The Collected Christopher Connery (16 page)

Nia knew there was no arguing the point even if she had
felt up to the task, which at the moment she definitely did not, not with
Detective Lin smiling at her like that, the chandelier light still gleaming in
her hair.

She shook her head.
They were right. You do need a break.
You’ve overworked yourself and now you’re being silly.
“Very well, we’ll be
back soon. Don’t –”
– let your client yell at you for too long? – let Mr.
Rivers distract you from your work? – put your hair up again tonight; it’s very
pretty down? 
“– work too hard.”

“I won’t, princess.” Gail turned to the bellboy. “All
right, lead the way.”

“I’ll walk you over,” said Mr. Rivers. “I should be
getting back anyway.” He turned to Nia and Arthur. “It was good to see you both
again. I hope you have a nice evening.”

“Thank you,” said Arthur almost before Xavier was
finished talking, perhaps to make up for his earlier shyness. “You too.
Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to – uh – hear you play.”

“Yes, indeed, that would be lovely!” Nia added, trying to
be as bright and cheerful as possible. Perhaps she had ended up a shade
too
bright
as Mr. Rivers blinked at her for a moment while Arthur gave her that
infuriating look that meant he thought her unfit to be around other human
beings.

But Mr. Rivers recovered his smile quickly and said,
“I’ll look forward to it, ma’am.”

Gail gave them both a last wave before starting off
toward the phones with Xavier. Nia couldn’t help noticing that she somehow
managed to stride just as confidently in her heeled shoes as she did in heavy
boots.

She tore her eyes away when Arthur, apparently now
satisfied with the cleanliness of his tie pin, came up beside her and gave her
one of those superlatively annoying smirks of his. “So are we going to the
movie or do you prefer the show here?”

“Oh, shut
up,
Arthur.”
 
   

As they walked to the door, Nia pulled on her coat,
fingers brushing briefly across the spot on her lapel where her flame pin
usually lay. She wasn’t technically required to wear it if she didn’t wish to,
but every magician she knew always displayed their badges of rank with pride
and for the first couple of days, she had done the same, but… well, Detective
Lin didn’t wear a badge; she kept her identification in a worn leather book in
her pocket. In fact, it seemed laymen never declared their professions with
anything more ostentatious than the occasional uniform. So, after some thought,
she had started leaving the badge in her handbag. It just seemed a little...
well, tawdry flashing it everywhere she went.

Both she and Arthur had umbrellas hooked over their arms,
but when they stepped outside, they found the night chilly and brisk and
amazingly dry. Immediately, any lingering shadows on Nia’s mood were brushed
away as she found herself on the streets of New Crossbridge, ready for her
first ever proper ‘night on the town.’

“Looks like you were wrong, Arthur,” said Nia, holding
out her hand. “Not a drop.”

“It’ll be raining in an hour, trust me.” But Arthur was
smiling too as they started down the street. “Do you really want to see a
movie?”

“Of course! Don’t you?”

“We can see movies at the Academy.”

Nia waved her hand. “Oh, that’s hardly a proper theater.
It’s so small and the same people come to every show. This will be a proper
theater with proper theater patrons.” She thought for a moment. “And proper
theater popcorn!”

Arthur was looking at her in exasperated amusement. “Nia,
you don’t even
like
popcorn.”

“I might like this popcorn, I’ve never had it.” A man and
a woman passed them on the street and Nia smiled at them simply because she
felt like it. The man gave her an uncertain look, but the woman smiled back.
“But we might need to stop on the way. I promised Marianne I would get her a
souvenir. She can’t stand the city, but she won’t be satisfied if I don’t bring
her a porcelain dog or something else horrible like that.” She sighed. “Oh
well, maybe I can find her a porcelain dog wearing a funny hat. I – what are
you laughing at?”

Still laughing, Arthur said, “Nothing, Ni.”

The Carrington Boulevard in early evening was a maelstrom
of light and sound. Nia and Arthur walked arm and arm to keep from being
separated in the crush of people. Cars rumbled by in a steady stream. Once
Arthur accidentally stepped off of the curb and nearly lost his foot.

