with a plan of action, but I was tired and weary, hungry and in pain. I didn’t want to give up, but I was worried my strength wouldn’t last much longer.
“What about those angels and demons Stephen mentioned? You know them?”
“You could say that.”
“Where are they?”
“Not here.”
I longed for Bishop to come bursting in here in a blaze of glory. I’d never been the damsel in distress type, the girl who dreamed of a guy sweeping in to save her in the nick of time like they did in corny movies. Besides, if I looked at this objectively, I wasn’t the damsel in distress in this situation—Jordan was. I was the scary thing hiding in the shadows ready to leap out and devour her.
“I always knew,” Jordan whispered.
I stayed in the opposite corner to her, a good ten feet away from the orbit, wishing it would make things easier. “Knew what?”
“That there were things bigger than me in this city. Supernatural things. I always believed.” She actually smiled, a pained, scared expression. “My mom, she likes to go to psychics for readings. Does it every week. I think she does it instead of going to a shrink. With a psychic, she can blame all of her problems on otherworldly activity. But I don’t think she really knows it’s all real.”
“But you do.”
She hugged the brick to her chest as if it was a comforting teddy bear. “I felt it. I always thought I was a little bit psychic. Like, with ghosts and stuff. Nobody believed me when I was a kid, so I stopped talking about it. It faded to nothing for ages. Lately, though, it’s been getting worse.”
Something about what she said felt important. Really important. “Since when?”
“The last few weeks.”
I pressed up against the wall. If Jordan really had psychic abilities, they’d been triggered back into action at about the same time Bishop and the rest of the team had come here and the barrier was put in place to keep all supernaturals contained in this city-size zoo. “Jordan Fitzpatrick, psychic medium to the stars.”
She laughed drily under her breath. “You would not believe how much some of them can make. And I’m sure most of them are total frauds.”
“I’m sure.”
She blinked and her smile faded quickly. “I loved him.”
I didn’t need a map to keep up with her sudden change in direction. “I know you did.”
Her eyes grew glossy. “When he dumped me, I didn’t understand. I thought it was because he was in university and I was still in high school. But I thought what we had...even though we hadn’t dated for very long—I thought it was real. I fell for him so fast. He was so wonderful, but then I knew he had secrets he didn’t want to share with me. I tried to learn the truth, but all he did was push me away.”
I went totally silent. It was like she was talking about me and Bishop. “Some secrets can be scary.”
“Stephen didn’t scare me. Not then. He does now. He never did anything to hurt me before. Even when...I guess he was changed. I thought he was cheating on me. And the stupidest thing was I would have forgiven him. I would have taken him back, even after I heard he was seen making out with...” She looked at me, and clarity shone in her green eyes. “That was the time. When he kissed you. That’s when it happened.”
I nodded, the lump in my throat too thick to swallow past.
“That jerk,” she snarled. “He should have told me! I could have helped him before it got this bad. And now he’s out there killing people? He’s a killer, Samantha. The boy I love is a killer.” She looked at me strangely. “Why are you crying?”
“Damn it.” I pushed away the tears streaking down my cheeks with my good hand. I hadn’t meant to let myself weaken like this, but it happened. The more she talked about Stephen, the more I thought about Bishop and how much I cared about him even after witnessing some of the horrible moments in his past.
She looked at me with an incredulous expression. “I seriously need you not to flake out on me right now.”
I shook my head, which had begun to cloud up again. I couldn’t pull myself out of this hole I’d found myself in. It was only getting deeper. “I can’t concentrate.”
Her expression only grew more fierce. “You can. Now, just figure it out. From