Gold Steeped in Shadows

Jordyn has everything she needs to solve the royal mystery she's been working on for months...but to solve it might cost her everything

Jordyn Rosales was many things, but patient was not one of them. She could shapeshift or solve any mystery that Aurum City threw at her, but she refused to wait any longer for Cas to show up at her apartment. He was a prince; he could clear the roads with a single text alert if he wanted, so obviously traffic was not the problem.

She checked her phone, but still no texts from Cas. “Gods, why is he so insufferable?”

“If you treat everyone else the way you treat me, it’s no wonder your friend hasn’t shown up yet,” mumbled the young man tied to a chair in the middle of Jordyn’s living room.

Jordyn shot him a glare. She knew she probably didn’t cut an intimidating figure; her mousy hair and tiny stature were less than impressive. The man probably wondered what an eighteen year old girl could possibly do to him, and Jordyn didn’t blame him. “Don’t make me regret not gagging you. I can still do it.”

She wouldn’t, though, and her hostage knew that. Technically, as a private investigator, she wasn’t supposed to capture civilians in the first place but this man was not a civilian. Far from it, in fact, as Jordyn had reason to believe he was involved in her ongoing investigation.

The investigation had lasted for three months and would have been over by now if not for Cas’s irritating sluggishness.

Although…she probably wouldn’t have made it this far if it weren’t for Cas�"not that she would ever admit that to his face. He’d proven to be a reliable ally when it came to research, sneaking into forbidden places, and also--

“I brought snacks!” Cas barged into the apartment without bothering to knock on the door (as a royal, he believed himself to be above common courtesy). Snow blanketed his golden curls and his scarf was wrapped high enough around his face that his mouth was barely visible. He held two identical mugs of hot chocolate, most likely taken straight from the royal kitchens. Cas always had treats with him. Jordyn wondered if the royal chefs hated him for constantly stealing their food. “Gods, Jordie, you should have told me we had a guest and I would’ve brought more hot chocolate.”

“I made it pretty clear in my text that I wanted you to meet me as soon as possible and that I had a lead on our case,” Jordyn said with a sigh. 

“Lead and guest are not the same thing,” Cas retorted, handing Jordyn one of the mugs. 

“Neither are guest and hostage,” the young man pointed out.

“Jordie tends to be rude whether she wants you in her house or not,” said Cas. He turned his attention back to Jordyn, who was trying her hardest not to kill both of her visitors. “What’s this guy got to do with our investigation?”

“Cas, meet Doyle Callahan. He’s the thief who stole the Night stone from your vault,” Jordyn explained, relieved to finally be talking business. 

Cas frowned. “This is the guy who stole one of my family’s prized possessions.”

“Yes, but then he handed it off to someone else,” Jordyn said. “Which is the reason why I took him hostage instead of shipping him off to rot in prison. He’s our ticket to meeting the mastermind behind the whole operation.”

“I’ll tell you nothing,” Doyle scoffed, though he sounded nervous.

Serves him right, Jordyn thought with a smirk. The royal family themselves had ordered her to investigate after one of their many precious gemstones were stolen. It wouldn’t have been a huge deal (the royals were rich enough that one missing gem wouldn’t matter) except for the fact that each of the gemstones were gifts from the gods. Each gemstone held the power of one god�"the only magic in the entire world�"and once that magic was used up, it was gone. Forever. Cas had been lucky to be gifted with the Day stone, which gave him the ability to manipulate light. His younger brother probably would have been given the Night stone…if it hadn’t been stolen by Doyle first.

Three months of investigation, and it all came down to this. 

And after I find the mastermind behind this crime, I can finally start my own investigation, Jordyn reminded herself. She hadn’t worked towards becoming a private investigator for no reason whatsoever. No, she intended to find her sister.

Samara Rosales had disappeared five years ago upon moving to Aurum City. The Rosales family hailed from a small town about a fifteen minute drive from the big city, and Samara had been eager to move out. Only a week after her departure did her family get a call that Samara had never arrived at the university at which she’d been enrolled, and she was presumed either kidnapped or dead. Jordyn was determined to find out which.

“I assume you have a plan,” Cas said, interrupting Jordyn’s thoughts.

“I do, but you’re not going to like it.”

Cas took a sip of his hot chocolate. “I never like your plans, Jordie.”

