What if she needs all the help she can get?
Grimacing, I reach for my phone again.
“What now?” Professor Raith says when he answers, but there’s a rough edge to his voice that sounds more like worry than frustration.
“Something’s up with Elodie. Message Worth, and all of you get your asses here fast. I’ll meet you at the corner of Samson and Verdane.”
I hang up before he can pitch a fit about it, since that seems to be his default mode. At least Worth is likelier to respond to the professor’s summons than mine.
As I wait for the rest of Elodie’s matches to catch up, I stalk farther down the street to the intersection I mentioned. A line of people in clubwear stretches from a boxy building with neon paint splattered across its black walls.
I don’t know why Elodie would have decided it’s a good time to go dancing, especially without asking me along, but she’s around that building somewhere.
Several of the people in the line are giving off lucent vibes. Not what I’d expect this far from prime magical territory, but the place must have developed a reputation.
The Raith brothers show up first. The professor marches over from his car with brisk strides while Asher tags along at his heels.
Professor Raith follows my gaze toward the dance club and the businesses on either side of it. “She camehere?”
He must be able to sense her presence as well as I can.
“Or someone brought her here,” I point out.
Who can say how willing a participant she was in the trip?
The uncertainty has me shifting impatiently on my feet. Why can’t I run in there and mow down all the pricks who might have hurt her?
Because she might be there on purpose and I’ll fuck that purpose up.
Worth shows up only a few minutes behind the Raiths. He lopes to join us, his face even darker than usual with ominous concern. “Do you have any idea what she’s doing?”
As many complaints as I could make about the Worth prince, at least he seems to take Elodie’s safety nearly as seriously as I do.
I shake my head. “Not so far. Let’s see what we can find out.”
Professor Raith glowers at the buildings ahead of us. “She could be just burning off some steam.”
Asher’s mouth slants doubtfully. “She didn’t seem like she was in a partying mood when she left.”
“If she wanted us to join her, I’d imagine she’d have extended the invitation.”
“Not if she was kidnapped, you snuffer,” I snap.
Worth flexes his hands at his sides. “I don’t know… She mentioned a dance club to me once. Someplace Grady Tadros had talked about. She could be investigating.”
I huff. “Without us? She shouldn’t be going anywhere near those murderous assholes without a little backup.”
Professor Raith takes a step forward. “I’ll go have a look. The rest of you stay here and keep out of trouble.”
I shove in front of him. “No fucking way. If Ithought this was a one-person job, I wouldn’t have called you three in to begin with. If she needs us, she might needallof us.”
Worth knits his brow. “It’ll make more of a commotion, all of us together. We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile.”
For fuck’s sake. Suddenly it’s not so hard to imagine why Elodie would have left us all behind when this is how we’ve been acting around her.
A punch of shame sears through my gut and into my voice. “We’resupposedto be protecting our match ahead of anything else. You all think I’m a loose cannon with psychotic tendencies and criminal habits, but guess what even criminals have figured out: Sometimes you have to work together to get a thing done right. So why don’t we stop arguing and find out what our match needs? If we hadn’t been fighting so much in the first place, maybe she wouldn’t have run off alone.”
All three of the guys stare at me like I just spouted the entire Declaration of Independence. Obviously they didn’t think I was capable of making a reasonable point.
