Kale blinked, her kohled-over eyes suddenly going doe-innocent. “Who?”
“Okay, okay,” I broke in, taking Kale’s carpetbag in one hand, her arm in the other. “We need to focus on this case. Or, this spell. It’s gotten worse since we last talked. The pentagrams and the spell books, Cathy last year and—” My stomach roiled, thinking of the disembodied hand hanging from my pant leg at the Battery. “And we’re pretty sure there are others.” I looked from Kale to Lorraine and lowered my voice. “And I think someone might be playing with my mind.” Lorraine and I exchanged a look. “Making me see and hear things.”
Lorraine nodded sympathetically and took my hand, giving it a tight little squeeze. “Like I said, we might be dealing with someone very powerful.”
Kale turned to face me, arms crossed in front of her chest. “But you’re immune to magic, right? I mean, aren’t you?”
I worried my bottom lip, looking to Lorraine but receiving no help. “Maybe we’re dealing with someone even more powerful.”
Lorraine seemed to avoid my questioning glance, and Kale joined her at the table. They began spreading out all manner of maps and curl-edged, ancient-looking scrolls. Kale took her bag from me and upturned it, unloading a series of benign-looking garden rocks, a cache of half-burned candles, and a matchbook from Big Al’s. She must have seen my eyebrows go up because she palmed the matchbook and blushed. “Someone left it at the office.”
Will chose that moment to stick his head through the front door. He looked from Nina, still soldiering in front of her bedroom door, to Kale and Lorraine, then finally, to me.
“No one invites me to the party?” He stepped into the apartment and shook an enormous bag of potato chips. “I brought crisps.”
“This isn’t a party, Will,” I said, pulling him into the apartment and throwing the lock behind him. “Lorraine and Kale are trying to help me—help us—find Alyssa.”
He cut his eyes to me, the displeasure evident. “Thanks for calling on me.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Sorry, it was sort of last minute. Lorraine?”
She turned to me. “Are you still wearing the talisman that I gave you?”
I felt the blush crash over my cheeks. “Yes. I mean, right now, no, because I just got out of the shower. But I was.”
“Put it on. And bring me the bag, too.”
I went to my room, Will following a half-step behind me. “What’s this all about?” he said, closing the bedroom door softly.
“I don’t follow. What’s what all about?”
“You call in the witch brigade on our assignment, but you don’t call me?”
I shoved aside the heap of laundry on my chair and dug around for the talisman. “It wasn’t like I was trying to cut you out of anything, Will. It just happened that way. I would have called you.”
I brushed past him and he reached out, his hand closing around my elbow. He pulled me to face him. His lips were pressed in a thin straight line. “When would you have called me? When you were in grave danger?”
I took a step back, trying to shake his grip, but he held on for a silent beat, then finally let go. “I know I’m not Alex, but I’m your partner, Sophie. I’m here to help you.”
There was something about the earnest look in his eyes that stung my heart. There was Alex, his eyes cold and hard, pushing me away, and here was Will, begging to be a part of my life. And there was me, straddling the chasm between them both.
“I really am sorry, Will.”
I walked out of my room leaving Will behind me, a lump growing in my throat. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was apologizing for, but I knew it had nothing to do with not calling him tonight.
I cleared my throat and approached Lorraine and Kale. “I really appreciate you giving me the bag and . . .” I reached into my shirt to show off the talisman, than was immediately sorry I did so. “This thing. Like I said, other than the shower, I haven’t taken it off.” I said the last part while holding my breath. “But I’m not really sure it’s exactly helping—”
Kale took the bag from me and upturned it on the dining table. Another series of rocks poured out, along with the rolled scrolls and herbs.
“I think what Sophie means to say is that we’ve got a girl missing, a hole full of bones, a hell of a lot of hoodoo voodoo going on in the schoolhouse, and no idea why you’ve given us a stinky bag full of rocks and wallpaper samples.”
I was startled that he was defending—or explaining—on my behalf as Lorraine and Kale paused and looked at him. He had his hands on hips, eyebrows raised, obviously expecting an answer.
I was expecting them to turn him into some kind of amphibian.