headed into the kitchen for some of Nola’s coffee.
Stone was not in the kitchen. He was, however, in the living room, his forehead pressed against the window, his batlike wings curved umbrellas over his shoulders as he stared out at the city.
I walked over, coffee in one hand and patted his shoulder. “Nice, isn’t it?”
It was raining outside, but a rainy day in Portland felt comfortable as an old pair of slippers.
Stone clicked in agreement and continued to watch the people who walked the streets below.
My thoughts wandered to Davy. Maybe the city only looked nice on the outside. On the inside, it found an awful lot of ways to hurt people. I decided to call the hospital to see how he was doing. The nurse on duty wouldn’t give me any information, which made sense since I wasn’t related to him. She could only confirm that he was still there, still in ICU. I thanked her and hung up. I’d just have to head down there and see if I could find anything out.
But before I went anywhere else and did anything else, I needed to record the last few days in my book.
I padded, barefoot, over to my coat and pulled out my little notebook. I took it and a fresh cup of coffee back to the table and worked on writing down everything that had happened in the last few days. It took a while, even though I was fast at this. And looking back over it, all I could do was shake my head.
“I need a vacation,” I muttered. And from my notes, it was also clear I needed to call Violet and talk to her again about turning my dad’s company over to her.
Better now than never.
I dialed her number. Violet picked up on the second ring.
“Beckstrom residence,” she said.
“Hi, Violet. It’s Allie.”
“I’m glad you called,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about your offer for me to take over as CEO of Beckstrom Enterprises.”
A soft flutter brushed against the back of my eyes. Not as weak as before. Growing stronger. I had a sinking feeling in my gut that my father was recovering.
I rubbed at my eyes to try and push the flutter away. No luck.
“Great,” I said to Violet. “And what did you decide?”
“To accept.”
I exhaled with relief. I’d really been stressed about having to run my dad’s company, or handing it over into incompetent hands. “Good,” I said, trying to be nonchalant about it. “How do we make this happen?”
“Leave that to me. I’ll get everything together and let you know when and how we’ll handle the transfer.”
“When you need me, just call, okay?” I said.
“I will. And Allie?”
“Yes?”
“I tested the material.”
I had to think for a second to come up with what she was talking about. Then I remembered she had taken a sample from the ring of ash in the park.
“It is from the disks. The signature is there. But we never had these kinds of results in the laboratory. Someone has found a way to use the disks with”—she paused, thinking—“Blood magic, I’m fairly sure, and some form of magic I’ve never seen.”
My heartbeat sped up. Of course she’d never seen the other magic. Death magic was not known to the general public. “Do you think it could just be contaminated?” I asked. “I did break the spell. I might have messed it up.”
“Perhaps.” It was clear she didn’t think so. “I’m going to run a few tests in the lab to see if I can duplicate the results.”
“Well, let me know if I can help.” I hated keeping information from her, but there were too many dangerous things going on in this town. And I wanted her, and my future sibling, to stay far, far away from them.
“Thank you,” she said. “I will. And you’ve contacted a self-defense coach, yes?”
“I’ve narrowed it down,” I said. “When I pick someone, I’m sure you’ll know.”
We said our good-byes, and the flutter behind my eyes stopped. I put on my long coat, which was dry again, and a scarf and hat. It was time to go check on Davy.
“I’m going out,” I said to Stone, who still stared out the window. “Do you want out, boy?”
He looked over his shoulder, bat ears shifting back, then up into points. He clunked his head against the window again and cooed down at the street, rocking his head slowly from side to side to watch traffic go by.
“I’ll take that as a no. Then how