about them before. I didn't know that he was going up against them now. They're not good."
"What are they, then. I mean, not good. No cookies. Check."
Aubrey leaned in. I could smell the detergent on his shirt, the salt and musk under it like a perfume made from freshly washed boy. Something was making my throat a little dry, and I didn't know if it was his body close to mine or another aftereffect of the shock. Or if there was a difference.
"There was a story Eric told me one time. He said Coin had been part of a scheme that took orphans from Eastern Europe and...hollowed them out. Put other things in them. Riders. And then the kids were adopted out. People would think they were adopting children, and instead, they'd get...monsters. Families would be broken apart. The riders would have a safe place to grow until they were ready to move on or spawn daughter organisms."
"And Coin did it all for shits and giggles?"
"Coin did it in trade," Aubrey said. "For the favors those riders could do him later. Eric stopped it. The Invisible College has hated him ever since. So yes, I think he'd be wise to try and break Coin. And I know they'd want Eric dead."
"Okay," I said.
He looked over at me. I couldn't quite read his expression. I tilted my head, asking the question without asking.
"You're like him," he said. "You're...impressive in the same way."
I felt a flush in my skin, and I caught my breath like he'd asked me to freaking prom. I was acting like a sixteen-year-old on her first date. It embarrassed me. I tried to stop.
"What way's that?" I asked.
"Well, you didn't even know about Eric's work until today, right? Now you've found out about him, and about riders and magic. You've been attacked. You've seen people die. Any one of those would have been enough to spin you. All of them together...I'm surprised you aren't in a puddle on the floor."
"I feel like I am," I said with a great big adult, non-sexually charged sigh. "I feel like I'm floating off somewhere about three feet to the left of me."
"Well, it doesn't show. And food and sleep can't hurt, right?"
He shifted, preparing to rise, and I reached out. I put my hand on his arm. From his eyes, I thought he felt the plea in the motion.
"It's going to be all right," he said. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but it will. You've been six different women in the last twenty-four hours. You're just a little dizzy. But it'll be all right."
I was aware of how badly I wanted to kiss him. I could feel his arms around me, my face against his shoulder as if it had already happened.
"Jane," he said.
I corrected him. He looked embarrassed and tried out my name a couple of times, finally getting it right. Before he could get back to his thought, I leaned over toward him. I could feel the warmth of his body, hear the shushing of his shirt against his skin as he moved. I'd heard stories about people hooking up after something terrible. Emergency room doctors falling into bed together, soldiers after a firefight, strangers who'd survived some life-threatening disaster. I'd never understood it, but now it made sense.
I wanted. I wanted him to touch me. I wanted his body to reassure mine. I wanted something that would take away everything I'd seen and touched and done, something bright and good and true. Something that would hold off death. I wanted him to say my name again, and not in the tone he'd just used.
The voice, when it came, wasn't his. It came from the back of the house, and it was Uncle Eric's.
"Hey," it said, "you've got a call."
I yelped and jumped back, my heart thumping like a pair of sneakers in a dryer. Aubrey looked at me, and then back at the dark hallway.
"Hey," the voice came again. It was tinny, like someone talking through a computer. "You've got a call."
Aubrey walked back into the darkness. I followed. Eric's voice led us to the bedroom. A huge, elaborate cell phone glowed on the bedside table, its screen the size of my palm. The voice was Eric's ringtone. I picked it up. The incoming call wasn't a number I recognized. Aubrey shook his head; he didn't know either.
"Let it drop to voice mail," he said. I did, and when the icon appeared saying that there was