But he was smiling, which only made Nia even surer that
he and Gail had been right.
We all needed this.
Of course that just made
her think of poor Gail back at the hotel, possibly still being yelled at by her
client.

Or possibly talking with Mr. Rivers again, sharing a
drink or...

“Oh, honestly,” she muttered to herself. When Arthur gave
her a questioning look, she made herself smile at him and gave his arm a light
tug. “What do you think I should get Marianne?”

“I don’t see why you have to get her anything. You’re not
exactly friends.”

 Nia and Marianne Baum had been good friends once
and perhaps would have been more than that if Marianne hadn’t seen fit to make
a disparaging remark about Arthur.

“I don’t see why you spend so much time with him. He
can’t be very interesting to talk to. Does he even know anything outside of
fixing cars and cutting people up?”

And that had been the end of that. Nia had managed to
resist slapping her at the time, though she almost wished she hadn’t because
that probably would have stopped Marianne from continually trying to repair the
irreparable – as well as asking her for presents, which was just the height of
bad manners.

But Arthur didn’t know any of that; Nia had taken great
pains to make sure he never found out, so all she said in response was, “Yes,
yes, but she asked me, and you know she won’t forget, so I have to bring her
something or I’ll never hear the end of it.”

He smirked at her. “I thought you were going to get a
porcelain dog with a funny hat?”

Nia sighed as she squinted down the street. The night was
still dry, but there was a light fog rolling in. It couldn’t hurt them, but it
blurred the signs, making them difficult to read. “I don’t see any – ah, here!”
She pulled Arthur across the street, both of them just barely dodging an
oncoming trolley. It jangled an angry bell at them as it rolled on its way.

“What is it?” Arthur laughed as they finally stumbled on
to the opposite sidewalk.

“Here.” Nia pressed her free hand against the thick glass
of the display window. Inside were several beautiful hats adorning plastic
heads. “Marianne likes hats.” It had been, Nia had realized later, one of the
very few things they actually had in common. “What about that purple one with
the ribbon?”

“It would look better on you.”

“I don’t need any more hats,” said Nia, reaching up to
adjust the jeweled flower in her hair. “Though it is rather nice, isn’t it?”
Too
nice for Marianne.

“Get that one.” Arthur tapped the glass over a hat that
seemed to be trying to hide itself at the very edge of the window – and for
very good reason. Nia thought the base color was white, but it was impossible
to be sure under the graceless swirls of sequins that covered the rim and the
orange flower that sprouted from the top like it had grown there.

“Oh, Arthur, that’s awful,” Nia laughed.

“You know Marianne never leaves the Academy. Tell her
that’s what all the fine layman ladies are wearing these days.”

Covering her mouth with her hand so passerby wouldn’t
stop and stare at the strange woman giggling wildly in front of a hat shop, Nia
prodded Arthur with her elbow. “You, sir, are terrible.”

“I know.” Arthur leaned closer to the glass, nose
wrinkling at some distasteful thought. “Maybe you should get one for Connery
too. It might make him easier to look at.”

That image made Nia laugh even harder and a passing
couple exchanged bewildered looks as they stepped around her.

Turning his head to look down the street, Arthur lifted
his arm and pointed. “There’s the theater. We had better hurry if we want to
see a show and get back in time for dinner with Detective Lin.”

“Oh yes, let’s hurry.” Nia moved away from the window at
once, practically dragging Arthur behind her.

“What about the hat?” asked Arthur as he stumbled to keep
up.

Nia waved a careless hand. “Oh, it can wait. After all,
it’s not as if anyone else is going to snatch it up.”

Arthur chuckled. “You have a point.”

Nia’s mind wandered back to the pretty hat with the
purple bow. It was far too nice for Marianne, but perhaps… It would look quite
lovely against Detective Lin’s dark hair, wouldn’t it? That thought led to
another and then another and as they crossed the street, more carefully this
time, Nia couldn’t help gently offering the thoughts to Arthur.

