I woke up on an unfamiliar couch to the noise of Avalon rummaging through her kitchen.

I guessed Igraine’s lack of sleep had caught up to her, because no matter how much noise Avalon made, Igraine’s bedroom door remained closed. It was a good thing Igraine unlocked Avalon’s coffin before she turned in, because Avalon woke up before Igraine.

If she had not been sound asleep, it would have been impossible not to hear, as her bedroom shared a wall with the kitchen.

“Looking for something?” I asked.

“Coffee.”

“Oh, you had the last of it yesterday.”

She sighed in a way only a caffeine addict could understand. I wasn’t certain at first, but it sounded like she mumbled something cruel about Igraine’s forgetfulness. I was sure she meant to curse the health challenge that plagued her, but sometimes roommates just have their breaking points.

She pinched her turquoise amulet and slid it back and forth while her mind drifted somewhere else.

That was when I was awake enough to notice she had gotten ready for the day.

“Were you thinking about going to the museum today?” I asked.

“Yes. But just for the morning. I won’t have to do anything until this afternoon.”

Two things crossed my mind in that moment. The first was that she had new information about the timing that was unknown last night. The second was that it was good thing I slept in my clothes.

I picked up my jacket from a chair next to the couch, but she took it out of my hands and put it back down.

“Just stay here, everything will be fine.”

“Is work really that important to you?”

“People take comfort from all sorts of places, the museum is mine.”

She was out the door before I could say anything, and against my better judgment, I returned to the couch. I guess working is a way to feel normal, and this was Avalon’s last chance to feel that way.

Thirty minutes later, the door to their apartment opened.

“This changes everything!”

But it wasn’t Avalon’s voice. It was Igraine’s. Hugging a blue spiral-bound notebook.

She was dressed and energetic.

She looked at me. “I found a way to break her nightly curse.”

“That’s great… when did you leave and where did you go? And what are you talking about?”

“Avalon!” she called, then turned to me, “I went for a walk at about four thirty in the morning when you were sound asleep. And I ran into a fortuneteller.”

Fortunetellers show up on the periphery of dark magic. In my experience, they are poorly named since they never tell any one’s fortune. But for a price will offer a magical trinket that can solve a problem. Unfortunately, it’s not always clear whose problem it’s solving.

She continued, “He told me he could help. I didn’t believe him at first, but I do now.”

“Oh…” I scratched my head. “Was he short and have an accent?”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“You know him?” she asked and then called, “Avalon!” She walked into her bedroom and then back out. “Where is she?”

“She went into work, and she asked me to stay here.”

“Are you kidding me?”

She swung at me with the notebook, as if she were housebreaking a dog.

“Hey,” I said. “She told me that nothing would happen until the afternoon.”

“You idiot, the museum is closed on Tuesdays.”

Before the rush of guilt, I thought to myself how museums had weird hours. It was a stupid passing thought, and the guilt took over.

I hadn’t expected Avalon to all of a sudden start lying to me. But if she was in the middle of fulfilling her obligation, maybe she had no choice.

Igraine pulled out a laptop from under a small pile of mismatched books and powered it up to a blue screen.

“Fricking updates!” she yelled.

“Checking email?” I asked.

“No, I’m logging into Avalon’s cell plan account. She has a location-tracking feature.”

The updates finished, and the computer rebooted.

“You know her password?”

“Just where she keeps her passwords spreadsheet.” and she pointed to a lonely icon on the desktop.

“Why didn’t you use that the other night, when we were at the diner?”

“I did, but she left her phone in your car. Remember? I didn’t want to leave the apartment because she could come back at any minute and would need me…”

To lock up the coffin.

She continued, “…to lock up for the night.”

After logging into Avalon’s account through the browser, the tracking located Avalon’s cell. Thank goodness she took her phone with her.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“She’s heading south on the sixway.”

“Alright, I’m going after her. Let me know if she changes direction.” And I wrote down my number on the blue spiral notebook.

“I’m coming along.” She picked up the notebook and pushed past me.

“No you’re not. Avalon and I need you here.”

“I’m fine, I can manage. I might not be at the top of my game, but I’m far from the bottom.”

“Igraine,” I said, giving her a moment.

“What?” she said. The moment passed.

“The tracking is on the laptop and requires a wireless connection, right?”

“So?”

“My car doesn’t come with wi-fi.”

She slouched, realizing her mistake.

“I can’t find Avalon without you guiding me from here.”

She nodded.

“Bring her back.”

I walked out the door but before closing it said, “Don’t worry, if anyone can catch up to her, it’s Bernie.”

I was late in the worst way. The flights of stairs flew beneath me as I made for the building’s door. Outside I ran to Bernie, who opened the driver’s side for me. He must have known how urgent the matter was. Maybe he saw her leave.

“Sorry, Bernie, we’re going to have to push the car more than usual.” I pulled out as soon as I could.

My phone rang as the car accelerated, and I followed my instinct to ignore every call that I didn’t recognize the number.

The on-ramp to the sixway from their apartment wasn’t too far if you could manage the side streets and occasionally weaving into oncoming traffic to pass the slow-pokes. Which required attention.

My phone rang again, which I’d normally pick up. But I needed to focus on the road. If it was important they’d call a third time.

And they did.

“What’s the point of leaving me your number if you aren’t going to answer it?” Igraine asked.

“How was I supposed to know you’d call so quickly?”

“Never mind, she took exit 275.”

“Pool Street? Which direction?”

“West.”

I started charting out the maze of streets that could get me there. “I could take—”

“No, stick to the expressway.”

“Why?”

“Because there are five thousand stop-lights between where you are and where she is.”

Did she put a tracker on me?

“How do you know where I am?”

“You just left, and I knew where you were going. It’s not like it’s that hard to guess.”

I must have hit every red light between Avalon’s apartment and the sixway. When I finally merged with traffic, it only took minutes to be caught in a stand-still. I couldn’t back up and take an exit. I just had to sit and wait.

I phoned Igraine.

“Well, I’m stuck in a stand still on the sixway. Any updates on Avalon?”

“She has been in the same spot for the last ten minutes.”

Was this the drop-off point or the abduction? Instead I asked, “It isn’t by any chance that she is stuck in traffic?”

“No, it looks like she’s at some sort of billiards and poker supply store.”

“Or her phone is, at least.” Damn, didn’t mean to say that one out loud.

“Good point,” she said with a focused voice.

“Does Avalon know you track her?”

“I didn’t tell her.”

“In that case, she probably wouldn’t know.”

“If she did, she figured it out on her own,” then she added, “I think she maybe in the process of the abduction.”

“Why do you say that?”

“No Amber Alerts yet.”

“Alright, get back to me when something changes.”

I put the car in park.

“Where is my emergency book?”

Bernie popped open the glove compartment and threw out a paperback onto the passenger seat. The cover flopped face up. Like all my books, it was previously owned. This one didn’t seem to have been marked up by anyone before me.

I read the first page at least seven times. Which was enough time to think up a desperate plan.