Twenty-Five

Kuro

Something was wrong. Kuro paced the length of Marie's apartment, still trapped in his fox form. Joe hadn't come back yet. It was almost dawn, when they would have a single precious hour together in the forms of their choice, then Joe would be trapped as a fox for the entire day.

Joe was the more outgoing of the two of them, with the better people skills and more genial personality in general, but it didn't erase the deep rage that came with Joe's nature as a gumiho. Even if it had been at Marie's request, it had torn something inside Joe to know what he had done to her as the price to be paid for the knowledge she sought. She was still asleep, exhausted and recovering.

Kuro had let Joe go out, knowing his lover would need to burn off some of that rage in order to make room for any chance at forgiveness. It wasn't Marie, or even Kuro, who had to do the forgiving. It was Joe who needed to give himself grace.

It'd been hours and Kuro had hoped Joe would come back, so he could see how quickly Marie was recovering. Her plants were drooping a bit, but none of them had completely wilted. They were all still green and alive, and she was regaining color. She was replenishing her life force far faster than a human could.

Warmth touched Kuro's fur and spread until it heated his skin, growing progressively hotter until he was burning. He curled on his side, the pain of the spell releasing him from his fox form more intense this time. This time he wanted to scream as his bones lengthened and his joints dislocated to realign in a human configuration. His muzzle and cheekbones broke in multiple places, then fused back together as a human face.

It was over in minutes, but the agony of it left him panting on the floor, curled up in the fetal position. As soon as he could move, he reached into his pants pocket for his phone. Maybe Joe had sent a text message before finding a bolt-hole somewhere to wait out the day.

"Kuro? Joe?" Marie called from her bedroom.

Kuro opened his mouth to answer, but anger and fear constricted his throat. Nothing came out.

Blankets rustled, followed by soft footsteps. Then Marie was there, kneeling on the floor beside him. Her touch was cool against the back of his hand as he clenched his phone.

"What is it? Are you okay?" Marie's voice was full of worry, her face drawn with concern. "Where's Joe?"

Kuro turned his phone so she could read the text message on the screen. "Babel has him. They're holding him as collateral. I'm supposed to fulfill the contract on my own, or the curse will get worse for the both of us."

Anger was boiling up inside him. He might be the quieter one between himself and Joe, but his self-control came from the stability of their relationship. The only thing stopping Kuro from going on a rampage was the featherlight pressure of Marie's fingertips on his skin. Otherwise, Kuro would do everything and anything he had to in order to get Joe back, and there was a high chance he'd leave carnage in his wake.

"Ah." Marie sat back on her heels, her touch never leaving the back of his hand. "We're out of time, then. No more research."

Kuro searched Marie's face. He felt himself stumble back from the edge of insensible rage as he looked at her. Her expression was calm, almost carved from something as warm as wood and hard as stone. He'd never realized how sharp her gaze could be. This was the corporate version of Marie. The consultant who could silence a boardroom just by staring and waiting. No magic required.

She caught him in her gaze and said with absolute confidence, "My plan isn't fully baked, but it's what we've got to go with. We're going to need to gather a couple of people to make this work."

Checking in at the front desk of Socrates Industries was easy. Both Marie and Kuro had been there before, and the receptionist didn't even take a new photo of Kuro. They only printed up a new temporary visitor pass and handed it to him, instructing him to keep it clipped to his clothing in a visible spot.

The security checkpoint on the research level felt like it took longer than it had in the past. Kuro stood in the tight space with her, his solid warmth at her back and his heartbeat steady. How he could be so calm was a mystery to her.

She wasn't usually the person in the thick of things when the Darke Consortium moved to take an object of myth and magic into custody. That was usually Bennett or Thomas. They were the heavy hitters of the group. She guessed that Duncan could match either of them for physical advantage, but the sidhe rarely chose to. She was usually an investigator in advance, or she provided support during an actual operation.

But this time, she had plans for the item they were targeting, and there wasn't time to discuss it with the few members of the Darke Consortium who were available. This was one of those instances when she thought it would be better to ask for forgiveness, rather asking for permission and potentially being denied.

