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He turns, looking me up and down. “You didn’t perspire.” His teeth are crooked and tea-stained, his smile downright gleeful.
“What?” I can’t believe this. The room has no window and no other door. Just that idiot butler, grinning at me.
“I led you around the entire manor carrying at least twelve stone’s worth of demon. And you look as fresh as you did when you got out of the car. You’re not human. Oh, he’s going to be so pleased.” Jeeves clears his throat, trying to regain some of his decorum. “We do not do business with demons. I’m afraid you’ll be joining us instead of getting paid.”
Doug has stopped pretending to be unconscious. I set him down and take a step toward the bars. “See, here’s the problem, Jeeves.”
He bristles. “My name is Smith.”
“Good to know, Jeeves. Here’s the problem. I’m not a demon.” I punch straight through the panel he pushed, grabbing and pulling out the wires. They spark and sputter … and nothing happens with the door.
“Nuts,” I mutter. It would have been so cool. Jeeves smirks at me.
“Wait,” Doug murmurs. He puts a hand on my shoulder and I stop where I was about to reach down and try to bend the bars by hand. “Listen, Jeeves. Go fetch your boss. He’ll want to talk to us.”
Jeeves sniffs dismissively. “I am going to announce your presence, but not because you requested it. I do not work for you.”
“Yeah, my butler is way better at his job.” I fold my arms petulantly.
“Handsomer, too. The way he fills out his waistcoat. Mm-hmm.” Doug nods, smiling dreamily.
“And did you see the dust on this wainscoting? I’m embarrassed for Jeeves just thinking about it. Righto, chap, stiff upper lip and all that. Not every butler can be a good one these days.”
He harrumphs away.
“What is wainscoting?” Doug asks.
“No idea. Why didn’t you want me to rip the door off? I’m pretty sure I can. Or I can go through the wall again.” I rub my shoulder in anticipation of the pain.
“I’m not defenseless. I can weaponize happiness if I need to. Between the two of us, we can leave anytime. But breaking out right now will draw attention and we won’t get any info. Let’s meet this bloke, get a feel for what’s really going on here and whether he’s the nameless one that has the demonic community so shook up. Maybe he’s reasonable. Maybe he’s not. Either way, we’ll have more info than we came with. Break out now and we detoured for nothing.”
“Ugh. That all makes sense.” I don’t want it to. I sit in the middle of the floor and pull out my cell phone. I almost dial my mother, then change my mind and dial my safest option. Cillian.
“Nina?” He sounds bored. “Shop is dead, as usual. How’s things in London?”
“Um, fine. We got a kitten.”
“A kitten? No! You didn’t! Oh my god, I’m so excited. What does it look like? I’ve been brainstorming perfect kitten names for years. But I think I need to see it in person first. Don’t they say that? You need to see the baby before you can name it?”
“Well, they might say that. About babies. But this is definitely a kitten. Orange. Female.” I lower the phone. “The kitten’s going to be okay in the car, right?”
“It’s not that cold,” Doug says. “She’ll be fine.”
I switch back to Cillian. “Anyway, I wanted to check in. See how everyone is.”
“Jade’s a right nightmare. Please take her with you next time. I wasn’t even going to come into the shop today, but I couldn’t handle another minute of her barking orders. Rhys barricaded himself in the library with his grandma. Your mother was sharpening blades in the gym last I saw. Everyone’s fine. Any luck at the convention?”
“It was … surprising. Sean attacked. I think. Might not have been Sean. It’s complicated.” So very complicated.
“What? Are you all right? Should I call Rhys?”
“Nah. I handled it.” Mostly. Not at all, really. “Anyway, we’re making sure Doug’s cousin gets home safely, so we’ll be later than originally planned. Let the others know? I’ll text when we’re ready to head back.”
“Sounds good.” He pauses. “You sure you’re all right?”
I pause too. Cillian’s my friend. I could talk to him about Artemis. He won’t judge her. But why am I so worried about people judging her? She’s the one making reckless choices.
It’s a sister thing, I think. I can be pissed off at her and judge her and we’ll still be sisters. And she knows that. So it won’t stop her from coming home.
