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Sixty hours. So that's what he was busy with when we weren't out on the hunt together. I had wondered, and it came as a shameful relief to know he wasn’t with one of the other recruits. At least until I realized that meant he’d been spending an excess of alone time with Baker…
I shook it off. It didn’t matter what—or who—he did with his free time. I was his teacher. His hunting partner. Nothing more and nothing less.
I’d expected the challenge would be convincing him of that. Not myself.
"I'm not opposed,” I told him. “I was just curious."
He said nothing, so I walked outside toward the garage. When we reached my car, I tossed him the keys.
He caught them, looking up at me in confusion. "What's this?"
"You're driving," I answered. "Figured we could use a change of pace."
He hesitated. "I don't know if I remember how. Or if I even drove before.”
"I guess we'll find out, then, won't we?" I asked, getting into the car on the passenger’s side.
Eddie got in a moment after me, starting it up and staring at the wheel like it was going to bite him. "What if we get pulled over? I don't have a license."
"Then I'll take care of it." That earned an even more concerned look, so I sighed and took the badge out of my pocket and tossed it to him.
He opened the leather badge holder and blinked at the silver badge and card inside. "This is my picture. A federal marshal?"
"Congratulations," I said, smirking. "You're also a reporter, a homicide detective, and a father of two from Monaco who drives trucks, but Sturge isn't done with those yet."
"Sturge?" he echoed.
"Our counterfeiter."
"Of course," he scoffed, pulling out of the garage. "And what are you, FBI?"
"When I need to be," I said, watching the picturesque countryside grounds of the Abbey pass by through the window. Being a passenger wasn't that bad, even if it did take a gargantuan effort to give up control. Especially when my car was on the line. "See? It's coming back to you."
"I guess," he said, keeping his hands on the wheel and his eyes fixed ahead. I wasn't sure if that was just because he hadn't driven in a while, or because he naturally drove like someone's grandma, but neither would have surprised me. "So, where are we going?"
"Downtown," I said with a shrug. "It’s a weekend, so there's bound to be something."
He nodded and fell silent again. In the beginning, I'd wanted nothing more than for him to shut up, so I had no idea why it bothered me so much now that he finally had.
Maybe I just missed his voice. As far as he'd come and as much as he'd changed, his voice hadn't. It was still soft and gentle, just like him. Now, it just had a guarded edge to it whenever he was around me, but sometimes I'd come up on him with the other recruits when he didn't realize I was there and hear him laughing and talking, sounding almost like his old animated self.
In a way, I was happy his strange behavior was limited to me. In another way, I wasn't.
"The Order has been quiet lately," I said, mostly just to fill the void. When the hell had I become one of those people who couldn't stand a moment's silence?
"Yeah," he agreed. "I guess. You think they're planning something?"
"They're always planning something," I said. "It's just a matter of when and what."
He didn't say anything for a minute and I was about to give up on trying to keep the conversation going when he asked, "That guy who cornered us. He's their leader, right?"
"Atticus? In a sense," I answered. "He's the head general, which means he controls the troops, but technically speaking, the head of the Order itself is the mother superior, Mother Cerise."
"And she's Father Marius's sister?"
"His twin, actually."
"How did that happen?"
