Shadows of New York (17 page)

There were several quiet seconds before Aiden asked, “Is it long?”

“No, not really.”

“Okay, read it to me while I get ready.”

Josh cleared his throat and began reading. “'Once a generation, the spirit of Mira is born into a human female. Werewolves are not immortal, but the soul of Mira lives on indefinitely through this rebirth. During each full moon, Mira turns a human male into a werewolf. Like all werewolves, she smells like a dog when wet. Since she doesn't care about blending into human society, she relies solely on her animalistic instincts. This means she only eats raw meat and refuses to use a litter box.'“

Aiden's head, toothbrush sticking out of his mouth, appeared around the door. “That's it? There's nothing in there about
why
Mira turns people into werewolves?”

Josh flipped through the book quickly, but it was just for show. He had already searched for that very topic. “Nope. Nothing. Leaving that for
Monster Mashers 2
, maybe?”

Aiden grunted. “Maybe.” He disappeared behind the door again and said, “Go finish getting ready.”

Five minutes later, Josh walked into the kitchen to find Aiden pouring coffee into a travel mug and Mrs. F-G staring in confusion into the pantry.

“Ready?” Aiden asked. Josh nodded.

“But you haven’t had breakfast yet,” Mrs. F-G said to Aiden in alarm. She knew that Josh had already eaten, as she’d given him a bowl of mushy oatmeal a while ago. The stuff had been tough to choke down, even with all the brown sugar he mixed in, but he’d managed it. Josh didn’t want to make Mrs. F-G feel any worse than she already did.

“Coffee’s fine for now,” Aiden answered. “Don’t worry about it, Ann.” She nodded and went back to studying the pantry.

Josh followed Aiden to the foyer. Aiden started to reach for the door, then turned to Josh and asked, “Did you ask your mom?”

“Ask me what?” Josh’s mom said as she came in from the dining room, Jackson on her hip.

“Oops,” Josh said. “I guess I forgot. Sorry, Mom.”

“It’s okay, Joshua, but what did you want to ask me?”

“Um, can I please go to Staffing Solutions with Aiden?”

“Another meeting?” she asked Aiden. “You’ve had a lot of those lately.”

“Yeah, I’m helping out with a special project that they’re working on,” Aiden explained. “Don’t worry, though. It won’t affect my work here.”

“I’m sure it won’t,” she said with a smile. “But are you sure it’s okay for Joshua to go with you? He won’t be in the way?”

“Nope, not at all. In fact, I think he'll be a big help.”

“Well, all right, then. Have fun, you two!”

They said goodbye and hurried out the door.

* * * *

As they walked toward the Staffing Solutions entrance, two guys were coming out. Josh noticed that Aiden did a double take when he saw them. It was a natural reaction, given their clothes. One looked normal. Well, normal for the 1940s, maybe. His dark blue suit and matching fedora made him look like a detective from one of those old movies Josh’s dad liked to watch. The other guy looked more appropriate for the 1640s. His outfit would best be described as a bright red robe cinched in at the waist with a rope belt laden with a number of leather pouches.

“Hey, Underhill,” said Aiden with a grin. “You get a new partner?”

The 1640s guy, the one named Underhill, took a step forward. He didn’t match Aiden’s grin with one of his own. He nodded and said, “Yeah. Bruce Nichols, this is—” There was a brief pause. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped an octave or so, giving the words special significance. “—Aiden Lynch.”

Nichols’s face, already looking a bit grim, became even more so, his reaction confirming Josh’s speculation that they knew something about Aiden that he didn’t. And, judging by the confused surprise on Aiden’s face, he was in the dark as well. Nichols extended a hand and mumbled, “Good to meet you, Lynch.”

A silence settled over the scene, interrupted only by the occasional honking car from the streets around them.

“So, um,” said Josh, trying to come up with anything to say to break the quiet. There was, after all, only one topic he could think of that he might have in common with strangers from the Imaginary World. Plus, Nichols’s detective outfit and the use of the word “partner” made Josh think that maybe they were Imaginary police. “So are you two working the Mr. Midnight case?”

For a brief second, Underhill’s eyes bulged out and his mouth made a large, perfect circle. When he recovered himself, he said with narrowed eyes, “What do you know about the case?”

“Josh here has helped uncover a few facts,” explained Aiden. “And his housekeeper is one of the victims.”

