I screamed bloody murder for a solid thirty seconds, even after my knees slammed against a metal grate. An invisible metal grate. Linus must have applied obfuscation sigils to disguise his fire escape. Even knowing it was there, feeling it under my palms, I had trouble seeing past my panic well enough to bring it into focus.

Wasting precious time, I took out my pen and drew amplification sigils across my forehead.

A beat passed as they battered against the illusion and then shredded it to ribbons. I could see the metal landing where I sprawled as well as stairs zigzagging down, down, down. After pushing to my feet, I hit the first step, gripped the rails in both hands, and ran as fast as I dared.

Cletus drifted in front of me, forcing me to acknowledge him, then pointed up at the window.

“You’re going to hold them off?”

The wraith nodded as he began to rise.

“Be careful.”

There was no point in calling Linus. The connection he shared with Cletus meant he had been notified the second the wraith grasped the situation. Linus could perceive through their bond, which meant he ought to have an idea of where I was headed. It also gave him an opportunity to catch a glimpse of my would-be attacker.

Panting hard, I started tasting blood in the back of my throat but didn’t slow. I didn’t dare. I kept up my downward momentum, leaping over stairs, using my death grip to keep me on my feet when I stumbled on impact.

An eternity later, I jumped from the last platform, hit the pavement hard enough to jar my bones, and rolled my ankle.

Allowing myself a second to catch my breath, I drew an obfuscation sigil across the back of my left hand to make it difficult for others to see me then scribbled a healing sigil on my ankle while I was at it.

Just as I straightened, ready to bolt for the busy street ahead, a furious roar belted out the window above me, and a massive body hit the fire escape with enough force to buckle the metal.

Ankle barking with each step, I ran up the alley. The end was in sight when a hulking shadow crossed my path, tipping its nose skyward.

Hood.

A bone-rattling growl reached out to tickle my hindbrain, and it was all I could do not to scream when he rushed me.

With no weapons and nowhere to hide, I flung myself to the side, smashing my shoulder against the brick wall as he barreled past. Expecting him to slide into a spin and come at me again, I was stunned when he hit the fire escape and started climbing.

Cletus brushed my cheek with cool fingers, shocking me back to myself, and I sprinted for the sidewalk and the cover of sweet, sweet pedestrians.

Dialing Tony was out of the question. I didn’t have time to wait for a pickup, and I didn’t want to embroil another human in our world. Figuring the next best thing was a good old yellow taxi, I flagged one down as it passed.

I was belted in and headed for Strophalos within minutes, leaving the chaos at the Faraday in my wake. The one thing I hadn’t considered was the fact humans can’t see the campus, let alone enter it. And, I remembered after paying my fare, neither could I without a staff member to get me inside the wards.

Fingers shaking, I dialed Linus and waited for him to answer.

He didn’t.

“Cletus.” I ended the call and started dialing again. “Fetch Linus.”

The wraith rippled in the air, ignoring the order to leave my side as my second call connected.

“Grier?”

“Boaz.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “I don’t suppose you have any friends in Atlanta? Or friends at Strophalos?”

“Yes to both.”

“Friends who might be persuaded to let me in and hide me for a bit?”

“What the hell is going on?”

“Someone tried to break into Linus’s apartment while I was there. I escaped, but I wasn’t thinking, and I came to Strophalos, but I can’t get through the wards without a faculty member.” I was rambling, my tongue tripping over every other word. “I called Linus, but he’s not answering his phone, and I don’t know what to do.”

“He left you alone?” Boaz growled. “I thought he was smart.”

“It’s not his fault. I should have been safe at the Faraday.”

“The Faraday?” A moment of stunned silence followed. “Of course that’s where he lives.”

“Can you help me or not?”

“Don’t budge. I’ll use your phone to pinpoint your location. We’ve got a guy on the inside. He’s posing as a janitor. He can let you in and keep you safe. Don’t leave his side until Linus comes for you.”

“Okay.” I bobbed my head like he could see me. “I can do that.”

“Talk to me, baby,” he coaxed. “Quiet on your end makes me want to kill things.”

“You called me baby.”

“Did I?”

“Yes.” I kept sweeping the area for signs of my escort. “When a guy calls a girl something as unflattering as Squirt, she notices when he mixes things up.”

“Ah, but you’ll always be my Squirt.” His rough chuckle had me rolling my eyes. “What are you wearing?”

“Really?” I laughed and felt better for it. “That’s what you want to know right now?”

“I have to tell Victor what to look for,” he lied smoothly.

Glancing down, I fessed up to my wardrobe choices. “Pink pajama shorts with white polka dots, a pink camisole, and a knee-length charcoal pea coat. I’m also wearing what used to be white ballet flats, if that helps.”

“Grier?” He sounded far too reasonable in that moment. “How would he see your pajamas to ID them?”

“I never belted the coat.” I didn’t much see the point now. “My taste in sleepwear is on display for everyone to see.” A husky groan rattled in his throat, and I flushed. “I miss you growling at me.”

“I miss growling at you too.” A soft curse fell from his lips like he hadn’t meant to say that, but he came back at me, all business. “There’s an elderly man wearing a navy uniform walking your way. He’s pulling a trash can on wheels behind him and wearing an Atlanta Braves ball cap. Do you have a visual?”

“No. Wait.” I bumped into Cletus, who seemed more substantial than ever, trying to get a better view. “Yes. I see him.”

“I’ll stay on the line until you’re inside the wards.”

Throat going tight, I admitted, “That’s more than I thought I’d get.”

