Read Online Capitol Magic by Mindy Klasky - Free Book Online Page B

as if I tumbled down a sand dune. The Key flared bright, collecting all the silver light of the full moon, melting it, mixing it, transforming it into the gold of the desert sun. A hot wind blew across the porch, summoned from lands distant in space and time.
    In the wake of that scirocco, Richardson’s door gave way. One moment, it was bound by the Eastern Empire, by Chris, by the forces of Sekhmet. The next, it had yielded to me, to a sphinx who dared to bear the Key. It swung back on its hinges, as if it had never been latched.
    I took a breath, and I was surprised to find that my lungs burned as if they had been scorched beneath a noon-time sun. That discovery made my legs start to tremble, and I was grateful for Jane’s hand as she cradled my forearm, taking care to avoid touching the Key. I think we were both surprised to see that my blade had transformed back into an ordinary tool of onyx and silver, nothing more than an attractive ornament.
    â€œThere,” I said to Neko, and I was grateful that my voice did not shake. “I don’t think the latch will give you any trouble again.”
    I strode over the threshold as if I had every right to be there. I had to prove to myself that I was not afraid. I turned to Jane. “I don’t know where he keeps the books. I don’t know how to find them.”
    â€œWell, let’s get started, then.” I suspected she wasn’t aware of the way her fingers flew over the tiger’s eye beads around her wrist, almost as if she was saying a rosary. Neko whined as I closed the door behind us. Its magic was gone, though. It was nothing more than an ordinary set of oak and metal.
    Jane’s voice was nervous as she reached for the switches on the wall. “Anyone opposed to a little light?”
    A little light. As if all it took was a single flick of a switch to restore a semblance of normalcy to a vampire’s lair. As if a witch knew anything about the power a vampire like Richardson could have acquired, could have let stew in malevolence throughout his grim sanctum. As if a witch knew more than a sphinx about such things.
    Strike that.
    The light made a huge difference. Bright and cheerful, it let all of us draw deep breaths. “I wish I’d thought of that,” I muttered.
    Jane smiled, but the expression looked a little forced. “Where do you want to start? If I were hiding stolen goods, I’d put them in either the attic or the basement.”
    â€œAttic,” I said before the words were completely out of her mouth. I wanted no part of Richardson’s basement.
    Jane and Neko looked at me, as if they expected me to lead the way. I realized they were right—this was my project, whether I wanted to be responsible for it or not. I was the Clerk of Court for the Night Court, responsible for all the materials in the Old Library. I was the one who had insisted on coming to Richardson’s sanctum. I was the sphinx who had stolen Sekhmet’s Key.
    Lucky, lucky me.
    Somehow, I expected the stairs to creak as we made our way to the attic. A part of my mind waited for the hinges to groan as I opened the door that led to the space beneath the eaves. We were going to catch glimpses of ghosts, hear snatches of eerie organ music, feel clammy ectoplasmic mist against our faces.
    There was none of that, though. Everything was normal. Mundane. We could all have been ordinary humans, walking through an ordinary house on an ordinary spring evening.
    I lost no time turning on the attic lights before we climbed the stairs. Jane and Neko pressed close behind me as I peered around the huge room.
    It was cluttered, in a way that made my sphinx need for order twitch. I wanted to stack those boxes neatly. And sort through those papers. Line up those racks of clothes. And I totally, completely, desperately wanted to turn the hangers so that they all faced the same way.
    But really, there was nothing strange in the attic. Nothing to