"Sir," Quen said as the office chatter grew loud again. "He's bugged."
"Shut the door!" Trent said, and the sound of steps rang out and then the thump of a door.
"Shit," Nick exclaimed. "Rachel, this isn't what it looks like!" he cried, but it was far too late to lie to me again.
There was a tussle, and a loud scraping. From a distance now, I heard Nick take a rasping breath and his soft swearing. "I think this is exactly what it looks like," Trent said, his voice very clear. "Rachel, if you're listening, think about who you're playing with. Return that statue or I will kill you. Not your mother, not your friends. Ybw."
There was a crunch, and the high-pitched, bone-vibrating sound exploded into existence. From the back, the pixies all squealed, and Jenks stomped on the off button, his hands over his ears and his wings flat against his back.
"Return it is exactly what I intend to do, Mr. Kalamack," I whispered, dropping the radio in Ivy's bag and hefting the statue instead. It wasn't very big, but it was heavy.
Ivy slowed and took a quick right into a pull-off, and I put a hand to the dash. "We're at the river," she said, and I felt a sliver of fear. Why are we stopping?
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said as she put it in park. "We are not going to abandon my mother's car and run out of here, Ivy."
Dogs. Trent had dogs. I'd stolen something from him before, and he'd ridden after me. The moon was new. It was the Hunt. But no one was listening. And as I sat, terrified, Ivy got out, quickly followed by Pierce on my other side.
"I'm not getting out of this car!" I shouted, my grip tightening on the statue. "Ivy, he's got dogs! I'm not going to be torn apart by a damn hound!"
Pierce leaned in, taking my hand to draw me into the night, where I stood and listened to the wind, searching for the singing of dogs in the rustling leaves. Not good. So not good.
Grit scraped under Ivy's heel as she slammed her door shut and turned to the distant glow of the city. "What are we doing?" she asked as she put her belt pack back on.
"We're getting in the car and driving out of here!"
Ivy shook her head. "The road is blocked already. Are we finishing this job or not?" she prompted, and I calmed myself, looking down at the ugly statue in my hand.
The thought of the dogs made me shiver in the cool night, but even so, there was a sliver of strength growing in me. I would forever have the refuge of the ever-after, especially now. All I had to do was find a line. And better yet, I knew my gut instinct about Nick had been right. It had only been my heart that had gotten in the way. I didn't have to feel guilty about hating him. And that... felt kind of good.
"Rache? We doing this?" Jenks asked as his kids chased the bats over the river.
I smiled up at him, pocketing the statue in my belt pack and zipping it up. "Yes," I said, and both he and Ivy relaxed. "We got what we needed," I said, following it up with a quick "True, it didn't go off like I had intended, but we got something better, I think. I say we forget about crap-for-brains and just run the job as planned. If Nick talks, then so much the better."
"Yes!" Jenks shouted, a burst of light coming from him.
Still listening for dogs, I turned to Ivy. "Can you take care of getting the paperwork from David to claim FIB jurisdiction?" I asked. "I know I was going to, but I can't go back into the city until we're ready to give the statue back."
"Got it," she said as she turned to the distant glow of Cincy. "Where are you going?"
I exhaled, knowing they weren't going to like this. "The ever-after," I said softly, and Jenks darted to me, getting in my face and half blinding me.
"No!" he shouted, and his kids paused in their play before going back to tormenting a bat they'd caught. "Rache, no!"
"Where else can I go?" I said, dropping back a step to see them ringing me in the faint light reflecting off the river. "Not the church. Not anywhere in Cincinnati. Trent is going to be hot to find me. I'm