“I’m always here for you, you know that.”

“It hasn’t felt that way lately.” I took a chance and told him the truth. “I need you.”

His voice broke on my name. “Grier…”

“Ms. Woolworth?” The janitor—sentinel?—grunted in my direction. His stooped shoulders and the graying hair frizzing from under his cap made him look old, but the way he moved… “Young lady, belt your coat. You can’t walk around campus flashing your goods. It’s not allowed.”

“Give me a break. The disguise isn’t that good.” Boaz snorted. “He’s nineteen and still wet behind the ears.”

“That Boaz?” Victor, the sentinel janitor, asked while digging in his pockets.

“Yes,” I told him, ignoring Boaz. “Would you like to say something to him?”

“A janitor using a student’s phone would look far more suspicious than one letting a student in who forgot her keycard. Trust me, I do this all day. I can’t remember the last time I touched a bag of trash. I might as well wear track shoes and let them call me the concierge.” He reached through the wards, taking my hand in his. “Stop sidetracking me, whippersnapper.”

One big step got me through, but Strophalos had been compromised too. There was no safety to be found here. “Thank you.”

After releasing my hand, Victor tipped his can back on its wheels and started rolling. “This is a hell of a lot more interesting than what I would be doing otherwise.”

“Poor newb,” Boaz tsked. “He’s tired of babysitting rich geeks. He doesn’t get that’s ninety percent of the job.”

Pretending the jab at the High Society didn’t hurt, I asked, “Why don’t you tell him?”

“And ruin all the fun?” I heard a smile in his voice. “He’ll become a disillusioned soldier all too soon. Let him enjoy the fantasy. The reality will never measure up to what he’s got cooking in his head. See, he was a voluntary enlistment. He really does want to be out there saving the world one necromancer at a time.”

“He still yammering?” Victor kept his voice pitched low and added a creaky note to it now that we were on campus. “Goddess knows he loves to hear himself talk.”

“I was wrong,” Boaz deadpanned. “Tell him the truth. All of it. About the early mornings starching uniforms and shining boots, the hours standing statue-still at assemblies while fighting for your life not to fall asleep and face-plant in front of our charges, the crap pay and constant travel, being at the beck and call of every necromancer with a shred of power and the ability to pick up a phone and dial in an order for their very own sentinel.”

“Your bitterness is showing,” I teased to snap him out of his anti-High Society rhetoric. “Tuck it back in before your superior officer notices.”

He didn’t snark back or laugh or give any of the responses I expected, and that made my stomach churn.

“We need to talk,” he said. “Soon.”

Full-blown cramps tightened my gut. “This isn’t good news, is it?”

“You need to get somewhere safe, and I…” He bit off the thought. “We’ll talk soon. I promise.”

Boaz ended the call before I could thank him or say goodbye, and I was halfway to dry heaves wondering what he meant. We need to talk was code for this isn’t working in relationships, but we had barely gotten started. How could he know this was a bust when we hadn’t gotten to try? Maybe slow and careful wasn’t how the race was won, but if he wasn’t willing to pace himself, then we never had a chance.

“I thought you were a myth,” Victor murmured, keeping his head forward to make it look a little less like he was shadowing me. “To hear Boaz tell it, you’re the ideal to which all other women should aspire. And yes, he used those words. Must be the wearing-pajamas-in-public thing. I can see how that would appeal.”

“Yeah.” Not really feeling it, I put away my phone. “That must be it.”

Picking up on my weird mood, he tucked away the personal questions. “Where are we headed?”

“Professor Reardon’s office.” I checked with Cletus. “Linus is still there, right?”

The wraith bobbed in answer.

“Who are you talking to?” Victor lowered one hand to the slight bulge next to his hip. “You put your phone away.”

Leaning forward, I examined his cap. “Do you have eyes in the back of your head?”

“Answer the question.”

“Linus assigned a wraith to me. They share a bond, so I was double-checking his location.”

“It’s damn creepy knowing those things are flying around and not being able to see them.”

“Boaz can.” Cletus was one of the few entities most necromancers could see without aid.

“I’m the next best thing to human. Boaz doesn’t have much juice, but he’s got more than most of us. That’s why he gets all the fun jobs.”

Until this exact moment, I’d had no idea Boaz had any juice. Amelie would have burst a blood vessel trying to manifest if she had any hope of there being real power in their bloodline. Unless…

Maybe that explained her obsession with the haves and have nots of magic, and Ambrose too.

Carefully, I tiptoed around what I wanted to know. “How long have you known him?”

“Eight months, more or less.”

How could a recruit who met Boaz eight months ago know more about him than me?

“Seems to me he’s been getting more and more fun jobs lately.” I poured a dollop of pouty girlfriend in the mix. “I never see him these days. He’s always off on a mission.”

“That’s messed up if they won’t let you guys spend time together.”

“He visits when he’s able.”

“Still, he’s stationed in Savannah. Why force him to stay in the barracks when he could live at home?”

I tripped over my own two feet and almost went down, would have if Cletus hadn’t caught me in his arms. The fact a wraith could support my weight ought to worry me more than it did, considering his teeth and claws should be his only substantial features, but I had gone numb.

Boaz was stationed in Savannah. Savannah. How was that possible?

That would explain…a lot, actually.

The container ship horn I overheard on our earlier call had been exactly that. He must have been standing near River Street, maybe haunting the Cora Ann for old time’s sake, while we talked.

