Duplicity (Spellbound #2) (13 page)

Raj’s forehead wrinkled. “Why do you need to get even with Nolan Knapp?”

Lee quickly stepped between him and Gray. “For taking Charlene to that warlock in Bellingham last year.”

“Who, Brock?” Raj tilted his head. The question was written across his face as he looked at Lee.

“All that stuff’s still fresh in Gray’s mind,” Lee rushed to say. “What I’ve been explaining to Gray is what’s in the past is past. I’ve moved on with my life and I’m happier for it.”

Raj’s expression softened. Lee wished they were alone together. If they were, she would have kissed him. Everything had been going so well until duplicate Gray showed up.

She was staring at them now. Raj smiled kindly. “That’s all water under the bridge now.”

Gray’s chin lifted. “Is it?” She looked from Raj to Lee. When their eyes met, Lee’s heart froze. She didn’t bother pleading with her eyes. She simply waited for the confession to fall from Gray’s lips, but it never did. Instead, she smiled. When she did, Raj’s eyes momentarily lit. It was a smile Lee couldn’t replicate since taking Stacey’s body. No matter what she wore or how she behaved, she could never pull off the cute girl next door grin. Stacey had the build of a model and perfect hair and teeth to go with her physique.

“Both of you are right, of course,” Gray said, her dimples deepening. “Best to let bygones be bygones.”

What the heck was this? Lee couldn’t be sure if Gray was being sincere or manipulative. Everything inside her brain was screaming manipulation, but she knew herself, and she wasn’t the devious sort. Well, not exactly.

Lee frowned. Her eyes narrowed on Gray when she moved toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Raj asked.

Gray’s lips quirked up. “To hang with my mom and Mr. Morehouse till the pizza arrives. I don’t want to get in your way,” she said, looking between Lee and Raj.

“Stay here with us,” Raj insisted before Lee could get a word in. “Besides, we need to update Lee with the latest from Gathering.”

Lee folded her arms. “Yes, let’s update Lee now.”

Raj’s apologetic smile wasn’t enough to smooth Lee’s ruffled feathers. She lowered herself onto the ottoman and was annoyed a second later when Raj and Gray took a seat on the tapestry rug. They folded their legs in at the same time and chuckled in unison.

Lee cleared her throat. “Gray was just telling me that Holloway was onto you, Raj.”

Rather than look at Lee, Raj met Gray’s eyes. “I was beyond freaked when Holloway called me into his office.”

“You were freaked?” Gray asked half laughing. “I was about to hit him over the head with one of his spell books.”

Anger flared through Lee’s chest when Raj and Gray burst into a fit of laughter. She rolled her hand impatiently. “Yes, and then Gray appeared in the nick of time and said she was Charlene and that it was all her fault.” Lee leaned forward. “And you’re telling me Holloway bought it.”

Gray straightened her spine. “My performance was quite convincing.”

Lee rolled her eyes skyward. “I don’t doubt it. And where does all this leave us now?”

“With
un gran problema
.” Gray looked at Lee. “That’s Spanish for a major problem.”

“I know what it means,” Lee said, grinding her teeth.

Raj, who was so good at reading people’s moods via their auras, seemed oblivious to the war of the Grays. He rocked forward on the rug. “Holloway has tasked Gray with retrieving the pendants and filling them with Adrian’s blood.”

“Basically we have to redo the binding spell the council put over his powers,” Gray said. “Unless you want to wear the evil eye forever.”

Lee’s mouth flew open. “Adrian’s behind this.”

Gray nodded.

“Is he in town?”

“That’s what we’re about to find out.”

Lee joined Raj on the rug as he readied the locator spell Adrian had used to find Gray when she’d been teleported from Adrian’s shop to her house by Ryan Phillips. Raj pulled four candles out of his backpack and arranged them outside the rug, one facing each direction—north, south, east, and west. Then, he set incense in the middle of the rug inside a bamboo tray. Raj pulled out a goblet and held it out to Lee. “Do you mind filling this with water?”

She stared at it. “Tap water?”

“Any kind of water.”

Lee grabbed the goblet and walked to the bathroom sink. As soon as she turned the faucet off, she heard Raj and Gray laughing. Lee tried to replace her scowl with a look of nonchalance as she returned to her bedroom.

“I’m not the one packing a lighter anymore—you are,” Raj said.

“Hey, I quit smoking cold turkey,” Gray said. “I don’t carry a lighter anymore either.”

“Here,” Lee said gruffly, throwing a box of matches onto the rug. She was much gentler when handing Raj the goblet. He cleared his throat and began lighting the candles and incense. This wasn’t the way Lee had tried location spells. Maybe that’s why hers had never worked.

Gray’s expression turned serious as she watched Raj’s movements, probably memorizing the proceedings just as Lee was doing.

“Let the water show the location of Adrian Montez.” Raj repeated this command three more times.

They leaned forward. The water inside the goblet trembled, then stilled. A street flashed over the surface of the water then disappeared.

Gray sat back and groaned. “That’s it? That could be any street anywhere.”

“I’ll try to bring the image back,” Raj said, frowning.

Lee lifted her head from the crouched position she’d taken. “That’s not any street,” she announced. “That’s Meridian.”

They looked from one to the other.

“Adrian’s back in town,” Gray said.

Raj nodded. “And from the looks of it… back in business.”

“Of course we’ll clean up,” Lee said, ushering her mom and Mr. Morehouse to the living room after dinner. “You two just sit back and relax. Would either of you like more wine?”

Mom tilted her head and looked at her glass. “Mine’s still half full.”

Mr. Morehouse’s glass was empty. “I suppose just a little.”

“Great! You two head into the living room and I’ll be there shortly.”

