Levi looked at me like a shark assessing his prey, then he gave this quiet smile, like he’d come to some sort of decision. “Okay,” he said simply.
Okay? Enough of him. I stood up. “I have to retrieve my car.”
“I’ll drive you,” he said.
“You have to rest.”
“Patrice,” Levi called out, “I’m leaving to go rest at home. Ash will watch over me.”
“Check in with me tomorrow,” Patrice called back.
I opened my mouth.
Levi arched an eyebrow. “Contradict me and I’ll have that shit heap you call a vehicle impounded before you can get to it.”
“Insult Moriarty at your peril,” I said.
Levi bared his teeth at me. “I’m terrified. Now move.”
He walked out of there, expecting me to follow him. Which I did, because who was I kidding? The Tesla was a way better option than a cab or Uber.
The drive through the quiet streets was so restful that I reclined my seat and got comfortable.
“That was a good idea to test if Jackson recognized Luca Bianchi,” Levi said.
“That’s what you pay me the big bucks for. Here’s another one.” I yawned. “Isn’t it interesting that Jackson hired a Nefesh in a secret security capacity?”
Levi made a smooth right turn, his biceps flexing. “Even if Jackson didn’t recognize Luca, what else would he be so concerned about that he’d resort to a Nefesh bodyguard?”
“Right? Jackson had to have known about the money laundering. If Olivia’s proof of Jackson’s wrongdoing exists, that may be enough to force a confession out of him, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Jackson’s willingness to use Nefesh despite his so-called political ideologies probably showed up before now. Find it and use it to your advantage.”
Levi stopped at a red light, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “If anyone can get a confession out of our attacker that he was working for Jackson, it’ll be Miles.”
I dialed up the air conditioning. “Yeah, and taken together with any proof of Olivia’s that we find, that’s two instances of Jackson dealing with Nefesh. Make it three. Then it’s a pattern. You’ll need your case to be airtight given Jackson’s position because you have to overcome years of people believing Jackson hates Nefesh and would never interact with them.” Once I had the temperature adjusted to my satisfaction, I stretched out my legs. “A couple of years ago, this guy hired me to prove his ex had keyed his car. She claimed she hadn’t done it, even had an alibi for when it happened, and it was hard to believe it of her since she was a doctor who volunteered with underprivileged kids. After a little digging, I found another occasion of her damaging physical property in retaliation. People act in patterns. We hope that someone won’t be smart enough or persistent enough to spot our tells, but if the behavior is there, you can bet it’ll show up multiple times. Dig into Jackson. Does he have the magic equivalent of an ex whose car he keyed?”
He nodded. “I’ll get someone working on that. And thanks, you know, for talking through that with me. It almost makes me want to solve this other mystery from my past, one where someone used an innocent student’s phone number as the contact in an online ad for a phone sex service.”
“The car owner I worked for was a douche, so maybe the student wasn’t so innocent.”
“I had to change my number six times that summer,” Levi said.
I hid a grin. “This is about Jackson.”
Levi pulled into the parking lot at the golf course next to my car, the engine idling.
“Thanks for the ride.” I got out.
“Sure.”
He waited for me to get in Moriarty, but the damn car wouldn’t start.
“Come on,” I growled. There was a grinding noise and the acrid stench of smoke. I slammed my hand against the wheel. If I could put up with you freezing me to death, breaking down in the rain, and poisoning me with noxious fumes, you did not get to die on me, you fucking asshole. We were in this together.
Levi materialized at my window and rapped on the glass. I swear that man was half cat. “Problem?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.” I turned the ignition key again. The car shuddered and fell silent.
“Of course not. However, considering you also sustained some injuries from our attack, I’ll stick around while you call a tow truck, then take you home.”
“The driver can take me.”
Levi held his key fob up and turned the Tesla’s engine off with a pointed smile my way.