All the brownie points I had awarded him for showing up when I needed him most tasted like ash. The trips home I imagined him making on a plane from all over the country had been made on foot or in a cab. How could that be? Why would he lie? How long had he been hiding the truth?

Stumbling across him while hunting the dybbuk was one thing. Learning the Society had kept him local? That he hadn’t told me? It stung. All of a sudden, the calls to Amelie made more sense. She knew. She had to have known. And she hadn’t said a word. He must have pulled strings to stay close to her. Fine. Okay. Boaz had a protective streak a mile wide. But why hide it and leave me the odd woman out?

As much as I wanted to blame a vow of silence, like the one the Grande Dame had extracted from Linus, if Boaz had told Amelie—even if she figured it out on her own—they had colluded to keep his whereabouts from me.

Desperate to distance myself from his truths, I tried outpacing him. “I can take it from here.”

“Not happening.” Victor blocked the path with his can. “My orders are to pass you off directly to Scion Lawson.”

The title felt odd considering everyone on campus called him Professor Lawson.

Another face, another title, another facet to a man who might as well have been a twenty-sided die.

“That would be me,” a grim voice announced behind us.

Sweet relief spiked my bloodstream as I glanced over my shoulder and spotted Linus standing there.

For the first time in our reacquaintance, he was the one who initiated a hug. The cold of his body pressed into mine gave me a surface layer of numb to go along with the deadened sensation spreading through my chest. His hands trembled on my back, and his hold was awkward, like he had no idea how to comfort someone. Or maybe, since he was the one wrapping me up tight, he had no idea how to take comfort either.

“Thank Hecate you’re all right,” he breathed against my ear before tucking his face in the damp curve of my neck. His heart raged, a pounding drum trapped between us, as if he had run the whole way. “The wards I placed on the door to keep Reardon out of his office sealed the room behind us.” He withdrew, a few inches at least. “There was no cell reception. With the building warded against wraiths, I didn’t know you were in danger until we concluded our latest experiment, and I stepped out to check in with Cletus.”

“He saved the day.” I forced out the words. “He almost gave me a heart attack by pulling me out the window, but mostly he was golden.” I had to give credit where it was due. “Hood kept the intruder busy while I escaped. I didn’t get close enough to tell if I was being attacked by a vampire, but that’s a safe assumption. Hood also gave me arrhythmia, but it’s all good.” I smoothed trembling hands down my sides. “I’m here in one piece. That’s what counts.”

“Thank you for escorting her.” He addressed Victor for the first time. “I’m in your debt.”

“There’s no debt, sir.” Victor puffed out his chest. “This is what we do.”

The urge to pull off his cap and ruffle his hair almost overwhelmed me. He wasn’t that much younger than me, but goddess, I felt old where it counted. His youthful optimism, his dedication to his job, made me wish the sentinels had a dozen more just like him. Maybe then my time in Atramentous wouldn’t be kept wedged behind a wall to protect me from remembering all the ways bored sentinels entertained themselves with people society, and the Society, had forgotten.

Wheels squeaking behind him, Victor started rolling away, donning his ancient-janitor persona.

“Is Meiko with Reardon?” I rubbed the base of my neck. “Or did you confine her to your office?”

“I couldn’t find her. I had to leave and hope for the best.” His sheepish admission colored his pale cheeks. “I wouldn’t worry about her, though. She’s smart enough to have found a safe place to hide until the lights come back on.”

“Good.” I gusted out a sigh. “We’ll never be BFFs, but I don’t want her to get hurt.”

I had enough blood on my hands without dipping them in hers.

“I’m taking you home.” Linus hefted a file. “I’ve got enough information to get us started.”

“Home?” I flinched away from him.

“To Savannah,” he clarified. “To Woolly.”

Relief melted my bones, and I closed the gap between us, allowing my head to fall against his chest. Holding it up on my own wasn’t happening. I was too exhausted. “That’s the best offer I’ve heard all weekend.”

The door swung open behind us, and Reardon burst onto the lawn with a manic energy about him.

“Linus,” he pleaded, clearly picking up on an earlier conversation. “See reason. We can continue the project here. We have the facilities and the library at our disposal. There’s no reason to take half an answer back with you.” He noticed me and wet his lips. “The sample you brought me—”

“No.” Tentatively, he stroked the back of my head, his fingers tangling in the strands of hair. “There’s nothing more to be learned in twenty-four hours, and I have obligations in Savannah I can’t neglect.”

“You mean Grier,” he surmised. “That’s what’s keeping you there.”

“The Grande Dame herself issued my orders.” The use of her official title told me Reardon was digging his hole deeper, that Linus had run out of patience. “I have no choice but to obey.”

Though the tender way he cradled me made me wonder if maybe he didn’t hate that he had been called back.

“Your mother would extend your leash for another week surely.” Reardon cut his eyes to me, to how I leaned on Linus’s strength, and that was enough to have me straightening. “Your charge is here. What harm can come to her by your side?”

“Multiple attempts have been made on Grier’s life,” Linus murmured, frowning at the distance I put between us. “There are those who oppose the Grande Dame’s ruling, those who believe Grier is guilty of the crime of which she was convicted. It’s best if I get her home where she is safest.”

The misdirection wasn’t a lie, it just wasn’t the truth as it applied to this situation.

Fingers a gentle cage around my elbow, he guided me away from the eager professor.

“I thought you trusted Reardon.” That’s how he’d justified bringing me with him.

“I do.” He cut me a look. “Within reason.” He bypassed the parking lot and led me through a small garden. “He hasn’t discovered that the magical remnants in the blood he finds so fascinating is yours, or he would have pressed harder. As it is, he’s salivating for another sample to run more tests.”

