Magic works .
.
." He glanced my way.
" `Oddly' is what I usually say," I told him.
"Oddly on Mercedes.
Some works fine, some not so well.
But she has a keen nose, and that allows her to penetrate glamours.
I've seen her break through a glamour set by a Gray Lord.
This one we are after is no Gray Lord." "Phin bled on that floor, Jesse," I said.
"I don't have much hope that he survived his encounter.
But we didn't find his body.
We went down to the basement--which was also trashed--and while we were down there, one of the fae who had destroyed the store turned up on the stairs." "That's the one who was dead in the basement," Alicia said in an odd tone.
"The one someone started to eat." "Sam's not been himself lately," I told Jesse.
"The fae knocked me cold, and when I woke up Sam had killed him and .
.
." "Sam," the fae said softly--and her hands clenched on her lap.
"You have friends who are werewolves, Zee tells me.
This Sam is a werewolf?" "Sam is a werewolf and my friend," I told her.
Maybe my tone was a little sharp, but I was getting tired of people attacking Samuel.
"Who saved my life by killing the not-so- jolly green giant.
I'm okay with it if he helped himself to a little snack." If it squicked my thou-shalt-not-be-a-cannibal button, that was a button my mother gave me, not the werewolves.
He hadn't violated any werewolf taboos--eating your prey is better than leaving the bodies lying around.
Alicia didn't seem to be too upset about my snapping at her, though.
"Samuel Cornick," she said, her eyes catching mine.
"Samuel Marrokson, Samuel Branson, Samuel Whitewolf, Samuel Swift-foot, Samuel Deathbringer, Samuel Avenger." I couldn't remember what color her eyes had been in the bookstore, but I knew it hadn't been green.
Not hazel, not a human color at all, but a brilliant grass green that darkened to blue and brightened.
"That would be me," said Samuel, standing in the doorway.
He was wearing a gray sweatshirt and had managed to find a pair of jeans that were only a little baggy.
"Hello, Ari.
It's been a few centuries." His voice was soft.