Episode Seventeen: Taken: Scene 28

All in all, it had been a good day. The snakes had been cute, the demon had barely been a workout, and I owed my dad a brownie.

Well, I’d at least got the mix. Kanesha wasn’t staying the night. We kissed goodbye and I went to my apartment.

To find it trashed.

Whoever had done it had been thorough. My weapons were missing. Worse, the horn was missing, which Tyr wouldn’t be pleased about.

So was the spare cash I’d hidden in a drawer of my desk.

And my laptop, which was probably worst of all. It looked like a burglary, but I knew better. They’d been after either the horn, my sword, or both.

Real burglars wouldn’t have taken the horn. I called Mike. “I got burgled.”

“Crap. They get anything important?”

“My laptop and all my…tools.” I was on my cell, so I kept it oblique.

“That’s bad.”

They hadn’t, somehow, found my ammo case, at least, and in theory the gun was unloaded.

“Or good. They took stuff we can trace. Can you like get some people over here.”

“I’m on my way.”

He showed up with the same young woman he’d been with before.

“What did they take?”

“They took…like I said, my tools, about thirty bucks in cash and my laptop.”

Which, of course, had all my school notes on it. I’d been protactive and got most of my summer homework done…

“Alright. Take pictures of the crime scene, Julie, and I’ll talk to her outside.”

He followed me outside. “Your gun?”

“But not my ammo. And my sword. And the horn. Which…regular burglars wouldn’t have taken.”

“So, not regular burglars. I’d ask who you annoyed lately.”
“The horn’s a rather valuable artifact and could probably be tracked by somebody. I’d bet it was collectors.”

He nodded. “You’re probably right. Did you at least have the laptop backed up?”

“Kanesha made me get a dropbox account. That part’s fine. Just annoying.”

It would cost me a bit of what I’d saved for a new one. I was more embarrassed about the thieves reading stuff. Or…

“Mine’s in the car. Go borrow it and change all of your passwords.”

I nodded. “Thanks, Mike.”

Kanesha would have reminded me to do that. But I had to get the horn back. Tyr could probably trace it.

Or I could myself. I’d had it for long enough and it was sort of resonating to the same things, right?

I hoped so, anyway.

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