by Jaye Wells
“Kate—”
I shook my head and drew a cleansing breath into my tight lungs. “It doesn’t matter. I told you—I don’t sleep with my partners. I’m sorry if you can’t deal with that, but that’s not my problem.”
The tenderness on his face disappeared just like I’d hoped it would. That razor-sharp brow arched. “Well, you certainly got the bitchy cop role down to a T, sweetheart.”
His words stung like a slap. Emotion gathered like a low pressure system in my chest. I had to get the fuck out of there before the storm broke. I turned and gathered my files in a haphazard mess.
“Kate,” he said.
I shook my head and hurried toward the door.
“Hold on a minute.” The sound of him storming across the room reached me as my hand grabbed the knob. “Stop!”
I made the mistake of looking back over my shoulder. He looked confused and sorry and determined all in one. But I felt too shitty and scared and sad to let him convince me to stay. “I’m sorry.”
With that, I made my escape, running from the door like a woman with demons on her tail. It wasn’t until I was safely inside Sybil that I realized he didn’t try to follow me. And that made me feel shittiest of all.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The next morning I ran from my car toward the front doors of the school. Banks of snow lined either side of the sidewalk. Snow clouds overhead dampened sound; the only noise was my breathing, the clank of the flag’s hook against the pole, and the squawk of a crow in a nearby tree. The bird’s beady eyes tracked my progress toward the school.
I punched the buzzer at the front door. A voice crackled over the speaker, “Can I help you?” Memory rose of another voice coming through a different speaker the day Harry Bane had been beaten. I had a bad feeling this time I’d be the one walking away feeling like I had my ass kicked.
“It’s Kate Prospero,” I said.
“Oh,” the voice said. “Come in.”
A loud click accompanied the door’s lock opening. I pulled open the massive door and rushed into the two-story foyer. The scent of old wood, young pheromones, and industrial floor cleaner hit me. Classes were in session and the sound of teachers’ voices filtered into the large space like the voices of overeducated ghosts. I walked into the office, where a woman wearing a red twinset and glasses sat behind a massive desk.
“Miss Prospero,” she said. The tone reminded me of the one my old teachers in school would employ when I got out of line. I stood straighter, reminding myself I wasn’t the one in trouble here. “They’re waiting for you in Principal Anderson’s office.” She pointed down the hall.
“Thanks.” I scooted around the desk and started down the long wooden hallway. With each step the wood announced my advance. Too late to turn around. Too late to stop to collect myself.
The call had come in when I was driving to meet Morales at the docks. I’d had to execute an illegal U-turn and figure out how to let my partner know I’d be late without having to actually talk to him. In the end, I’d called Shadi and told her what was going on at the school. She offered to go meet Morales at the docks. I felt bad asking her to fill in, but she’d sounded relieved to have something to do besides watch Puck’s apartment. I knew I’d have to talk to Morales eventually, but I needed some time for the embarrassment to wear off and also to figure out how to play the fallout from our argument the night before.
The door to the principal’s office was open. Inside, my little brother slouched in a chair. Brad Hart sat next to him. When I walked in, he looked up with a hard look on his face. I tilted my head in question, but he looked away as if he couldn’t stand the sight of me.
“Detective Prospero.” Principal Anderson stood and came around to shake my hand. “Thank you for coming. I hope we didn’t pull you off an important case.” He motioned to the third seat, which sat empty. I noted a slight mocking tone to his comment.
“All my cases are important, but not as important as Danny.” I looked at my brother. “You all right?”
He looked up. His left eye was swollen shut. I clenched my jaw and shot an accusing look at the principal. “What happened to him?”
Anderson raised his hands for patience. “If you’ll sit we can discuss it in a calm manner.” He’d clearly already labeled me a hothead he needed to manage.
“Where is Pen?” I asked. As the school’s counselor, she was normally called in when kids got in trouble serious enough to require a visit to the principal.
“We felt she would be unable to be impartial, all things considered,” Hart said. “That’s why I’m here instead.”
I bit my tongue instead of asking him if he’d be able to be impartial. I hadn’t spoken to him since our ill-fated date, but I was pretty sure the assholish smirk on his face meant he was still pissed. But since I hadn’t told Danny about the date, and I was pretty sure admitting it in front of Anderson wouldn’t do anything to endear me to the man, I kept my mouth shut about Hart’s presence.
I sat slowly and scooted my chair closer to Danny. “Go on.”
“It seems Danny and another student got into a bit of an argument this morning before the bell rang.”
“It certainly appears so.” I shot a significant look at the wounds on the kid’s face. “Where are the other boy’s parents?”
“At the hospital with their son,” Hart said.
My head swiveled to look at him. “What?”
“Danny, why don’t you tell your sister what you did to your friend?”
“He’s not my friend,” my brother growled. “He’s an asshole.”
“Watch your mouth, son,” Anderson snapped.
Danny crossed his arms. “Fine, but he’s still a bully.”
The principal raised a challenging brow. “If that’s true why is he the one in the hospital?”
I held up a hand. “Who is the other boy?”
“I’m not at liberty to share the other party’s name.”
“Forgive me, but how am I supposed to understand what happened if I don’t know who all was involved?”
