Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 81

It was a short, simple note, but it made my whole body turn cold.

It read, I am displeased with your progress in your advanced studies. I suggest you spend additional time learning all you can. Time is growing short. I do not care how you arrange this, but you will be expected to demonstrate at least a journeyman understanding of what you are being taught within the next two days. You cannot involve Michael. He is not to be risked.

Nothing else. I stared at the perfect handwriting for a few seconds, then folded the note up and put it back in the envelope. I still felt tired and hungry, but more than anything else, now I felt scared.

Amelie wasn't happy.

That wasn't good.

Two days. And Michael could only go with me in the evenings ...

I couldn't wait.

I checked in my backpack. The red crystal shaker was still inside, safely zipped into a pocket.

If I took Michael's car -- no, I couldn't. I'd never be able to see through the tinting, even if I felt confident in my ability to drive it. And Detective Lowe wasn't going to give me a ride. I could try Detective Hess, but Lowe's attitude had made me gun-shy.

Still, I couldn't just go out alone.

With a sigh, I called Eddie, the taxi driver.

"What?" he snapped. "Don't I get a day off? What is it with you?"

"Eddie, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I need a favor." I hastily checked my wallet. "Um, it's a short trip, I'll pay you double, okay? Please?"

"Double? I don't take checks."

"I know that. Cash."

"I don't wait. I pick up, I drop off, I leave."

"Eddie! Double! Do you want it or not?"

"Keep your panties on. What's the address?"

"Michael Glass's house."

Eddie heaved a sigh so heavy it sounded like a temporary hurricane. "You again. Okay, I come. But I swear, last time. No more Saturdays, yes?"

"Yes! Yes, okay. Just this time."

Eddie hung up on me. I bit my lip, slipped the note from Amelie into my bag, and hoped Michael had been serious about going to bed. Because if he'd eavesdropped on me, even by accident, I was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

It took five minutes for Eddie to arrive. I waited on the sidewalk, and jumped in the back of the battered old cab -- barely yellow, after so much sun exposure -- and handed Eddie all the cash I had. He counted it. Twice.

Then he grunted and flipped the handle on the taxi meter. "Address?"

"Katherine Day's house." One thing I had learned about riding with Eddie -- you didn't need numbers, only names. He knew everybody, and he knew where everybody lived. All the natives, anyway. The students, he just dropped on campus and forgot.

Eddie threw an arm over the back of his seat and frowned at me. He was a big guy, with a lot of wild dark hair, including a beard. I could barely see his eyes when he frowned, which was pretty much always. "The Day House. You're sure."

"I'm sure."

"Told you I'm not staying, right?"

"Eddie, please!"

"Your funeral," he said, and hit the gas hard enough to press my back into the cushions.

Myrnin's shack was easy enough to get into -- the trick, after all, wasn't getting in. It was getting out. Light slashed in thin ribbons through the darkness where the boards didn't quite meet, but it wasn't exactly easy to see, and I didn't much like roaming around in Myrnin's lair in the dark. Or even half-dark. I found a flashlight on the shelf near the door and thumbed it on; a pure white circle of light brushed across the dusty floor, and showed me the narrow steps at the back that led down.