The edge in his voice made it clear he wasn’t so happy about it, but at least I had something to hold on to now. My eyelids wanted to drift close; all those spells in a row must have drained my energy. The thought of Asher having lied to me kept them open.
Chapter 21
We were back at the Underground, and all I wanted to do was run straight to Asher. Then what would I do? If he did have something to do with the missing items, he’d been lying to me, and why would he come clean now? Or he had nothing to do with it. Instead of running to find Asher, and flying a banner overhead with all my concerns, I followed Kane into his office and crashed on the couch.
Kane’s gaze was on me, as if he knew what I wanted to do. Maybe he suspected something was amiss, but he didn’t know for sure. Now the question was did I look at him and stare down his accusation or pretend I didn’t notice?
Damn. Wish I hadn’t looked.
Eyebrows raised, he walked over and stood so close it was hard not to look at him.
“Don’t pretend you aren’t questioning him.” He was hovering over my spot.
“I know how it looks, but I still don’t think it’s him.” I shifted positions, making myself more comfortable by not staring right into his face.
“Thank you for not feigning stupidity.”
I nodded. I didn’t particularly care for thank yous that weren’t really thank yous, but I had bigger issues than that to argue over. Plus, it got me some space as he walked over and looked down at the people in the Underground, arms crossed.
The strangest thing about all of this was not accusing me of being in cahoots with Asher. I still couldn’t get a handle on why Kane was being so much nicer to me. Well, Kane nice, anyway. It was way too awkward to ask that kind of general question, so I settled for something more specific. “If you’re so sure Asher is involved in the missing items, why aren’t you accusing me of being in on it anymore?”
“Are you in on it?” His voice didn’t hold an ounce of anger or suspicion as he tiled his head, more interested in something he saw downstairs.
“No. But why don’t you think I am?” I leaned forward, planning on standing but then thinking better of it. My legs were way too tired to bother with appearances or bravado.
“Would you like me to pretend I do? I can if that would make you feel better.”
I didn’t bother responding to his wiseass remarks and settled into the couch a little deeper, my eyes closing. The bed was calling my name, but that involved standing and walking, so a nap on the couch won.
“Did you get any of the paperwork done?”
The world around us was falling apart, I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and he wanted me to worry about the paperwork. “No. I haven’t done any more.” And I didn’t feel a damn lick bad about it, either.
“Until that’s done, you still work for me. Don’t get any crazy ideas about running off because you located the items.”
I pulled the only pillow on the couch over my face, as if I were frustrated. This way he couldn’t see my smile.
Kane had just asked me to stay.
I heard his phone buzz against his desk.
“Where?”
I moved the pillow, knowing whatever the call was, it was bad news from that single word. His eyes met mine as he listened. A few seconds later he stood, pocketing his phone. “We need to go.”
We stood a block away from the burning building. What looked like every fire engine in Boston lined the street as the firefighters tried to tackle an unrelenting flame that had demolished a ten-story building. It was already licking at the buildings on either side, as if it were a famished beast with an insatiable hunger. Once you saw flames like these, you never forgot the look of them. I’d seen them twice before.
“Did you find the Shadow Walker that let it out?” Not that he or she would’ve known what they were doing. We never did.
The lines of Kane’s face were harsh as he looked on, the flames highlighting his bone structure. “There weren’t any survivors matching the description. It was a crawler, but he didn’t need a Shadow Walker.”
“How do we know the Shadow Walker isn’t dead in the building?”
His eyes shifted toward me before one of his I know it all comments came forth. “Because in all my years, I’ve never seen a crawler kill a Shadow Walker that let them out. It’s not in their best interest.”
I bopped my head back and forth. The logic did make sense. I scanned the crowd for people that fit the description of a Shadow Walker anyway, preferring to cling to a shred of hope. But even if the items were being used to set a crawler free, it didn’t mean it was Asher. It proved nothing.
Instead of spotting a Shadow Walker, I saw a group of men off to the side, fifty feet or so from us, set in silhouette. I squinted, catching a glimpse of an angular jaw. “Is that—”
“Rudy,” Kane said, answering my unfinished question without bothering to look at the group. “He’s the one who called me. This was one of the places on the leprechaun map.”
Rudy had been watching us as well, and started toward us.
“Is it gone?” Kane asked once Rudy was within hearing distance.
“Yes,” Rudy said through gritted teeth.
I waited for one of them to fill in the rest, but neither of them seemed too chatty over the subject. “What’s gone? Anyone feel like cluing me in?”
That Rudy didn’t say anything wasn’t a surprise. Kane moved closer to me, giving Rudy his back. “That burning building was an ER, short for End of the Rainbow. The crawler leeched the magic from the ground with its fire like a plant would suck nutrients from the dirt.”
The sun had set hours ago and it hadn’t rained in days. Was this a confirmed ER, or were the leprechauns losing their shit a little? How often were these maps updated?
Rudy shifted a couple of steps back and forth with his hands fisted, staring at the fire like a boxer looking at an opponent.
