Read Imperium (Caulborn) for Free Online

Greene’s neighbors?”
    “Actually, Miguel recently requested a piece of equipment that might come in handy,” I said. “Come on.” We walked across the hall and into Miguel’s office. The place had a lived-in feel to it. There were photos of Mikey’s nephews, a football autographed by the 2002 Patriots, and three cases of various flavors of coffee stacked in the corner. An iced tea bottle filled with juice from Mikey’s chewing tobacco sat next to his computer. I grabbed the package I’d brought in earlier, along with Mikey’s makeshift spittoon and we went back into my office.
    “This is a diviner,” I said, holding up the box. “Mikey had asked for it to track down the missing paranormals. Let’s see if it can point us to him.” I opened the box and withdrew a slender glass tube with a bulb on either end. One bulb looked like frosted glass, the other was metal. I handed the device to Megan and pulled out a sheet of instructions in Thad’s handwriting.
    Thad always includes a bunch of information on the history and magic that makes up a particular piece, but right now I wasn’t interested in that. I skimmed it for the operation instructions. “To operate the diviner, first unscrew the metal bulb from the device. Then place a hair, nail or fluid sample in the metal bulb and reattach it. If the sample’s owner is within five hundred miles, the diviner will provide an image of their location, and will indicate how to reach the owner’s location.”
    Megan whistled. “Wow, that’s one powerful device.” She passed it back to me.
    “Yeah,” I said as I gently unscrewed the metal bulb. “I think there are only one or two like this in the world.” Megan’s nose wrinkled as I poured the tobacco juice into the bulb and reattached it. As soon as I had, the frosted glass bulb at the top of the rod turned clear, and showed us a fuzzy picture of Miguel. I could see he was lying in a bed, but I couldn’t make out any details beyond that. It was like trying to watch a scrambled cable channel. Then the bulb went dark. I waited for a moment, but nothing happened.
    “Maybe it needs batteries?” Megan asked.
    I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Thad. “Antiquated Treasures, home of your next showpiece,” he answered.
    “Thad, I’m trying to use the device you gave Miguel, and I’m having some trouble.” I explained what I’d done and the results I’d gotten.
    “Sounds like its charge was disrupted,” Thad said. “Could have happened in transit if they carried it through a portal or used a dimensional jumper to deliver it to me. Bring it back to the shop and I’ll start the recharge process.”
    “How long will it take to charge?”
    “That sort of magic is very delicate. The charging process takes at least a week.”
    I stared at the rod in my hand and felt my heart sink. This artifact was the best way to find Miguel and the other paranormals and its batteries were dead. I made an effort not to swear.
    Thad’s voice perked up. “Gotta go, sweetie. James just came in. Drop the diviner off and I’ll get to work on it. Toodles.”
    I hung up and put the artifact back in its box.
    “No good?” Megan asked.
    “No good.” Miguel and the others were in danger. We couldn’t sit around and wait for the rod to recharge. “We’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way.” I rubbed my eyes for a moment and took a breath. “Okay, we can ask the Midnight Clan about the missing humanoids, but I don’t know if they’re the right people to ask about gremlins.”
    “Who would be?” Megan asked.
    “Right this way,” I said, getting up from my chair and going to the office door. “His name is Gea—”
    “Vinnie!”
    I turned in time to catch a green form that had hurled itself at me. As I detangled myself from the tiny green body, I saw Megan drop the hand that had been reaching under her jacket. “Hello, Gearstripper,” I said when I finally got the gremlin free. I set Gearstripper