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“Upsies.” Blay waved his arms over his head. “Blay call upsies.”
“Good grief.” Clasping hands with him, I cast the spell to make him weightless. “Hold still.”
With everyone secure, I launched us into the sky.
The nearest town was tiny,which had been the idea, and the Black Hat SUV idling in the parking lot of a boarded-up fast food restaurant stuck out like a sore thumb. Fergal sat behind the wheel, wrapped up as tight as a mummy. Arden rode shotgun, and she climbed out the second my feet hit the cracked pavement.
“Well?” Her focus slid over my shoulder. “Where is he?”
As soon as I released the spell on Blay, flames engulfed him, returning Asa to me.
“Change of plans.” I helped Colby out of my shirt. “He’s awake, but…”
“Moran wanted a moment alone with him,” Asa finished for me. “She called earlier with the request.”
Colby, eager for Clay to return, wasted no time ditching us and gaining altitude for a better vantage. Not that she was likely to catch a glimpse of him, but hope springs eternal.
“She didn’t want an audience?” Arden’s eyebrows winged higher. “Interesting.”
“Their relationship is…complicated.” I didn’t have a better answer. “I’m trying to stay out of it.”
Much like I was a package deal with Colby, Moran had to consider her son, Peleg, in all her decisions.
Things were different now. Clay was free. As free as any golem could hope to be. But she had almost lost her son once, thanks to the Hunk manipulating my bond with Colby, so I wasn’t sure it would be enough to convince her he was worth the gamble.
I hoped she would give him a chance, a real one, now that things were as close to normal as they got for people like us. But Clay was notoriously private when it came to his romantic relationships, a luxury he didn’t afford the rest of us, so who knew where they stood in the aftermath of…well…everything.
“You’ve got that look.” Her lips pinched. “You want to talk to me about what comes next.”
“You need to head back to Samford.” I didn’t sugarcoat it for her. “The Bureau is no place for humans.”
“What do I do with everything I’ve learned?” She shook her head. “I can’t unlearn it.”
“I’m not suggesting you do.” I had a second, better offer for her. “I’m hoping you’ll put your skills and knowledge to use at the farm, with the centuria. It’s not far from Samford, so you could live at home. You could keep working at the store and volunteer there in your spare time to keep a hand in.”
“A hand in how?”
“Few of the daemons had ever visited this realm until recently, and they could all use help acclimating. To our world, to having a say in their own lives, to living among humans. Who better to help them learn to be more human than a human?”
Her brow gathered while she thought about the offer, and she cut Fergal a glance.
“Moran can take over your training.” I sweetened the pot. “I need Fergal, and he wouldn’t enjoy country living anyway. He’s a big-city vampire.”
Most were, really, but only because that made it easier to feed without calling attention to their dining habits.
“Will I see him again?” She scuffed the toe of her sneaker. “He’s…grown on me.”
For that exact reason, I decided I had been misusing a valuable resource. Fergal was an excellent training officer. He enjoyed mentorship. He was patient, kind, and—most importantly—in control of his impulses. I planned to place my teenage recruits under his care. I believed he would be good for them.
From this point on, he would be in charge of our juvenile recruitment program start to finish.
Until we figured out a better way to handle underage offenders, the kids could use someone like him.
“I can see you two are friends, and I won’t stand in the way of that. You can call, email, text, whatever.”
“I can visit him?” She rose onto the tips of her toes. “That would beamazing.”
Several different warnings rattled around in my brain, but I couldn’t shake a single one loose.
