by Kim Harrison
Hodin sniggered, standing more confidently.
“I forbid it.” Al looked Hodin up and down in disgust. “I’d rather give it to that troll under the bridge at Eden Park.”
“Hey!” I shouted as I glared at him, and Jenks laughed, choking it back when Al’s gloved hands fisted. “Don’t criticize me and what I had to do to save your ass. You were hiding in a hole.”
“Save my ass,” Al said, and I took a step closer, giving the bottle to Trent so I had a free hand to poke him in the chest.
“Save. Your. Ass,” I said as Trent pulled me back before I could actually do it. “If not for me, you’d still be there.”
Hodin chuckled, and I rounded on him.
“And you!” I said, face warm as his expression suddenly went empty. “You left me when things got sticky. You know what?” Pulse fast, I looked back at Al. “I want both of you out of my life. You both left when I needed you. The only person who stuck it out was Trent, so if I hear one more shitty comment about elves and their lack of trust, or worth, or the dangers of calling on the Goddess, I’m going to shoot you both to the moon!”
“The moon, Rache?” Jenks questioned, but I was mad.
“You will both get out of this store and my life!” I shouted, and Ivy winced. “You leave me the hell alone until you idiots make up, shake hands, and . . . make me a cake together!” I shouted, echoing what my mom had said when Robbie and I had fought. “I’ve had it with both of you!”
“If it means he gets the baku, then I won’t help you separate them,” Al said.
Furious, I stomped my foot and yanked harder on the line. “Get out!” I shrilled, hurt that he’d put his hate for Hodin before me.
Al left in a puff of foul smoke, taking his coffee with him. Hodin was gone when I turned back, but I’d expected nothing less. Pulse fast, I wavered, suddenly breathless.
“I did it,” I said, and Trent took my elbow to help me back to the table. “I told them both to leave, and they did.”
“I guess you showed them,” Trent said, but his smile seemed real, and I basked in it. “Rachel, if there’s a way, we will find it,” he promised, and I nodded, blinking fast as I looked at Bis, safe in my arms.
“To Bis,” Ivy said, raising her paper cup of coffee. “Never has a truer soul existed.”
I sat down before I fell over, overwhelmed as the love I felt for them washed over me. Shaky, I lifted my own lukewarm coffee. “To Bis,” I whispered, one hand curved about him on my lap. “We will bring you home.”
Silently we drank to the little gargoyle, and I swear I felt his tail tighten on my finger.
Trent’s eyes were on mine as he lowered his cup, and he leaned closer, whispering, “I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I can’t. Now that my mother’s spelling lab is open, I want to give it to you.”
“Give it . . . to me?” I stammered, and Jenks chuckled as if having already known. Rising up, he flew to Zack, Glenn, and Mark, who were headed our way with trays of steaming sandwiches in their hands.
“So you have a place to work,” Trent said, the rims of his ears becoming red. “Just until the church is fixed,” he added as if to convince me, and Ivy smiled. “And who knows?” He ducked his head, his eyes swimming with love when they rose again to find mine. “If you find you like my mother’s spelling lab, you can stay.”
I couldn’t look away from him, breathless. He didn’t open it for Ellasbeth. He opened it for me, I thought, not knowing what to say, much less think.
“You don’t have to answer now,” Trent said as I stared at him blankly. “You might want to stay at Piscary’s for the winter since Ivy and Nina are headed for DC, but I wanted to give you the option. It’s there if you want it.”
Want it? Of course I wanted it. But it was a big change, one that I could never go back from. “Trent . . . ,” I stammered, not knowing what to say, much less think.
But Mark and Zack were setting down paper-wrapped sandwiches smelling of Thanksgiving, and I smiled, the lightness of hope trickling through me.
“On the house,” Mark said as he began to hand them out, the scent of turkey and stuffing wafting up to remind me how long it had been since I’d eaten. “Corporate sent them over to test in a mixed-species setting, but they weren’t a big seller. Tomorrow, they will be even less.” He winced. “Uh, I’d appreciate it if you’d fill out a like-dislike card before you leave.”
Glenn swung a chair from an adjacent table around and sat so close to Ivy that their elbows jostled. “I’ll take one,” he said, and Ivy curved a hand familiarly over his leg to make his ears redden.
“One looks about right,” she almost purred, and Jenks laughed from my shoulder.
“Hey, Rache,” Jenks said as he dropped down and helped himself to the half sandwich that Mark had set in the center of the table for him. “How about that? Thanksgiving dinner. Right here at Junior’s.” He stabbed a cranberry on the tip of his garden sword and pulled it forth. “Couldn’t have planned it better. No dishes to clean up, and everyone is here.”
Smiling my thanks, I took the sandwich smelling of turkey and stuffing as Zack and Mark settled themselves. My eyes went down the table, finding peace as the conversations began to rise. Ivy and Glenn seemed to have a new understanding, and I wondered if he was going to stay in Cincinnati now that he had left the Order or follow her and Nina to DC. Trent was to my right, where he’d been for a very long time, only now there was a contented satisfaction in him I’d never seen before. He had given me something I needed—something that would protect me by allowing me to protect myself. Jenks sat in the middle of the table beside that bottle as if guarding it, razzing Glenn and Ivy even as he kept an eye on the parking lot for trouble.
They’d all come looking for me, bringing me hope that tomorrow was going to be better than today even if it was going to be new and different. Everyone I cared about was here.
Except Bis, I thought, jamming the hurt down deep. But I knew that with my friends, I’d be okay. Hodin would figure out how to separate him from the baku. Al would get over it. With Ivy gone, I could move into Piscary’s for the winter and Jenks could come home. Unless I took Trent up on his offer and moved into his compound, complete with a space for just me. My God. I can go anywhere from here.
Blinking fast, I looked down the table, listening to my friends smooth the ugly parts of my life into a background nothing that could be forgotten. That big something wonderful that I thought the church held . . . was right here at this table.
About the Author
Kim Harrison is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Hollows series, including The Witch with No Name, The Undead Pool, and Ever After. She has published more than two dozen books—from young adult to speculative thriller—has written short fiction for various anthologies, and has scripted two original graphic novels set in the Hollows universe. She has also published traditional fantasy under the name Dawn Cook. Kim was born and raised in Michigan and is currently working on a new Hollows book between other projects.
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