I glanced around, trying to find anything to look at other than him. “So, you have a phone with AR?”

  “It isn’t supposed to connect unless given permission. I’ll have to check the settings.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Still, this wasn’t a social call.” His hand twitched, and t-shirt appeared on him.

  Shame.

  “Olivia called me. She wants to talk to you. It has to do with that fire.” He shook his head. “I told her you wouldn’t be able to say anything about the investigation, but she didn’t listen. I also told her you had nothing to do with it, but she didn’t listen to that either. I’m sorry.”

  When I got my breath back, I said, “Not your fault.”

  And it wasn’t. As long as I was a member of the Bausen clan, there wasn’t anything he could do to stop Olivia. As the minister, it was her job to police the clan, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to stay out of her notice.

  “I tried.”

  “She watches me. We both know that.”

  Jamie pressed his lips into a line.

  “Should I be expecting her call, or is she going to drop by?” Please let it be a phone conversation. That would be much easier.

  “She wouldn’t say.”

  “So likely in person.”

  He nodded.

  I swore.

  Jamie moved closer and rested his hand on my shoulder.

  Here in this artificial world, I could feel the heat of his hand, see the concern in his eyes. It was all I could do to resist leaning in, feeling his arms around me, and for a moment letting myself believe he was on my side.

  “I’m sorry,” Jamie said.

  “You can’t control Olivia.”

  “I’m sorry for before. I shouldn’t have fought with you over the protective detail.” His eyebrows drew together. “My concern for your safety isn’t a reason for you to go against your better judgment.”

  “If I thought…” That wasn’t the right way to say it. “Because of our history, it’s hard for me to trust you, and because of our jobs, there are things we can’t tell each other. There are other factors, and I have to consider them.”

  He nodded. “And that’s where I was wrong. I didn’t trust you to have thought through the situation.”

  “We aren’t teenagers anymore. We’ve both grown up, and we did it apart.” At the time, it had hurt. It hurt more than Olivia’s threats or being cut off from the clan. But now it felt like we had to break apart to become who we are.

  “I won’t make that mistake again.” His voice deepened.

  “What mistake?”

  Jamie hesitated.

  “It doesn’t matter.” I stepped back, and his hand fell to his side. “I need to go. In case Olivia stops by.”

  “Kelsey, it’s not what you think.” He reached toward me. “That was long ago—”

  “End Call.”

  Everything around me blurred, and I was back in my apartment.

  I got to work hiding anything Olivia might find suspicious. A sheet went over Bubble’s tank, and I tucked my necromancy book and spell in the secret compartments of my apothecary cabinet. That was as safe as they were going to get.

  The conversation with Jamie replayed over and over. One, just one, I didn’t want to end an encounter with him as frustrated and confused as when it started. Was that so much to ask? Couldn’t he trust me with one of his secrets, just once?

  The last thing I had to do before I could worry less, if not relax, was to warn Randolf. I quickly penned a note warning him Olivia might be coming to visit. Before I could think better of it, I agreed to do what I could for the couple.

  Helping the couple felt right. It would do me good to see a better part of my necromancy, one that didn’t feel so much like I was violating the dead.

  Chapter Nine

  At this hour, there shouldn’t have been swarms of cars in the supermarket parking lot, but it wasn’t every night a car caught on fire and gave this kind of a show.

  Bubble-gum pink flames shot into the air.

  I wished it had picked a different night. The day had been busy enough, thank you very much. All I’d wanted to do with my evening was put my ever-growing list of problems out of my head.

  No such luck.

  Given my history with fires and the clear evidence of magic at this one, I parked well away from the other emergency vehicles. Losing a department car was one thing. Risking Fabian was another.

  Even with my badge, the crowd was reluctant to part. I blamed an abundance of curiosity and a lack of sense. From the haggard appearance of the officers keeping people back, they shared my view. Even so, I got clear directions to Kala and Wayne and joined them by a firetruck.

  Kala had three blackened charms in her hands. “Pine, we tried to put it out, but they didn’t do anything.”

  I took one of the charms and switched my vision to see magic. The spell had overloaded, burning out the charm.

  Weird. This type of charm was designed to deal with magical fires. An incident as small as a car fire shouldn’t be capable of causing this type of damage. That was, if they were made properly.

  I handed the charm back to her. “I’ll make some for you. The way I was taught, the charm shouldn’t burn like that.”

  “Other charms would be good.” Kala stowed the burned charm in a compartment. “Can you remove the magic like you did at the last fire?”

  “I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” Wayne said, eying the fire.

  Kala arched a brow. “And who here is the fire expert?”

  “Can I have a moment to look it over before you continue bickering?” Giving them my back, I studied the flames.

  Like before, the magic in the car fed off the fire’s energy, giving a show of unpredictable results. The pink flames were replaced by green. Then spots of purple appeared, hanging in the flames like polka-dots. That was different.

  The problem was the magic. Few people kept enough magical goods in their cars to produce a fire like this. One or two charms, sure, but given the magnitude of the flames, this had to come from baskets of charms.

