EVA

"SO MUCH FOR KEEPING the snoopers out." Eva's words hung in the air as if they were made of helium.

Books, clothes, and knickknacks littered the textured carpet so that there was hardly a path to walk. Torn pages crinkled under Emrys' sneakers while he crossed to his bed and picked up the mutilated spine of what had once been a cheap dollar-store journal.

"Dammit." He flicked the spine onto the floor and made his way to the wide-open closet on the far end of the room. "She's been here."

"She?" asked Eva.

Emrys ran his fingers along the doorframe, where large scratches sliced through layers of paint and wood. "Doesn't matter."

"It doesn't matter when this person broke in and trashed your place?"

Pulling his attention from the closet, Emrys pressed a finger to his lips. He fought to maintain a neutral expression, but there was uneasiness within his gaze.

Eyes and ears everywhere. Right.

Once Eva nodded, Emrys smiled half-heartedly before stepping inside the closet to inspect the few hangers that remained on their respective poles.

She didn't want to be too far from his side in case of another rabid squirrel attack, but she was afraid to tiptoe through the ransacked room. While the objects in her immediate vicinity were just papers and the occasional black sock, the delicate jewelry and shiny trinkets in the distance kept her feet in place. Some looked familiar, but most held no place in her memory.

The last thing she wanted to do was step on the wrong item and unleash another new evil in her town.

However, when Emrys began clearing the mess on the closet floor, curiosity burned through her reservations. Careful to avoid anything remotely breakable, she stepped closer to him. As he tossed a balled-up paper over his shoulder, she crouched beside him, eyes shifting between his unreadable expression and the now-tidy closet floor.

Emrys flipped the Runestone around in his hand. "She might be smart, but she isn't thorough."

He ran his free hand along the floor, where one patch of carpet caught Eva's attention. If it hadn't been for the way the gray fibers refused to move under his touch, she wouldn't have noticed anything at all—not even how the color was a tinge darker than the surrounding area, or how much stiffer the material appeared.

With the tilt of his wrist, a thin flame emerged from his index finger.

Eva grimaced. Surely, the tenants in neighboring apartments were cussing out whatever appliances had gone haywire or rushing to replace a shattered light bulb.

Thankfully, he touched the flame to the inch-long square of carpeting quickly. The material caught fire as if made of gasoline, but the blaze didn't linger. It was gone in the time of a lightning flash, leaving a thin layer of ash and dust across a smoother surface. He leaned down and blew the particles away to reveal yet another Runestone lock.

"How many of these do you have lying around?" Eva quirked a brow, studying the intricate inscriptions on the slab.

"A few."

Emrys slid his Runestone into the lock with a satisfying click. Wedging his fingers around the side of the mechanism, he gave it a light pull. The carpet wiggled, revealing slits in the material that were nearly invisible at first glance.

It took a few tugs before the fabric broke free. Creaking hinges assaulted their ears as he lifted the lid of a small, wooden compartment, filled to the brim with trinkets of varying shapes and sizes. Amulets, corked bottles, Runestones... all staring back at them with an eerily familiar presence.

When Eva turned back to the messy room, she forced herself to not rub her eyes. Each item inside the hidden compartment had a match somewhere in the scattered debris; they were all near-perfect doubles of each other, with missable flaws or slight deviations in etchings.

"Decoys," said Emrys as he caught her curious expression. "Doesn't look like she fell for them, but at least she didn't get in here." He gestured back to his compartment.

Eva tilted her head to the side. "Don't your downstairs neighbors notice a magical chest coming through their ceiling?"

"Proper expansion charms have no limits." He held back a laugh when Eva screwed up her face in confusion. "You know, you're pretty small-minded for a fantasy writer."

"I just wrote it. Never thought I'd live it."

Before she could say another word, Emrys resumed rummaging through the compartment, dropping occult items on the carpet between them. It took all of her willpower to not back away from a stray avian bone that landed beside her shin.

When he reached the bottom, the final item nearly filled the space from corner to corner. It was more familiar to Eva than anything else—nothing from her dreams, but an item that she had seen at the library every day.

