Evie Jones and the Rocky Roulette: An Evie Jones Novella Read online

  “No.” Corey shook his head. “I asked him about that. It’d only shake models he made. Mostly he was studying the vibration and movements. He’d be more useful for studying than for causing anything.”

  I crouched by Gremlin, petting him. “Any way they could make it bigger to actually shake the earth?”

  “No clue. We’d have to ask the geologists.”

  “Wh…” Ashley took a deep breath. “Is there any reason they’d want to shake the earth?”

  “Stealing,” I said. “You know, knock out power and electronics and stuff.”

  The guys stared at me with looks suggesting I watched too many movies.

  “I know how it sounds,” I said, holding up a hand. “But they do it in the movies. Maybe it’s based in real science.”

  “But why would they need people to think he’s dead?” Ashley asked. “And only for a few days? I mean, DNA is going to show that isn’t him when they get the tests back.”

  “Maybe to make people think they stole his stuff and….” I sighed, shaking my head and standing. “Except it didn’t look like anything was stolen and his real equipment was in his lab, not his office. I’ve got bupkis.”

  “We’re going to have to pull the geology guys in,” Corey said. “Not going to be able to figure out what’s possible without them.”

  I pulled out my phone. “I’ll call Wolf. I know his wife can be trusted. Hopefully he can be too.”

  “So you’re saying there’s a dead body, made to look like Sean, but it’s not him, and you think it’s because thieves want to use an earthquake machine to knock out power grids like on Ocean’s Eleven?” Wolf asked, accent thicker over the speakerphone.

  “Or if you have another theory,” I said. “Though, I think in Ocean’s Eleven it was basically a nuclear bomb without the nuke, that knocked out electronics, not a little earthquake machine.”

  “Let’s get this straight, it’s not a little earthquake machine. It doesn’t cause earthquakes. It causes motion that simulates earthquakes. Huge difference.”

  “See, this is why we need you,” I said. “We don’t know this stuff.”

  “An earthquake is the earth moving due to tectonic plate motions, not just shaking because of whatever is moving the surface. Sean had a machine that shook the surface, to study motion.”

  “Any reason you can think of why someone would want to kidnap him over that?” I asked.

  “No. He was working on it. He wasn’t close. He had no more knowledge of early detection than the scientific community in general.”

  “Dr. Wolf, is there any way this could be used for anything worth killing and kidnapping over?” Ashley asked, two glasses of wine not shaking her legal brains at all.

  “If he was onto something, theoretically any technology he came up with to detect could be sold. But he didn’t have anything profitable like that.”

  “Are you sure?” Chet asked.

  “Positive.”

  “Was he working on anything else?” I asked. “Anything at all that’d give someone a reason to kidnap him? Maybe we’re assuming it was earthquake related because this happened to be around a little earthquake. Maybe it is a coincidence. What else can a geologist do?”

  “Study motion,” Wolf said. “There are calculations we can do and predictions we can make, but that’s it.”

  “Okay, thanks,” I said, hanging up.

  “Predictions,” Chet said. “Evie, anything you could do with predictions?”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah.” He look at the others. “I mean people like you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Corey asked.

  Chet grinned and shrugged. “Evie?”

  I sighed. “Yeah, okay. He’s asking if this could be anything magical.”

  “Magic?” Corey’s face locked up.

  “Evie thinks she’s a witch,” Ashley said. “She’s not crazy, just a Wicca type.”

  “No, I’m not. Somehow I just know this is going to bite me on the tuchus.” I held my hand out, palm up, and pulled fire from my belly, making a ball in my hand the size of a grapefruit.

  “Oh shit!” Corey said, blinking and stumbling back. “What the fuck!”

  Ashley dropped her drink, the glass shattering on the kitchen floor and sending little slivers flying.

  I snuffed out the flames and Chet held up a hand, gesturing he’d get the broom.

  “Don’t want you in there with no shoes,” he said to me, gently pushing Ashley into the living room. “You either.”

  He went to work on the kitchen and Ashley stared at me. “How…?”

  “Ash, you going to be okay?”

  Her mouth worked and she swallowed hard enough to see it. “I don’t know.”

  My phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket.

  “Oy vey.” My heart hit the carpet and I shook so hard I was afraid my bottom would be next. I walked over to the couch and sat, taking a deep breath before swiping the phone on.

  “O’Shay,” I said, keeping my voice pleasant. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  Chet froze in the kitchen, staring across the island at me. “Council?” he mouthed.

  I nodded.

  “Jones,” O’Shay said. “I’ve gotten reports of activity in the Salt Lake Valley. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?”

  My heart bounced back up, hammering so hard I was afraid it’d escape out my chest. “What kind of activity?”

  “Magical,” he said in a duh voice.

  “Yeah, I got that. What kind of magic? Anything that could be causing earthquakes?”

  “Have you been having earthquakes?” he asked, surprise evident.

  “Just a little one, but now you’re asking me about magical activity, I’m worried. What have you been sensing?”

  “That is not how this works. I represent the Council, I ask the questions.”

  I cocked my head, grinding my teeth before saying, “Say, how’s that Merlin treating you?”

