Mike opened the front door of the house he was staying at and came face to face with the guy from the bar. “Good evening to you,” Mike said. Tomas had an entourage. “Wanna come in?”
“Were you just going out?”
“No.”
“Then why did you open the door?”
“A feeling.” Mike had put wards on the dirt mat at the door, to notify him if anyone was out there.
“Oh. We’ll come in.”
Mike looked at the entourage, consisting of three burly men and the traitorous woman, Lacey. “Not her. And you don’t need all the guys.”
Tomas looked back at the group. He said, “Rocky,” and a man stepped forward into the foyer. Mike slammed the door in the woman’s face.
Tomas put his hands in his pockets and looking around the foyer. “Nice house.”
“Not mine. AirBnB.” Mike walked through the foyer to the airy kitchen. “Drink?”
“No,” said Tomas.
Mike shrugged. Steel, without a shirt, was standing at the counter, making a smoothie. He turned to see Tomas walk in, and immediately focused on him.
Tomas said, “What is it that you want?”
“I’m sorry, what do you mean by that?”
“You’re not here to see the sights.”
“I’m here to see Hamilton.”
Tomas shook his head. “You want a ring, yes? A questionite ring?”
“Yes…”
Tomas pulled his hands out of his pockets. In one hand glittered the questionite ring. Teddy’s ring. “This is what you are looking for?”
“Yes. Now where’s Lazarus.”
“On a business trip. He should be home soon.”
“You hope?” Mike held out his hand and Tomas dropped the ring into it. Mike could tell that someone had tried to break through his spells. It was like the remnants of a hack. He could follow the trail, but he needed more implements, and those were back at home. “Things getting a little out of control?”
Tomas stood up to his full height, which was shorter than Mike. “You will leave now. Tonight.”
“Aw, before the fireworks?”
“You will leave.”
“Okay, okay. Hear that, Steel? We’re leaving.”
“You got it,” said Steel, putting back the items from the smoothie.
“We’ll drive you to the airport,” said Tomas.
Mike grinned. “And taxi service, to boot. Give us a minute to pack.”