“It might involve getting your sweater dirty,” Jordyn confessed and Cas grimaced. Still, he didn’t argue so she took it as permission to plow ahead. “You know about my…abilities.” She glanced towards Doyle, who watched with rapt attention. It was odd to think she could’ve passed him on the street a week ago and been none the wiser as to his illegal pastimes. Whatever. If he found out about her secret, he wouldn’t be able to tell anyone anyway. “I searched Doyle’s phone and he’s supposed to meet up with the mastermind criminal in about two hours. I’ll shapeshift into his form, take you as my fake hostage, and we’ll arrest the mastermind once we’re sure that we have the right person. Sounds easy, yeah?”

Cas narrowed his pale eyes. “How did you capture Doyle, anyway?”

At least he wasn’t arguing with Jordyn’s idea. “I might have stolen a tranquilizer gun and some handcuffs the last time we visited the police station,” she admitted.

Cas gaped at her. “Seriously, Jordie?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright, alright, you’re clearly committed to this plan. I suppose I’ll go along with it, if only because I don’t feel like coming up with a great idea of my own.”

“Good. I’ll bring the tranquilizer gun and the extra set of handcuffs and we can disable the mastermind the same way I did with Doyle,” Jordyn said. “Call your parents and tell them to send us some back-up just in case something goes wrong.” 

Jordyn didn’t anticipate her plan going awry, but she felt better being prepared in case it took a turn for the worse. In all of her classes at the university regarding proper investigations, she’d never once experienced an actual “showdown” before. She could only hope her plan was foolproof enough to keep her and Cas safe.

“I’ll let my parents know,” Cas said. “You…do your shifter thing.”

He stepped out of the apartment, presumably uncomfortable with the idea of Jordyn shapeshifting in front of him. She didn’t quite understand why; shifting was just like putting on an extra winter coat. She essentially took a “picture” of whoever she wanted to shift into and then wore the image for as long as she liked. 

Even Doyle didn’t seem afraid as Jordyn approached him. He held his head high as though daring her to steal his identity…or as though he knew something she didn’t.

Jordyn ignored the fear that roiled in her gut. She laid a hand on Doyle’s shoulder, her magic coming to life in her fingertips. Tingles shot up her arm as she shifted into Doyle’s form. Dark hair, gray eyes, pointed nose�"Jordyn absorbed every detail, becoming indistinguishable from Doyle. 

The process took less than a minute. Jordyn could feel the soft tug of her magic snag in her chest, her signal that her shifting had worked. 

Fortunately, shapeshifting did not require Jordyn to change clothes, she simply adopted the same outfit Doyle was wearing. Unfortunately, the longer she held the form, the more prone she would be to Doyle’s memories seeping into her mind. It was a useful side effect for interrogation, but not when one wanted to impersonate another man.

Cas stepped back into the apartment a few moments later, shuddering when he caught sight of Doyle and Jordyn side by side. “You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but no, seeing you shapeshift never gets any less creepy,” he remarked. 

Jordyn ignored him. She could feel a headache looming in the back of her head. “Get over it. Let’s just finish this already.”

“Don’t sound so excited,” Cas said. “This’ll be fun!”

Jordyn wanted to believe him, but Doyle’s odd compliance made her wonder what she could possibly be missing.

“If you walk me into a streetlight, I will never forgive you,” Cas grumbled. 

“You’d deserve it anyway,” Jordyn retorted. 

“First of all, I brought you hot chocolate�"�"”

“I asked you to come quickly, I did not ask for refreshments.”

“And secondly, your voice is kinda freaking me out so if you just don’t talk anymore, that would be great. Thanks.” Jordyn could practically hear the smirk in Cas’s voice.

Too bad he was a prince or she might have pushed him into the street to get hit by a car.

Cas seemed to be going out of his way to act extra irritating, which was probably his version of payback. Jordyn refused to face off against the criminal mastermind alone, so taking Cas as her “hostage” had been her only other option. To make the situation seem as plausible as possible, she had blindfolded him and taken his Day stone ring and tucked it into the pocket of her jacket. Of course, she couldn’t simply walk down the street with the prince of Aurum City as her hostage, so she’d pulled a hood over his head and had him wear sunglasses over his blindfold. The disguise wouldn’t hold under close scrutiny, but hopefully they’d arrest the mastermind quickly and efficiently so Cas’s identity wouldn’t be an issue. 

Besides, there were more pressing matters to tend to, namely the nondescript warehouse that Doyle’s address led to. Jordyn eased Cas to a stop, taking a final deep breath. 

There was no turning back now. 

You’ll be fine, the logical part of her said. You only need to confirm that this is the thief we’re looking for, and then the authorities will step in.

So why, then, did fear creep along the base of her spine? 

“Well, are we there or did you get us lost?” Cas asked. He sounded nervous, though he hid it well. 

