Part 14 (2/2)

”But,” I prompted.

She looked up at me, fingering the money I'd told her to keep. ”Trust your judgment, baby witch. No one else's. You've got good instincts for someone flakier than my mum's pie crust.”

Pierce waited impatiently by the open door, Nick behind the wheel. ”Rachel... ”

My judgment sucks, I thought. I thought. She's got to be kidding. She's got to be kidding.

The leprechaun's smile faded and her fingers left the money. ”I never did say thank you for letting me go. I would have lost my accreditation. I don't do that stuff anymore. Illegal, I mean.” Pierce made a pained noise, and she added, ”Hey, you want a wish?”

My heart seemed to stop. A dozen thoughts flashed through my mind. Jenks and Matalina living forever. Me not on the run. Ivy's soul. ”No. No, thank you.” I looked at Pierce beside the open door, frantically motioning for me to get in. ”Thanks. But I've got to go.”

”No, really. Take it!” she said, holding out a coin with a hole in it. ”You could use it.”

I held my breath, staring at it. Slowly I smiled. ”No thank you,” I said softly. ”Give it to someone who needs to learn a freaking life lesson. I'm done.”

The woman's red hair glinted in the sun as she laughed. ”Okay,” she said, tucking it away. ”Watch them,” she warned. ”Both of them. Neither one is thinking of anyone but himself... yet.”

I kind of figured that, and I nodded. Feeling like I was in control for the first time in years, I walked slowly to Nick's car. My knees protested as I got in and slid to the middle of the long bench seat. Pierce got in after me and shut the door. It felt too close, but I didn't care.

”Hi,” I said, looking at Nick smiling at me with his b.l.o.o.d.y nose, success making his eyes almost glint. ”Does this thing move?”

”YouVe no idea, Rachel,” he said, putting an arm behind my shoulder for the moment it took to back up. Nodding, I eyed the extra levers on the dash, imagining the canisters of NOS that would fit in the huge trunk this thing had.

Pierce leaned close to my ear as we found the exit. ”You should have gotten on the bus.”

”Why?” I said. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or turning the leprechaun down, or just that I loved seeing a plan fall together even if it wasn't mine, but I was in a wonderful mood, sitting between two clever, dangerous men. ”I don't trust him if that's what you're worried about,” I said as we pulled out into traffic. ”But you have to admit this is better than being on a plane to Alcatraz. Vivian wouldn't be after me if they had someone ready to summon me back. I'm good for a while.”

Pierce made a low noise of disapproval deep in his chest, settling back into the seat and adjusting his hat low over his face as we drove deeper into the Hollows. ”If you say so, mistress witch.”

Ijerked awake when Nicks car jiggled over some railroad tracks, snorting and wiping the corner of my mouth as I sat up. My eyes went to Jax thumping his feet against the rearview mirror, looking like his dad, and s.h.i.+fted back to the middle of the car. c.r.a.p, I'd fallen asleep against Pierce, but when I looked at him, I shocked myself when I saw Tom smiling at me from under his hat, eyebrows high and gaze questioning. Embarra.s.sed, I turned my attention to the pa.s.sing buildings. They were low and squat, dirty with neglect and apathy. Something told me we were still on the Cincinnati side of the river, and by the look of things, deep into human territory. It wasn't the nicest part of town, and I eyed the idle people sitting outside nasty storefronts in the thin sun.

Nick 's gaze slid to me and back to the street. ”Welcome back, sleeping beauty.”

My pulse was slow, and I felt thickheaded. ”Please tell me I wasn't snoring,” I said as I pulled my old-lady coat higher around my shoulders. It was warm in here, but I felt vulnerable.

Pierce made a calculating noise, accidentally brus.h.i.+ng my knee as he s.h.i.+fted. ”As Jenks would say, you snore nice.”

I smiled back unconvincingly. I snore nice. Not 'I opine that your auditory nasal exhalations are most pleasing.' He was already losing his unique speech patterns, not that I cared. I vaguely remembered hearing two male voices intertwined among my dreams in a soft, intent battle. Clearly I'd missed something. ”Where are we going?” I asked, still not able to place where I was. No doubt, since I didn't get into the poorer parts of human Cincinnati much.

Nick kept his eyes firmly on the potholed streets, a soft tightness to his scarred jaw. ”My place. Well, one of my places.” His gaze went to his savagely marred wrist, and he looked at his small but probably expensive watch. ”You'll be safe enough.” Cracking a window, he murmured to Jax, ”You want to get the door for us?” and the pixy flew out in a clatter of dragonfly wings. I couldn't help but notice that Jax's black s.h.i.+rt had a tear in it, and his shoes were scuffed. Clearly he didn't have a wife. If he wanted any kids to survive him, he'd have to start a family in the next year or so, or risk them being slaughtered by the first fairy clan to find them without a patriarch when he was gone.

Both men were silent and, uncomfortable, I scanned the shop fronts. Nick probably didn't have a problem here, but even I would think twice before walking these streets after dark. The leprechaun's words echoed in my thoughts, and I asked, ”Nick, don't take this the wrong way, but why are you helping me?”