Mom gave Lee one last quizzical look before following Mr. Morehouse to the living room. Raj had already washed their plates and forks and was starting in on the salad bowl when Lee joined him and Gray in the kitchen.

Gray was using a hand towel, of all things, to wipe each plate. Probably so she could cozy up beside Raj as he washed, Lee grumbled in her head. “Here, let me help you,” Lee said, lifting a finger. The water instantly vaporized from the plate Gray had been dabbing at. She nearly dropped it as though she’d been burned.

“Lee!” Raj said.

“What?”

“You know you have to watch yourself with Mr. Morehouse in the next room.”

Lee stuck out her lower lip.

“You said Adrian sees clients on Saturdays,” Gray said, picking up the thread of their earlier conversation. “So I’ll stop by for a little chat first thing tomorrow.”

Raj leaned toward her. “I’m coming with you.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Anyway, I’ll be fine.”

“I’m still coming,” Raj said.

“Raj…”

Lee’s eyes darted from Raj to Gray as though following a tennis match. Before Gray had a chance to lob another protest, Lee stepped in. “I’ll go.”

That got Raj’s attention. “You can’t go.”

Lee squared her shoulders. “Why not? I’m just as responsible for releasing his powers. Besides, I have an advantage. Adrian doesn’t know who I am.”

Raj’s mouth opened and closed. He nodded, then shook his head. “Too risky.”

Lee put a hand on Raj’s shoulder. “Far more risky for Gray.” She spared her duplicate a brief glance. “We already know Adrian has some sort of weird fixation with her. Why else would he almost kill himself to bring her back and carve his initials in her hands?”

The plate Gray had been holding hit the counter with a clack. Her frown deepened. “If he’s obsessed with me, he’s just as obsessed with you.”

“He doesn’t know about me.”

“Lee does have a point,” Raj said.

A triumphant smile spread across Lee’s lips. “So, it’s agreed. I’ll go see Adrian first thing tomorrow.”

Of course, it hadn’t been as simple as that. As though Raj would stand by idly while either Gray or Lee went in to face Adrian. Gray had been every bit as insistent as Raj in accompanying Lee on her mission to locate Adrian and get blood out of him. Gray had to admit she was relieved she wasn’t going into this alone. The sight of Adrian’s initials carved into her flesh still gave her the shudders. Still, Lee was stealing her thunder by insisting she be the one to go inside and scope things out.

The sign was missing outside his shop.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Raj said for the third time since Lee had unlocked the door of the shop, given them a thumbs-up, and disappeared inside Hedrick’s lair.

They were parked across the street as though on stakeout. So far that morning, Gray felt like she hadn’t done anything useful. Raj had been the one to slip the sleeping salts under Mr. Morehouse’s nose earlier that morning while he was still under the influence of human sleep. From there, they’d gone to the Daily Grind to work out a plan in which Lee showed up seeking Hedrick the Healer to put a hex on a made-up enemy.

Gray had suggested the enemy not be made up at all. She had two specific candidates in mind; hopefully, Lee would have a change of heart at the last second and use one of them.

The most successful hexes involved symbols painted using the blood of a warlock upon the caster’s face. These marks could be carefully scraped off Lee’s face once they’d dried and then deposited into the vials like crimson-colored dust.

“Do you think he’ll really go for this?” Gray asked.

Raj tapped out a tune on the steering wheel. “Adrian would do just about anything for the right price… and a pretty face.” Raj stopped tapping. “Maybe I should go in and check on Lee.”

“If you go in now, it will ruin everything.”

If they were lucky, Adrian would go for it. If he became suspicious and refused, they’d return and do things Holloway style.

Gray really hoped he took the bait.

“This was a bad plan.” Raj pressed his nose to the glass of the driver’s window. “What if he doesn’t go along with it?”

Gray tried not to huff. “Then we’ll do things the hard way.”

“Wait a minute,” Raj said, lifting his hand. “There she is.”

They watched Lee cross the road. The frown said everything. She ducked down and climbed into the backseat of the car. Gray and Raj looked back at her. Lee let out a breath. “He wasn’t there. It doesn’t look as though anyone’s been in there since he left town.”

Raj turned forward and stroked his chin. “I don’t understand. This street appeared in the water.”

Lee twisted her lips.

Gray looked out her window and suddenly laughed. “That sneaky son of a gun.”

“What?” Raj and Lee asked simultaneously.

Gray nodded sideways. “He’s gone and opened a new business.”

And there they were: letters etched across a glass window.
Montez’s Magic Shoppe
.
Gray was grinning. They’d pulled right up to Adrian’s new whereabouts without even realizing it.

Gray opened her car door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Raj called out.

Gray shrugged. “Inside.”

“That’s not the plan.”

“Well, neither was the magic shop. It’s time to improvise.”

“Let me scout it out first,” Lee said, opening her door.

“Fine,” Gray said, just before turning invisible. “But I’m coming with you.”

Raj moved for his door.

“Raj, please,” Lee said. “You’ll only ruin the element of surprise.”

His jaw tightened, but he nodded.

Gray and Lee paused on the sidewalk. On one side of the shop, a large piece of plywood had been fitted over the window. Gray quirked a brow. “Looks like Adrian’s found himself a bit of trouble already.”

“Nervous?” Lee asked as they approached the door.

“No,” Gray said as her heart rate picked up speed. “You?”

Lee lifted her chin. “As far as Adrian knows, I’m a browsing customer.” She pushed the door open. A bell tinkled overhead.

Gray saw Lee look up at it at the same time she did. Stupid bell. Gray did a quick scan of the store, but they were his only customers so early in the morning. Just how many people bought magic tricks and gag gifts anyway?

Lee had started down the far left of the shop, so Gray took the right. There was no one behind the checkout stand in back. In fact, there was no one around at all. While Lee got into her role of customer—handling the products on her side of the store—Gray kept watch.