North’s phone rang while Sierra was slicing avocados. She glanced at the device. It was lying on the end of the dining counter. She was pretty sure she knew what was coming next, so she took the precaution of slicing a lime in half and squeezing the juice over the avocados so that they wouldn’t turn brown.
North’s phone stopped ringing. A couple of beats later the bells that she used for a ring tone chimed. She wiped her hands on a towel, picked up the phone, glanced at the area code and took the call.
“North can’t come to the phone right now,” she said. “He’s in the shower.”
“What the hell? This is Victor Arganbright.”
“Believe it or not, it didn’t require any psychic powers to figure out you would try my phone after you got dumped into voice mail on North’s. I’ll tell him you called.”
“I want to speak to him immediately. This is critical.”
He sounded sincere. Worried.
“All right,” she said. “Hang on.”
She traipsed down the hall and cracked open the door of the bathroom. Steam poured out.
“Las Vegas is calling,” she yelled over the roar of the shower.
“Hang on. I’ll be right there.”
The shower abruptly fell silent. Sierra held the phone through the narrow opening. North’s damp fingers closed around it. She caught patchy glimpses of his reflection in the steamed-up mirror. His aura looked much more stable. The rest of him looked interesting. Extremely interesting.
He angled his head around the door and smiled faintly. Light glinted on his mirrored glasses. She was stunned to realize that he even wore them in the shower.
“Seen enough?” he asked a little too smoothly.
She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Hastily she turned away and hurried back toward the kitchen.
North arrived in the kitchen a short time later. He didn’t appear to be a new man, but he was certainly in much better shape than he had been yesterday. It helped that he’d shaved and showered, of course, but the real change was in his overall vitality. She knew he was no longer drawing on his psychic senses to keep himself awake and alert.
He wore a fresh pair of dark cargo trousers and a black crew-neck T-shirt that emphasized his sleek, strong shoulders and flat belly. He sat down on the other side of the counter. She poured a mug of coffee and pushed it toward him. He put her phone down on the counter and wrapped both hands around the mug.
“That was Victor,” he said.
“I know.” She sprinkled coarse salt across the avocados and arranged them on large slices of toasted sourdough bread. “Was it about your father?”
“In part.” North’s jaw tensed. “The doctors think that Dad’s condition is deteriorating.”
“Oh, no. I am so sorry, North.”
“He’s still able to communicate a little through my mother but he doesn’t seem to know any more about what happened to him than he did when I saw him at the airport. Mom says she thinks he’s afraid of losing his mind. He feels trapped.”
“He is trapped,” Sierra said gently. “He’s probably terrified and trying not to show it to your mother. His anxiety levels must be through the roof.”
“The doctors are afraid to medicate him until they know what’s wrong. Dad is strong but time is running out. No one knows what will happen. He might die or remain in a coma forever. The Halcyon experts are convinced the only hope of reversing the damage is to find the artifact that caused it in the first place. They need to know how the damage was inflicted. They have been able to establish that he was not drugged.”
Sierra gave that some thought while she used a spatula to lift the four fried eggs out of the hot pan. She placed one egg on each avocado toast.
“Call Victor back and tell him he needs to get my mother to Las Vegas as soon as possible,” she said.
North lowered his coffee mug, startled. “Why?”
“My mother’s talent is the energy of singing. She does a lot of music therapy. She might be able to help stabilize your father’s aura and buy us some time to find the artifact.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Sierra poured cream over a bowl of raspberries. “My mother has a gift for helping people who have problems with their paranormal senses. She’s done a lot of research. There’s enormous power in music, and she knows how to use it. Call Las Vegas.”
North picked up his phone. “What the hell. It’s not like we’ve got anything to lose.”
He called a number. “Lucas, it’s North. Sierra Raines is with me. She is convinced her mother might be able to stabilize Dad’s aura and maybe buy us some time. Mrs. Raines lives on an island in the San Juans. You can arrange to have her flown to Vegas within a few hours, right?”
