Part 12 (1/2)
”Ow, ow! Don't touch it, Pierce! You idiot!” Ivy shouted as he probed her arm. ”I told you it was broken!”
Pierce pulled his hand away, glaring right back at her black-eyed stare, and I jerked when there was a scuffing of shoes on the stairs outside.
”It's Glenn,” Jenks said, head c.o.c.ked as he listened to his kids. ”I think he just noticed the broken window and the open door cause he just un-snapped his pistol.”
”Glenn?” I questioned, my gaze going to Ivy. ”Did someone call 911?”
Ivy held her arm to her middle, looking up past her hair to the open door, shrugging.
”h.e.l.lo?” the big man's voice boomed out, cautiously. ”Rachel? Ivy? Everyone okay?”
Pixies flew over us in a wave, going to meet the FIB detective. I swear, the man had to have some elven blood in him the way Jenks's kids took to him. Either that, or they liked the smell of gun oil.
”Come on in, Glenn!” I called, and the light in the foyer was eclipsed.
”Ivy?” Glenn said, his gaze going first to her, standing with Pierce's support. He started for her, but his eyes were taking everything in, lingering on the smoldering couch and the burn ring on the pool table. I had no doubt that it had been a white spell designed to toast marshmallows, but Vivian could have set the church on fire with it.
”Rachel, what do you do? Put an ad in the paper for trouble?” Glenn asked, snapping the flap over his weapon back down as he crossed the room.
”Ha, ha. Very funny.” I s.h.i.+fted my weight to my other foot, knees aching. ”Glenn, this is Pierce. Pierce, this is Glenn, my friend from the FIB.”
I watched Pierce closely as Glenn came forward with his usual grace and spare motion, his right hand extended even as he slipped a supporting arm under Ivy.
”It's my arm that's broken. I can walk,” she said irately, pulling away from both men.
Pierce shook Glenn's hand with a firm formality, not a hint of reservation in him, even if his gaze did hesitate on his shaved head and one earring. ”I'm powerfully pleased to meet you, Detective Glenn,” he said, glancing at Ivy as she sat on the couch and halfheartedly hit the smoldering leather with a magazine. ”YouVe been a friend to Rachel for a good span.”
Glenn's eyebrows rose at Pierce's speech, but his smile was genuine. ”Not for as long as I hope to,” he said. I tried to imagine his grin with sharp canines, and couldn't.
I started hobbling to the kitchen to get another pain amulet, my grip tight on the smooth wood of the pool table. The pixies were hovering over it, heads down as they poked the burnt felt with their swords. It was totally ruined. I'd have to get it refelted. Sorry, Kisten. Sorry, Kisten.
”Ah, I came over to tell you I have an ID on the woman who attacked you,” Glenn said from behind me.
”Let me guess,” I said, inching along. ”Vivian Smith is a member of the coven of moral and ethical standards.”
”The witch broke into my church.” Jenks darted about the sanctuary, counting his kids.
”Really.” Glenn didn't sound surprised, and I nodded. ”Didn't they already shun you?”
”Yeah. And now they want my ovaries,” I said dryly. Step-ow. Step-ow. Step-ow. Step-ow.
Glenn looked appalled when I glanced up, and Pierce was wincing, embarra.s.sed as he gazed at the broken gla.s.s. Pixies were darting in and out, giving Jenks fits. Matalina had the youngest, but she could do only so much.
Ivy looked ill on the pixy-dusted, smoldering couch, her arm cradled against her. ”Glenn, can you take me to the emergency room? Rachel can't drive with her knees like that.”
”I can so,” I complained, but he was watching me inch along, shaking his head.
”Looks like you need to be admitted, too,” he said. ”You want to file a report?”
I grimaced. ”Against the coven? Ri-i-i-ight.” Accepting Glenn's help, I hobbled to the hallway. He smelled like honey and hot metal. Daryl, apparently. ”I can take Ivy to the hospital,” I said slowly. ”My mom's Buick is an automatic. You look like you're on duty.”
