Deadly Sting

by Jennifer Estep

  I sighed and blinked away the last fragments of my dream. I was in the same position as before, sprawled next to Clementine’s body in the boathouse. Everything was still and quiet, except for the soft, constant rush of the river and the macabre mutters of the marble as it soaked up the violence I’d committed here tonight.

  I stared at the giant. Blood was still oozing out of the wound in her chest; I hadn’t been out that long. Five minutes, maybe ten. Either way, it was time to find the others and let them know I’d survived.

  I sucked in a breath and slowly started to move, inch by inch, foot by foot, surfing each fresh wave of pain until it died down to a more manageable level. It took me a while to push myself up into a sitting position, then longer still to reach out, grab hold of the spear in Clementine’s chest, and use it to help me climb to my feet.

  I clutched the spear so I wouldn’t fall back down while I assessed my injuries. Broken ribs, broken collarbone, a body full of aches and pains. The Saturday night special for the Spider. But my ribs hadn’t punctured my lungs, my breath came easily enough, and my heart beat with a strong, steady rhythm. I’d be all right until Jo-Jo could work her healing magic on me.

  The same couldn’t be said for the giants, though. Dixon was still facedown in the river, and I could see the silver flash of curious fish drawn to the scent of his blood in the water. Opal lay on the walkway next to him, eyes open and mouth slack in surprise, a swarm of mosquitoes hovering over her like a dark thundercloud. And finally, there was Clementine, flat on her back, the spear stuck through her chest like it was the center of a bull’s-eye.

  For the final time that night, I leaned down over a dead giant. I searched through Clementine’s pockets for the one thing I wanted: Mab’s will. I tucked the ebony tube into one of the holsters under my skirt so it would be out of sight from any prying eyes.

  I took a moment to lift Clementine’s hand and examine the fancy watch on her wrist that I’d noticed earlier. Mother-of-pearl face, diamonds all around, silverstone band. It was a nice bit of bling. Once I had memorized what it looked like, I let go of her hand. Then I grabbed my knives from where they had landed on the walkway and put them back into their appropriate slots.

  When I was finished, I turned and grinned at what was left of the Barker crew. “The family that steals together dies together. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of folks.”

  The only sound was the ripple of the river as I shuffled out of the boathouse to go find my friends.

  28

  Not only did my entire body ache, but I was also bone-weary from using up all of my magic in my fight against Clementine, so it took me the better part of five minutes to hobble my way back up the hill to the museum.

  I’d almost reached the side entrance when a gust of magic swept through the air.

  In my experience, sudden bursts of unknown magic were almost never good, so I immediately stepped off the path and plunged into the shadows of the gardens. I stopped a moment to look and listen, but I didn’t hear any footsteps hurrying my way. No leaves rustling, no branches snapping, nothing that would indicate that someone was headed in my direction. Well, if they weren’t going to come to me, I’d just have to sneak up on them, broken ribs and all.

  I tiptoed through the gardens, careful not to rustle the honeysuckle vines that seemed to wind over, through, and around everything, along with the briars. It wasn’t hard, given how slowly I was moving, but I gritted my teeth, pushed the pain away, and kept going. Finally, I reached a spot in the garden where I could see the side entrance. I crouched down, even though it caused my ribs to ache even more, and peered around a cluster of bonsai trees.

  A middle-aged dwarf sat on the top step at the side entrance, her back as tall and straight as if she were a queen perching on a throne. She wore a very nice suit jacket in a soft, cotton-candy pink, and her matching skirt stopped just past her knees. Her legs were bare, and dainty white sandals encased her feet, although I could see the shimmer of hot-pink polish on her toes through the slits in the shoes. A string of pearls hung around her neck. The moonlight made the stones gleam the same color as her white-blond hair.

  Even sitting outside a crime scene, Jolene “Jo-Jo” Deveraux managed to look every inch the elegant southern lady she was. My worry vanished, and I sighed with relief—especially since Jo-Jo had Phillip with her.