“We’re in front of some empty warehouse,” Jordyn explained. “Which is kind of cliche if you ask me. She paused, taking one last deep breath to steel herself for what was to come. “From here on out, no talking. Understand?”

She waited until Cas nodded before slipping into the warehouse. The door swung open on silent hinges. Odd. As far as Jordyn knew, Aurum City had closed most of their warehouses nearly a decade ago. She’d expected their doors to be rusty from disuse…or, at the very least, for there to be a fine layer of dust on the ground. 

In fact, the opposite seemed to be true. 

It took Jordyn’s eyes a moment to adjust to the dim lighting of the warehouse. She only allowed herself a few seconds to catch her bearings. More likely than not, Doyle would have visited the warehouse before and wouldn’t be amazed by its appearance. 

Shelves lined the walls and formed a maze in the center of the room. Catwalks stretched across the ceiling, illuminated by a handful of flickering lights. The windows were boarded up so only a few stray shafts of daylight could slip through. Cardboard boxes with detailed labels perched on the shelves. Jordyn wished she could have more time to investigate. What if the contents of the boxes were illegal or--

“Callahan.” 

Jordyn froze as the name echoed off the walls of the warehouse. 

“It’s me,” she said, hoping her responses would all be “in character” enough to avoid suspicion. Although her voice matched Doyle’s, her reaction had been delayed. Was it noticeable? Probably. 

“I see you’ve brought a visitor.”

This time Jordyn was able to pinpoint the source of the voice. The figure stood on the catwalks, a hood obscuring their features. The voice sounded feminine. 

“This is Casper Nova,” Jordyn announced, throwing back Cas’s hood and tossing his sunglasses aside. “You might know him as the prince of Aurum City.”

“I see you’ve yet to lose your flair for dramatics,” the figure said. “What interest would I have with the prince? Honestly, he’s probably more trouble than he’s worth with all the authorities that’ll be tailing him. Gods, Callahan, why can’t you just take orders?”

“He has the Light stone,” Jordyn continued, unsure of how Doyle would react to criticism. “I took it from him, just to make sure he can’t use his magic against us.”

It was a carefully laid bait. If this person truly was the thief, they would most likely know that taking the stone would not remove the magic. According to Cas, it was a closely guarded secret that only someone who owned a stone would know. Too bad his family hadn’t thought to give his brother the stone any sooner or they could’ve been spared from this madness.

“You do realize that can’t prevent him from doing magic,” the figure said with a sigh. Jordyn exhaled in relief. This was the thief after all. Her hunch had been correct. 

She fidgeted with her watch, hoping it would look as though she were simply itching her wrist and not that she was sending a signal to the authorities with her location and confirmation that she’d found the stone thief. 

“What are you doing?” the figure asked suddenly, accusation evident in their tone.

It sounded almost…familiar. A headache flared to life behind Jordyn’s eyes and she stumbled backward, a dozen of Doyle’s memories overwhelming her at once. 

They flashed by too quickly for her to make sense of them but Jordyn knew it was her body’s warning. She only had about ten minutes before she would be confronted with full visions. The headache would be the first side effect, then the memories, and then stomach illness. The authorities needed to hurry--

“You’re not Callahan.” 

Gods. Jordyn cursed internally, fiddling for her tranquilizer gun until something cold wrenched her arm backward. Jordyn cried out. She glanced down to find a shadow wrapping around her wrist, almost as if it were liquid. Night magic.

Panic tore the breath from her lungs as she grabbed at the shadow with her other hand, tossing it to the floor and stomping on it with all of her strength. However, her divided focus weakened her hold on her illusion and the tug on her gut finally yanked free. Jordyn shifted back into her normal form. Her heart thudded in her chest. 

Luckily, Cas seemed to be thinking clearly�"or, at least, clearer than Jordyn�"and he’d removed his bonds and blindfold. Orbs of light hovered in front of his palms as an expression of intense concentration flickered across his face. 

Directly in front of him stood the hooded figure, except they weren’t hooded anymore…

No. Jordyn’s heart skipped a beat. No. She refused to believe it. 

The chestnut hair, the green eyes, and the freckles across her nose�"the young woman looked almost identical to Jordyn’s sister. Her dead sister.

“Samara?” The name slipped before Jordyn could stop it. 

The young woman froze in place. Her gaze shot to Jordyn, recognition flashing in her eyes momentarily. “Jordyn?” Her eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“You’re the one who shouldn’t be here,” Cas interjected, sounding angrier than Jordyn had ever heard him before.

“No kidding,” Jordyn muttered under her breath.

