had a spreadsheet to keep track of what secrets were spoken where. I had yet to see it.
Every time I thought these things out, I was more impressed that the Authority hadn’t been discovered yet. Of course, they had one ace in the hole no one else in this city had. Closers, who could get in your head, make you forget anything they wanted you to forget—like a secret you shouldn’t have heard or maybe how to use magic. They could Close away your desire to stay in the city. Take away your life, and give you a new one if they decided the situation warranted it.
Kill you, if you got in their way.
I glanced at Zay. He was drinking his Coke and trying hard not to look over at Love’s partner, Payne, who sat in the booth across the room. She was staring at him.
She caught my gaze and gave me a considering look, her mouth pressed together in a thin line. I wondered how, exactly, she and Zayvion knew each other. I remember Mackanie Love being there when Frank Gordon had dug up my father’s body and tried to kill me. Zay had been there too. So it was possible that their only connection was Zay being a witness to that crime. But if I remembered right, Love and Payne had been looking for Zay prior to that.
Interesting.
I stretched my foot under the table and rested it against the side of Zay’s tennis shoe.
The contact let me concentrate on his emotional state: tense, which was not at all what I’d have guessed from his body language, with a side order of worry and dread.
He must have sensed my curiosity because he gave me a sideways look and sat up, pulling his foot away from mine.
Like that would stop me from finding out why he was all worked up over Payne.
Even though it had taken only a couple seconds, I’d sort of lost track of the conversation Love and Shame were having. I had a hard time listening in to Zayvion’s emotions and listening to the real world at the same time.
I tuned back in just in time to hear Love say, “. . . lunch. Later, Tita.”
“Bye,” I said, wondering if I’d just made a lunch date with him.
Love rambled over to Payne. She stopped staring at Zayvion and stared at her menu instead.
“You don’t like the police, do you?” I asked Shame.
Shame flicked up a couple fingers in a dismissive motion. “They do good work. I just like them better when that work has nothing to do with me.”
“Juvie?” I asked.
“It happens.”
“Would have thought your mom had some pull to keep you out of there.”
“She did,” Zayvion said. “So did his dad.”
Shame looked up at me. He didn’t grin, but there was a sparkle in his eye. “They let me sweat it out for a week. Said it’d help me rethink my priorities.”
“Did it?”
“Yes. I decided my first priority was not getting caught.”
“You are a man of questionable morals, Shamus Flynn,” I said.
“You have no idea. Well, then.” He stood, stuck one hand in his jean pockets, and brushed hair out of his eyes with the other. “Thanks for lunch. I have to run. See you soon.”
I had a mouthful of fries. Zay was finishing his too. I held up my hand to tell Shame to stop, but he spun and was across the room, weaving between a noisy crowd of college kids pouring into the place. He was out the door before I could call his name.
The waitress saw my hand and came over with our ticket. Zay reached for it, but I got it before him. “You cover next time.”
“How about we just make Shame pay for a month?” he said.
“Does he ever pay for anything?”
Zay finished off his Coke. “Nope. That’s one of his special talents.”
I pulled out the cash, left it and the ticket propped next to the condiment basket. I stood. “Ready?”
For a second, just the briefest of moments, a wave of dizziness hit me. The entire building felt like it shuddered, like a liquid earthquake rumbled far beneath my feet, and echoed up my body and rolled through my head.
“Allie?”
I rubbed at my temple and the sudden headache. “Headache.” But it couldn’t be from magic use.
The last time I’d used magic was two weeks ago. A Hounding job that had nothing to do with the police or Detective Stotts. I had tracked back a spell for a lady in my building