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“Do you have someone to go to? Your mother maybe?”
“She’s dead. She was a water sprite too. The Grey Queen had her killed when she tried to escape with me. I was going to be next. Then Raif came to get me. I couldn’t believe it. My mother never even spoke about him.”
“What will you do now?” I ask her. “Will they still be looking for you?”
She nods. “But it will be so much harder for them to find me now that my collar is gone. I really am free. Free to hide. Free to disappear from them forever.”
“I think he must have had some running away money hidden somewhere,” I tell her. “But I’m sorry. I don’t know where he hid it.”
She shows me a little key on her keyring. “A locker,” she says. “He had told me where it was, just in case.”
“You’ll be okay now?” I ask.
She nods. “Thank you. You can’t understand what this means to me.”
“I think I can,” I tell her. We hug long and hard before I leave. It feels good. It feels like hugging Raif and Lynesse too. It feels like I can breathe again.
My next stop is Agency Headquarters. I take a deep breath before walking in. This time Maxine at the reception desk is expecting me. She reminds me of the directions to the chief’s office. When I knock on his door, he gives a terse command for me to come in.
I make sure to stroll in with a little of Nemesis’s panache and give him a cheeky little grin.
He merely raises his brows at me and slides an envelope across the desk. I take a peek inside and bite my lip. It is a small stack of banknotes. More money than I have seen in a long time.
“The next one will be a check,” he tells me. “So make sure you open a bank account.”
“So there will be a next time?” I ask him. “You really are giving me my job back?”
He shakes his head. “You broke all of the rules I told you not to break.”
“How would I have solved the case otherwise?” I demand.
“You’ve got gumption, I’ll give you that.”
“And what did you mean about a check if you’re not giving me my job back?”
“Not a permanent position. But you have any more of those visions of yours, you let Storm know. If it’s worth our while, he’ll brin
g you in as a consultant. Or if he wants you on a case, he’ll give you a call. I’ve agreed with him to take it on a case-by-case basis.”
“And is Storm happy with that?” I ask anxiously.
The chief shrugs. “You’ll have to check with him.” He shows me to the door, and points me in the right direction.
Feeling nervous, I approach Storm’s office. I can see him in there, his head down as he scrutinizes a report. Remi, Leo and Monroe are sat at desks outside his office. They all turn to look at me as I approach. I offer them a smile, and place the box of cupcakes I have baked for them down on Remi’s desk.
“Peace offering?” I say.
Leo reaches for the box, but Remi snatches it away from under his hands. She opens it and smiles. She stuffs a cake into her mouth. “This is good,” she says, mumbling around the mouthful.
Leo scowls at her and she tosses him a cake, which he catches effortlessly. He sniffs it, and says, “Lemon, interesting. But it’s gonna take more than this to get back on our good side.”
“Oh, come on! I did tell you that Beatrice was a suspect. I can’t help it if you won’t listen!”
Leo rolls his eyes. “Fine. But you didn’t try hard enough. Next time find the real culprit before we arrest the slimy grieving lover.”
“I’ll try,” I say with a small smile.
Monroe is glaring at me with his arms crossed over his chest. I take a cake out of the box and offer it to him, giving him a pained expression of severe apology. “I’m really sorry about your stunbommer. I swear I’ll never do that again.”
