“Oh no. I’m not asking him.” I shook my head and hunched my shoulders. “He lied to me about everything, Yaya. And he’s working for Hera, I’m sure of it. That alone strikes him off the list of possible help.” Merlin. Of all people for her to suggest, I was shocked he was even on the list, never mind at the top of it.
“Be that as it may, use his talents, Lena Bean. Merlin is good at what he does; even you can’t deny that. And I think you have made him sit up and take notice. You haven’t fallen as you were supposed to. I think you should give him a chance to make things right.”
I popped another hunk of monkey bread into my mouth and chewed it so I didn’t have to say yes or no. Because the truth was, Yaya was correct. There was no one as slick as the warlock who’d turned me from a quiet little church mouse who had never said a bad word in her life and never broken a rule without confessing instantly into a siren that could take on the toughest of heroes and win.
I swallowed my piece of the sweet chocolaty bread. “Fine, I’ll go talk to Merlin. But I doubt he’ll help.”
Yaya laughed and said, “I think he may just surprise you. And one more thing.”
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. “What now?”
“Your parents’ thirtieth anniversary is coming up, and you don’t want to miss that. I’m going to talk to your mother about having you make the cake.”
I snorted. Right, because between dealing with a legal case from hell, Theseus, and being put on a rival vampire’s gang poopy list, I was going to want to attend my parents’ anniversary. Also known as the father who loved me and the mother who was trying to pretend I didn’t exist now that I was a supernatural.
Perhaps I could call in sick on that one.
CHAPTER 5
The protestors waved to Yaya and me as we drove through the main gate of the Wall. “You think the Supe Squad will get back into action soon?” I looked at my grandmother, knowing she had more knowledge about such things than she let on. A lot more, depending on her cache of secrets tucked away like someone’s hidden candy stash.
“Perhaps. Their captain is gone, and until the second-in-command truly steps up, we won’t know.”
It was after one in the morning when she dropped me off. I waved as she pulled away, and she honked several times. As if I wouldn’t otherwise know she’d seen me as she left with her clunking baby-blue Granada. Though it wasn’t pretty, it did the job. “At least she has a car,” I muttered.
Once more back at house number thirteen, I headed up the steps, fatigue nipping at my heels.
I pushed the door open and heard the soft lull of voices speaking in whispers. A smile crept across my lips. Tad and Dahlia were so darn cute together. Almost sickeningly so, actually.
“Coming in, please keep the nudity to a minimum,” I called out so I wouldn’t catch them in a compromising situation. The last thing I wanted to see was my brother getting down and dirty with my best friend. Even if I was happy for them.
I kept my eyes averted as I passed the living room, their usual make-out place.
“Alena, I want you to meet someone,” Beth called to me.
Surprised, I turned. I saw her first, the short blond hair in a messy do that was both cute and carefree. Her eyes sparkled as she grinned at me. She’d met someone in the few hours I’d been gone? My first thought was Too bad. I’d been hoping to gently push her toward Jensen. My next thought was How had she found someone so fast?
Then I saw the man whose lap she sat on. His long dark-blond ponytail, his blue eyes, the slick suit with silver threaded through it.
“Theseus.”
“No.” Beth laughed. “His name is Tim.”
I raised both eyebrows even as a cold chill worked its way up my spine. “Tim?”
Her smile widened. “Yes, he saved me, Alena. After we cleaned the kitchen, Sandy and I went for a walk—we were talking about the bakery, you know?”
I nodded, keeping my mouth shut, and she went on. “A car was coming, and I didn’t see it. He literally swept me off my feet.” She beamed at him, and the only word I could come up with was “lovestruck.” This couldn’t be real. I had to have fallen and hit my head and I was now hallucinating.
“Beth . . .” I took a step toward her. “You would have demolished the car if it hit you. He didn’t save you. Not really.”
She frowned at me. “Alena, he saved me. And he doesn’t even care that I’m a Stymphalian bird. He’s the right guy, like you said.”
“I’ll bet he doesn’t mind,” I muttered under my breath. “Look, his name is not Tim. This is Theseus, and he’s using you to get to me. He doesn’t care about you; his job is to kill monsters like you and me!”
She sucked in a sharp breath and stood up, her eyes no longer sparkling with good humor. More like sparking with anger. She took a step toward me, and the air around her shimmered. Like she was going to shift into her bird form. What the heck, why wasn’t she listening?
I wasn’t even sure if we could hurt each other, but I didn’t really want to find out either.
“Beth.” I held up my hands. “Don’t do this. We need to talk about just what is going on here.”
The clatter of feet on the stairs almost turned me around. Except I didn’t think that what was behind me was going to be a problem.
“Beth, what’s going on?” Sandy called from the stairs. Maybe I was wrong. A Stymphalian bird in front and behind was not something that made me feel safe. Not when I was no longer sure if they were my friends. My heart clenched. How could things have changed so much in such a short time?
As if reading my mind, Theseus held up a tiny arrow and swirled it across his knuckles. An arrow just like the ones Ernie had to make people fall in love with one another.
“Oh, you little bastard,” I whispered.
Beth ignored Sandy’s question. “Tim is not Theseus. Theseus would want to kill me, not save me. Sandy was there; she saw him save me.” Each word was bitten out, and each one pitched higher than the next.
Sandy took another step, the stair creaking. “He did pull her out of the path of the car.” Her words were careful, like even she wasn’t sure what was going on. I dared a glance back at her, and she shrugged, her eyes worried.
I took a step back, seeing the pickle Theseus had put me in. Behind Beth he smiled at me, the smug satisfaction evident in every line of his face, the tiny arrow tucked away somewhere. His arms were thrown over the back of the chair, and his legs were stretched out as though he were preparing to watch a prizefight.
In that moment I knew there was no way I’d be able to convince her he was anyone but Tim. The best thing I could do was back off and try to find a different route.
I held up my hands to her. “Fine. I retract my statement. He’s not Theseus.”
She slowed her advance, and the shimmering around her eased off. “I think we should go, Tim.”
“Of course, beautiful girl.” He stood, stepped forward, and slid an arm around her waist, though his eyes never left my face. “We can go to my place.”