We sat in our respective cars until the tow truck showed up and took Moriarty away to the garage I frequented. I called ahead, telling them to do whatever it took to fix the bastard, then I returned to the Tesla, blurry with fatigue, my nerves raw from all the emotional intensity of the day. I yawned and must have fallen asleep, because suddenly we were only a few blocks from my apartment.
My stomach growled. Blushing, I rubbed it. “Sorry.”
“Check the glove compartment,” Levi said.
“Huh?”
He jerked his chin at it.
Nestled among the car insurance papers was a tin foil package.
“Lemon biscotti,” I said. “And it’s not even a support group meeting.” Much as I salivated at the fragrant golden brown cookie, it was bound up with too many memories that I didn’t have the energy for. I twisted the foil closed.
“It’s just a damn cookie, Ash. Eat it.”
Fuck it. “Needs more lemon.” It didn’t. The stupid thing was as perfect as all the others. I tsked him. “Pawning off sloppy goods, are we?”
Levi snorted. “Maybe don’t lick the crumbs off your fingers to really sell it.”
The jelly donut, the biscotti… Levi kept feeding me and I kept letting him, a gesture loaded with meaning—at least to me. No more food, no matter how delicious, or how cute he looked when he got that annoyed crease in his brows like he didn’t secretly love me giving him shit.
He pulled up to the curb and put the car in park.
I unclipped my seat belt.
“Thanks again for your help.” He placed his hand on the small of my back and leaned in like he was going to kiss my cheek. A perfectly natural gesture that he’d done with other female friends.
Was that where I’d been slotted?
I jerked back and Levi caught himself.
“God, sorry.” His cheeks flushed.
“It’s fine.” I leaned forward to pat his arm and ratchet down the awkwardness, right as he switched tactics, stuck out his hand to shake, and jabbed me in the stomach.
He covered his face with his hand. “Fuck.”
“That’s okay.” I waved at him with the fervor of one of those old-timey people seeing off a loved one on a transatlantic cruise. Kill me now. “Guess I’ll see you around. Thanks for the ride.”
“You’re welcome. Try not to stab anyone else.”
My indignant exit was foiled. Damn soft-closing doors to hell.
Chapter 14
I didn’t return to the abandoned amusement park in Hedon until Monday night.
I’d chugged one cup of coffee too many, trying to untangle my feelings around everything Levi had confessed to me about illusions and choices.
Now at C-Game efficacy—low B-minus if I was being generous—I picked the lock on the metal gate to the Tunnel of Love, hoping I wasn’t about to unleash Operation Off With Her Head.
“You’re a glutton for punishment,” Adam said.
No day at the fair was complete without the illusion of one’s dead dad. “Hello, Fake Father. You could have at least brought cotton candy.”
“Your sugar highs on that were nightmares.”
I shoved the gate up hard enough that the resounding clang echoed through the park. “What do you want?”
“You should know the answer to that question.”
“Well, I don’t. If I’m conjuring you up, not Hedon, give me one reason why I’d do that, because I’ve got nothing.”
Adam s
cratched his chin, looking skyward, exactly like he always did when I’d thrown one of my million questions at him that he didn’t immediately know the answer to. I wanted to both hug and punch him for it. “You loved your father,” he said. “Maybe it’s as simple as that. We live our lives in story form, and you need me to play a certain role. One day you won’t.”
“That day apparently isn’t today,” I said, and peered into the darkened tunnel.
Did Levi ever see Isaac in Hedon? What role did his father play for him here?
“I need to get going,” I said, “and I’d rather you didn’t come into the tunnel with me.” Last time, I’d had to deal with him dying. My storytelling self had deeply masochistic tendencies.
“Be careful,” Adam said, and vanished.
I eyed the tunnel, calculating the mental and physical dangers lurking inside. Could I bypass them entirely this time? Token in hand, I visualized the pink bedroom in great detail. There was a tug, like the gold coin had stuttered for an instant, then I was transported into the room.
Other than the fact that the Bookworm sat on the rocking chair instead of the bed, not much had changed. She was still in her trance, surrounded by that cumulus cloud with a milky film over her eyes.
