Page 25 of Shadow Dreaming

“I don’t like any of this,” I said.

“I don’t either,” Duran replied.

“Carson, did you find out anything on the dark web? That’s probably our first place to look.” I wasn’t hungry, but I forced myself to eat. I needed to think clearly, and hunger could cloud your brain.

Carson had already opened his laptop, and he nodded. “I think so. I can’t say for sure, but in their forums, there’s a private room used for planning. You have to have the password to get in, and I haven’t been able to crack it yet. But I can see who’s used it. The past three days, there were four log ins.”

“Can you tell who logged in?” Orik asked.

“It’s complicated, but the short answer is yes, for two of them. And thanks to Lazenti, I know they’re both from Seattle. I don’t know about the other pair.” He looked at me. “There’s no guarantee they were discussing the portal and Penn, but my guess is…yes.”

“Who are they? Duran asked.

“I cross-checked their forum IDs with Lazenti.”

“Damn, dude, did you get any sleep at all?” Dante asked.

Carson shook his head. “No, I was up most of the night. Anyway, Lazenti managed to trace two of the handles to actual names.” Carson scribbled the names on a hand-held white board. He shoved it across the table to me.

I read the names. “Terrance Gilbert, and Alona Lionblade. Chaos magicians?”

He nodded. “Yes, both located in Seattle. Once we had the names, I was able to research their backgrounds. They’re both out and proud about being tied to Brim Fire. I looked into their occupations. Alona, I can’t find much about. But this Terrance guy? He works for IonStar Security.”

I jumped. “IonStar? That’s my security company!”

“I know. I immediately thought the same thing you’re thinking. Terrance works with the inner core of security surveillance. And there’s more. I did some digging and discover that there’s a flaw in their systems. Inside Hacker, a website for ethical hackers, found it a couple years ago but the company hasn’t done anything about it.”

“What’s the flaw?” Sophia asked.

“There’s a way to trigger the cameras, so that the footage shows up on the local cameras—like your phone—but the images are blocked and don’t reach the company level, so there’s nothing to alert the police about. In other words, IonStar surveillance officers won’t see anything happening. Basically, it continues to show what was happening directly before the trigger was activated.”

“Let me get this straight: If I call IonStar, they won’t have the same footage of the break-in that I do on my phone?” I knew there was technology that could do this, but the thought hadn’t even occurred to me when I was watching Penn being captures. “How does that help them, though? I can show the cops what my camera recorded.”

Orik cleared his throat. “I think I understand. Most people put their phones away during work hours, so they won’t find out anything’s happened until later in the day. And IonStar won’t notice, so they won’t raise the alarm. It’s a cheap fix, and safer than cutting the wires, which would alert the company.”

“Exactly,” Carson said. “If they cut the cameras, that would raise an alarm.”

“Crap. Well, I’m glad I didn’t call IonStar, now that I know Brim Fire has someone on the inside. For all we know, Terrance could be the company pet, or their best worker, and if he intercepted my call, he could make all of this disappear,” I said.

Carson sighed. “I suggest you immediately get rid of the security system, Kyann. You too, Dante. They’re probably keeping tabs on you. We can create one for all of us that’s safer.”

“Well, that’s a definite ick,” I said. At least I didn’t have security cameras in the bedrooms, and definitely not the bathrooms. “But you’re right, I’ll disconnect them tonight. Though I want to put up some wards in its place. Besides Penn, who do we know who’s a strong witch?”

“Her mother,” Dante said.

“No,” I shook my head. “First, Penn and her mother don’t get along very well. Second, I don’t want to tell Eileen that Penn is missing at this point. I don’t want her worrying because she would, even with their schisms. Let me think.” I sorted through names in my mind, but I realized I didn’t know many witches. Penn was one of the few. I turned to Duran. “What can you do? I don’t mean to be rude, but this is an emergency and there’s no real room for diplomacy.”

“I’m a rogue. I don’t work with magic like most witches, and that includes wards and protection. I can think things into existence, but it’s not easy. I can ‘see’ answers to mathematical problems without even trying to solve them. I also work with astral energy.” He shifted in his chair. “I can go out on the astral and can even touch some of the etherical realms.”

“That could come in handy,” I said. “Given your talents, I’m surprised the queen fired you.”

“I already had a couple strikes against me. I don’t deal well with red tape, and I tend to act before they give me the okay, though I’m not stupid about it. But I’m basically a problem child when it comes to authority.” He frowned. “That’s one thing they didn’t like about Penelope, you know. She has the same tendency to buck authority. And second, they didn’t like the fact that she was living with you. The Crystal Court sees Demonkin as problematic.”

I froze. “Did they try to pressure her against being my friend?”

“Oh, yes. They have been pushing her on it for years. After she joined PortalWatch, the pressure increased. She and I talked about it several times. They were putting the screws on.” His eyes darkened, and an angry look crossed his face. “That’s why they’re not going after her. They see this as a way to get rid of one of their problems.”

I eased back in my chair, considering what he said. A thought sparked in my brain and, though it sounded ridiculous, I suddenly sighed and said, “Do you suppose that it might not be Brim Fire who kidnapped her? That this might be the Crystal Court’s way of dealing with her?”

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