Her voice shook. She was pissed.
When he still didn't wake up, she snatched one of the buckets and poured water over his head. He inhaled a bit and woke up choking.
One hand went to his chest, which must have hurt like a bitch. He stared at his bloodied palm, then glanced up at Summer. His mouth tightened, and he came out of the chair with a roar of fury, fangs flashing. She flicked him a handful of fairy dust, and he went as still as the Gypsies.
How could she do that? Her magic shouldn't work on us.
She took his hand and led him toward the tent flap. Jimmy went with her like a child. They reached the exit and she turned back, giving the Gypsies a second coat, before she looked up and straight into my eyes.
No one had ever seen me watching them before, but Summer wasn't like anyone else.
She said a few words that I thought were Gaelic and together they walked from the tent.
I hurried after, but once outside the desert darkness closed in. No moon, just stars, the only light from the tent and the distant town of Red Rock. No movement anywhere that I could see.
Jimmy and Summer had disappeared.
CHAPTER 18
The buzzing of my cell phone tumbled me out of the vi-sions. I reached for it with my free hand, the other still over my chest. I needed to return to New Mexico. I had to figure out where they'd gone.
"Hello?"
"Don't come after us."
"Summer?"
"He needs to be alone. I can help him."
"If you're going to help him then he won't be alone," I pointed out.
"I've blocked you."
I sat up. "And how can you do that? For that matter, how did you know I was there?"
"I'm a fairy," she said, as if that explained everything.
"Big fucking hairy deal." I was so articulate when I was furious. "How did you zap Jimmy? What happened to your magic not working on DKs and seers?"
"It isn't that my magic doesn't work on you, it doesn't work on those on errands of mercy."
"So?"
"I doubt Jimmy recalls what mercy means at the moment."
She was right, but I still didn't like it.
"The reason I sent you was because I knew—" I stopped, not wanting to say it, but Summer had no problem.
"You knew I'd think of him first. That I'd protect him, even from you."
"Things have changed," I said. "The woman of smoke is the leader of the darkness."
"She can't be. You're still alive and annoying."
I almost laughed. If I hadn't been so panicked about the situation, I might have. Quickly I told her what Carla had told me.
"It doesn't matter," she said. "Nothing's changed."
"Everything's changed. She's trying to open the gates of hell and release the Grigori."
"That's her job."
"And it's my job to kill her before she does it." If I actually killed the leader of the darkness rather than one of her minions, everything should go back to normal. Or as normal as it got.
"I thought we'd have more time to replenish the federation," I continued. "More time for Jimmy to get his shit together, but we don't. Bring Jimmy and meet me at Sawyer's; we'll figure this out."
"No," she said. "Jimmy isn't ready. He has to find himself again before he can give himself to the cause."
"There won't be a cause if he doesn't come back!"
"You told me to do anything," she murmured.
"Now I'm telling you to bring him in."
"I won't," Summer said. "I can't."
"I'm going to kill you," I muttered.
"You're going to try." She didn't sound worried. She didn't need to be. To kill her, first I'd have to find her.
"I'll do what I can as quickly as I can," she continued, and I knew that I'd lost. I think I'd known I was going to lose from the beginning.
"Wait," I said desperately, before she hung up. "You know a few DKs, so does Jimmy."
"Yes," she agreed warily.
"Get in touch with them. I need one to watch Megan Murphy in Milwaukee." I told her about the seer's death on my doorstep, and how I feared that others might come and experience the same fate.
"I'll send someone," Summer agreed. "He can take out any lurking Nephilim and inform any seers who show up that they should disappear again."
"Great. If you get in touch with anyone else, have them tell everyone they know and so on."
"A supernatural phone chain," Summer said.
"Right. Maybe I can get things figured out and settled down and we could all have a ... a conference call or something."
Summer snorted. "Sure. That'll happen."
"You think Jimmy might be better in a week or so?"
I heard a vicious snarl from her end of the phone, and Summer sighed. "I wouldn't count on it."
*
I tried again to find them, but I got nowhere, saw nothing. Then I tried to contact Ruthie, but the connection was pretty one-sided.
She came to me when the Nephilim did, or when she had something to say. Obviously the situation with Jimmy didn't warrant a visit. Or maybe she didn't know about it. Maybe Summer had blocked her, too.