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"Fine, I'll go with Jack, and-"
"That doesn't work for me either. "
I laughed drily. "Okay then, I'll click my heels together three times and say, 'There's no place like the Center, there's no place like the Center,' and then magically appear there!"
He was quiet for a few seconds. "You'll probably be safer with Reth. " It sounded like he was speaking through clenched teeth. "And I can keep a better eye on Jack. "
"Well, I for one am thrilled to spend more time with Lend. That's the top of my Fun Things to Do list. We should come up with a secret handshake!" Jack said, pushing me to the side and throwing the door open, which resulted in Lend falling to the floor immediately unconscious. "Oh, whoops. " Jack smiled, his eyes gleaming. "Too bad. I like him so much when he's talking. "
"Very funny. Keep him safe, okay? I don't think Raquel's in the Iron Wing-she would have heard me shouting. Look anywhere you can think of. They might have her in a random room somewhere. We'll meet in Raquel's old office in two hours, whether we've found anything or not. "
He nodded, not looking at me as he poked Lend repeatedly with his foot.
"And, Jack? That threat Reth made about your hands? I'm going to apply it to Lend, too. Keep him safe. Or else. "
I took one last long look at Lend, wanting to touch him but knowing it'd only make me feel worse because he couldn't touch me back. Then Arianna wished us luck, and I went downstairs and out the door, where Reth was waiting, hand outstretched. He was holding Tasey, the rhinestones sparkling in the early morning light. "You dropped this in the Faerie Realms. It seemed a pity to part you two. "
I wrapped my fingers around my trusty friend, maliciously hoping I'd get the chance to use her on someone.
Chapter Twenty-Three
PLAN T
You have no idea where Anne's office is?" I asked, grouchy and beyond footsore, seriously envying Jack's completely healed feet. We'd already been here for an hour and had nothing to show for it other than a few close calls with security patrols. I'd figured since I couldn't check every room for Raquel, searching Anne-Whatever Whatever's office for records was my next best bet.
"Surprisingly enough, I do not make a habit of concerning myself with the locations of offices of people I neither know nor care anything for. "
"I thought you had some big vendetta against IPCA for controlling you. "
"Have you seen anyone who ever once used my name against me? Present company excepted. "
I frowned, checking around a corner to a hall that was, as usual, empty. This was so much less exciting than I had been afraid it would be. Reth walked calmly forward, never pausing, never frantically checking over his shoulder.
I wondered what he did to those poor suckers who had trapped him with his true name. I almost asked, but honestly, I didn't really want to know. "Wait-you didn't do anything to Raquel. " I inwardly cringed. Raquel had used his name against him, and there I went reminding him.
"Hmm. An uncharacteristic oversight. "
I snorted. "Yeah, mister always has a plan, you're constantly missing details. " I shouldn't push the issue lest I convince him that he still had some vengeance waiting, but I couldn't help it. It was so unlike him.
He waved an elegant hand through the air as though brushing off my observation. "Some things are beneath my attention. "
"Liar. "
He stopped short, and I walked a few paces before realizing he wasn't beside me anymore. I turned and found myself sucked into his golden gaze.
"You are quite blind sometimes, my love. "
"What do you mean by that?" I snapped. Then my jaw dropped as he actually rolled his perfect, gigantic-bordering-on-anime golden eyes. That was so not a faerie gesture. "You just rolled your eyes!"
"It would appear you are a negative influence after all. " He walked past me and I scurried to catch up.
But it had me thinking. I knew for a fact that on at least one occasion Raquel had directly screwed up his turn-Evie-into-a-fiery-immortal plans. If that didn't get her on his hit list, I didn't know what would. I looked at Reth, wondering if he'd left Raquel alone just because of what she meant to me. That line of thought made me feel strange and squirmy inside. It was easier for me to dismiss him when he was unquestionably a jerk. But he'd helped me so much, even if some of it was underhanded and calculating. I didn't know how to sort it all out in my head and my heart.
We hit a hallway that I knew contained a records storage room. Maybe it listed where they kept employees waiting for disciplinary hearings. I couldn't palm it open. "Any way you can open this door?"
Looking utterly and completely bored, he put a hand up to the door and pulled it back as though burned. "Iron. "
"Brilliant. I can't unlock them, you can't get in them. We're useless. "
