CHAPTER 33

"The geas, I'm guessing?"

Naia nodded. "The whole world can't be blocked off, but the back of the house has been sealed. It's why the Society didn't come over the gate out back during their last assault. They could only come in the front."

"Then why the hell do we have a gate?" Dana pointed at it.

"I... uh..." Naia's eyes immediately went blank. "I have no idea."

"Well, do you have a long stick or something? Wait, never mind." Dana walked into the garage. "Tick Tock, I need you!"

The mimic, disguised as a recliner, came bouncing across the garage only to stop at her feet, its footrest lolling about like the tongue of a dog.

"My drone crashed on the other side of the gate. Do you have an arm long enough to reach it?"

Tick Tock's leg rest opened and closed like a mouth, so Dana closed her eyes. When she opened them, the recliner had become a mannequin with an arm that went nearly to the ground. At the end of its wrist was a large claw that looked like something out of a crane machine.

"Awesome. Let's do this." She walked into the yard with the eerie mannequin in tow. Tick Tock could replicate most objects it was familiar with, but only things with mechanical parts. Luckily for her, the shapeshifter had quite the imagination.

"There it is. Do you see it?" She reached the gate, and the drone was thankfully still there. Tick Tock squatted down and pushed its arm through the narrow slot of the gate, reaching for the downed drone.

As the mimic's arm moved between the bars and toward the drone, the leaves in the forest began to rustle. An ominous wind picked up, blowing through the gate itself, causing Dana's hair to blow away from her face.

In the distance, behind the trees, something large began to growl.

"Hurry, Tick Tock." The shadows in the forest darkened unexpectedly as Tick Tock's claw closed on the broken drone. The trees rustled their leaves, and whatever was growling was moving closer, the trees shifting at its passage. A dark shape stepped into view, and the sunlight itself seemed to bend around it.

Dana grabbed the mannequin around the waist and pulled. Tick Tock fell backward, the drone in hand, and the shadow beast suddenly vanished from sight. The trees were no longer rustling, and the forest was still once more.

"Sorry, Tick Tock." She helped the mannequin stand and brushed the dirt off its body. "You okay?"

The mannequin nodded.

"Let's get you back inside." She picked up the drone and walked to the garage. Tick Tock followed her in and quickly turned into an upright piano that rolled across the floor and came to a stop next to her desk.

The mimic played a few notes.

"Yeah, I'm okay, too, and thanks for asking." She sat at her bench and examined the busted drone. Luckily, the stone was still there. She removed the stone and the harness and put it in her toolbox. "Any idea what that was out there?"

Tick Tock played a series of notes that sounded roughly like the words no idea.

"Yeah, well, me neither. Any ideas on marrying science and magic to make this drone work?"

Tick Tock played a similar tune.

"Yeah, I'm out of fucking ideas, too." She tossed the drone on the ground.

Tick Tock played a bunch of notes, and Dana turned around with a frown.

"Hey, watch your mouth. Who's been teaching you language like that?"

Tick Tock went silent, then softly played the opening notes to Moonlight Sonata.

"No, no, don't change the subject. Was it Lily? Tink? I won't be mad, I just wanna hear—"

A loud explosion rattled the garage, and dust fell from the rafters above. The ground shook for several seconds, and Dana put her arms over the piano to protect it from debris.

Once the world settled, she turned around and looked at the garage. A few cracks had appeared in the concrete floor, and she hoped that her little apartment underneath was okay.

But that could wait until later.

"Stay here," she told the mimic, and stepped outside the garage, her eyes scanning the house. Windows had cracked, and a few shingles had fallen free, but nothing seemed seriously damaged.

"Oh!" Naia stood in the fountain, her hands over her mouth. She was looking at the roof of the house, so Dana stepped back, eager to see what Naia was looking at.

Once she saw it, she couldn't help but agree.

Mike sat at the table, frowning at the collection of objects they had unpacked.

With the exception of the box on the ceiling, they had unpacked everything else. A pair of silver candlesticks and some ornate drapes were the only thing that seemed to have any value, but the rest of the items looked like someone had gone on a thrift store shopping spree.

"I don't get it." Mike picked up a throw pillow. "Who packs a pillow? None of this stuff has any value whatsoever."

"Are you sure you don't detect anything magical?" Beth asked Yuki.

"Nothing. At all. This is just ordinary stuff." Yuki set down a small wooden statue of a man holding a net full of fish. "I don't recognize any of it either."

"But it's on the list, right?"

Beth shrugged. "The list is very specific, but most of this would fall under the miscellaneous category they have. The candlesticks are on there, as well as the drapes, so we know we have stuff from the house."

"Tink? Anything?"

The goblin was going through a small stack of clothing, which amounted to little more than some tube tops and booty shorts. "Tink see nothing useful." She held the tube top over her own chest, stretching the fabric. "Clothes too big for Tink, too small for dead girl."

"Definitely too small for Emily, right?" He looked to Yuki for confirmation.

"Indeed." Yuki picked up one of the tube tops. "Emily was far curvier than this." She stretched one of the tube tops and fired it at Tink, who slapped it out of the air.