two hours?”
“You’re going to hate it,” he predicted. “You have to benice.”
“Iamnice!” Or not preciselynice,but I wasn’t mean. I’d never bullied anyone. Never kicked a puppy. Never torn wings off flies. Never tossed chewed-up gum on the sidewalk.
“Just saying, if you call me in ten minutes, I’m not picking you up. I have better things to do than be your chauffeur.”
“Right. Again, thanks for your overwhelming concern.”
He peeled out of his parking spot. “Have fun!” he called out the window. I waved and watched as he drove away, taking the left that led back to our house. For a brief second, I wished I’d jumped back in the car with him. Especially since Rosario had noticed me and was whispering swiftly to Emma.
Up until now, all I’d done was recruit a crew. After I briefed them today and introduced them to each other, we’d be committed, and I’d be deliberately defying my father’s orders. This was my chance to back out, no harm done.
But my old “friends” were laughing—at me? Certainly without me.
Squaring my shoulders, I walked into Maximus’s store.
He was at the counter with a college-age guy who was typing numbers into the cash register as if he expected it to bite. “Good,” Maximus said, clapping his shoulder. “Just remember, if you mess up, I tell your girlfriend you’re saving up to buy an engagement ring.”
The kid paled. “I won’t mess up!”
“Excellent.” Smiling at me, Maximus crossed the shop. “Sky! Hired a new employee to work the store in the afternoons, while you help me with cataloging acquisitions off-site. Need your keen eye on a few new pieces.” He was talking loudly, for the benefit of the kid at the register. He escorted me past his new hire into the back of the store. Today it smelled like pickles.
He’d cleaned. Possibly with pickle juice, but still—all the uneaten food had been swept into the trash, and the gym shorts stashed away. The surface of the table gleamed, and the safes had been dusted and polished. A vase of roses sat next to the picture of his late wife.
As soon as we were out of earshot of his new employee, Maximus said, “We’ll have to find someplace off-site for our prep. I can’t have any of this traced back to me—”
“Got it covered.” I led the way to the back door to the alley.
“Oh, excellent,” Maximus said, following me. “This is going to be so much fun!”
Heroically, I managed to not roll my eyes. “Before we do this, I have to know why. Why do you want in? Why not just sell me the fire beast spell? Motivation, please, and if you want to monologue with heartfelt emotion, I won’t stopyou.”
He spread his hands as if to show he was innocent. No tricks up his sleeve. “It’s simple, really. Whomever your mother targeted must be in possession of an impressive treasure hoard. I’d like to pick out a few trinkets for myself.”
“A few?”
“Just a few select items with a high resale value.”
That sounded…fine. Plausible. “Why come yourself? Why take the risk? You could just give me the spell and tell me to pay with ‘trinkets.’ ”
He laughed, a warm chuckle like we’d been friends for years. “Oh my dear, no offense, but you couldn’t possibly know which ones to choose.”
“I know enough to tell you’re selling substandard gold in the front case.”
“For the tourists, my dear.” He clucked his tongue, as if I was being especially foolish. “For special buyers, I need special trinkets. Now, have I passed your cross-examination? Are my motives wyvern enough to suit you?” He was smiling, so I couldn’t tell if he was insulting me or not. “Frankly, it’s my risk to take, and you need me. Why not indulge me and let me tag along?”
He had a point. I couldn’t do this without him. Or at least not without his spells, and if bringing him was the cost…“All right. Fine.”
We went outside.
From the end of the alley, Gabriela waved cheerfully. She was wearing all black, except for bright-pink lipstick and a pom-pom-like flower clip in her hair—I’d never seen her in black before. I wondered if she expected us to be skulking through shadows. Probably. I hadn’t given her many details about the heist. Today was about details.
Details make the dragon,Mom used to say.
As we joined her, Gabriela hugged me, a quick squeeze that made me feel like a ketchup bottle, and I couldn’t help noticing that she smelled like strawberries. Not a wyvern smell, but a pleasant one. Probably shampoo. Or she’d just come from frolicking through a field of strawberries while rainbows danced all around her—that would fit her personality. Gabriela was babbling, “Really thought the school day would never end, and we’d been sucked into this time vortex where history class would stretch to encompass everything from the Fall of Rome to the eighties.” Rising up on her tiptoes, she peered over me into the alley. “We’re not practicinghere,are we?”
“Just outside of town,” I told them both. “I’ll give you directions once we’re on our way.” With a skip in her step, Gabriela led the way to her car. The back seat was crowded with library books, candy wrappers, and Mountain Dew cans. She shoved them over to make room for Maximus. I took the front passenger seat.
