Page 103 of A Shade Too Far
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Frances Rothstein.A Jew, a Banim Shovavim, and ultimately our target. I reread the note memorizing the left slant of her handwriting—just like mine—and the flourish on the “R” of her last name, drinking in the details because I might never meet anyone else so much like me. She must have been keeping tabs on me since the dybbuk attack at Blood Alley, because even if Chester had contacted her, she’d made the connection between us and Tatiana.
For whatever reason, she wanted me alive, and vice versa. I walked around the crime scene, searching for any other clues, but there was nothing. We’d meet when she intended us to and not a moment before, because unless she’d gotten herself banned from the KH like I had, she could be anywhere in the world right now. Even if I could follow, I’d need a location, not just her name.
Naveen kicked Chester’s corpse. “You idiot.” He whipped out his phone, barking orders about a cleanup to that Clea person he’d texted previously, then nodded at me. “You want a ride back to my place to pick up your car? I have to stay here but I can arrange for someone to take you.”
“No, thanks. I’ll make my own way there.” I couldn’t handle Naveen’s people right now, even if they were perfectly nice. I needed some normalcy—like an anonymous Uber driver.
Unfortunately, I’d forgotten what I looked like, covered in dirt and demon portal vagina slickness. The poor driver was reluctant to have me in his car until I promised him a healthy tip. With an extra twenty percent if he didn’t speak to me.
When I went to put on my seat belt, I realized that I was still clutching Laurent’s clothes. I placed them in my lap, desperately seeking a silver lining.
Frances was hellbent on getting the gloves, so she wouldn’t go after Tatiana before the meeting. That was something. And Laurent had his magic back, though its rather explosive return didn’t bode well for any repair to our friendship. Zev said that he’d been stuck in wolf form before. Was that after Laurent left his pack? The reason he’d left them in the first place?
How many times could someone come back from that?
I hurried to my car, startling when Daya’s front door opened and Sadie stuck her head out, already back from work. I’d lost track of time. I concealed the worst of my filth by hiding behind the car. “Hey, kiddo.”
“What happened to you?” She slid her feet into flip-flops, now changed out of her camp T-shirt into a pink crop top, and came outside.
I wasn’t going to lie, but damn did I wish I could and have her believe me. “Demon. It’s dead now,” I assured her.
She paused. “Whatever. Caleb’s on his way over and we’re going to Metrotown,” she said, naming a large mall nearby.
“Is anyone else home?” I said.
“No.”
“Could we talk for a minute?”
Sadie crossed her arms. “Is this going to take long?”
I joined her on the stoop. “I don’t know, Sades. Depends how snippy you’re going to be.”
She dropped her gaze to her feet.
I sighed, my shoulders slumping. Her entire reality had been upended in a very short amount of time and everything that had gone down at our house with Zev had only exacerbated that. “Look, everything I’ve dumped on you… It’s a lot.”
“You think?” she muttered.
“If you don’t want to talk to me,” I said through gritted teeth, “you’ve got Jude, and I’m going to get you, me, and your dad into therapy.”
“With an Ohrist,” she said flatly. “Not a regular person.”
“Ohrists are regular people, but yes. Our therapist will have magic since I’d like them to believe what we’re discussing. When your father and I got divorced, you were still so young that it wasn’t as big an adjustment as if you’d been older. And even then, we did everything we could to make it easy for you, including living next door to each other. I don’t expect this to be easy for you, but you have to find a way to deal with it because like it or not, it’s not going away.”
“So, suck it up?”
“Basically.” I nudged her to get the frown off her face. “Come on. You’re the kid who clapped her hands every night for a month because you believed in fairies. Are you really telling me there’s not a tiny part of you that loves the fact that magic is real?”
“Obviously,” she said in a huff.
“And yes, it’s scary.” I motioned at the demon gore painting my clothing.
“It’s not even that. Mr. BatKian was mostly okay, and I’d have been way bitchier than he was if I’d been zapped into a fence. But I don’t get to share magic with anyone. You have friends who have powers. Even Dad is getting to know Nav. But I have no one my age to talk about it to or share it with.” She jammed her hands into her pockets. “It sucks.”
“I felt that way for a long time with all my Sapien friends, so I understand.” I tapped a finger against my lip. “Maybe I could help you find some magic friends.”