Kane glanced at Rudy, but the agitation didn’t seem to be contagious.
“This needs to end,” Rudy said.
Oh yeah, Rudy was definitely losing his shit now.
Rudy had circled around in front of us and looked like he was walking on hot coals. “Are you listening to me? The only reason we won’t lose anyone is because you’ve already taken care of that.”
Kane, hands in his pockets, looked down at Ruby and said, “I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
It was hard to stay cool when Kane was giving you his I don’t give a fuck stance. I almost felt bad for Rudy, or I would’ve if I didn’t hate him so damn much.
Rudy handled it better than I. He pulled himself together enough to nod and back away. Bright of him. It took another couple of moments of awkward silence before he walked back to his group.
Kane might’ve acted like it was no big deal, but I could see the concern slipping back into his features. Kane was worried. Kane, who didn’t worry about much.
He rocked back on his heels as he said, “That map lists every ER that exists on this earth. That’s a lot of power.”
A loose crawler with more power than it normally had, possibly running loose. It was enough to give any Shadow Walker nightmares. At least they weren’t carrying bodies out of the charred building.
“Wait, why did Rudy say he wouldn’t lose anyone?”
Kane nodded toward the direction we’d parked. “There’s a finite amount of ERs. These places are where leprechauns get their magic, their wealth, everything that makes them them. But there’s a delicate balance between the amount of leprechauns and corresponding ERs. If you could count every leprechaun in existence, you’d know how many ERs there are.” He stopped in front of the car. “After a loss like this, they’d have to kill one of their own. If they didn’t, one of them would die anyway, and they’d have no control over who.”
I went to the passenger side and climbed in. “But you killed one,” I said once he got behind the wheel.
“Which would’ve been replaced. Lepr
echauns are sterile unless the balance is off. His human girlfriend wants a baby, though, so I don’t think he was particularly upset over the one I killed. Leprechauns are replaced. ERs aren’t.”
I fell quiet as I stared at the still-burning fire in the rearview mirror. “You think it’s still nearby?”
“No. I think it’s long gone.”
It took me about two minutes to realize what I had to do. It took me four times longer to figure out how to broach the subject without Kane taking it as a declaration of Asher’s guilt.
All that planning was for nothing when Kane said, “You get five minutes alone to get whatever you can out of him.”
What the hell? I’d had this whole conversation worked out, and now I wasn’t sure what to do. If I simply agreed, would that mean I was saying I thought Asher was involved? Because I didn’t. Or I wasn’t sure. Well, if Asher was, he had no idea what he was doing. I couldn’t decline. This was what I’d wanted to do!
Maybe I say nothing at all? That might be the best move. I just nodded and hoped he saw me even as he drove.
“I take that to mean you’re acknowledging possible guilt.”
It was a nod. How had a nod gone so wrong? “I’m not acknowledging anything of the sort.” He didn’t reply, and as I thought about how I might be able to confirm Asher’s guilt, it also occurred to me that there was only one way Kane would let me go in there alone. “That room better not have had any cameras while I was in it.”
I did a quick and painful inventory of all the sorts of things he might’ve seen. I’d been pretty damn crazy for most of that time. How many days had I walked around with my eyes shut and bounced into walls? And then there was the finale, when I hadn’t wanted to leave the shower because it was the only place the crawlers couldn’t squeeze in with me. The groan was forming in my chest as I looked out the window, afraid to look at him. I would almost prefer to leap out of the moving car than hear him say yes, he’d seen it all.
“Do you think I would’ve let you sit in the shower for that long if I’d known what was happening?”
He was making a joke of it, and that was okay. He’d saved my ass, so he was allowed to bust my chops now. And I guessed enough time had passed that it was hard not to laugh a bit at the image I must’ve presented. “I was pretty far out there for a bit.”
“Just a bit,” he said, laughing with me.
The laughter faded as I watched him out of the corner of my eye. The palm of his left hand rested on the top of the steering wheel as he drove, his profile catching the light here and there and only making his deep-set eyes seem more intense. His other arm, resting between us, grazed mine.
Why was it that we seemed to be touching a lot lately? When had that happened?
By the time we made it into the elevator at the Underground, I’d counted two more incidents of accidental touching. He’d touched my shoulder when I walked past him into the Underground and he’d put his hand on my lower back when we walked into the elevator.
When had all this touching started?
We stepped off the elevator, and before I took more than two steps toward the door, Kane reminded me, “Five minutes.”
Five minutes? He was really going to hold me to that? It was barely enough time to get the hellos out of the way and let the negotiations begin. “You may not have had the room wired when I was in it, but knowing you, you’ve got it wired now. You can give me twenty.”
We stood facing off, a good ten feet from the guard. Enough space for the illusion of privacy.
His eyes seemed even deeper, more intent, in the light of the hallway. “Five. I don’t trust him.”
“It doesn’t matter if you do or don’t. You’re really fast, and I need twenty.” Why was he smiling like that?
“I’ll give you ten, but it’s going to cost you.”
