He glanced at me, dark eyes sparking green. “How do I say this without sounding like a complete cock? There’s really no way. You don’t have anything I want. I do what I do because I want to. The value of the spell was high, and the price must be fairly high for the sake of fairness, but that means the payment should be dear for you, not highly valued by me. Not that your business isn’t lovely, but I don’t usually dabble in girly things.”
“So if there was something I valued more than Darkly Sweet, you’d want that instead?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. I like business in general, and the whole secret business thing was quite charming. I like it as your business. I want to meddle, but if it wasn’t your business, it wouldn’t be interesting to me.”
“Why do you want to meddle in my business, Drake? Am I so interesting to you?”
He flashed me a lopsided grin. “In absolutely every way that means next to nothing.”
“Which means…”
“Yes. You are very interesting to me. Surely that’s clear.”
“You’ve been stalking me on my dates.”
He nodded. “I have.”
“Are you going to the movie with me and Lester on Thursday?”
“Is that an invitation?”
I sucked hard on my lollipop. “No. It’s not easy for me to date, and wondering where you are in the crowd, or even if you’re one of the performers, it doesn’t make me the best company.”
“Sign these papers, and I’ll promise not to go.”
I turned to the last page and signed, then shoved them against his chest. “You promise?”
He stared at me for a moment too long before refocusing on the road. “You have the word of a notoriously untrustworthy mage. I’ll send someone else. Pete probably.”
“No one. Just leave me with Lester.”
He frowned, his brows lowering. “About those four dead Creagh.”
I stared at him. “You’ve been stalking me over that?”
“It’s better than losing my bed for three days. You have no idea how much I hate sleeping on my couch. I’m a restless sleeper and fell off half a dozen times.”
I sputtered. “What is your problem? I’m not your little ward you have to protect from the big bad witches. You’re supposed to be the self-absorbed narcissist we all know and love. Stay that way.”
He flashed me a quick grin. “Repetitious, but it can bear repeating, particularly the love bit. You can blame your deliveryman. He gave me a very long lecture about keeping you safe. I detest being lectured. If he’d beaten me to tenderized chicken breasts, I’d barely remember what he wanted, but being lectured? Oh, the agony!”
I almost laughed. He was ridiculous in the very best way. Worst way. There wasn’t anything best about him. “Signore Ludi lectured you? He can be very serious. Oh, when he talks about consequences it hurts much worse than the consequences. All the same, neither you nor Signore Ludi…”
“But Zach also feels responsible for you, so if I don’t stalk you, he will. He has no friends to do it for him, except for me, and I think the odds are extremely good that he’ll end up beating up your date. He dislikes Lester for some reason I don’t quite understand.”
I stared at him. “But I defeated four Creagh. Why would you need to protect me? I’m not as useless as I look.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Useless? Penny Lane? Hardly.” He drove for a few minutes in silence before he shrugged. “All right. I’ll let you have your date with Lester as private as a movie theater full of people can be.”
“Really?”
He glanced at the sheaf of papers then smirked. “You didn’t read all the fine print. You’ll have to hope I don’t have something nasty up my sleeve.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I’m pretty sure you do. But you’re right. I can start another business doing something else, or just live in my attic dressing the vermin. That can be a full time job. They tend to gnaw holes in everything.”
He clucked his tongue. “Shocking behavior. Penny, if you ever dress this particular vermin, I promise I won’t gnaw a hole.”
I laughed even though I tried to squelch it. “Good to know. I’ve only made one suit. I think I did a fairly good job.”
“Did you? For Signore?”
I shook my head. For the body hanging in my attic. “Maybe I’ll show you someday.”
“Something to look forward to.”
When we got to the hospital I threw open the door and got out, my bare knees on the cold pavement while I tried not to throw up. Not that it would be the first. Or the last. Seriously, was there anything more irritating? Maybe I was secretly fae and all my nausea from cars was because I was allergic to them. That wouldn’t explain the front seat thing.
