"Quid me fiet," I said, touching Ivy"s shoulder, and I shivered as our curses untwisted and we became ourselves again. "We have to go back for Nick," I said as Ivy turned off the lights and we drove in the dark. G.o.d, I hoped her night vision was better than mine. "He sacrificed himself to save us. You heard him!" I said, touching Ivy"s shoulder, and I shivered as our curses untwisted and we became ourselves again. "We have to go back for Nick," I said as Ivy turned off the lights and we drove in the dark. G.o.d, I hoped her night vision was better than mine. "He sacrificed himself to save us. You heard him!"
Pierce was silent in the corner, but Ivy wasn"t saying anything either. The car jostled into the night, never slowing. "We are not going back for Nick," Ivy finally said.
"How can you?" I admonished, looking back at the black road. "He sacrificed himself so we could get out. d.a.m.n it, we left Jax, too. We wouldn"t have gotten out without them!"
"I think you wouldn"t have gotten caught without them either," Pierce said sourly.
"I don"t believe this!" I shouted. "You"re ditching him! After what he did?"
Jenks landed on the dash, glowing brightly. All his kids were in the back, adding to the noise. "Turn it on, Ivy," he said grimly, and I hesitated in my feeling of frustration.
"Turn what on?" I asked, and Ivy twisted, unbuckling her belt pack and tossing it to me.
"Just hit the b.u.t.ton," she said, eyes glued to the black night. No one was following us, but I wasn"t surprised. They had Nick, and all they had to do was radio ahead.
Feeling sick, I found a small recorder in her stuff. "This?" I asked, holding it up, and Jenks flew to me, kicking a small recessed b.u.t.ton. The device warmed in my hand, and a soft squeal came from it, almost unheard, hitting the bones in my ears, not my eardrum. "What is it?" I asked, and Jenks"s wings sifted a gold sparkle and all his kids complained.
"The bug we put on c.r.a.p-for-brains."
My eyebrows rose, and Jenks wrapped his arms around a dial, turning it until the static cleared. I heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh, and Jenks hovered backward, expression angry. Clearly Nick wasn"t wearing his demon-born disguise anymore either. I didn"t think they"d smack him if he still looked like Trent.
"Enjoying yourself?" I heard Nick say, almost laughing. He had been tortured for days by fanatic Weres. Being slapped by Trent"s security officer wasn"t going to scare him. My heart gave a thump. We had to go back. Maybe not this instant, but soon.
"Leave off," came a high voice, followed by Nick"s raw cough. "Mr. Kalamack"s here."
I held the device tightly, staring at it when the unmistakable creak of a door opening came from it. "Leave us," Trent"s cool, confident, and ticked voice said softly. I shook my head at Nick"s ever trying to duplicate it.
"Sir?"
"He"s cuffed," Trent said, voice harsh. "I want to speak with him before Quen arrives."
"Sir." It was respectful this time, fearful. We couldn"t just leave Nick, and my fingers tightened as I heard the door close and the soft creak of plastic as Trent sat down.
"What happened?" Trent said, his voice low. "You weren"t supposed to get caught. Rachel was."
My lips parted, and I think my heart skipped a beat. G.o.d bless it. Nick had screwed me over again! The slimy little rat fink! Jenks"s wings lowered in pitch, and he landed on my hand. I hated the sympathy in his eyes. No wonder Nick had known I could get through that elf door. Trent had told him.
From the black plastic in my hand came the jingle of cuffs. "Think you could get these off me?" Nick said, the slimeball.
"Quen is in the vault," Trent said, his beautiful voice icy. "The inventory isn"t complete, but more than that canvas is missing. I gave you the code so I could catch Rachel with a fake picture, not let you steal a sensitive artifact."
Trent knew I could jump realities on my own, and hadnt bothered to tell me. My entire body warmed as I started to shake. My entire body warmed as I started to shake.
"The statue?" Nick said, the cuffs jingling again. "That"s why I stayed behind. Let myself get caught. The witch took it along, with the canvas. I lifted it from her before she ran. You won"t believe what she wanted to do with it."
He"s blaming me for his theft?
"Ran off?" Trent said, and I heard Nick grunt in pain. "Your bug of a pixy dropped a magic-generated pinch on my gatehouse. Thirty-six seconds it took to reboot. Do you know what can happen in thirty-six seconds? Just whose side are you on, Sparagmos?"
