Page 19 of Wicked Deeds

The only evidence humans had ever been inside this room, other than the furniture, was a charging cable plugged into a socket in the wall.

My turn to frown. “If they used this as a home office, there should be more stuff in here. And if they didn’t, why isn’t it a junk room?”

“Some people are tidier than you,” Lizzie said with a grin.

“I’m tidy enough. Most people still end up with junk in a spare room, even if it’s temporary.” I shot a glance at Callum. I didn’t know if he had a house in the realm, though the factthat Lady Morgain had called him Lord Duinne at some point suggested he did. If he did, I couldn’t picture it as anything less than immaculate. No junk rooms for Fae. “Unless, of course, they can magically expand their houses.”

“Going to guess that doesn’t apply here,” Lizzie said. “But there’s nothing we need to worry about.”

We moved on. The second door on the left was a powder room. Not many places for afrit to hide there, unless they were swimming up and down the sewer lines. I shuddered at the thought and pushed it away. That was one nightmare image I didn’t need.

Backing out of the room, I stopped for a moment and studied the floorboards.

Lizzie almost crashed into me. “What are you looking at?”

“The floor is too clean,” I said. “Everything else is dusty but there’s a clear path along the corridor. Someone’s swept or vacuumed or something.”

“Could be a cleaning service?”

“A cleaning service that only does a strip of floor? Nope.”

“Someone covering their tracks,” Callum said. “If the floor was deep in dust, there would be footprints.”

Exactly. But there were none. And it had to have been recent because the dust hadn’t yet started to spread out over the surface again.

Lizzie crouched down, one hand spread, fingers touching the floor lightly. She closed her eyes, forehead wrinkling in concentration. She climbed back to her feet. “Well, if someone was here, they didn’t clean the floor with magic.”

“Your friend said she saw lights. Someone moving around in here is the simplest explanation,” I pointed out. At least it possibly ruled out demonkind. I doubted imps cared much about housekeeping and afrit couldn’t use a broom. But ahuman trying not to leave traces behind might clean up after themselves.

I extended my magic again, feeling for anything strange. But no. Nothing. More points to the no-demonkind theory.

I walked up to the end of the corridor, sticking to the clear parts of the floor. As I’d suspected, there was a staircase leading up to the first floor on the left and to the right a living area. Two beige sofas were angled toward the far wall where a monitor hung. No pictures, no knickknacks.

The place was beginning to creep me out again. There was no trace of anything indicating demonkind, but Lizzie’s friend was right. There was a weird vibe. I would be happy to get out of there and never come back. Callum tipped each of the sofas up onto one end in turn, moving the heavy furniture as easily as I might pick up a cushion, but nothing scuttled out from under them.

“Kitchen, then upstairs?” I asked.

Lizzie nodded. Her expression was focused as she scanned the room a final time. “Kitchen.”

The kitchen didn’t make the creepiness any less. When we opened the door, there was a sour smell that had me reaching for my gun. Until Lizzie said, “Well, whoever lived here, they didn’t take out the garbage when they left.”

The kitchen was a mess. There were fast-food bags on the table, and unwashed—now covered in mold—plates and glasses in the sink. Lizzie flicked on the fan over the stove but it only made the smell worse. Callum, covering his mouth with one hand, grimaced, then waved his hand in a complicated gesture. The room instantly smelled fresher.

Lizzie arched an eyebrow. “What was that?”

“A scent ward,” Callum said. “The smell is still there but we won’t notice it.”

“Right,” Lizzie said. “Handy. Can you teach it to me?”

Callum nodded with a half-shrug I interpreted as ‘I can try’. Fae magic and witch magic were different. I had a better chance of learning Fae magic, because I hadn’t been steeped in witch magic since I was thirteen like most witches. So, depending on how Callum’s ward worked, it might not be something Lizzie could replicate.

Without the smell, it was easier to focus on the room, not the garbage. Whoever built the place was team storage. Lots of cabinets. A bonus if you wanted to live there. Less so if you were hunting creatures that could fit in small spaces. I decided to start with the pantry. When I pulled the double doors open, a light inside came on automatically, nearly blinding me.

I threw up a hand, eyes watering. “Crap.” I blinked back the tears, and froze as my vision cleared, revealing what was on the shelves. Bags of chips and other junk and a bunch of canned sodas and bottled water filled the middle shelf, convenient for grabbing stuff, but otherwise the shelves were full of things that could be used for doing magic.

“Maggie?” Lizzie asked, straightening from where she’d been examining the cabinet under the sink.

“I think you should come see this,” I said, trying to sound calm. No need for immediate panic. I couldn’t feel any magic. I hadn’t tripped a ward. There were magical supplies, yes. But they were dusty like everything else. Whoever had been using them hadn’t been doing so lately.

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