Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,141
Thanks!” Chad said, shouldering his bag. I stepped in front of him, quietly unlocking the door before he could notice and held it open. He walked out of the room and gave a wave to Trixie and Bronx before stepping into the lobby. Trixie followed him with wide eyes, but she said nothing.
As he opened the front door to leave, I stepped in front of him and extended my hand. “Take care of yourself, please,” I said, struggling to keep the waver out of my voice.
Chad gave a little smile, clearly confused by my sudden shift in emotion. I knew I was acting strange when he had no memory of us meeting before today, but I couldn’t hold it back. This was going to be the last time I ever looked at my brother, ever talked to him.
He took my hand in a firm grasp and shook it. “I will. You too. Thanks again for the great tattoo.”
And then he was gone.
I don’t know how long I stood at the front window, staring out at the empty street where his taxi had been before Trixie joined me in the lobby. Her long arms wrapped around my waist and she pressed her head against my shoulder. She didn’t ask any questions. Just stood there, leaning against me.
“When I left home the last time, I knew I wouldn’t ever see my parents, brother, or sister again, and somehow it didn’t hurt as bad as it does now,” I said in a rough whisper. “For the past couple days, he’s been at my apartment when I got home. We ate pizza, drank beer, laughed at movies we never got to watch together until now. In the span of a couple hours, he went back to being the best friend I ever had. I think I let myself dream that we could have this friendship now that I was away from the Towers. But he shook my hand, looked at me, but didn’t see me. He doesn’t remember me and he never will again.”
“Is he safe now?” Trixie asked, her arms tightening around me.
“Safer now than if he stayed and remembered.”
“Then it’s for the best.”
She was right, but it did little to ease the pain. I was clinging to the hope that handing Reave over to the Ivory Tower council would help with the pain. The bastard was going to pay for touching my family, for destroying lives.
27
A SOFT SCRATCHING sound on glass rose over the fading chords of a Perfect Circle song playing through the speakers. I looked up as Trixie stepped away from me, also searching for the source of the sound. We turned toward the front door to see a little demonic face peering through the glass at the top. Duff was hanging upside down, clinging to the top of the door as he stared at us with his impish grin.
Bronx stepped into the lobby as I opened the door to let the hobgoblin in. Extending his leathery wings, he caught the wind as he dropped so that he could easily glide into the shop. He circled the lobby once, wagging his fingers at Trixie before lightly landing on the glass case that served as a counter. Duff puffed up his little chest and threw his wings out wide as if trying to warn off Bronx before he took a couple sniffs of the air.
“You got a cat in here?” he asked, cocking his head at me.
“No cat,” I said as I shut the door.
“You sure about the cat? I can smell a cat here.” He scuttled around the case, gazing over the edge and down through the glass, searching for Sofie.
“I’m sure. The cat’s not in the shop today,” I reassured him. He nodded, sitting down on the case with his wings gathered behind his back. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to let him rest. “Did you find him?”
“We almost lost him a couple times, but he’s not sneaky enough,” he said with an evil chuckle.
“Where is he?”
“Home.”
My stomach did a sickening little flop at that single word, but I pushed the feeling down and clenched my hands into fists along the end of the case. “He’s hoping for a little safety in numbers to work in his favor. Where are they now?”
“That’s the strange thing,” he said with a shake of his head. “They’re close. The Svartálfar are never near when another Court is close, and I know that the Summer Court is in the immediate area.”