Guild Boss (Ghost Hunters #14)(36)

Otis had disappeared into the ghostly atmosphere, but she heard him chortling. Every so often he popped out of the luminous gray fog long enough to show her a new chunk of quartz. She had no idea why some of the pebbles and crystals caught his fancy and others did not. They all looked pretty much the same to her—murky and gray.

“Hmm,” she said. She stopped and pulled the pendant out from under her shirt. “The stone in this necklace is amber, but the color is almost identical to the gray quartz here in this sector.”

Gabriel studied the pendant for a brief moment. “Same color, all right, but I haven’t heard of any amber deposits being discovered in the Ghost City. We’ll ask the experts at the mining camp about it when we leave.”

“All right.”

She dropped the pendant back under the shirt.

Gabriel consulted his locator again. “We’re very close now. On the right.”

This time he took the lead, flamer leveled. They made their way across the narrow passageway, guided by the locator. Sensing that it was time for serious work, Otis scurried out of the fog and joined Gabriel.

Lucy was finally able to make out a quicksilver door. “The doll is inside that building?”

“Looks like it,” Gabriel said. “I’ll go through first, just in case there’s a reception committee waiting.”

Lucy got out of the way. This was the kind of work that the ghost hunters got paid to do. She had done her job. The rest was up to Gabriel.

He vanished through the quicksilver door.

Lucy waited. She realized somewhat vaguely that she was holding her breath. Things felt wrong. But then, everything felt wrong in the Ghost City.

Gabriel reappeared in the doorway.

“We’ve got a problem,” he said.

“What kind of problem?”

“The dead kind.”





CHAPTER FIFTEEN





“You’re sure that’s the thief?” Lucy asked.

She made no attempt to take a closer look at the body, but Gabriel was satisfied that she wasn’t going to fall apart. She was a professional, and this was not her first trip on the dangerous thrill ride that was the Underworld. He was amazed so many people had been convinced she couldn’t handle the work belowground.

“It’s Croston,” he said. “The museum authorities showed me a photo.”

“Was he murdered?” Lucy asked. “Or do you think he got caught in one of the storms and found shelter too late?”

“Hard to tell. There’s no obvious wound.”

“I’ll bet someone murdered Croston for the artifact.”

“That’s a possibility, but if so, something went wrong. Croston still has his portal key.” Gabriel held up a chunk of murky gray quartz. “These things are extremely valuable, especially to thieves and mercenaries. They are the only way to access the Ghost City portals. I can’t see a killer leaving one behind. There’s something else, as well.”

“What?”

Gabriel glanced at the locator. “This indicates the doll is still in the vicinity.”

Lucy surveyed the chamber. “It’s definitely not in this room, but there’s a hallway. Who knows what’s at the other end?”

Gabriel got to his feet and studied the arched opening on the far side of the chamber. The first few feet of a curving corridor could be seen. Shadows shifted and slithered inside the gray quartz walls of the hallway. They were probably optical illusions, but that did not make them any less disturbing on a lot of levels.

“Maybe he tried to hide the artifact,” he said. “If so, it’s probably in a chamber off that corridor. I’ll take a look.”

“All right. You know, if Croston had time to stash the artifact in another room, he obviously didn’t die immediately.”

“No, he didn’t.”

Otis hissed softly. Gabriel looked at him.

“Is he reacting to the body?” he asked.

Lucy glanced down. “Maybe. I don’t know. Something is putting him on high alert.”

A whirring sound emanated from the curving corridor. Gabriel spun around, flamer in hand.

The clockwork doll appeared. It was about three feet tall and dressed in an Old World costume, a somber but very elegant black gown with a high neckline and long sleeves. The artifact’s dark hair was parted in the middle and tightly bound at the back. A crown of crystals glittered on her head. She gripped a fan in one gloved hand. Her face was set in stern, regal lines. Her eyes glittered with icy energy.

Otis growled.

Lucy was enchanted. “She looks like an Old World queen.”

“Victoria, according to the Arcane experts,” Gabriel said. “Late nineteenth century, Old World Date.”

Otis rumbled a warning.

“She’s amazing,” Lucy said. “Just look at the detail in the clothes. I think the crystals in the crown are real, not glass.”

Lucy started to go closer to get a better look.

“Don’t move,” Gabriel ordered.

The doll’s glittering eyes got hotter. They locked onto Lucy. Gabriel sensed icy energy in the atmosphere.

Lucy shuddered and tried to scramble back out of range, but it was too late. She froze.

Otis sleeked out and raced toward the clockwork doll. He was no longer growling. All of his teeth were showing. Gabriel realized he was going for the queen’s throat.