of tobacco on his clothes, the spice of cloves beneath it. Shame was half dead, his heart pounding slow and hard, a slight tremble shaking his body. But he was standing there, giving me the strength he had left. So I could save Zayvion. So this could somehow turn out happily ever after.
“Thanks,” I whispered. It wasn’t enough. There weren’t enough words to say how much I needed him to be here for me, this way, right now.
He let go of me, searched my face. I wiped the tear off my cheek, waited for his approval. He nodded.
“You did notice I didn’t grope your ass,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “You always have to take a good moment out at the knees, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He started toward the car. “I just want it on the record when Jones wakes back up. I did not grope your sweet bits. And I had ample opportunity, what with how you were pawing at me.”
“Keep digging, Flynn. Six feet makes a grave.”
We got in the car, and Stone turned his head. He was moving even more slowly.
“Hey, boy. Have a nice nap?”
He opened his mouth and clacked. It sounded like his gears were missing a few cogs.
“That’s okay.” I turned around and rubbed his head. “You rest.”
He put his chin back on his arm. Shame started the car, but I stayed twisted in my seat, petting Stone’s head.
Shame’s phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket. “Flynn.”
I had good ears. But I couldn’t quite make out the words. I knew who the speaker was, though: Terric.
I recognized his voice, and also I knew it had to be him from the way Shame tensed up.
“Where?” A pause. “Unbelievable. Fine. We’re stopping by Mum’s place first.”
He snapped his phone shut and stuffed it back in his pocket.
“I hope you didn’t have plans for today.”
“Other than hunting down Greyson and Chase?” I shifted so I was sitting facing forward again and buckled my seat belt.
“Sedra has ordered everyone to go out to St. Johns.”
“Why?”
“They’re setting up some kind of storm rod, to try to divert as much of the storm as they can and to channel it into one place when it hits. St. Johns, probably because there is no magic there. It’s the one place that could handle a huge blast without blowing out the networks. I have to admit, it makes sense.”
“You’re surprised Sedra is making sense?”
He licked his lips. Stared at traffic for a second or two. “She’s been . . . different. I don’t know if it’s the storm, or your dad dying—which, by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you—what the hell happened back there with Violet?”
I rubbed at one eye. “I’ve told people he’s in my head. I’ve told you. Jingo Jingo doesn’t believe me, so no one else in the Authority does—”
“Jingo is a one-man freak show. And he’s been lying this entire time about not knowing your dad is in your head. I believe you. After seeing your dad glaring out from behind your eyes? Oh yeah. I’m convinced.”
“Good. Now help me get rid of him.”
Shame shook his head. “Magic. And not even your pretty pink crystal can hold enough for the kind of magic it takes to draw a soul out of a body. Even if the soul doesn’t belong there in the first place. Plus, it will hurt. A lot.”
“I don’t care about the pain. Greyson did it, and I held up pretty well.”
Shame glanced over at me. “Greyson did what?”
“He sucked Dad out of my head.” Should have left you in him. Let him eat you, I thought.
“So he’s really in Greyson?”
“No. He’s in me. And maybe some of him is in Greyson.”
My dad shifted in my head, as if uncomfortable. That was how I knew it was true. Part of him was still in the Necromorph, in the man who had tried to kill him. Who had tried to kill Zay.
Shame was quiet a moment. “You know how you said you were really fucked a few minutes ago?”
“Yeah?”
“I’d like to change my response to ‘and how.’”
“Wonderful. Thanks for that, Mr. Good News.”
“If your dad is in Greyson, or a part of his soul is in Greyson, then you are tied to Greyson through him. He’s spanning two minds, two lives. It makes for an interesting state of being for him. I can appreciate the advantages, though.”
My dad in my head went very still. He listened to Shame