“Let me talk to him,” Sierra said.
He handed the phone to her.
“Hello,” Sierra said, wary now. It was one thing to hand out advice to the man who had spent the night in her bed. It was another to find herself dealing with the husband of the powerful director of the Foundation.
“You believe Mrs. Raines might be of some help in this situation?” Lucas said.
“Yes,” Sierra said. “At the very least it’s worth asking her to consult.”
“I agree,” Lucas said. “If you’ll give me her number—”
“I’ll call her and ask her to contact you,” Sierra said.
“Is that your way of telling me your mother won’t be thrilled with the idea of talking to someone from Foundation headquarters?”
“I’m sure you’re aware the Foundation has some serious work to do when it comes to public relations.”
“It’s been five years since we kicked out the Rancourts,” Lucas said. He sounded frustrated. “How long will it take the paranormal community to trust the new management?”
“I have no idea,” Sierra said. “Do you want me to ask my mother to call you or not?”
“Yes, please,” Lucas said. “I would be extremely grateful.”
“I’ll get in touch with her right now,” Sierra said. She realized she almost felt sorry for Lucas Pine. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll speak to you.”
“Thanks,” Lucas said. “By the way, between you and me, how is North holding up?”
Sierra watched North wolf down one of the avocado toasts. “He’s doing fine now that he’s had a good night’s sleep.”
“A good night’s sleep?” Lucas sounded baffled.
“He was sleep deprived,” Sierra said. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll call my mom and ask her to contact you.”
“Wait, what do you mean when you say North was sleep deprived? We didn’t know he wasn’t sleeping.”
“Goodbye, Mr. Pine.”
She ended the call and handed the phone back to North. She managed to eat a couple of bites of her own breakfast while she placed the call to her mother.
Allegra Raines answered after about three rings. “Sierra? Is something wrong? You don’t usually call at this hour.”
“I’m working a new contract, Mom. Don’t faint. It’s with the Foundation. Here’s the problem: My client’s father has suffered some kind of trauma. He’s awake but almost unresponsive. They’ve got him at Halcyon Manor. The doctors there in Las Vegas have concluded that his aura has been destabilized, but aside from that they are baffled. They haven’t seen anything quite like it. I suggested they ask you to consult.”
“Victor Arganbright wants my help?” Allegra asked. She sounded astonished. “I thought he believed that your father and I are a couple of lightweight con artists.”
“Well, specifically, Lucas Pine requested the help. They’ve run out of options. Would you be willing to call Foundation headquarters and discuss the problem with Pine or Arganbright?”
“Yes, of course. I can’t promise that I’ll be able to help your client’s father, though. I haven’t even examined the patient.”
“I’m sure Pine will be delighted to fly you to Las Vegas for a consultation,” Sierra said.
“Give me the number. I’ll make the call and we’ll see how things go. But no guarantees. Oh, and dear, we’re all looking forward to seeing you at the Moontide celebration.”
“Looking forward to seeing you, too, Mom. Got to run.”
On the other side of the counter North poured himself a second cup of coffee. It was a small sound, an insignificant little noise, really. Just the splash of coffee into a cup. Sierra figured she could easily explain it, but North chose that moment to take another healthy bite out of the avocado toast. The crunching was audible.
There was a short, thunderous pause on the other end of the connection.
“Are you having breakfast with someone, Sierra?” Allegra asked.
Sierra stifled a sigh. “Early-morning meeting with my client. Kind of in a hurry here. Lucas Pine is waiting to hear from you.”
“Is your new client a man?”
“How did you guess?”
“Something about the crunching in the background. Sounds like a man enjoying his food.”
“His name is North Chastain. We’re looking for the artifact that damaged his father’s aura. We wanted to get an early start today.”
“He spent the night at your place?”
“He was exhausted.”
“You never let your dates spend the night.”
“He’s not a date, Mom. He’s a client. And he’s very worried about his father.”
