Stolen Magic. Esri Rose

Galan asked me, I almost couldn’t remember that.” She clasped her hands in her lap. “I can’t remember how I got here, or where I live. I can’t remember anything.”

      Kutara nodded at her. “You’re safe here. We’ll take care of you and find out what’s happened.”

      Galan headed toward his desk. “Should I call Erin, do you think?” Since bonding with Galan, Erin had developed certain healing abilities.

      “Not at the moment.” Kutara stood. “Can I examine you, Fia?”

      She nodded.

      Kutara pulled Fia’s long chestnut hair aside, section by section, presumably looking for an injury. “Do you hurt anywhere?”

      “No. I’m hungry, though.”

      “We’ll help you get some energy. Don’t eat human food. It will change you from elf to mortal.”

      Fia frowned slightly, as though this basic information were only vaguely familiar. “Okay.”

      Galan looked up from his computer. “I showed her how to take energy from the creek, but I’m not sure she was able to concentrate enough to do it well.”

      Functioning normally on water energy was like trying to run a marathon on an all-lettuce diet. Creek energy would keep Fia alive, but it wasn’t a good substitute for energy from Ma’Nah, and an elf could get that energy only by merging with his own land—land to which he was bonded.

      Kutara finished examining Fia’s head. “I can’t find any injury. Galan, put the word out on our Yahoo Group, asking if anyone has heard of a missing female.”

      Galan typed something in. “I’ll also ask if anyone knows about memory loss.”

      “Good. There must be missing-persons sites for humans, but I doubt they would do much good.”

      Especially since humans were unlikely to have information on people over a hundred years old.

      “Adlia,” Kutara said.

      I froze in my chair. “What?”

      “Now would be a good time for you to research investment-management software.”

      “Don’t you want me to help find out about Fia?”

      “Galan has that under control.”

      I opened the lid of my laptop with a sigh. “I was just going to start that.”

      Chapter Two

      Researching investment management turned out to be a lot like editing a book on nuclear physics. First step: look up all the unfamiliar words. I didn’t care about investments. I didn’t want to learn about investments. But I read lots of online articles on the basics of investments so I could make an informed decision on a program about them.

      Concentrating wasn’t made any easier by Fia wandering around with nothing to do and not much mind to do it with.

      Galan periodically asked her questions. “Do you remember any landmarks on your land?”

      Considering that elves cared for their land and spent long periods of time merged with it, that should have been an easy question. Fia’s answer was a blank stare and a long silence before she said, “I think there were some trees.”

      “Does the name Golden sound familiar to you?” Galan asked.

      “It’s a…It’s a color, isn’t it? Or a type of wood?”

      “Metal. It’s also a town west of here. Does it sound familiar at all? No?”

      As her energy got low, Fia developed wrinkles and her hair became lank. I’d never seen an elf so energy deprived, and it was seriously creepy.

      When Fia really started to droop, Galan would take her outside and show her how to absorb the energy released by the flowing water of Boulder Creek.

      Sometime before three in the morning, I sat back in my chair with a huge sigh. “It looks like we should get Quicken Premier.”

      Kutara opened a binder and flipped through the pages. “I’ve heard of that program.”

      “Yes. Quicken is so famous that even elves have heard of it, but it still took me four hours to figure out that’s what we want.”

      “An informed decision is best. Go ahead and download it.”

      “I thought I’d add it to the copy-paper order, to get the free shipping.” Not to mention that the hard copy would come with paper manuals, which could be taken outside for “studying.”

      Kutara nodded without looking up. “Fine.” She moved a stack of folders from one side of her desk to the other.

      I placed the order. “Galan, this will show up at Erin’s house tomorrow sometime.” We didn’t have an official mailing address—another problem that would be solved by having our own place.

      Kutara stopped rearranging the papers on her desk and fixed me with her eagle eye. “The prospectus on Village Developments is missing.”

      The implication was that this was somehow my fault. “I gave it back to you yesterday.”

      “When?” She picked up another folder and riffled through the contents.

      “I don’t know exactly when. I just remember I gave it back to you.”

      She looked up, clearly exasperated. “I also found the dividend statement from Larimer filed under capital gains.”

      I bit my lip. “Is that not right?”

      “Not in this case.” She heaved a sigh and dropped the offending folder on her desk. “I need you to pay attention to details, Adlia.”

      “I’m trying!”

      “Try harder. And please look on your desk again for that prospectus.”

      I had already forgotten the name. They all sounded the same to me. “What was it called again?”

      “Village. Developments.” She got up and went to the file cabinet.

      I glanced over at Galan, who was pretending to be on another planet. Somehow, that made it even worse. Maybe I didn’t live and die by the P-and-L statement, like some people, but I was here. Kutara could at least try to leave me a little dignity.

      By the time I found the Village Developments prospectus, Kutara and Galan were at his desk, looking at something on the monitor.

      I cleared my throat theatrically to get their attention. “Is this what you were looking for, Kutara?” I waved the prospectus in the air. “This thing that I found on top of your quarterly-returns binder?”

      She looked at me with absolutely no expression on her face. “Someone must have moved it. I haven’t looked at those for a month.” She turned to Galan. “The overseas accounts seemed to be out of order as well. I think we should start locking the file cabinets at night. Now, about this horse property. I think it could be returned to a wild state and make good elf habitat.”

      Galan murmured something to her.

      Kutara’s expression became slightly more chilly. She slowly raised her head toward me. “The importance of this work can make me rather abrupt at times, Adlia. I hope you don’t take it personally.”

      And that was as close as I would get to an apology.

      Deciding to take advantage of whatever guilt she might feel, I said, “Well, it’s been a long night. I think I’ll go home.”

      Kutara exchanged a quick look with Galan before she said, “Adlia, I want you to stay here with Fia tonight.”

      “Why me?”

      Galan gave me a pleading look. “Erin is depending on me to make some new jewelry