“That’s bull, and you know it,” she growled. Her eyes had flashed black, and as Jenks hummed a warning, I leaned to shove the window up more.
“Easy,” David said, standing up and moving to get the last of the coffee. I thought it was more to be up and on his feet than any desire for caffeine. “We’re just trying to figure out the best way to find an end to this.” Megan, too, was watching everyone, and it made me nervous. “I’ve had no luck locating Landon or Ayer. Edden, can you spare anyone?”
Edden shook his head. “Three days ago, perhaps. The FIB and the I.S. aren’t going to be effective in any capacity come sundown.” He glanced at David, now at the empty coffeepot, and shrugged. “If I had the men. I just can’t spare the resources to find them at this point. Fire, emergency, all public services are, for all intents, nonexistent,” Edden continued, and I sucked on my teeth as I noticed Trent wasn’t paying attention, busy with something on his desk. “So far, new medical emergencies are going to the arena, but if something big catches on fire, it’s going to burn to the river.”
Jenks landed on my shoulder, startling the mystics but not me. “And you can forget about any outside help,” Edden said, his voice resolute. “Until the waves cease, we’re considered quarantined. Vivian confirmed it.”
My lips parted. “No government assist? What are they doing with my taxes?”
“Apart from a small advisory group arriving in a few hours, they’ll help contain us only,” Edden said. “No one in or out. Do you have enough feed for that horse of yours?”
“Ah, it’s my horse?” Trent said, giving me a sharp look through the monitor, and reminded of Tulpa, I looked out the window, not seeing him.
“A few more days. I can take him down to a park, but someone might try to eat him.”
Eat a solid? a mystic asked, its voice clear in the somewhat reduced amount of them in my head. Consume a singular mass that can move on its own? This is acceptable?
Not this particular one, I thought, distracted as Edden’s hands rose up only to fall back onto his lap in a helpless gesture.
“If we could get the waves to stop, we might have a chance,” Edden said.
“What about you, Rachel?” Trent asked, and I jerked. “The elves will not help for obvious reasons, but demons are over five thousand years old. They might know something about controlling mystics.”
The arts of war, I thought, my fear kindling a sudden rush of mystics back into me. I held my breath as they flooded in, and everyone jumped when a charm in my cupboard exploded, unable to take the influx of wild, unfocused magic.
“I take it you haven’t discussed this with them,” Trent said, and anger trickled through me.
“Me talking to the demons right now isn’t a good idea,” I said tightly. It was better to be angry than afraid. Even the mystics understood that. Why was he being such a jerk?
“The waves have to be stopped,” Trent argued. “It’s going to require the knowledge the demons have to either destroy the vigilante group or get the Goddess to stop thinking about her missing thoughts.”
He was right, but I was afraid—afraid of the look on Al’s face, afraid of how deep the scar went. “I’d rather not,” I said.
Motion fast, Ivy shifted the monitor slightly. “Rachel said it wasn’t a good idea.”
Jenks darted to hover beside Ivy so Trent could see him as well. “She’s got pieces of your elf goddess in her right now, cookie farts, making her aura glow. You think the demons are going to be hearts and roses over that?”
Trent’s face went ashen, and a chill went through me. “No one told me that,” he said quickly, almost getting up, sinking back down in agitation when he remembered he was on camera. “I talked to you last night, and you didn’t tell me that.”
“Well, if you hadn’t brushed me off, maybe I would have,” I muttered, and David exchanged a concerned look with Megan.
“Brushed you off!”
I leaned toward the monitor, hands on the counter beside my knees. “Brushed me off.” I couldn’t help but wonder if this was our first argument, but didn’t you have to be a couple before you could have one of those? He had made his choice—the right choice—and I wasn’t it.
Clearly upset, Trent looked off screen. “You didn’t tell me she was harboring mystics.”
“I didn’t know, Sa’han,” Quen’s voice came faintly. “She appears to be handling it.”
