The knock came at four in the morning.

I was hovering between asleep and awake, wondering what would be the best way to apologize to a witch for being the world's most presumptuous twit.

I had no right to say what I had to Ellis. What did I know about her and Olivia? Nothing but the bare-bones story of one of the worst times in their lives and a few distracted comments made by Ellis during a cocktail party. Did I really think that was enough to judge by?

But in spite of all the compelling reasons I had for why I should feel bad, I didn't.

Whenever I thought back on the moment, I remembered Ellis’s face—the sadness in her eyes, how she'd lowered them so she wouldn't have to look at Olivia—and the certainty returned, as powerful as ever. If I thought too much about it, I'd wind up walking around with a boulder in my chest.

Don’t get me wrong—it bothered me how much I’d upset her. I felt bad about that, but it seemed like nothing in the world could make me feel bad about my comment.

Sure. Why not? One of the world’s least decisive people suddenly decides to stake her flag on an indefensible hill surrounded by a swamp of ignorance. Go me.

I was still arguing with myself, trying to work up an appropriate amount of guilt, when the loud knocking made our bedroom door rattle on its hinges.

Beside me, Olivia jerked awake.

I put my hand on her arm so she wouldn’t accidentally hit me.

“Emerra?” she grumbled.

The knocking came again.

“Olivia,” Ellis called from outside the door.

Considering the ridiculous hour, the violence of her knocking, and the tone of her voice, I was wary. But at least she wasn’t yelling my name.

Olivia and I got up. Since I had to walk around the bed, she reached the door before I did. She opened it as I came to stand behind her.

Ellis was in a dressing gown. Nylah was standing behind Ellis, also in a dressing gown, but she was turned partly away from the door, refusing to look at any of us. Rall was in the hall, almost out of sight.

“What is it?” Olivia asked.

A stream of indigo light specks poured off of Ellis toward her daughter.

Without thinking, I grabbed Olivia by the arm and yanked her back.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

The stream of magic stopped. What was left of it curled over itself like fog and faded away.

Ellis stared at me.

“What is it?” Olivia repeated. “Is something wrong?”

Ellis returned her attention to her daughter. “Have you been here all night?”

“What?”

“It’s a simple question, Olivia. Answer it.”

“Of course I’ve been here all night!”

Ellis said to me, “What about you?”

“I haven’t left the room.”

“Did either of you hear anything?”

“I was asleep!” Olivia said. “We both—”

Olivia stopped herself and turned to me.

“I heard Nylah,” I said.

Nylah’s head jerked up when she heard her name.

I went on, “I think it was her. I heard her door open and some footsteps. That’s all.”

Ellis kept her eyes fixed on mine. “Why were you awake?”

“I have nightmares.”

If that witch wanted a staring contest, I was ready to stand there all morning.

“Mother, what’s going on?” Olivia asked.

Rall sauntered up to his wife’s side. His hands were buried in his pajama pockets. “Someone stole the silver from downstairs.”

My eyes widened. I pulled the door open, forcing every Oliversen in the house to take a step back so I could get into the hallway.

I yelled as I ran toward his door, “Jacky!”

Noctis had enough presence of mind to remember to open the door to his bedroom.

“What is it?” he asked.

“There’s been a robbery. Can you check all the outside doors?”

He nodded once and disappeared.

That was…unfortunate. But at least he appreciated the need for haste. Maybe Ellis and the others would be too distracted to notice they hadn’t seen him leave his room.

I walked back to the group gathered around our door and addressed myself to Rall. “Who locks up the house at night?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I do, unless Ellis is coming in late.”

“Did you lock up tonight?”

“Yes. I checked every door before I came up for bed.”

“How sure are you?”

“A hundred percent.”

I believed him. I looked at Ellis. “What silver are we talking about? Is it, like, utensils or something?”

Olivia said, “She means downstairs in the basement. It was the blessed silver from the workroom.”

Blessed silver? That was magic stuff. That was what you wrapped around knife blades when you needed to stab vampires. That’s what you coated mirrors with.

“How bad is it?” I asked Olivia.

Nylah said, “Oh, it’s pretty damn bad. If Olivia doesn’t have it, we’re going to have to call Ansel.”

“Did you take it?” Ellis said.

“No!” Olivia sounded offended, and I couldn’t blame her. “I haven’t been anywhere near the workroom since I’ve been home! And if I needed any silver, I wouldn’t come to you for help.”

Ellis’s jaw tightened. Rall reached out to take both his wife and his daughter gently by the arm.

“Olivia,” he said, “it’s early, and we’re all upset. Please go easy on your mother.”

Sweet of him. I hoped for the best, but I had other things to worry about. So did Olivia—if I could get her to put her family issues aside long enough to remember that.

“Could one of the guests have stolen it?” I asked.

“No,” Nylah said. When I looked at her, she crossed her arms. “I was having trouble sleeping.”

I don’t know why she sounded so defensive. If anyone could empathize with her, it was me.

She went on, “I decided to work until I felt drowsy, but I needed to get my notebook from downstairs. The silver was there when I went to grab it.”

“You saw it?”

“It sits in a clear jar on a shelf above the desk. I saw it.”

“What time did you go down?”

“Around two-thirty or three.”

“Did anything seem weird?” Olivia asked.

“I didn’t sense anything,” Nylah said.

Ugh. Witches. I let Olivia roll her eyes for both of us.

“No one sensed anything with the other robberies either,” I reminded her. “Did anything non-magical seem weird to you?”