  Evidence collection was another problem. If I drained the magic like I did last time, there wouldn’t be any traces for me to put together. “Could we let it burn out? I hate to destroy evidence in two fires in a row.”

  “It isn’t ideal,” Kala said.

  Wayne sighed. “We need the evidence.”

  “Letting it burn will destroy more of the body.” Kala stared at Wayne. “That ruins evidence too.”

  “Two magical fires in a row that you can’t put out? Preserving the traces of magic will give us some information to go on, which is more than we have now,” I said. If there were commonalities in these fires, I wanted as much magical evidence as I could get my hands on. “Besides, I think I can shield the body.”

  Both of them looked at me like I’d said something fantastical.

  “Can you?”

  “Really?”

  I shrugged. “Pretty sure. If I manage it, can we let the fire burn out?”

  “As long as the magic doesn’t get any more exciting than this, I don’t see why not,” Kala said.

  “Anything to preserve the magical evidence.” Wayne rubbed a hand across his hair. “This feels too similar to the last fire.”

  “Agreed.” Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself and focused on the fire. For as much magic as was showing up in the flames, I didn’t see any in the passenger compartment. That would make casting the spells less dangerous.

  Wand in hand, I got to work. The spells needed to be structured to be impervious to a magic fueled fire, which was a bit of a challenge. It meant layering spells against one another. The outer spell attracted carbon dioxide, giving a natural barrier between the flames and my work.

  For the inside layer of the spell, I took a different approach. It closed off any airflow in or out, catching the flames inside my spells and starving the fire of oxygen. That would extinguish them without ever directly influencing the fire with my magic.

  Little by little, the flames inside the shield died down. The layer of carbon dioxide on the outside appeared to be working too, as the flames moved away. Of course, they also took the opportunity to turn lime green.

  “Could you put out the fire that way?” Kala asked.

  “Umm. Which way?”

  She pointed to the car, which was still shooting flames out of windows. “The way you did with the shield. The flames won’t go near it.”

  “Maybe. I’d have to create a large concentration of carbon dioxide.”

  The flames above the car twisted until they formed a clearly defined masted boat.

  “Is there any risk to you?” Wayne asked.

  I started to say no but stopped myself. “Maybe. Clouds of carbon dioxide aren’t good for humanoids.”

  “Not worth it.” He shook his head.

  Kala folded her arms across her chest. “Really? And my people being in danger is?”

  “That’s not what I said.” Wayne’s lips flattened into a line. “They have training and air tanks.”

  “Which makes it okay to put them in danger when a little magic can fix things?”

  “Do I get a say?” I snapped.

  They ignored me.

  Wayne shook his head. “Why do you persist in this? I have no desire for harm to come to you or yours. I do want magical evidence. That’s it.”

  Kala squared her shoulders. “You continue to choose her safety over that of my people.”

  “We both risked our lives to help you last time! I just want some Narzel-blasted evidence!” Wayne snapped.

  “What if one of those spells does more than change the color and shape of the flames? What then?” Kala challenged.

  “The department owes me another car. Like it or not, I’m going to try because Agent Harris is correct. Solving these crimes means gathering evidence. Due to the use of magic, we need the magical evidence more than any other type.” I pointed my wand at the two of them. “Quiet while I try to put out the fire.”

  With my eyes firmly locked on the car, I slid into a light trance. It allowed me to focus on the magic with fewer distractions, like bickering coworkers.

  I split my attention between the flower of magic in the fire and my spells. Little by little, I increased the power of carbon dioxide attraction spell.

  The flames moved away from the growing field of oxygen-poor air, congregating in the engine and trunk. Rather than weakening, the magic exacerbating the fire fed off the concentrated energy.

  Currents of energy started in the core of the fire with the combustion and drifted up with the flames, weakening as they cooled. In every magic fire I’d seen, the magic moved at random until it encountered energy, at which point it fed along the current until it was gone. Then it went in search of another.

  This magic didn’t do that. It flowed into the core of the fire, casing its way up the currents. As it went, it altered the flames.

  Magic exploded inside the fire, and my vision went white. When the spots faded from my vision, there was a hole in the hood of the car.

  This didn’t behave like an accidental magical fire. It behaved like a spell intended to look like an accident while actually causing as much damage as possible.

  Even with runes to amply the magic, it would be a power-intensive spell. Most witches would be out of magic for a day or three after a spell like this. I’d need a good rest before I could do another spell of this magnitude.

  I poured more power into my spell. In a matter of moments, it pulled enough carbon dioxide together to completely surround the car. The last of the flames snuffed out.

  The magic didn’t.

  It hung in the air, a seething ball of energy.

  An accidental or natural fire would never do that. But how to defuse it? Even a probe could set it off.

  The magic shattered into countless motes. Some of them vanished as quickly as they’d been created. Other drifted down into the car, fading as they went.

  “I’m guessing you won’t let me douse it in water,” Kala said.

