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sides and trying to concentrate on the physical pain, which was tough, but at least bearable. Tobias shot up off the chair and went out the door, letting it close quietly behind him.

"I see you've been winning friends and influencing people," Cain said wryly.

"Can I go home now?" I looked up at him, trying to focus my anger on him rather than deal with what had just happened between me and Tobias.

Cain watched me for a moment, then glanced toward the door through which Tobias had disappeared. When he looked back at me, his expression was not friendly, exactly, but it wasn't antagonistic, either.

"Yeah," he said. "If you can walk, you can go home."

I pushed myself up from the futon and took a step. My muscles felt wobbly, but I managed to put one foot in front of the other and not fall down, so I chalked that up as success. Cain walked over to me, took my hand and placed it on his shoulder, and I pulled it away.

"You either lean on me or him," he said, motioning his head in the direction Tobias had gone. "But you're not making it down those steps without help."

I sighed and gripped his shoulder, letting him put one hand on the small of my back to help guide me. We stepped outside onto the metal exterior steps that led down the side of Happy Larry's to the alley. Tobias, who had been sitting on the top step, got up.

"We're going back to her house," Cain said. He and Tobias exchanged a glance, and Tobias stepped out of the way to let us by. I kept my eyes on my feet as we navigated the rickety metal staircase, and managed to ignore the fact that Tobias was right behind us as we made our way home.

Chapter 15

I was sitting on my couch, freshly showered and in blissfully clean clothes, when there was banging on the front door, and I heard an aged voice hollering, "Livvy?"

Betty.

"In here!" I called out, too tired to even think of getting up to answer the door.

"Liv?" Betty came into the living room and looked at me, her hand over her heart. "I swear to god, if I survive this, I'm going to kill you. I am too old for this, Livvy."

She made her way over to the couch and sat next to me, pulled me into a hug, then pinched my cheek, kinda hard.

"Ow!"

"That's what you get for scaring the hell out of me." She leaned back on the couch, hand over her heart. "I need a drink."

"What happened?"

She turned her eyes to me. "Ginny Boyle told us that you were there when Peach got attacked, and then I called and called and called and all I got was voice mail."

"Oh, yeah, sorry," I said. "I turned my phone into a bat."

"So, I came here last night to check on you, and you weren't here." She picked up my cell phone, which was still charging on the coffee table where I'd left it two nights ago. "I left you a thousand messages. Where were you?" Before I could answer, she said, "Oh, god, Stacy!" She flipped open her phone, hit a number for speed-dial and then said, "Stacy, I've got her. Yes, she's ... fine." She eyed me warily as she said it; I guessed I didn't look quite fine. "Okay, come by in the morning, and you can yell at her then." She tucked her phone in her pocket and sat next to me, grabbing my hands in hers. "Honey, you look awful. Do I smell bacon?"

"Oh. Yeah. Um..." I hesitated for a minute, wondering how to explain why Cain was in my kitchen cooking for me, but I was too tired to explain, so I just said, "Cain's making eggs."

Betty froze and her voice went low. "Cain?"

"He's okay," I said. "Davina tried to steal my magic last night. He saved my life."

Betty opened her mouth, then closed it, then looked at me, her face all confusion, but I had to give her credit - she didn't argue, and she didn't say I told you so. "And now he's making you eggs?"

"Everything's in the wash," Tobias said, stepping into the living room. "I set it to cold, like you said. Hey, Betty."

He sat down in the floral love seat across from the couch, and Betty raised a brow at me.

"One man cooking for you, another doing your laundry." Betty smiled at me. "How do I get