  “Don’t try pulling that card. Our deal was the claim to the Merlin for my silence, nothing more.”

  “Actually,” I said. “You should read things more carefully before you sign them. How about you go grab your copy of the contract and call me back. Please.”

  He hung up.

  “What the hell was that?” Corey asked.

  “That was my government. They’re called the Council,” I said. “And they’ve sensed something going on around here. Not sure what, but there’s a few too many things going on for me to think any of this is a coincidence.”

  “But what were you two talking about?”

  “Yeah,” Chet said. “What was that bit about he should’ve read the contract?”

  I grinned. “Okay, to catch you guys up first. Our government doesn’t allow humans to know about witches. When we had some trouble with a magical shadow bunny-”

  Ashley snorted and I looked at her. “Oh, you’re serious. Okay.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “He was causing problems and the Council rep, O’Shay, came to investigate. We lied and said Chet was a witch. We captured the shadow and sent him home, but he told O’Shay Chet wasn’t a witch before he left. Rules say humans can’t know. If you can erase their memories then you do, but if you can’t, like if the human has known for a while, then you have to kill them.”

  Ashley made a little noise.

  I nodded. “Yeahhhhhh, he tried to kill Chet. Since I was the one who got the shadow out, I would theoretically be rewarded by the Council. I traded O’Shay the claim to the glory for him leaving Chet alone and for his silence on a human knowing about magic.”

  I paused as Chet walked over, apparently done with the sweeping. He handed Ashley a fresh glass with a wink and a, “Don’t drop this one. These are nice glasses.”

  She forced a smile and I took his hand as he sat next to me.

  “Now we get to the evil, underhanded lawyer part,” I said. “I wrote the contract. It’s a magic binding one. You literally
have to do what you are bound to under the contract. He couldn’t tell anyone about Chet if he wanted to. What he didn’t notice in all the legalize is I added an addendum.

  “Since a Merlin award gets you favors for years, possibly life, I included that I get favors from him, as long as I say please and it doesn’t put him in immediate and present danger to do it, basically.”

  “Fuck girl, you’re hot when you’re diabolical,” Chet said, kissing my cheek. “You’re brilliant. How did you know he wouldn’t read it all the way through?”

  I shrugged. “How many people do you know read through the licensing agreements on software, the back of ticket stubs, or even their apartment leases? He may be a government rep, but that doesn’t make him smart.” I snorted. “Usually it’s the opposite.”

  “You have to be very careful with magical contracts,” I continued. “Can’t just throw a ton of stuff in there for one thing. So mine is worded to say he owes me half as many favors, to the same degree, as what he gets from others using the Merlin. I’m betting he’s not the conservative type and has been raking the favors in.”

  “Same degree?” Ashley asked.

  “It’s more magical math than anything I could really explain in human terms.” I frowned. “Well, okay, the idea is based on the amount of energy that goes into his favors. So say he gets a candy bar, I’d be able to call in a favor for one of roughly half the calories, even if I wanted Skittles instead. Make sense?”

  “Not even a little bit.” She took a long drag of wine.

  “The point is, there’s a powerful member of my government that owes me and he’s about to figure it out and call me back.”

  “I don’t get what’s forcing him though.”

  “Magic. If I ordered him to tell me right then, he would have without wanting to. I told him he could read the contract first so he’d at least understand why, but magic will bind him to his word. I just have to… let it know, I guess, when it’s time to get forceful.”

  “That has so many disturbing implications.”

  I nodded. “You don’t want to know what these things have been used for in the past.”

  “Are we talking Rumpelstiltskin type deals or sex trade?”

  “Both and worse.”

  She flinched. “I think I’m starting to understand your world view a little better.”

  I smiled. “Scary world when someone’s actually expected to read a contract’s fine print and is bound to it, isn’t it? You learn to be careful and responsible for your own decisions real fast.”

  She took a longer drink of wine. “I’m a contract attorney and the idea of that scares the shit out of me.”

  “It shouldn’t. The world would be a less complicated place if everyone read the fine print.” I glanced at the phone in my hand. “He’s taking his dear sweet time. I’m calling my dad. If we’re going to need to pull out some magical tracking or if something magical is going on, I’m going to need help.”

  “What about Faye?” Chet asked.

  I shook my head. “She’s in England for the…” I froze.

  “What?”

  “For the equinox,” I said. “It’s tomorrow!”

  “So?” Ashley asked.

  I didn’t answer, mind pinging around the possibilities.

  “So the equinox is a powerful time for witches,” Chet said after a moment. “Power is more concentrated, you can do more, right?”

  I nodded. “It’s like Halloween. We… if there’s something magical going on, it’ll be revolving around the equinox.”

  “How do you get yourself into this stuff?” Dad asked when he got to my place.

  “Hi Daddy.” I hugged him, resting my ear against his steady heartbeat. I finally let him go and he came inside. “I have no clue.”

  “You’re a Jones. It’s in our blood.”

  “Oh, so this is your fault?”

  “I will gladly take the credit for your troublemaking.”

  “Haha.” I held a glass up and wiggled it.

  Dad shook his head. “Has the Council rep gotten back to you?”

