“Be right back,” I told him, then walked into the kitchen. Tink was nowhere to be found, and my laptop was missing. Cereal crumbs remained on the counter. Some things never changed. I rapped my knuckles on his door. “Tink?”
“Yo,” he yelled back, and it sounded like normal Tink, not full-sized Tink.
“We’re heading to work,” I told him, shifting my weight from one foot to the next. “I just wanted—”
The door suddenly opened, and Tink appeared, his wings moving lazily. “You’re letting me know? That’s different. Typically you just leave without saying anything.”
I frowned at him as I noticed he was wearing a pair of doll gym shorts, and they were tiny, like disco-dancing tiny. And they were satiny and silver. Wow. “I’ve told you—”
“You’re worried about me because of what happened with the knight. Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.” Floating forward, he flicked the tip of my nose. “Be careful, and tell Ren he is more than welcome to stay at his own place tonight.” Then he closed the door in my face.
I was so not telling Ren that.
“Everything okay?” he asked when I joined him.
“Yeah, I was just checking on Tink.” I paused as I grabbed my bag and draped the strap over my shoulder. “I’ll admit,” I said in a low voice, “I’m a little worried about leaving him here. He doesn’t have the thorn stake like last time.”
Ren opened his mouth, seemed to think carefully about what he was going to say, and then closed it. “I’m sure he’ll be okay.”
“Uh huh.”
He smiled crookedly and opened the door. We headed down the staircase and out across the courtyard. It was chilly outside, cooler than normal, but I wasn’t complaining. Not too long ago I was wishing for a polar vortex to make New Orleans its bitch, but it was unseasonable for this time of year.
The drive into the Quarter wasn’t too bad as it was a pretty decent time in the afternoon. I swore I saw someone in a T-Rex costume mowing grass, though.
Somehow, by some kind of magical happening, Ren nabbed a parking spot in the garage the Order used, which was closer than usual since there was no parking on Phillips. Typically there weren’t spots available, because locals had figured out you could park there without having to give your keys and car over to someone, but Ren was obviously super special.
“You ready to have this talk with David after the meeting?” Ren asked as we started toward headquarters. “We’re going to be dumping some crap on him.”
That was the understatement of the decade. On the way into the Quarter, we’d decided to hold off on mentioning the unproven community of good fae. We would talk to Jerome first, get a read on him, and see what we could get out of him before going to David.
“He’s not going to be happy that we didn’t call him last night, but at least we can butter him up with the good news of one of the knights being gone.”
“That won’t go a long way.”
I nodded and scanned the streets. Ren did the same. He was looking for fae, but I was keeping an eye out for the prince. So far, we weren’t seeing anything other than a whole lot of tourists underdressed for the cold snap. A block from the headquarters, he reached over and tugged on a curl of mine. I looked at him.
He winked. “I just can’t stop myself from playing with them.”
I knocked his hand away and shook my head. “Save that for later.”
“I don’t know about that.” He reached over, sliding a hand down my back. “Gonna be playing with other things then.”
Oh dear.
The building came into view, and I shook it off while Ren chuckled. One of the newer recruits stood guard outside. Mama Lousy was still closed, which meant we were most likely going to have to visit Jerome at his place. It was probably better that way since the gift shop was wired with video.
I smiled at the new guy, and he nodded in my direction.
“Hey Glenn, what’s going on?” Ren asked as he opened the door.
“Nothing much,” he replied. Glenn was tall and dark-skinned, his head bald and smooth. Sunglasses shielded his eyes and he gave off a great “don’t screw with me” vibe. “Got some new people upstairs.”
“Not surprised about that,” Ren said as I headed into the stairwell.
“Yeah, but these guys are different.”
I exchanged a look with Ren, and he shrugged. As we reached the door, it opened for us. Rachel Adams was on the other side. The tall and slender Order member was in her early thirties. I didn’t know her well, and like most members, she kept to herself. Beyond her, I could tell that the room was pretty full.
“Glad to see you’re back up and moving around,” she said, stepping aside.
“Thanks. Glad to see you’re not dead.” My eyes widened as I realized how that sounded. “I meant that you didn’t die in the battle, not that I’m glad anyone else died, but yeah . . .”
She stared at me and arched a brow.
“Nice,” Ren murmured under his breath, and I casually jabbed my elbow out, catching him in the side. He grinned, and the dimple on his left cheek began to appear. I was thinking about hitting him again when David suddenly appeared in front of us.
I hadn’t seen David since I left the hospital, and for a man who usually seemed so ageless, he didn’t right now. The salt and pepper sprinkled at his temples had expanded up the sides of his head. Deeper wrinkles had formed at the corners of his dark skin, around his eyes. He looked tired.
And pissed.
But he always kind of looked pissed.
David nodded at Ren and then looked down at me. He placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. “Good to see you finally walking back through that door.”
I blinked once, twice, and then murmured, “Ditto.”
He stepped back, and I felt like I could’ve fallen over, because that was actually nice coming from David, from the man I always felt like I was letting down and who never really seemed to be overly happy with anything I did or said.
I almost wanted to do a little jig.
I looked around the room but didn’t see Miles. Feeling antsy, I glanced over at Ren. That’s when I noticed Ren’s grin starting to fade. Two men I’d never seen before had joined David. One was tall, had dark hair, and was probably in his mid to late forties. The other was shorter with pale, pale skin, and had red hair brighter than mine, and that was saying something. Ren stiffened as the dark-haired man approached him.
“Ren,” the man said, extending a hand. “It’s been a while. Good to see you’re doing well.”
“Likewise.” Ren shook the man’s hand, but there wasn’t an ounce of warmth in his voice. “What are you doing here, Kyle?”
My eyes widened. Kyle? That Kyle? The one who killed Ren’s best friend because he turned out to be a halfling? Holy shitballs.
“Here because we’re needed.” Kyle turned to me. He extended his hand in my direction. “You must be Ivy. David was telling me about you.”
“Nice to meet you,” I lied—lied straight through my teeth as I shook his hand.
“Same to you.” His gaze flickered over my face. “Fought the prince of the Otherworld and lived to tell the story. Amazing.”
I forced myself to show no reaction. “Barely lived to tell the story.” I smiled tightly as he let go of my hand. He turned sideways, and I felt a weird pressure clamping down on my chest.
David moved to the center of the room. “Okay guys, listen up. We’ve got two members from Colorado here. Their names are Kyle Clare and Henry Kenner.”
A muscle was flexing, doing overtime along Ren’s jaw as he folded his arms across his chest. There was not a single doubt in my mind that Ren was very unhappy that they were here.
I wasn’t too thrilled myself.
“I’m going to cut through the bullshit. Henry and I are here to find the halfling,” Kyle announced. There weren’t any gasps of surprise from the other
members. Apparently they’d been filled in on all that and the whole secret society of Order members known as the Elite, but unease was brewing in my belly as Kyle’s dark gaze flickered around the room. “Here’s the thing that all of you are missing. If that girl was truly the halfling and the fae knew that, they wouldn’t have her anywhere near that gate,” Kyle said. “They