"Mine," he rasped, taking a new breath. "But I know who"s running Cincinnati. Don"t get your wick out of whack. She may have taken it, but I swiped it back."
There was a creak of plastic, and I couldn"t breathe. Nick was blaming me for his theft, the lie falling from him like a baby"s giggle.
"I figured you"d want it," Nick was saying, and my eyes warmed as Jenks"s pixy dust sifted onto my fingers, trembling as I held the radio. "So she escaped. So what? You"ll get her, and now you still have your statue. I look like a self-sacrificing hero in her eyes-she gets a worthless picture."
It was worthless. The painting was worthless. Just like Nick. Angry and hurt, I wiped a hand under my eye. It had all been faked, even down to the kiss and his self-sacrificing drivel.
"Where is it?" Trent"s voice was intent, and I took a breath, holding it.
"In my pocket," Nick said smugly, and I heard the thunk of someone hitting the floor, followed by Nick cursing softly and the rasping sound of him trying to get up off tile.
"This is a saltshaker," Trent said, and the scuffling sound redoubled, making it hard to hear Nick, but one thing was abundantly clear. He was not happy.
"No!" Nick exclaimed. "She did it again! The b.i.t.c.h! She did it to me again!"
In a turmoil of betrayal and frustration, I looked up at Ivy-smug, satisfied Ivy with her eyes black and her fangs showing in a savage grin.
Jenks flew to her, and the two exchanged a high five, Ivy using a single digit so as not to send him flying backward. Pierce breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Got you, you sewer rat," Jenks said, spilling a clear pixy dust to light Ivy"s belt pack. Inside was the statue.
I took a breath, then another, trying to figure it out. "She didn"t take anything but the painting, did she," Trent said, p.i.s.sed. "You took it, and when you couldn"t get through the gate, you came up with this c.o.c.k-and-bull story about picking it from her."
Nick grunted in pain, and I heard something sc.r.a.pe on the tile.
"How?" I whispered, and Ivy glanced at me, her eyebrows raised and her smile wide. "When? You never touched it!"
"I lifted it when we were trying to get into the kitchen. Rachel, I don"t trust him. Anything he took was going to be more valuable than a picture so new that the canvas could roll up that easily."
I frowned, thinking I must look really stupid.
"Especially one that still stank of oil," Jenks added, doubling my shame.
"He lied," I said, feeling depressed. "He lied to me. I"m so stupid." From the little receiver came a high voice, shouting, "This isn"t my fault!"
Trent"s voice made me shiver. "Make yourself comfortable, Sparag-mos. I won"t be crossed like this. Morgan, at least, has values."
He thought I had values? My focus blurred and I thought about the Pandora charm. Had it been an accident? Maybe Trent just wasn"t that good at magic. My focus blurred and I thought about the Pandora charm. Had it been an accident? Maybe Trent just wasn"t that good at magic.
The sound of a distant door opening was heralded by the sudden office noise and Quen saying, "It"s gone, Sa"han. This was left in its place."
"My father"s hoof pick...," Trent said, his shock obvious.
"I don"t understand," Quen said. "You lost that-"
"Morgan has the statue," Trent said, interrupting him. "Sparagmos took it, intending to keep it, and somehow Morgan got it. I don"t know how the pick fits into it."
My eyes closed, and I prayed he"d figure it out before he sent Quen to kill me.
"This is going to be a problem," Quen said softly, and then louder, with some authority, "What is Rachel going to do with it, Sparagmos?"
"Give it back to you-ow!" Nick barked, then went silent.
There was a moment of silence, and then I shivered when Trent said, "Give him to Jonathan. He likes this kind of thing."
"Hey!" Nick said, and I heard him being dragged away. "I thought I had it! You"ve got to believe me!"
"Oh, I believe you," Trent said, distance between them now. "I also know you were going to sell it if you managed to get out of here alive. I doubt Rachel picked your pocket. It was probably Ivy. She"s got a good friend there."
I glanced at Ivy, who wouldn"t look at me, eyes fixed on the dark night. "I"ve got two good friends," I whispered, and Jenks"s wings clattered.
