Elemental Thief

Chapter 21

"Damn," Archer murmured, turning away from Ezra and Ridley. "He knows."

"Knows what?" Ridley took hold of Archer's arm and tried to pull him back around.

"You're welcome," Ezra said loudly. "Can I go now?"

"Um, yes." Ridley looked over her shoulder at him. "Thank you, Ezra." Then she hurried to block Archer's way forward. "Why the heck does Lawrence Madson need to steal from your family?"

Archer's eyes rose to meet hers, but it was as if a wall had come down over them. "Thanks for your help, Ridley. I can handle things from here."

She dropped her hands to her sides. "Seriously? That's it?"

"That's it. Your job's done. You can go back to your friends." He made to move past her, but she put her hand out and stopped him.

"Hang on. Just wait. I can help you with this. It's easy for me, remember?"

"I managed before," Archer said, "when I was hoping to get the envelope back. I think I can manage again."

"Okay, but ..." Realizing her hand was still pressed against his chest, she hastily lowered it. "All I want is to understand, Archer. A man I don't know started following me. He was killed in an alley behind my house. An alley that both you and Lawrence happened to be in. Lawrence took an envelope that you, apparently, wanted just as badly as he did. And now it turns out Lawrence is stealing from you. I know you said it's none of my business and I should just walk away, but it is my business. That man was following me. It was my home he died outside of. So please, just give me something."

Archer's eyes rose to meet hers. He opened his mouth, then closed it without saying a word. Ridley threw her hands up in frustration. "If it's something sensitive or confidential and you're worried I'm going to go and tell a whole bunch of people, then you've obviously forgotten that you know my biggest secret. You know about—" she paused, looked around, then lowered her voice "—my magic. You know about my criminal life. So I have a very big incentive to keep quiet about whatever you tell me."

Archer shook his head. "Look, Ridley, you just ... you can't be involved any further, okay? You need to get back to your normal life. You've got school on Monday, and—"

"You're seriously reminding me about school right now?"

"It's your senior year, Ridley. It's important."

"So is this, apparently! Whatever 'this' is. And life is never going to be normal again. Someone shot at me. And there's a secret underworld of magic. Oh, and to top it all off, magic isn't actually the wild, deadly entity we've all been led to believe. Life doesn't just go back to normal after discovering these kinds of things."

"Well it has to."

She shook her head. "You might refuse to tell me what's really going on, but you can't keep me from being involved. I'm going to get that figurine back. I made this mess, Archer. I stole the figurine and—"

"Earlier today you weren't the least bit interested in fixing your mistakes. How about we just pretend nothing's happened since then, and you can continue being disinterested."

"Because now I know that people's lives are in danger. At least, they are if you've been telling the truth."

"Of course I've been telling the truth. I wouldn't lie about something so—"

"Okay, then let me do this. I'll get it done quickly. Quicker than you, at least."

"No."

Her eyes darted over his shoulder. She could run. She could get around the corner, become invisible, and he'd never be able to catch her. She shoved past him and ran, but he lunged after her and caught her arm. "Don't! Please, I'm serious, Ridley."