“Maybe just for a second.”
He helped me over to a chair in the children’s section and eased me down into it. His hand burned on my arm, hot instead of cold, but feeling like magic all the same. A different kind of magic—one that I had no idea what to do about.
“Thanks,” I said in a soft voice.
“You’re welcome,” Devon replied, his voice as low as mine.
His warm hand lingered on my arm a moment longer before he straightened up and stepped back.
Felix looked back and forth between us, before his gaze moved over the rest of the library, taking in all the dead bodies, overturned shelves, haphazard piles of books, and busted tables and chairs. Finally, he stared at Devon.
“You know, I think Lila’s right,” Felix said. “You should call your mom now.”
Devon groaned.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Claudia showed up about twenty minutes later, along with Grant, Reginald, Angelo, and a dozen Sinclair guards, all wearing black cloaks and carrying swords. They swarmed into the library and started searching the building.
“Clear!”
“Clear!”
“Clear!”
The guards’ shouts rang out from one section of the library to the other.
Devon, Felix, and I had taken refuge in the children’s area, sitting at a kid-size table and matching chairs. Once the guards had cleared the library, Claudia stalked over to us, with Reginald and Grant trailing along behind her.
“Devon?” Claudia asked, her worried gaze locking on to the gash on his wrist.
“I’m fine, Mom,” he said. “It’s just a cut.”
She looked at Felix, who’d escaped the fight with some cuts and bruises and an eye that was starting to blacken, before finally turning to me. She stared at the blood trickling down my leg, despite the paper towels I was pressing to the wound.
“What happened?” Claudia asked. “What are you doing here?”
I opened my mouth to tell her it was my fault, but Devon beat me to it.
“Felix and I came to help Lila pack up the rest of her things,” Devon said.
“Is that so?” Claudia murmured, staring at all three of us in turn.
Devon kept his gaze steady on hers. Felix grinned, but it was a nervous expression. I shrugged.
Finally, she faced Devon again. “Why would you do that? Without bringing any of the guards with you?”
Devon got to his feet. “Because I don’t need the guards. I can take care of myself.”
Claudia started to open her mouth, but she thought better of it when she realized we were all staring at her. Instead, she jerked her head. Devon sighed and followed her over to the checkout counter, out of earshot of the rest of us. But I could imagine the lecture Claudia was giving him.
Reginald and Grant moved off to check on the guards, and I got to my feet as well.
“What are you doing?” Felix asked. “You should be taking it easy until we get back to the mansion, and we can get you healed up.”
“I want to check on something. Are you going to help me or not?”
“All right, all right,” Felix said, putting his arm around my waist.
He helped me over to the man who had attacked me, the one who’d had a speed Talent, the one Devon had commanded. I sat down on the floor beside the dead man. Felix rolled him over, and I pulled the guy’s wallet out of his back pocket. But he didn’t have any ID on him, no driver’s license or credit cards, so I threw the wallet aside in disgust and patted down the rest of his pockets. Along with some crumpled bills, which I kept for myself, I found a pack of gum, a small comb, and one very interesting thing—a silver cuff with a wolf ’s head stamped on it.
The Volkov Family crest.
I showed the cuff to Felix. He went over to a couple of the other dead guys, and sure enough, they all had a similar cuff tucked into their pockets.
Felix shook his head. “I can’t believe that they’re all Volkov guards.”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t make any sense. We don’t have any major problems with the Volkovs. Besides, the Itos were the ones who probably attacked and killed Lawrence. So why would Volkov guards attack us tonight? Why not some of the Itos instead?”
I turned the Volkov cuff around and around in my hand, watching the silver gleam underneath the lights. Felix was right. It didn’t make sense, that one Family would be responsible for the first attack on Devon and Lawrence and a different Family for the one here in the library. There had to be something that tied them all together—or someone.
Maybe this wasn’t about the Families so much as it was about the mystery man. But surely, he had to be working for someone in order to have hired that much muscle. Either that, or he was independently wealthy. But even then, someone should know something about him.
“But let’s say that the Volkovs were behind the attack tonight,” Felix said. “How did they even know Devon was here? Nobody saw us leave the mansion. Even if they did, they couldn’t have possibly known we would wind up here.”
“Someone knew,” I pointed out. “Because the mystery man was here, just like he was in the pawnshop. He was the one who attacked Devon.”
“But how?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know the answer. If I did, I’d probably know who the mystery man was and what he really wanted from Devon. Actually, I had that last part figured out already.
A few more guards entered the library. Reginald and Grant turned to them, and Claudia stopped her conversation with Devon to listen as well.
“Anything?” Grant asked.
One of the guards shook his head. “There’s no trace of anyone around the building. Sorry.”
Claudia pressed her lips together, then her eyes cut to me. Her worry squeezed my heart.
“We’ll talk more about this at the mansion,” she snapped. “We’re leaving. Now.”
Felix started to help me up, but Devon hurried over and stepped in front of him.