I felt every ounce of ley line energy sort of . . . drain away.
“I forgot about that,” Trent said, frowning as he shifted out from behind the table to stand beside me.
“You know that guy?” Jenks said, and I nodded, my expression stiff.
The captain halted steps inside the door, head swiveling to look at everything and everyone. My excitement at seeing Glenn utterly vanished. It was as I had thought, but worse. He’d obviously left the FIB to work with them, but just as obvious, they’d put him in a subservient position. Glenn was too smart to be anyone’s lackey.
“You know him, too,” Jenks said to Trent, his dust shifting to an ugly brown. “And you really don’t like him. What did he do?”
“He tried to dose Rachel and me into forgetting we had apprehended the head of HAPA,” Trent said, voice tight.
Wings clattering, Jenks put his hand on the hilt of his garden sword. “Why would bringing in the leader of a humans-only hate group be something you shouldn’t remember?”
“That was my question, too.” My stomach hurt. I think that had been the night I’d begun to care about Trent, not simply understand him. To forget that would have changed my life for the worse.
Finally the captain slapped Glenn companionably on his shoulder and pushed him our way before giving me a cautious nod and sauntering to the order window. My smile was stiff as Glenn neared. There was guilt in his eyes. Guilt, and maybe . . . embarrassment?
“Rachel,” the wide-shouldered man said, his blush hard to see behind his dark skin. He was shaving his head again, and his cheeks were smooth apart from a tiny goatee as if to say he was capable of far more if given the chance. “Jenks. Mr. Kalamack.”
“It’s just Trent.” Trent offered his hand, and the two men shook.
“Hi, Glenn,” I said guardedly, and then gave in and pulled the man into a hug. He smelled like coffee and electronics, and my eyes closed as I breathed him in. Last time I’d given him a hug, he’d smelled like Ivy. I pushed back, my smile real again. “Tell your dad. Now,” I said, and he stepped back out of my grip.
“I can’t,” he said, panic rising behind his eyes.
“If he finds out you’re in Cincinnati and haven’t told him, he’s going to be crushed,” I said, and Glenn’s expression eased.
“Oh, that,” he said, making me wonder what he thought I’d meant. That he quit the FIB to work for the men-who-don’t-belong, maybe? That he was in Cincinnati stealing zombies from the zoo? Or perhaps that he was here chasing the same serial killer that we were?
“He knows I’m in town,” Glenn said with a nervous nod. “I’m staying for Thanksgiving.”
“Good.” I shifted to make room for Mr. Captain-Bench-Press coming over with two coffees. Behind him, Mark had a hand to his head as if fighting off a headache. I knew my head wasn’t feeling all that great, either.
“You’re looking good,” Trent said as the captain handed Glenn a coffee before spinning a chair around and taking the head of the table as his own. Seeing us standing, he gestured for us to sit. My jaw clenched. The last time I’d sat with him, he’d held me to a bench seat and injected me with a memory blocker. But my back was to the wall this time, and finally I sank down, Trent a heartbeat behind.
“You too. I mean it,” Glenn said as he sat as well. “You look really good together.”
Concern creased his brow, and even my fake smile faded. Why would Trent and me looking good together worry Glenn?
“So what are you and tight pants here doing with my zombie?” Jenks said, and the captain grunted in surprise.
“You saw that, huh?” Glenn said. “The gas station camera, right? I knew we should have taken that one out.”
“That was never your zombie,” the captain said, and Jenks bristled.
“It was in my graveyard,” the pixy said, hands on his hips.
“Your dad made me sign a paper taking ownership.” I sipped my coffee, trying to look nonchalant. “Then another giving it to the zoo. You took Mr. Z. You and those . . . guys. What are you called anyway?”
Glenn looked at the captain as if for permission, and my ire rose. “Most times they’re called the Order,” Glenn said, his words so formal I could almost see the capital letter.
“They?” Jenks landed on the table, head tilted. “I thought you worked