“A salivating vampire does not sound good.” I hoped he meant metaphorically, but it was hard to say given Reardon’s behavior.

“I’ve known him for years, and I’ve never seen his control slip. His lapse around you at the first sign of violence makes me wonder if made vampires are affected by your presence to some degree.”

“I really, really hope not. I’ve got ninety-nine vampire problems, and I don’t want him to be one.”

“He can’t leave the campus.” Linus kept going, almost dragging me into a massive building filled with trophies and awards that spit us out on a sidewalk leading deeper into the city. “You’re protected beyond the wards.”

The farther we walked, the less familiar the landmarks. “Where are we going?”

“We need a safe place to wait while I arrange for transportation.” He slowed when he noticed I was out of breath. “I sent Tony home. It’s too dangerous for him to stay here. Having him pick us up again might cost him his life.”

Proving I was thinking along the same lines, I admitted, “That’s why I took a cab.”

Approval warmed his eyes. “How did that go?”

“I’ve had more fun, but I managed. The pants-wetting terror helped.”

The next corner we rounded announced our destination. On the lowest floor of a high rise, a sprawling shop with flickering neon signs announced The Mad Tatter, We’re All Inked Here. He shoved into the shop, bell jangling over our heads, and bypassed the counter. The bored girl perched on a stool behind it kept reading her magazine as he led me to a cluttered office tucked against the far wall.

The low thrum of necromantic magic brushed against my skin, too powerful for the practitioners at their stations. Residual maybe? Magic was in the blood, and while Clorox might bleach away any crimson stains, power was harder to erase. “We’re here to meet Mary Alice?”

“Yes.” He tapped a finger on the particleboard desktop. “She’s around here. Somewhere. She practically lives here.”

“This is an expensive corner to set up shop,” I observed, curious about this mentor of his. “She must be very good at what she does.”

“Oh, she is, just not tattooing. She can’t draw a stick figure, but Mitch—her husband—was a master.” A wry twist bent his lips. “Mary Alice is an information broker. The shop is her cover.”

“Tatter is some kind of black market hub?” And the potentate of Atlanta was elbows deep in its secrets.

“Mary Alice is High Society without a drop of magic in her. She married into the Low Society, but she has valuable connections through her family. Without magic, she had to carve out her own place in the world. Mitch was happy to help. He saw it as a team effort. He kept their noses clean enough for anyone who looked, but the real action was always in the back room.” He nudged me toward a chair opposite the battered desk. “I went to her for information once, months after I moved to the city, but she refused to sell to me. I was High Society, and the law, and she wanted to protect her sources. I kept going back until Mitch accused me of scaring off his clients. He joked that I might as well work for him since I spent so much time there.” He smiled. “I took him up on the offer.”

“I wondered what drew you to tattooing.” I should have known that his reasons would be multilayered.

“You could have asked,” he pointed out. “I can’t tell you everything, my position won’t allow it, but I could have told you that.”

Shame, that was shame curling through me for not being more interested in his life, his past. Friends asked questions, and they paid attention to the answers. So far, I had done neither.

“I’m asking now. You started an internship to get street cred and make your own contacts. Smart.” According to TV, cops brokered with snitches all the time. For a man with deep pockets like Linus, I could see the information trade being lucrative. “But you liked it, or you saw its potential applications, and you stayed on to claim a chair.”

“No,” he corrected me. “I loved it from the moment I put needle to skin.”

“Is that why you covered yourself in art? Or was it camouflage?”

“I’m one of the few necromancers dabbling in permanent sigils anchored on the body. Mitch introduced me to a field where I can break new ground with each discovery, and that’s exhilarating.” His cheeks flushed as he warmed to his topic. “Every sigil on my body is designed for a purpose. I try to make them beautiful, to create art, but it’s secondary to my goal.”

The brutal planes of his stomach, all lean muscle and ink, flashed in my mind before I could slam shut whatever mental vault stored such memories. My curious fingers had traced those smoky whorls, those shaded loops, and his cool skin had pebbled beneath them.

“You succeeded on all counts,” I assured him, blinking clear of those images.

“Wait here.” He reached for the door. “I need to find Mary Alice.”

“Now that you’ve parked me, I’m not moving.” Feet, calves, knees, and thighs all burned. “I’m all out of gas.”

Linus paused on the threshold, one foot in the shop, but rocked back inside the room with me.

“I’ll be fine,” I promised. “I’ll scream bloody murder if I need you.”

With a tight nod, he strolled out at a clipped pace, rounded a corner, and vanished from sight.

Through the open door, I glimpsed yet another of his facets, this one the least expected of all.

The gleaming black-and-white-checkerboard pattern to the linoleum floor reminded me of a retro diner until I spotted the lobby, where leather couches and chairs had been upholstered to resemble giant white-capped mushrooms with red spots. The toadstool footstool was my favorite piece.

Artists’ stations lined two walls opposite one another, each with segmented chairs that reclined. They called to mind dentists’ offices and popped in the same bright red. The few clients lounged on those, a mix of college-aged kids and seasoned ink collectors, necromancers and humans. The walls behind each station depicted a different scene from Alice in Wonderland. Some drawn, some painted, some color, some black and gray. All lovely and original pieces of art.

Despite the ache in my limbs, I was drawn to one of the empty stations and the colorful mural behind the chair.

