Page 24 of Be the Serpent

“He passed out?” asked Arden.

“Cold,” I said. “And even if he woke up, I don’t think he’s safe to drive. But I found Stacy, and I need to go get her, and we’re sort of out of room in the car. Can you please come and get him?”

She sighed, deeply. “You’re not the sea witch. You don’t get to just order me around.”

“That’s why I’m asking nicely. I can beg if you want me to. Or I can call the Luidaeg and ask her to tell me the secret hero password that makes you come and carry the man whose daughter is dead and whose wife is missing to safety.”

Arden made a small sound of irritated dismay. “Please don’t call the sea witch. I just got her out of here, and if she comes charging back, you know I’m going to have to deal with the repercussions for weeks.”

“We’re still at the house in Colma,” I said.

“Where?” she asked, and I could hear her in the hallway. Damn teleporters. They make the rest of us look slow.

“Hang on.” I clicked off the phone, sliding it back into my pocket, and yelled, “We’re in here!”

The bedroom door opened. Arden slipped inside, pausing as she looked at Mitch. “I don’t think I can lift him on my own,” she said.

“Yeah, I get that,” I said. “Simon?”

“Gladly so,” he said. “This has been a fine adventure, but I haven’t the stomach for as much of it as I once did.” He moved to pull Mitch into a sitting position, gesturing for Arden to get the man’s other side. “Please be safe, for the sake of my heart if nothing else. I know your close companions have had plenty of time to grow accustomed to the way in which you throw yourself at danger, but I’m still new to being allowed to worry openly.”

“Haven’t found anything that could kill me yet,” I said, with as much cheer as I could muster.

Arden moved into position under Mitch’s arm, the two of them hoisting the man to his feet. She looked at me flatly, lips pressed into a hard line. “Please don’t start thinking you can call every time you’re in a tight spot,” she said. “I’m happy to help, for Cass’s sake, but I have a Kingdom to run.”

“I really appreciate it, Your Majesty, and it’s not going to become a regular thing,” I said.

She nodded, sketched a circle in the air with her free hand, and was gone, taking Mitch and Simon with her. I saw a slice of the receiving room in Muir Woods through the portal before it slid closed, and the three of us were alone in a house that smelled of blood and roses.

I held my hand out to Quentin. He dropped my keys into my palm.

“Come on,” I said, and made for the hall.

They followed me through the house, none of us stopping to look at the body that resembled but wasn’t—had never been—Jessica. The Browns had been in this house for over twenty years. They’d raised five children here. They’d been happy here. And as I took my last breaths of the heavy living room air, I knew they wouldn’t be coming back any longer than it took to pack up the stuff they absolutely couldn’t do without.

We’d have one of the Bannicks in to do the cleanup—maybe Elliot from Tamed Lightning, maybe someone else—and there would be no signs that anyone had ever died here. A single Bannick is worth a dozen human crime scene cleanup teams, and the fact that Jessica’s death hadn’t alerted the human authorities meant there would be no traces of her left. Twelve years wasn’t long enough by any measure. It felt almost criminal that it would end with her total disappearance.

It couldn’t be helped. Adding a murder investigation to the agony Mitch and Stacy were already going to be experiencing wouldn’t make things better for anyone, and it would make so many things worse. I stepped out of the house for the last time, Quentin and Tybalt close behind me.

My car was parked halfway across the driveway, and Mitch’s was parked behind it, like an accusation. I winced, pausing to peer into the back seat before unlocking the driver’s-side door and sliding behind the wheel. The car still smelled faintly of fried potatoes. Had it really been so recently that the world seemed like it was going to keep making sense for the whole day? Things fall apart so quickly.

Tybalt got in next to me while Quentin took the back, and the click of seatbelts buckling was the only sound until I started the engine and pulled away, leaving the house, the blood, the mess, the mystery all behind.

It wasn’t a long drive to the Safeway where Stacy was waiting for us. I pulled into the parking lot and scanned for a space, fighting to keep my breathing slow and level. Quentin leaned up between the seats.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“Find out why she left in such a hurry, tell her there’s been an accident, and give her a ride to Muir Woods,” I said. “We all know I’m bad at this, but I’m also her best friend. She might take it better from me.”

“I can go to the Court of Cats and call for Juliet while you make the drive,” offered Tybalt. I blinked at him. We’re not joined at the hip or anything, but he rarely offers to leave me alone when there’s an emergency in process. Something about me running off and almost getting myself killed every time he takes his eyes off me causes him an unreasonable amount of stress. Maybe he didn’t see Stacy as a threat?

That would make sense. She was a thin-blooded changeling who had just suffered a terrible loss and had never shown any particular skill at either offensive magic or outright combat. Julie and I survived our childhood at Home by being meaner, faster, and less discerning than our peers. Stacy did it by being too sweet to kill, sticking to the shadows and staying out of the way whenever possible. She’d just . . . never put herself into the line of fire. If anyone was going to hurt me, it wasn’t going to be her.

“That would be fabulous,” I said. “If the two of you can meet us in Muir Woods, I’d really appreciate it.”

Tybalt nodded, a corner of his mouth quirking upward in a smile. “You’re my family now,” he said. “You’re allowed to say ‘thank you.’ ”

“Not in front of the kids.”