Her face took on the snide expression that preceded one of her rude or sarcastic comments, but it suddenly cleared.

“The light was on,” she said.

“Is that weird?” I asked.

“The first time it was a little weird, but I didn’t think too much about it. I assumed that I must have accidentally left it on. I shut it off on the way out the door, but when I went to put my journal back, the light was on again.”

“You didn’t leave the light on,” Ellis said. “I went around after the party to make sure that no one had left any dishes around the house. All the lights were off downstairs.”

Olivia stepped toward her sister. “Was there anyone in the workroom?”

“Are you stupid?” Nylah asked.

“They might have been hiding!” I said.

“There’s nowhere to hide down there! I would’ve seen them.”

“Okay.” I put my open hands up by my head and jerked them down in front of me. “We have to get this perfectly straight.” I turned to Nylah. “You went downstairs to the workroom. The light was on, but no one was there. The silver was where it should have been. You left the room, turning off the light as you went. When you came back, about an hour later, the light was on again and the silver was gone. Is that right?”

Nylah thought for a moment, then nodded.

Olivia and I looked at each other.

“Could they have heard her coming?” I asked.

“It’s possible,” Olivia said, “but she would’ve seen them coming out of the room. The stairs open right onto the basement hall.”

“What if they were hiding in another room?”

Olivia hesitated. “I’ll go check.” She turned toward the stairs.

“What do you two know about this?” Ellis asked.

Olivia didn’t bother turning around to answer. “Don’t worry, Mother. I’m involved. How important can it be?”

Ellis opened her mouth, but when Rall’s hand tightened around her arm, she shut it without saying a word. She turned away, but not before I caught a glimpse of her face. It looked like she’d swallowed a gallon of vinegar.

“Should I call the chief?” Nylah asked.

Her eyes were moving between me and Ellis. It took me a second to realize the implication of that, and when it struck me, it hit like a lead pipe out of nowhere.

What complete idiot decided to put me in a position of authority?

My brain replayed a few clips from that morning, politely pointing out who’d been bossing people around and asking them a bunch of questions.

Right. I was the idiot. That fit.

“We have to,” Rall said. “The only question is whether we call now or later in the morning.”

“We’ll do it later,” Ellis said. “Let Ansel sleep. I doubt she’ll be able to sense anything we couldn’t.”

She pulled her arm away from her husband and headed toward her bedroom.

It was probably too late for me to abdicate, but I did my best by saying in my meekest voice, “Mrs. Oliversen, do you mind if I look around downstairs?”

She stopped and turned.

“I promise I won’t touch anything,” I added.

“Do as you please, Miss Cole. I have no doubt you would’ve anyway.” She continued down the hall.

I said to Nylah, “You might want to write out what happened. Try to get everything in order, and write down all the details you can. It’ll help you remember.”

“How do you know all this stuff?” Nylah said.

Oh, there were so many interesting answers to that question! I decided not to mention the fact I’d given one or two statements before. I thought it might sound suspicious.

“I know an FBI agent,” I said. “He’s talked to me about it.”

Nylah watched me for another second, her face stern, then she went to her room without indicating whether or not she intended to listen to my suggestion.

When she was gone, Rall said, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Can you search the house to see if anything else has been taken?”

“Let me throw a sweater on.”

While he did that, I went downstairs to find Big Jacky. He was standing by the open front door, looking beyond the front porch into the darkness. I joined him on the threshold and wrapped my arms around myself in a futile attempt to keep warm.

“They left from here,” Jacky said. “All of the other doors were locked.”

“Were there any signs of a break-in?”

“None that I could find.”

“Can you tell if any of the locks were picked?”

“I’m afraid not. I regret the fact we weren’t able to bring Conrad with us.”

Conrad?

Jacky added, “Too many people know to wipe their fingerprints, but very few people can evade a lycanthrope’s sense of smell.”

And here I’d been wasting my time wishing I could kidnap Agent Vasil and get his opinion.

“Can we bring Conrad here?” I asked.

“I’m afraid not. We’d need special permission from the Torr and unusual circumstances to justify it. By the time we could arrange all the security, the scent would be gone.” Jacky turned his skull to look at me. “What was stolen?”

“Some blessed silver.”

Jacky returned his attention to the yard. “That’s very bad.”

My stomach sank some more. I hadn’t realized it had been sinking, but this time, when it dove, it reached a new level of the abyss. “The Oliversens said that too. Jacky, why’s it so bad?”

“The gravity of having your supply of blessed silver stolen is similar to someone having their gun stolen.”

My voice rose: “It’s that dangerous?”

“No, it’s that useful. The gravity is the same, but the threat is more a question of potential. The crafters who work with blessed silver only sell completed products. To steal it as a raw element means that you intend to create something for yourself, and you don’t want other people to know what you’re creating.”

“I thought the kidnappers didn’t use magic!”

“We assumed that because they haven’t used magic in any of their burglaries. But ARC Hall was one of their targets, and considering what they've stolen tonight, I think we have to assume we were wrong.”

I shivered.

Jacky must have seen it and thought I was cold.

I was cold, but that wasn’t why I shivered.

He put his skeleton hand on my shoulder. “Go back inside. Search the house for anything unusual. Especially any magic.”

“Ellis and Nylah didn’t sense anything.”

“I understand. I’d still like you to look around.”

“If you’re hoping I’ll have another vision—”

“Your visions are welcome tools, Emerra, but I wouldn’t presume to rely on them. Your eyes—just your eyes—are enough.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to check for footprints.”