A garden scene spilled over this section of wall, stylized, yes, but as familiar as the back of my hand. I had played in that garden throughout my childhood. And peering around an arbor wreathed in climbing roses, a young girl with wide eyes and a sharp chin watched as a white rabbit thumped his hind leg on the grass.

The girl…was me. Dressed as Alice. At about six or seven years old. The likeness was stunning.

Forcing my hand to lower before I touched the paint, I examined the rest of the space.

A drafting table of some kind filled a nook obscured by my previous angle. The surface was backlit and glowed softly, illuminating the face of a teenager as he doodled absently, his head bobbing along with the music pumping into his ears through an electric-blue headset. The cord was in his mouth, and he was rolling it between his lips. When he paused to trade out for a new paper, a huge smile spread at whatever he saw. He spat out the cord, tossed the headset, and leapt to his feet.

Linus approached from a different direction than when I last saw him, and the teen trotted over, all gangly limbs and enthusiasm. He must be the Oslo to the Mary Alice he was hunting.

Mary Alice.

Clearly someone had a sense of humor.

This shop must be her own private wonderland. Well, that or a clever marketing ploy.

Oslo initiated a complicated handshake that I could never reproduce but Linus kept up with just fine. Having passed some test, the boy leaned in. “Did you bring them?”

“I did.” Linus shoved his hands in his pockets. “I left them at my place, though. I’ll have a courier deliver them Monday.”

“Why did you come if you didn’t bring the drawings?” The teen laughed awkwardly. “Let me try that again—I’m glad you’re here, but why the visit?” He blasted out a sigh. “You know what I mean. I fail at social interactions. Don’t make me keep going. It’s only going to get worse from here.”

“Official business,” he said smoothly. “I need to speak to Mary Alice, if she’s around.”

“She stepped out back for a smoke.” He mimed taking a drag. “It’s going to kill her one day. Statistically speaking.”

Linus patted the boy’s shoulder, met my eyes, then left out the back.

The glance didn’t go unnoticed. The boy followed his line of sight, spotted me and then waved. “Hey.”

“Hi there. Oslo, right?”

“You must be… No clue. Linus keeps his private life private.”

“I’m Grier.” His candor made me laugh. “I’m a friend of his from Savannah.”

“Visiting the big city?” His grin widened. “How does it compare?”

For me, it didn’t. “I won’t be packing up and moving here anytime soon, if that’s what you mean.”

“Eh. It’s not for everyone.”

Keeping it polite, I smiled. “I’m sure the same could be said for my hometown.”

“I would rather donate my eyes to science today than give this up.” His mouth flattened. “But I’m sure it’s great. There’s got to be something decent there to keep Linus’s attention.” He wiped a hand across his mouth. “I’m going to stop there. Trust me, it’s for the best.”

A booming feminine voice rang out from the back, and a woman who appeared to be in her late fifties power-walked into the office I had vacated. A well-preserved sixty-seven indeed. She waved Linus and me in, then shut the door in Oslo’s face before he could join us.

“This is her?” she demanded. “You can’t be serious, Doodlebug. Sneeze, and she’ll blow away.”

“Why is it open season on my weight?” I folded my jacket over my chest and the boobs that required no bra to fight gravity. “Trust me. I miss my curves. I’m working hard to get them back.”

“Curves don’t vanish,” she scoffed, indicating her rounded hips. “Trust me. I’ve fad dieted off and on for four hundred years.”

“Maybe you should try prison.” Chin up, I sank into the chair across from hers. “It worked wonders on me.”

“Shit,” Mary Alice snarled at Linus. “This isn’t just—” she made air quotes, “—a friend who needs help.”

“I never said—” he began.

“This is Grier Motherfucking Woolworth.” She shoved him hard in the chest. “Do you know what a hot-ticket item she is right now? Word on the street is there’s a bounty on her head that would buy me this whole block.”

Dizziness settled around me as the blood drained from my head. “Since when?”

“Yesterday.” Her frown sliced through me. “I had no idea Doodlebug brought you here. I’m guessing that’s the only reason you’re still alive. Not many would square off with the potentate in his own city. All bets are off once you leave, though. I hope you’ve got someplace safe to go.”

“Can you get us transportation?” Linus pressed. “Nothing fancy. A van or SUV if you’ve got one.”

Huffing out a sigh like he’d asked for her firstborn grandchild, she snagged a pair of keys off a hook by the door. “Take my ride. There are spare plates in the trunk. Folks might be looking for an Atlanta tag.”

“Thanks.” He bent and kissed her cheek as he accepted the keys. “I’ll have it returned to you Monday.”

“You do that.” She straightened his collar. “You sure this girl’s worth the trouble?”

“I’m sitting right here.” I waved at her in case her eyes had gone bad. “Can you not talk over me?”

Mary Alice continued ignoring me. “Well? Is she?”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation.

“All guys think that right before the truth smacks them between the eyes.” She flicked a dismissive glance my way. “That wraithlike waistline won’t last forever. The looks won’t keep either. There’s no good reason for a kid your age to settle down. Let alone with this one. She’s going to get you killed or end up dead herself. Still think she’s worth it?”

My gaze clashed with his, black and endless, and held longer than a simple yes or no required.

“Yes,” he told her, his voice raw in a way I had never heard from him.

“She gets it, okay?” Mary Alice plonked down behind her desk. “You’re willing to sacrifice your life for hers. Blah, blah, romantic sentiments, blah, blah, death wish, blah. We got it.” Her scowl carved her wrinkles even deeper. “Take care of yourself. Don’t make me give up your chair, okay?”

