Priceless (7 page)

Pushing the memories aside, I thought about
the
case
I was working now
.
I was
definitely
going to need some outside help on this one.
With Milly out, the
closest shaman with any actual ability was in New Mexico. A bit of a drive, but
I
really had no other choice in the matter
.

“
You think you can find this kid, even though it
’
s the same as your sister
’
s case
?
”

Kyle
’
s
question caught me off guard.
“
Yes, I can find her
.
”
I had to believe it. Giselle told me there was time. Scanning the screen, I read through her case.
Not a single hint as to what had taken her. Nothing.
Yet
,
if it was truly the same as Berget, I had an idea of what it might be, though not who. W
hy would the FBI be brought in? Just because there was money involved?
W
as there a slew of kidnappings going on? A chill ran down my spine.
Or
maybe there was another reason
entirely;
maybe they were starting to wonder about the crimes that couldn
’
t be solved, the ones that
were
im
possible unless supernatural reasons
were
taken into account.
Not that they thought like that.

I pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills and laid five on the table, Kyle
’
s usual fee. I laid another ten on top
, almost half of my deposit from India
’
s parents
.
“
Can you get me into the FBI
’
s files?
”

Kyle stared at the money,
and
looked up at me.
“
Maybe, yeah, I could. But
what do they have to do with this? I can
’
t go hacking the FBI just because you want me to.
”

I leaned forward, my hands going to either side of him and effectively pinning him up against his desk. Kyle
’
s eyes widened and not in a good way.

“
I always have a good reason
,
kid
.
T
hat doesn
’
t
mean I can
always
tell you. You don
’
t get to know everything just
be
cause you
’
re my hacker.
”
I was always good at the bitch eyes
—
you know, the drop-dead and leave me alone eyes that every girl acquires at some point or
another—
and today was no exception.
The air crackled between us and I shifted my body so he got a glimpse of one of the blades on my hip.

He nodded and turned around,
completely silent.
I felt like an absolute bully
, b
ut that didn
’
t mean I
’
d
apologize.
I would make up for it another time. Maybe bring him a new video game.

It took Kyle close to ten minutes and some serious typing to get into the FBI files
,
but he cracked the codes.
“
You
’
re only going to have a few minutes to find
what you
’
r
e
looking for before I get traced.
”
His voice was all business now.

He gave me his seat. And I started searching
, hoping my proximity to the computer wouldn
’
t crash it. Today was my lucky day
. There was a file under India
’
s name, and one under Berget
’
s. A large file under my own that I scanned quickly
,
but there was no mention of supernatural abilities.

“
You
’
ve got two minutes left
,
”
Kyle said from behind me.

“
Okay
,
I
’
m almost there,
”
I said

I did a search for
‘
supernatural,
’
and then
‘
unexplained
,
’
with no results.
“
What
’
s another word for unexplainable or magic
?
”
I muttered to myself.

“
Arcane.
”
Kyle grumbled at me.
He was still
pouting from being told to
butt
out.

I typed in the word and the computer screen flashed before taking me to a section I hoped I would never see. The Arcane division of the FBI.

7

“
You have got to be freaking kidding me!
”
Kyle exclaimed over my shoulder.

“
Damn it
,
kid, don
’
t you ever listen?
”
I snapped.
“
Forget it, just print this off
,
or save it for me
,
or do whatever you can in the last bit of time you have.
”

Kyle sat and the printer started up.
“
I
’
ve printed the entire section for you,
but
it
’
s over three hundred pages long so it
’
s going to take a while.
”

“
How long
’
s
‘
a while
’
and are y
ou going to have enough paper?
”
I
sat
back in the recliner.

A while turned out to be over two hours
thanks to his prehistoric printer
.
You
’
d think with all the upgraded equipment he had, he would
’
ve put out for a faster printer. The possibility of not having enough paper was bad, but worse was his non-stop
questions
,
of which I answered zero
. If he
’
d been just a few years older, I would have had a lot less difficulty with
him. I would have just thumped him on the head and left him tied up in the bathroom. Being a kid
gave him an immunity to my
anger and my
blades that he didn
’
t even realize he had
.

