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I clutched Jesse and stared at the Consul. “You took your time!”
“If we are to be allies, I had to be certain that you are strong enough to be an asset,” she replied serenely. “I assume you have the spell to break the geis memorized?”
“I know who does,” I replied.
“And that would be?”
“The mage Pritkin. I…told it to him.”
She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t call me on the obvious lie. “You had best hurry, then. He was battling another mage in the lobby earlier. I do not think he was winning.”
I started for the stairs but was called back by Jesse’s cry. “What about Mom?”
I looked at the Consul. “If we’re to be allies, I’d think you could trust me.”
She looked at me for a long minute, then released her hold on Tami. “Do not disappoint me, Pythia.”
The tone was menacing, but it was the first time she’d ever used my title. On balance, I decided it was a positive step. I picked up my skirts and ran.
Chapter 28
I woke up in an unfamiliar bed in a posh room painted a soft, muted blue. The curtains were tightly drawn, so I assumed it was daylight outside because a vampire sat beside my bed. “You ran into the wall,” Sal said, looking up from buffing her nails. “It was real embarrassing.”
I sat up and immediately regretted it. Everything hurt. “I did not.”
“Yeah, you really did. Bam! Out like a light. Not that you weren’t pretty close already.”
I felt my head and, sure enough, there was a big, fat bruise. “I feel like shit.”
“You look worse. On the plus side, we won the battle. And what you did with those two mages was pretty cool.”
“So, you’re saying what? I’m breaking even?”
“Just about.” She laid something hard and cold on my chest. “A little girl dropped this off for you. Said to tell you that your necklace is haunted.”
I wrapped my fist around the familiar weight and felt the brief energy sizzle that told me Billy was in residence, soaking up energy. “I know,” I said tearfully. “The kids are all right, then?”
“I guess.” She grimaced. “There seem to be a lot of them around.”
“And Françoise and Radella and—”
“What do I look like? The six o’clock news? Ask the mage if you want to know.”
“Pritkin! How is—”
“He’s fine. After you took a nosedive, the Consul sent Marlowe after him. Turns out, he didn’t need the help. He’d already killed the guy.”
I swallowed and lay back. Nick. She meant Nick. And Pritkin had had to kill him because I’d been stupid enough to hand Nick the answer to all his dreams. Or at least, he’d probably thought so. I remembered his face when he’d told me that the Codex was the key to ultimate power. Too bad he hadn’t understood—the power didn’t go to us.
“I need to see him,” I told Sal.
“Good.” She got up and stretched, and her cat suit told me that I was a pain in the ass in big purple letters. “Because he’s really starting to get on my nerves.”
“He’s here?”
Sal rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah. And I don’t know how you put up with him.”
“He kinda grows on you.”