“I’ll call Las Vegas right away,” Allegra said.
“Bye, Mom. Love you. Love to Dad and Grandma and Grandpa.”
“Be careful, dear.”
“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.”
Sierra ended the call and took a couple of deep breaths. “Mom is going to call Lucas Pine right now.”
“Thank you,” North said. He drank some coffee and munched the second avocado toast. “I appreciate it.”
Sierra concentrated on finishing her breakfast.
“Your mom thought I was your date?” North said after a while.
“She heard you pouring coffee. She was just surprised I wasn’t alone, that’s all.”
“Why?”
Sierra put down her fork. “I don’t do sleepovers for two reasons. The first is that the odds are excellent the relationship won’t last long, so why bother? It’s easier not to have to ask someone to pack his bag and leave.”
“You’re right. That does sound rude. What’s the second reason?”
She shrugged. “The usual problem for people like us.”
“People with some talent?” He winced. “I get it.”
“If I tell a normal date that I’ve got a weird ability to detect paranormal artifacts he’ll conclude I’m either delusional or a fraud, so I have to keep quiet about it.”
“Unless he concludes you’re channeling some ancient sorcerer, of course.”
“Or that. Either way, things never go well. On the other hand, dating within the paranormal community is tricky because it’s a small world with a really big gossip network.”
“Tell me about it. If you think your options here in Seattle are limited, you should try dating within the Foundation community at headquarters. It’s a minefield. There are no secrets. Everyone knows who’s sleeping with whom and everyone knows when there’s a breakup. And everyone talks.”
“Well, I might be able to give you an assist in that department,” Sierra said.
North raised his brows. She couldn’t see his eyes but she had a feeling they were a little hot. He was definitely intrigued.
“Exactly what kind of help are you offering?” he said, his voice very neutral.
“When this is over and you go back to your normal life, feel free to run your dates past me.”
He looked flummoxed. Whatever he had been expecting her to say, that wasn’t it.
“Aside from the logistical problems involved—Seattle and Vegas being about a thousand miles apart—why would I do that?” he asked.
“Because I will probably be able to tell you if your aura and that of your date’s are a good match.”
“You can do that?”
“With about a ninety percent accuracy rate, assuming I see the two of you reflected in a mirror.” She waved a hand. “Mom and Dad said it’s probably a side effect of my ability to pick up strong emotions infused into artifacts.”
North frowned. “But you can’t tell when your own aura is a good match with someone else’s?”
“Nope. You know how it is with auras. You can’t perceive your own. Enough of that subject. We’ve got bigger problems. Do we have a plan for today?”
“Yes.” North got to his feet. “But before I tell you about it, we should talk about last night.”
“Never in the history of the world has a conversation that starts out with ‘we should talk about last night’ ended well.”
“Believe me, I’m keenly aware of that,” North said. “But this is different. I just wanted to say thanks. I . . . slept. I really slept. I can’t tell you that I feel normal this morning. I don’t think I’ll ever feel normal again. But I’ve got my act together now. I’m not going to crash on you.”
“Good.” She set her empty cup in the sink. “Now, about our plan.”
“Right. You and I are going to pay a visit to the Riverview Psychiatric Hospital. It’s over on the coast.”
“Long drive, then. Why are we going there?”
“We need to find out everything we can about a Dr. Delbridge Loring, specifically why he is trying to locate a street woman named Marge.” North carried his dishes around the dining counter. “I’ll tell you all about it when we’re on the road.”
“Okay.”
North looked at his empty plate. “Those were a couple of avocado toasts, weren’t they?”
“With eggs. Figured you needed the protein.”
“Don’t get me wrong. They were very tasty. It’s just that I’m not sure a badass cleaner from the Foundation is supposed to eat stuff like avocado toast.”
“Afraid if the word gets out that you ate an avocado toast, your reputation as a badass might be damaged? Don’t worry. I won’t tell a soul. What happens in Seattle stays in Seattle.”