“I earned that chair.” Lips twitching, he cut his eyes to her. “I don’t want anyone else using it until I get back.”

Mary Alice grunted and settled in to start filing her nails. “Every day it sits empty is a day I lose money.”

Linus studied the ceiling like he might find patience there. “We’ll talk about my return later.”

“If there is a later,” she grumbled, dismissing us.

Linus helped me to my feet then showed me through the emergency exit into the alley that ran behind the building. The air stank of old cigarettes, and I wondered why no one had suggested Mary Alice switch to vaping since the hookah-smoking caterpillar was an iconic Alice character.

We started walking toward a parking deck a block down, our footsteps the only sounds. The booth was unmanned at this hour, our trek up the incline to the second level uncontested. Flickering lights gave the concrete tomb an eerie effect, and I stuck close to Linus as we searched the short row of marked spaces labeled for Tatter employees.

A throaty rumble echoed through the deck, reverberating in my bones, and my ankle buckled. Tiny hairs lifted down my nape in a warning prickle, the skin between my shoulder blades itching as I regained my balance. “You heard that too, right?”

“Keep walking,” he said, soft and calm. “Pretend nothing is wrong.”

Clicking sounds, like claws on concrete, came from all directions.

“Where’s Cletus?” I scanned the cavernous space for wisps of black more alert than all the rest.

“The garage is warded.” Linus held his laser focus. “I can break them, but it takes time we don’t have. I keep them muted while I’m home, but I didn’t bother for such a short trip.”

“Okay.” So, we were on our own.

“Mary Alice drives a silver Dodge Grand Caravan,” Linus said, attempting to distract me. “There are stickers all over the back from her grandkids’ schools and activities.”

“Okay.” The row assigned to Tatter employees wasn’t that long, and I wasn’t seeing any van, but I was hearing steady panting. “Any local warg packs?”

“Yes.” Reaching back, he took my hand and hauled me behind him. “Three, actually.”

“Okay.” Me and my big mouth. “New topic.”

He cast a glance back at me, an unreadable expression sharpening his features, but then he set his jaw.

Woof.

The single huff got picked up into a song that echoed all around, converging on our location.

“We’re not going to make it,” I said, jerking on his hand. There was no point in pretending. “We need to lock ourselves in a warded circle and find out what we’re up against.”

“We don’t have time for that.” Linus scowled at the rows of vehicles fanning in all directions, none of them the silver van we had been promised. “They’ll be on us the second we stop moving.”

“I used a protective sigil on Oscar that night aboard the Cora Ann. It held the dybbuk at bay. Would that work?” I started fishing in my bag for my pen. “We could swipe those on and then risk stopping to draw a circle?”

“It’s worth a try.” He angled us toward a covered stairwell. “This ought to hold them long enough to give us a fighting chance.”

No hands meant they either had to shift to open the door or smash it down with brute strength.

Three heartbeats later, Linus and I stood on the third-floor landing, and the dull thud of flesh against metal told us which option our pursuers had chosen. I wasted no time drawing the rune on top of his hand. Once I finished with him, I did the same for myself.

The wards we’d used to trap the dybbuk had been his work, and I wasn’t certain I could replicate those from memory, but I had a brush and ink. I could follow his lead. We could tag team again. He could start the wards while I acted as a distraction.

“Keep moving.” He led me out into the parking deck once more. “We don’t want to get trapped in the stairwell if they break through before we can finish.” He froze when I pressed my ink pot, made with Maud’s blood, and a brush into his hands. “What are you—?”

“You need time. Find an out-of-the-way corner and start working. I’ll jog around the first two rows and lay a false scent trail to distract them when they get up here.”

Linus strained forward, the urge to snatch me back to him twitching in his fingers, but he forced a nod, his knuckles tightening around the supplies I’d given him. “Be quick, and be careful.”

“I will.” I had no intentions of becoming a chew toy for whatever hunted us.

Clearing the first row winded me, and I was already flagging, but adrenaline gave me a healthy boost when I heard the padded echo of my movements. Not daring to hold still long enough to find out if these creatures could retract their claws to hunt silently, I pumped my thighs harder.

An all-too-familiar baying noise ricocheted off the concrete pylons in response to my burst of speed.

I would never forget that sound for as long as I lived, or the needlelike teeth that went along with it.

“This can’t be good,” I panted. The watchmen were contracted to the Faraday. Why the heck were they hounding me? I was the guest of a resident, and the resident himself was busy drawing a barrier to keep us safe from our would-be protectors. After skidding around the corner, I started running flat out for the spot where Linus knelt. “Incoming.”

Hot breath fanned the back of my left thigh, and a cold nose brushed the bend of my knee as teeth closed over the hem of my coat. The beast behind me skidded to a halt, yanking me back with such force I hit the ground on my tailbone. Impact shot a burst of lightning zigzagging up my spine, and I cried out in pain.

Noticing my abraded palms, sliced open when I braced for the fall, I used my own blood as ink. Instinct guided me to finger-paint protective sigils down my exposed legs, and I kept repeating the pattern until my wounds clotted on me.

Magic, old and rich, snapped into place around me, locking me in a bubble I couldn’t see but sensed in the way air moved slower through the barrier.

A yelp resounded behind me, and I turned to find a massive dog-lizard thing pushing off the ruined fender of a nearby truck where the punch of energy had flung it away from me.

“Linus.” I twisted toward him. “Raise your circle. Now.”

Agony pinched his eyes as he obeyed. A shiver rode my skin in response to his magic, and I thanked the goddess we were both safe and sound. For now. The way the beast snarled his upper lip had me questioning how long our good fortune might last.