“It was Pierce Rebis,” Danny said before the principal could brush me off again.
I closed my eyes and cursed silently to myself. When I opened them again, I caught a look pass between Hart and Anderson.
“Can someone please tell me what the hell—” The principal shot me a sharp frown. “Excuse me, can someone tell me what the heck happened?”
“I’ll tell you,” Hart said. “Pierce picked on Danny, and your brother retaliated by ambushing Pierce with a dirty magic potion.”
My stomach plummeted, as if someone had pushed it off the Bessemer Bridge. “Danny?” I whispered because I didn’t trust myself not to scream.
He wouldn’t look at me. “Wasn’t dirty,” he said. “It was clean.” He looked up then, his eyes like those of a wounded animal. “I swear, Katie.”
I spoke low and slow so as not to yell. “What kind of potion?”
Danny’s gaze dropped again. I looked at Hart and then the principal, hoping someone would tell me. Finally, Hart said, “It made all of the boy’s hair fall out.”
I bit my lip.
“I fail to understand what is so amusing, Detective.”
“Forgive me, you’re right.” I cleared my throat. “Danny shouldn’t have retaliated like that, but I don’t really understand why it was allowed to escalate like this.”
Anderson frowned. “What do you mean?”
“A couple of days ago Danny came home with a bruise on his face. When I questioned him, he said he’d intervened when Pierce was harassing another student. He said Mr. Hart witnessed Pierce punching him and broke it up.” I turned to look at Hart. “So I’ll ask my question again, why wasn’t this matter dealt with before it escalated?”
Hart’s expression stayed the same but two spots of red appeared on his cheekbones. “At the time, I thought it was just two boys getting hot under the collar. No real harm done.”
A mocking laugh escaped my
lips. “Clearly.” I pointed to Danny’s black eye.
“Detective Prospero, if you had concerns at the time, you should have come to me,” Anderson said.
“Why is it on me—or Danny for that matter—to demand that Pierce Rebis be held to the same rules as everyone else?”
“You’re assuming your little brother told you the full story about what happened that day,” Hart said. “When I walked out and saw the pair, Danny pushed Pierce first. He’s hardly the innocent you’re painting him to be.”
I waved a hand. “Regardless, you knew there was an issue yet I received no call and the boys weren’t dealt with then. And now you’re putting all the responsibility at Danny’s feet when clearly this was not a one-sided thing.”
The principal adjusted himself in the chair. “As for today’s events, we don’t have any witnesses willing to corroborate Danny’s story that Pierce hit him first, but several went on record to say they saw Danny attack Rebis with the potion.”
My eyes narrowed. With deliberate calm, I said, “I just bet.”
“Excuse me?”
“I just find it interesting that everyone’s backing the wealthy Mundane kid and no one’s taking the side of the middle-class Adept.”
“Detective, I understand that in your line of work the lines between Mundane and Adept are stark, but we do not tolerate that kind of prejudice at Meadowlake.”
I snorted and crossed my arms.
“Luna was there,” Danny said. “She saw Rebis punch me.”
I looked at the principal for reaction. He shuffled some papers on his desk. “That’s true. Luna did stand up for you. But you two are dating, correct? She’s hardly an impartial witness.”
“All right,” I said, “this isn’t productive. What’s going to happen next?”
Hart leaned forward to look at me. “Well, he’s out of DUDE, that’s for sure.”
I tilted my head and stared at him with a look that made him pull back.
The principal cleared his throat. “I’ve talked to Mr. Rebis and he said they wouldn’t press charges—”
“Generous of him, but I’m not so sure we won’t be pressing some of our own.”
Danny looked at me, as if shocked to hear me taking his side. I shot him a look to remind him we’d be having our own reckoning once we got home.
“—as long as Daniel is never allowed to step foot on school property again,” Anderson finished.
My mouth dropped. “You’re expelling him?”
“My hands are tied, Detective. We can’t have students hexing each other with potions every time they have a disagreement.”
“But it’s fine to have them punch each other?” Danny asked.
“Danny,” I snapped.
“Sorry,” he grumbled.
I rose, grabbing my coat from the chair. “I could fight this,” I said. “But I have no interest in subjecting Danny to an environment that is so hostile to Adepts and so permissive to whomever has the biggest bank account.”
“Detective, forgive me, but given your history and profession,” Hart began, “it’s hardly a surprise that your little brother is acting out.”
“Excuse me?”
“Even if this incident hadn’t happened, I was planning on calling you to have a discussion about your decision to allow Danny to take magic lessons from a wizard.”
“First of all, the wizard you’re talking about graduated from the most prestigious Arcane university in the country, and works for the government to create legal, clean potions in an effort to stop major crimes. He’s hardly a street-level criminal as your tone implied.” I leaned forward. “And as for Danny following in my footsteps? There are worse paths, Mr. Hart. I might have come from a rough past, but I’ve worked like hell to provide a better life for this kid. And I won’t sit here and be insulted by a couple of pretentious assholes who’ve never known a hard day’s work in their goddamned lives.”
“Careful, Detective,” Hart said, “your persecution complex is showing.”
