Page 42 of Wind Called

“I suppose that’s something,” she said. “None of my security cameras caught the person who tried to break in, so either they have the power of invisibility in their bag of tricks, or they have some kind of other talent that can interfere with technology. You’ll need to be really on your guard.”

Next to him, Bellamy pressed her lips together, looking even more troubled. Marc, on the other hand, wasn’t too surprised by hisprima’srevelation. After all, it seemed as if Connor and Angela had a pretty sophisticated security system in place at their house, and yet the thief appeared to have bypassed it without any trouble.

“We’re definitely on our guard,” Levi said. “And we’ll pass this information along to Marie Begonie and Lucas Wilcox as well, since they’re the ones who keep an eye on things in the Wilcox clan when Connor’s here in Jerome.”

Right — the Wilcoxes didn’t have elders the way the McAllisters did, or even like the de la Paz clan had had in place for generations. True, Marc’s clan wasn’t quite as formal about it, but every de la Pazprimahad a group of experienced witches and warlocks from within the family whom she could consult when her own experience and intuition failed her.

“I suppose that’s all any of us can do,” Zoe replied. She hesitated for a moment, then said, “I’ll keep you posted if anything else happens. Have a good one.”

The FaceTime call ended there, and the elders looked over at Bellamy, who once again shifted uncomfortably on the sofa.

“I think you had better call in to work,” Tricia said gently, and at once Bellamy’s brows drew together.

“I started less than a month ago,” she protested. “Do you want my manager to think I’m a total flake?”

Levi suddenly looked very stern, an abrupt change from the pleasant expression he usually wore. “Clan business supersedes any outside work,” he told her. “You know that.”

Everyone in all the witch clans knew that — it was part of the reason why so many of them owned their own businesses or worked as independent contractors. While they did their best to function in the modern world, if something major was going down with their family, they knew they had to put all other considerations aside and focus on that.

And even though Bellamy’s chin was stubbornly set, Marc could tell she’d realized she was on the losing side of the argument here. If your clan elders told you to do something — well, as long as it wasn’t illegal — then you did as they said.

Even if it meant pissing off your manager.

“Fine,” she said, although her tone indicated it was anything but fine. “I really don’t see the point, though. It’s not as if this Collector person is going to come barging into Sedona Vines or something.”

“No,” Levi replied, his mouth twitching just the slightest bit. “But I need you available if I do manage to find someone who can help guide you to Sedona’s more powerful, hidden vortexes. If you’re able to hear the voices better when you’re standing in one, it just makes sense that you should be there to see if you can find out more about the witch or warlock who seems so bent on taking our valuable artifacts away from us.”

For a second or two, Bellamy didn’t respond. Marc could almost see her turning the various arguments over in her head, trying to decide if any of them would have any effect on Levi or the rest of the elders.

“I’ll call him,” she said. “But only once we’re done here.”

“Oh, we’re done,” Tricia said. “We have Zoe’s warning to keep in mind, and Levi has some research to do. At this point, we’re in sort of a holding pattern.”

The mutinous set to Bellamy’s jaw signaled she thought there shouldn’t be any reason why she couldn’t go into work if all they were doing was sitting around and waiting. But Marc thought he saw his grandmother’s point — maybe they didn’t have anything concrete to go on right now, and yet if Levi found the vortex expert they needed, it would have looked even worse for her to have to drop everything in the middle of her shift and disappear.

“Then I suppose we’ll head back to Sedona and wait,” she said, and got up abruptly from the couch, slipping her purse over one shoulder as she rose. “Marc, let’s go.”

He wasn’t about to argue, not when she sounded like that. Most of the time, she seemed like the most easygoing person in the world, but everyone had their limit and he supposed she’d just hit hers.

“We’ll wait for your call,” he told Levi, and the elder inclined his head.

“Hopefully soon.”

Tricia and Allegra both murmured goodbyes, clearly wanting to be polite without setting Bellamy off any further. Once they were safely inside the cab of his truck and pulling away from the curb — in general, Marc liked to drive manually when he could, but this time he thought it was probably a better idea to let the vehicle take over — Bellamy let out a huff of a breath.

“It’s like they don’t even realize that I just started this job a month ago,” she said as she fished around in her oversized bag to locate her phone. “I mean, sure, if I fell and broke my leg or came down with bubonic plague, I probably wouldn’t get too much grief for calling in. But some vague ‘family business’ kind of bullshit?”

“Is your manager really that much of a hard-ass?” Marc asked, and she sighed again.

“Not really. Or at least, I’ve never run into a situation where I’ve seen him come down on someone at work. Then again, it’s not like any of us has given him a reason, either.”

She stopped there, phone in her hand, and stared down at it for a long moment.

Then she said, “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

The phone rang twice, three times, and Bellamy found herself hoping it would roll over to voicemail. Sure, that was a chickenshit way of getting out of her shift at the last minute, but at least then she wouldn’t have to find out right away whether Jack Hardy, her supervisor, had a short fuse or not.

But then he picked up, saying, “Hey, Bellamy. What’s up?”

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