“What do you want?” I yelled at it. “What have we ever done to you?”

In response, it tipped its head back and howled a message I had no doubt went something like Soup’s on!

Before long, answering calls alerted me to the presence of two more of the things.

Just how many watchmen were there? I had only ever seen Hood. Had that been by design?

Unsure how much they understood in this form, I tried again. “What’s your deal? Why are you chasing us? Did we forget to get our parking validated or something?”

The other two closed in on the one in the middle, sniffing and licking until content it was mostly unharmed. With a huff, it liquefied into a reddish puddle before spraying several feet in the air like a geyser that poured into a humanlike form. The curtain of magic dripped away until a petite woman with sleek blue hair and sharp green eyes stood before me dressed in workout clothes like she had just left the gym. Or enjoyed a wicked sense of humor about how she got her cardio.

“Grier Woolworth.”

“That’s me.” No point in denying it when they’d tracked us this far. They had our scents in their noses.

“I’m Lethe Kinase.” She sighed when the larger of the two remaining beasts stalked toward me. “Hood you know.” The third creature padded over to her and leaned its head against her thigh. “This is my brother, Midas.”

“Nice to meet you.” I poured enough sugar into my voice to sweeten a family reunion’s worth of iced tea. “Thanks for the introduction. It’s always good to know your enemies by name.” When Hood nosed closer, I hissed at him. “Traitor.”

The soft whine in his throat made me feel like I was the one who had betrayed him. How, when he was the one chasing me around like an M&M rolling across a counter, I had no idea.

“We owe you a boon.” Her fingers curled in Midas’s ruff. “No one has successfully infiltrated the Faraday in the history of its operation until tonight. How it was accomplished is still under investigation, though I imagine we’ll discover a resident missing a keycard at best. A resident with malicious intent at worst. Neither scenario changes the fact we were remiss in our duties, and you almost died as a result.”

The sweet edge of relief threatened to swamp me, but my luck wasn’t this good. “It’s no problem. Really. You guys can go back to whatever you were doing, and we’ll get back to whatever we’re doing. No hard feelings.”

Red magic splashed against my barrier as Hood shifted forms. “You are what we’re doing.”

“Hard pass.” I pulled my coat tighter around me. “I’m not that adventurous.”

Lethe’s husky laughter brought my attention swinging back to her, but she was eyeing Hood like he was listed as a prime cut on a menu only she had been handed. “I’m glad you feel that way.” Her lips quirked as their eyes met. “He’s mine, and I don’t share.”

“Oh” seemed like the best answer, so I stuck with that.

The third dog-lizard thing dissolved and reformed into a gilded version of Lethe that made me wonder if his spun-gold hair had earned him his name. From a distance, he was heartbreakingly beautiful, his features hewn from granite, his skin kissed by the sun. But upon closer inspection, he was too gaunt, with scars crosshatching his forearms, and his eyes, a rich aquamarine, held an edge of sorrow that was as likely to slit his throat as yours.

“It’s an honor debt,” Midas informed me, his voice rasping like speech hurt. “You were attacked on our watch, and that means we’re in your service until the threat has passed.”

“What about the Faraday?” Please let there be a non-compete clause. “I don’t want to cost you your jobs.”

“Our pack will see that the Faraday is well protected,” Midas assured me. “This was our mistake, and we will see our honor restored.”

That sounded an awful lot like he wasn’t willing to take no for an answer.

“I’m going home. To Savannah.” I shrugged apologetically. “You’ll have to restore your honor another way.”

“We’ll come with you,” Hood decided after exchanging looks with the other two.

“That’s really not necessary.” I shot Linus a panicky glance. “Right?”

“The watchmen seldom offer their services to individuals and never for free.” Linus stood within his circle, arms crossed. “Hood has shown marked interest in Grier from the moment she arrived. There’s more to this than you claim.”

“Her scent reminds me of a young woman to whom I owe a blood debt.” Hood bowed his head. “I couldn’t save her, but perhaps this might help me balance the scales.”

There was more, I could tell the story didn’t end there, but I understood too well how much easier it was not to talk about the past. “How about you come with us then? Just you.”

The fewer, the merrier, I always say. When it comes to slavering dog-lizard things.

“We are kindred.” Midas shook blond hair into his eyes. “His debt is ours.”

“Our bond doesn’t allow for separation,” Lethe explained. Leaving her brother, she approached us, pausing in front of Hood. “I almost lost him once. I won’t risk him again.”

“I was a pup then.” Hood cradled her face in his palm. “I’m not so breakable now.”

“Still.” She leaned into the touch. “We go with you. Always.”

Hood smiled, all teeth, and brought her in for a bruising kiss. “Always.”

Turning away, I resisted the urge to fan myself. At least someone had their relationship all figured out.

“You own enough property to give them room to run,” Linus said thoughtfully. “They sleep outdoors, so Woolly’s wards won’t be an issue.” His smile was calculating, far too amused, when he said, “Boaz did suggest you hire full-time security.”

But he meant handpicking Elite loyal to him, not adopting dog-lizards who would answer only to me.

Hmm.

Maybe Hecate did listen to our prayers. This unexpected boon would certainly answer one of mine.

“You think this is wise?” So far I had an undead parakeet, a dybbuk-possessed bestie, and a ghost child living under my roof. The roof belonging to a sentient house. And Linus lived next door. Those things I could handle. But adding three watchmen into the mix? Even if they kept me from relying on sentinels? “How certain are you on a scale of one to ten?”