Drake put his hand on my shoulder and began mumbling. It was the same nonsense he’d started on the first time he’d given me a ride in his car. I was going to be fine. The nausea was going away. Completely fine. I was so great.
And then I threw up on his shoes. Did I mention how nice his shoes were, leather, the good kinds of laces that don’t unravel. Covered in puke.
I wiped the back of my hand across my forehead. Drake never broke his litany of spells, and either his efforts or mine made me finally able to stand and give him a weak smile.
“Do you want to make out?”
He raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips. “Does throwing up make you feel amorous? How interesting you are. I personally like to play the guitar after such experiences.” He snapped his fingers and a wave of green light washed down his body, ending at his shoes and leaving the faint scent of burnt leather.
I looked down and nothing but ashes were on his shoes. “Are ashes easier to clean than vomit? Zach turns it into compost.”
He laughed. “Zach is so clever. Did you offer to make out with him as well?”
I wrinkled my nose. “No. He doesn’t find vomit sexy, not like you.”
He cocked his head and his eyes sparked green. “It isn’t that which I find attractive. Come on, Penny. Your princesses are waiting.”
I followed him for a few steps then hurried up and caught hold of his left hand, the one that wasn’t carrying his guitar. “Do you mind? I’m sorry, but I’m still…”
“Of course. Cling if you like.” He didn’t look at me, his focus on the hospital like it might hold a zombie army or something.
“What are you going to play? I think you should do eighties dance hits.”
“What else is there?”
“Is there something wrong?”
He glanced at me and smiled wryly. “Penny, do you have any idea how complicated that question is? Of course there are things that are wrong. Let’s start with this parking lot. Situated off the four directional points so if I wanted to draw a star on it, I’d have to leave some edges off.”
I stared at him. “Stars?”
“I like stars. I like so many things. You aren’t disgusting just because you’re afraid. At least, not to me. You are a little disgusting for giving Lester a second date. What did he do to deserve that?”
We reached the hospital and he handed me the guitar. “I don’t know how to play.”
“No, but I have to go do my community service job before I can serenade the princesses. Give me twenty minutes.”
He walked off, leaving me in the lobby staring after him. What kind of Community service would he do in that suit?
I went down the hall to the cancer patient wing. When I walked in the doors, it was different, hushed, and the little girls’s eyes were large and serious. I swallowed and walked over to Sally, the girl with the yellow tutu. It was draped over the bench beside her bed while she sat hunched over a puzzle.
“Is that a fairy?” I asked, pointing at the puzzle piece she had in her hand.
She looked up at me and then she threw herself at me, pressing her face against my neck.
“Lulu’s gone now. Do you believe in heaven?”
I froze while the small hands wrapped around my neck,
hanging onto me like I could give her some answers in this convoluted world. It took me a long time before I patted her on the back then smoothed her bald head and shoulders, pulling her against me.
“Heaven has angels. Lulu would make a beautiful angel.” Heaven? I didn’t know anything about heaven. I didn’t have magic, so I wasn’t much of a witch, but I still had darkness. Had Poppy gone to heaven? She would hate it there, flying around and playing harps. She would like to tease people, but still, there was good in her. She’d held me when the pain got too much to bear.
I squeezed Sally tight while tears fell down my face to land on her little shoulder. She was so small, the disease eating her away from the inside. Maybe if I had magic I could help her. Finally, she pulled away, ran her fingers lightly over my cheeks and smiled at me.
“Maybe she’s an angel princess. Will you tell me a story?”
I nodded and told a story about a little mice family that tricked the cat so cleverly that finally the cat made a truce with them and they worked together to teach the nasty dog a lesson. The other girls gathered as I told my story, sitting on the bed and around on the floor.
