Page 63 of Locked in Wonderland

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I met you once before coming here. How am I supposed to remember that?”

“Ravenscar.”

“When is a crow not a crow?” Harlan’s riddle suddenly made perfect sense. When it was a goddamn raven.

I thought back over every reaction I’d gotten to the tattoo: the surprise, the comments about how unusual it was, Donovan’s fear when he’d seen it. “How many other people have you marked?”

Nico took a long time to answer. Long enough that I suspected he was considering a lie. “None.”

“Right.”

“Now do you feel special?”

I didn’t know how I felt beyond thoroughly confused. This conversation was a lot to process. “None of this changes anything,” I said slowly. “I have a boyfriend. One I care an awful lot about. He’s my only priority.”

Nico stared at me for several seconds. Then he threw his head back and laughed.

I immediately bristled. “It’s not funny.”

“Oh, I agree.” He shook his head. “It’s a long way from funny. You’ve really got it bad for him, haven’t you?” His tone held something I couldn’t quite identify. “I’m impressed.”

The comment made no sense. “Impressed by what?”

“By―”

The ringing of his phone cut him off. Even though there wasn’t anyone in particular I wanted to call, I suddenly missed having a phone. I had family, but none I spoke to regularly. I doubted anyone had even realized I was missing yet. The thought was oddly unsettling. Should I have told someone I was coming here? Given the events of the past few days, that probably would have been a good idea.

Nico glanced at the screen and grimaced. “I have to take this.”

He moved away to answer, keeping his voice low. Only the occasional word drifted back to me. It left me mulling over everything he’d told me.

When he finally ended the call, he began pulling on the rest of his clothes. “Work,” he said without looking at me. “Unfortunately, it’s unavoidable. There’s a situation that needs dealing with.”

“Can’t someone else handle it?”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. Kellan, maybe.”

The smile that crossed Nico’s face as he pulled on his jacket suggested he found the idea deeply amusing. “Kellan creates messes,” he said. “He doesn’t fix them.”

“And you do?”

The smile faded slightly. “That’s my job. Keeping things running smoothly. Making sure no one steps out of line.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

Nico gave me a hard look, as though searching for mockery in my voice.

“It is. And I took the last however many hours off.”

“What about me?” I asked. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Stay here. Make yourself at home.” He gestured vaguely toward the kitchen. “I stocked up a couple of days ago, so there’s food in the fridge. The living room has a TV. I can’t promise there will be anything worth watching on the channels we get here, but you can always try.”

He picked up his keys. “I’ll be back in a few hours, and then we can talk properly.”

“I thought we had talked.”