“An eight.” He shrugged. “I subtracted two points for the cost of feeding them and the maintenance required to clean up after them.”

I palmed my forehead. “Are you really telling me I have to buy sides of beef and shovel-sized pooper scoopers to make this work?”

A smile quirked his lips, and the others laughed like I had told the best joke ever.

“We’ll only follow you if you don’t agree,” Lethe confessed at last. “Hood’s peace of mind is worth more to us than your permission.”

Thinking of ninety percent of the people in my life, I sighed. “Then you’ll fit right in.” The trio shared a triumphant howl that made me nervous coming from human-looking throats. “You’re not going to eat me if I erase my wards, right?”

“That would be counterproductive,” Hood said, amused.

“Still, it’s been a long weekend.” Growing longer by the minute. “Humor me.”

“I vow we won’t bite you.” Hood grinned at me. “We won’t even nibble.”

Midas joined the others, and Lethe hooked her arms around their waists. “You won’t notice we’re there.”

“Okay. Fine.” I erased my sigil, and the protective barrier dissipated. “Do you want to ride with us?”

“Nah.” Lethe’s eyes sparkled as she rested her head on Hood’s shoulder. “Race you?”

An interested sound moved through his chest. “What do I get if I win?”

“The better question,” Midas interjected, “is what do I get when I win?”

The trio melted and reformed as scaled hounds, the smaller male taking the early lead while the other two bumped shoulders and watched him go before sprinting after him. Hood and Lethe embodied matehood in the same way that Neely and Cruz exemplified marriage. They personified ideals and made such lasting bonds appear as the only logical step when you couldn’t breathe without the person next to you.

Maybe that apparent ease was what made their unions burn so bright from the outside looking in. Maybe that kind of love wasn’t simple. Maybe it was a goal you strove toward every single day for the rest of your lives. A peak you never reached, but that was okay as long as you kept climbing.

Silence reigned in the parking deck, and I breathed a sigh of relief as Linus appeared at my side. “I was so put out at Strophalos.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Oh?”

“I didn’t see the bookstore until after the coffee shop. I missed my chance to browse for a souvenir.” A tired laugh rocked my shoulders. “Be careful what you wish for, huh? Looks like I won’t go home empty-handed after all.”

He started walking, and I fell in step with him. “These aren’t the kind you keep.”

“I wish I had your faith.” I beat him to the stairwell and held open the door. “Midas said ‘until the threat has passed,’ and we have no clue how long that will take.”

His silence left me wishing I could peek into his head and see what thoughts put that look on his face.

With time on our side, Linus texted Mary Alice, who forgot to mention a customer had taken her usual space. She had been forced to park on the opposite side of the level, which explained why we hadn’t spotted her van on our first pass.

Linus, who I had never so much as caught with a crust of sleep in his eye, stifled a yawn as we located our ride.

“I’ll drive.” I held out my hand for the keys. “You look beat.”

“I am tired,” he admitted, brow gathering as if the admission surprised him too. “Thank you.”

We got in, and I familiarized myself with the cockpit. I captained Amelie’s sedan once in a blue moon, so I wasn’t a total washout when it came to driving vehicles that required seat belts. But it was never as comfortable for me, even when I was a teen. And after Atramentous… Yeah. I much preferred the open air to any type of confinement.

Taking it slow and easy, I checked the mirrors to make sure we weren’t being followed as I eased out into traffic. Linus kept watch too, though his eyelids drooped lower and lower. “You never told me what the initial results on Amelie’s blood yielded.” I decided to nudge him along by talking his ear off. “Did Reardon pinpoint any magical anomalies in her blood?”

“Yes,” he murmured. “That’s why he was so insistent we continue our research.” He reclined his seat a notch and crossed his hands at his navel. “Heinz wasn’t wrong when he compared Amelie’s symptoms to that of a strained familiar bond.” His blinking slowed until his reddish-blond lashes rested against his pale cheeks. “There are unmistakable markers in her blood put there by foreign magic, but I misdirected him, let him believe any peculiarities were due to the dybbuk bond. Possessed subjects are rare, so he has no basis for comparison.”

Meaning I would live under the sword of Damocles until Linus finished collating his data.

“You mentioned exorcism as the only cure.” Ambrose was glutted with power from his kills, Linus warned me that night in the elevator, and Amelie would die if he attempted to separate them before the energy dissipated. “Does this mean we’ll have to wait until Ambrose weakens to get our answers?”

“No,” he breathed, mouth barely moving. “Design a tattoo. For me. We can test for magic transference that way.”

Traffic be damned, I whipped my head toward him. “Forget it.”

“I will act as the control variable.”

“We don’t know for sure what the first one did yet, what the dangers are to the wearers. Until we figure that out, I’m not going to let you ink yourself. Plus, you’re bonded to a wraith. You’re hardly control variable material. We can’t risk… Linus?”

A faint snore escaped his parted lips.

“Who did this to you? What made you believe you’re disposable? You’re an heir, a scion, a professor, an artist, a potentate. Those are all positions of power.” I kept going, thinking it through. “Do you think you didn’t earn those first titles? That you must keep proving yourself? Heaping on more and more of them? Will it ever be enough?”

His only response was the slackening of his fingers as they slid onto his lap.

“You are worthy, Linus Lawson. You hear me?” I reached over and squeezed his chilly hand. “Don’t die proving it to yourself.”

With him sleeping soundly beside me, I pointed us toward home, sweet home.