“That’s when you got suspicious?” North said.

“I knew a find like that wasn’t a matter of luck. I realized I was probably being watched. I bought the rod and another artifact.”

“The old radio,” North said. “We found it in Loring’s lab. He had smashed it. Guess he was pissed.”

“It was definitely vintage and definitely had some heat, but it was nothing special. I told Swan I would be back for the rod but that if you showed up instead she was to give it to you.”

“Do you remember anything about the person or persons who attacked you?” Sierra asked.

Chandler rubbed his temples. “Not much. A couple of men dressed as hotel maintenance staff were waiting for me in the hallway outside my room. One of them had that crystal gun you’re holding.”

“Not a gun,” North said. He hefted the crystal artifact, aware of the energy locked inside. And suddenly he understood. He smiled. “An aura-balancing device.”

Chandler winced. “Call it what you want. One of the men pointed it at me and that’s the last I remember.”

Victor and Lucas looked at North.

“Nice work,” Lucas said.

Victor regarded the artifact with a thoughtful expression. “Interesting. You’re sure it’s not a weapon of some kind?”

“Positive,” North said. “Although it can kill.”

A euphoric sense of discovery slammed through him. The experience of manipulating the artifact had charged him, energized him, in a thousand different ways. A whole new world had just opened up for him. He knew what the night gun really was, what it had been intended to do.

He now knew who and what he was; what he was meant to do.

He wanted to roar his discovery from the top of the tallest hotel casino in Vegas. He was intoxicated with the knowledge that the crystal device had worked.

Sierra went to him and wrapped her arms around him.

“You did it,” she whispered into his shirt. “I knew you would.”

And this, he realized, was exactly what he needed to make his new world absolutely perfect—Sierra in his arms.

“I found it,” he said.

Everyone in the room was looking at him, wondering what he meant. But Sierra understood. She smiled and stepped back to look at him.

“Your calling?” she said.

“I know this is going to sound a little over the top, but yes, I know what I need to do. I’m going to carry on Griffin Chastain’s research.”

Lily frowned. “You want to become a magician?”

North laughed. “That was just a day job for Griffin Chastain. I think he found his true passion when he designed and created the crystal devices that Rancourt eventually stole from the laboratory at Fogg Lake.”

Chandler eyed the crystal gun. “You want to design paranormal weapons?”

Lucas groaned. “We’ve got enough trouble as it is dealing with the fallout of the old lost labs research.”

Victor grunted. “The very last thing we need is to have more unpredictable weapons floating around.”