  He was lying flat on the stone step. Eva was there too, holding his hand and sitting on the other side of him. Jo-Jo murmured something to Eva that I couldn’t hear, then reached for her power. Once again, the feel of her Air magic danced along the night breeze, pricking my skin like hundreds of tiny, invisible needles. The sensation made me wince, but I kept quiet and stayed where I was, not wanting to break the dwarf’s concentration.

  Jo-Jo’s eyes glowed milky white in the semidarkness, and the same light coated the palm of her hand. She leaned over Phillip and went to work. Up and down, back and forth. Jo-Jo moved her hand over Phillip’s chest again and again. A few seconds later, I heard something plink onto the stone step; Jo-Jo had grabbed hold of the oxygen in the air and had used it to fish the bullet out of his body. Now she’d be circulating even more oxygen through the wound and using all of those molecules to pull the rough edges of his skin back together. I knew, because she’d done the exact same thing to me more times than I could remember.

  Five more minutes passed before Jo-Jo dropped her hand, and the pale glow finally faded from her eyes.

  “All better now,” Jo-Jo said, reaching over to pat Eva’s hand. “He should wake up in a few minutes.”

  Then she turned and looked in my direction as though she could see right through the trees I was still crouched behind. “You can come on out now, darling,” she said. “I believe it’s your turn now, anyway.”

  “Jo-Jo?” Eva asked. “Who are you talking to?”

  “You’ll see.”

  I straightened up and trudged out from behind the bonsai trees. It took me a minute to walk over to the elemental and another one still to ease up the steps, but I managed it.

  “I hate that I can never sneak up on you,” I teased. “You always took all the fun out of playing hide-and-seek when I was a kid.”

  Jo-Jo smiled, the lines on her face grooving even deeper into her skin and adding to the welcoming warmth in her clear, colorless eyes. “Well, it’s nice to know that my Air magic is good for something besides patching up folks. Besides, I like keeping an eye on you. Someone has to.”

  A gasp sounded, and I looked at Eva, who was staring at me with wide eyes.

  “Gin?” she asked.

  I grinned at her. “Back from the dead. Again.”

  “Gin!”

  She got to her feet, threw her arms around me, and hugged me tight. I winced as more pain exploded in my ribs, but I managed to choke down my discomfort enough to return her hug.

  Eva drew back and looked me over. “But . . . but how?”

  “I’ll tell you all about it later,” I said. “Right now, I’d like to let Jo-Jo patch me up, if it’s okay with you. Clementine got a few good licks in on me before I managed to take her out.”

  Eva helped me sit down on the step next to the dwarf. Jo-Jo eyed me, taking in my ruined dress, my cuts and bruises, and the dried blood that flaked off my skin with every move I made.

  “I would ask if you had a rough night,” she murmured. “But I think that’s pretty self-evident.”

  I laughed, even though it made my ribs clench with pain once more.

  * * *

  I wasn’t as bad off as Phillip had been, so it only took Jo-Jo a couple of minutes to heal me. When she finished, I drew in a breath, but the pain from Clementine’s punches had vanished like it had never even been there to start with. I still felt tired, though, and I knew I would for the next several hours. That’s how long it would take my brain to catch up with my body and realize that I was whole and well once more.

  “Good as new, once again,” Jo-Jo said. “Sorry I can’t do anything abo
ut the blood, darling. Or your dress.”

  I stared down at the ruined fabric. “Don’t worry about the dress. In a weird way, it saved my life tonight.”

  Jo-Jo frowned, obviously wondering what I was talking about, but before she could ask what I meant, Phillip let out a small sigh and slowly opened his eyes. His blue gaze was tired and cloudy with confusion.

  “Eva?” he rasped.

  She smoothed back his golden hair. “I’m right here, Philly. Jo-Jo healed you up, and everything’s just fine now. So go on back to sleep. You need your rest.”

  “Okay.” He nodded, closed his eyes, and drifted off once more.

