and pulled him with her. She glanced back at Finn, her eyes dark.
As they left, Ijio tilted his head and blinked lazily at Finn. He said, “I don’t dance. Wanna make out?”
“I don’t think so. I’m going to get up now and watch Jack play. Don’t come with me.” She pushed up and moved through the crowd now enchanted by the quicksilver madness of Jack’s music.
“Finn Sullivan?”
Turning, she met the summer-blue gaze of Kevin Gilchriste. He said, “I didn’t recognize you with your hair up.”
“Kevin.” She smiled. Despite the movie star status, he was very nice and ordinary. “Hey.”
They were practically yelling to be heard over the music, so he leaned close and said, in her ear, “He’ll destroy you. It’s what they do.”
Then he was gone, leaving her stunned in the middle of the dancing crowd.
As the Fata musicians took over, Jack stepped down and took Finn’s hand. On the stage, the bald Fata girl with the tattoos—Darling Ivy—was singing something pretty. Finn couldn’t even smile as she and Jack spun.
He’ll destroy you. It’s what they do.
Kevin Gilchriste knew. Somehow, Kevin Gilchriste knew what Jack had been, what the Fatas were. And, despite his fortune and film career, Kevin wasn’t one of the blessed. Which meant he was something else.
“Finn,” Jack murmured into her ear after she told him about Kevin’s remark, “there’s no reason for anyone to come after us. And Caliban isn’t an idiot. He’s broken laws. If he returns to Fair Hollow, he’ll be put down. As for Lot . . . he would have made his presence known long before this. And how does Kevin Gilchriste know?”
“You ask him.” Finn didn’t want to tell Jack she believed Kevin had been referring to Jack with that remark, not Caliban or Seth Lot.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened for the rest of the night. It was nice.
As Finn decided to let Jack know about the Rooks, Christie edged up to them. “It’s ten o’clock. We need to get out of here. Now.”
“Why?” Finn said. “What happens at ten—”
Electronic dub music suddenly pulsed through the air, accompanied by a spinning rainbow of lights and someone dramatically introducing a DJ with a ridiculous name.
“House music!” Christie shouted, unnecessarily, as Sylvie began jumping up and down. He continued, “I’ll get Sylvie. Save yourselves.”
Laughing, Finn went with Jack toward the exit.
AS JACK’S SEDAN SWERVED around the parking lot of a grocery store that had closed for the evening, Finn gripped the steering wheel and heard Jack, in the passenger seat, swear. As she braked, the tires screeched. She parked, turned off the ignition. “Did you just shudder and close your eyes?”
“I’m beginning to remember what it’s like to be mortal. No more lessons. Give me the keys.”
“Well, it’s winter. It’s slippery, and I never had to learn in San Francisco.” She grudgingly switched seats with him, stealing a kiss as she climbed over him. Settling into the passenger seat, she finally told him, “I went sledding today and ran into the Rooks.”
“With the sled?” He pushed the key into the ignition.
“No. The sun went down and they were there. They’d built a little altar to their snake queen and David Ryder. They’re not on the same page as Phouka and your Fata friends.”
“Then I think I should have a talk with them.”
“Don’t bother. They don’t scare me.” She lied a little, with that last statement. “But I think they’re expecting someone to come after us, too. They said he’s been waiting, Jack, and watching. Is it Seth Lot?”
Jack was quiet as he drove.
He swore and slammed a foot on the brake, and Finn clutched the dashboard as the car jerked. He skidded to the side of a road made mysterious by snow and night and trees on either side. In a low voice, he said, “I thought I saw something run across the road.”
“What?”
He opened the car door and stepped out.
“Jack, don’t do that—”
As he bent down to look at her, the streetlight sharply defined his face, making him seem savagely feline. “Stay in the car.”
Finn defiantly got out. Over the car’s roof, he gave her an exasperated look, but she ignored it, peering down the road. It was a two-lane road, the forest cavernous and dark on either side. Jack whispered, “I thought I saw . . . will you get back in the car?”
“Was it a hyena? Caliban? Was it—” She didn’t want to say the Wolf. She pressed her spine against the sedan and warily scanned the shadows.
Jack