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And then I reentered what was becoming familiar darkness, praying that I wouldn’t rematerialize in a gutter, or hanging off a building, or splattered on the ground below from an impact the box wasn’t rated to withstand.
Or with a war mage’s boot on my jugular.
But I didn’t. A few minutes later, I materialized half buried in a pile of trash. Along with a wild-eyed fake war mage with an apple peel hanging off his head and an unconscious demon lord.
Who promptly face planted again, into a pile of something nasty.
But a second after that, Rosier was back in his little home, and Red and I were scrambling out of the back of the cart. And pelting through the rainy streets of Victorian London. And trying not to double over in hysterical laughter, which is hard when you’re tripping balls and having to restrain yourself from mooning all the clueless mages milling around the streets behind you.
And then Red did it anyway, while I hugged a light post and laughed and laughed and laughed. Until I couldn’t breathe. Until he looked at me and shook his head. “Yer about ’alf gone, arn’cha?”
“Way, way more than half,” I gasped.
“Then yer orter fit right in.”
“Fit right in where?”
He grinned.
Chapter Twenty-two
I made it back to the suite, hours later, sans Rosier. I’d had to leave him at the pub, in Red’s tender care, because even after some food and rest I hadn’t been able to shift two. I was kind of surprised I’d been able to shift one, which was why I was relieved to see nobody in the atrium when I returned. Except for Rico, leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette.
“Is it late?” I asked hopefully. Because for once it would be really nice to be able to sneak back inside and change before anyone—read Marco—saw me.
“You mean, is he up yet?” Rico asked, letting out a smoky breath.
I sighed.
“The answer is yes,” he told me. And then flashed a set of strong white teeth. “But he isn’t here.”
I felt my spine relax slightly, and then I felt bad. Marco had a shitty job, and he was only doing his best. I knew that.
“Can you deal with this?” I asked, sticking out my arm, where the mage’s magical cuff still dangled. I could shift out of
the regular kind, but these were a bitch.
Rico took a look at it, and then pulled a little case out from inside his leather jacket. And didn’t even raise a brow at the request. Or at the massive amount of dirt I’d dragged in with me. Or at my naked feet protruding from the bottom of the grimy coat.
I watched him work and wondered, not for the first time, what it would take to ruffle Rico’s perpetual cool. Unlike most of the other guys, I’d never seen him lose it. I’d also never seen him in a suit.
The other guards wore them religiously, probably something to do with keeping up the dignity of their house. Except for Marco, who preferred comfort to pride, and his beloved polos. But Rico preferred a combo of black tee, black jeans, and black leather jacket. It made him look like an updated, better-looking version of the Fonz, right down to the ability with all things mechanical.
An ability that held true again, when the cuff almost immediately sprang off my wrist.
“Where is Marco?” I asked, rubbing it gratefully, because he haunted the suite more than a certain ghost I knew.
“Shopping.”
“Shopping?” Marco was a senior-level master. They didn’t shop. They had people to do that for them. “For what?”
Rico’s lip twitched. “Go in and see.”
I looked from him to the large, ornate door of the suite. And suddenly wished I was back at the Bollocks with Rosier. And how sad was that? When a dirty, smelly, freezing pub was better than my life?
Get a grip, Cassie, I told myself. It’s probably not a catastrophe this time. I mean, what were the odds, right?
But I just kept on standing there, my hand on the door latch, not pushing it. Because I couldn’t deal with another thing tonight; I just couldn’t. The trip back had taken everything I had, and even then I hadn’t been sure I was going to make it. Yet, somehow, I had to come up with more Tears, and I had a court to take care of now, and then there was Jonas and my acolytes and freaking Ares, and I just couldn’t deal with one more thing—
