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Phil laughed and clapped her hands. But my small flicker of triumph died when I turned and saw Mrs. Gainsley standing in the room’s other doorway. A rush of cold shot through me.
Had she seen me do that magicking? Forcing Derek away from me?
Her expression gave no sign either way. “Miss Hallowell,” she said, “since it appears your father will be gone for tomorrow, I wondered if you wanted some say in the kitchen’s meal planning.”
“Oh,” I said. “Yes, sure, that would be nice. I’ll go down and talk to them directly in the morning, though. I’m sure you’ve got enough keeping you busy without that too.”
She nodded and turned to go, leaving my skin prickling. I made a quick motion behind my back to dissolve any trace of my spell from Derek’s body. As satisfying as the idea of laying him low with some magical illness was, another witch would be able to sense my influence. Might even be able to trace it directly back to me.
I had all the magic I could have wanted in me, but until I could use it openly, I couldn’t rely on it to save me.
Chapter Fourteen
Rose
The second I saw Kyler standing in the middle of Jin’s gallery, I threw myself into his arms.
“Hey!” he said, hugging me back. “It’s okay. I’m here now. No worse for wear, either.”
“I was so worried.” I pressed my face into the soft fabric of his cotton tee. Hewashere, lean and solid in my arms. The tension in my chest that hadn’t quite ebbed even when I’d gotten his text this morning finally released.
“All’s well that ends well?” Jin suggested.
“Nothing has ended yet,” Seth said.
Damon was rolling his eyes when I drew back from Ky. “Thank you, Mr. Gloom and Doom. We all needed that reminder.”
We’d gathered here in the gallery before, but somehow it felt more ominous today with the shade cutting out most of the spring sunlight from outside and the tang of paint faint but sharp in the air. Maybe because Ky’s smile at seeing me had already fallen into a frown.
When even my normally cheerful guy looked a little gloomy, something was really wrong. He hadn’t told us anything about what he’d found out in Seattle yet—or why he’d gotten so nervous he’d decided it was safer not to contact any of us until he was back in town.
“Is Gabriel coming?” he asked. “I think he’s involved enough that he should hear this too.”
I nodded. “He left a little earlier, but he was going to take a round-about route so it wouldn’t be obvious he was coming into town at the same time as me. I’m sure—”
A knock on the door came before I had to say he’d be there soon. Jin leapt to let Gabriel in.
Gabriel came to join us in our loose circle—a circle closer and more at ease than the one he’d entered a week ago, but still off-balance with him in our midst.
He didn’t seem to let it faze him. He turned to Ky right away, with his familiar easy confidence. “So what did you dig up in Seattle?”
“Yes,” I said, refocusing on that urgent concern. “Whathappened?”
Ky grinned crookedly. “Nothing really. Mostly my own paranoia. I think your Assembly must have some kind of magical detection system in their computer network. Right after I got into one of the more secure sections, they kicked me out and sent some guys to take a look in the coffee shop where I was working. But I got out of there fast. I waited to come home until I was sure they hadn’t connected the unexpected activity to me. We should be safe.”
“You went all the way out to Seattle and came back with nothing?” Damon said, folding his arms over his chest.
“Hey,” Gabriel said mildly. “It’s not like any of the rest of us would have gottenanywherewith that network, let alone far enough in to scare them. That’s fucking impressive.”
Kyler shot Gabriel a smile and cut a look toward Damon. “And I didn’t say I got nothing.” But then he hesitated, a shadow crossing his face. My gut knotted.
“What is it, Ky?” I said.
He looked at the floor and then at me. There was so much pain mixed with the affection in his gaze that the knots inside me pulled achingly tight.
“I don’t think you’re ever going to be able to tell anyone about our consorting, Rose,” he said quietly. “Even if there are people who’d be okay with it, the ones who aren’t… I only managed to recover one of the most secure records, but it was about a witch who got involved with a guy who wasn’t one. Someone in the Justice Division of the Assembly arranged to have themkilled.”
In the wake of that word, silence blared through the room. It took me a few seconds to find my tongue. “Killed?” I repeated. “You mean they just…”