So here she was, trying to look harmless and innocent while walking into a research facility to take what was certain to be one of the company's most valued research items. At least she wasn't alone.

"Which is the one you want me to carry?" Kuro asked as they ducked into the storage room. They removed their coats and hung them up the way they had the last time they'd been here. It'd look weird if they kept their coats on walking through the research area.

"This one." Marie tapped the side of one of the buckets. "But put this on first."

Opening her shoulder bag, she pulled out an apron and handed it to him, then retrieved one for herself and pulled it over her head. "I wear these when I'm doing planting. It'll make more sense for us to be carrying around cuttings with these on."

Kuro grunted in what sounded like an affirmative. She allowed herself a small smile, pleased he didn't seem to have any reservations about following instructions. No arguments, not even insisting she explain her plan. He'd simply come with her and done whatever he could to expedite their activities.

Speaking of which, they needed to get moving. It was early enough in the morning that Toby probably hadn't come into the office yet. She was hoping most of the researchers hadn't yet, either. She picked up a flat of smaller seedlings.

The two of them left the storage room and headed toward the research and development area. They stopped in a break area, placing seedlings in glass terrariums on shelves lining a corner nook, planned for that purpose. Then they continued deeper into the section. They made it all the way to the cubicle area, and it was mostly empty. That was a good thing.

Except it was so quiet, she was almost certain a normal human could have heard her heart pounding in her chest. Which meant Kuro definitely could.

"Excuse me," a familiar voice called. "You can't be here."

Marie jumped in spite of herself and almost dropped her flat of seedlings. Damn it. She'd been expecting something like this. Hoping for it, even. She needed to pull herself together.

She plastered her sweetest smile on her face and turned to face the speaker, their dead man walking, but not dead anymore, research scientist. Much better than Leslie, the very sharp research lead in this place.

"Hi." Marie walked directly to him. "We were hoping to find someone in this early. I'm so glad you're here."

The best way to mislead someone was to only speak the truth. She'd learned that from hanging around supernaturals. Vampires and werewolves could sense a lie from hearing a person's heart rate and smelling their scent. So could several other supernaturals she'd encountered in the past.

The man tugged self-consciously at his lab coat as she got close. She noticed Kuro was following, but staying back a step or two so as not to crowd their target. Perfect. It was too bad the scientist wasn't wearing the amulet again. That would've been too easy, wouldn't it?

"We've been cataloging the absolutely fantastic range of plants the company wants me to incorporate into the urban gardens throughout the building," she began.

The scientist barely made eye contact before his gaze darted away and landed on the bucket in Kuro's hands. "You can't just take those plants out of the storage room. There's no garden planned for this department."

Good. Stay focused on the blue lotus in the bucket.

"Some micro gardens were planned for the break rooms." Marie kept her tone cheerful and earnest. "Oh, and we found something that I think might've been stored with the plants by mistake."

She carefully balanced the flat of seedlings on one arm and reached into her apron pocket with the other, retrieving what looked like a very old scroll of papyrus. The scientist's eyes widened.

"There were samples of plain papyrus. Probably to incorporate into a display," Marie continued. "But this one has writing on it. Artwork, really. I thought maybe it got placed in the storage room by mistake."

"That shouldn't have been in the storage room." The scientist leaned forward to look at the scroll in her hand.

"I thought so." Marie pulled the scroll close to her chest. "Thank you for confirming. I really should turn this in to Mr. Mancini. We'll just get going now."

She turned and starting walking away with purposeful strides. Kuro followed, the bucket in his hands sloshing slightly.

"Careful with that." The scientist sounded flustered. "Miss, wait!"

She shouldn't smile. But Punch would be so proud of her acting. Ashke would've been so amused. So would Joe.

Suddenly serious, she turned to the scientist again, all wide eyes and polite expression.

"You can't hand that to Mancini," the scientist said. His voice had risen a little at the end.

