it before.” Which wasn’t entirely a lie, considering the circumstances.
Sandra relaxed, and I shone a light in her eyes to make sure they dilated properly. “Do you think you could get a message to her?” the woman asked, and I forced my smile to stay in place.
“I don’t know. I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t have access to that information.”
“I’m never going to see her again, am I?” Sandra warbled, and then she began to cry again. “I tried to kill her, and they’re going to put me in jail, and I don’t even know why I did it!”
I dropped back, not sure what to do. Crap on toast, this sucked. I was hearing the same story over and over. There was nothing new. This was going nowhere.
“I did it,” Sandra said, gasping around huge sobs as she pulled tissue after tissue from the box. “But I don’t know why. Please, you have to believe me.”
“I do,” I said, my hand going to her shoulder, and Sandra blinked gratefully at me.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and then we both turned at the dry rasp of pixy wings.
“Wrap it up, Rache,” Jenks said as he darted in. “Her leash holder is coming back.”
Sandra’s breath caught, her watery eyes darting from Jenks to me. “Wait,” she said, her tone suddenly flat. “Are you Rachel Morgan?”
“Yes. And I’m going to find out who’s doing this,” I said. And then she jerked out of my grip.
“Rache!” Jenks shrilled, but I’d seen Sandra’s eyes narrow, and I backpedaled, tripping on the rolling cart and sending it crashing into the gurney in the next bay over as I hit the floor.
“This is your fault!” Sandra shrieked, and I gasped when she lunged at me, jerked to a halt at the limit of her leash. “You let the demons in!” she screamed, hair wild as she pried at the cuff on her wrist. “They’re here. All the time. And you’re protecting them! You little bitch!”
I sat, stunned, on the floor of the med lab, silver pixy dust sifting down over me.
“Holy fairy farts,” Jenks said as Ivy boiled out of the back room. “She lost it!”
“I’m fine. I just slipped,” I said, shaken, as I put my hand in Ivy’s and she hoisted me up. The Were’s glasses had fallen off the cabinet, and I set them on the counter before I stepped on them. Together, Ivy, Jenks, and I watched Sandra try to get out of her cuffs, her insults gaining strength and volume.
“Is she awake?” I asked, and Jenks nodded, hands on his hips as he hovered between us.
“Yeah,” he said, frowning. “That’s weird. Her aura is almost exactly like yours, Rache.”
“You’re kidding,” Ivy said, and unfocusing my attention, I opened my second sight. Sure enough, the woman’s aura was a bright, cheerful gold. Harsh streaks of red darted through it to give evidence of some past trauma. There was zero black in it, but I’d always thought my thin layer of smut gave my soul a nice patina. That our auras were so similar wasn’t unheard of—a good portion of the population had gold auras streaked with red. But I was glad Jenks had mentioned it. Considering the circumstances, close auras seemed less of a coincidence and perhaps more of an indicator.
“You stinking evil demon!” Sandra shouted, distracting me. “You should be locked up. Give me my blood back. Give it!”
I ducked when she threw the box of tissue at me, then spun at the loud voice in the hall booming, “What the hell is going on?”
Sandra cowered and Jenks darted for my hair as that cop came back in.
“It’s about time you got here . . . Tony,” Ivy said, her hip cocked as she read his ID tag. “Ms. Betric-Tenson needs a quiet spot to calm down.”
“Tamwood?” Tony’s shoulders rolled as he came in. “A little off your floor, aren’t you?”
“She hurt Gabby, not me!” Sandra pointed at me, still trying to wedge her hand through the cuff. “That’s Rachel Morgan. She let those stinking demons in. She’s protecting them. She should be in jail, not me!”
Tony looked up from the prepped syringe in Ivy’s hand. “Morgan?” he said, his smile telling me he knew who I was. Jenks making a peace sign from my shoulder probably didn’t help.
“Hey, hi,” I said, feeling stupid in that lab coat.
“Let me go. Let me go!” Sandra demanded, but Tony had taken her arm, and Ivy had pumped it full of something clear. In three heartbeats,