Rhinestone Way Read online

  “Did you find out anything about the black market trade?” I asked her.

  She sighed. “What I found was that it started with pearls and has expanded. The pearl market is pretty steady, but other stuff is getting thrown in, for instance, owl feathers. My guess about what happened with Henry and my brother in the woods is that they had started trading in pearls—just a bit at first, maybe just for fun. Then they saw an opportunity with feathers, and they got into that without realizing that it was a different market with different dangers. I assume something happened in the woods and the orange residue was the result, along with Henry ending up unconscious and Kyle disappearing. That orange residue is the key. We have to find out where it came from.”

  Lowe and I agreed with her on that point. For a moment, I remembered fondly the days when my biggest problems were an embarrassing debutant weekend debut and my sister being a murder suspect. The simple life indeed.

  What I didn’t say was that Professor Burger would make an excellent suspect.

  Lunch was delicious, but we didn’t have time to linger. Kelly had to return to the farm store, while Lowe and I needed to go to the campus and see if we could get in to see to the professor. Bethel might not have been around that morning, but I didn’t want her wondering where we were again. We needed to get moving.

  The more I thought about it, the more I thought Kelly might have a point. I was actually looking forward to seeing whether this Burger person could tell us something useful.

  “Take these feathers with you,” said Kelly. “They would have been some of the ones that Kyle had.” She handed me a couple of plain-looking feathers, and I put them on my list of ingredients to learn more about as we waved good-bye outside the restaurant.

  We swung back home before heading over to the university. There was no sign of Bethel, but there were a couple of things we wanted to grab and take with us.

  I was eager to see a part of town that I hadn’t yet visited, an area that I’d heard was nestled amongst hills and forestland. The special white trolley that would take us to the front entrance was clearly used mostly by students. The driver gave us a strange look as we boarded, but didn’t say anything.

  “At least your snooping is getting you around town,” said Lowe quietly, echoing my own thoughts.

  We just caught a glimpse of the buildings through the trees as we drove up. They all looked sturdily made and fairly new. I supposed that was a good thing, given all the magics and shenanigans that went on in Twinkleford. The buildings probably needed to be secure to survive.

  I also assumed that the university couldn’t be very old, and asked Lowe about it.

  “Jackie’s mom led the charge in favor of getting some practical schooling in town,” Lowe explained as we got off the trolley. She looked a little self-conscious with the crazy ties in her hair, but I gently elbowed her in the side to let her know it was okay.

  Having been dropped off at the front entrance to the main building, we went straight to the directory in a spacious lobby that boasted floor-to-ceiling windows. It felt odd that all that space was entirely empty, but I reminded myself that it was summer, and the regular academic year wasn’t in progress.

  We were examining the long list of names in the hopes of coming across Professor Burger’s office number when a man’s voice called out, “Hey! Lowe! I’d know that hair anywhere!”

  Lowe froze. I looked over my shoulder into the sunlight as she slowly started to turn around.

  Gill trotted up to us with a lopsided grin on his handsome face. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lowe positively melting.

  “What brings you here?” he asked.

  “Hi,” said Lowe, sounding strangled, her face instantly bright red and her mouth slightly open.

  Silence followed as Gill continued to stand there and smile.

  “We were actually looking for Mrs. Burger. Professor Burger, I guess,” I said.

  Gill blinked a couple of times. “Are you? She’s quite famous. Only the very best get to take classes with her, so not me. She mainly teaches seniors and such. Let me see if I can help you. Do you know your way around campus?” He glanced at Lowe, who was still mute.

  His brow puckered in the smallest of frowns as he ran his finger up the directory list.

  Behind his shoulder blades Lowe gave me a desperate look. I shrugged. What did she expect? Two people who knew each other speaking. Revolutionary!

  As we stood waiting for Gill to find what he was looking for, a vaguely familiar, high-pitched voice met my ears. I almost stopped breathing as terror sliced through me. Never in a million years would I forget that voice.