Marie drew her brows together in a troubled expression. "Oh, but he's the person who gave me access to the storage room. I specifically heard Leslie—your supervisor, right? Leslie wasn't happy with Mr. Mancini for taking over one of the storage rooms on this level."

"You can hand it over to me." The scientist held out his hand. "There's only one research and development department in this building."

"No," Marie said regretfully, shaking her head. "I really don't feel right just handing it off to someone without being sure where it's supposed to be. Anything I find in the storage room should be reported to Mr. Mancini. I'm sure he'll find out which department it goes to."

As she spoke, she stepped closer to Kuro and the back of her hand brushed the petals of the blue lotus. She held her breath, watching as the man stepped closer, obviously wanting to take the scroll but not quite willing to literally grab it out of her hand. His eyes dilated as he took in a breath, then inhaled deeper.

Excellent. Normally, the blue lotus would need to be processed and imbibed, but her magic boosted its psychoactive properties without the need for consumption.

"It'd be different if it was part of a collection and obviously had a place it belonged," Marie murmured. Just a suggestion. Super obvious. But the man wasn't exactly thinking clearly anymore. He was a little more open to suggestion.

"Of course." He looked affronted. "Come with me."

He led them past the cubicles to another hallway. He badged into a room and through a set of doors that seemed almost like an airlock. This was one of the most eclectic lab areas she'd ever seen, and that included movies and television shows.

The first thing to catch her attention was the hospital bed on one side of the room. There were all sorts of devices for monitoring biometrics. She definitely recognized a crash cart. On the wall behind the hospital bed was a carved slab of stone she recognized from the research Rensho had sent her about ancient Egypt.

"Is that Egyptian?" she asked, walking toward it. "Wow."

"It's a false door." The scientist moved to get between her and the stone slab. "It's an ancient Egyptian threshold between the worlds of the living and the dead."

If she remembered correctly from the information Rensho had found, she'd bet the false door was hung on a west-facing wall.

Nearby was a table covered in scrolls and right next to them was the amulet. No pedestal or display case. Not even a glass plate. The amulet should have at least been in a museum and instead, here it was lying on a table in a lab waiting for the next experiment.

She didn't spare the amulet more than a glance. Instead she held up the scroll. "I guess this really does belong here."

She extended the scroll toward the scientist, offering it to him.

He stared at the scroll and her outstretched hand for a long second before he seemed to process what she'd said. "Of course. I told you."

He took it and placed it with the others on the table. While he did, Marie approached the false door.

"Careful, don't touch that." The scientist moved toward her.

At the same time, Kuro stepped past her and put the bucket down on the hospital bed with a slosh.

"Hey!" The scientist redirected to grab the bucket and shove it back into Kuro's arms, heedless of the water that now splashed onto Kuro.

"That's why I had us wear aprons," Marie said to Kuro. "It's always a good idea when carrying water containers around. It's not like the plants are kept in crystal clear water, you know. They always create an aquatic microbiome with beneficial bacteria. It's fascinating, especially for aquatic gardeners and aquarium enthusiasts, but generally a bad day to end up soaked in if an accident happened. Like this."

As she spoke, she rushed to grab paper towels from a dispenser near the door and came back to try to brush water off the front of Kuro's apron.

"What are you doing? It's all over the floor, too." The scientist went to get more paper towels.

Marie risked a glance at the table just in time to see Rensho in his scroll disguise wrap around the amulet. A moment later, they unwrapped themselves and an amulet was on the table. Just not the real one.

Marie had to give credit to Jenna. The girl's replica looked just like the real one.

"We're so sorry." Marie straightened and grabbed the paper towels from the scientist. "I'll take these with us and dispose of them. Let me just get my seedlings."

She rushed back over to retrieve the flat she'd put down when she'd gone to help clean up all the water. As she passed close to the table, Rensho tipped into her apron pocket and changed their appearance to match the paper towels.

"Yes, yes. The sooner you two get out, the better," the scientist grumbled. "Seriously. A pair of walking accidents just waiting to happen."

