Trickster s Girl - By Hilari Bell Page 0,18

a dancer, masked in black, with black feathers dripping from his arms.

Raven barely spared it a glance. "That's Crow Mother. She's not a bad woman, but she hasn't yet made up her mind."

Hasn't yet? Kelsa's sense of reality fractured once more. "Hasn't made up her mind about - "

Every com board in the building chirped at the same moment. Kelsa almost jumped out of her skin. "What the - "

An eerie glow shone through the doorway to another room as a com board on the desk activated.

"Museum of the Southwest." The woman's voice was crisply professional. "This is Tri-metro Securicorp, and we have an alarm activated in your building. Please give us your security code and password."

"I thought you took care of the alarm!" Kelsa whispered furiously.

"I did." Raven sounded concerned, but not nearly as panicked as he should have. "The big red bell by the front door hasn't - "

"The silent alarm, you - "

"Please, get on a board and give me your security code and password." Professionalism was giving way to impatience. "If you'd repaired your security cams, as we requested two days ago, I wouldn't need confirmation. But this is the third time in four months you've forgotten to notify us when someone was working late, and I must remind you that according to your contract one more false alarm will result in a raise in your rates. So if you're still there, you'd better get on and verify immediately, or I'll be forced to call campus security. Which, as you know, means an automatic fine."

It had happened three times in four months? Kelsa took a deep breath to steady her nerves.

"Don't do that!" she called. "I have Professor Hammond's permission to be here, and everything."

"Who is this, please? I don't have a Professor Hammond on my staff list."

"Well, he let me in," Kelsa said. "He said it would be OK. He had a key card."

"It must have malfunctioned," the woman said. "But I still have to verify that he has access. Tell him to get to a com board, please, and give me his security code and password."

"He's gone now." Kelsa took Raven's arm, pulling him back toward the door, but he didn't budge. "The professor just let me in to work on the signs. Extra credit."

She pulled harder, scowling. Raven shook off her grip.

"It's this way." He strode quietly through the doorway at the far end of the room. Kelsa glared after him.

"Well, someone has to give me a security code in the next two minutes, or I'll have to call campus security," the woman said. "It's procedure. Would you come to the com, please? If you have a student ID, at least I could identify you."

"I can't," said Kelsa desperately. "I'm, uh, I'm holding some glued stuff. If you'd just call Professor Hammond..."

"I'm calling campus security. Now."

The light from the com board winked out.

Kelsa raced through the doorway where Raven had gone. "She's calling security! Where are you?"

"Down here."

She followed his voice into another narrow hall, and down a set of steep, winding stairs. The basement was clearly used for storage, and Raven was standing beside a pile of boxes.

"It's in this one." He pointed to the second-lowest box in the stack.

"I don't care about your stupid medicine bag," Kelsa snarled. "She's calling campus security! They'll be here in minutes!"

"Then we have only minutes," said Raven. "So you'd better get started."

"I'm leaving," said Kelsa.

"I'm not." There was no yielding in his face or voice. "Not until we've got what we came for. And if I get caught, I'll name you as my accomplice."

"You wouldn't. I can't turn into a crow and fly out the prison window, like you can."

"Then you'd better..." He sighed, his shoulders suddenly slumping. "No, I wouldn't. But we can get it now if you'd just get a move on. I won't let you get arrested. I promise. Please!"

Kelsa took one step toward him, then rushed across the basement and dragged the first box off the stack.

"You said you'd taken care of the alarm too," she grumbled.

"And the alarm didn't ring," Raven said. "I still don't know how that woman knew we were here."

He took the second box off the pile and put it on the floor. "It's in this one. In a tin box, in the front right corner near the bottom."

When Kelsa raised the lid, the box was filled with other boxes and objects, probably priceless irreplaceable artifacts, swathed in ordinary bubble wrap. She plunged her hands through them