Page 28 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
The next morning,as Nora walked up the steps to work, she felt as if somebody had dug out her brain with a spoon and replaced it with a pile of soggy cotton balls. It took all her focus to keep her feet moving up the steps after the sleeplessness of the night before.
As she pushed through the doors of the museum, however, her exhaustion faded and was replaced by puzzlement. After hearing that the museum had been closed the day before in the aftermath of the fire, she expected extensive damage. Instead of charred floors and smoke-stained ceilings, though, the museum entrance looked the same as it always had. There were even a few early visitors checking in and milling around the base of the giant T-Rex skeleton in the entrance hall.
Confused, she turned and made her way down the stairs to her office, seeing no signs of damage there either. Adam had assured her that he had returned while she was unconscious and put the weapons back in their places, but she had no idea how the rest of the museum had gotten cleaned up so quickly.
As she pushed open the doors to the basement workroom, she only caught a brief glimpse of the room before a small form barreled into her, almost knocking her backwards.
“Oh my goodness! I’m so glad you are okay!” exclaimed a worried voice, and Nora looked down on a head of sleek black hair.
Nora extricated herself from Mandy with a chuckle. “Yeah, I’m okay. Fit as a fiddle.”
Mandy still looked concerned. “Drew texted me from your phone and told me you were in the hospital after a car accident, so you wouldn’t be at work. I didn’t know what to think! Leo tried not to look too pleased that you were gone, and I just hoped you’d be back before he managed to take over all your projects.”
“As if he could handle all my work,” Nora snorted as she waved her hand. “Drew was being dramatic. I was just a little banged up. Nothing major,” she lied smoothly. She was disturbed by how believable the lie sounded, even to her own ears. “It seems like you guys were having a much more exciting time here with the fire and all. I expected there to be more damage.”
“We all expected that too. According to the eye-witness accounts of all the museum guests, the fire was gigantic. But you know people, always exaggerating things to make a good story and get on the news.”
Nora hummed in assent, still looking around the office in masked disbelief.
Mandy continued. “They kept the museum closed for a few days while they were investigating the cause of the fire, but they didn’t find anything. Guess it must have been a freak accident of some sort. In terms of damage, there were just a few charred walls and some smoke stains at the end of the hall. They got that all cleaned up rather quickly.”
“And what about our office? Any damage in here?” Nora attempted to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“Nope. The fire doors closed and kept all the smoke out.”
Nora had to work to suppress a shudder as she thought about how the fire door had failed at keeping the smoke out. Meanwhile, Mandy pressed on.
“All our artifacts should be fine, but we haven’t taken out the pieces from the new shipment to see if any changes in the climate control may have affected them. That should probably be our project for the day.”
Nora nodded. “Good thinking. I’ll take the sword and the spear since they’re already by my bench.” She didn’t add that she was anxious to assess them for damage caused by something other than an increase in humidity.
A few minutes later, Nora stood in front of her workbench, where Adam had kneeled in a pool of her blood just a few days earlier. The floor was spotless, and she surmised that Adam must have cleaned up the mess when he came to put the sword and spear away.
It was quick work to inspect the weapons, finding them to still be in immaculate condition. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that Adam had done a good job cleaning them after all his insistence. He did seem serious about doing his part to keep her life as normal as possible.
Thankful her work hadn’t been jeopardized, Nora turned to making plans to integrate the new artifacts into the existing displays upstairs in the museum. She chewed on her pen as she paused in drawing out her idea to put the sword and the spear in a prominent new case. It seemed odd to display the pieces when she now knew the person who had fought with them, but Adam hadn’t actually asked her to give him the sword back, so she decided to press on with her plans.
Nora was still considering things when she headed down the steps at the end of the day. She slowed when she noticed more than a few people staring at the bottom of the stairs and giggling. Nora followed the direction of their stares, and her gaze landed on Thad, jauntily perched on one of the railings as if he owned the place.
When Nora saw what he was wearing, she could understand why people were staring. She strolled up to him with raised eyebrows.
“Nice threads, Thad,” she commented as she took in his lavender suit. As she got closer, it looked to be made of velvet.
“Thank you,” he said, straightening his silver ascot, the movement making his matching drop earrings twinkle in the sunlight. “I’ve been told the color compliments my complexion.”
“You were told the truth,” Nora said as he hopped down off the railing. Nora had to look down a few inches to meet his eyes.
“What are you doing here anyways? I got the impression you didn’t leave the Sanctuary much.”
“I don’t,” Thad began walking and motioned for her to follow him. “I’m here to pick you up and bring you to the Sanctuary to train with Ezra.”
Nora fell into step beside him. “We’re starting that today?”
“Adam convinced him to train you, and as long as he is going to do it, he is going to take his job seriously. You’ll be coming every day after work.”
“I guess he really plans on whipping me into shape then.”
“Oh Nora, you have no idea what you’re in for.” Thad shot her a pitying look.
