Promises to Keep - By Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Page 0,19

to belong to a clothing store. The other was the club’s answering service, which informed Jay that the phones were not manned in the mornings and that he could either leave a message or call back after six.

A few words into telling whoever heard it to ask Xeke to call him, it occurred to him that the message he had been about to leave wasn’t going to work.

Hello, this is Jay Marinitch. Xeke and I met last night at a party.

Given the way Xeke liked to flirt, that probably applied to a lot of people. The club wasn’t likely to give out Xeke’s number to every person who called, or to even bother to pass on a message. Jay tried to think quickly. What would actually seem important enough to get them to bother Xeke with it?

“Hi, this is Jay Marinitch.” Instead of referring to the party, he said, “I’m in the hospital, and I need to get in touch with Xeke, but I don’t have his number with me. He can call me at …” He looked over and read out the number posted next to the phone. Hospital was a bit of an exaggeration for Haven #2’s clinic, but if anyone looked up the number, at least it would come up as a medical facility.

Jay hung up the phone, discovering in the process that his arm was incredibly heavy. He was exhausted. It was time for some good old-fashioned non-coma-style sleep.

He closed his eyes. What should he be? Kitten? Squirrels and bats slept well, too.

Jay couldn’t find the energy to shift his mental state to anything other than “bed-bound, injured human-shaped person.”

And so as such, he drifted back to sleep.

Not here again.

The brambles and branches menaced, grabbing at him with their needlelike fingers. As he struggled to focus, to become something that would be safe in this hell, the world around him went soft, like a video blurring out of focus.

This is just an echo, he thought. He was in his own mind. That meant he could control it, explore it. Understand it.

He slipped through the brambles like a shadow, drawing no attention, and at last found himself outside a tall black fence with iron ravens on the top. He should have been able to see through the gaps in the fence, but there was nothing but darkness.

He walked the length of the fence, trying to find an opening, but there were no corners or gates, no matter how far he walked. He turned around, but instead of the forest, the fence was behind him as well. No matter how he turned, he faced cold iron, blocking his way.

He woke to find Xeke sitting in the chair by his bed, reading a celebrity gossip magazine dedicated to the most ludicrous lies imaginable. Xeke didn’t give the tabloids a lot of credit for accuracy, but they certainly were entertaining.

Oh, good. Jay’s empathy was starting to come back.

“Good to see you awake,” Xeke said. “I was surprised when my secretary passed on your message.”

“You have a secretary?”

“I have several.”

“I can’t remember the name of the town where Kendra’s gala and your apartment were,” Jay said. “Or how I got back.”

“How odd,” Xeke said, in a tone that made it clear it wasn’t odd at all.

His mind told Jay why. The town was spelled. Not all of it; normal humans lived in enough of the town that it would be terribly awkward if they couldn’t remember how to get home or to work or how to give people directions to visit them. But crossing certain boundaries would trigger the spell, which was powerful.

“You seem like an interesting guy,” Xeke said, “but I’m surprised it didn’t give you even a moment’s pause that I would willingly bring a hunter to a place where I routinely work and sleep. You were on your best behavior at Kendra’s, and I know we’re safe here in SingleEarth, but I don’t know where you draw your lines.”

Fair enough.

“So the spell is to keep people from finding your homes?”

“More or less,” Xeke answered. There was a lot more to that “more or less,” but Xeke’s mind skipped over it, not forming the images clearly enough for Jay to pick them out. “So tell me: Should I be flattered you were looking for me, or nervous?”

Oh, right. He had a reason for wanting to find Xeke.

“I went into the woods, behind your apartment.”

The words triggered something in Xeke, but again, Jay couldn’t focus well enough to pick up