Chapter Twenty-One
The main street was empty. Not just of people, but of cars and all manner of things. No trash cans, no streetlights. Just nothing.
Stores, ones she knew, stood empty. She was disconcerted and didn’t know where to start. So, Betsy started running in the direction of Niko’s store in the strip mall.
But there was still nothing. Every window was empty, despite the lights being on. There was no sign that anyone had been here at all in decades.
The door to Niko’s store stood locked. The lights gleamed into the room and shone bright off the broken glass. There were a few mirrors in the far back and she could see herself in them.
“Niko!” She screamed as loud as she could and pounded on the glass hard. She tried to shatter it, but it barely even wobbled under her assault. “Niko!”
The door under her fist shifted and changed. She was banging on Niko’s front door now, and the house was wobbling around in its existence.
“Niko!” She rattled the knob and a second later, snapped it out of the door. The door creaked open, and the house inside was only partially furnished. Walking in, she screamed for Niko again, but the sound was dulled, as if it couldn’t pass more than a few feet from her.
“...Betsy…”
The words came from the kitchen, distant and desperate. The house flickered around her, and she was now in the kitchen, by the backdoor looking at the shuttered front door, complete with knob.
“...Bets…”
She spun around and saw what looked like old television static wavering in front of her. She stared at it and didn’t know what to do.
The house spun again, and she was standing in Niko’s bedroom. The television static was there again, this time taking on the form of a body. “...pull me in, Bets… pull me into the dream…”
“Amy?”
“Let me in…”
“You’re in…”
“I gotta… lucid dreaming… pull me in.”
Betsy reached for the static-y image of Amy and grabbed her around the waist. The static parted and Amy stepped into the place where the static was.
“Girl, you need to learn to tap these powers Niko’s lending you.”
“How the hell do you know Niko?”
Smiling, Amy backed up a step. “I’m with him. Now. We’re looking for you. We need to find you.”
“I’m in—” Her voice cut off. She couldn’t get the word out.
“Damn. I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to tell me. Can you give us a hint?”
“I’m in—” And her voice hitched again. “What the hell?”
“Self-preservation. It’s okay. Give me a hint.”
“Why can’t I say it?”
Amy put a hand on her shoulder. “This is the first time you’re trying to lucid dream. This is the first time a dreamwalker has visited you. You’re not used to this. You’re not used to being involved in magic. Give me a hint, Bets. Before we lose the connection.”
“Lose the connection?”
Amy started to fuzz out behind the static. “Erzabet Tillman! Give me a clue!”
“The diamond!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Follow the diamond!”
Betsy’s eyes popped open, not seeing anything—and screamed, “I’m in Reno! Niko! Amy!”
The hit landed in her right eye’s socket, sending a dizzying shock through her whole body and giving her an instant migraine. She screamed, afraid the pain meant that her eye had ruptured.
Before she could do another thing, another blow came to the side of her head, knocking her out of the bed and onto the floor. A rough hand insinuated its way into her hair, grabbing hold, hard.
“What the hell are you doing?” Wayne’s voice was next to her ear. “Who the hell are you screaming for?”
“Wayne, let her go!”
“She’s screaming names and places!”
“Let her go, Wayne.”
He slammed Betsy’s head into the floor, once, twice, three times, and might have kept going if Wyatt hadn’t grabbed him and yanked him away.
“Are you trying to fucking kill her? What the hell are you doing?”
“She was screaming names!”
“She was asleep, you ass!”
From what Betsy could see out of her good eye, Wayne took a swing at Wyatt and they were fighting across the room, beating the shit out of each other. She dragged her ass off the floor and fled into the bathroom. Her face was a mess. Her eye was already purpling and the eye was swelling shut. There was evidence of rug burn on her forehead. There was blood on her lips from her nose, which was still gushing blood.
Grabbing some toilet paper, she sat back on the toilet lid and put her head back to try and staunch the bleeding. She heard the two of them landing blows on each other and growling at each other.
That was the end. She couldn’t pretend she was on their side anymore. Not when Wayne was constantly suspicious of her. Wyatt might have come to her defense, but that was probably more that she was their meal ticket and money bag. They couldn’t plan to put on their underwear without her.
A few minutes later the door slammed and she sensed someone in the doorway of the bathroom. Turning her head to look without tipping her head forward, she spied Wyatt standing there.
