Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore Read Free Book Online

message, I was out of luck, because I’d never learned Morse Code for Assholes.
    The door opened and I flinched. So much for my cool bravado.
    I recognized the woman who entered, even though she’d changed from the police uniform into a leather jacket and Union Jack T-shirt. Her platinum hair was cut short and spiky and her makeup was all black eyeliner. She looked like a punk-rock pixie.
    “This is Lauren,” said Maguire as the blonde took her place beside him. “It was her suggestion we bring you in, when her attempts to locate Alexis by magic met a dead end.”
    I blinked, because it sounded like he just said he had a witch on the payroll, which was unexpected, even to me. But that didexplain how this Lauren person could have walked into the police station and out again with me in tow. I wouldn’t have felt an illusion- or misdirection-type spell because that’s not my thing.
    Oh man. Like getting kidnapped and strong-armed by a
normal
crime organization wasn’t bad enough? I was in
so
far over my head I couldn’t even see daylight.
    I’m a psychic. Sensing remnants and spirit traces is more about who I am than something I do. But magic? All I knew about magic came from watching the witches in my family, and I wasn’t sure how that compared. Goodnight spells were very low-key, nothing flashy, except when my cousin Phin was involved.
    I bet that Maguire wanted a lot of flash from his witch. And from her complacent smile, I imagined he got it.
    Carson, when I glanced at him, didn’t seem fazed by talk of magic. He didn’t seem much of anything, because he hid his feelings well. This time, though, he met my eye, and I remembered him telling me, just do what Maguire says and everything will be okay.
    So I put on a face like I was riding the wave and not drowning in it. “What spells have you tried so far?” I asked Lauren, just one professional to another.
    She didn’t give me the same courtesy. “This and that.” She sounded bored, or maybe like she was humoring me. “Divination, location spell … and a little misdirection to hide your disappearance from your FBI boyfriend. He thinks you’re tucked safely in a cot at the office, sleeping off your headache.” She looked smug, because she was proud of her spellcraft, or maybe she was just a bitch. “In case you were wondering.”
    I
hadn’t
been wondering. I’d been
sure
Taylor would be looking for me soon. The bottom dropped out of my bravado, leaving an empty, sick hole where I’d kept the comforting thought of rescue. But I was on my own. A glance at Carson showed he had gone inscrutable again, avoiding my gaze. He might not wish any harm on me, but that didn’t make him my ally.
    “Here’s what is going to happen,” said Maguire, sounding chillingly certain that I would comply. “I think you can do far more for me than you let on. You will follow the clues leading to Alexis. Think of it like a treasure hunt. But you
will
take this on. And you will give me your oath, three times.”
    I gripped the arms of the chair. A triple oath was a binding promise. You couldn’t break it by your own actions. It was one of the most basic spells, and I bet it came in hella handy as a mob boss.
    “And if I don’t promise more than once?” I asked.
    Maguire picked up a phone from the desk.
My
phone. With a few taps, he scrolled through my pictures. “You have a lovely family, Miss Goodnight. Lots of young cousins, lots of talented aunts. If you won’t work with me, I will work through
them
until I find one who’ll do the job.” He set the phone on his desk, propped so I could see the screen and the snap of my cousins and me at Aunt Hyacinth’s farm, our arms linked, faces flushed with laughter and summer heat.
    “And please believe me, Daisy,” Maguire added in that same velvet tone, “the inconvenience of that will fray my temper in ways you do not want to imagine.”
    The room had grown icier, and it wasn’t just the coldness ofhis gaze holding