  “The body’s already burned. If you could avoid drenching it, I would be most appreciative.” Nash halted the gurney.

  Kala sighed.

  Wayne tipped his head in Nash’s direction.

  Nash winked.

  I nudged Wayne with my elbow and whispered, “Can you send a strong breeze through here? We need to disperse the carbon dioxide safely.”

  “Sure.”

  A slight breeze ruffled my hair. I unmade the spells around the body and signaled Wayne. Several strong gusts blasted through the area.

  Kala scowled, likely concerned that the fire would come back.

  Given what I’d seen, I doubted that. My guess was magic had been the catalyst.

  Nash rolled the gurney closer. “How long until I can get the body?”

  “Don’t ask me. I’m not allowed to do my job.” Kala grumped but pulled a laser thermometer from her belt.

  For the next hour, we all stood around and waited for the car to cool off. Wayne kept up a fairly good breeze, which helped the burned car situation, though I ended up going back to my car for a jacket. The crowd wandered away. Apparently, the flames had been the real show.

  By the start of the second hour, the car was cooler, but hardly cold. I did a careful magical examination without touching anything. The fire had consumed most of the evidence, but a few fragile spell fragments remained on the driver’s seat. What I could get from them as they crumbled to nothing matched the magic that I’d found on CJ.

  “Why would the person who created CJ’s charms be involved in a car fire?” I shouted the question over my shoulder.

  “Their magic went wrong again, and it cooked them,” Nash said.

  Wayne shrugged. “They bought charms from the same person.”

  “Maybe.” I checked the spell remains again. They were harmless. “I’ve done everything I can. The body is yours, Nash.”

  He peered in the car. “I hope you aren’t expecting much.”

  “Anything you can find will be a help.” I patted his shoulder.

  “Excellent. I’ll try to have something for you by the end of tomorrow.” Nash motioned his assistant over. “I intend to get the remains to the morgue and go home for the night.”

  “No one expects you to work through the night.” I filled the techs in on the magical residue. Contaminating it was a bigger concern than it hurting them, but procedure was procedure.

  Since I wasn’t needed anymore, I headed out.

  Wayne broke away from a conversation with Nash and pulled me aside. “Why did I learn about this call from Nash?”

  “What?” It was too late, and I was too tired for this. “Dispatch called me. I figured they called you too.”

  His voice tightened. “No. If I hadn’t been with Nash when he got the call, I never would’ve known.”

  “That’s not my fault.”

  “I’m your partner!” The dim light cast deep shadows across his face. “You answer a call, I go with you.”

  “Are you?” I asked softly.

  He jerked back.

  “I’m all of two weeks into being a true agent. We’ve been darting from one crisis to another as fast as we can. Floyd, well, you know how that went. Then Smith tells me I’m on my own for determining which cases I work on. Do I have a partner?”

  “I see,” He said stiffly. “I’ll speak to Smith about returning to desk work.”

  “What?” I sputtered.

  “You don't want to work with me. That can be arranged.”

  “Did the fire addle your brain? Or the magic? Because this afternoon I talked to a reasonable Wayne who’s had my back through multiple dangerous situations. That’s a man I trust and would be proud to have as a partner. Just make it be official. I’m tired of the constant shuffling at work.” And the headache that came with all the testosterone.

  “Ah.”

  “Well, that explains everything.” Men were confusing creatures at the best of times, no matter what species.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Given my previous conversations with Smith, I thought... well, I will check that it is official. Would that do?”

  “Nicely. Now, I’m low on magic, and I’d like to get enough rest to be at full capacity in the morning.” A break from men would be great too.

  Wayne stepped to the side. “The car will be in evidence, as requested.”

  “Thank you.” With that, I headed to Fabian. Still the only man in my life who never annoyed me. And he had all the get-up-and-go a girl could want.

  Chapter Ten

  Morning came too early, but at least my alarm woke me up and not another emergency call. Small victories and all that.

  I found a note from Randolf under my door. The couple would be in town in two days. They’d like to do the spell right away, but if Olivia was still a problem, we could delay.

  I burned the note while my tea steeped.

  Half an hour later, while digging my keys out of my purse, someone knocked on my door.

  A knot of dread lodged in my gut. The sun was up, so it wasn’t Randolf. Jamie or Harris would’ve called.

  I opened the door and found my own personal bogeyman.

  The corners of Olivia’s mouth turned up in what was supposed to be a smile. “Good morning, Kelsey.”

  As bogeymen went, she hardly looked the part. The pants suit was tailored to her, her graying hair styled in a chick chin-length bob, her eyes cold.

  “Minister, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

  With that, I invited a monster into my home.

  She scanned the room before placing her shiny leather handbag on the table and taking a seat. “Kelsey, it’s been too long. Do sit. We have much to discuss.”

  Gritting my teeth to keep from pointing out it was my apartment and I’d sit if I so desired, I took the chair across from her. “We do? I can’t imagine what. I’ve been a good little witch, doing my job with the TBI and staying out of and away from the clan.”