I ended up drinking the rest of the root beer and felt a sugar headache coming on fast. At least it would keep me awake.

Kyle bundled up all the papers for me and wrapped them with two elastic bands.
“
Here. I think that
’
s all of them.
”

I took the bundle and tucked it under one arm.

“
So, what do you think the files are really for?
”

I looked up, surprised at first. Of course, he couldn
’
t believe the files were about the supernatural. That was an impossibility in his world of technology.

“
Just
a code name for missing kids
. The ones they can
’
t explain.
”
He followed me out to the door, neither one of us noticing th
e slight beeping on his security system
until we were at the door
.
Or the pair of suits walking up on the camera monitors toward his back door.
Not good
;
sloppy on both our parts
. I blamed my inattention to the memories that this case was stirring up
.

The doorknob was cool under my hand
and the slightest shuffle on the other side
of the door caught my ear at the last second
.
I froze
and looked
over at Kyle.

His face was pale and his eyes wide. He shook his head ever so slightly and I backed off the door
.
Together,
we sidled back into the kitchen.
Running back to his workroom, he checked his security monitors and let out a groan, hands clenched in his hair. There in black
and
white were two very d
ark grey suits
,
standing at
his back door, discussing something. Probably us.
Kyle grabbed my arm, his body trembling.
“
I didn
’
t know they would actually show up at my door,
”
he whispered, his voice cracking under the sudden stress.

“
Neither did I.
”
I thought for a minute. There was a way out of this, but
there was a possibility
Kyle would get a glimpse at some of the things I could do.
“
Go back into your computer room, get all the online games going
that
you can, quick now.
”
I gave him a shove in the direction of his work room.

“
How
’
s that going to help?
”

“
Just do what I say!
”
I took a breath and explained quickly.
“
If they come in, you can claim you didn
’
t see what I was doing, that you were playing your games while I used the printer
.
”
A
thread of adrenaline
started
to pump through me. If I got thrown in jail, it would mean the end of India
’
s chances. I couldn
’
t let that happen.

Kyle
stumbled over his own feet as he tried to make his body obey his commands despite his obvious f
ear, glancing back at me for reassurance. I nodded and shooed at him with my free hand before turning my back on him.

With Kyle busy, I turned my attention to the bundle of papers. I couldn
’
t make it disappear
;
that was way beyond what I could do. But I could make it look like something else. Something close to what it truly was.
Giselle had shown me how to do this, but using my abilities to do something they weren
’
t designed to do would make my sugar headache a fond memory.

Concentrating, I
focused on the h
eading
, slowing my breathing to match the pulse of my energy
. FBI Arcane Division became Francine Bouvier
’
s Interesting Facts on Divisions of the Arcane. A bead of sweat rolled down my face. This kind of glamour always left me drained
.
It
just wasn
’
t one of my strong abilities, though at the moment I was glad I at least had this little amount. I
slipped off the elastic bands and
flipped through the pages
;
changed the major headings
of which there were ten
. The pages began to flow under my hands as the glamour took hold and spread through the entire stack of paper. I let out a breath and wiped the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. Crap I was tired now,
even with the sugar rush; I was
not
at
my best for facing down an FBI agent.
Even w
ors
e
,
since it was O
’
Shea
.

A hard knock at the door snapped my head up. A glance at Kyle
’
s white face and wide eyes didn
’
t give me much comfort.

“
Stay there
,
”
I said, gesturing at Kyle as he stood.
“
I
’
ll go to the door and deal with them. You just stay there.
”
He nodded and sank back into his chair, his hands going to the keyboard
,
listless with his fear
.
If O
’
Shea saw Kyle, he
’
d know there was more to this than what I was going to tell him. I took a deep breath and strode across to the door, Ms.
Francine
Bouvier
’
s Interesting facts clutched in my arms. One last deep breath and I opened the door, smiling up into O
’
Shea
’
s glowering face.
“
Well hello
,
Agent O
’
Shea, fancy meeting you here.
”