Page 49 of Guild Boss

“That’s the color it was when the fake doctor gave me the injection in the para-psych clinic,” she said. “It lit up when the other demon—I mean, creepy bad guy—came into the room. It’s the color of the pendants that the kidnappers wore. Maybe using my talent activated it. Or the energy in the doll’s eyes?”

“But you just now noticed it?”

“Yes. No. I think it started getting warm a few minutes ago, but I was distracted by those two guys with the flamers. And then there was that storm and the lightning and, well, I wasn’t paying close attention, if you see what I mean.”

“So you didn’t notice it until this pair showed up?”

“Right.”

Gabriel tugged the leather jacket off Sweat-Stink, exposing a stained khaki shirt that had seen better days. He opened the front of the shirt.

A portal key dangled from a chain around Sweat-Stink’s throat. So did something else: a crystal that glowed blue. Without a word, Gabriel moved to Ponytail and opened the man’s shirt. Lucy saw another pendant. It, too, radiated a blue light.

Gabriel snapped the chain that held Ponytail’s pendant. Gripping the stone in one hand, he walked several feet away from the unconscious men. The blue glow of the amber faded rapidly. He turned around and walked toward Lucy. The pendant brightened. So did the one that Lucy wore around her neck.

“The ambers are tuned to respond to each other,” Gabriel said. “Signal stones. Must be a form of identification for a gang.”

“Like a tattoo or a secret password.”

“Right.”

“Those three men who tried to grab you last night weren’t wearing blue crystals,” Lucy pointed out. “Neither was Croston.”

“No, which is interesting.”

“They took a big risk ambushing us down here.”

“No,” Gabriel said. “It’s the perfect spot for an ambush. Lethal accidents happen in the Ghost City. Searchers would have found my body, and it would have looked like I died of natural causes. I think you would have vanished.”

“It’s me they wanted, isn’t it? You were in the way, so they tried to take you out.”

“That’s what this looks like.”

“And to think I always wanted to be one of the popular A-list kids back in boarding school.”

Chapter Seventeen

“I can’t begin to tell you how relieved we are to have the artifact back in the vault, Mr. Jones,” the curator said. “Obviously we must upgrade our security here at the museum.”

His name was Reginald Peabody. He was in charge of the Midnight Carnival, the legendary museum of the Arcane Society. Lucy listened absently to the conversation he and Gabriel were engaged in while she wandered through the enchanting array of exhibits, scaled-down thrill rides, and miniature towns and buildings.

Peabody had explained that the Carnival had been constructed and concealed in the Underworld tunnels soon after the Curtain closed. It occupied a vast chamber and looked like a real, working carnival, right down to a fortune-telling booth and a hot dog stand.

The museum had been designed and built by one Aloysius Jones, a historian who had been obsessed with preserving the Old World historyof the Arcane Society. In the chaotic years following the closing of the Curtain, the First Generation colonists had been focused on survival.

When the machines and computers had failed, much of the past had been lost or had morphed into the realm of legends and myths. Aloysius Jones had feared that the descendants of the founders who had ties to Arcane would forget their own secret history. He had concluded that the safest way to preserve it was in the form of a visual story—the Midnight Carnival. His theory had been that, while the historical record might disappear altogether, legends had a way of surviving.

“All security systems are vulnerable to an inside job,” Gabriel said to Peabody. “The first line of defense is thorough employee background screening. After that you should review your systems. Unfortunately, none of the high-tech gear will work down here. Normally I would advise you to hire a Guild security consultant to evaluate your situation, but considering that the Carnival is a unique museum, I think you’d be better off bringing in a Jones and Jones consultant.”

Peabody sighed. “It’s been on my to-do list ever since the Society acquired the rights to the Carnival, but I haven’t had time to get to it. Obviously it will now go to the top of my ever-lengthening agenda.”

“Yeah, I’ve got one of those lists, too. Which reminds me, I have a question for you.” Gabriel took out the two pendants he had confiscated. “Ever seen anything like this amber?”

Lucy paused to listen to Peabody’s response.

The curator examined the glowing amber, brow tightening into heavy lines. “No. Very unusual color. Signal or identification rocks, I assume. Clubs and biker gangs use them. So do scout troops and sports teams.”

“Try walking about twenty feet away,” Gabriel said. “That will take you out of range.”

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