When Drake came in, he smiled as the princesses ran over to him, pulling him in by his hand. He played his guitar, a complicated soundtrack to his story, a Beauty and the Beast tale. I didn’t help him, so he got to do all the voices. I just sat on the bed, one of the princesses sitting on my lap. The nurses were watching Drake with the same looks of adoration as the princesses. He was very beautiful. The way his graceful fingers moved over the guitar strings and the way he performed was perfect in every way.
Afterwards, he waited by the door for me, but I had a hard time leaving Sally. Would she die before I saw her again? She turned her head and stared at me with her enormous brown eyes. “Your prince is waiting.”
I nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead before I got up. I waved at all the princesses, then after a flurry of hugs, went to the door, not looking at Drake. My hands trembled as I walked down the hall unseeing.
Drake stopped, grabbing my elbow. I turned to look at him, but he wasn’t looking at me, instead he was fixated at the end of the hall. I turned and stared at Lulu where she stood, eyes empty, skin stiff, small body walking towards us like a puppet. A man stood beside her, staring at Drake with hatred in his eyes. Mage business. A necromancer was messing with Lulu?
I lost it. Feelings, too many to name went through me and even though I knew that this was just some mage thing, the fact that Lulu was dead and wasn’t coming back hit me so hard, that spark of life cut short, so much potential, so much beauty and sweetness, gone. She wasn’t there, staggering towards me, she was gone.
I ran towards her only a few steps before Drake wrapped his arms around me, holding me back. I twisted and yelled, words that didn’t make sense. I had to do something.
“Stop, Penny,” Drake said in my ear, his voice breaking through. “She’s gone. That’s not her. You know that.”
“Isn’t she a witch?” The man who thought playing with dead bodies was fun said those words like they meant something.
I turned to him, struggling against Drake. “Stop. You have to stop. Lulu is going to heaven so she can be an angel princess with sparkly wings. You can’t do this to her. You can’t do this. Do you know how sick she was, but she smiled. You have no idea what courage is until you’ve seen these sweet children face agony with a smile. You mages have to stop treating everything like a game.”
He stared at me, surprised while Drake’s hands held me even tighter, my back against his chest.
“I’m not a mage.” He looked at Lulu and seemed confused, disoriented before he lifted his hands and began singing this horrible tune like impending doom. Lulu turned around, walked back the way she came. “I’ll put her to rest. Your friend’s right. She’s not here. You can stop screaming. Mage, make her stop screaming!”
The man wrapped his arms around his body and sank down the wall, trembling and rocking while Drake covered my mouth. Had I been screaming? I must have been.
Drake turned, hauling me along with him, his arms wrapped around me, hand firmly over my mouth. He didn’t take me out the front door past the nurse, but out a small side door that he had a key to. He kept carrying me across the dark parking lot to his car, then finally put me in the passenger’s side and closed the door on me like I might do something crazy or something.
He got in, turned on the engine and the heater. “You kicked me. I’m going to have a very nice bruise on my calf from your dainty little shoes. How is the search for a good pair of boots coming?”
I swallowed hard, choking on sorrow while my chest rose and fell. “Is she…” I almost said okay, but how could she be okay dead, and whether she was walking around or lying down, she was gone and wouldn’t ever come back.
“He said the words that would send her back to sleep. He’s new so he’s not as acclimatized as most of them.”
I stared at him. “Acclimatized? You know a lot of necromancers? What exactly do you do for your community service?”
He smirked at me. “I can see you’re imagining me leading a band of bloodthirsty undead, but I actually run a ward for humans trying to adapt back to Dayside. That guy wasn’t a mage. He was kept as a Necromancer’s pet in Darkside, but she died and he developed her powers and caused all kinds of havoc, so they sent him back. It’s complicated. His mind isn’t really in Dayside. You know what it’s like for humans in Darkside.”
I stared at him. “Are you joking?”
He cocked his head. “About what?”
“You help humans? Why?”
He blinked at me and started the car. “It’s interesting.”
I grabbed his arm, holding onto the muscles, tense beneath the dark jacket sleeve. He was so taut, like a bowstring. Maybe from me screaming. I’d probably hurt his ears. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten in the middle of mage business. Can I hold your hand?”
