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  “But you’ll miss some things, right?” I asked.

  She nodded and her eyes became watery again. “Of course. I’ll miss a lot of things.”

  “You’ve been invaluable as a colleague,” I told her. “When do you start your new job?”

  “In a couple of days. So I need to pack a bag and then catch a flight to London tomorrow evening. The Society will sort out the rest of my things and ship them over to England.”

  “Wow, that’s fast.” The reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. Felicity was leaving tomorrow. Forever.

  “So I won’t be able to help with the lifting of Mallory’s curse,” she said. “I’ll leave you all my research, of course.”

  “It’s a shame you won’t be here. It’s only because of your research that we can help Mallory at all.”

  “You’ll have to let me know how it goes,” she said. “I mean, we’re going to stay in touch, aren’t we?”

  “Of course we are. That is if you still have time to speak to me when you’re a fully-fledged P.I.”

  “I’ll make time.”

  “Good. That’s settled, then.” I finished my coffee and placed the cup on the kitchen counter. “We should have a farewell party. I’m sure everyone will want to say goodbye to you.”

  The sadness returned to her eyes. “There isn’t time, Alec.”

  I ran the logistics through my head. If Felicity was going to be packing tomorrow and leaving in the evening, there probably wouldn’t be time for a party. But I couldn’t let her go without a proper send off; she was too important to just slip away.

  “There’s no need for any fuss. I’ll make sure I say my goodbyes to everyone individually tomorrow,” she said.

  “Okay. Will you need a lift to the airport?”

  “The Society is taking care of that. They’re sending a car for me. My Mini will be shipped over to England later.”

  I nodded. When I’d moved here from Chicago, the Society had dealt with transporting my stuff to the new house. Everything had been done quickly and efficiently. That had been great at the time but now I was seeing another side of the Society’s efficiency; everything happened so fast. Felicity would be gone tomorrow and her house would probably be empty the day after that.

  There would be no lingering goodbyes, no time to say things that were still unsaid. Felicity’s departure would be carried out with the speed and precision of a military operation.

  She finished her tea and said, “I suppose I should go home and pack. You know what I’m like; once I know a job needs to be done, I can’t rest until it’s finished.”

  “Your efficiency is legendary,” I told her, keeping my voice light and breezy. The office was going to be a lonely place without her.

  She went to the front door and I followed.

  “I’ll come and say goodbye properly tomorrow,” she said.

  I nodded. “Of course.”

  She opened the door. Cold night air crept into the house.

  “Until tomorrow, then.” She stepped outside and walked down the driveway to the sidewalk before turning toward her own house. It would have been quicker for her to simply walk across my lawn to her own property but Felicity never did that. She always used the driveways and the sidewalk.

  I stood at my door, shivering slightly in the icy air as I watched her make her way to the house that would be her home for one more night. When she got to the front door, she waved at me and disappeared inside.

  I remained there for a moment, gazing out at the quiet street. Soon, the Mini parked on the driveway next door would be gone, the house empty.

  Thanks to the Society’s brutal efficiency, it would be as if Felicity had never lived here at all.

  3

  When I woke up the next morning, a heavy rain was streaking down the windows, blurring my view of the street. I showered and dressed quickly, putting on a red flannel, white tee, and jeans before heading down to the kitchen.

  After Felicity’s visit last night, I’d hardly slept at all and now I needed coffee to wake me up.

  I turned on the machine and waited impatiently for the coffee to fill the pot. While I was waiting, a heavy knock sounded on the door. I answered, expecting to see Felicity outside but my heart fell when I saw Merlin, in Sheriff Cantrell’s body, standing on the stoop.

  “Alec,” he said cheerily. “Are you ready for today’s practice?”

  I groaned, both inwardly and audibly. I’d forgotten that I’d agreed to practice with Excalibur today. Merlin and I had come to an agreement; he’d help with lifting Mallory’s death curse but in the meantime, Leon was going to analyze the computers we’d taken from a Midnight Cabal yacht and I was going to practice with Excalibur.

  A couple of days ago, I’d told Merlin to come over today for a practice session but that was before I’d spent a night in a cemetery and then been given the news that Felicity was leaving.

  “Not today, Merlin” I said as he pushed past me and went into the kitchen. He found a mug in the cupboard and filled it with coffee from the pot. He may have been living in the modern world for a while now but he still had a lot to learn about manners.

  “What do you mean not today?” he asked after taking a sip of the coffee.

  I poured some for myself and said, “I was up all night hunting a ghoul. I’m in no mood to play with that damned sword today.”

  “Play?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “We’re not playing, Alec. We’re preparing to take down an evil cabal. You need to get to grips with Excalibur. You can’t give up just because you’re tired.”

  “I’m not giving up. I’m just postponing our practice session. We can do it in a couple of days’ time or even tomorrow but not today. I have other things on my mind today.”

  He scoffed. “What other things?”

  “Felicity is leaving today.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean she’s leaving?”

  “She’s going back to England. She has a new job.”

  “I thought she was helping your friend Mallory get rid of the curse.”