  “No, I do not want that painting over there,” the voice said crisply. “I do believe I’ve already told you that after you made the delivery and the pickup, you were to return here at once. Putting the painting in the wrong place has nothing to do with it!”

  I grabbed one of Gill’s arms and one of Lowe’s and tried to propel them backwards with me. Neither moved, so I ended up hiding around the corner by myself.

  Lowe and Gill looked at me in confusion as I snuck around a corner to a different section of hallway. All I could do was glare at them. The voices were coming closer, and I desperately wished I had the power to make myself linoleum.

  No way was I going to cede my position, but at the moment it was best that I be the one who hid.

  Cynthia Whoever, but married to Quinn Merchant, came clicking around the corner just as my shoulder blades became one with the paint. She was wearing sky high heels, a long skirt cinched at the waist, and a tight shirt. She looked perfectly turned out and as unpleasant as ever. Walking by her side was a very large man.

  She took no notice of my friends standing there.

  How’d you end up marrying her? I whispered to Quinn, who wasn’t there to answer.

  “Who was that?” Gill asked in amazement, as Cynthia disappeared around another corner. All that was left was the echo of her heels on the perfectly clean floor.

  “Quinn’s wife,” Lowe whispered, when I rejoined them but couldn’t get any words out. Gill’s eyebrows shot sky-high.

  “I heard about all of that. Hadn’t known he was married before the do-to at the ceremony and Nancy’s arrest. That’s all anyone in town has been able to talk about since,” Gill said.

  His face was always open and honest, but it had now taken on a serious expression.

  I made a sour face. Lowe said, “Thanks for that information, Gill.”

  He nodded, happy to help. “Should we go after her and spy on her? Like in a movie about a place with real excitement?” he asked.

  “How could you possibly not think this place is exciting?” I scrunched up my face in confusion. My life had been far more interesting since I’d left my dad’s house and moved to the magical town of Twinkleford.

  “Come on, nothing ever happens here,” he grumbled.

  “Someone was murdered here not too long ago,” I pointed out.

  “Right, but then you and Quinn caught the culprit and all was well again,” he countered.

  That wasn’t really true. I knew for sure that Jonathan’s family didn’t think so. Plus, I also didn’t see how I’d been much help in Nancy’s arrest. But Gill had just enough of a point to make it silly to quibble. Far be it from me to stop him if he wanted to ascribe a hero detective complex to me.

  Lowe and I had come to the university for a reason, and I wanted to get us back on track, but Gill couldn’t seem to let the subject drop.

  “I’m just saying I think we could follow her, discover that she’s one of the secret Vixens in Twinkleford, and be heroes. Well, you’d be a hero again, I suppose,” said Gill. He was still gazing in the direction of the hallway where Cynthia had disappeared.

  “Quinn wouldn’t marry a Vixen,” I said, even though I wasn’t totally confident that was true. He had made a big mistake in marrying Cynthia all of those years ago no matter who she did and didn’t associate with.

  At least, I hoped
it had been a long time ago. They were utterly unsuited to each other now.

  “Right. Maybe not,” Lowe agreed.

  Since we didn’t have a specific appointment to meet Professor Burger, it did cross my mind that it wouldn’t hurt if we took a little look around campus first.

  I followed Gill’s eyes and glanced down the hallway. “Okay, let’s do it,” I agreed.

  Instead of protesting what was clearly a crazy move, Lowe and Gill were all for it. Gill in particular should have walked away, but he wanted to come.

  This was ridiculous.

  Cynthia had already left the main building, so we tried to follow her at a discreet distance as she made her way down the paved path and under low-hanging branches.

  Because the campus was so quiet, we had to stay a long way back to keep from being noticed. I was glad Gill was tall; it let me hide behind his shoulder and not be seen. Not that Cynthia was doing much looking around. In fact, she didn’t turn around once; she wasn’t expecting to be followed. Unfortunately, we were so far back that we couldn’t hear what she was saying.