  Eva kept stroking his hair, although she stopped long enough to brush a few tears out of the corners of her eyes.

  I turned to Jo-Jo. “Are the others still inside?”

  She nodded. “Yep. In the rotunda, cleaning up the mess. They wanted to go check on you, but I told them that you’d be along in a few minutes.”

  I left her to watch over Eva and Phillip and went inside. At first, everything was as quiet as ever, but the closer I got to the rotunda, the louder it got. Finally, I reached the entrance and stopped, staring at the scene before me.

  Giants, giants everywhere. The bodies of Clementine’s crew littered the floor in a circular pattern—the same pattern they’d been standing in while they’d been guarding the hostages. From what I could see, most of them had been put down with headshots where they stood. I scanned the rotunda, but it didn’t look like any more of the guests had been killed. All the hostages were still here, clustered together on the right side of the room next to the elemental Ice bar. Everyone was talking at once, hence the noise.

  I spotted Xavier holding hands with Roslyn, so I headed in that direction. The second Roslyn saw me, she opened her arms, came forward, and enveloped me in a tight hug.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered in my ear.

  “Me too,” I murmured back. “Me too.”

  I stepped back, cleared my throat, and gestured at the closest giant. “Looks like our plan worked.”

  Xavier nodded. “That it did. Bria and I sniped at the giants from the balcony. Most of them never knew what hit them, and without Clementine around to keep them in line, the rest just panicked. A few bolted out of the entrance, but the others raised their guns and returned fire. But since we had the high ground, we took them out pretty easily. We’d gotten all of them but one, and he waded into the crowd and grabbed a woman to use as a human shield. But Finn grabbed a gun from one of the other giants we’d already killed and took him out.”

  An arm circled my shoulders, and I turned to find Finn grinning at me.

  “In other words, all’s well that ends well,” he said.

  I slipped my arm around his waist, rested my head on his shoulder, and just enjoyed the moment. My friends were all safe and sound, and I’d survived another night, another battle, another enemy intent on killing me.

  As we stood there, it slowly dawned on me that I was once again the center of attention. Now that the initial shock of being rescued had worn off, everyone was looking around, seeing who’d survived and who hadn’t. The fact that I was still among the living caused more than a few folks to do a double take, their eyes darting from me to Jillian’s body and back again. Not to mention my ruined dress and how horrible I looked. The murmurs and speculation quickly spread, until it seemed like the only sound in the rotunda was the whisper of my name: Gin . . . Gin . . . Gin . . .

  “I hate to say this, but not everyone seems happy that you’re still alive,” Finn said, picking up on the glares coming my way.

  “You can’t please everyone,” I drawled. “And you know how much I hate to disappoint our dear friends in the underworld.”

  He snorted.

  One of Finn’s clients came up to talk to him about what had happened, and Xavier and Roslyn drifted a few feet away, having their own private conversation.

  I stayed where I was and kept scanning the room. It took me two minutes to find the person I was searching for: Owen. He stood near the back of the rotunda not too far away from where my family’s runes were. Owen was talking to a dwarf with an unruly head of salt-and-pepper hair. The reddish plaid of the dwarf’s suit jacket matched the rusty color of his eyes. Cooper Stills, the Air elemental blacksmith who was Owen’s mentor and Jo-Jo’s date for the evening.

  Cooper noticed me watching him. He grinned and waved, and I returned the gesture. Owen looked to see who the dwarf was waving at, and his eyes widened as he realized that it was me. Maybe it was my imagination, but after a moment, Owen seemed to relax, as though he’d been worried about me. He hesitated, then lifted his hand and waved at me too. Once again, I returned the gesture. We stood there, staring at each other across the room. I didn’t know whether to go over to him or stay where I was. I didn’t know if he would welcome me or turn away.

  In the end, I didn’t have to decide. A hand touched my shoulder, and Bria stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Owen, perhaps for the best.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. “Owen told us about the fight in the boathouse. That you were facing down Clementine and Opal alone. What happened?”

