Flicker (25 page)

“At least I have a name to give,”
Nasser
snapped, and knew
instantly
that he’d struck a nerve. For a mom
ent, Filo’s expression was hurt.

“Dammit, Nasser,”
he
muttered.
Nasser noticed discoloration around Filo’s eyes and the washed-out pallor of his skin. He looked tired, sick. “What have you gotten us into?”

Guilt weighed d
own on Nasser. He wanted to say
the r
ight thing
, something that would erase their
argument and return them to that uneasy state of friendship they’d had yesterday. Even that was better than this.

But in the end, there was nothing to say.

* * *

The sign read “Closed,” but Nasser pushed the door open anyway. The air inside Snapdragons was heavy with the scent of incense and herbs. It was a soothing smell, and Nasser felt himself calming somewhat as he strode across the floor and stood at the counter.

“You sure keep things tidy around here,” he
observed
. Snapdragons was uncluttered and spotless, and the crew worked hard to keep it that way. “Flicker never looked this good.”

“Don’t let Filo catch y
ou saying that.” Rodney stepped out from behind a nearby case and sauntered behind counter.
“He’d have your head for such talk.”

Nasser laughed hollowly. “I’m sure he’ll have it soon enough.”

“A dryad c
ame looking for you last night,” Rodney said, his tail swaying rhythmically.
“She had
green
hair and
shifting green eyes.
Wings, too. Definitely Summer Court.”

So it was the dryad from the revel after all. She’d come to the city and she was looking for him. “What did she want?”

“Didn’t say,
” Rodn
ey shrugged.
“She
just
showed me a book and asked for Nasser Rew.”

“What did you tell her?”

Leaning across the counter, Rodney said,
“She wanted to know where to find you. I told her you weren’t attached to a shop, which is true enough.”

“That was kind of you.”

Rodney frowned. “I don’t think she’s going to stop looking, Nasser. There was something about her—something determined. If she keeps poking around, someone will recognize the insignia on that book and point her toward Flicker. And from there
…” He shrugged.
“
Well, I suppose you’ll just have to trust Filo not to give you up.”

“If that’s what I’m depending on, then I guess I’m screwed.”

Rodney looked
concerned. “What have you gotten yourself into?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he said, but it was a lie, and they both knew it. All he could think of was Filo asking him the same question. “But that’s not what I came for.”

“Oh?”
He perked up
instantl
y. “You should’ve said so
. What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for
a locket
.”

Rodney p
ointed toward a large glass case
against the wall. “There’s some jewelry in there,” he said. “Have a look.”

Nasser crossed to th
e case and opened it
.
Inside, five shelves were filled
with glittering pieces of junk: silver keys, shiny coins,
crystal
doorknobs.

Sifting through the objects, Nasser unearthed
a
small
wooden heart, its faces completely unadorned.
It hung on a piece of cord
. Simple, f
unctional
. Perfect.

“How much?” he asked, when he returned to the counter.

Rodney squinted at the locket. “That depends. What’ve you got?”

Nasser rummaged around in his backpack, eventuall
y pulling out a string of colorful beads and a
mirror.
Rodney
didn’t hesitate before making
the trade.

“It’s for the girl, isn’t it
?” Rodney asked
, holding the beads up the light
. “Weatherly?
She’ll like it very much, I think.”

“How do you know her name?”

“I’ve heard she’s very pretty,
”
Rodney went on blithely.

Nasser found himself imagining her, without wanting to: those large green eyes, and freckles, and sweet bow lips. “Who told you that?”

“You did. Just now. It’s written all over your face.”

Flushing, Nasser
looked down at the locket. He bit his lip, Filo’s voice in his
mind
:
You were too distracted by Lee to think about what you were doing.

Nasser remembered the flowers he’d conjured for her—perfect replicas of real flowers, though they were really just the product of quick glamour and sleight of hand. In a few days, the glamour would fade and the flowers would become pieces of paper
once more
.

Earlier, as
he ducked out of Flicker, Jason on his heels, Nasser had left a small bundle of glamoured
pink
sweet pea
blossoms on the table
for Lee to find
.
It was only later
that he realized she probably wouldn’t know what he’d meant by giving them to her
.

Ever since Nasser first began studying botany, he’d been fascinated by what the Victorians c
alled “the language of flowers,” in which every
flower had a
particular
meaning
.
The subtle, complex language
could express sentiments that could not be spoken aloud.

The way she had bl
ushed and stammered when Jason called her beautiful
had inspired the red daisy:
beauty unknown to the possessor.
The diosma came from the way she carried herself as she walked, the way she handled the deck of cards, the way she tilted her head and gestured.
Your simple elegance charms me.
And
, finally, the

heartsease:
You occupy my thoughts.
By leaving her the sweet peas, Nasser had said
:
Goodbye, and thank you for the lovely time.
But to Lee, th
ey were all just flowers.