Underhill nodded. “Yes, Josh, we’re working the case. We’re not making a whole lot of progress, but we’re working it.”

“And we should get back to it,” said Nichols.

“Right,” agreed Underhill.

Handshakes were exchanged, but not with Josh, who wasn’t old enough to be part of the handshake club yet. Recalling his manners so that Aiden wouldn’t have to scold him, Josh said, “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Underhill. And Mr. Nichols.”

“Mr. Parker,” corrected Underhill. “The name’s Underhill Parker.”

“Oh, sorry. Mr. Parker.”

Once the pair had gone on their way, Josh asked, “So, what’s their story?”

“I’ll explain later.” Aiden pushed through the door.

Josh glanced back at the two mismatched figures as they made their way up the sidewalk then followed Aiden inside. Lindsay and Britney were already peeking over their cubicles, one looking pleased and the other disappointed.

“Hey, Cleo,” Aiden said.

“He’s already waiting for you.” Cleo pointed toward the conference room. “Do I get to hang out with Josh today?”

“Nope,” Aiden answered. “He’s a necessary part of this meeting.” Josh felt himself swell with pride.

“Well, then, you’d both better get in there.” Cleo gave them a strained smile.

As they walked to the conference room, Josh whispered to Aiden, “How’d he know we were coming? Does he have ESP or something?”

“No,” Aiden answered with a trace of amusement on his face. “I called him while you were getting dressed.”

They entered the conference room to find Siegfried staring out the window, looking at what Josh guessed were the dwindling figures of the mismatched partners.

“So,” Siegfried barked. “What was so important that we had to meet ASAP?”

“Josh can explain that in a second,” Aiden answered. “But first, what were Parker and Nichols doing here?”

Siegfried looked at Aiden in annoyance. “We’ll get to that in a second. I want to hear what the boy has to say. You said he uncovered some important information.”

“He has,” Aiden said with a sigh. He turned to Josh, handing him the slip of paper from earlier that morning. “Go ahead and show him.”

Josh took a nervous step toward Siegfried, quite terrified of this imposing figure. “I, uh, found out some information about
Monster Mashers
, you know, that video game with the wraith and, uh, Lord Wallachia? Where he wants to take over the world?”

“I know the game,” Siegfried barked.

“Well, I, uh, looked it up online, trying to figure out some cheat codes—”

“Cheat codes?” Siegfried interrupted with a frown. “Cheating is for cowards, boy.”

“It’s just, like, a video game term,” Josh explained. “Anyway, I didn’t find any ch—uh, any codes, but I did find out that this company made the game.” With a trembling hand, he held the small piece of paper out to Siegfried, who snatched it up and studied it silently. When enough time had passed for Siegfried to solve the puzzle and he still said nothing, Josh continued, “It’s an anagram. That means the letters are—”

“I know what an anagram is,” growled Siegfried.

Josh fell silent, backing up until he bumped into the wall.

“Well, this changes things, doesn’t it?” Siegfried said, his expression dark.

“What do you mean?” Josh asked, looking from Siegfried to Aiden.

Siegfried continued to stare at the name on the paper, his expression growing darker by the second.

“We’d been hoping someone was trying to frame Larry,” Aiden explained, his voice flat. “But now, it looks like Larry really is in league with Mr. Midnight.” He looked depressed.

Although he felt bad for Aiden, Josh wasn’t as surprised as the others were at this turn of events. He’d never really trusted Larry. With his suave manner and big ego, Larry had always reminded Josh of a certain group of jocks at school. Those guys were full of themselves, bullied boys like Josh, and always got the attention of the prettiest girls.

“All right,” Siegfried said, his voice grave. “This just confirms what I was already planning to do. Aiden, we’re taking things to the next level.”

“That’s why Parker and Nichols were here?”

“Affirmative.”

“Okay,” Aiden said, his air of depression lifting, at least for now. “So…what’s the next level?”

Siegfried sat in the chair at the head of the conference table and leaned forward, partially obscured by a large wooden box sitting on the table in front of him. “Parker and Nichols have been looking into Larry’s current whereabouts. They were also looking for Steve Lickerman. They found no leads in either case. In the Lickerman disappearance, all signs pointed to an abduction by Mr. Midnight, which would be an escalation on his part.”

“So what does all that mean?” asked Aiden.