“So…” she said as they approached the brightly lit
theater.

“So?”

“So… That friend of Gail’s, Mr. Rivers. He’s rather
handsome, isn’t he?”

Arthur’s pace faltered slightly. “I – uh – do you think
so?”

“Oh, well, I don’t know,” Nia said quickly, looking away
as her face heated. “Obviously, I’m only speaking objectively, but I was
thinking that perhaps someone might think so. And he’s a teacher as well.
That’s a noble profession. It wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility to
think that someone might…”

“Might what?” Arthur sounded like he had choked on a
balloon.

Nia looked at him curiously. “Are you quite all right?”

“I – yes, of course, I’m fine. I was just – why did you
ask
me
that? ”

“Well, you saw him. You’ve spoken to him. Who else would
I ask?” Nia turned back to the marquee in a huff, wondering why Arthur always
had to be so difficult. “I was just
wondering
if perhaps he and
Detective Lin had – well, I don’t want to sound like I’m gossiping about our
associate. I just wondered if perhaps they had a history of some kind. I mean,
it’s possible, isn’t it?”

Arthur was silent for a moment then he burst out
laughing. Nia stopped walking to stare at him and probably would have been
crushed by a passing car if he hadn’t tugged her up on to the curb. When they
were safely out of traffic, he smiled and patted her hand in what Nia felt was
an excessively patronizing manner. “I’m not sure how you expect me to judge
these things any better than you, but even if they did have a history, they’re
clearly not together now. She said herself it’d been months since they last saw
each other.”

“Oh, really?” It was embarrassing how quickly the news
lightened her mood, but – well, it was her night off, she was allowed to be a
little silly. Realizing Arthur was still watching her – and worse, still smiling
– she knew she had to say something else. “Not that it really matters, of
course. I was only curious – idly, you understand.”

“I understand.” But the knowing smile hadn’t budged from
Arthur’s face.

Nia tugged on his arm with a scowl. “Don’t you dare tease
me. You’re the one who got flustered by a simple question.”

The smile immediately dropped from his face. “I was not
flustered! I was simply – confused, because I didn’t understand what you were getting
at.” He shook his head a few times as though he felt the explanation needed
further emphasis. “I was not flustered.”

Nia studied him closely. “Arthur, what on earth has
gotten –”

“I’m going to get the tickets.” Arthur dropped her arm,
leaving her waiting on the sidewalk, while he made his way to the ticket line.

Nia watched him for a moment, then shook her head, giving
up on pondering Arthur for the time being. She couldn’t believe he called
her
strange. Instead, she turned her attention to the marquee, squinting up at
the name of the film, spelled out in lights above the theater entrance. 

The film of the evening appeared to be a thriller of some
kind about a family of criminals trying to evade the police. Rather
appropriate, given their current assignment.

Turning in place, Nia took in the blinding lights and
streaming crowds. Of course, she had walked through New Crossbridge at night
before, but never without a senior Illuminator hurrying her along, complaining
about the crowds of laymen. She had never had a chance to truly
see
it
before. With a contented sigh, she tilted her head back and let the wind catch
her hair. She loved the Academy, of course, with its peaceful greenhouses and
quiet libraries, but every now and then, even a born academic like Nia enjoyed
being a little overwhelmed by the chaos of the outside world.

Someone brushed against her, and she turned expecting to
see Arthur. Instead, she was confronted by two pale men in matching suits. One
was big and had an ugly smile, the other had a greasy fall of reddish hair and
looked like he might have been a relative of New Crossbridge’s rodent
population.

“Excuse me, miss,” said the big one with the unpleasant
smile. “Are you lost?”

“No, thank you,” Nia replied, turning her back on them.

Unfortunately, they refused to give up. One of them
stepped in front of her, still smiling a smile that made Nia want to gently tip
him face-first onto the pavement.

“Are you out here all by yourself?” he asked, running a
hand back through his greasy red hair.

Nia sighed. “No.” She really should have worn her badge.
Then they would have been scurrying in the other direction before one slimy
word could pass their lips.