  Be that as it may, we did have a good look at her companion.

  A thuggish-looking guy, he trailed slightly behind her as she continued to talk and gesture. Because he was much taller than she was, he had to take short steps to keep pace with her.

  We did pass a couple of people as we went, and we tried to act natural when they came into view. Gill was hilarious and would tell jokes. Lowe and I would try to laugh quietly.

  Cynthia finally came to a stop at a small brick building surrounded by trees, with wide steps leading up to the front entrance. The thuggish guy loped up the stairs to get the door, and Cynthia swept in first. The guy looked around, then followed her inside. The heavy door closed slowly, and all we could see from a distance was his hulking form moving further away.

  “What building is this?” I whispered to Gill.

  He looked bewildered and shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s near the Swan Lake Reserve, but the building is unmarked. I’ve never been inside. This isn’t a part of campus I come to very often.”

  “I’ll go try the door,” said Lowe, and before we could stop her she was off. I covered my mouth with my hand and tried to make sure the bushes were hiding us, but Lowe marched across a bit of grass, reached the pavement, and headed up the steps. Making a purposeful show, she grabbed the door handle and pulled.

  The energy went for nothing, because it was apparent immediately that the door was locked. Lowe ran back down the steps and came back to where we were still trying to conceal ourselves.

  “Locked. I felt a tremor on the step as I left, too. I’m worried that there was a trap. We may not have much time to get out of here,” she murmured.

  I didn’t really understand what she was talking about, but then I was new to this whole witch thing. No part of me wanted to linger in any case, and even less of a part of me wanted to get arrested or thrown off campus. No, a hot sheriff wouldn’t make it any better. Especially not when said hot sheriff’s wife was the reason we were trying to get into the building in the first place.

  “Best if we get to Burger’s lab as quickly as possible then,” said Gill. “Come on. Follow me.” Without waiting another moment, he dashed across the road in the opposite direction from the building we’d just tried to get into. Lowe and I hurried to follow him.

  Not going to lie. I felt better putting more distance between me and Cynthia. Following her might not have been a good idea after all.

  Gill didn’t go far. There was another huge building, marked “Science,” just around the corner from where we’d been hiding. There were several buildings, in fact, each of them bigger than the unmarked one we had just left.

  Under the large sign was a smaller sign listing all the different types of science that were studied there. Unsurprisingly, there was quite a witchy and magical range. For example: vampire blood type identification lab, werewolf regrowth lab, and so it went on.

  The doors of the building were unlocked. Good thing, I thought, because otherwise that would be two buildings we’d tried to enter without permission in one short visit. What was more, we passed several students on our way in. Gill smiled a hello, but they took no particular notice.

  The science building’s main entrance didn’t have the square footage that the welcome building did, but it was still a large and imposing space. A waterfall burbled gently and birds chirped somewhere out of sight. Mesmerized by the finery, I just stared around with my mouth open. Then I collected myself and followed Gill and Lowe to another directory to find out exactly where Professor Burger worked.

  “I found it. Upstairs. This way,” said Lowe, leading the way up a flight of stairs.

  The second-floor space was just as impressive as the one below it. There were more doors, but I could see what we were looking for spreading out in front of us down the long corridor. At the end of the hall was a whole section marked by a sign that said, “Cauldron research and potion creation lab with Professor Bara Burger.”

  “Looks like you brought us to the right place,” said Gill. “Let’s learn new things!”

  Then he stopped short and his face fell. “I mean, actually I’m already late for my summer internship meeting. I probably shouldn’t go in with you. Especially since you two are definitely doing something snooping-related. Don’t argue. No one in her right mind comes to campus in the summer unless it’s important. I sure wish I weren’t here, but yeah, I should probably get going.” He turned to look at Lowe. She gave him a smile and he smiled back.