He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Are you going to cry?”
Judging by the way my chest kept rising and falling, the way every breath was a half-sob, and the memory of Lulu gone made me feel… “Probably.”
He pulled his arm out of my grip, slid off his jacket, tossed it in the back and then pulled me against him so my head was near his shoulder. “I’m not used to removing tear stains. Go ahead.”
I wrapped my arms around his body and pressed my face against his shirt. I didn’t scream, just cried, a long, miserable drizzle that I could have sustained for years. He pulled into the Chinese restaurant’s parking lot, turned off his lights, but kept the engine running. He half turned and pulled me against him, wrapped his arms around me and held me close.
Chapter 18
Mage
Things were completely out of control.
Usually I liked things being out of control, kept things interesting, but the Necromancer’s pet playing puppets with one of Penny’s princesses was just not cool. If I’d had to destroy Lulu while Penny watched she would never look at me the same again. She wouldn’t turn to me for comfort, like I was her deliveryman.
Maybe I should phase the humans out of the hospital and close it down. I would have to do something about it after graduation, anyway. I’d have better things to do than manage some halfway house for insane humans.
Boron. Salicytes. I had to focus on the upcoming big tourney with Blackheart. Ian was going to classes, somewhat, flirting with girls, but after all his time in Darkside, I’d expected more mastery in things like chemical compounds. He was next to useless at anything other than drinking, fighting, and seducing women.
I stood in the lab beside him explaining for the tenth time the order of ingredients, the importance of the order of ingredients and wanting to strangle the idiotic fop.
“Ian, if you put the bromide in before the potassium, it will neutralize instead of exploding. If you do it the opposite way, explosion.”
He leaned against the counter, golden skin glimmering in t
he sunshine that poured through the window. We hadn’t had so much sun for a long time. “Right, if you say so, but who cares? I can simply make an explosion, like so.” He opened his palm and a puff of gold smoke like a miniature mushroom cloud puffed up then dissolved when he pressed his hands together. “We’re not Blackheart. We have our talents, they have theirs. You shouldn’t have to be better than everyone at everything.”
I glanced at him then smiled as I adjusted my goggles and carefully measured a beaker of saline. “When Teddy the Blackheart prince makes you look like an incompetent fool, you’ll be wishing that you paid a little more attention. Yes, Ian. We’re mages. But if that’s all we are, there are a million Darkside mages who are stronger, faster, deadlier, and with greater magical ability than a Dayside mage could ever have.”
He laughed, crossed his arms while his eyes sparked gold. “If you say so. You don’t think they’re ready?”
I glanced at him. “I’m not ready. And you being tied to Wit, do you want her to know every little secret you have?”
He grinned charmingly as he leaned forward. “It’s not so little, but nothing about me is. How long are you going to draw out the seduction of the girl?”
I shrugged. “She didn’t like the mess you made of my face. Technically, I’m not seducing her.”
He cocked his head. “You’re not seducing her? How strange. You have such an admirable head for strategy. Is she such a battle?”
“A war. Epic and multi-faceted. When she realizes that there is a war, it’s going to get really interesting.”
“It seems boring but what do I know about your peculiar tastes?”
I elbowed him back when I needed to reach in front of him to take five droppers of ionized Sulphur. “You’ve met her. There isn’t anything peculiar about my tastes, just my methods of satisfying them.”
“As long as she’s satisfied as well.”
“Why wouldn’t she be?”
He laughed, his laugh as golden as his skin. “We both know where your talents lie. Fighting, yes. Romancing, no.”
I inhaled and glanced at him. “This is going to render you incapable of speech in three, two…” A cloud of purple smoke erupted from my test tube and lodged itself on Ian’s head so he was a flailing, golden-bodied purple cloud headed monster.
Dread Delight: Rosewood Academy for Witches and Mages (Darkly Sweet Book 2) Page 16