Ancient Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress #1)(48)

Aidan took her hand. “No problem.”

“We’re coming with you to find the thief,” Nix said.

“We can take care of it,” Aidan said.

“It’s personal now,” Del said. “We don’t take kindly to people stealing from our shop.”

“Fair enough.” Aidan reached into his pocket and pulled out the glass ball. He handed it to me.

“Thanks.” I might not need it anymore since the Magica we sought now had the Chalice of Youth, which I’d been able to find once before, but I’d take any help I could get.

I held the ball close to my chest. Mordaca’s magic seethed within the glass, reaching out and twining with mine. The scent of cigar smoke and the taste of whiskey flooded my senses, but the dark feel of her magic didn’t make me nervous anymore. The tracking charm had worked once before, and I knew her magic wasn’t actually evil.

I envisioned the Magica I was searching for, adding the chalice for good measure, and waited for the familiar thread to wrap around my waist and pull me.

Instead, I got a general sense of the world map, with emphasis on Scotland. Damn, he’d gone so far.

I lowered the glass ball. “He’s on the west coast of Scotland. Near the Isle of Skye. Once we get there, I can get a better read on him.” I looked hopefully at Del. “Do you have enough juice to transport us?”

She frowned and shook her head. “Sorry. The trip from Nicaragua was a long one. I’m burned out for at least a day, possibly two.”

“It’s fine,” Aidan said. “I ordered that the jet be returned to Magic’s Bend last night. It should be fueled by now. I’ll call.”

Del looked at me and mouthed, “He has a jet?”

I just shrugged. It was ridiculous that he owned a jet. Who really needed their own jet? But honestly, it was coming in really handy. Any delay in retrieving the scroll was bad, but I’d accepted that if someone had read the scroll, we’d have to kill them.

“We can take my car,” Aidan said as he dialed his phone.

The four of us climbed in as Aidan ordered that the plane be prepared for flight, then we set off toward the airport. There was heavier traffic today, but Aidan weaved in and out like a pro. Or a madman. Either way, I didn’t care as long as it got us to the scroll quickly.

The plane was waiting for us on the runway. A man stood at the stairs leading to the plane. He handed Aidan a duffle bag and a package.

“What’s all that?” I asked as I preceded Aidan up the stairs.

“Change of clothes.”

“What, you don’t keep your plane stocked?”

“No, but that’s a good idea.”

“Your life is so different from mine,” I muttered as I found a seat near a window. For the second time this week, I was boarding a private jet. I didn’t need to get used to it or its cloud-like seats.

Del and Nix sat across the aisle from me.

“This is nuts,” Del leaned over and whispered. “I go away for one job and you’re hooking up with a guy who has his own plane.”

“Shhh,” I hissed back. Aidan had gone up to talk to the pilot, but I was still nervous about him overhearing. “We’re not hooking up. He hired me for a job.”

“Yeah, well, I could cut the tension with a knife,” she said. “There’s definitely something between you.”

“Yeah, like the scroll we’re after,” I whispered. “You remember that, right? Kinda dangerous to our health?”

Her gaze sobered. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. Things have just been so good lately. We’ve had five good years with the shop. I guess I just thought we could hide forever.”

“Me too,” I said. “And we’re going to. We’ll handle this. Things will go back to normal.”

Which reminded me that I needed to talk to them about what would happen once we found it. I glanced at the door. Still shut. I undid my seatbelt and went to kneel in front of their seats.

“What’s up?” Nix whispered.

They both leaned toward me.

“How long will it take you to replicate the scroll?” I asked Nix.

She blew out a breath. “Depends. If I have to take out information about us, then I’d at least need to skim it to find the info I’ve got to omit.”

“Damn. That’ll take a while,” I said. “We can’t distract Aidan for that long.”

“We have to destroy it,” said Del. “We’ll make it look like an accident.”

I nodded. I hated to demolish a piece of history like that, but it was a no-brainer considering our lives were at risk. “Yeah. Okay. When we get the scroll, whoever is closest to it destroys it. The other two try to distract Aidan.”

My chest ached at the idea of him finding out we’d destroyed the scroll. That would be hard to explain. We’d just have to be smart about it.

“It’s a plan. We’ll just—”

The cockpit door opened and Aidan stepped out. Nix shut her mouth abruptly. I stiffened, hoping we didn’t look too suspicious, then turned to face Aidan.

He gave me a look that clearly asked why I was crouched on the ground instead of comfortably in my seat. I just shrugged.

Fortunately, he only said, “We’ll arrive in Scotland in ten hours. I have a contact there who can have a boat ready in case we need it.”