Free Modern Sorcery: A Jonathan Shade Novel by Gary Jonas

bidding.”
     
    “That’s ridiculous,” Al said.
     
    “I doubt you need to touch it,” I said.   “After I talked to you yesterday, a Sekutar showed up to kill Naomi.   He was looking for the crystal.   So you had to tell him where to look.”
     
    “There’s only one surviving Sekutar, and she’s sitting at this table.”
     
    “Bullshit,” I said.   “I fought one yesterday.”
     
    “Utter nonsense.   You’d be dead.”
     
    “He’s telling the truth,” Naomi said.
     
    “And I should believe you?   After all, you were willing to spend your life with this hoodlum.   You told him things you should have never shared with an outsider.”
     
    “He wasn’t an outsider.”
     
    “He’s genetically incapable of magic.”
     
    “That doesn’t make him an outsider.”
     
    “Technically,” Cantrell said, “it does.   But that ain’t our concern here.”
     
    “I assure you that Blake Ravenwood is not a threat.   His soul is still trapped.   Even if the Alyshian Crystal were destroyed, the others are so far away that after a few days, his spirit would dissipate and things would return to normal.”
     
    “Normal?” Naomi said.   “My parents are dead.”
     
    “I feel the pain of their loss too.   But if Ravenwood were actually free, we’d all be dead.”
     
    “So you think the crystal was destroyed?” I asked, thinking about what Naomi had already told me.
     
    “I don’t know.”
     
    “Are you operating on that assumption?”
     
    “As I told you, if that were the case, his spirit would dissipate.”
     
    “Or maybe it would seep into another wizard through osmosis,” I said.   “For all I know, Ravenwood is already controlling one or both of you like little wizard puppets.”
     
    “That’s stupid.”
     
    “Really?   They didn’t have Sekutar warriors back in the 1600s, so how did he know to send one if you didn’t tell him?   How would he know where Naomi lived if you didn’t tell him?”
     
    “First of all, Ravenwood is not free.”
     
    “Really?   Then why are you here?”
     
    “I came to discuss something with Frank.”
     
    “But you’ve shared more with us than I ever would have expected.   You’re either afraid or you’re hoping I can handle this for you.”
     
    “You?   Mr. Shade, you can’t handle anything that involves magic.   I looked you up.   According to DGI records, both your parents were wizards, and yet you have no magic.   Zero.   Of what possible use could you be to us?   Naomi and Frank, on the other hand, do have magic and would be of great use to us at the moment.   Even Ms. Chan could prove useful, but you, sir, are completely worthless to us.”
     
    I tried to ignore the pain his words caused me.   My thoughts vanished as Kelly moved.
     
    She jerked Al’s chair backward and jammed the toothpick up to his eye.   “I don’t work for wizards,” she said.   “And if you speak to my friend like that again, I promise you that I will pluck your eyes out one by one, eat them, then slit your throat and watch you bleed out.   Do you understand me?”
     
    Al’s eyes widened as he stared at the toothpick.   He was better at hiding his fear than I would have expected, but his voice sounded small when he said, “Yes.”
     
    “Told you she could wield a mean toothpick,” Cantrell said.
     
    Kelly righted the chair and tucked the toothpick back between her teeth.   She gave me a look that told me she would always have my back, but then, I already knew that.   She leaned close to Al.   “Play nice or play dead,” she said.
     
    Al straightened his suit coat.
     
    “I gotta side with Shade here,” Cantrell said.   “Who sent the Sekutar to Naomi’s place?   That don’t make sense to me.”
     
    “I don’t know,” Al said.
     
    “So it’s possible that either Ravenwood is loose or someone has the crystal and could be possessed by his spirit or something?”
     
    “I admit that it would explain a few