Nick's eyes searched mine before returning to the road. ”It's not obvious?”

My head went back and forth. ”We are done. Through. I thought I'd made that clear.”

Nick stopped at a red light and rolled up his window when the car ahead of us began spewing blue smoke. ”I could have let the coven take you,” he said tightly.

My face burned. ”Who says you didn't just save me from Vivian so you could turn me in yourself and get all all the bounty?” I accused. ”Don't give me any I-could-have-turned-you-in-so-trust-me-now c.r.a.p. I could have told Glenn you were in my living room three minutes after you ran away. I don't owe you anything.” the bounty?” I accused. ”Don't give me any I-could-have-turned-you-in-so-trust-me-now c.r.a.p. I could have told Glenn you were in my living room three minutes after you ran away. I don't owe you anything.”

Nick's face went red, making Al's mark on his forehead stand out. ”I can't fight witch spells. Besides, Pierce seems to have everything under control with his black black magic.” magic.”

Pierce stiffened. My pulse hammered, and I looked at my hands, in my lap. Nick had hung around long enough to see the curses flowing out of the church. d.a.m.n it, why was it he could make me feel ashamed for something I hadn't even done?

”So,” Nick said tightly as we went through the intersection, ”you know where we stand?”

Stand? We dont stand anywhere. ”I don't trust you, and you don't trust me?” I guessed. ”I don't trust you, and you don't trust me?” I guessed.

Nick's long expression was hurt. ”I told you we were even.”

A sarcastic noise slipped from me. ”So that makes it all better?” He wanted a clean slate. Right. After selling secrets about me to demons? Not likely. Right. After selling secrets about me to demons? Not likely.

Scowling, Nick made a sharp left into a closed gas station that looked like a chop shop, pulling directly into one of the open bays. Seeing people inside, I looked in my bag for my disguise amulet.

”You won't need that here,” Nick said, sounding insulted. ”No one will squeal on you.”

I hesitated before I let it drop back in my bag, not because I trusted Nick, but because I might need it later to slip out. Nick seemed mollified, but Pierce cleared his throat in an understandable warning-which ticked Nick off all the more.

Jax was hovering outside the closed window, and when Nick put his car in park, someone pulled the garage door down, cutting off the light and making me feel trapped. ”Wait here,” Nick said stiffly, taking the bag from the coffeehouse with him as he got out. His door slamming shut was loud, and he went to greet the man who had closed us in, doing a complicated handshake thingy. I could see Pierce memorizing it. As a ley-line witch, he probably had it down with one look.

Nick laughed, fitting in perfectly with the rough men around us, thin from Brimstone and too hard a life. Jax was on his shoulder, clearly familiar by their casual acceptance. I sat nervously and watched as Nick and the guy talked, both of them looking at the car. At us.

”I'd allow that Nick's car has a lot more levers than yours,” Pierce said, eying the dash.

”Nick's car goes faster than my mother's,” I said, sitting sideways so I didn't have to take my eyes off Nick. ”Don't touch anything. It might go boom.”

It wouldn't, but Pierce drew his hand away. ”I don't trust him.”

”Neither do I.” Nick took a metal cutter from a nearby bench, and I fingered my zip strip, eager to get it off.

”If you're not of a mind to trust him, then why are we still here? This is vexing, sitting like a fence post.”

I had to think about that for a moment, first to piece together what he was saying, and then to figure out why we hadn't left. I had nothing for Nick but bad feelings, yet here I was. ”I need to sleep,” I finally said, ”and I don't want to do it on a bus touring Cincinnati.” My gaze returned to Pierce, finding a surprising amount of tension in him. ”Relax. I've known Nick for a couple of years. We did okay until it fell apart. I don't trust him, but I think he loved me in his own way once. Even if he did sell information to Al about me.”

That last had been barely muttered, but Pierce had s.h.i.+fted to look at Nick. ”The lickfinger,” he said. ”You're a powerful more forgiving person than me, Rachel. I would have-”

His words cut off, and I looked at him sharply. ”What?” I asked, remembering his black magic-magic not only black in name but deed, too. ”What would you have done, Pierce?”

He dropped his eyes at my pointed look, silent, and I turned back to Nick in a huff. The more I knew about Pierce, the more I worried. And I didn't need a babysitter.

Out the back window, I watched Nick hand the garage guy the bag from the coffeehouse and shuffle our way. Pierce squinted at Nick when he opened the door and leaned to look in. ”You want those bands off?” Nick asked, holding the clippers up.

Immediately I shoved Pierce to get out, grabbing my bag in pa.s.sing as I slid across and found my feet beside him. It smelled like acetylene torch and oil, and three ragged guys were watching us as I held out my wrist. The metal was cold against my skin, and I s.h.i.+vered when the zip strip was clipped through. The strand parted with a little thump, and I rubbed my wrist.

”G.o.d, that feels good,” I said as I reached for a ley line, realizing where we were in the process. Not far from the university. Cool. ”Thanks, Nick.” My chi filled, and my shoulders eased when I spindled a little bit extra in my head. It was easier now to stand confidently under the eyes of men talking in low tones and accents hard for me to follow. My knees felt better, too.

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