“Who the fuck is Amy? Why were you screaming about Reno?”
“I was dreaming. You said it.”
He leaned against the doorframe, dabbing at his busted lip. “You’re not in on this anymore. Not a question. You’ve been floundering on this game for a while. Whatever the hell happened in that town changed you.”
Betsy had nothing to say. She left her head tipped back.
“Wayne wanted to kill you.”
“Wayne has always wanted to either kill me or fuck me. There’s no in between with him. You’d do well to get the hell away from him. He’s going to take you down in the worst possible way.”
“He’s my brother.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to like him.”
“Can’t let you go, Bets. You’re in too deep with this.”
“You could so let me go. You could leave me here and never think about me again. I have restitution to make and it has nothing to do with you.”
“You’re stuck with us. For life. Get used to it.”
She tipped her head so she could see him. “I’ve made my peace with that. I get that I’m going to be stuck in Tonopah for the rest of my life with you two. Which by the way, fucked up place to buy a ranch. Just a few hundred miles in another direction, and you would have been in the Reese River valley and had a chance to make an honest living raising horses. Instead, you can farm tumbleweed until your dying day.”
He walked away from the doorframe and leaned into the mirror to look at his messed-up face. “He’s going to tie you up. Until you prove you’re not leaving.”
“Where the fuck would I go, Wyatt?”
“Back to that little shit town, and the guy you were fucking while I was gone.”
“Yeah, might have burned a bridge on that one.”
Grabbing a few tissues, he wiped the blood from his lip and washed out the cuts on his face. “Could have been good, Bets. Could have been amazing. Instead you screwed everything up.”
“No, Wyatt. I didn’t screw this up. You and Wayne did when you killed those guys in Dallas. You might have kept me interested if you hadn’t gone and gotten your shit twisted up in murder one.”
“Get one thing straight right now. I didn’t kill anyone. Wayne did. I don’t do that shit. Whoever died, it was Wayne’s gun that did it.”
“Well, isn’t that lovely.”
Wyatt growled, dismissing her statement. He stared a moment longer. “Where’s the diamond?”
“Where it always is. In my purse.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t let you walk around with that meal ticket in your bag.”
“Get one thing straight right now, Wy. I am your meal ticket. Not that diamond. You would sell that off for three hundred bucks and a Happy Meal. I can use it to leverage out thousands upon thousands of dollars. So the diamond stays with me.”
She could see him studying her, quietly in the mirror. She kept her head tipped back, even though she was sure the nosebleed had stopped.
“Did you love me?”
Lifting her head, Betty stared at Wyatt’s reflection. “What?”
“You heard me.”
Dropping her head back, she sighed. “Yeah. At one time, I did. But that shit was going south months before we landed in Pine Valley.” She sat up and looked at him directly. “I swear to God, if either of you try to have sex with me, I will snap your dick off.”
Wyatt snorted. “I lost interest. You ain’t my type. Not now. No worries from me.”
“Keep that ass of a brother off me. Why don’t you turn him in? If you’re not the murderer, they might give you a reduced sentence for turning state’s evidence.”
“He’s my brother. You don’t do that shit to family.”
“No, you just go off committing felonies together. I’ll tell you right now, Wyatt. They catch us and I’m rolling like a hungry gator with fresh meat.”
“They catch us, it’s your fault.”
“My fault? You fucking asshole. I’m going down just as hard as you two if they catch us! I’m not stupid, Wyatt! You think I’d lead the goddamned cops to us? Christ, the laundry list of federal charges I’m facing because I stupidly fell for your bullshit in college. I could be a veterinarian, with a respected practice, and my loans paid off if I just hadn’t fucking fallen for your shit, hook, line, and sinker!”
“Don’t blame me.”
Betty stood. “I’m not blaming you! I’m blaming me for being a petty, moronic, naive simpleton who got off on the excitement of petty thievery! I don’t blame you, Wyatt. I just hate you for showing me this life. So fuck off. And tell Wayne to keep his hands off the diamond and his dick away from me.”
She grabbed her purse and slammed the door behind her as she left for a walk to clear her head. Betsy headed up instead of down, to the roof garden and pool. She threw her purse on a lounge chair and then tossed herself on it. She folded her arms over her stomach and wanted to throw up.
She was stuck here. With Wyatt and Wayne. Forever.
