to encourage our hacker friend to dig up anything she can about the sword-star group’s activities, right?”
“Particularly anything that could tell us where they’re operating from,” Omen said. “Any regular hunting groups or meet-up spots for their business dealings. But you don’t need to remember all that. I’m coming with you. After everything that’s happened, I think each of you could use plenty of supervision.”
“Sure. Absolutely. The more the merrier.” Ruse chuckled, but he’d tensed at the implied criticism.
“Thorn. Snap.” Omen peered into the shadows next to me. Before he’d opened his mouth again, the other two shadowkind had emerged, so abruptly I found myself squeezed against the door to make room. Thorn could have used a whole back seat to himself.
Snap gave me an apologetic peck on the temple before turning to his boss with an eager gleam in his eyes. “How can I help?”
“I want the two of you patrolling the streets, making sure no one has followed us or takes too much interest in Betsy here. And since I’d like to keep this ‘merry’—Sorsha, you’re coming with Ruse and me. It may be useful to have a mortal around in this particular situation.”
I rubbed my ears in disbelief, but his impatient gesture and Snap’s proud beaming suggested I’d heard him correctly. “You’ll see how much she can help,” the devourer said. He pressed another kiss to my check before vanishing back into the shadows with Thorn.
“I’m sure I will,” Omen said without much enthusiasm, and shoved open his door.
Somehow I suspected Omen’s request was more about not trusting me alone in his car—as if I might shred the cushions like some kind of wild animal… or, well, like Pickle—than about him developing any respect for my talents. I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. The sooner I proved those talents to him, the sooner he’d put a lid on his condescending comments.
“This mortal is a little… quirky,” Ruse said in a low voice as we walked over to the house he’d pointed out as the hacker’s. “And I picked up on a certain amount of defensiveness about that. So, let me recommend that you keep any opinions about her clothing choices and décor to yourselves.”
He’d called ahead so the woman would be expecting him. As he knocked on the back entrance that was down a flight of stairs from the backyard patio, I braced myself not to react to head-to-toe goth-gear, a raver’s rainbow hair and glitter, or possibly a furry costume. It takes all sorts, after all.
I still wasn’t prepared.
“Into the Cavern! Quickly!” hissed the figure who opened the door. A figure in full purple latex bodysuit complete with a yellow blaze of lightning on the chest, a glinting black utility belt, matching black vinyl platform boots, and a black cape she whirled with a dramatic swish.
Our hacker apparently saw herself as Superhero of the Cybernet, with all the trappings. I managed to keep my expression blasé as we stepped into her apartment, but it was a near thing.
She’d modeled the “Cavern” after the Bat Cave: a huge array of computer screens at one end, glass cases holding a couple of costume changes and assorted comic-book-esque weaponry next to it, slate-gray paint from concrete floor to ceiling, and light streaming in hazy beams from a circle of pot lights mounted overhead. A moped decked out with metallic black plating leaned against the wall by the entrance. Hoo, boy.
I brushed against the moped as we squeezed into the small space between all her equipment, and something flicked against my arm with a scaly swipe. I clamped my mouth shut before I could yelp in surprise, but Ms. Super Hacker here must have noticed.
“Don’t mind Freddie,” she said briskly, and plopped into a massive leather chair with an arched back that looked more suited to a super villain than a hero. I squinted at the moped and made out a hunched form with scales that blended into the black seat and the gray walls.
She had a pet chameleon. Named Freddie. Right. I should have brought Pickle along for a playdate.
The hacker chugged from an energy drink sitting on the workspace in front of her and waggled her fingers over one of her three keyboards. This one had a green glow around the elevated keys. She glanced up at Ruse with a grin. “What can I do for you tonight?”
The incubus obviously didn’t need to do any more charming. He propped himself in front