She poured the wine and handed Jonan a glass. He sipped it. ‘Hmm, good choice.’
‘How long have you lived here with Doriel?’
‘Oh, for an age.’ Jonan shrugged. ‘I moved here shortly after I started the job. There’s a certain freedom in sharing a space with another intuitive.’
‘Wow, I can imagine. That would be a dream.’ Beth sighed. ‘I’ve been friends with Laura for a long time, but she’s a drain. She only talks about herself and I always feel tired when I’m with her.’
‘People like us attract people like Laura.’ Jonan threw a handful of asparagus into the wok. ‘But you don’t have to live with them.’ He winked.
Beth laughed. ‘True, although the deed is done now.’
Jonan leaned back against the kitchen counter. He gazed at Beth, head tilted to one side. ‘Life can be better. Your life could be magical.’
Beth swallowed.
The silence was so complete she felt frozen to the spot. The air was thick with energy. Her heart pounded. She took a deep breath as Jonan stepped towards her, reached out one hand, touching her fingers lightly with his own. She felt a jolt of electricity at the contact and released herself a little more into the current that fizzed between them.
There was a crash.
Jonan started. He frowned at the tinkling of broken glass. ‘It’s coming from the shop. Stay here.’
In a few steps he was out of the kitchen, across the small living room and onto the stairs, grabbing a long, sharp umbrella from a stand as he went.
For a moment Beth just stared, and then she grabbed the knife Jonan had been using to cut vegetables and weighed it in her hands. It was small and flimsy, nothing like the knives people armed themselves with in films. This one felt as though it would barely be equal to cutting a carrot.
She gripped the flimsy knife in her right hand and ran down the stairs on the balls of her feet. She stopped at the bottom and heard raised voices. Shielded by the staircase wall, she peered around the door.
A large man, twice the size of Jonan, with short dark hair, wearing black joggers and a hoody stood facing her. His muscled legs were planted firmly apart, his knees slightly bent as though he were preparing to fight. He clutched a large black fabric sack in one hand, and held a two-foot-high wizard carved from amethyst in the other. The glass cabinet to his left was smashed and a metal shelf stack lay diagonally across the floor in front of him, smaller crystals scattered everywhere. Jaw set and protruding, he glared at Jonan, but his shoulders were high round his ears and his skin was pale and glistening.
Jonan stood with his back to Beth, relaxed in socks and jeans. He leaned on the umbrella, a smile on his face, showing no signs of stress.
The man’s gaze flickered up towards Beth. Jonan turned. His eyes widened as he spotted her. He paled and shook his head as a frown creased his forehead.
Instead of retreating, Beth stepped out into the shop. ‘Looking for a Christmas present for someone, are we?’
The man sank into his knees, swaying slightly from foot to foot. ‘Who are you?’
‘I think you’ve got that wrong,’ she said, leaning against the wall. ‘I’m supposed to be here. Who are you?’
The man’s gaze flickered down to the sack and the carved crystal. ‘No need to go in to that. I’m done here.’
Jonan stepped closer, resting one hand on a bookshelf. ‘You’ve got what you wanted, have you? Ready to make a packet with your loot? There’s one thing you haven’t considered though. With Amelia casting aspersions on everyone outside the mainstream, crystals aren’t exactly doing a roaring trade right now. You’re more likely to be branded a threat than paid handsomely for your efforts. Unless, of course, someone sent you here with instructions?’
Jonan looked relaxed; his body wasn’t braced for any kind of struggle. His eyes were unfocused. He leaned up against the shelf of books now, as though he were simply chatting about the weather. Tuning into her psychic sight, Beth looked deeper. His energy was huge, radiating out to fill the room and beyond. It shone a bright white and gold as he filled the space around him. His space.
The other man’s energy was as contracted as his body was huge. A dull, muddy colour, it swirled visibly around his tense muscles, stirring up the fear that so obviously held them rigid. She saw a ball of dark energy hovering around his solar plexus. A strand of it reached into his body. She sensed the echoes of it all around her, in the fear that pulsed through and out of him.
‘Is this Amelia’s work?’ she said. She stepped closer but saw him tense even further and froze. She remembered the paralysis vividly, knew deep in her bones how volatile he was right now.
Jonan nodded.
‘If you don’t mind me asking, sir.’ Beth kept her voice neutral. ‘I’d like to know what you’re afraid of?’
‘Him,’ the man hissed, pointing at Jonan. He stepped back. ‘He’s one of them, I can smell it.’
‘One of whom?’ Beth took another step forward.
‘Get back!’ the man said from between gritted teeth. ‘Get away from me. Don’t even think of touching me. I won’t hesitate to flatten you if you try.’
Beth held her hands up and stepped back.
‘You clearly came here to rob me.’ Jonan’s voice was low, his posture neutral, but his eyes were narrowed on the man’s face and his jaw was tight. ‘But that doesn’t explain why you’re still here.’ He straightened, and then stepped forwards, slowly. ‘I could have you arrested for trespass.’ He paused.
The man’s chest was heaving. His lower jaw protruded and a vein throbbed in his neck.
‘Leave now.’ Jonan’s voice was quiet. ‘Tell Amelia that if she has any questions she can contact me directly. She has my phone number.’
The man pressed his lips into a thin line. ‘Amelia does not appreciate being threatened.’
‘Nobody appreciates being threatened, me included. Now, give me my crystals back and get out.’ Jonan jostled the door so it jingled.
The man shook his head. ‘You’re just as she described you.’ He looked Beth up and down. ‘Watch yourself, girlie.’
‘Girlie? Are you kidding me?’ Beth raised her eyebrows. ‘Amelia’s really done a number on you.’
He opened his hands, smirking as the crystals dropped to the floor. The wizard carving smashed with a crack that reverberated through Beth’s bones. Shards of crystal flew across the floor. He strode out of the shop. Pausing outside the door, he took out his phone and looked the building up and down as he started talking into it.
Jonan
JONAN SLAMMED THE door shut and pulled the bolt across. Looking around the room, he sighed. It was only stuff. He had to remember that it was only stuff. Nobody was hurt. He did a mental tally of the damage. The shelves weren’t broken but too many of the crystals were. Finances were tight enough already without this kind of loss. He squatted down and picked up the single intact piece of the wizard, weighing it in his hands.
‘Was it worth a lot?’ Beth put a hand on his arm.
‘A few thousand pounds.’
‘Ouch.’
Jonan sighed as he put the fragment on the desk, and then opened a cupboard and took out a broom.