Her eyes searched the sky, and her gaze found her the constellation Max had shown them, just a few weeks ago. Draco. The Dragon. Her dragon.
Sobs racked her body until she fell asleep again under the stars.
* * *
“The diamond?” Niko shoveled another forkful of eggs into his mouth.
“That’s what she said. Follow the diamond.” Amy scratched her chin and yawned. “It was hard to get her to let me in. I don’t think she really understood what was going on or why it was me. She welcomed me when I asked, but… this is going to be harder than I thought. I wonder if she’ll ever forgive me for not telling her what I am.”
“As long as you don’t spring it on her that you’re a hundred years old, I think she’ll be fine,” Keni said.
“I’m not a hundred. I’m twenty-six, like she is.”
“Then you’ll be fine. It’s the ages that always get the muggles.”
Amy choked on her orange juice. “Really? Did you just say that?”
“Yes, I did. You’re welcome.”
Niko chewed on his bacon thoughtfully. “What do you think she meant when she said follow the diamond? I don’t think she would leave that anywhere. She thought it was beautiful.”
“Don’t all larger diamonds have a tracking number?” Keni cocked her head.
“Sure, the GIA number,” Niko said. “It’s laser engraved on a facet that’s out of the way and it’s small enough that you have to use a high power loupe to see it.”
“Can you track it? Like if it was checked or sold or pawned?”
“There’s usually an electronic trail, sure. Places that have run the…” He stopped. “Shit. She had it assessed. She didn’t have to pawn it. Amy, you have your computer?”
Before he was done even asking, Amy had the computer on the table and was booting it up. Niko moved himself around the table to where they could both see the screen, and as soon as it was running, he took over.
Navigating quickly to the site, Niko logged in, and all of his purchases came scrolling up with their identifiers. Keni let out a low whistle at some of the stuff that scrolled by, and Niko snorted. “Those are all pieces that were commissioned or experimental. I want to do more with the designs and maybe set up a line, but I have to do the pieces that pay the bills.”
Laughing, Keni shook her head. “You’re literally sitting on a hoard of gold, and you’re worried about the bills? Really? You could close that place and never look back and never have to worry about your bills.”
“That’s not the way it works, Keni. At all. How do you not know what? Henry—”
“One more word about him and I’ll ram my fist down your gullet.”
“Whoa…” Amy mumbled.
Niko backtracked. “Still, how do you not know how this works? That hoard is unspendable. I can’t go out and sell any of that without getting the dragon pissed off. I tried. With something my father gifted my mother, a long time ago. I couldn’t get the dragon under control until I got it back. It wasn’t fun. So the store is what I, and Aaron, live on. Leprechauns can’t sell their gold either.”
He navigated the screen quickly, very familiar with the interface. He found the diamond’s number and copied it into the inquiry box. In just seconds, there were nine places where the diamond had been inspected and an estimate given on the price. All nine places stated they would not take the diamond because they didn’t have the cash on hand or any demand at that moment.
Leaning back, Niko considered the screen. “Nine.” He looked at the other two. “Significance?”
Keni and Amy looked at each other, and both of them shrugged.
His head fell forward. “Great. So she leaves us nine clues and not a one of us knows what they mean.”
“We can go talk to the dealer.”
“They’re not going to tell us anything more than we can see here.”
“Uh, y’all?” Amy grinned. “You’ve all been in the magical world too long.” She pointed at the screen. “Look. Don’t try to think about numerology or anything like that. Just look at the screen.”
Both Niko and Keni turned to study the screen. Keni saw it first and laughed, and Niko saw it only a second later and laughed with her.
“That simple. She’s a genius. I would have never thought of that.”
The nine stores lined up in the shape of an arrow, pointing to the north west. Niko grabbed a pen and zoomed out on the map. It made a straight line directly at Reno—
—and a tenth store.
“That’s why you couldn’t find her.” Amy folded her arms and sat back. “They’re not here in Las Vegas anymore. They’re in Reno.”
“This gets even better.” Niko had pulled up the information on the tenth store. “The diamond is in concession at this store.”
“They have it?”
“No. They are selling it. Serious inquiries only. Please request to see diamond with at least forty-eight hours’ notice; diamond is not on premises.” Niko grinned. “That means either it’s in a safety deposit box or the owner retains possession. Whichever it is…” He smirked. “They have her address.”