I ignored Ivy’s uncomfortable look. The mystics humming through me made my fingertips tingle. Trent knew I was playing with fire. I had to get these things out of me for good—preferably before anyone in the ever-after saw me with them. There was a chance Al would help. It was thin, but money moved him, and turning me in would put his bank account in jeopardy. Besides, my decision to avoid him was based on fear, and I wouldn’t let fear rule me.
“Rachel,” Trent said tersely, his tone solidifying it.
“I’m fine,” I said, and Jenks’s dust shifted to an unhappy orange. “And the truth of it is, you’re right. With Landon and Ayer dug in like ticks, I won’t ignore the possibility we might not find them in time. As you say, the demons might be our best option. If we can wake up the masters, we will find Landon and Ayer. The vampire violence will stop, too.”
“Rachel, I don’t want you going to the demons,” Trent said, and Edden threw his hands up in the air in disgust.
I looked at him, shocked at the emotion he was showing. Or maybe I was just able to read him better now. “It was your idea.”
“Yes, but that was before I knew you had mystics still in you.”
Choosing to be angry over afraid, I slid from the counter, knees shaking as I crossed the room. Megan pulled back, and even David looked discomfited. “You aren’t here,” I said, hands on my hips as I looked at his image; the little box next to it with my face looked wrong. My God, is my hair really that strung out? “You don’t get a say,” I added. “I’m making cookies, and whoever wants to go with me can go come sundown. End of story.”
“Count me in,” Ivy said, and a new worry surfaced even as I was glad for her help.
“Me too!” Jenks added, making it worse, but honestly, I couldn’t stop them this time—and I needed help. I needed it bad.
“Cookies?” Edden muttered.
Jenks nodded knowingly as he hovered beside Edden. “Al loves cookies. It will buy her at least five minutes.”
“Why sunset?” David asked. “It’s hours from now.”
“Because Jenks can’t be in the ever-after until sundown, and Bis won’t be awake until then,” I said, heart pounding, and the pixy glowed a happy silver. “We can do this. We’ve done it before. And who knows? Maybe Al has a way to get them out of me.” One that didn’t involve a lot of pain, maybe—but I doubted it.
“Rachel . . .” Trent protested, leaning toward the screen, and ticked, I smacked the lid down to end the call, making Ivy jerk.
“Meeting adjourned,” I said, heart pounding. Ivy was staring at me, and I turned to see that David, Edden, and even Megan were wide-eyed and silent.
“What?” I said, wondering why the mystics were all silent or gone. “Edden, if you can find Landon and Ayer before sundown, I’m all ears, but otherwise, I’m going.”
Mass that interprets sound waves, a mystic said importantly, and the knowledge cascaded through the rest, starting a flaming conversation that I was more than ears, and was this insanity or a joke? I felt a hysterical laugh bubbling up, and I choked it off.
I’m going to go nerking futs, I thought, eyes widening as that made it all worse.
“You heard the lady!” Jenks said, dust shifting to an annoyed bronze. “Get going! Find the bastards. It takes me a week to get ever-after stink out of my clothes.”
Edden brightened, eager to use the demon card and get back to normal. “That’s it, then?”
David was nodding, extending a hand to escort Megan out. “Good. Edden, if all you need are eyes on the street, I can help. If we find these SOBs, Rachel won’t have to talk to the demons at all.”
“Worth a shot,” Edden said. “Bring your people down to the arena and we’ll give them a grid. Rose can tell you where I am better than me.”
The phone was ringing, and Ivy’s eyebrows rose after glancing at the caller ID. I shook my head, and she let it ring. He wasn’t here. He got no say. We could handle this the way we did everything else. Together. But my heart was pounding and my knees felt wobbly as I told the mystics buzzing in my head to back off and let me think my singular thoughts.
David had his hand on Megan’s shoulder, the two of them starting for the door with a pile of clothes in their hands. Seeing their casual, comfortable contact, I realized I couldn’t procrastinate any longer. “David?” I called, waving my way through Jenks’s dust. “Hold up. Can I talk to you for a second?” They both came to a halt, and a flash of angst went through me. I wasn’t abandoning them. I was making things right.