The scientist stopped short when he realized Kuro was looking directly at him. He cleared his throat and gave Kuro a nervous nod.

Marie didn't want the scientist to remember too much about Kuro. She rushed to the door. "Okay, well, bye!"

It took everything she had in her to walk past the storage room and through the security checkpoint to one of the planned garden areas on a different floor. This one had a water feature and she made a show of placing several lotus plants in the shallow pool. The blue lotuses remained in the bucket with her and Kuro. The rest of the seedlings went into tiny pockets at intervals on a green wall behind the pool, where drip irrigation would nurture them.

Mancini never showed up to check on her. No irate scientist came after them. Security didn't come down on their heads. Her heart was just pounding through her chest the whole time.

She placed the last seedling and murmured to Kuro, "I think we can go now."

He nodded.

They headed straight for the storage room and emerged without the aprons. At the front desk, a security guard stopped them and asked to check Marie's shoulder bag. She handed it over without comment, detaching the large umbrella she had hanging off the bag and leaning it against the front desk. The security guard then patted each of them down.

It confirmed that security had been watching them the whole time. She'd guessed that might be the case. The comedy of errors they'd enacted had been as much to distract security surveillance as it had been the scientist in the room.

"We'd intended to be here longer, but my assistant got splashed with water and it got into his shoes," she explained to the receptionist. "Kind of made a mess in one of the research rooms, and the scientist in there told us to get out. I figured it would be best to leave the premises until Mr. Mancini has a chance to smooth things out with that department before I try to resume work down on that level."

"Hmm? Yeah, maybe," the receptionist responded, staring across the lobby. "Mancini and the lead down there don't get along."

"Nothing on them," the security guard reported. Then the guard focused on the receptionist. "What?"

The receptionist blinked a few times. "Nothing. I just… I thought I saw an umbrella moving across the floor, but there's nothing there."

The security guard turned to look. "You mean someone knocked one over and it went rolling? That happens all the time. I keep telling them to get better umbrella stands to leave by the front doors."

"Speaking of which, my assistant forgot to bring one and mine is too small for two people to share. Mind if we grab one on the way out?" Marie asked.

The receptionist rubbed his eyes. "Sure. This time of year, you never know if it's going to rain."

Marie nodded. "Thanks."

She took her shoulder bag from the security guard with a nod, grabbed her umbrella, and headed toward the front door with Kuro. As they passed the umbrella stand, Kuro pulled an umbrella free and carried it out with them.

They said nothing for most of the walk to the public library.

"Go to level three," Rensho whispered.

Marie and Kuro followed their quiet directions without giving any sign of having heard. In minutes, they were among the book stacks next to a mural of a hidden cephalopod.

Rensho popped up out of the umbrella in Kuro's hand. "That was fun!"

Kuro put the now-empty umbrella down and it hopped up and down in place. Its appearance changed from a nondescript black umbrella to one of the traditional Chinese-style oiled-paper umbrellas. The handle changed into a single leg balancing on a bony foot. A lone, large eye appeared and rolled at them playfully.

Kuro scowled at them. "Maybe don't go running across the lobby in plain sight next time. I thought that was it for us."

The umbrella, a Japanese yōkai called a karakasa kozō, only lolled its very long tongue at them. Then it spat out several firm, light brown, bare lotus roots. What was left of the blue lotus plants from Socrates Industries.

Marie sighed, gathering up the roots and stuffing them in her shoulder bag. "If someone looks at the security footage, I don't think they'll be able to tell I brought in two umbrellas and only had one when the security guard stopped us."

"Ah, security can't be vigilant all the time." Rensho chortled. "Besides, humans always explain away what they witness. They don't believe their own eyes most of the time."

Rensho levitated in the air in his scroll form, approaching Marie. She held out her hand and he deposited the amulet into her palm. It was bigger than her hand. Hefty.

"This was fun, Marie," Rensho said. "I'm going to get back to my manga now. Let me know when you want to invite me on another adventure."

Marie shook her head. "Hopefully more research in the future. Less crime."