But to Fin? Or alone?
Well, it would be alone if he didn’t have any weapons stashed away here. What kind of safe house didn’t have food or weapons?
Dwelling on the negatives didn’t help me right now. I opened the phone again and hit the speed dial the Chief had programmed for Hawk’s number. For some reason, even though the Chief ruled the city’s bounty hunters, his right-hand man always won the number one spot on the speed dial. I didn’t know where I fell on the hierarchy and I preferred not to know.
Hawk answered after three rings. “Still alive, Zoey?”
I smiled, my reflection a ghost in the window as I stared out at the city. “For now, but the day is early. Lots of time for that to change.”
Hawk said, “What do you need?”
“Besides a boat load of weapons and my sanity checked, I need you to do some research for me. Hunt down a list of magical people who work in metalsmithing.”
The sound of shuffling cut through the line. “Should I even ask?”
“No, it’s just a hunch I’m working on. There’s someone I need to find, and I have a feeling she’s working as a magical metalsmith and likely one of the best.”
He murmured through the line as he likely scribbled out my directions. “Anything else you need?”
I turned and eyed my sleeping fae. “No, keep an eye on the Chief for me. He’s really gotten into that bread making, hasn’t he?”
Hawk snorted. “Yes, and thank god for that, because if someone had to talk to him about lowering his blood pressure, I was gonna make you do it.” He paused, then cleared his throat. “But on a serious note, thanks for seeing him. Even under weird circumstances. He’s missed you, though he won’t admit it.”
“I missed him too. But if you tell him that I’ll take your balls off.”
When Hawk hung up, I padded into the bedroom to check on Fin.
He snored lightly, the too tight t-shirt stretching over his muscles. Damn. We needed clothing too. Even if I could still fit in my old clothes, it didn’t mean I wanted to wear them. Or see Fin in the Chief’s borrowed clothes.
Up until a couple days ago, Fin had always managed everything. The clothing, the food, the weapons. If this was my show, I needed to ensure we had what we needed as we worked through our plans.
I hit the number two speed dial on the phone and pressed it to my ear, turning away from the bed to stare out the window again.
The Chief answered with a gruff, “Hello?”
“We made it,” I said.
“Good. Any trouble on the way?”
I shook my head then remembered he wasn’t standing in front of me. “No, it was fine. But there are a few things we need to get started.”
“What’s that?”
“Clothes, weapons, food, to start.”
He laughed, a sharp precise sound which unnerved as much as it soothed. “Oh, is that all?”
“I figured if I’m in charge I should get our supplies. Usually, money bags over there handles everything, but for now, he’s resting.”
A timer sounded from his side of the phone and he cursed.
“Bread?”
“Yeah, I gotta go. I’ll send someone with what you need. Text me your cross streets and I’ll have them meet you outside.”
Another curse and then the phone cut off.
I tucked the phone back into my pocket and resumed my vigil out the window.