I stared out the window so that I wouldn’t be staring creepily at Harper and watched as the sun disappeared in a bloody smear behind the black spikes of the fir and pine trees.
Yeah. My brain wasn’t feeling morbid and hopeless at all.
“Do you think she’s awake? Conscious I mean. Like, could she hear me?” Harper said softly. Her face was still pressed to the window, her eyes staring out into the darkening trees.
I knew what she meant though. I’d been worrying over the same questions. I had no real answer though. Harper had asked me what I thought, so I decided that would allow another small lie. It’s almost funny how we destroy things by inches.
“I think she’s sleeping. Magic like that takes a ritual. I bet she was asleep and still is. Big, blond, and scary out there will find the bastard that did it and stop him. Then she’ll wake up, like sleeping beauty.” I smiled at her in what I hoped was a reassuring way.
“But without the rape and having a baby after one hundred years thing,” Ezee said over the back of his seat.
“Oh god, what if he did things to her before the spell? Or after?” Harper started sobbing again.
“Not helping, dumbass.” I leaned in and flicked Ezee’s ear.
“Alek will find him,” Levi said. “The Nine never fail to get justice.”
“We should have gone with him,” Harper said. “I should have.”
“And what?” I said. “None of us have law enforcement backgrounds. None of us know shit about tracking down someone or how to deal with hostile magic.” Wow, I was just full of lies tonight. Why quit when you’re ahead, right? “We’d be in the way. Remember what you guys told me about the Justices? They are highly trained from, like, birth, and equipped to act as supernatural judge, jury, and executioner. I don’t think any of us want to get in the way of that.”
“I guess,” Harper said, sitting up a little.
“We could always nerd the guy to death, I suppose,” Levi said.
“Ooh, yeah, new torture technique. We’ll make him watch nothing but Highlander 2 and Star Trek 5!” Ezee twisted in his seat, reaching back to squeeze Harper’s knee.
Harper giggled a little through her hiccupping sobs. “Anyone would give up their secrets to make that stop, huh?” Her smile was pretty weak-sauce, but at least she wasn’t staring blankly out the window and letting her mind run all kinds of horror scenarios.
My phone started playing the Mega Man 2 theme and I fumbled it out of my pocket. Ciaran.
“Sup?”
“Two men, guns,” Ciaran said quickly in Irish. In the background I heard someone, a male voice for sure, say something about speaking English and Ciaran say it was just a greeting. Then he continued, and it sounded from the echo like he had me on speaker phone. “Jade, there’s a problem with that stuffed fox I sold you. Sorry about the late hour, but could you bring it by the shop as soon as possible?”
“Sure thing. I’ve got it with me. I can be there in thirty?” It would only take us maybe fifteen to get back into town if Levi stepped on it.
“Sounds good. Come in the front, I’ll leave it open for you.”
“Cool. See you soon.”
I made sure the phone was clicked off and then growled at Levi. “Turn the car around. Two men with guns have Ciaran and are looking for Rose. We have to go back.”
Levi hit the brakes and executed the quickest three point turn I ever want to experience ever. His car might look compact and reliable, but inside is a beast of an engine that probably isn’t even street legal and we felt the full g-forces of it as he floored the gas and shot us back toward town.
“Call the sheriff?” Ezee asked.
“Not yet. We don’t know what we’re dealing with and I don’t want to get Ciaran killed. Let me go in and see. If I’m not out in a few, you guys can call then. I’ll leave my phone line open to you so you can hear.”#p#分页标题#e#
“How come you get to go in?” Harper said. “If they want my mom, they’ll have to go through me. I don’t fear bullets.” She looked ready to go furry and get her serial killer on.
“They are expecting me. Going psycho on them might feel good, but it won’t really solve anything. Also, we don’t know yet what we are dealing with. They might be human, in which case killing them is kind of murder and even our cops might get mad about it,” I said. The local sheriff was an elected position, so of course she was a shifter, but I think the last time our town saw an actual murder was back in the era of buggies and gunslingers in saloons wearing ten gallon hats.