  Gill started to walk away, then stopped and came toward us again. “Sorry to rush off like this. It’s been swell today. I can’t remember having so much fun. Will you two be coming to Robin’s Restaurant any time soon?”

  “Um. Yeah, I’m sure we will,” said Lowe.

  “Great. See you both soon then. I want an update on whatever it is you’re doing.”

  Then he ran off.

  Once he was out of view, my cousin’s shoulders relaxed, her jaw unclenched, and we turned to look at the imposing archway.

  “Let’s do this thing. Potions made with feathers. Good times,” murmured Lowe.

  We headed into the fancy lab of Bara Burger.

  Chapter Thirteen

  A small white reception desk guarded another set of glass doors, through which we could see several people in lab coats, obviously dressed for research. Curls of color and sparkle moved behind the glass. Gleaming instruments acting as a backdrop to the many cauldrons.

  The receptionist was a nerdy-looking guy reading a huge textbook. He glanced up at us and frowned. “Yes? Deliveries go out back. I thought I’d told you that before.”

  “We’re here to see Professor Burger,” I said.

  “She doesn’t have any appointments today,” he said.

  “We came on a whim,” I said. I flopped my hand in the air as if that would help.

  “People in the sciences don’t do whims,” said the receptionist. “We do statistical analysis. You’ll have to make an appointment and come back. She’s a very important person. You can’t just expect her to be free whenever you show up.” He was obviously the sort of person who enjoyed saying stuff like that.

  Through the glass we could see a mezzanine level made of metal, where Professor Burger appeared to be eating lunch at this very moment.

  “Maybe we could just find out if she’d willing to talk to us while she eats her lunch,” I said.

  The guy rolled his eyes and his face soured. “Does she know who you are?” he asked.

  “I’m Jade Rhinestone. I think she’ll remember me,” I told him.

  At the sound of my last name he looked up from his book. Before that he’d been terribly opposite to eye contact.

  “I’ll see what she says.” He swooped out of his chair and hurried through the glass doors.

  Lowe and I exchanged looks. I hadn’t known what to expect, but some receptionist knowing who I was and that knowledge making a dif
ference wasn’t it.

  He wasn’t gone for long. He returned and opened the glass door but didn’t step through. “She has a few minutes before her lunch hour is over. She’d be happy to talk with you.” He said it in a way that gave me the impression that his perfectly whitened teeth hurt.

  We followed him into the lab, and it wasn’t until we were through the glass doors that I realized just how fabulous this space was. There were at least fifty cauldrons lined up on either side of an aisle that led between rows of lab tables. Many of the cauldrons were bubbling away with different-colored vapors. There was a purple to my right, and three blue further down, while the other row had a cauldron that appeared to be belching yellow butterflies. Ten or twelve people were milling amongst the cauldrons in lab coats, many with clipboards and protective eyewear.

  This place was incredible. I had never imagined anything like it. The lab even had a large bank of windows on opposite the cauldrons that let in a lot of natural light.

  At the end of the aisle was a metal staircase that led up to the mezzanine, which was like a very large hanging second floor. Metal cables stretched down and reached under metal plates to hold the whole thing in place. This layout would give Professor Burger a perfect view of everything going on below.

  The receptionist led us to the second floor and disappeared back to his post. There was a large communal table near the railing, plus a desk, covered with papers, tucked into a corner. A sectional sofa and a couple of chairs faced each other to create a lounge area.

  Professor Burger was at the communal table with another woman who appeared to be in her forties, not as old as the professor, but not as young as Lowe and I, either. They had their heads bent over a set of papers as their sandwiches waited next to their elbows, all but forgotten.

  Professor Burger looked at us as through her glasses as we came forward. “Ah, Jade. Good to see you again. Enjoying your first few weeks as a witch?”

  She was the same dumpy and disheveled-looking woman I remembered. Queen Carlyle had not been pleased with her at the examinations. Given the emphasis the queen placed on appearance, I wasn’t surprised.