Today’s word flow included a Stephen King passage, followed by a long tract in Hindi, and then the phrase “Mind the Gap.”
I pulled out the vial of Blank. “Hello. Do you remember me? I’ve come to help you. I have something to suppress your magic and make you lucid. It only lasts a day, but that’s enough time to get you out of here if you’re being held against your will.”
“You think that will work?” The words were laced with disdain.
I spun around to face the Queen, feeling my racing heartbeat in my throat. I itched to put my armor on but that would escalate things too fast. “It should.”
Her Majesty stalked toward me, a predator in red linen, and I held very still. “If you suppress her magic, she might not regain access to all the information,” she said.
I waved a hand at the Bookworm. “She’s a human being, Highness, not a tool for your ongoing lust for knowledge. She deserves a life, instead of being held hostage as your prisoner.”
The Queen started. “Ah, blanquita.” There was a lifetime of sorrow sunk into those words, and the skin on the back of my neck prickled. “Isabel isn’t my prisoner.” She paused. “She’s my daughter.”
My armor burst out in full force, with extra spikiness around my neck. I’d broken in and attempted to steal away this deadly woman’s child by offering her drugs. I was so far up shit creek, I was heading over the fuck-my-life falls.
“How did you find her?” the Queen said.
In for a penny, in for a pound. I could only be beheaded once, right? “When I asked you about Bookworms, I smelled your magic. Why release it unless you felt threatened? Then I used the gold token and it brought me to the amusement park.”
“Too clever by half, chica.” She sat down on the bed, looking haggard for the first time in our acquaintance, and older than her fifty-something years.
“Why put her here? Wouldn’t she be safer in your palace? She’d be protected by the Black Heart Rule.”
“So was Vespa. How safe did that keep her?” She shook her head. “Isabel’s magic is too rare. By the time she was five, there had already been three kidnapping attempts.”
“In Hedon?” Who would be suicidal enough to go up against the Queen that way? The penny dropped. “That’s why you took over this world, isn’t it? This was never about ruling. It was about keeping your daughter safe.”
The Queen laughed. “I’m no saint. I definitely wanted to rule, but yes, having somewhere under my control was essential. Despite the Black Heart Rule, the attempts continued, so I built her this place, woven from her memories of happy times.”
“Hidden in the heart of the Tunnel of Love, kept safe by her mother. Along with the deadly illusions and that assassin dude.”
“Animator magic on a mannequin,” the Queen said. “My workforce isn’t that dispensable.” She straightened a teddy bear that lay slumped on its side amongst the pillows. “You shouldn’t have survived breaching the tunnel.” She hit me with her violet gaze. “None of the others did.”
Abort! I dropped my armor and reached for the gold token on the chain around my neck.
“Can you really help her? Nothing else has.” She watched me warily, but her words were laced with hope.
I stilled. “Yes. I’ve been on Blank. It suppresses magic. Levi has the only access to the supply and he would give you as much as Isabel required.”
“You are asking me to trust you and Levi with my most precious possession.” She crossed over to her daughter and murmured something in her ear.
A bloom of words around Isabel’s head grew larger and brighter than the others. “‘I had a mother who read to me / Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea.’”
The Queen stroked her daughter’s hair. “It would be easier to kill you.”
“My body disposal would be very messy. Lots of gristle.” I held out the vial. “You know where I live if I ever betray you. Not that I would. I was willing to risk your wrath and save Isabel when I thought she was here against her will and I would never cause her harm when you just want to protect your kid.”
“Not willingly, but you are engaged in your own dangerous mission, and I don’t know how long you would last under torture.”
Well, this was a really depressing conversation. I shrugged, too tired to engage. “You’ll do as you will, Highness.”
The Queen braced a hand on the back of Isabel’s chair, looking between her daughter and me. “Imagine my surprise when after years of failed attempts to help her, I met a young woman whose magic had been suppressed by a powerful ward.”
I wanted to crow that I knew she’d been surprised by that fact, but now was not the time to gloat. “Did you try to find a Van Gogh for Isabel?”
