Plus, I remembered what Jerome had said about talking about that.
So I shook my head. “I don’t know why he’d ask that, but Ren’s always curious about things.”
“Huh,” replied Kyle. “What a weird thing to be curious about. Maybe you need to find better ways to occupy his mind.”
I started to frown.
“His absence and its timing is strange,” Henry stated from his corner. “Do you have any idea where he could be?”
My Spidey senses were tingling now. “No. I mean, I was thinking about checking his place, but this . . . isn’t like him.” I looked to David and admitted, “I’m a little freaked out about this.”
“Yeah, well—” David’s phone rang and he picked it up. “Yeah?” he grumbled, rubbing his hand over his head. I hoped it was Ren, but the way he suddenly stiffened and then stood, told me that if it was, it wasn’t good. Several seconds passed. “I’ll send a team down there now.”
My little ears perked up with interest. “What’s going on?” I asked.
He hung up the phone. “Jackie just called. She and Dylan said there was a lot of police activity down at Flux. Several cars. Reporters setting up outside.”
“I thought you guys checked that place out,” I said.
“We did. There were no fae there when we went,” David replied, thumbing through his phone contacts. “This may not have anything to do with fae, but it warrants investigating.”
“I’ll go.” I turned and jerked back, finding Miles in the doorway. God. Was he there the whole time, lurking all quiet-like? Creeper.
“Not you,” David called out, stopping me. “I want that report about Val filled out. Now.”
I pivoted around. “But—”
“Why is it that I always have to tell you an order is an order?” David walked around his desk, a folder in his hand. “Every single time.”
He had a point.
I took the folder from him as Kyle stood up. Henry was the first out, glancing down at my folder. “I’d rather be shot in the fucking head than do paperwork.”
Um. Wow. Okay. I hated paperwork too, but that was excessive.
Kyle said nothing as he walked past me. I was half-tempted to toss the folder back on David’s desk, but I knew better than to do that.
Under Miles’s watchful gaze, I walked out to the common room, plopped down at the table, and picked up a pen. I opened the folder and was about to relive something I really didn’t feel like doing at the moment, but stopped when I felt eyes on me.
Lifting my gaze, I saw Miles leaning against the wall, staring at me. I waited a second and decided to make use of the fact that he was being a creep. “Can I ask you a question?”
“If I say no, you still going to ask?”
“Probably.” I twirled the pen between my fingers. “The crystal that Val came back and took from here. What is the significance of it?”
One shoulder rose, but there was a forced casualness about it that I didn’t trust. “Just a piece of shit gem that doesn’t mean much.”
“Then why would she come back and take it if it’s nothing?”
He shrugged. “Probably because she’s a dumbass and thinks it holds some value.”
Okay. Yeah, I wasn’t believing that for one second, but it was obvious he wasn’t going to tell me anything else. I got back to filling out my report, and when I peeked up again, he was still being a creep. I sighed. “What?”
Miles smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You and I don’t really know each other.”
I tilted my head. “To be honest, no one really knows each other in the Order.”
“Except you and Val. You two knew each other fairly well, and she betrayed the Order and is now dead.” He pushed off the wall, approaching the table. “Fell off a roof. Huh.”
There wasn’t a single part of me that missed the fact that he didn’t refer to Val as the halfling.
“And you’re close with Ren. You two are dating.” He sat in the seat across from me, which sucked, because that meant he wasn’t planning to leave anytime soon. “And now he’s MIA. An Elite member missing. That’s odd.”
I dropped my pen. “Where are you going with this, Miles?”
“Nowhere, really. Just thinking out loud.”
“Can you not do that?”
The chair squeaked as he leaned back. “You know what else I can’t not do?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “Your double negative is confusing as hell.”
“I can’t shake this feeling I’ve had for about three years that there is something very, very off about you.”
My breath caught as our gazes locked.
“David trusts you. He even likes you.” Miles’s stiff smile slipped from his face. “I don’t know why, but I don’t trust you, Ivy.”
I didn’t look away as I tensed, but hey, good to hear David actually did like me. “Well, thanks for letting me know your personal, irrelevant opinion of me. I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, smirking. He leaned forward, placing his elbow on the table. “I’m going to be real cliché as hell, too. I’m keeping my eye on you, Ivy.”
Chapter Seventeen