A leather satchel.

Emrys lifted the bag carefully and set it in his lap while he unclasped its main flap. He shoved his hand inside, reaching until his entire arm was inside before retrieving a handful of loose papers.

Noise sputtered from Eva's lips, but she wasn't sure she could call them syllables, let alone words.

"You having a stroke or something?" Emrys asked, tossing crumpled papers into the compartment.

Eva swallowed hard to flush the cobwebs from her throat. "You're Mary Poppins."

With the way Emrys' brows twitched, it was apparent that he had no idea what she was referring to, but he didn't object. He only continued rifling through his pile of discarded trinkets, pausing every so often to throw one or two in his bag.

The first was another Runestone, cut in a more slender crystal shape. Gold etchings shimmered across its crimson surface in delicate patterns. Its silver chain brushed against his palm when he dropped the ornate item into his satchel.

After setting a few other pendants, stones, and the occasional ring inside his bag, Emrys' eyes hovered to a more distant object: a corked glass bottle. It had rolled just far enough from the pile of goods that Eva had forgotten it was there until her friend reached for it, fingers wrapping around its neck hesitantly. He made quick work of shoving it into his bag, but not before she noticed feathered etchings on the smoky glass.

Emrys stood, apparently satisfied with the items swept into his bag, and used his foot to nudge the few remaining objects back inside their chest. After closing the compartment with his shoe, a loud click emanated from the lock. The stone brightened with magical radiance while strands of carpet regrew to conceal it.

Reaching forward, Eva brushed her fingers across the new patch of rug. If she hadn't watched the transformation take place, she wouldn't have known the area was ever tampered with.

"I've got a few more compartments to open," Emrys said, his voice low as he slung the satchel across his shoulder. "Why don't I leave you in the living room while I check on the rest?"

When he stretched out a hand to help her up, Eva rushed to grab it—but when she did, she caught a soft glow beneath his hoodie sleeve. Once on her feet, she kept a grip on his palm and yanked up the sleeve with her other hand.

It was a dagger.

The tattoo, melded into his wrist with golden ink, cast a subtle glow across his skin. The blade's tip met the crease of his wrist, as if poised to draw blood. Its hilt came halfway up his forearm, where it disappeared into the remainder of his sleeve. Judging by the dull light peeking through the crinkled fabric, more designs crept up his arm.

Eva glanced up at him. "Do I even want to know?"

With the way Emrys squirmed under her stare, she could practically hear him cussing a blue streak in his mind. His eyes lowered to the dagger as if intense focus would make the image disappear.

"I'll explain later," he said, pulling the sleeve back down. "Come on."

Though curiosity prickled every nerve in Eva's body, she swallowed her questions and followed Emrys through the wide-open door to his living room. The space had clearly been invaded by whomever trashed the bedroom but with less destructive force. Aside from books that had been flung from their shelf beside the TV, picture frames lying face-down on the carpet, and utensils scattered across the adjoining kitchenette, the room was at least half put-together.

Emrys walked behind his gray upholstered loveseat and patted the armrest. "Make yourself at home."

Eva hesitated and drew her arms tight across her chest. While the area seemed calm and quiet, she couldn't ease the unsettlement in her gut.

"You're leaving me alone?" she asked. "No offense, but if another rabid squirrel pops through the window..."

Emrys held up his hands in defense. "I get it." He leaned against the couch, half-sitting on the backboard. "It's just these two rooms and the bathroom. I'll be within shouting distance."

"I get it," she mimicked in a hushed voice, "but what about whoever did this?" She gestured to the surrounding mess. "How do we know they're not still around?"

"We don't."

"That's comforting."

"Look, I'm ninety-nine percent sure no one's hiding in the linen closet, or else I'd feel them. It's hard to mask the pulse of natural magic on Earth."

"And the last one percent?"

"I said it was hard to mask." Emrys stood, fiddling with the Runestone in his hand. "Never said it can't be done."

Honesty radiated from his expression, but his words offered little comfort. Nonetheless, Eva left the conversation alone as her companion headed to the kitchenette, flashing a consoling smile over his shoulder.

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