Maybe Hecate did listen to our prayers. This unexpected boon would certainly answer one of mine.
“You think this is wise?” So far I had an undead parakeet, a dybbuk-possessed bestie, and a ghost child living under my roof. The roof belonging to a sentient house. And Linus lived next door. Those things I could handle. But adding three watchmen into the mix? Even if they kept me from relying on sentinels? “How certain are you on a scale of one to ten?”
“An eight.” He shrugged. “I subtracted two points for the cost of feeding them and the maintenance required to clean up after them.”
I palmed my forehead. “Are you really telling me I have to buy sides of beef and shovel-sized pooper scoopers to make this work?”
A smile quirked his lips, and the others laughed like I had told the best joke ever.
“We’ll only follow you if you don’t agree,” Lethe confessed at last. “Hood’s peace of mind is worth more to us than your permission.”
Thinking of ninety percent of the people in my life, I sighed. “Then you’ll fit right in.” The trio shared a triumphant howl that made me nervous coming from human-looking throats. “You’re not going to eat me if I erase my wards, right?”
“That would be counterproductive,” Hood said, amused.
“Still, it’s been a long weekend.” Growing longer by the minute. “Humor me.”
“I vow we won’t bite you.” Hood grinned at me. “We won’t even nibble.”
Midas joined the others, and Lethe hooked her arms around their waists. “You won’t notice we’re there.”
“Okay. Fine.” I erased my sigil, and the protective barrier dissipated. “Do you want to ride with us?”
“Nah.” Lethe’s eyes sparkled as she rested her head on Hood’s shoulder. “Race you?”
An interested sound moved through his chest. “What do I get if I win?”
“The better question,” Midas interjected, “is what do I get when I win?”
The trio melted and reformed as scaled hounds, the smaller male taking the early lead while the other two bumped shoulders and watched him go before sprinting after him. Hood and Lethe embodied matehood in the same way that Neely and Cruz exemplified marriage. They personified ideals and made such lasting bonds appear as the only logical step when you couldn’t breathe without the person next to you.
Maybe that apparent ease was what made their unions burn so bright from the outside looking in. Maybe that kind of love wasn’t simple. Maybe it was a goal you strove toward every single day for the rest of your lives. A peak you never reached, but that was okay as long as you kept climbing.
Silence reigned in the parking deck, and I breathed a sigh of relief as Linus appeared at my side. “I was so put out at Strophalos.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Oh?”
“I didn’t see the bookstore until after the coffee shop. I missed my chance to browse for a souvenir.” A tired laugh rocked my shoulders. “Be careful what you wish for, huh? Looks like I won’t go home empty-handed after all.”
He started walking, and I fell in step with him. “These aren’t the kind you keep.”
“I wish I had your faith.” I beat him to the stairwell and held open the door. “Midas said ‘until the threat has passed,’ and we have no clue how long that will take.”
His silence left me wishing I could peek into his head and see what thoughts put that look on his face.
With time on our side, Linus texted Mary Alice, who forgot to mention a customer had taken her usual space. She had been forced to park on the opposite side of the level, which explained why we hadn’t spotted her van on our first pass.
Linus, who I had never so much as caught with a crust of sleep in his eye, stifled a yawn as we located our ride.
“I’ll drive.” I held out my hand for the keys. “You look beat.”
“I am tired,” he admitted, brow gathering as if the admission surprised him too. “Thank you.”
We got in, and I familiarized myself with the cockpit. I captained Amelie’s sedan once in a blue moon, so I wasn’t a total washout when it came to driving vehicles that required seat belts. But it was never as comfortable for me, even when I was a teen. And after Atramentous… Yeah. I much preferred the open air to any type of confinement.
Taking it slow and easy, I checked the mirrors to make sure we weren’t being followed as I eased out into traffic. Linus kept watch too, though his eyelids drooped lower and lower. “You never told me what the initial results on Amelie’s blood yielded.” I decided to nudge him along by talking his ear off. “Did Reardon pinpoint any magical anomalies in her blood?”
“Yes,” he murmured. “That’s why he was so insistent we continue our research.” He reclined his seat a notch and crossed his hands at his navel. “Heinz wasn’t wrong when he compared Amelie’s symptoms to that of a strained familiar bond.” His blinking slowed until his reddish-blond lashes rested against his pale cheeks. “There are unmistakable markers in her blood put there by foreign magic, but I misdirected him, let him believe any peculiarities were due to the dybbuk bond. Possessed subjects are rare, so he has no basis for comparison.”
Meaning I would live under the sword of Damocles until Linus finished collating his data.
“You mentioned exorcism as the only cure.” Ambrose was glutted with power from his kills, Linus warned me that night in the elevator, and Amelie would die if he attempted to separate them before the energy dissipated. “Does this mean we’ll have to wait until Ambrose weakens to get our answers?”
“No,” he breathed, mouth barely moving. “Design a tattoo. For me. We can test for magic transference that way.”
Traffic be damned, I whipped my head toward him. “Forget it.”
“I will act as the control variable.”
“We don’t know for sure what the first one did yet, what the dangers are to the wearers. Until we figure that out, I’m not going to let you ink yourself. Plus, you’re bonded to a wraith. You’re hardly control variable material. We can’t risk… Linus?”
A faint snore escaped his parted lips.
“Who did this to you? What made you believe you’re disposable? You’re an heir, a scion, a professor, an artist, a potentate. Those are all positions of power.” I kept going, thinking it through. “Do you think you didn’t earn those first titles? That you must keep proving yourself? Heaping on more and more of them? Will it ever be enough?”
His only response was the slackening of his fingers as they slid onto his lap.
“You are worthy, Linus Lawson. You hear me?” I reached over and squeezed his chilly hand. “Don’t die proving it to yourself.”
With him sleeping soundly beside me, I pointed us toward home, sweet home.
Fifteen
Left unsupervised, I might have broken a few speed laws during that last thirty-mile stretch. Or was it forty? Fifty? Who was counting? Come dawn, I wanted to collapse in my own bed instead of a borrowed one, and I was willing to pay a few tickets to make that happen.
Grinning like a loon, I swallowed a squeal of delight when I spotted Woolly. The van whined as I gunned it up the driveway, and it groaned as it bounced to a stop in front of the garage.
“We’re here.” I reached over and shook Linus. “Wake up, lazybones.”
A faint moan escaped him, and I chewed my bottom lip while debating my options. Sleeping might be like eating for him. I had never actually seen him do either, but he must at some point. For him to be out like a light, he must be exhausted.
“I’m going to let them know we’re here.” I couldn’t sit still another minute. “I’ll be right back.”
While Linus snoozed, I ran up the stairs and embraced the nearest pillar like I was part kudzu.
Woolly shrieked with glee, her voice a smoke alarm’s piercing bleat. Beneath that, a symphony of magic burst in my head, the tempo as light and fast as a frantic heartbeat. All the curtains started flapping in her excitement, and the front door swung open, waving back and forth as she ushered me in.