Elemental Assassin 02 - Web of Lies

it. I held my bare index finger in front of the granite and one of my fingernails, and rough around the edges, but reached for my magic. A silver light sparked on the tip it still sparkled with an inner crimson fire. Definitely a of my finger like it was a tiny blowtorch. I leaned forhigh-quality stone. one that would polish up quite nicely. ward and pressed my finger against the granite, forcing But its sound—oh, its sound . That’s what held my atmy magic into the stone, deeper and deeper until I broke tention. The diamond practically sang with its own puthrough the rock shell to the hollow space inside. once I rity. The gemstone’s inherent vibration was beautiful, made the initial break, it was easy enough to drag my finbreathtaking, enchanting, even. Like a Bach composition ger around the perimeter of the block, forming a square played by the master himself. I could have sat there listenshape much bigger than the circle of silverstone at the ing to the diamond’s clear, pure song for hours. heart of the granite.
    Too bad an alarm blared out and cut into its lilting Less than a minute later, I made the last cut in the melody.
    stone. The rock creaked, and I used my magic to form a small groove in one side so I could hook my finger inside and pull it out. The granite was heavier than I’d expected, and it took me a moment to lug it out of the case and set it on the floor.
    Donovan looked up at the sound of my grunts and did a double-take. “How the hell did you do that?”
    I flashed him a smile. “I have many talents, detective.”
    I turned my back on him and stared inside the safe. It was an even smaller space than I’d expected, and it was curiously empty, except for a few sheets of paper.
    “Here.” I plucked out the papers and handing them to Donovan. “Photograph these.”
    The detective spread the documents on the desk and used his cell phone to snap off some pictures. I reached back into the safe, wondering what other secrets it held. My fingers closed around a small plastic vial, which I pulled out. I played my flashlight over the container. Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 212-213
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    Donovan Caine wasn’t an elemental, wasn’t a Stone, so he couldn’t hear the alarm, couldn’t see the rune. But I could, and I knew what they both meant—trouble 19
    headed this way.
    “Fuck,” I cursed out loud this time. “Give me the papers. Now.”
    “What? Why?” Donovan asked in a distracted tone.
    “There’s some interesting stuff here—”
    “Because I’ve tripped some kind of silent alarm,” I interrupted him. “So give me the papers right now .”
    To his credit, the detective didn’t ask any questions. Instead, he shoved the documents over to me. I stuffed them back into the hollow space inside the granite, wiped my fingerprints off the diamond vial, then put it inside as For a moment I froze, crouched there on the floor, the well. Although I wanted to, I didn’t take the stone. The diamond vial in my hand. The alarm continued to blare cowboy dwarf might not pursue us so hard if he still had like a police siren wailing in my head. Donovan Caine the diamond. Big, big maybe, but it was the only hope I kept sorting through the papers, as if he couldn’t hear the had.
    unending, violent shrieking. He’d have to be deaf not to I hastily wiped down the granite slab and safe with my hear it.
    jacket sleeve, then hefted the stone slab I’d cut out back I frowned and stared at the granite safe. The stone’s low into its original place. There was no time to be subtle, so murmur had transformed into a sharp, piercing alarm. A I blasted the rock back in place with my magic, sealing rune flashed to life on the front of the safe, on the slab I’d it up tight once more. With his Stone magic, Dawson cut out of the rest of the block. A tight, spiral curl burned would be able to sense what I’d done immediately, but he a cold gray in the middle of the black granite like some shouldn’t be able to trace it back to me—or more imporsort of all-seeing eye. A spiral curl—the rune for protectantly, the Foxes. tion. Tobias Dawson had used his Stone magic to ward Donovan held out a hand and helped me to my feet. his safe with a protection rune, one that would alert him “We need to get out of here,” I said. “Now.”
    if anyone tampered with the granite. I’d done the same We scurried down the hallway and into the front of the thing to protect myself on more than