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He brushed past me into the living room and I grabbed his arm, but he shrugged me off.
“David, she would have died whether we were there or not. I think she died because she went to see the collection.”
He spun around to glare at me. “You don’t know that for sure. Thosethingsmade sure to prolong her torture until you showed up. There was definitely a personal tie there.”
I swallowed the lump of guilt in my throat. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say. I’d do anything to change it.”
He released a heavy sigh and then pulled me against his chest. “I’m sorry, Ellie. I know this isn’t your fault. If anyone is to blame, it’s Collin Dailey. He fucked up everything when he walked into your restaurant and broke the curse.” His voice hardened. “Her death is onhishead.” He leaned back and looked down into my eyes. “So, no. We willnotbe using that wanker’s help.”
I nodded, biting back tears. “Okay. No Collin.”
His eyes softened. “Thank you.”
Fundamentally, I disagreed with his request, but he was right about Collin’s culpability. Ultimately, Allison was dead because Collin had broken the curse. But I could take it a step further and say I was partially responsible for not learning enough to stop him. Ahone may have stolen my memories of the curse, but I flat out refused to relearn anything about it. And after Collin had confessed that Ahone had convinced him to do it, I couldn’t help but feel sympathetic. I wondered what I would have done if a duplicitous god had approached me and tried to convince me that breaking the curse was best for all concerned. Would I have fallen for it too?
But I couldn’t make David endure Collin’s presence. I’d already put him through enough, and he alone had an invitation to see the collection. We didn’t need Collin for that. While I struggled to convince myself it was a good plan, I knew in my gut it wasn’t. I needed Collin there—weneeded him, whether David wanted to admit it or not.
David was right about one thing. He’d graduated to a new level last night. He was no longer a tagalong assistant; he was a partner, whether he had magical powers or not. A good team was made up of people with various skills and talents. We needed to focus on David’s strengths and put them to the test the next morning.
“So what’s your plan?” I asked.
“Tomorrow morning, you’ll stay here while I go to Charlotte.”
I put my hands on my hips, glaring at him. “I’m going to Charlotte with you, David. If you even think about trying to go without me, I’ll just rent a car and follow you.” He started to protest and I held up my hand. “And I know the address now—I saw it over your shoulder when you were looking up the driving directions—so don’t think I won’t do it.”
“I’m supposed to go alone, Ellie.”
“It doesn’t mean I can’t go to Charlotte with you.”
He looked unconvinced.
“Do you really want me to be two hours away from you? We both know how many of these creatures are out there right now. What if they attack me while you’re gone?” I purposely avoided reminding him about my new protectors, purchased through my blood oath.
And that was what finally swayed him. My safety, not his own.
Since his meeting was at ten in the morning and the drive to Charlotte was two and a half hours, we decided to get up early and leave by six thirty to make sure he wouldn’t be late if we ran into traffic. We looked up the address online and checked out satellite images of the office building and the surrounding area.
The office was in an industrial area, which made it sketchier. When we looked up the addresses of the offices around it, we discovered that many of the businesses had closed.
I sat next to David on the sofa, staring at the screen of his laptop. “I don’t like it, David. It’s isolated for a reason. It’s not safe.”
“I’ll be fine, Ellie.”
“I can’t let you do this. I’ll worry too much.”
He offered me a soft smile. “Now you’ll know how I feel when you run headlong into dangerous situations.”
“That’s different. I actually have powers I can use to protect myself.”
“And I have a power too.” He tapped his temple. “Don’t sell me short. I can go in and inventory items and determine if they’re potentially important or not. Ifyougo in, you’ll have no idea what you’re looking at.”
I couldn’t argue with his line of reasoning. “It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
His eyebrows rose with a hint of teasing. “I know a thing or two about that.”
He’d been so solemn all day that his momentary playfulness gave me some reassurance. “So are you and I going to be okay?”
“You meanus?” His eyes widened slightly. “Ellie, we had a fight, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to break up. Every couple fights.”
