Michelle Rowen - Inevitable

I D BET YOUVE NEVER SEEN one this big before, have you?

Emma Black forced a smile to her face. Wow. Its really big.

Thank you, my dear. Eighty-year-old billionaire Xavier Franklin gently placed the eighteen-inch-tall antique perfume bottle on a shelf along with other examples of his priceless glassware collection. The brightly lit glass and chrome showroom felt more like something out of a museum than one that would be found in a private home. But enough about my hobbies, Ive been monopolizing your time for far too long. You likely want to get back to the party, dont you?

No. What Emma really wanted was to get her hands on the potion bottle shed been sent here, to New York City, to retrieve. When shed arrived at Franklins twelvethousand-square-foot mansion on Central Park West, it had seemed like such a simple assignment.

That had been two hours ago.

Shed arrived to find one of Franklins infamous masquerade parties going on. Shed read about them beforeglitzy events put on by a man who still thought of himself as one of the citys most eligible bachelors. With a lot of time on his hands and a ton of money at his disposal, his parties had become the place for the most beautiful and important people in the Manhattan social scene to meet up, drink fountains of champagne, and Well, whatever happened, happened.

And here she was, being given the grand tour by the eighty-year-old bachelor himself. She supposed she should feel honored. There werent a lot of glitzy parties in Mystic Ridge, the town where she lived, unless you counted going for a few drinks at the local bar.

Since Emma had arrived sans costume, shed been handed a mask at the door. The billionaire also wore a mask, a green one with a large feather.

Actually, Mr. Franklin she said, wanting to move things along.

Please, my dear. Call me Xavier.

It was obvious hed had a few too many glasses of champagne. He grinned at her like a tipsy teenager, the deep wrinkles fanning out around his eyes.

Maybe he needed a little direction to remember the task at hand. Xavieryou called us, remember? Im here to pick up your potion bottle and take it back to PARA.

PARA was an acronym for the Paranormal Assessment and Recovery Agency, of which Emma was an agent. She assessed. She recovered. Since her psychic ability was clairvoyance, she sometimes spoke to ghosts to help direct them on to the next plane of existencekind of like a supernatural flight attendant. Some of the ghosts even listened to her.

If someone had something they believed was enchanted or cursed, PARA would send an agent to check it out. If it was determined to be dangerous, the article in question would be kept under lock and key in the vault until it could be disenchanted, decursed or destroyed.

PARA was a privately funded business and Xavier was one of its biggest benefactors. Basically, whatever Xavier wanted, PARA provided for him. Hed just acquired a rare bottle of potion, but the potion wasnt working as hed been told it would. He wanted it assessed to see if hed been duped into buying a fake. It wasnt an important or a dangerous job. It was simply time-consuming. Since her car was in the shop, the bus ride from Mystic Ridge to New York City had taken three hours.

Yes, Xavier Franklin always got what he wanted. Hed, in fact, requested Emma by name after theyd met at a fundraising cocktail party a few months ago put on by the PARA board of directors. She was trying to take it as a compliment, even if it meant she was being used as a glorified courier.

Xaviers cell phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket. Yes, the bottle. Of course. Ill get it for you in a moment, my dear. In the meantime, please enjoy yourself. Have some champagne.

He wandered off with his phone pressed to his ear, the enormous peacock feather set into his mask flopping around at the top of it with every step he took.

The shoes Emma wore pinched her feet. Since shed always disliked how short she wasall of five-foot-oneshe never left her apartment without high heels, the higher the better. This pair had been on sale for a price she couldnt resist, but shed been paying the real price for her frugality every minute since shed put them on.

Such a glamorous life, she said under her breath as her gaze moved over the hundreds of colorful glass bottles, vases and bowls lit up and displayed on shelves and tabletops. The main party was being held in the parlor at the front of the house with a two-storey-high ceiling, a dome-shaped skylight, and a chandelier so large and grand that it likely would impress even the Phantom of the Opera.