“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Leandras didn’t immediately let her go, and the longer he clasped her hand, the more she felt like she’d missed something. Jessica glanced at his pale fingers and frowned. “What are you doing?”
“Hoping that you’ll decide to react differently.” The fae’s eyebrows drew together in concern. “Because there’s one more thing that must be done.”
Of course there was. There was always one more thing with this guy.
And she knew without a doubt that she wasn’t going to like it at all.
Chapter Twenty
Turning her head to shoot Leandras a sideways glance, Jessica tried to ignore the oddly enticing smell of coming rain radiating from the fae, tried to focus instead on his cool fingers wrapped around her hand. “We’ve covered everything else, so if you have something to say, you better just come out and say it.”
‘He doesn’t look too happy, does he?’
No, that was a serious understatement. Leandras looked angry and unsure and slightly irritated all at once.
“There is one reagent that cannot be found beyond the walls of this establishment,” he muttered.
She tried to pull her hand away, but he held fast. “So where are we supposed to find it?”
“In the center drawer of the desk you so cleverly melted shut.”
Jessica jerked her arm back, and he finally let go. “That damn coin again. That’s all you really ever wanted, isn’t it?”
“It’s what we need to complete this.”
“I’m not giving it to you.” Shaking her head, Jessica stepped away from the couch and the fae and gestured toward the door of her bedroom. “So forget it.”
“I’m not asking you to hand it over to anyone, Jessica.” Leandras stayed where he was, which only infuriated her that much more.
All she wanted to do right now was whisk him off the floor by his shiny black shoes and toss him out of her room into the hallway. Which she could’ve done with the full force of her magic, but they’d just been over the endless loop of what was and wasn’t possible.
“Why?”
He clasped his arms behind his back and lifted his chin. “Why what?”
“That coin almost tore this place apart. More than once. Why the hell do we need it?”
“It’s the final reagent. The spell for the second phase cannot be completed without it.”
Jessica gritted her teeth and glanced at the ceiling. How much of this can you call bullshit on, bank?
‘Eh…not that much, actually. I think he’s right.’
You think, or you know?
‘Hey, the guy was doing it all wrong the first time. He kicked off the reckoning, but you weren’t ready for whatever else came next. We can blame my builders. When you do have your magic back, there won’t be any other pieces to line up. We’ll be good to go.’
No they wouldn’t. They’d be at the mercy of a fae’s word, and with everything Jessica knew about fae in general, that was slippery at best.
“You’re having a different conversation right now, aren’t you?”
She cut Leandras a scathing glance. “You don’t get to touch that coin again. I don’t care what we have to do for this reckoning spell, that thing’s off-limits for you.”
“Of course. I can only assume at this point the sigil won’t respond to anyone else but the Guardian. Restored to her full power, of course.”
“Of course.” It was a snippy retort, but this last piece of the whole screwed-up puzzle didn’t exactly make her feel calm and collected. Apparently, Leandras either had it all figured out and didn’t doubt a single step in their plan, or his entire demeanor was a complete lie.
At this point, it didn’t really matter. Jessica didn’t have a choice.
“Fine. So we have two days. Does that include today, or are we calling Wednesday the cut-off time before this giant portal-bomb goes off and we’re all screwed?”
“Wednesday.” Leandras dipped his head, his lips pursing in apparent amusement. “Though I highly recommend we get started as soon as possible. Tonight would be best.”
“Tonight.” Jessica wrinkled her nose. “How silly of me to think I’d have any time at all to myself.”
“Our preparation is essential, Jessica. And I really would rather not test the limits on this window of time just so you can—”
“Yeah, I get it. We’re playing with fire.” Rolling her eyes, she headed toward her bedroom door. “I’m starving. So before we do anything else, I need to prepare. With dinner.”
She stepped into the hall and paused. The fae hadn’t moved.
“Are you coming or not?”
“Is this an invitation to join you for dinner?”
“It’s an invitation for you to get out of my bedroom. Let’s start there.”
Chuckling, Leandras moved fluidly across her bedroom and slipped past her into the hall. He leaned toward her, and his hot breath rustling against her ear sent a shiver skittering down her spine and across her shoulders. “Did you have anywhere specific in mind?”
She was about to tell him to back the hell up, but a timid knock came from the front door downstairs.
Damnit. The door was closed, and the sign said the same thing. Could nobody read anymore?
‘Oh, yeah. About that. I ordered takeout.’
You what?
‘Perks of reading your mind, right?’
“Do you plan to answer the door?” Leandras asked with a hint of laughter.
Jessica shot him a deadpan stare, and the bedroom door closed all on its own with a soft click.
‘Don’t want your food to get cold, right?’
“Yeah, I’ll answer the stupid door. Come on.”
The bank had taken complete liberty with the “perks of reading her mind.” Unfortunately for the delivery driver who’d come to the door, arms laden with two plastic bags of Chinese food steaming in the cold November air, Jessica wasn’t exactly in the most gracious mood. She took the bags with a quick, “Thanks,” and nudged the door shut in the guy’s face before turning around to stalk back across the lobby toward the desk. The bank locked itself behind her, and the delivery guy spent the next five seconds standing on the other side of the frosted-glass window.
