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“True,” Pat said. “We didn’t even know you were a supernatural until you were a toddler, and working at the Curia Cloisters has only furthered my belief that supernaturals are snobby and self-absorbed. Your birth parents probably dropped you at the human hospital because they thought you’d be safer. Plus…” He hesitated and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
“What?” I asked.
“Well…your birth parents’ trail might have ended with you…because theydied,” Pat said.
“Pat,” Joy hissed.
“She has a right to know,” Pat said. “It’s a possibility.”
“It’s fine, Joy,” I said. “I already knew it was a possibility, even before I knew I was a shadow.”
I couldn’t stand their looks of sadness and pity, so I finished off the potion Pat had given me and set the empty bottle on my nightstand. “There, happy?”
“Not until that crazy killer is off the streets,” Joy darkly muttered.
“Speaking of him…” Pat unearthed his cellphone and opened an app. “I need to ask you a few more questions for the report. You said he had a hostage, right?” Pat asked. “That’s a new tactic.”
“He’s done that before,” Joy said. “Like when he manipulated the Seelie and Unseelie fae into kidnapping you and me.”
“Yeah,” Pat agreed. “Except this is possibly worse. It’s not that shocking that Chloe would care about us. But if he’s realized she cares enough about humans that using one as a hostage will make her comply with whatever he wants…he’s really hunting you, Chloe. In the truest sense of the word.”
“I know.” I rubbed my forehead and kicked the last of my blankets off. “But what more can we do? He’s careful with his approach. The only way we could possibly ensure our safety is if I quit my job and Joy and I moved into the Curia Cloisters, and that’s not happening.”
Joy hit her knee harder and harder with the rolled-up newsletter. “I know you didn’t want to do this…but maybe you should go ahead and meet with the higher ups from the Cloisters. Playing politics can be dangerous, but hopefully this is temporary. If you can get some leverage, they might help more. Don’t you think so, Pat?”
Pat frowned. “It’s hard to say. They might just want to use her, to learn more about shadows. However…” He rocked to his feet, shuffling out of the way so I could scoot past the partition and step into the other half of my apartment. “I will say the attitude of the Regional Committee of Magic has changed over the past couple years to have a more favorable outlook of wizards, magic humans, and humans in general. Talking to them is likely the best shot we have at getting actual help.”
“I came to the same conclusion.” I padded toward my kitchen, the tiled flooring cold on my feet. “I was on my way to make arrangements at the Curia Cloisters to talk more about being a shadow when the tracker got me.”
“It’s just as well, then. We’ll need the extra help.” Pat rested his hand on the top of my partition. “Because while you might have almost had him, you did effectively confirm his guess that humans matter to you. Whatever he does in the future, he knows, now, that the easiest way to stop you is to get someone innocent involved.”
I sighed and leaned against my fridge. “Yeah, he’s escalating. I’ll call the Curia Cloisters—after I use the bathroom.”
Pat made a face. “Thanks for the announcement.”
“Pat and I will figure out what to eat—I’m assuming you’re hungry?”
“I probably will be once my stomach empties from all the potions,” I said.
“Good.” Pat grinned, and some of the tightness that had been in his face since he’d arrived at the apartment disappeared. “While we eat, I’ll tell you what new antics the Curia Cloisters’ groundkeeper tried in his war on the gophers, or whatever it is that keeps tearing the place up. Hint, the story involves an ultrasonic spike, and some really unhappy werewolves.”
I laughed as I stepped into my tiny bathroom, flicked on the lights, and closed the door in his face.
I did a quick study of my face via the mirror. Surprisingly I wasn’t bruised, but it looked like I’d been dragged around a gravel parking lot by a werewolf. My brown hair was less wavy and frizzier and wilder than usual, I was ghostly pale, and my brown eyes were bloodshot.
The makeup I’d used on the beauty mark beneath my left eye was gone—it wasn’t that I disliked the mark, it just added a bit of sophistication to my otherwise blandly cute/girl-next-door appearance. I’d started covering it up as a defense mechanism when I moved to Magiford to make myself even harder to recognize.
Woah. No wonder Pat kept shoving potions at me. I look rough.
I tied my hair back and splashed water in my face.
After wiping the water away with a soft towel—it had a black cat embroidered on it. My mom made it for me with her embroidery machine as a Christmas gift two years ago—I rested my hands on the edge of the sink.
Noctus came for me.
The thought had been roosting on the far edge of my mind while I’d been occupied with everything Joy and Pat had to say. Alone, I couldn’t avoid it any longer.
When I left, he said we’d have to be strangers. I knew we’d never see each other again, because we wanted opposite things. And yet, he still came for me.
