“Sheesh. That’s a lot of ground to cover. We can’t just call every place of business across a whole continent trying to find one guy.”
“Especially since he won’t want to be found,” Kai said. “He probably suspects Gavriel is behind the school’s disappearance. I’m sure he and the rest of the Custodians will be on high alert, hiding out to make sure no one else gets dragged away from earth. They’re operating at less than capacity anyway.”
“Where would he hide?” Jayce mused, interlacing his fingers and resting his chin on his hands. “Okay, hold on. People usually go to people or places where they’re most comfortable when they’re scared, right? Does Dru have any human family?”
I shook my head. “He follows the rules to the letter—and one of the first rules they have for the fallen is ‘no contact with your old life’. He wouldn’t put his family in danger. But you might be on to something.”
Something tickled at the edges of my mind, and I squeezed my eyes shut, willing it to break through. I could almost remember it.
Dru was a member of the Custodians, but he’d spent a good amount of time at FU since he’d worked very closely with the students. One day, he’d been talking with some of the third-years in the combat gym about a mission he’d just been on, showing them some new moves that the opposing monster had pulled on him.
“But I kicked his ass anyway,” Dru had said. “Me and my team wiped the floor with him, actually. They did such a good job I treated them all to drinks at Sticky Mick’s. I love that place. Used to go there all the time, still hit it up whenever I’m in town.”
“Sticky Mick’s in Seattle,” I said suddenly.
The guys all stared at me.
“That’s where he goes to celebrate victories,” I explained impatiently. “He probably also goes there to nurse losses, but he doesn’t talk about those. He’ll be the
re, I’m sure he will. Or he will be before too long. Look it up, Kingston, call him.”
Kingston shrugged, but found the number for the place and pressed the button to connect the call. It started to ring, and he pressed another button to put it on speaker. The fact that we were actually connected to earth gave me a weird feeling like I was floating between realms or something.
“Hi, I’m looking for someone who goes there a lot. Do you know a guy named Dru? Mid-thirties, dresses like a hipster, has definitely seen some shit? Yes? Perfect! Is he there?” The dragon shifter listened for a minute then sighed. “No, I’m calling from a… payphone. I’ll try again later. Thanks.”
He hung up and sighed again.
I stared at him, shaking my head in disbelief. “Why did you say that? You could’ve left your number! He would have called back, I know he would.”
He gave me a flat look. “I’m not exactly on Verizon, Piper. Unless he’s calling from an enchanted phone, he won’t be able to get through. This is a one-way deal.”
My shoulders slumped. We couldn’t even get a call-back. Fucking great. Reading the expression on my face, Kingston scooted over to me and put his arm around my shoulder.
“Listen,” he said, his voice softer and more gentle than I’d ever heard it, but with a hard edge that told me he was serious. “This is our way out. I know it is. We’re going to keep trying. We’ll poke around a little bit, talk to some of the advanced students he was close to and find out where else he liked to go. And we’ll keep calling Sticky Mick’s. Apparently, he was there this morning, I just missed him by a couple hours.”
“Yeah,” Jayce said. “We’ll figure something out. Don’t worry about it, okay?”
Right, don’t worry.
We had highly illegal contraband that could potentially save us all, but not to worry. We’d figure out how to use it.
I hoped.
Chapter Twelve
Word about Wyatt spread around school quickly. He’d been put in isolation somewhere in the basement labyrinth, and rumor had it that the Psychic Advisor was working with him every day to determine whether he was just cracking under the strain, or if he was turning evil. All of the teachers seemed to be on high alert. Even being in a bad mood didn’t feel safe anymore; if a person showed up to class grumpy, they’d be getting the third-degree before lunch.
The halls became our sanctuary for venting. Because, I mean, let’s be fair—we were trapped in a fucking cave in the middle of nowhere in the vast hellscape of the underworld. It was bound to put at least a few people in a bad mood. Not to mention the fact that the school finally ran out of coffee entirely.
It was all I could do to keep my own temper in check the day I found out about the coffee. Tea had been a good enough replacement for my second, third, and fourth cups of the day, but I relied heavily on that one perfect, life-giving cup of coffee to start my day.
I glared at what had once been the coffee bar. We’d made it six months before the day of reckoning had finally arrived. Oh, they were trying hard to lessen the blow; someone had put out extra tea, and every different flavor combination I could imagine was there. But no damn coffee. Furious, I filled my cup with a strong black tea and stormed over to my table.
“That’s it,” I groaned. “It’s all over. All hope is lost. We might as well send flares from the roof and tell Gavriel we’re here, because it’s over.”
Xero shot me a sympathetic look. “No coffee?”
“Not a drop.” I sipped the tea and made a face. “Just leaf water.”