At least he didn’t try to ask if she needed anything else.
We tipped him, right?
‘Well, I did.’
She dropped the bags on the desk, rifled through one of them for the sesame chicken she knew was there, and peeled open the paper wrapper of a pair of chopsticks before breaking them apart.
Leandras stood at the mouth of the back hallway with his hands in his silver satin pants pockets, staring at the feast with raised eyebrows. “When did you order that?”
“While we were talking.” Jessica took the food carton with her to the rolling desk chair, sat, and gestured with her chopsticks toward the desk. “Bon appetit.”
He seemed particularly reluctant to sit down and join her for the meal, and the aggravating slowness with which he searched through the Chinese takeout made her want to scream at him.
‘Maybe he doesn’t like Chinese?’
Who doesn’t like Chinese food?
Then again, this particular fae didn’t fall into the usual categories of normal anything.
“Something wrong?”
Leandras sniffed at the open box of Moo Shu pork and slowly lowered it back to the desk. “I had expected something a bit more…tasteful.”
“Trust me, there’s plenty of flavor.” She shoved chicken into her mouth. “You haven’t even tried it.”
“I was referring to the entire menu. And the ambience.”
With a snort, Jessica leaned back in her chair. “Did you think I was asking you out to dinner? Like on a date?”
“Hardly.” He didn’t look at her and opted for a box of white sticky rice. “I merely find myself with a growing urgency to get out.”
“Of the bank?” Smirking, she popped another bite of chicken dr
ipping with sweet sauce into her mouth. “Welcome to my life, Leandras.”
He snapped apart his own chopsticks and shoveled rice into his mouth without another word.
It was already completely dark outside at almost 7:30 p.m. when they stuffed the rest of the takeout into the fridge and left Winthrop & Dirledge Security Banking for their little treasure hunt. Leandras waited for her on the sidewalk, once more wearing his silver satin suit jacket and standing in the cold with his hands in his pockets.
Jessica had layered up with a hoodie beneath her leather jacket and an old beanie the bank had dug up for her and tossed at her face.
‘I’d say call if you run into any trouble, but I don’t think you will.’
It’s not like you have a landline I can call.
The bank tittered. ‘I meant run into trouble, Jessica. As long as you keep an eye on the fae. Just don’t die out there, okay? And don’t freak out in the city.’
Such wise words from a building that never leaves itself.
Jessica glanced down at the front of her jacket, where the faint glow of the pendant’s pulsing blue light shone from beneath the collar of her hoodie and jacket zipper. Just knowing a little piece of the bank would be out in the world with her made her smile. Even if she wouldn’t be hearing its voice in her head until she returned.
I’ll be fine.
‘Yeah, I know.’
The bell dangling inside the door jingled and clacked against the frosted glass when she closed it behind her and locked up. One by one, the lights mounted on the lobby walls switched off and left the bank’s storefront in complete darkness except for the yellow light spilling from the streetlamp on the other side of 8th Street.
“We need to get moving,” Leandras muttered, staring up the street.
“So let’s get moving.” Jessica pocketed her keys and turned toward the fae. He gazed at her expectantly, his hands still in his pockets. “Oh. I don’t have a car, so…”
“No need.” He pulled one hand from his pocket and reached toward her. “I’ve never seen the point of moving so slowly by such undependable means.”
Despite how serious he sounded, Jessica couldn’t help a smirk. “Please tell me you have a motorcycle.”
“Those are even worse.” Leandras nodded at his outstretched hand.
So…what? He wanted to hold hands and take a leisurely stroll down the sidewalk? This was going to take all night.
“Jessica, I won’t leave without you.”
“Great. Just tell me where we’re going—”
He darted toward her in a blur of silver and snatched up her hand.
“Hey! What—”
The air was knocked out of her lungs by the intense pressure of the entire world crashing in around her. She couldn’t breathe. A sharp sting of intensely strong energy raced through her hand and up her arm, through her shoulder and all the way up the side of her neck into her brain.
As quickly as the sensation took over, it vanished again.
Jessica lurched forward with a gasp, and Leandras immediately released her hand. “The hell was—”
Her stomach heaved, and she darted around the corner of the building on wobbly legs so she could puke without the added pressure of a fae audience. Fortunately, someone had put a huge tin trashcan in the alley, which at least allowed her to be sick without wearing it afterward.
How convenient.
When it was over, Jessica wiped her mouth with the back of a hand and steadied herself against the dark-gray brick of the building’s outer wall. It wasn’t her building. And this wasn’t her alley, either.
She immediately withdrew her hand and stepped back to study the dark, grimy alleyway around her. “You’re kidding.”
“I suppose there’s no need to ask if you’ve traveled this way before.” Leandras’ footsteps echoed down the alley as he approached her from behind. He cast a quick glance at the trashcan. “Apparently not.”
She swallowed. “Why wouldn’t you ask that before you popped a surprise teleport on me?”
