coming out with her purse in her good hand. "Glenn can take me. I'll be gone a few hours. Can you sit tight for that long?"
She was getting bitchy. That was a good sign. "What am I supposed to do till you get back?" I said, patting the smoldering leather. "Hide in my closet? I'd rather be with you."
Jenks made a gagging sound. "This is so sweet, I think I'm going to barf fairy farts."
Glenn rocked back out of Pierce's way as he edged past him to hand me an amulet. The witch had his hat in his hand, and I wondered if he was leaving, too. My fingers touched the amulet, and a wave of relief flowed into me.
"I'll take Ivy to the emergency room," the FIB detective said as he jiggled his key. "And I don't want you to be here, Rachel, when I get back. "
"Excuse me?" I stared at him from the couch.
Glenn smiled at my affronted expression. "You need to leave town," he said. "Take a vacation. Visit your mom." He hesitated, then added, "Find a hiding spot for a few days?"
My eyes opened wide as I got it, but Jenks took to the air, a vivid silver falling from him. "No fairy-ass way!" he exclaimed, his kids in the rafters going silent. "She's not leaving here."
Ivy took a defensive stance, holding her arm tight against herself. "The church is safe."
Pierce, though, was nodding, glancing at the broken shards in the sun before saying, "I'm of a mind you don't understand the danger. Glenn is right. You need to leave."
My mouth dropped open. "We don't understand the danger?" I said loudly. "Are you serious? Pierce, we can handle this. We have before." But my thoughts were on Ivy, languishing under twin white spells. Twice today a benign charm had been turned to one capable of doling out death. It was so hypocritical it made me sick.
"I'll admit your diggings are a fine defense," Pierce added when Jenks's wings clattered. "And your skills, Jenks, are a caution, but that was the coven's plumber. The best action is not to be where she expects you to be."
Confused, I asked, "The coven's what?"
"Plumber," Ivy said, looking pale as she leaned on Glenn. "You know. Stops leaks?"
Oh goodie. I'm a leak. "Look, the church has kept me safe for over a year. Jenks is here, and I'm not leaving."
Jenks landed on my shoulder, his relief obvious. Pierce, though, was scowling. "How can I keep you safe if you don't do what I say? Get your things."
Do what he says? Jenks's dust was starting to feel warm on my shoulder, and I put up a hand to keep him from flying at Pierce. "I'm not leaving," I said softly from the couch, but I was pissed. "And no one asked for your opinion. You were wrong about not telling Al about the coven, and you're wrong about this."
Pierce frowned, but my attention jerked to Glenn, who had also taken a defensive stance. "What can it hurt?" he said, and Ivy gave him a dark look. "Really, what's the big deal?"
They didn't understand. This was my place. My security. I'd made it, and to leave it felt wrong. "It doesn't feel right," I said, thinking it sounded lame, yet my gut said stay. But what the hell did my gut know? It told me there was just as much good in Trent as bad.
"Your 'doesn't feel right' will get you killed," Pierce said.
Jenks darted from me. "We can keep her safe," he said, inches from Pierce's face.
"But not from witches, and especially not from the coven." Frowning, Pierce backed up, touching everyone's gaze before returning to Jenks's. "I've been betrayed by them before. Witch magic is Rachel's greatest liability, and until she sets herself beyond it, she won't have a chance. She's not good enough."
"But you are, huh?" Jenks said snidely, hand on the hilt of his sword.
"I'm better than you, pixy."
This was getting out of hand, and I glanced at Ivy, who was watching it all with growing agitation. And what had Pierce meant by "set myself beyond it"? Did he mean until I started doing deadly black magic, like him? "Jenks, relax," I said, and he drifted back, hands on his hips and his wings clattering harshly.
"One spell, and poof," Pierce said casually, and Ivy's face creased.
"I can take a coven of witches, you fairy fart!" Jenks exclaimed. "And lean take you!"