“Yes, but despite my careful inquiries, I was unable to locate anyone with that ability.”
“Thank Chariot for that. They’re the ones who murdered Yitzak,” I said.
“It’s just as well. Desperate as I was to help her, I was loath to do anything of permanence without her consent. You could have taken her magic,” she said, too casually.
“Not ever,” I said in a hard voice.
She nodded like I’d confirmed something for her. “Give her the Blank.”
I opened the vial and almost spilled half of it as Moran appeared next to me out of nowhere, sword glinting. “I’m putting one drop under her tongue,” I said. “It takes about half an hour to kick in and will last for roughly a day.”
The Queen nodded at me to proceed. Moran didn’t give his assent, but he didn’t decapitate me, either. Close enough.
I gave Isabel the drug and then handed the Queen the vial with the rest of the liquid.
“And the gold token, por favor.”
I handed that over as well, keeping quiet about the wooden ring.
“Now we wait,” she said.
I sat down on the ground against the bookcase and prepared for the longest half hour of my life.
“You didn’t bring the puppy,” Moran said petulantly. Yes, this was all a plot to deprive you of your playdate.
“Prison breaks rile her up too much. Next time.” Twenty-nine minutes and thirty seconds to go.
The Queen hovered over her daughter, and every time Isabel twitched or breathed funny, I flinched.
The silence stretched on.
“It’s growing lighter.” Moran pointed to the data cloud.
I sighed. There went my best shot at learning whether or not Olivia’s insurance policy could take down Jackson. I wanted the Blank to work for Isabel’s sake, but I had an obligation to Levi and that legislation had to be stopped.
“You had a question for Isabel, didn’t you?” the Queen said.
“Yes.”
The Queen motioned me over. “Before her magic is suppr
essed entirely, put your hand on her shoulders and think of what you want to ask her. Bookworms can either pull the information for you, if they are lucid enough, or direct you to where you need to go via a psychic bond. Ask your question. Just don’t touch the magic cloud surrounding her. Its effects can be dangerous and unpredictable.”
I snorted. That carnival vision of my alternate life definitely qualified as both.
There was a moment, one that I’m not proud of, where I almost asked for Rafael’s cure instead of helping Levi. I’d have asked about Chariot’s scroll in a heartbeat if Rafael hadn’t made it clear that Chariot had taken pains to conceal that knowledge from these Nefesh. Here was a chance to help my friend and I yearned to selfishly take it.
I placed my hands on Isabel’s shoulders, and did the right thing. Did Olivia Dawson create physical documentation implicating Jackson Wu in illegal activities?
That bright, buzzy, and harsh sound from my previous visit drilled into me. I tried to clap my hands over my ears, but they were stuck fast to Isabel’s shoulders.
The Queen watched me, frowning in concern, but with no sign of the same distress.
Blood trickled out of one nostril and I swayed, the world spinning and lurching. A battery of words rushed in to swarm me, serifs pricking me and round B’s and P’s whapping the side of my head, those treacherous little bastards nowhere near as soft and bouncy as they appeared.
I was going to die via the alphabet. How basic.
The horrible noise cut out and the pink bedroom disappeared. I stood in a softly glowing blue space. Backwards words with a silver tinge streamed around me against a soft pink glow.
I spun in wonder. “I’m inside the cumulus cloud.”
“Yes. My apologies. I understand the transition can be a bit discombobulating.” Isabel’s hands were clasped in front of her and she wore a serene expression.
“You’re very…”
“Sane?”
“I was going to say composed, but yours is better.”
She twirled her finger around the space. “I’ve had years to create a mind palace of different spaces to make order of the chaos and keep from drowning. In here, that is. Out there?” She shrugged. “It’s another matter entirely. I try to come out of the stream because I can’t always be plugged in, but that’s when I’m most likely to be overwhelmed with the amount of information I’ve ingested.”
Revenge & Rapture: A Snarky Urban Fantasy Detective Series (The Jezebel Files Book 4) Page 14