“My apologies, Jessica. It must have slipped my mind.” With a closed-lipped smile, he gestured down the alley. “Shall we?”
“Give me a minute.”
“Jessica—”
“I’m not going anywhere smelling like sesame chicken.”
And how convenient was it that the first place they’d landed together was two doors down from a convenience store?
Jessica booked it toward the 7-Eleven and stepped inside beneath the blindingly harsh lights. The dizziness hadn’t completely faded, but she shook it off as she headed straight for the gum rack. One pack of Trident Wintergreen didn’t feel like enough, so she grabbed three and a bottle of water. The clerk behind the counter checked her out expressionlessly, glancing up only once when she handed over the credit card intrinsically tied to Winthrop & Dirledge’s apparently never-ending supply of funds.
“Have a good night.”
“Ha. Yeah, you too.” She couldn’t get the gum in her mouth fast enough before shoving the wrapper and the packs into her jacket pocket. Then she darted back outside into the cold night air, cracking open the bottled water and chugging down a good third of it.
Leandras was right where she’d left him at the mouth of the alley. “Was that really necessary?”
“About as necessary as you not warning me about that jump, yeah. Let’s go.”
The fae walked slowly down the alley, wrinkling his nose. “It had to be mint?”
Jessica frowned at him. “Yeah. It’s better than barely digested Chinese food.”
“Next time, might I recommend sticking to rice?”
“Next time, I’ll just rip your hand off if you do that again without warning. Got it?”
His nostrils flared, but he stared straight ahead as they moved down the dark alley. “As you wish.”
Yeah, that didn’t sound anything remotely like an agreement.
Jessica chewed noisily on the gum, trying to get the rest of that awful taste out of her mouth and finding her own private amusement in the strong hunch that the sound would infuriate him.
Leandras stopped at the back of the alley and took a deep breath through his nose. “Must you really?”
“Hey, if we’re doing this together, we both have to put aside our little pet peeves, right?”
He cocked his head, as if the sound of her loud chewing were fueling an angry tick in his neck, and reached out to tap the dark brick wall. A silver light bloomed at his touch, then a narrow doorway opened in the solid wall. Nothing but more darkness ahead of them. “Do try to keep up, Jessica.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Shooting her another sidelong glance, he stepped into the doorway and disappeared.
Was that an eye roll he’d just tried to hide?
The thought made her want to laugh, but she forced it down and followed the fae through the far less essential doorway than the one inside her bank, chewing as loudly as possible.
The narrow corridor had no lights, but at least it was straight. A faint glow came from the other end, quickly joined by the sound of low conversation, clinking glasses, and the rustle of movement. It sounded a hell of a lot like he’d just taken her through the magical back-alley entrance of a bar, and her suspicions were confirmed when they exited the passage to stand in the back hall between the restrooms.
If he’d brought her here to settle his nerves, he’d made the wrong choice.
She followed him into the dimly lit bar, eyeing the other magicals gathered in here for their own private conversations over a beer or cocktail. And spiritwine, judging by the sparkling neon-pink drink in the hand of the elf woman who passed in front of them.
Great. Magical bar. Where the hell were they?
The elf woman eyed Leandras up and down with a hungry gaze, but the coy smile on her lips died when she saw Jessica.
Jessica jerked her chin up at the woman and smirked. The elf could’ve been a carbon copy of Rebecca, though this one had really n
ailed the snooty “I’m better than you” look.
When the elf woman got out of their way, Leandras withdrew a folded piece of paper from his pocket and studied the patrons sitting at the dark, glistening line of the wooden bar and in the brown-leather booths lining the narrow building. “If you feel the need to order a drink while I find who I’m looking for, go right ahead. This won’t take long.”
Jessica shook her head as she stepped up beside him. “I don’t drink.”
He looked up from his unfolded paper filled with symbols she didn’t recognize and raised an eyebrow at her. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Does that also have to do with your magic?”
She snorted. “More like my own lack of control. With drinking.”
And with obliterating orc hands in drunken alley fights, but that wasn’t why they were here.
Leandras hummed in flippant consideration and met the gaze of the changeling bartender whipping up drinks in one green hand he’d turned into a shaker. The changeling raised his eyebrows, then nodded across the bar at a booth toward the front.
“Then stay close and let me do the talking,” Leandras muttered.
“Uh-huh.”
Wasn’t this just perfect? She was tagging along with the teleporting fae in his snazzy suit and had to keep her mouth shut. Then why the hell did he even need her along for this trip in the first place? Despite the agreement they’d made and had shaken on—which still felt like more than just a handshake—Jessica still didn’t think she was here as just a tagalong. Or that Leandras was toting her around the city just to prove he could be trusted to stick to his end of the deal.
There was something else going on here. And that something else made itself perfectly clear when they approached the booth at the front of the bar and Jessica saw the magical sitting there alone.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jessica thought she was finished with necromancers. Except for now, she was literally seeking one out in a magical bar somewhere in downtown Denver with a fae who just couldn’t figure out how to share important details.
“I thought I’d find you here,” Leandras said, stopping beside the table.
The Secret Coin (Accessory to Magic Book 3) Page 19