“Alexis.” My name, just my name. His heat fil ed the air around me, like he’d moved closer or leaned in toward me.
My lips parted as his breath tumbled against my skin, but the touch was just air. He’d said orders had reached the FIB that the queen wanted me taken to Faerie. So why was he helping me escape? I reached toward him, or toward the heat that fil ed the space between us, and that heat withdrew.
“Stay inside,” he said again. The door clicked shut.
I stood in the spot where he’d left me, listening to the sounds of his neighbors drifting through the wal s. Damn, this is really happening. I was on the run from Faerie.
I felt the need to do something, to prepare or retaliate.
But there was nothing I could do but wait.
Well, I can at least tell my housemates what’s going on.
Not that I’d tel them not to worry about me because I was definitely worried about me, but maybe they’d have some suggestions of how to get out of this. Caleb, at least, might have some idea.
I dug through my purse, searching by feel for the cool plastic case of my phone. Final y I found it. There would be no dialing blind, but my eyes had been an issue often enough that I’d purchased the phone knowing this could happen. I traced my fingers along the edge until I found one of the few non–touch screen buttons on the phone.
“Cal Caleb,” I said, speaking as clearly as I could for the voice-recognition software. A moment later the phone beeped as it dialed.
The phone rang seven times, and just as I was sure it would switch to voice mail, Caleb’s voice answered on the other end.
“Thank goodness. The FIB are after me. They plan to drag me to Faerie and—”
“No, I’m sorry, Hol y isn’t here right now,” Caleb said, cutting me off.
What? Oh, no. “Are they there? At the house?” “Yeah.
What? Oh, no. “Are they there? At the house?” “Yeah.
She said something about a headache and went to lie down, but she must have felt better because she left shortly after. I haven’t seen her since.”
My heart, already hammering in my chest, dropped.
“Caleb, is Hol y missing?”
“Yeah, a letter? I found it. Her bed, sure.”
A letter? It must have been important or he wouldn’t have mentioned it.
I stopped talking, my throat too tight to pass words, but my part of the conversation wasn’t important anyway. Caleb paused for a moment, as if listening to someone on my end of the line; then he said, “I don’t know if I’l be here when she gets back, but if I see her, I’l tel her.”
Didn’t know if he’d be there? Oh, fuck, they were going to haul Caleb to Faerie. Agent Nori had threatened that acquaintances with independent fae were dangerous, but I’d thought she meant dangerous to me, not to my friends.
“What should I do?” I whispered the question around the lump clogging my throat.
Caleb was silent for a long moment before saying, “Good luck.” Then he disconnected.
Chapter 24
I paced around Falin’s apartment, my shins occasional y scraping this odd bit or my hands hitting that one. It was a good thing he didn’t have much furniture.
I stil clutched my phone, but I had no one left to cal . Hol y wasn’t answering, Caleb was on his way to Faerie, and Tamara’s phone was off, presumably because she was sleeping.
“What do I do now?” I asked the darkness hanging over my eyes.
As if in answer, a loud metal ic groan cried out behind me. I turned slowly, trying to identify the sound, but the only thing I could compare it to was the scream of an overtaxed support beam. Maybe the building is settling? I wasn’t sure I wanted to be on the seventh floor if the building was making noises like that. Another creak sounded, this time fol owed by a loud pop.
What are the chances this isn’t bad?
I tore down my shields, blinking at the explosion of color and light as I saw the world through my psyche. I glanced around, orienting myself as best I could in the suddenly crumbling landscape. I was in front of the large sliding glass door that led out onto a balcony—a balcony currently groaning under the weight of two massive paws that led up to muscular legs as thick around as my torso and covered in tan fur. But though the fur suggested mammal, when the front legs landed, they were hairless and ended in talons, like a bird. Huge feathered wings beat the air, blocking the sun. Folding the sixteen-plus wingspan against its back, the sun. Folding the sixteen-plus wingspan against its back, the beast hopped off the rail and ducked its massive eagle-shaped head under the base of the upstairs balcony.
Gryphon.
Or at least it looked like a gryphon. It was a magical construct, definitely. Its outline shifted slightly, its form slightly unreal, but where the other constructs had been misty outlines—this one looked more . . . congealed. I guess I found the missing souls.