“Like you’re some saint,” I said. His eyes narrowed at my shot about his past with addiction.
“I’m not the one who taught him how to use magic like a weapon.”
I snapped my mouth shut because I didn’t have a defense against that—not that they’d listen to one even if I had it. “You will keep this off his record or you will hear from my lawyer. I won’t have this miscarriage ruin his chances for getting an education elsewhere.”
“Fine. We just want him gone.”
“Let’s go, Danny.” I grabbed his arm and jerked him out of his chair. “Do you have all your stuff?”
“I got some stuff in my locker.”
“We’ll send it on with Miss Griffin,” Principal Anderson said. Obviously they couldn’t stand to have us taint their precious school any longer than necessary.
Before we walked out the door, Hart called my name. I pushed Danny through the door ahead of me before I turned to look at the man who a couple of days earlier had tried to get in my pants. “Do the kid a favor and get him in counseling.”
I looked him in the eye. “Go fuck yourself, you self-righteous prick.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mez was waiting in his car when we pulled up to the house. Pen had caught us on our way out of the school and followed us home. All four of us were silent as we filed into the house.
Danny’s shoulders drooped like he was being led to his execution. Pen’s face was tense, which wasn’t a surprise given the weird position the situation had put her in. But it was Mez who had me worried. In the all the months I’d belonged to the task force, I’d never seen the wizard angry. Annoyed, sure. Frustrated and grumpy, yes. But the twin spots of red on his cheeks, the muscle working in his jaw, and the way his hands clenched made him resemble a winter storm roaring in off Lake Erie.
As for me, well, I guess I was in shock. The indignation I’d felt in the principal’s office had dissolved into a sort of detached disbelief. The situation had deteriorated so rapidly, I’d felt like I’d been blindsided—especially by Hart’s refusal to stand up for Danny.
Even though our date had been a disaster, I’d thought the guy genuinely liked my kid brother. But I guess when it came down to it, Hart was as vulnerable to the pressures of the class system as anyone.
I leaned back against the sink and crossed my arms. Pen sat next to Danny at the table. Her hand rubbed his back in sympathy. But Mez paced back and forth between the fridge and the door.
The only blessing was that Baba was volunteering at the community center that morning, so I didn’t have to juggle her chaotic energy, too. No doubt she’d have plenty to say once she got home, though.
I opened my mouth to ask if anyone needed anything, but Mez jumped the gun. “I can’t believe you,” he said. “How many times did I tell you that magic should not be used in anger? How many times did I tell you that if you’re going to learn the craft, you have to respect it?”
“Mez,” I warned.
“What? You’re going to defend him? You of all people should be livid. You didn’t even want him to learn magic. Why aren’t you screaming?”
I squeezed the bridge of my nose. “Because I know Danny would never have done this without a good reason.” I sighed and looked at the kid. “What really happened this morning?”
He shot a glance at Pen. Resentment that he’d look to her for encouragement instead of me rose briefly in my chest. But I squashed it because it wasn’t productive or healthy to think like that. Pen herself had taught me that. And right then, she nodded encouragingly to my brother.
“Pierce has been picking on one of my friends for a while—”
“Is that what happened the other day?”
He nodded. “Yeah, after school I walked up on Pierce harassing my friend and I confronted him. We didn’t fight exactly, but he punched me and told me if I didn’t stay out of it he’d make it even worse on my friend.”
Pen and I exchanged a significant glance. We both k
new he was talking about Luna, but confronting him about that now would only distract him from telling us the whole story.
“Anyway, she called me last night. She was crying, Kate,” he said, his tone angry. “Pierce has been calling and harassing her. Saying he was going to do horrible shit to her.”
I glanced at the curse jar I kept on the counter, but didn’t say anything. After the day he’d had, the kid deserved to blow off some verbal steam.
“What kind of shit?”
Danny shook his head. “I don’t want to repeat it. But it was bad enough that I decided it was time to teach that asshole a lesson.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Pen asked.
Danny raised his chin. “Some things a man has to do for himself.”
Mez cleared his throat. “I should have known this was over a girl.”
Danny frowned. “Why?”
“Because nothing makes a boy want to become a man faster than a pretty girl.”
“It’s Luna?” Pen asked quietly.
Danny shook his head too quickly, and the blooms of red on his checks betrayed him further.
“You can tell us the truth,” I said. “We’re not going to get her in trouble.”
He nodded reluctantly. “She wouldn’t ever tell me exactly what happened, but I think he did something to her. Something really bad.”
My stomach clenched. How was Danny old enough to be in the middle of this kind of bullshit? As much as I’d tried to shield him from the darker sides of life, it looked like life was determined to bring the darkness to him. But underneath that cramp of denial was a warm orb of pride. “I don’t approve of using magic for revenge at all,” I said in a stern voice that had Danny’s shoulders drooping in shame. “But I am proud of you for standing up for your friend.” His head came up in surprise. “I mean it. You talked about being a man? Real men stand up for people who can’t stand up for themselves even if it means they’ll suffer consequences.”
“She’s right.” Mez’s earlier anger had mellowed, but his tone was still tight. “You were trying to do the right thing. But you should have come to one of us.”