“I’ll tell you what it means if you’d keep your trap shut for two seconds,” shot back Siegfried. He opened the box and withdrew a short, golden dagger, one that matched the Sunguard gauntlets perfectly. “They’re no longer insisting that Mr. Midnight be taken alive. They approved use of a Sunblade for lethal purposes if necessary.”

Josh felt a shiver pass down his spine. From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Aiden tremble, as if he’d just experienced the same sensation.

“Um, who are ‘they,’ exactly?” asked Josh.

“The Imagine Nation Security Council,” said Aiden at the same exact time that Siegfried said, “Nobody.”

Aiden’s hands stayed at his sides when Siegfried held the dagger out toward him. “You can’t be serious,” he said.

“You think I’m not serious?” barked Siegfried. His right hand reached into the box as he said, “It gets a lot more serious than that. They were waiting for more evidence of a connection between Larry and Midnight.” Siegfried nodded to Josh and said, “And I think we just got it. So…”

His hand came out from the box holding a wooden stake.

All About Larry

For the next four days, Josh was sure that Aiden was shirking his nightly search duties. Over the past few weeks, Aiden had looked, sounded, and acted more like a zombie (the typical movie and video game kind, not the classy Cleo kind) than a werewolf. Now the chronic bags were gone from under his eyes, and he spoke clearly rather than mumbling. To top it all off, he stopped dozing off if he sat still for more than thirty seconds.

It was Friday night. Josh sat at the kitchen island with his brother, sister, Aiden, and Mrs. F-G. In their midst was the most elusive of dinner guests, at least in the Cooper household: the delivery pizza box. This was, Josh suspected, Mrs. F-G’s way of apologizing for what she kept insisting was sub-standard food as of late.

Not that Josh had complained or anything. She hadn’t lost her ability to cook, just her vision to predict what would be the perfect meal on any given night. So he might score her as ninety-five out of one hundred, but to her, anything less than perfection was a failure.

After dinner, Rosemary went into the great room to construct a couch-cushion fort. Jackson sat in his high chair, shoveling the last few bite-sized pieces of pizza into his mouth with his chubby fists, while Josh helped Aiden clean up. Due to the pizza dinner, this was his favorite time to help clean. There were plates and glasses to put in the dishwasher, but no pots and pans to scrub. You got points for being helpful while doing a minimal amount of work.

“So, Aiden,” said Mrs. F-G, sitting at the island and supervising the cleaning, “you’re looking much more rested the last few days. Have they taken you off the night shift?”

“Um, no,” Aiden answered, not meeting her gaze as he rearranged glasses on the dishwasher’s top tier. “It’s just a bit easier going right now. Fewer hours. More chance to nap.”

Looking from Mrs. F-G to Aiden, a thought occurred to Josh. It was a question best left for a more private moment, but he couldn’t wait. “What happens to Mrs. F-G if you kill Mr. Midnight? Will she get her oracle thing back?” From the scathing look Aiden shot him, he regretted asking.

Before Aiden could answer, though, Mrs. F-G said in a shocked voice, “You’re going to kill him?”

“Well,” explained Aiden, “not if I can help it. They gave me a Sunblade, just in case I can’t capture him. He’s been deemed too dangerous.”

“No, Aiden, it’s not worth it. Not for me or Cleo or anyone else he’s attacked.”

“It’s not that, Ann. There’s no sign of Steve. Nobody knows if he’s dead or alive. Even though there’s no hard evidence that Mr. Midnight took him, they’re not taking any chances. If Midnight progresses to killing people and we didn’t do all we could to stop him…”

“What about Larry?” asked Josh.

“What
about
Larry?” echoed Mrs. F-G.

“Some council gave Aiden a wooden stake.”

“They gave him
what
?”

Aiden gave Josh another “I wish you hadn’t said that” look and said, “It’s another ‘just in case’ thing. There are some suspicions about Larry’s role with Mr. Midnight. If these suspicions turn out to be true, and he won’t come with me peacefully…” Aiden shrugged. “We’ll see what happens.”

“Are you saying that Larry is in league with Mr. Midnight?” Mrs. F-G looked like she couldn’t wrap her mind around the concept.

“They’re not sure,” Aiden answered. “But it’s looking that way.”

“I never trusted him in the first place,” Josh put in. “He’s kinda creepy, if you ask me.”

“Larry? Creepy?” Mrs. F-G asked, bewildered.

“Do you really think so, Josh?” Aiden asked.