“You sure you can handle the demons?” he asked, and I nodded.
“It’s nothing we haven’t done before.” Minus the deep-seated hatred. “We’ll be fine. David, I’ve been thinking.”
Immediately his face darkened, and I pulled him aside so Edden and Ivy could slip by us. She touched my shoulder in passing, the simple contact starting a buzz of controversy concerning “we” in a few mystics.
“Ah, I’ve been doing some thinking this week,” I said, raising my hand when he started to interrupt. “No, listen,” I said, but he wasn’t.
“Nothing has changed,” he said, and Megan flushed as Jenks left, joining the noise on the way to the front door. “I don’t want—”
“You don’t want,” I interrupted, searching his eyes until I found the focus in him, so deep and entrenched that I didn’t think it would ever leave him. I hoped it never would. “It’s too late for what you want,” I said, unhappy that this wasn’t working out. Seeing him and his pack rallying together under a common goal made it very clear this wasn’t working. “You need. You need an alpha who is there, focused on the same thing you are. Clearly I can’t do it.”
“Rachel.”
“I’m not a Were,” I said, interrupting him. “David, Megan needs the clout that goes with the job she’s doing.” My job, the one I neglected so badly that I hadn’t even met the woman doing it. “Maybe if you were just an ordinary alpha this could work, but you’re not. Not anymore.”
“Maybe if you were just an ordinary witch,” he said ruefully, and my shoulders eased as he began to understand. We were both being pulled in different directions. It was time to let go.
My throat closed up, and I braced myself against the questioning mystics. “Don’t think this is easy,” I said, and he nodded, taking my hand and giving it a firm squeeze. “What do we have to do?” Head high, Megan came closer, her breath held in hope.
David let go, his fingers finding hers, a new, eager look in his eyes. Yes, I was doing the right thing. “You’re not leaving our pack,” he said, and Megan nodded.
“No, but I can’t be alpha.” But I knew this was the first step out. I wasn’t a Were, and to pretend so would only lead to more grief. I never should have tried in the first place. But who knew it would lead to all this? I looked at Megan, who was almost glowing. “We don’t have to fight or anything, right? I’m really tired.”
David ducked his head in a chuckle. “A handshake will do it. The paperwork is only for the registry.”
A handshake. The mystics clustered close to my uppermost thoughts, trying to figure out why I was both upset and happy as I held out my hand. “Megan, all good things to you,” I said as our hands met.
“Go shake death until you win,” she said, and I sighed in regret. Coulda, shoulda.
“I’ll do that. Thank you.” I let go, and the mystics hummed their confusion.
I made her single voice count more, I thought at them.
A single voice can’t have more merit than many voices, they thought in unison.
It can if that single voice sees more than others, I thought back, then caught my breath as a flood of them left me, fueled by the concept. I hid my sudden unbalance by giving Megan a hug. It was the right thing to do, and David was beaming when I rocked back. Steps silent, they headed for the front door, their soft words twined and falling over each other. It was good. I’d finally done something good.
“That’s nice,” Jenks said as he came back in and landed on my shoulder. “So you think cookies are going to keep Al from busting you up?”
I looked at Ivy’s empty corner, relishing the new quiet of my kitchen. “No, but I think you, me, Bis, and Ivy working together can,” I said softly, and the dust spilling down my front turned an alarmed red. “I just hope they find either Landon or Ayer before sunset. Al is going to be pissed, but he won’t turn me in. He’d be broke.”
Jenks’s dust turned a dismal brown, and I exhaled. “Maybe Al can get them out of me,” I said as I turned to the fridge. I was starved, and the last thing I wanted to do was fight demons on an empty stomach.
But as Jenks and I discussed the leftovers in the fridge and the likelihood of food poisoning, I wasn’t sure I wanted Al to get them out. I was starting to become used to them . . . and the tingle of wild magic they brought to me.