  “She was but now she isn’t. We’re going to have to do the curse thing without her.”

  “Oh. That isn’t good. Her absence could greatly hinder us. It was Felicity who did all the research and---“

  “Yes, I know,” I said, cutting him off. “But we’re just going to have to deal with it, okay? We don’t have a choice.”

  “All right, there’s no need to get angry.”

  “I’m not angry.”

  He took another sip of the coffee. “I can see you’re upset. You need to keep your head in the game if we’re going to lift Mallory’s curse and then defeat the Midnight Cabal.”

  “My head is in the game,” I told him.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  Seemingly satisfied with my answer, he finished his coffee and said, “So what are we going to do today? You don’t want to practice with Excalibur but we have to do something productive.”

  I didn’t feel like doing anything today other than sitting on the couch and sulking but I knew Merlin was right; we wouldn’t get anywhere by doing nothing and we had a job to do. Mallory was depending on us.

  “Okay, I’ll get the gang together and we can decide on a course of action.” If I got everyone over here, I could kill two birds with one stone by making progress towards helping Mallory and also throwing a small farewell party for Felicity.

  She was going to be bringing her research around here later anyway, so some food, drink, and good company wouldn’t hurt. Seeing everyone she knew would hopefully make her last day on the job more pleasant.

  “Excellent,” Merlin said. “The sooner we lift the curse from your friend, the sooner we can get on with the task of destroying the Midnight Cabal.”

  “And the sooner you can go back to where you came from and give Sheriff Cantrell his body back,” I reminded him.

  “Yes, yes,” he said, waving my words away. “I told you I’ll let t
he sheriff back into his body when the Cabal is no more. You seem to doubt my word.”

  “It isn’t that I doubt your word,” I said, though in truth I wasn’t sure if I could trust Merlin or not. “It’s just that I don’t think the sheriff should be trapped in an enchanted sleep inside a magical ice cave for any longer than he needs to be.”

  “I agree,” he said. “He will awaken from the sleep as soon as we defeat the Midnight Cabal.”

  “And you’ll willingly go back to the cave?”

  He nodded solemnly. “Of course.”

  I still didn’t believe him but there was no point dwelling on that now. Merlin needed Cantrell’s body while we worked on taking down the Cabal. If he refused to leave after that, then that was something I was going to have to deal with later. Right now, though, a reminder here and there that he had agreed to return to the cave didn’t hurt.

  “I need to go to the store. We’re going to need some food and drinks for later.”

  His face lit up. “Are we having another party?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “While I’m gone, I want you to call everyone and tell them to be here at noon. Can you do that?”

  He nodded enthusiastically. “Of course.”

  “You probably don’t have everyone’s numbers in your phone so just ask Amy, your daughter. I mean the sheriff’s daughter.”

  “I can do that. She’s at the station. I’ll go there right away.”

  “Excellent.” I ushered him out of the front door and into the rain. “See you later.”

  I grabbed my jacket and went out to the Land Rover. As I climbed in behind the wheel, my phone buzzed. Mallory’s name appeared on the screen.

  “Hey, Mallory.”

  “Alec, you need to--“ Her words were cut off by static. “--here. There’s something--“ More static.

  “Mallory, I can’t hear you,” I said. “I’m on my way.”

  I threw the phone onto the passenger seat. Damn thing must have been more affected by the cemetery dirt than I’d thought.

  I had to wait for Merlin to move his patrol car because he’d parked it directly behind the Land Rover. When he finally got out of my way, I backed out onto the street and followed him toward town. When he stopped at the police station, I continued through town toward the highway.

  Mallory was staying at a motel just outside of Dearmont called the Pleasant Pines. I’d told her she was welcome to stay in my guest room for as long as she wanted but she’d said she needed some solitude. She’d spent a long time alone in Shadow Land and she was finding that interacting with people was leaving her drained and desperately in need of time alone.

  Or at least as alone as she could be with the spirit of an ancient Egyptian sorceress residing inside her.

  I drove past Dearmont Donuts and glanced up at my office window. The lights were burning.

  Maybe Felicity was in there, collecting some of her things.

  I drove out of town and got onto the highway. The rain was coming down harder now, the sky a deep gray. I turned on the headlights against the gloom and increased the speed of the wipers. The rain buffeted the Land Rover with a force that made it seem as if the elements themselves were trying to stop me from reaching my destination.

  Due to the weather conditions, the traffic on the highway had slowed to a crawl. I had to hit my brakes to match the speed of the other cars.

  At least it wasn’t far to the Pleasant Pines. Five minutes later, I was pulling into the motels parking lot and parking next to the Chevy Blazer that Mallory had rented from Earl’s Autos a little farther along the highway.

  Mallory was already waiting at the door when I slid out of the Land Rover and sprinted through the rain toward her room.

  “I couldn’t hear you on the phone,” I said. “What’s up?”

  “It’s easier to show you,” she said, leading me into the room.