I didn"t want to hear any more. Nick... Well, what had I expected? At least now I could write him off. I mean, I had, but now there were no lingering doubts that he was only doing what he had to in order to survive. He"d lied about my stealing the statue. But as I looked at the erotic thing in the faint light, I decided that nothing had changed. Nick might have been working both sides to get us in there, but I was the one who walked through the wall. It wasn"t all fake. We could still do the sting, and the p.o.r.nographic statue would be a better attention getter than a doctored picture. Trent seemed desperate to get it back. And I started to smile.
"Sir," Quen said as the office chatter grew loud again. "He"s bugged."
"Shut the door!" Trent said, and the sound of steps rang out and then the thump of a door.
"s.h.i.t," Nick exclaimed. "Rachel, this isn"t what it looks like!" he cried, but it was far too late to lie to me again.
There was a tussle, and a loud sc.r.a.ping. From a distance now, I heard Nick take a rasping breath and his soft swearing. "I think this is exactly what it looks like," Trent said, his voice very clear. "Rachel, if you"re listening, think about who you"re playing with. Return that statue or I will kill you. Not your mother, not your friends. Ybw."
There was a crunch, and the high-pitched, bone-vibrating sound exploded into existence. From the back, the pixies all squealed, and Jenks stomped on the off b.u.t.ton, his hands over his ears and his wings flat against his back.
"Return it is exactly what I intend to do, Mr. Kalamack," I whispered, dropping the radio in Ivy"s bag and hefting the statue instead. It wasn"t very big, but it was heavy.
Ivy slowed and took a quick right into a pull-off, and I put a hand to the dash. "We"re at the river," she said, and I felt a sliver of fear. Why are we stopping? Why are we stopping?
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said as she put it in park. "We are not not going to abandon my mother"s car and run out of here, Ivy." going to abandon my mother"s car and run out of here, Ivy."
Dogs. Trent had dogs. I"d stolen something from him before, and he"d ridden after me. The moon was new. It was the Hunt. But no one was listening. And as I sat, terrified, Ivy got out, quickly followed by Pierce on my other side.
"I"m not getting out of this car!" I shouted, my grip tightening on the statue. "Ivy, he"s got dogs! I"m not going to be torn apart by a d.a.m.n hound!"
Pierce leaned in, taking my hand to draw me into the night, where I stood and listened to the wind, searching for the singing of dogs in the rustling leaves. Not good. So not good. Not good. So not good.
Grit sc.r.a.ped under Ivy"s heel as she slammed her door shut and turned to the distant glow of the city. "What are we doing?" she asked as she put her belt pack back on.
"We"re getting in the car and driving out of here!"
Ivy shook her head. "The road is blocked already. Are we finishing this job or not?" she prompted, and I calmed myself, looking down at the ugly statue in my hand.
The thought of the dogs made me shiver in the cool night, but even so, there was a sliver of strength growing in me. I would forever have the refuge of the ever-after, especially now. All I had to do was find a line. And better yet, I knew my gut instinct about Nick had been right. It had only been my heart that had gotten in the way. I didn"t have to feel guilty about hating him. And that... felt kind of good.
"Rache? We doing this?" Jenks asked as his kids chased the bats over the river.
I smiled up at him, pocketing the statue in my belt pack and zipping it up. "Yes," I said, and both he and Ivy relaxed. "We got what we needed," I said, following it up with a quick "True, it didn"t go off like I had intended, but we got something better, I think. I say we forget about c.r.a.p-for-brains and just run the job as planned. If Nick talks, then so much the better."
"Yes!" Jenks shouted, a burst of light coming from him.
Still listening for dogs, I turned to Ivy. "Can you take care of getting the paperwork from David to claim FIB jurisdiction?" I asked. "I know I was going to, but I can"t go back into the city until we"re ready to give the statue back."
"Got it," she said as she turned to the distant glow of Cincy. "Where are you going?"
I exhaled, knowing they weren"t going to like this. "The ever-after," I said softly, and Jenks darted to me, getting in my face and half blinding me.
"No!" he shouted, and his kids paused in their play before going back to tormenting a bat they"d caught. "Rache, no!"
"Where else can I go?" I said, dropping back a step to see them ringing me in the faint light reflecting off the river. "Not the church. Not anywhere in Cincinnati. Trent is going to be hot to find me. I"m surprised the dogs aren"t baying already." I shivered as I remembered the sound. "They"ll be following my scent, not yours. You should be fine."
