Page 56

Speaking of which, as soon as Kahn was done tracking down Sax and Ben, he was going after Raj regardless of Randa’s forgiving heart. That little bastard was going to bleed and scream and bleed again, until he learned a valuable lesson. Once his broken body was dumped in the Agora as a warning to others, no one sane would attack Randa, of the Light House ever again.

“Are you listening?” Rysimer demanded.

“Yes.”

Rye rolled his eyes, knowing Kahn was lying. “I said, there’s a picture over here of Ben with flowers.”

Kahn’s focus shifted, and he quickly crossed the room to look at the framed photo on the sterile, white wall. Ben was smiling like an idiot, surrounded by other smiling idiots, in front of a large archway of multicolored blossoms.

Kahn frowned. “What’s this? A human wedding?” One of the females wore a white veil. He was pretty sure that signified a marriage ceremony. Looking around, Kahn saw similar pictures on display, only with different fancy-dressed humans. “Why is he attending so many weddings? Can humans have multiple Matches?”

“I think he plans the ceremonies.” Rye was now rustling through papers on Ben’s desk. He held up an envelope that read “Foster Event Coordinators, LLC.” “He helps with weddings and parties. That explains why he frequents the florist shop.”

Kahn grunted, not appeased.

“It’s part of his job.” Rye stressed.

“Convenient.”

“For God’s sake…” Rye muttered, like Kahn was being unreasonable. (Which he wasn’t. Ben was guilty of something. Kahn just needed to rip apart the human’s life until he figured out what it was.) “Look, here’s Ben’s phone.” He tossed it over to Kahn. “Do you know how to use one of these? See if that’s enough for you to clear his name.”

Kahn was good with technology. He’d always been mechanically inclined. In addition to weapons, he’d built countless gadgets for his family. Silent hair dryers. Portable record players. Laser-sighted hunting spears.

He hadn’t invented anything recently, though. Not since the Fall. He suddenly realized how much he missed it.

Kahn turned the phone around in his hand, admiring how sleek it was. Very practical design. Intuiting how it worked took no effort. The phone opened with a code. Using different spectrums of Light energy to analyze the glass surface of the screen, he saw which numbers had been pressed recently. After that, he only needed one guess to unlock it.

“69,-69,-69. Ben is such an asshole.”

“Still doesn’t make him a stalker.” Rye argued. “Still, it’s strange for a human to leave home without their phone, isn’t it? They seem pathologically attached to them.”

“I don’t blame them. This is useful.”

Kahn scrolled through Ben’s recent messages. At first, none of the stored information struck him as out of the ordinary. Just random women begging him to call them back and wedding vendors asking for details on upcoming nuptials. Ben hadn’t answered any of them.

“Anything?”

“No, just…” Kahn stopped when the name “Ty Waterhouse” popped up next to some texts about planning a last-minute party. “The Water Phases hired him.” Curious, Kahn scrolled through the messages. “Ty wants to move Gion’s birthday to Mayport Beach.”

“Gion’s having a birthday party?” Rye seemed skeptical. “Does he know that?”

“Nope. Ty says it’s a surprise.” Kahn gestured to one of the texts. “It can’t be a coincidence that Ty is reaching out to this guy. We should take this with us to see who else contacts him.” Kahn had told Randa he’d get a phone. If he stole this one, he was keeping his promise. Also, he wanted to play with it. “Maybe he’s targeting Phases…”

Energy cracked in the room, and then Job was there. The Earth Phase’s green eyes looked around Ben’s too-clean living room, settling on Rysimer. “We need to talk.”

“Whatever it is, we didn’t do it.” Rye protested, because Job always showed up to lecture when there was a problem. “Look for someone else to blame. We’ve been right here in Mayport Beach for days.”

Job arched a brow. “Except when Julius is in the Elemental realm, investigating Randa’s past.”

Yeah, that was another reason Randa was mad at them. Kahn sighed in frustration.

“We’re protecting Randa.” Rye insisted. “Ask her yourself, if you don’t believe us. She hired us, because someone is stalking her.”

Job frowned. “Who?”

“Maybe Saxon. Or maybe the human who lives here.” Kahn waved a disgusted hand around the condo’s white interior. “He’s been party planning with Ty, so who knows what he’s really up to.”

“Party planning, most likely.” Job said dryly. “It’s Gion’s birthday.”