  The room was like any motel room; a simple space fitted with a double bed, nightstand, and small table. But on the wall above the bed’s headboard, a series of hieroglyphs had been drawn with a black marker. In the middle of the ancient symbols there was a crude drawing of two pillars. The pillars were fashioned in the lotus style of ancient Egypt and each bore yet more hieroglyphs.

  “Did you do this?” I asked Mallory.

  She shrugged. “If I did, I don’t remember it. It was there on the wall when I woke up this morning.” She frowned. “What I mean is, I don’t remember doing it. You know what I’m saying, right?”

  I nodded. “You’re saying Tia did this.”

  “Yes. She took over my body while I slept and drew these things on the wall.”

  “Do you have any idea what they mean?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  I took photos of the drawings on the wall with my phone and then asked Mallory to do the same in case my phone decided to die completely.

  “I’m sure Felicity will know what they mean,” she said after she’d finished taking a few shots of the symbols.

  “Yeah,” I said. “We can ask her later. Everyone’s coming round to my place for a farewell party.”

  “Farewell party?”

  “Felicity is leaving. She’s got a job as a P.I. in England.”

  “Oh, wow. I’m pleased for her.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  She put an arm on my shoulder. “Are you okay? I know how much Felicity means to you both as a colleague and as a person.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m really pleased that Felicity finally has what she’s always wanted. She deserves it.”

  Mallory nodded. “Yes, she does, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be sad about her leaving.”

  “I know,” I said, “but I’m not going to spoil her last few hours here by being depressed. You want to help me get everything ready for the party?”

  “Of course.” She took her jacket from the closet and followed me out into the rain.

  When we were in the Land Rover, she checked the photos she’d just taken on her phone.

  “Why do you think Tia drew that stuff last night?” I asked as I backed out of the parking space. “She’s been inside you for a long time so why now?”

  Mallory shrugged. “She knows we’re trying to lift the curse. Maybe she’s trying to help.”

  I turned on the wipers. The rain seemed to be coming down even harder now.

  I drove back to Dearmont through the pouring rain and when we passed my office, the lights were still on.

  “Is Felicity in there?” Mallory asked when she saw me checking out the lit window.

  “Maybe,” I said. “I think she might be packing up some stuff.”

  When we parked outside the grocery store, I decided to call Felicity. Something about the lit window was bugging me.

  “Alec,” she said. “I went over to your house earlier to give you my research but you weren’t in.”

  “I’m in town, getting groceries. I invited a few people over for a little get-together at noon.”

  “Oh, it would be nice to see everyone. I thought I’d have time to visit them separately but I’ve been so busy packing.”

  “So you’re still at home?”

  “Yes, of course. Where else would I be?”

  “You haven’t been to the office?”

  “No. There isn’t really anything there that I need to take with me today.”

  “Okay, cool. So I’ll see you at noon.”

  “Yes, of course. See you then.”

  I ended the call and turned to Mallory. “We need to go by the office.”

  She nodded. “Felicity isn’t there, is she?”

  “No, she isn’t. But someone is.”

  4

  I pushed through the street level door of my office building and ascended the stairs with Mallory close behind me. The door was unlocked and hadn’t been forced open so someone had either picked the lock or used some other means to gain entry without breaking in.

  At the top of the stairs, all of the lights were burning. My
office door was closed but the door marked Assistant, the door of Felicity’s office--Felicity’s old office, I reminded myself--was open. The rich smell of coffee hung in the air. I wasn’t sure why someone would break into the building and make a drink but that seemed to be what someone had done.

  With my muscles tensed and ready for action, I entered the office, staying low in case the intruder decided to take a swing at me with a weapon.

  No attack came in my direction. A short, clean-cut man dressed in a cream-colored shirt, dark blue tie, and black trousers stood at the coffee machine. When he saw me, his face registered surprise and he almost dropped the cup he was holding.

  He didn’t look like a burglar, unless burglars were wearing shirts and ties these days. Nor did this guy look like any sort of threat. His thinning black hair and the lines on his face placed him in his late-forties and it looked like he’d spent most of his life in a sedentary job. He had a slim build except for a slight pot belly that pushed at the buttons of the shirt above his belt. Despite the belly, he looked like a strong wind could blow him away.

  “Mr Harbinger,” he said with a smile. It wasn’t a question. He seemed to know who I was, which was more than I could say regarding him. Judging by his accent, he was Canadian but that was all the info I could glean at the moment.

  “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my office?”

  He frowned. “Didn’t you get the message? The Society was supposed to send a message to you about my arrival. I’m sorry.” He placed the mug next to the coffee machine and came toward me with his hand outstretched. “I’m Carlton Carmichael, your new assistant.”

  We shook. His grip was weak, his hand dry. The Society hadn’t wasted any time in replacing Felicity. That was odd since they usually dragged their heels when it came to such matters.

  His gaze drifted to Mallory and he gave her a smile before offering her his hand. “And you’re Mallory Bronson. Hello, nice to meet you. Carlton Carmichael.”

  The fact that he recognized Mallory and had recognized me meant that he must have seen photos of us before coming here.