Looking calm, Pierce cleared his throat. "I know of a place this side of the lines."
Ivy gave him the once-over, her hip c.o.c.ked. "You know of a place. Why didn"t you mention this before?"
"Because it was abundantly clear that you didn"t want my help," he said dryly, hands clasped behind his back and coat shifting in the wind off the water.
"You"re not going to take Rachel alone to your place" your place" Jenks threatened. Jenks threatened.
I shifted nervously, thinking that standing on a riverbank with dogs coming for me wasn"t the best time to be eating crow, but I would. "Pierce, you"re my freaking hero for driving out here and saving my a.s.s, but this is Trent we"re talking about. The ever-after is the only place I"ll be safe. If I run, his dogs will find me." I stifled a shiver, but he saw, and I crossed my arms over my chest, pretending to be cold. I hated Trent"s dogs. I really did.
Pierce raised his hand in disagreement even as he pulled a pair of heavy-duty clippers from a back pocket and cut the zip strip off me. "I"m not an innocent in evading dogs," he said, eyes meeting mine from under his loose curls. "I know a spot nigh close to here. An almighty safe place this side of the lines." His eyes went to me, black in the solid darkness of a night with no moon. "There will be no black magic. You have my word."
No black magic. Again I shivered as I remembered the awful sound of animals singing for my blood. We had left Trent"s woods, but he"d ride for me anyway. He was probably saddling Tulpa right now, cleaning his hooves with his daddy"s hoof pick. Again I shivered as I remembered the awful sound of animals singing for my blood. We had left Trent"s woods, but he"d ride for me anyway. He was probably saddling Tulpa right now, cleaning his hooves with his daddy"s hoof pick.
Pierce took my hands. Ivy cleared her throat and Jenks clattered his wings. "I can offer you nothing but a hole in the ground," he said. "But it is a hole never found by dogs or men with rifles. It was used to hide men and women on their way to freedom and is deeply spelled for safety." He looked over the river as if looking into the past. "I used to be a conductor on the underground railroad, or did that not find its way into Ivy"s computer?" he said dryly.
I bit my lip, and Jenks"s sour look eased. "It"s better than the ever-after and Al," he said to Ivy, and the vampire grimaced.
Go with Pierce? Alone? Was he kidding? Ivy clearly wasn"t happy with this either, but she finally nodded. "I"d rather have you on this side of the lines," she said sourly.
Pierce frowned at her mistrust as Jenks dusted a bright silver. Standing beside the river, the witch seemed to change. His mood darkened, and his gaze lingered on the moving water as if testing it. Hands in the pockets of his coat, he asked me, "Can you swim?"
Suddenly the ever-after was looking a whole lot better. "You want me to get in in the water?" I asked. "It"s freezing!" the water?" I asked. "It"s freezing!"
Ivy"s steps were loud on the gravel as she came up to us, but any hope that she was going to side with me died when she took my elbow and started walking to the river. "Rachel, Pierce is right this time," she said, and I made a noise of disbelief. "Trent owns Cincinnati. It"s a death trap. The ever-after is just as bad. Go with Pierce."
"Ivy!" I protested. My feet splashed into the water, and I jerked out. "It"s cold!" I said, pulling out of their reach and staring at the fast-moving water.
"Don"t be a girl, Rache," Jenks said, hovering over the water and jerking up three more feet when something jumped at him.
"Look!" I said, pointing and backing out completely. "There are fish in there!"
Pierce ducked his head, muttering, "I think she"s afraid."
I huffed, but Jenks came to my rescue. "She doesn"t need to be. I"m going with her."
Ivy"s eyes, black and glinting in the starlight, widened. "You are not leaving me alone with your kids and that gargoyle."
"I can"t bring my kids with me!" he protested. "Come on, Ivy, give me a break!"
I jerked when Pierce pulled me off balance and into the water a step. "Hey!" I shouted, hearing it echo on the flat water. "I said I"m not getting in the water! I almost died the last time." Memories of ice and Trent surfaced, and I wrapped my arms around my middle. I had saved him, and he had saved me. What was wrong with us? I had saved him, and he had saved me. What was wrong with us?