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I took a moment to lift Clementine's hand and examine the fancy watch on her wrist that I'd noticed earlier. Mother-of-pearl face, diamonds all around, silverstone band. It was a nice bit of bling. Once I had memorized what it looked like, I let go of her hand. Then I grabbed my knives from where they had landed on the walkway and put them back into their appropriate slots.
When I was finished, I turned and grinned at what was left of the Barker crew. "The family that steals together dies together. Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of folks. "
The only sound was the ripple of the river as I shuffled out of the boathouse to go find my friends.
Chapter 28
Not only did my entire body ache, but I was also bone-weary from using up all of my magic in my fight against Clementine, so it took me the better part of five minutes to hobble my way back up the hill to the museum.
I'd almost reached the side entrance when a gust of magic swept through the air.
In my experience, sudden bursts of unknown magic were almost never good, so I immediately stepped off the path and plunged into the shadows of the gardens. I stopped a moment to look and listen, but I didn't hear any footsteps hurrying my way. No leaves rustling, no branches snapping, nothing that would indicate that someone was headed in my direction. Well, if they weren't going to come to me, I'd just have to sneak up on them, broken ribs and all.
I tiptoed through the gardens, careful not to rustle the honeysuckle vines that seemed to wind over, through, and around everything, along with the briars. It wasn't hard, given how slowly I was moving, but I gritted my teeth, pushed the pain away, and kept going. Finally, I reached a spot in the garden where I could see the side entrance. I crouched down, even though it caused my ribs to ache even more, and peered around a cluster of bonsai trees.
A middle-aged dwarf sat on the top step at the side entrance, her back as tall and straight as if she were a queen perching on a throne. She wore a very nice suit jacket in a soft, cotton-candy pink, and her matching skirt stopped just past her knees. Her legs were bare, and dainty white sandals encased her feet, although I could see the shimmer of hot-pink polish on her toes through the slits in the shoes. A string of pearls hung around her neck. The moonlight made the stones gleam the same color as her white-blond hair.
Even sitting outside a crime scene, Jolene "Jo-Jo" Deveraux managed to look every inch the elegant southern lady she was. My worry vanished, and I sighed with relief - especially since Jo-Jo had Phillip with her.
He was lying flat on the stone step. Eva was there too, holding his hand and sitting on the other side of him. Jo-Jo murmured something to Eva that I couldn't hear, then reached for her power. Once again, the feel of her Air magic danced along the night breeze, pricking my skin like hundreds of tiny, invisible needles. The sensation made me wince, but I kept quiet and stayed where I was, not wanting to break the dwarf's concentration.
Jo-Jo's eyes glowed milky white in the semidarkness, and the same light coated the palm of her hand. She leaned over Phillip and went to work. Up and down, back and forth. Jo-Jo moved her hand over Phillip's chest again and again. A few seconds later, I heard something plink onto the stone step; Jo-Jo had grabbed hold of the oxygen in the air and had used it to fish the bullet out of his body. Now she'd be circulating even more oxygen through the wound and using all of those molecules to pull the rough edges of his skin back together. I knew, because she'd done the exact same thing to me more times than I could remember.
Five more minutes passed before Jo-Jo dropped her hand, and the pale glow finally faded from her eyes.
"All better now," Jo-Jo said, reaching over to pat Eva's hand. "He should wake up in a few minutes. "
Then she turned and looked in my direction as though she could see right through the trees I was still crouched behind. "You can come on out now, darling," she said. "I believe it's your turn now, anyway. "
"Jo-Jo?" Eva asked. "Who are you talking to?"
"You'll see. "
I straightened up and trudged out from behind the bonsai trees. It took me a minute to walk over to the elemental and another one still to ease up the steps, but I managed it.
"I hate that I can never sneak up on you," I teased. "You always took all the fun out of playing hide-and-seek when I was a kid. "
Jo-Jo smiled, the lines on her face grooving even deeper into her skin and adding to the welcoming warmth in her clear, colorless eyes. "Well, it's nice to know that my Air magic is good for something besides patching up folks. Besides, I like keeping an eye on you. Someone has to. "
A gasp sounded, and I looked at Eva, who was staring at me with wide eyes.
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p; "Gin?" she asked.
I grinned at her. "Back from the dead. Again. "
"Gin!"
She got to her feet, threw her arms around me, and hugged me tight. I winced as more pain exploded in my ribs, but I managed to choke down my discomfort enough to return her hug.
Eva drew back and looked me over. "But . . . but how?"
"I'll tell you all about it later," I said. "Right now, I'd like to let Jo-Jo patch me up, if it's okay with you. Clementine got a few good licks in on me before I managed to take her out. "
Eva helped me sit down on the step next to the dwarf. Jo-Jo eyed me, taking in my ruined dress, my cuts and bruises, and the dried blood that flaked off my skin with every move I made.
"I would ask if you had a rough night," she murmured. "But I think that's pretty self-evident. "
