Medusa's Dagger (Aya Harris Collection 1)

I hadn’t been able to sleep last night after walking away from Gideon. It didn’t seem right to value my own life over Michelle and Kit’s. In some twisted way, I felt responsible for their fate. If I walked away now, I’d never forgive myself.

“I know.” Gideon took the aviators out of his pocket and began rubbing the lenses with the bottom of his jacket. He only succeeded in smudging them more, so he gave up and stashed them back in his pocket.

“Have you made any progress since last night?” I asked. “Any news on this Theo guy?”

“No. As far as we know, he’s never done anything to warrant our attention before now.”

As big as the federal SI system was, I couldn’t believe they didn’t have any idea who this guy was.

“But, don’t you have a list of all the Gorgons living in the States? Couldn’t you track him down that way?” I asked.

Gideon raised an eyebrow at me. “People frown on supernatural profiling. Requiring species registration is a slippery slope. Hitler tried it in the 1940s. See where that led to?”

I frowned down at my hands. He had a point. Hitler’s genocide had targeted more than just certain religions and nationalities. After the registration was enacted, he’d wiped out thousands of supernatural creatures living peacefully among the Europeans. His obsession with the occult led to sick experimentation on my fellow creatures. Few lived to talk about it after the war.

“What can I do to help?” If the SI had no clue where to go next, I certainly wasn’t going to be of much use, but I’d try. “I haven’t had any more visions.”

“I know,” he said. “My partner’s busy contacting the oracle contacts we have at the SI for any clue on Theo, or our remaining victims. Theo could be anywhere. He could’ve already left the city, for all we know. Until we hear something, I’m stuck twiddling my thumbs. So… I thought I’d tag along with you until you have your next vision,” he added with a shrug.

As nice as it sounded to have my own personal SI babysitter, the museum was still open and I had work to do. My visions didn’t come on command. Gideon would be wasting his time.

“It’s pretty boring around here. I’m not sure you’ll want to stick around. Besides, I’m heading out now

to go across town and pick up a new exhibit my boss just bought from an estate.”

“Sounds better than rearranging the fertility statues again.” Gideon gave me a wicked grin as the blood pooled in my cheeks. “I’ll escort you.”

There was no shaking him off, so I grabbed my stuff and we left the museum. He tried to convince me to take his Sedan, but that was stealing half my fun. It wasn’t often I got an excuse to ride the train to the northern part of town.

We walked the block to the nearest train station and bought our tickets. The train was still ten minutes out. A few benches and two food carts stood near the train deck. I settled on one of the benches, my body still tired from last night’s craziness.

“Are you hungry?” Gideon licked his lips while he stared at the food vendor carts.

The cart with a green umbrella served hot dogs and Coke products. The stand next to that had brightly colored polka dots on the cart and served pretzels and popcorn.

“I’ve got a major hotdog craving.”

“Are you kidding me?” I watched the man behind the pretzel stand lick his finger before shoving it into the bag of popcorn he was dishing. “Those places have E.coli written all over them.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Gideon grinned at me before heading to the hotdog stand.

He ordered two dogs with everything on them and a bottle of Coke. Sitting down on the bench next to me, he passed me a dog, ignoring my refusal.

“You know, I’ve never ridden a train before,” he said between giant bites.

I nibbled on the hotdog. It was too good to throw away. I’d risk stomach pains for something so delicious.

“How could you be in the twenty-first century and never ridden a train before?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I just haven’t had the chance. It’s not like we have a ton of trains in Texas. And growing up in Orlando, I guess we just drove everywhere we wanted to go.”

Our train pulled up just as we were finishing our dogs. We hopped on and Gideon got to enjoy his first ride, staring out the window as the business sector of Arcana flashed by. Every once in a while, a glowing symbol on a rooftop or large pavement area would appear. They were the charms that kept Arcana’s supernatural life hidden. Like magical graffiti, their symbols blanketed the city in a continuous veil.

Not that I needed the enchantment to fit in. Harpies were blessed with the ability to look like humans if we chose. People like Gideon wouldn’t have a problem fitting in, either. It was the monsters and half-human creatures, like Johnny, that took advantage of Arcana’s unique setting.

It was three stops until Rowen Park. The estate that Mr. Jones had visited was located in a suburb close to the edge of the city. We had to grab a taxi for the remainder of the journey. A tiny African man with a thick accent picked us up in his yellow cab. He sang along with the show tunes radio station, while Gideon and I exchanged glances in the back seat.

After a stunningly bad rendition of Oklahoma’s Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’, the driver dropped us off in an old neighborhood full of homes that would’ve been magnificent mansions once. The paint was peeling from most of the houses and the yards were overgrown, but underneath the dirty layer that had settled on their bones, I could still see a bit of that old world beauty.