Samara was the main reason Jordyn had pursued a career as a detective; she wanted to solve the mystery behind her sister’s death and prevent it from happening to anyone else. She should be thrilled that her sister was alive after all this time, but… 

Jordyn shoved her feelings aside. She could deal with her guilt and confusion later. 

She lunged for the tranquilizer gun, but it went skidding out of her grip, shadows swallowing it whole. 

“You’re in over your head, Jordyn,” Samara warned. “Leave now and I won’t hurt you.”

“Silent!” Cas ordered, the orbs of light in his palms pulsing dangerously. “Hand over the Night stone or I’ll�"”

“You’ll what?” interrupted Samara. She kept her hands raised, shadows, swirling around her wrists in a serpentine fashion. Jordyn barely recognized the woman in front of her as her sister. The Samara she knew had been compassionate and quiet, more concerned with her books and her homework than picking locks and robbing royal vaults. “Because I promise you, Your Highness, if you try to use your magic on me, I’ll use my magic on her.” She gestured at Jordyn absentmindedly. 

“She won’t hurt me,” Jordyn immediately argued. “Knock her out, Cas�"”

Jordyn didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence before Samara’s shadows pounced, snuffing out Cas’s magic and knocking him to the ground, where his head slammed into one of the shelves and he fell still.

Jordyn cried out but didn’t dare rush to his side. Samara stood directly in her path, new shadows already slithering up her arms. 

“We don’t have to fight,” Samara said.

“Nice offer, but I don’t make it a habit of fraternizing with criminals,” Jordyn shot back. She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. 

“I’m doing the world a favor,” Samara insisted. “Why should the royals get to keep all of the magic to themselves? They’ve done nothing to right the wrongs of the world, Jordyn. I know you’re friends with the prince, but you have to look past his handsome face�"�"”

“They’re not keeping magic to themselves,” Jordyn argued. She recalled all of Cas’s research into the stones. Before the investigation, he had spent most of his time attempting to replicate the magic of his stone. He wanted to share the magic, not hoard it for himself. “Magic is a finite resource. Once the stone’s user dies, there is no way to reawaken that kind of magic,” she explained, hoping she could help her sister see reason. It would certainly be easier than arresting her. Speaking of which, where were the authorities? “By stealing the Night stone, you might have just doomed a generation to suffering.”

Samara scoffed. “How so?”
“There’s a reason Cas is the only member of his family to have a stone,” Jordyn said. “The royals only use the stones in times of emergency, and when you stole the Night stone, they allowed him to use its twin. You’re a danger to society, Sam. You’re endangering everyone�"”

“The royals are not our saviors, Jordyn!”

“Maybe not yet,” Jordyn admitted with a glance towards Cas. “But I have a feeling that someday, one of them might be. I can’t allow you to steal magic and get away with it.”

Without warning, she dove for the tranquilizer gun once more, this time managing to wrap her fingers around it. She allowed herself a single second to aim it and then pulled the trigger. Samara isn’t the sister you remember, she told herself. This is for the greater good.

Samara’s anguished cry cut into Jordyn’s heart and she winced as her sister crumpled to the ground unconscious, but not dead. She’d probably face a few years in prison, but hopefully her misguided “altruism” would spare her from a life sentence. 

Jordyn cuffed Samara’s hands around her back and fastened them to one of the shelves. She could hear sirens wailing in the distance. The authorities would arrive momentarily, she assumed. She made a mental note to have them also stop by her apartment and arrest Doyle. 

Once her sister was secured, she made her way over to Cas. He stirred but didn’t wake up. Hopefully his parents wouldn’t be too mad that Jordyn had put him in danger. 

She’d meant what she said to Samara. Yes, the world was broken and, sure, some of it was the fault of the royal family. But they all shared this city. It wasn’t the job of only the rich and powerful to fix the issues that plagued the world. And if magic truly was the solution, Jordyn had no doubt that Cas would pour his heart and soul into making it available for everyone to utilize. The world just needed a bit of faith. 

Author's Note

I originally wrote this story for my sci-fi/fantasy lit class, but I intended it for a writing portfolio (it ended up being too long) as well, so that's why the plot is cut short. Urban fantasy is a branch of fantasy I've never necessarily liked, but I saw a prompt about a shapeshifting detective so I decided to test the idea out here before I used it for a larger piece. Also, I know the plot twist is probably pretty predictable but I didn't have enough space to really lead up to it or anything so ignore that. Additionally, this piece did not originally have a title so if it doesn't fit, it's because I didn't initially plan for it to have one.