“No surprise. If she’d known there was a threat to us, she’d have told us.”
“Yeah. Just figured I’d try. You never know what she’s read about.”
True. When she wasn’t beheading demons, she was big into books. It was why she was our Seeker. Most of the treasures I hunted were written about in ancient scrolls and texts. They provided the information I needed to find them.
“How’s everything else?” Nix asked.
“What else?”
“Uh, you’re hanging out with a super-hot, super-powerful, super-rich dude—who we all like, by the way—and you can’t think of what else I might be asking about?”
“Oh, yeah, that.” I blew out a breath. “I mean, he’s cool and all.”
“Cool? Yeah, he’s cool. I met him. Tell me something I don’t know. Something good.”
“Well, he’s healed me twice. And he’s funny.” I thought back. Being with him made me happy. I barely knew the guy, but I was getting butterflies over him. Yet I was also afraid of his ability to sense what I was. It was whiplashy. I needed to get my head on straight.
“But he wants me to find this scroll,” I said. “Which, I’ll remind you, could totally spill our secret. And all that power you say he’s got…well, yeah. He’s got it, all right. He turned into a griffon today.”
“A griffon? Whoa.”
“Yeah. With that kind of power, it’s easier for him to sense other supernaturals’ power. Even if I don’t want to use mine, I’m scared that if I hang out with him long enough, I’ll be in a situation where I’m forced to use it and I’ll reveal myself.”
Nix sighed. When she spoke, her voice was grim. “Yeah. That’s serious.”
“Deadly.”
“All right, well a girl can hope. I’d like you to get a life, you know. Date, meet a guy, all that.”
“Uh, like you do?” We kept to ourselves because of our secret and our work. Connor and Claire didn’t know we were FireSouls, and they were our only real friends. With survival and running our business being our priority, dating hadn’t been on our agenda much.
“Yeah, yeah. I see your point,” Nix said. “Look, take care of yourself, all right?”
“I will. I’ll be back soon. Remember—if I show up with the scroll, be ready to duplicate it real quick. Otherwise, I’m going to destroy it.” Then I would have Aidan to deal with.
“I’ll be ready.”
“Miss you.”
“Back at you,” she said.
I reached up and tapped the silver charm with my finger, dimming its magic, then followed my nose toward something delightful.
On my way, I peeked my nose into an elegant family room and an enormous library, but it wasn’t hard to find the kitchen. I’d been grateful not to see any food laid out in the elegant dining room that I’d passed before I’d reached the kitchen. Fancy dining rooms weren’t really my natural habitat.
“How do you feel about pasta?” Aidan asked as I walked into the bright kitchen. It was all gleaming white and stainless steel, and even though nice kitchens weren’t really my thing either, I couldn’t help but like it.
My gaze landed on the big bowl in the middle of the kitchen table. There was salad and bread too, but it was the noodles tangled up with veggies and sausage that really got my attention.
“Fabulous,” I said as I met his gaze. His hair was wet. “You managed to take a shower and make all this?”
He grinned—damn, I wished I could get over how good he looked when he grinned—and said, “I can’t claim credit for the pasta. There’s a housekeeper. Iona. She lives in the cottage out back. She made it but had to get back in time for her TV show.”
“Well, thank her for me next time you see her, because this looks amazing.” I sat down and reached for the pasta and piled my plate high. I didn’t even bother to look at the salad, not when all this Italian goodness needed a home.
“Pasta fan?” Aidan asked as he sat down.
“You don’t even know.” The first bite was divine. Al dente noodles, rich sausage, flavorful veggies, and the sharp bite of some kind of cheese. Gorgonzola? “Heaven.”
I plowed into the food.
“How exactly are you able to find the artifacts?” Aidan asked after a few bites.
I glanced up, my mouth full. I swallowed and got ready to deliver my spiel. “I have a bit of Seeker blood. My mom’s side.”
“That’s strange,” Aidan said. “Seekers usually don’t have other powers. And you’re a Mirror Mage, too?”
That part actually was true. I found that hiding lies with the truths helped. “Yep. A weird combo, but it works for me.”
“I’ve never met a Seeker. How do you find the artifact?”
“Yeah, Seekers are rare.” From my research, I knew that Seekers found artifacts basically the same way I did, so at least I could tell the truth. “I’ve never met another either. For me, when an artifact is far away, I get a feeling for its general location. Like I have a map inside me. It’s kinda hard to explain.”
“Try.”
“All right. Once I have a general idea—like Norway—I go there. When I’m closer to the artifact, I get a better idea. I keep narrowing it down. Eventually, it’s like I have a string tied around my waist that pulls me there.”