Chapter 2

“You’re being very quiet,” Dale said.

“I have traveled very little in recent years.”

“Have you ever been to Philly?”

“No.”

“I’ve only been a couple of times. Thank God for GPS, otherwise I’d need a map. I hope this restaurant has decent food.”

“If you are hungry, I could create food for you.”

“Um, a cup of coffee would be great.” Dale shrugged one shoulder and stretched out his arm. “And if there’s a way for it to contain 800mg of ibuprofen, that would be amazing.”

“Driving is causing shoulder pain,” Riadh said.

“Yeah, I haven’t driven this much since I came up from Lejeune for Aunt Mildred’s funeral. All the crap we’ve been moving hasn’t exactly made the damn thing happy either.”

Riadh held out his hand and a coffee cup with a lid appeared. “Just sugar and ibuprofen right?”

Dale chuckled and took the cup from Riadh. “Yes, thank you.”

* * * *

Parking in the middle of a city was almost always something of a nightmare. It took Dale twenty minutes longer to find a spot than he had hoped. It was a good thing he had budgeted some extra time into the trip.

“We have just under half an hour to get to the restaurant,” Dale said.

“How’s the shoulder?” Riadh asked.

“Better, for the moment.” He knew the anti-inflammatory would wear off in a while and by that point he hoped to be in a hotel with a large Ziploc of ice. He’d really been abusing the damaged joint pretty hard and that just didn’t cut it anymore. “I wish I knew more about this Archimedes guy. Did Aunt Mildred ever talk to you about him?”

“Only his name, nothing more.”

The restaurant turned out to be a bit more upscale than Dale had anticipated and he was briefly tempted to ask Riadh to conjure up a tie and a better jacket. No, he wasn’t particularly good at pretending to be something he wasn’t, so either Archimedes could raise an eyebrow or maybe the man wouldn’t care.

Dale cast a glance at Riadh walking beside him. Riadh had mimicked Dale’s attire, dress shirt, and slacks. The pristine white of the shirt was an attractive contrast to Riadh’s warm honeyed tan skin tone.

In the foyer of the restaurant, Dale gave his name to the hostess and told her they were expected. She showed them to a table in a far corner where an older man sat, wearing what Dale guessed was probably a thousand dollar suit.

“I’m Dale Edinger. This is my colleague Riadh,” Dale said.

The man made a gesture for them to be seated. “A pleasure to meet you. I am Archimedes.”

Dale made a guess at the man’s age and background, somewhere past forty but not as old as sixty, ethnically probably Eastern European. Unless the suit was a magic illusion, Archimedes had serious money.

“Let’s order some drinks before we talk about business,” Archimedes suggested. He crooked a finger at a waiter, who came to the table. “I’ll have a double of Lagavulin.”

Dale was silent for a moment. He’d been in enough dubious situations in his life that something about the man before him triggered caution. “I’ll have a cup of coffee. Riadh?”

“Yes, coffee please,’ Riadh replied.

The waiter nodded and strode off.

“The message of the board implied you’re looking for a teacher,” said Archimedes. “When you have that,” he made a gesture toward Riadh. “What do you need with a teacher?”

Dale felt a little blindsided. He should have realized that a magic user capable of teaching him would recognize Riadh as not human. “I inherited Riadh when my aunt died. I guess you could say I also inherited her business and unfortunately I’m not as prepared to follow in her footsteps as I thought. That’s why I’m looking for a teacher.” It was as close to the truth as he was willing to admit to the man.

“I don’t usually take on students but I’m in a lull between projects. I’ll give you a year’s apprenticeship for it.”

“It?”

“The djinn.”

Dale’s mouth went dry. Seriously? This dude wanted Riadh in payment? “The answer is no. Riadh is not for sale or trade or any part of a bargain.”

The waiter chose that moment to reappear, and the conversation died until the drinks were set on the table.

After the waiter left, Archimedes said, “If your skills are lacking then you are severely underutilizing a valuable tool.” He sipped his whiskey. “Oh, very well, I’ll give you a hundred thousand dollars and throw in the year’s apprenticeship, too.”

Dale stood up from the table and only kept his temper by the barest thread. “Thank you for meeting with me but I’m afraid I’m not interested.” He was relieved Riadh stood up also. “Goodbye.” Dale gripped Riadh’s arm lightly and steered him in the direction of the door.