Patrick stopped mid-step.
Helia rushed over. "I love your books. We love them." She paused. "Well, except the last few."
Alexios nodded. "You do better with the gothics."
"I see..." Patrick said.
"Overall, the paranormal ones are okay," Alexios said. "The last one just went on way too long. Did you run out of time to edit?"
"Not...really."
Helia whispered to Alexios, "I don't think he wants to hear what's wrong with his book."
"I'm trying to help."
"The book is already out. He can't fix it now."
"But he'll know better for next time. Maybe he can hire a new editor."
She looked at Patrick. "It was good enough. Seven out of ten. It's just that you're usually a nine. Well, your paranormals are more of an eight, but you could get them up to a nine if you worked harder."
"Or just go back to the gothics," Alexios said. "They were much better. I couldn't get through this last book."
"He didn't even just skip ahead to read the sex scenes," Helia said. "Which is what he normally does with your paranormals."
Patrick turned to Gabriel. "This is your revenge, isn't it?"
"Helia and Alexios?" Gabriel said. "This is Patrick. He'll be accompanying us to Seanna."
"Oooh," Alexios said. "It's a family reunion."
"So you really are Gabriel's father?" Helia said. "That's what everyone says, but then we found Seanna and started thinking maybe the rumor was wrong, that you two couldn't have...you know. She seems kind of..." She wrinkled her nose.
"Nasty."
"Maybe he likes nasty," Alexios said. "You've read his sex scenes."
"I'm not sure they're meant to be nasty."
"I believe it's time to go," Gabriel said, ushering them out.
"Well played," Patrick murmured as he passed. "Well played."
--
The Jag idled beside an abandoned three-story school. As soon as the car rolled to a stop, the dryads had hopped out with "We'll find her" and "We'll call."
Gabriel and Patrick watched them dart alongside the boarded-up building.
"Well, this looks sketchy," Patrick said. When Gabriel looked over, he added, "It means disreputable and suspicious. I'm a writer. I know all the lingo."
"I know what it means. I'm a defense attorney. And I have Olivia, who has used the term on occasion, along with others that aren't in my usual vocabulary." He surveyed the building. "Yes, it is disreputable and, in being disreputable, given the situation, suspicious."
"Sketchy."
"That is a vague term, used somewhat incorrectly, and therefore imprecise."
"You always use precisely the right words. Another trait inherited from your father."