“There’s no way we can report Eastman without him finding out first. He’s got too many friends there, all up and down the chain of command. I had to cash in a ton of favors just to get the help we needed from the lab, and now—”
“What lab?” I ask.
Casey sighs and pushes her hands through her hair, the stress of the night finally catching up with her. “Kirin, as I explained before, there’s alotyou don’t know.”
“So you keep saying. Why don’t you enlighten us?”
Ignoring this, she turns back to Quintana. “Even if we could find a way to get a message to someone at London HQ, there’s no guarantee they can help us, and certainly not quickly. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, guys, but the world is kind of a shit show right now.”
Baz opens his arms, sweeping them across the rubble formerly known as the library storage room. “You think?”
“London has their hands full,” she says, “trying to keep witches and mages from being executed en masse by mundane law enforcement and vigilante mobs whose idea of fun is hacking into the magickal registration database and torching the homes of anyone on record.”
I let out a gasp. “Are you serious?”
“That’s the latest report from outside,” Quintana confirms, his voice grim. He kicks a chunk of concrete, sending it across the room. “Casey’s right—London can’t help us. If we want to take Eastman down and protect Arcana Academy, that’s on us.”
“Awesome.” Baz grins and rubs his hands together. “When do we get guns?”
“Youdon’t,” Casey says, glaring daggers at us both. “You two need to get back to Red Sands and wait for us there. I mean it this time. You nearly got yourselves killed tonight.” Then, through the ghost of a smile I haven’t seen in so long, I almost forgot what it looks like, she says, “But thanks for the assist.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Assist?”
“All right, fine. The save. Thanks for the save. Happy now?”
“Happy enough,” I say, stopping just short of hugging her.
“Glad to hear it.” Casey’s smile drops, and she points toward the exit, all business once again. “Now I want you and rock-boy here to get the hell back to Red Sands before I kill you both and write it up as an accident.”
Sixteen
STEVIE
I open my eyes to find Doc kneeling on the floor beside the bed in nothing but his boxers, my hand in a vice grip, his head bowed as if he’s praying.
Not wanting to startle him, I squeeze his hand gently and whisper his name.
“Stevie?” He blinks up at me, sleep and confusion still marring his gaze. But then it comes—a clearing of his eyes, a slow smile breaking across his lips, the relief flooding his energy.
He kisses my hand, my arm, my neck, all the way up to my mouth. Then, taking my face between his hands, he shakes his head. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“How long have you been awake?” I ask.
“Twenty of the longest minutes of my life. I couldn’t risk trying to wake you. I thought maybe you’d gone back looking for Ani, or that you’d… That the river had finally…” He closes his eyes as a shudder rattles through his bones. “Goddess, you scared me half to death.”
“I’m right here.” I lean up and press another kiss to his lips. “We’re both here. It’s okay.”
“Judgment ordered you to drink from the Chalice. I saw the blood on your face, and then you were falling, and I couldn’t reach you. I swam as hard and fast as I could, but it wasn’t enough… His voice just kept echoing in my skull. ‘You did this, Cassius Devane. You did this to her.’”
A tear tracks down his cheek, but I swipe it away with my thumb.
“It wasn’t Judgment who gave me the Chalice, Doc. It was my Princess of Cups. At least, that’s how it happened in my version. But I knew it must’ve been different for you—I saw his mark on your chest.”
“Tell me everything,” he says.
“Well, you and I were walking along the riverbank when we found that weird glowing cave. That part you remember, right?”
“Yes, but then you vanished. You literally vanished out of my grasp. I searched all along the river for you.”
