“Hm?” Gideon looked down at her with an arched eyebrow. “What are you scheming?”
“Just—block the view.” She took Harry by the elbow and pulled him in front of the case. “Stand here, linebacker.”
Harry shrugged. Sluuuuuuurp.
Gideon was glaring at Harry with a withering stare. “Must you be so irritating all the time?”
“Yeah.” Slurrrrrp. “I do.”
Rolling her eyes, she bent down to pretend to tie her shoe. Reaching into her hoodie pocket, she pulled Algernon out from where he was curled up asleep. Whispering, she scratched his head. “Hey, little guy. I have a job for you.”
That got his attention quickly. Without any explanation needed, he hopped up, cleaned his few remaining whiskers, and scurried out of her hand. She stood and tried not to draw too much attention to the glass case as Algernon climbed easily up the leg of the display case.
“Clever.” Gideon smirked. “Very clever.”
“Now we just have to not get caught.” How did one not look suspicious? She had no idea, so she took out her phone and busied herself with that, pointlessly scrolling through the news while keeping Algernon in the corner of her eye.
He squeezed through the hole with a wriggle of his back legs and quickly made his way to the piece of the talisman. Picking it up in his teeth, he turned around and beat a hasty retreat back out the hole.
Crouching, she went to fake tie her other shoe as Algernon leapt back into her hoodie pocket. She would have to be careful not to touch the talisman until she was somewhere she felt like passing out for half an hour. Standing, she grinned in triumph. “Tah-dah.”
Gideon was simply watching her with a pleased smile. As if he were proud of her. The expression made her face go a little warm. She shrugged, suddenly wanting to brush the whole event off. “Who wants kebabs?”
“I will never say no to that.” The necromancer gestured for her to lead the way. “Then we should head back to the hotel and see where this new piece leads you.”
“Oh, goodie. Nothing like spelunking through my head to really make an afternoon fun and entertaining.” She wanted to shove her hands in her hoodie, but she didn’t dare risk touching the piece of the talisman. She settled for her pants pockets. “First, kebabs.”
She did her best not to look nervous as they left the cistern and the museum. She tried very, very hard not to glance at every security guard they passed, and it wasn’t until they were outside that she realized she had been basically holding her breath.
Once the sunlight touched her face, she finally let herself exhale.
Just in time to have a gun pressed to the back of her head. A heavy hand fell on her shoulder. “Hi, kids.”
Rinaldo.
* * *
The warning screechfrom Eurydice came one moment too late. His familiar was circling overhead, waiting for the chance to strike. Anger surged in Gideon as he rounded on the priest, but he pulled up short as he noticed the gun tucked into Marguerite’s hair, pressing to the back of her neck.
Father Rinaldo was careful to stand close enough to the young woman that the gun was concealed from the tourists passing by. He smiled warmly at them, as if they were old friends meeting by chance. “How was the cistern?”
When Harry made a move as if to attack, Gideon held out his arm. At least in these matters, the revenant listened to him. Harry froze, fists clenched and shoulders tight.
“Let her go, Rinaldo. I will turn this into an ‘international incident’ if I must.”
Rinaldo sighed. “I’m not gonna shoot her, lich. Not unless I need to. But what I do need to do is make a good show of this.”
“Excuse me?” He arched an eyebrow at the other man.
“Can we not talk about me like I’m not here?” Marguerite squeaked. “And that I don’t have a fucking gun to my head?”
“Shush, kid.” Rinaldo pulled her back a step closer to him. “Don’t make a scene. The safety’s still on.”
“What are you after, priest?” Gideon tightened the grip on his cane. He knew that despite his calm exterior, his knuckles were likely turning white.
“I have orders to ‘contain or eliminate’ Maggie.” The priest paused. “I don’t want to follow those orders. But if I don’t make a good show of trying, then…well…”
“Your superior will assign someone who will.” Gideon sighed heavily. “May I ask why you’re assisting us?”