“Cost me what?”
He shrugged. “To be determined later. Take it or leave it.”
“Fine. I’m not scared of you.” Why was I smiling back? Was he flirting with me? Worse, was I flirting back?
“Agreed.” He waved his hand toward my old apartment and his hand grazed the back of my arm, before he headed toward the other door. “I’ll be in our apartment listening.”
It didn’t hit me that he’d called his apartment ours until I was entering my old apartment. That was weird. And he’d touched me again. I wasn’t imagining it. I shook my head, ridding myself of all the touching and flirting.
Asher was sitting on the couch, staring at the door when I walked in. He didn’t jump up and run to me as he had the last time, and I could see the accusations as clear as if he were screaming them at me.
I sat not far from him on the couch. The clock was ticking, but I waited Asher out.
He stared at the closed door. “Where is he?”
“He’s coming around. That’s why he isn’t here. He’s trying to trust you.” That didn’t seem to lighten his mood at all. “Asher, some bad things have been happening, and it’s really important that you tell me if you know about them.” Even as I asked, I was hoping he’d say no. Did I always like him? No. But I didn’t want to see him dead.
“What?” he asked, his attitude going even further south.
“There’s some things that have gone missing. We think that—”
“We or him?” He got up and started to pace in front of me.
“I misspoke. There’s many people who are missing items. These are things that could help a crawler get out on its own and cause some problems.” He was pacing so fast in front of me that I wasn’t sure if he was hearing me anymore.
“He thinks it’s my fault. He’s probably trying to…” He stopped and looked at me accusingly. “Is he listening right now?”
He tilted his ear toward the ceiling as if he were trying to catch the sound of Kane nearby.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“So he is and you know it? You’re helping him now, trying to blame me for things?”
“Asher, it’s not like that. I’m trying to clear your name.”
Asher’s face morphed from anger to something that stabbed me in the gut.
“I’m trying to help you.”
“How could you?” he asked softly, still remaining in one place and killing me with his eyes.
I heard the door opening and saw Kane standing there a moment later. It had only been five minutes, but it didn’t matter. It could’ve been five hours.
“I’ll be back.”
Asher didn’t acknowledge my words as I walked past him and out the door, knowing this time Kane wouldn’t kill him. Not right now, anyway.
I walked next door.
The door shut behind Kane. “He’s playing you.”
“He’s not playing me. He’s scared and upset and he doesn’t know what’s going on.”
Our eyes met and I could see he was gearing up for another fight. I fell onto the couch, the guilt weighing me down even more than the exhaustion. “You don’t know him like I do. He helped me over and over again. I owe him and he feels betrayed. He’s not like the other crawlers.” He was my friend up until now.
Kane strode across the room, leaning his shoulder against the wall near the window, looking out at the stars. “He’s a crawler that thinks he’s human. He’s not. He can’t be. He doesn’t have the same range of emotion. You can’t tell me that all that time you spent with him alone you didn’t notice there was something off.”
I rolled on my side so I had a better view of him. He was utterly still as he looked outside, and he looked as heavy as I felt. We both stayed like that for a while. I didn’t know what ghosts were haunting him, but mine was sitting next door at the moment.
He was still staring out the window when he said, “When you left three months ago, I knew where you went within twenty-four hours.”
I’d really tried to hide my steps. Was I seriously that bad?
“What does this have to do with Asher?” There was a connection there somewhere. Kane wasn’t a rambler.
“I shouldn’t have left you on your own.” He shook his head slightly, and it felt as if I were hearing his inner monologue.
“You couldn’t have stopped me.” I thought back to that night when I left with Asher. No one could’ve stopped me. I’d decided it was what I had to do, and that had been that. I’d dug in.
He looked back at me, his expression making it clear he could’ve stopped me. He was probably right.
“Fine, let’s argue about whether you could’ve stopped me at a future time.” A time that would never, ever come, because it was really annoying when he was right.
“I should’ve dragged you back here. You weren’t ready for this world.” The weight of those words settled heavily between us.
I didn’t move or say a word. Was too stunned as I caught a glimpse of genuine Kane. He blamed himself for how lousy I felt. He wasn’t looking at me right now as he pushed off the wall and headed toward the door, and I had a feeling he felt as worn out as I did, he just hid it better.
As I saw him head toward the door, I fought the urge to call him back, but I couldn’t stop myself completely.
“Where are you going?” I asked, realizing how that might’ve sounded. I hadn’t meant it like that, had I?
Hand on the door, he said, “I have a couple of things I need to check on.”
I didn’t know if I believed him. He probably wanted space, and I’d taken over his apartment, driving him out.
“I could probably crash with Flip if you want your bed back.” The idea tasted like ash on my tongue, but it was probably for the best. I could feel myself getting used to this place, to being around Kane all the time. Some distance might be what I needed.
He smiled and then started to laugh. “I didn’t lose my bed. You sleep like the dead.”
He was still laughing as he walked out the door.
Walking in the Dark: Ollie Wit, Book Two Page 13