Jenks laughed as he got all but three of his kids out in the yard. ”There's a good idea,” he said as he sent the last of them to the rafters to keep watch. ”The coven is trying to kill you, and you want to drive Ivy to the hospital where there are syringes and big knives.”
I changed my aim from the hallway to the couch, slipping from Glenn's grip to sit beside Ivy. ”I can drive,” I said sourly. ”I just need a new pain amulet.”
”I'll get it, mistress witch,” Pierce said, his feet soundless as he vanished into the hall.
”Mistress witch?” Glenn muttered, standing over Ivy as if not knowing what to do.
”He's not from around here,” I said, tired. Ivy got to her feet, and I stared up at her.
”Stay here, Rachel,” Ivy said as she headed for the foyer, coming out with her purse in her good hand. ”Glenn can take me. I'll be gone a few hours. Can you sit tight for that long?”
She was getting b.i.t.c.hy. That was a good sign. ”What am I supposed to do till you get back?” I said, patting the smoldering leather. ”Hide in my closet? I'd rather be with you.”
Jenks made a gagging sound. ”This is so sweet, I think I'm going to barf fairy farts.”
Glenn rocked back out of Pierce's way as he edged past him to hand me an amulet. The witch had his hat in his hand, and I wondered if he was leaving, too. My fingers touched the amulet, and a wave of relief flowed into me.
”I'll take Ivy to the emergency room,” the FIB detective said as he jiggled his key. ”And I don't want you to be here, Rachel, when I get back. ”
”Excuse me?” I stared at him from the couch.
Glenn smiled at my affronted expression. ”You need to leave town,” he said. ”Take a vacation. Visit your mom.” He hesitated, then added, ”Find a hiding spot for a few days?”
My eyes opened wide as I got it, but Jenks took to the air, a vivid silver falling from him. ”No fairy-a.s.s way!” he exclaimed, his kids in the rafters going silent. ”She's not leaving here.”
Ivy took a defensive stance, holding her arm tight against herself. ”The church is safe.”
Pierce, though, was nodding, glancing at the broken shards in the sun before saying, ”I'm of a mind you don't understand the danger. Glenn is right. You need to leave.”
My mouth dropped open. ”We don't understand the danger?” I said loudly. ”Are you serious? Pierce, we can handle this. We have before.” But my thoughts were on Ivy, languis.h.i.+ng under twin white spells. Twice today a benign charm had been turned to one capable of doling out death. It was so hypocritical it made me sick.
”I'll admit your diggings are a fine defense,” Pierce added when Jenks's wings clattered. ”And your skills, Jenks, are a caution, but that was the coven's plumber. The best action is not to be where she expects you to be.”
Confused, I asked, ”The coven's what?”
”Plumber,” Ivy said, looking pale as she leaned on Glenn. ”You know. Stops leaks?”
Oh goodie. I'm a leak. ”Look, the church has kept me safe for over a year. Jenks is here, and I'm not leaving.” ”Look, the church has kept me safe for over a year. Jenks is here, and I'm not leaving.”
Jenks landed on my shoulder, his relief obvious. Pierce, though, was scowling. ”How can I keep you safe if you don't do what I say? Get your things.”
Do what he says? Jenks's dust was starting to feel warm on my shoulder, and I put up a hand to keep him from flying at Pierce. ”I'm not leaving,” I said softly from the couch, but I was p.i.s.sed. ”And no one asked for your opinion. You were wrong about not telling Al about the coven, and you're wrong about this.” Jenks's dust was starting to feel warm on my shoulder, and I put up a hand to keep him from flying at Pierce. ”I'm not leaving,” I said softly from the couch, but I was p.i.s.sed. ”And no one asked for your opinion. You were wrong about not telling Al about the coven, and you're wrong about this.”
Pierce frowned, but my attention jerked to Glenn, who had also taken a defensive stance. ”What can it hurt?” he said, and Ivy gave him a dark look. ”Really, what's the big deal?”
They didn't understand. This was my place. My security. I'd made it, and to leave it felt wrong. ”It doesn't feel right,” I said, thinking it sounded lame, yet my gut said stay. But what the h.e.l.l did my gut know? It told me there was just as much good in Trent as bad.