going to admit that Landon was getting to me. He’d been on the radio all week, TV morning shows, brief interviews on the local nightly news, anyone who would give him a mic in exchange for his version of reality. Trent was good with letting lies roll off his back, but I’d been brought up where if you didn’t quash a rumor fast and with fists, it became the truth.
“Tired,” I added, and Jenks rubbed a hand along his wing to smooth it, clearly seeing through the lie. “I was up early this morning. And then I had a really weird dream while waiting for you and Ivy.”
“Curious,” Al said, actually waving at the woman in a MINI twin to my own as he accelerated through the intersection. “My dreams have been unusually restless as well.”
I looked at him, thinking a demon driving through Cincinnati was about the coolest thing ever. “I didn’t know you had bad dreams.”
“Quite often,” he said softly, eyes on the traffic. “And they’re none of your business. Rachel, I never told Ceri about Hodin.”
I froze. Damn, damn, and double damn. When had Al and Dali had time to talk? “Uh,” I said, warming at Jenks’s wry expression. “Maybe Newt told her?”
My car’s steering wheel creaked under Al’s grip. “Newt dosed herself into forgetting him,” he said, voice tight, and I began to quietly panic.
“Okay, so I lied to Dali,” I admitted, almost sitting sidewise in the seat to face him. “I didn’t want to admit it was a dream. Dali might decide it meant something. And it doesn’t.”
But instead of relaxing, Al became more worried, brow furrowed as he looked across the car at me.
“This morning,” I lied again, and Jenks, still on the radio buttons, crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “It woke me up. Nightmare about a pixy turning into a nice-looking demon with black hair. Scared the crap out of me. That’s all.”
Hearing the drop of truth in my lie, Al made a soft “Mmmm” of sound and turned away.
“It was just a dream, Al,” I continued, pulse slowing. “I probably got the name from the collective. We were all sharing a really tight space a few months ago.”
“Perhaps,” he admitted, focus distant. “But Hodin was known for working his mischief through dreams. Tell me if you have another.”
“Sure,” I said, but Jenks was still squinting at me in disapproval. “Dali said he was dead.”
Al stiffened, his eyes fixed firmly on the road. “He is. The dewar killed him to keep their secrets safe when we began to best them. Which was probably a good thing, seeing as he was more dangerous, unpredictable, untrustworthy, and outright mendacious than the Goddess he so desperately wanted to believe in,” he finished mockingly. “He was an idiot.”
But he almost sounded jealous, and I exchanged an uneasy look with Jenks. “You’re a good driver,” I said to change the subject. We were less than a mile from Junior’s, and everything felt awkward.
“It’s not that hard.” Jenks fiddled with the tuner until he found the weather. “Two pedals and a wheel. Big, fat, hairy-fairy, whooping deal.”
“Thank you.” Al inclined his head to acknowledge the compliment. “It’s my third time.”
“You mean since getting your license, right?” I asked as we gained the interstate and his speed eased into something less stop-and-go and more slow creep.
A shoulder lifted and fell as he settled in behind a rusted truck. “To not say otherwise would not necessarily be false.”
I looked at the charms on my key ring, uneasy. Double negatives had always confused me. Jenks sighed unhappily at the expected low for tonight. It was close to his comfortable threshold, and again I was glad that his stash of portable foods was in the trunk beside my overnight bag. He’d be okay at Trent’s conservatory, but damn it to the ever-after and back, we belonged in the church, not spread out over the greater Cincinnati area.
Al’s fingers tapped in annoyance as the left lanes began to move faster than us, but our exit was just ahead and he endured. Though the park was close, it would probably take us another fifteen minutes.
“You said you wouldn’t hog the girls’ attention. Maybe you should change?” I suggested.
Al gave me a sideways look. “You want the dog-headed god?”
Jenks snickered. “I do. I want to see Ellasbeth deal with that.”
“No,” I said shortly. “Don’t you have a happy face for parties?”