  “Not yet. He’s reading that contract real careful now.” I smiled but it felt flat. “Dad, have you sensed anything off magically? I’m not even sure where to look for anything specific until O’Shay gets back to me.”

  “I haven’t, but I’d have to know where to look, too.”

  “I know. Worth a shot.”

  We chattered, answering my friends’ questions about magic for another few minutes until the phone finally rang.

  I picked it up. “About time, O’Shay.”

  “You bitch.” He let loose with a series of curses so bad they made me gasp even though I was expecting him to be pissed.

  “Are you done?” I said when he finally paused for breath. “Oy vey, I’ve half a mind to fly out there and wash your mouth out with soap.”

  Dad snorted and I slapped a hand over the phone’s speaker. “Oy, when did I start channeling Bubbe?”

  O’Shay ran off on another tirade and I twisted the phone away from my ear.

  “Keep it up,” I said. “You’ve got another five horrible things to say before I cut you off and order you never to cuss at me again.”

  The squawking from the ear side cut off and I put it against my ear again. “What do you know, O’Shay?”

  “There’s a magical surge in your area,” he growled, every word fighting its way out. “We thought it might be you or one of the other troublemakers in your area preparing a spell to unleash with the power of the equinox. With it tomorrow…”

  “You’re not going to be able to sense every little thing, so it’s a good time to pull something. I know. It’s not me, but I’m definitely worried now. What have you sensed?”

  “Magic… it was unbalanced enough to set off alarms.”

  “And an earthquake.” That meant the witch was either too sloppy to balance the energies or they just didn’t care. “Are we looking at one witch or a group?”

  “This is a group. Based on the signature, it’s probably four or five channeling the energy of the equinox through the earth.”

  “Can you send me the reading’s you’ve gotten so far, O’Shay?” I asked. Wow, my voice stayed steady. No clue how.

  “Yes.”

  “Do it.”

  “What do you think this is?”

  I looked between my dad and my friends. Could giving him the info hurt us? Giving our government any info always had that risk, but here, it’d probably be better so he could tell me if anything else went with my theory.

  “A friend of mine is missing,” I said. “Whoever took him dumped a body with no identifying features but close enough to him in body type that the police think it’s him. He’s a geologist. He’s been studying how to detect earthquakes.”

  “And you think it’s related?” O’Shay cursed again.

  “Is there a way for witches to use the power from the equinox to do something big and bad, if they know where energy is going to come from? Like in the form of an earthquake?”

  “It’s always possible, but that’d take more witches. We’re talking a whole coven to pull that off, and they’d have to be on top of the fault line, putting them in danger as well. Whatever this is, I think it’s something smaller,” O’Shay said.

  “What could we be looking at then?” I asked.

  “At this point, I couldn’t begin to guess, but I’m betting anyone willing to kill someone just to be able to take another without people looking for him, aren’t going to be using this power for anything good.”

  That coming from you putzes who kill humans for just knowing about us?

  I took a deep breath.

  I can’t believe I’m about to say this.

  “Even if it’s something smaller, it’s still about four or five against two. O’Shay, I think you just won yourself a trip to beautiful Salt Lake City.”

  “I don’t like this,” my dad said, shifting on his feet next to the baggage claim belt.

 
“Dad, you can leave,” I said. “I don’t want you caught up in all this.”

  Dad looked down at me. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just suggest I abandon my own daughter.”

  “Okay.” I held up my hands and Chet grinned. “What?” I asked him.

  “You two are so alike, it’s hilarious. Most of the time, you know, girls are afraid of turning into their mothers.”

  “Haha, well I’m perfectly fine with turning into my father.”

  “Thank you,” Dad said.

  “I’m fine with that too,” Chet said. “I like your dad, just keep your boobs.”

  Dad chuckled along with him and I rolled my eyes. “Okay guys. We-”

  O’Shay walked out of the crowd and I propped my hands on my hips, walking up to meet him.

  “Jones,” O’Shay said, nodding without offering his hand.

  “O’Shay.” I nodded too.

  He lifted a little rolling suitcase. “I didn’t check a bag.”

  “Great. O’Shay, this is my dad.”

  Dad did hold out his hand, class outweighing disdain for everything Council related. O’Shay took it. “Ernest Jones. You can call me Ernie.”

  “Ryan O’Shay. Ryan.”

  We walked out of the airport and to the car parked at the curb.

  O’Shay froze as Ashley waved from the driver’s seat.

  “Jones,” O’Shay said as Dad opened the door. “Please tell me that is not another human you’ve told about us.”

  “Ummmmmm.” I twisted my mouth to the side, looking up and around as cartoonishly as I could. “I’m going to be calling in a lot of my favors this weekend.”

  “We may as well put up a sign,” he said, walking around to put his suitcase in the trunk.

  “Is letting him know there are more of us who know about magic a good idea?” Chet whispered.

  “No, but you saw Ashley. She wasn’t taking ‘no, stay’ for an answer.”

  We got in the car, Chet up front since he was the biggest, us witches in back.

  “We’re going to try tracking down Sean, that’s the missing geologist, with some of his stuff,” I said once we got going. “How are you with tracking spells?”