  I shrugged. “Nothing much. I took out Opal easily enough. Clementine almost beat me to death, but I got her instead.”

  Bria nodded, then glanced across the rotunda at Owen, who was still speaking to Cooper. “And what about Owen?”

  “What about Owen?”

  “You two were together an awful lot tonight. Surely, you talked about a few things.”

  “You mean before or after we killed all those giants?”

  She looked at me.

  Finally, I sighed. “No, we didn’t really get a chance to talk about anything. There was just blood, dead giants, and a lot of awkward pauses.”

  “Well, you should know that he brought Eva here into the rotunda after we secured the area. The second he knew that she and the others were safe, he helped Xavier carry Phillip outside, then immediately started to head down to the boathouse to help you,” Bria said. “He would have too if Jo-Jo hadn’t showed up and told him that you were fine and on your way back up to the museum. He still cares about you, Gin, and I know you care about him.”

  “I do care about him,” I admitted. “But I don’t know that it’s enough—for either one of us.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  I didn’t know how to tell her that Salina’s death was still an issue between me and Owen. That I just didn’t know if he could ever forgive me for what I’d done to the woman he’d once loved. And that his forgiveness wasn’t the only thing I wanted from Owen—that I needed his acceptance too. Of what I’d done in the past and all the bad things I’d do in the future.

  “Gin?” Bria asked.

  “Nothing,” I said. “It’s been a long night, and I’m not thinking straight right now.”

  “Well, maybe after this is over, you and Owen can finally talk.”

  “Yeah. Maybe.”

  “Either way, I’m glad that you’re all right.”

  Bria hugged me, her care and concern even warmer and stronger than her arms wrapped around me. After so many years of thinking her dead, it always surprised me to realize that she was alive and here with me—and that she loved me just like I loved her. I wondered if I’d ever stop feeling that way. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing if I didn’t. Because I never, ever wanted to take her for granted—or any of my other loved ones.

  Bria pulled back. The motion made the primrose rune around her throat wink, and the sly flash of silverstone reminded me that there was one more thing I needed to do tonight—for both of us.

  I held my hand out to Bria. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”

  She frowned in puzzlement, but she wrapped her fingers around my bloody ones. I led her over to the back of the rotunda and the recess where our mother’s and sister’s rune necklaces had been on display.

  “Remember when I told you before th
at there were some things in here that belonged to us?” I asked.

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, here they are.”

  I stopped in front of the wall and held my hand out—

  But the recess was empty.

  The glass had been smashed, and I immediately began scanning the floor around the recess, but all I saw were splinters of glass and chips of marble. I stalked back and forth along the wall, searching all around me.

  Nothing—absolutely nothing.

  The robbers must have looted this spot along with everything else. There was no sign of my mother’s and sister’s necklaces and no telling where they were. Maybe they were mixed in with the pile of cell phones in the front of the rotunda. Maybe they were outside in one of the moving trucks or in one of the cases I’d seen on the getaway boat. Maybe they’d even disappeared into someone’s pocket when everyone was looking the other way. There was just no way of knowing. I could search the museum for days and never find them.

  They’d been right here, close enough to touch, and now they were gone again, vanished once more like they’d never existed to start with. Pain stabbed through me at the loss of these last two pieces of my mother and my sister.

  “Gin? What is it?” Bria asked. “What’s wrong?”

  I just shook my head. I didn’t have the heart to tell her what I’d seen—and what we’d both lost.

  Again.

  29

  After that, things followed a predictable pattern. The po-po arrived, and all the fine boys in blue started taking witness statements and collecting evidence.

  I didn’t know why they were bothering. Clementine, Opal, and Dixon were dead. So were a good portion of the giants they’d conned into helping them. The ones who’d left the rotunda when the shooting had started or had been outside guarding the moving trucks were being rounded up right now, and the few who’d piled into the trucks and raced the vehicles across the bridge and over onto the mainland shouldn’t be too hard to track down, thanks to all those photos and bios Clementine had posted on her website.