"I don't want to think about six months from now," Elizabet said wryly. "I'm just worried about getting Kayla through the next two weeks."
"Gee, thanks a lot," Kayla muttered.
"Nothing happens by accident, young healer," the hag said, gazing directly at Kayla. She looked down, not wanting to see the dangerous power that burned behind the old woman's eyes. "Not magic, not this meeting, not you wandering across my doorstep." Beara turned away, hobbling back toward the other room. "You should go now. I still need to put supper on the table, and there are more of those young thugs on their way here."
"We'll leave," Elizabet said.
"No problem," Kayla said under her breath. "I've been ready to get out of this place since the minute I walked in."
"Quietly, child," Elizabet said in a low whisper. "We'll talk more when we're safely out of here." Elizabet waited until the hag had left the hallway, then quickly pushed Kayla out the door. Kayla flinched back on the doorstep, seeing the lifeless face of a young man, his eyes dimly lit by the light from the window, his body lying on the pavement a few feet away from her. Another boy lay facedown several feet further away.
"Walk, Kayla," Elizabet murmured behind her. "Start walking. We have to get out of here."
Kayla didn't need any encouragement. Walking quickly, they left the shadowed alley, stepping out into the bright, welcoming light of the streetlights.
Chapter Thirteen
It feels like it's been years instead of days since I was here, Kayla thought, sprawling out onto the comfortable couch in Elizabet's living room. "Elizabet, I didn't say it before, but . . . thanks for getting me out of there. I thought I was a goner."
"You probably were, despite what the ogress said about the magic being endangered in this area," Elizabet said, wearily pulling off her boots.
"I still can't believe you said we wouldn't do anything about her," Kayla said. "I mean, we should call the cops to go stop her. Or maybe the Feds . . ."
"I'm surprised you don't understand."
" . . . or the National Guard? Maybe we should call in the Marines?" Kayla shivered, thinking about what was brewing in that cauldron. "That's one nasty lady." She glanced at Elizabet. "What do you mean, you're surprised that I don't understand?"
Elizabet leaned back against the couch with a sigh of pure exhaustion. "Well, what do you think would have happened if we'd had to fight our way out of there?" she asked. "Who do you think would have won?"
Good question. That old lady looked pretty mean. Then again, Elizabet's a tough cookie, too. . . . "I don't know," Kayla said.
"That's why," Elizabet said. "Don't ever take on a fight unless you think there's a good chance you can win, child. Not unless the stakes are very high." She yawned. "Well, I'm for some hot chocolate, and then it's probably time for bed. Would you like some?"
Kayla consulted her stomach, which was still a little queasy but seemed to be settling down at last. "Yeah, some hot chocolate would be great."
She followed Elizabet into the kitchen, sitting down at the table as the older woman began hunting for the ingredients. In a way, it feels like none of that really happened, she thought. Maybe it's all been a dream, and it's the same night when Billy got hurt. Elizabet's making me another cup of chocolate, and then . . . Elizabet reached for a small box of Mexican chocolate and broke off several pieces, setting them in the pot to melt.
That yellow and red box . . . Roberta . . .
Kayla felt something tighten inside her, and tears blurred her vision. She rubbed at her eyes, which only made it worse, as she thought about Roberta and Luisa, and Fernando, and Jose . . .
Elizabet turned. "Kayla? What's wrong?"
"It's, it's just . . . that's the same chocolate that Roberta made for me. Roberta, she's dead now. . . . I thought she was such a bitch, but she was nice to me, and they killed her, she's dead now. . . ." It was hitting her all at once, all the shock and anger and terrors of the last few days, falling down on her like a wave. She couldn't keep from sobbing. "And Ramon, they tried to kill him, they shot Fernando right in front of me, I couldn't do anything to help him . . ."
Elizabet knelt next to Kayla, putting her arms around her. Kayla felt her tears soaking into Elizabet's blouse. Elizabet didn't say anything, only held her.
"I'm . . . I'm okay," Kayla said, after a few minutes. "Really, I'm okay."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Kayla thought about everything that had happened and nodded. She told Elizabet what had happened from the moment that Carlos and his friends had broken into Elizabet's house to get her, and what had happened to her with the homeboys. And the strangeness of the Unseelie's world, and how she'd saved the life of their Queen—though, thinking about it, she wasn't certain that anybody except the Queen herself was going to benefit from that. And how the T-Men had come after them at the apartment, and . . .