Asher Converse's Arc

Chapter 23 of 30

Chalam came in as the last bells stilled. He crossed the floor to the storeroom, where the secret door hid the stairs to the cellar. He set his new staff against the wall and knelt over the boards that covered the trapdoor. "Three men hunt this," he said. "They cannot find what they cannot see." Asher watched him work. Chalam drew a line in the air above the floor. His staff glowed pale, then dimmed. "Look now," the wizard said. Asher looked. The seam of the trapdoor was gone. The boards read as one flat floor. "Only the team sees it," Chalam said. "You, me, Tucker, Rowan, JD. To any other man, this is bare wood." Asher crouched and ran his hand across the boards. He felt the iron edge under his palm, but his eyes told him nothing was there. "Test it," he said. He called for JD. "Come look at the floor." JD walked over. He glanced down. "Trapdoor," he said. "Right where it was." He did not blink. The charm held for the team and hid the rest. Asher stood. For the first time the cellar was safe from any stranger who reached the room. The new moon could come. The three faces could search every board. They would find nothing. "Then we're ready," Asher said. The back door banged. Tucker came in from the alley, arms loaded with a crate. He had stripped off his vest and shirt in the heat of the work. Sweat ran down his chest. He dropped the crate by the bar and wiped his brow. "Last load," he said. "Casks stacked. We're stocked for a week." JD looked at him. He looked long. "You do that shirtless every night?" JD asked. Tucker grinned. He leaned a hip against the bar and let JD see the whole of it. "Only when I want tips," he said. "You paying?" "Might," JD said. He crossed to Tucker and set a hand flat on his chest, over the sweat and hair. He held it there. Tucker did not step back. He put his own hand over JD's and pressed it down. Asher watched and waited for the old worry to rise. It did not. Tucker's mouth was busy. He would not run it about the floor. And JD kept his own thoughts locked even now. Two men leaning close, and not one word about the cellar. Asher found he liked the sight. "Lock the alley door," he said. "Both of you." Tucker laughed and did not move his hand. Chalam took up his staff. "The charm holds till I break it," the wizard said. "Guard the men who can see, and the door is safe." Asher looked at his hidden floor, invisible now to every enemy. Elixir had grown a wall no blade could cut. The trapdoor was hunted, but it could not be found. Now he had only to catch the men who hunted it.