Raising Innocence: A Rylee Adamson Novel(52)

“I have my magic.”
I snorted. “How’s that working out for you today, again?”
She lowered her head. “I said I was sorry.”
Maybe I was being too tough on her, but I knew what Giselle would say. Better that I was tough on her and she survived rather than the alternative.
“Don’t be sorry. Just learn. That’s your job now. You can’t always rely on your magic. You saw how Milly was able to be taken down?” Pamela nodded and I went on. “I didn’t even have any weapons.”
“So I need to learn to fight, like you?”
“Yes.” I handed her two of my blades, each on their own sheaths. “Take these, find a spot on your body where you are comfortable with them.”
She fiddled with the leather sheaths and straps for a moment while I put on my crossed back sheath.
“Where do you think I should keep them?”
I took the first one from her and had her turn around. “You right handed?” She gave me a nod and I went to work. “I like to keep one in my lower back, sideways like this.” I laid the sheath perpendicular to her spine, the handle easily reached by her right hand.
“The other one . . .” I motioned for her to lift her left leg and I strapped the smaller blade to her calf. “Lots of people strap their knives too low; all that does is impede your ability to run.”
Her blue eyes widened. “Run?”
“From the bad guys.”
I finished getting my gear together and then gave Pamela a once over. Bedraggled was the first word that came to mind. Her hair was damp and knotted, her clothes were too big and her eyes too wide. I tentatively Tracked her, getting the gist of her emotions.
Fear was at the top of the list, followed by guilt, and then uncertainty.
The kids were waiting on me, as was O’Shea and Berget.
But Pamela needed me right now. I sat down on the edge of the bed, thinking about what Giselle would do.
“Go in the bathroom and grab my brush and hair elastics, would you?”
She nodded and scampered off. Likely, she thought I was going to show her some wicked way to use a brush to kill someone.
As she came back in, I pointed at the floor in front of me. “Sit; put your back to me.”
I took the brush from her hands and worked my way through her tangled hair. Pamela flinched when the brush first touched her scalp, but slowly relaxed as I combed out the snarls and the rats nests. How long had it been since someone had laid a gentle hand on her? Despite my past, there had been moments of kindness, mostly from Giselle, but even my parents had treated me well before Berget went missing.#p#分页标题#e#
“This is nice,” Pamela whispered.
The tension in the air Faris had left behind slowly dissipated. Maybe Pamela wasn’t the only one who’d needed a moment to breathe. To slow down. I so easily got caught up in the rush of doing what needed to be done, forgetting that not everyone could keep up. Even at times, myself.
Her hair was silken under my hands as I braided it, thinking about Berget and the times I’d braided her hair.
“One or two braids?” I asked.
“Two. Please.”
I thought about the picture we made, if anyone had come in. I was decked out in my leather jacket still, the tips of my swords peeking above my head. Pamela sat at my feet playing with the knife we’d strapped to her calf. But still, it was soothing to braid her hair, to let my fingers do something so innocent for once.
Tying off the second braid I patted her on the shoulder. “There, that should be better.”
Her hands went to her head, fingers tracing down the bumps of the braid. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, no problem. Now let’s get going. We’ve got work to do.”
Pamela stood up, faced me, and smiled. Really smiled, and I knew I’d done the right thing. There was my one good thing for the day.
I’d made my new witch smile.
Of course, the smiles didn’t last. Not once we’d made our way back to the police station. No, the smiles were wiped off our faces in about three seconds flat.
It started with Denning.
“Who the hell do you think you are? You were seen fleeing from the scene of an ARSON!” he was roaring by the end of his sentence, his face brilliantly red with fury.
Then Agent Valley jumped in on the act. “God damn it! Did I not say wait for us? Are you incapable of following ANY orders?”
Then it was onto Will. He was the worst. He didn’t say a word, just ignored me and Pamela as if we weren’t even there. I sat in the chair at my desk and Pamela pulled up a chair next to me. I knew a silent treatment when I saw one.
Wouldn’t work though, at least not on me.
“Pamela, what did you think of that vampire?” I asked, pointedly not looking at Will.