AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Zeb steps up beside me smoothly. He smiles at the police officer, but it’s not like any expression I’ve seen from him before. It’s cool. Professional. Radiating a sleek aura of threat and money, like a shark with a trust fund.
“Excuse us, officer.” Zeb extends a creamy-white business card he’s manifested from the gods know where. I catch a glimpse of an embossed logo that looks like the head of the two-faced god Janus. “Zebedee Chesterton, attorney with Chesterton, Fitzgerald, and Ebers. This young lady is my client. Is she under arrest?”
The cop glances at the card, turning it over briefly as if searching for the trick, and then he fastens his gaze on me again. “You brought your lawyer to a house fire.”
It’s not quite a question, but I can see the gears clicking and turning in the police officer’s head, rearranging that grid to move me squarely into the “suspicious” column with a good chance I’m well on my way to “guilty.”
Meanwhile, Tamira is staring at Zeb, Huck, and Phineas like she’s not sure what to make of them.
I try for a smile. “I?—”
“Don’t say anything else, Mabel,” Zeb interrupts smoothly. “If she’s not under arrest, then we’ll be just a moment.”
He glances to Phineas and Huck, something unspoken passing between them. Huck takes Tamira’s elbow with a smile, and Phineas doesn’t let go of my arm while he pulls me back with them. I go along because breaking his hold feels borderline impossible, and because whatever’s got these guys on edge, it can’t be good.
But I can feel the cop watching us the whole time.
“What the hell?” I hiss at Zeb. “You’re a lawyer?”
“Told you I had family money.” His normal grin flashes at me for all of a heartbeat, but it disappears fast back into the cold, careful expression he wore only a moment ago. “You see any faces you recognize here?”
I glance around. “I…” I throw a questioning look at Tamira, and she shakes her head. I do the same when I turn back to Zeb. “No. Why?”
“We need to get out of here,” Phineas says.
Huck nods fast. He’s let go of Tamira, and his hands are stretching and flexing like his long-fingered Hyde is trying to emerge. With short, sharp movements, he’s scanning the street and the rooftops.
“What did you all see?” I demand of them.
“That’s not the problem.” Zeb is glancing around too. “This is too convenient.”
“Convenient?” I retort. “How the fuck is it?—”
Understanding catches up to me, and dread sinks down into my gut. Oh, hell, he’s right. Of course he’s right. If I hadn’t been so upset about my home, I would’ve seen it right away.
I nearly get grabbed by a trader who said he was hunting for me, and then a few hours later, my house burns down? And now we’re all standing around like a convention of “here be supernaturals” when any number of traders could be getting set to catch us right now.
Gods help me, I’m an idiot.
“You need to get out of town,” I say to Tamira. “Right now. Don’t go home. Did you bring your car?”
She’s staring at me, wide-eyed, but she nods.
“Good. Just drive, okay? And keep an eye out for anyone following you. I’d have you come with us but—” The grim looks on the guys’ faces are the only confirmation I need about that being a bad plan. “These bastards are tracking me. If we’re lucky, they’ll think you’re…” I don’t want to say human. Not where someone could overhear us. “You know, not worth tracking too.”
Her mouth moves for a moment. “Mabel, what’s going on?”
“You know that work I do on the side sometimes?”
She nods.
“It’s catching up to me.”
“But—”
“Please just go. I’ll call you in a bit, okay?”
Her face is ashen and she’s clearly scared, but she nods again all the same. “Okay.” She hesitates again. “Be safe.”