Maybe it was better that way.

Nasser didn’t like to think that her smile was enough to throw him off balance,
but it was. All he wanted
was
to
make her smile. He was dis
tracted, and now, of all times.
H
e shouldn’t be sending her
messages
, shouldn’t be asking her on dates
—he should be focusing on learning what the dryad wanted with him.

As he l
eft Snapdragons
, Nasser couldn’t help but think that his problems seemed to have tripled in number and urgency, and he had no idea what to do with them all.

Chapter Nine:

Beginner’s Luck

For almost an hour after Nasser and Jason left, Lee didn’t say anything to Filo. She was furious at him for trying to trick her like that, and she wanted to think of exactly the right thing to say before she opened her mouth.

Filo didn’t seem to notice her silence. He just bustled around the apartment like normal, though in a sl
ightly more irritated fashion
. He never even looked at her, like he’d forgotten her entirely, and that made her even angrier.

A
s Lee sat and watched Filo measure out ingredients for a potion, she decided that she didn’t care about finding the perfect thing to say to him, the thing that would make him feel like the fool he’d tried to make of her.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” she asked
bluntly
.

He glanced up from the potion. “What?”

“I know what you did with the book, Filo. I’m not an idiot.”

“Hold on. I don’t know—”

“Yes, you do. You gave me that book knowing I wouldn’t be able to do a
nything with it.
You need guidance to learn magic, right? You need somebody to show you how it works.”

“It’s possible to teach yourself. You just have to be smart
about it.
Once you’ve got the basics down, you can figure out most everything else.”

Lee sighed. “But I don’t
have
the basics.”

“Too bad, because I’m not going to teach you.”

“You don’t have to.
Nasser’s
teaching
me.”

“He is not,” Filo said sharply.

“Why not
?” Lee was getting angry again.

“Because he’s not going to be coming ar
ound Flicker anymore
.”

“Is that because you were fighting with him?” She stood up a
nd walked toward the table.

“No.”

“Liar.”

“Just shut up, okay?” Filo’s eyes darkened. “I don’t like you, Lee. I don’t want to teach you anything. I don’t want to answer your questions. I just want you out of my shop because you’re causing more trouble than you know just by being here. If Nasser
weren’t so incompetent,
I’d send you off with him.”

Lee glared at him. “Why don’t you just send me off anyway, if you hate me so much? I don’t want to spend any more time here than I have to.”

“Because there’s weird stuff going on right now, and until it gets figured out, you’re not going anywhere.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Then explain
it to me
!
” she cried.
“
Don’t give me
busy-work just to
keep me out of your way!”

“There’s nothing to explain. It has nothing to do with you.”

“Stop lying.
”

He stood and walked
around the table until he was standing in front of her. He was tall enough that
she
had to tilt her head back to look him in the eye, but she glowered at him all the same.

“You don’t scare me,” she said firmly, fully aware
that he might haul off and slap
her at any moment.

“It’s not me you should be afraid of,” Filo
warned
.
His voice was low and urgent, as if they were discussing some great conspiracy.
“You don’t have a clue. There are things out there
—older than you can count, more
powerful than you can imagine, t
hat could snuff y
ou out
without a second thought
. And I have to answer to them.”

“You mean
Neman
and
Morgan
?
Are they why you’re so
scared to give me a book?
Because they hurt you?”

“I’m not scared of them,” he
insisted
.
“I respect them. So should you.”

“I don’t have much respect for child abusers,” she spat.
“
Besides, there
are worse things you could do than teach me magic. What
’s the big deal with teachin
g
me
?”

“It’s a
rule
,” Filo said. “I’m not supposed to give information to outsid
ers.
Even if I wanted to teach you, I couldn’t.
Neman
and
Morgan
would know.”

“How could they possibly find out?”

“Salt and sage,” he muttered. “
You have
no idea
who they are.”

“And you do?”

His expression was pinched. “I’m not discussing this with you.”

“You’re impossible.” She sighed. “Isn’t there anything you can do? Couldn’t you just—I don’t know, do whatever you do, and let me watch? Then you wouldn’t
technically
be teaching me, right? I’d just be observing.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” he said flatly. “Besides, what happened to needing guidance to learn magic?”

“Beggars can’t be choosers. I’ll take what I can get.”

“You
won’t get anything at all
,” he replied
, brushing past her on his way into the hall. “Get that through your head.
If you want to work magic like a Seer, figure it
out
yourself
.”