“Who’s here with you?” the other man asked. “A
boyfriend?”

A passing woman gave Nia a concerned look, but Nia just
smiled at her. Only a week ago, she had fought off an ocean of murderous
disembodied arms. These two were hardly going to frighten her. In passing, she
wondered if there was a spell to create an ocean of murderous disembodied arms right
here on the street. Sadly, she didn’t know one, and even if it existed, it
probably wouldn’t be Academy-sanctioned.

“I asked you who you were with?” the man repeated,
actually making a grab for her elbow.

She stepped away, brushing the almost-touch from her
sleeve. “I’m here with my brother, so if you wouldn’t mind –”

“Nia, are you all right?”

“Yes, Arthur, I’m fine.”

Standing rigid with his eyes flicking suspiciously from
man to man, Arthur didn’t look convinced. Nia hoped he held on to his temper. Arthur
had always been protective of her, ever since they were children. She
appreciated it, of course, but these troublemakers were a greater danger to him
than they were to her.

“Is this your brother?” The redheaded man blinked his
watery eyes, clearly reassessing the situation. Arthur wasn’t a large man, but
his work in the Academy garage gave him a wiry kind of strength and he wore a
scowl like some people wore knife-fight scars.

“Yes.” Nia took Arthur’s arm. “Why don’t we go inside?
It’s getting rather crowded out here.”

“Aww, going so soon,” the other man said with another
sour grin. “We were just getting to know each other.”

“No,” Nia replied coolly. “We weren’t.”

Pulling out of her grip, Arthur took a step forward. “I
think you should go now.”

“Arthur…”

The redheaded man only snickered, but his friend couldn’t
let it pass. “Why’s that?”

“Because this is a public street, people don’t want to
see garbage on it.”

Nia closed her eyes for a moment. There were times she
wished Arthur didn’t have such a way with words.

For a moment, the two men just stared. Then Arthur’s
meaning seemed to sink in and their posture changed. The redhead’s face turned
roughly the same color as his hair and his friend’s hands tightened into fists.

Nia reached into her pocket, fingers closing around a
slip of paper. “Arthur, we really should go inside now. We’re going to miss the
beginning.”

“If you say so, Nia.” Arthur fell back a pace, clearly
satisfied to have gotten the last word. “Hopefully, the inside of the theater
will smell a little better than –”

The big man was faster than he looked. Before Arthur
could retreat, his fist connected solidly with Arthur’s jaw.

Stumbling backwards, Arthur collided with a man who had
stopped to smoke. Unfortunately, this meant that he stayed upright long enough
to take another punch to the nose.

“Arthur!” Nia cried as Arthur sank to his knees.

“Not so clever now, are you?” the big man snarled as he
advanced on Arthur’s crumpled form. He managed to take two steps before he was
lifted off of the ground and slammed into his redheaded friend. They tried to
move apart, but were yanked several inches above the ground, crushed back to
back by invisible wires.

Several pedestrians stopped to stare as the two men
cursed and squirmed.

After quickly making sure Arthur wasn’t too badly hurt,
Nia stepped forward, letting the ashy remains of the two spells fall from her
hand. “Gentlemen.”

At the sound of her voice the men stopped struggling.

Nia smiled; hoping the pressure of the spell was making
them consider just how pleasant breathing was. She reached into her handbag and
pulled out her badge, holding it high so the light of the marquee gleamed on
the silver and gold flame. “Do you know what this means, gentleman?”

The redhead swallowed visibly. “You’re – you’re Academy.”

Nia inclined her head. “Illuminator Nia Graves, at your
service.”

The redhead’s eyes almost bulged out of his head. He
tried to elbow his friend despite their arms being lashed together. “You tried
to chat up a fucking Illuminator. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I didn’t know!” The big man looked down at Arthur, who
was slowly working his way to his feet. “He’s Academy
too?”           

“Yes, and
he
will decide whether or not we press
charges.” Nia snapped her fingers – it wasn’t necessary, but she thought it
added a certain something – and the two men dropped on to the sidewalk.