There it was again – a rush of warmth, tingling up his arm from the tips of his fingers.
It’s here. It’s here. This is what we’re looking for.
His dragon’s voice was a low, but very confident growl.
Caleb hesitated a moment – but then he decided to trust it. Reaching up, he pulled down the folder that had sent the tingling feeling down his arm and opened it.
Nothing about the contents jumped out at him at first – it seemed to be budget reports and receipts from twenty years ago for things acquired by the county, like plots of land, cars, and building refitting costs. Caleb flicked through them all quickly, realizing that none of them were what he was after almost as soon as he laid eyes on them.
After the receipts and budget reports there were a few pieces of formal correspondence – also nothing that he needed.
None of these things is a will…Caleb thought, his heart sinking. But then, he’d only just gotten his magic – was it so surprising that he didn’t know how to use it yet?
His dragon, however, said nothing – it just continued to smugly breathe smoke. Sighing inwardly, Caleb shuffled on through the papers… until his hand lighted on a thick envelope, hidden inside a pocket on the back cover of the folder. Once again, he felt the warm prickle of electricity up his arm, but it was stronger this time, more powerful.
Caleb licked his lips. He couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it just yet, as he rested the folder on the shelf in front of him, and then, with slightly shaking hands, pulled the envelope from where it had been stuffed inside the pocket.
It was old – old enough that the glue of the envelope was no longer working, and the paper had become soft and worn. Carefully, Caleb opened it up, pulling out the folded documents within, a thick wad of paper.
Just as carefully, he unfolded the paper. It was thin enough that he needed to be extremely gentle with it, just to stop it from tearing as he touched it. But one glance at the writing across the top was enough to tell him what he needed to know: there, in thick Gothic letters, were written the words The Last Will and Testament of Mason George Thomas Girdwood II –
But Caleb barely had time to register what he was looking at before he heard something that made his blood run cold: the sound of the door leading into the records room being opened.
Caleb stood stock-still. He could hear annoyed muttering and footsteps from the far side of the room, but he couldn’t see anyone – thankfully, he was blocked from view by the massive shelves standing between him and the door. Kira must finally have run out of ways to keep the clerk busy.
But that just means I need to get out of here. And fast.
Carefully folding the will away again, Caleb slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket. Moving swiftly and silently, he made his way along the back wall. He could sense someone coming closer – all his dragon’s senses were on high alert, its instincts telling him which way to move.
He’s in the aisle we were just in,his dragon informed him, its eyes darting. Caleb knew it was right – he could see the clerk’s shadow as he moved down the aisle. Not wasting a moment, Caleb darted down the next aisle, heading toward the door.
Almost there –
Caleb would just have to hope the clerk wouldn’t turn around as he slipped out the door.
He won’t,his dragon purred – and he didn’t.
Caleb was almost expecting the angry shout from behind him, or for the shelves to collapse down on top of him, or for the door to jam, or any number of ridiculous things that could have – would have – happened if he’d still been under his curse. But instead, all that happened was that he easily pushed open the door and slipped through it, back out into the corridor.
And now, to get out of here.
Caleb hurried back the way he’d come, but this time, instead of going out through the side door, he simply jogged out past the front desk and out of the glass front doors. There was no sense in doing it covertly if he could just do things the simple way, after all.
As he made his way across the parking lot, he could see Kira sitting in her Range Rover, her face pale and tense, her fingers gripped around the steering wheel as if her life depended on it.
He smiled at her as he jogged over to the car, hoping she’d understand him, though he didn’t dare take the will from his pocket – he wouldn’t have put it past the curse to have one last nasty surprise for him, with a passing seagull swooping down to snatch it from his hand.
Still, Kira looked over at him, her expression anxious, when he opened the door.
“Did you – oh man, I don’t even know if I can bring myself to ask,” she said, shaking her head, looking at her white-knuckled hands.
Caleb grinned at her. “I got it.”
The look of joy that spread across Kira’s face when she turned to look at him was like looking at the breaking dawn – just as awe-inducing, and twice as lovely.
“You –!” She flung herself forward across the passenger seat, wrapping her arms around him. “I can’t believe this! You found it?!”
“Yeah,” Caleb laughed, once he’d managed to extract himself from the kisses she was enthusiastically planting all over his face. “It was in some old folder full of receipts and things, and then in an envelope… I’m not surprised it couldn’t be found, but then, it seems like the clerk wasn’t that interested in helping you either.”
“Yeah, I always wondered about that,” Kira said, a little darkly. “Maybe it was just laziness. But…”
“Mm. But.” Caleb nodded. “But I guess that’s kind of small potatoes, compared with what we have to do next.”
“Right.” Kira pressed her lips together, but the sparkle of hope remained strong in her eyes. “But I think we can do it.”
“I think you might be right,” Caleb told her, as she started the car.