“Oh, right, sorry. Yes, they found DNA and trace bits of metal on the ribbon. All over it, like someone had been—”
“Put it on speaker,” Fin demanded, right in my other ear.
I shoved him away. “No, I’m not putting it on speaker because you’re acting like a toddler. One minute, and I’ll tell you what she said.”
Tegan was still going. “They couldn’t figure out the composition of the metal, but they said they found traces of magic as well.”
“They can test for that now?”
Tegan hemmed and hawed a little bit. “Well, not for magic specifically, but there is a chemical composition that magic can leave on some fabrics. Looks like silk is one of them.”
Interesting.
“Thanks, Teags,” I said. “Can you email me the report?”
Fin jostled me again, trying to get to my phone as I hung up. He dropped his hands when I slipped it into my pocket.
“Are you going to be a good boy and relax while I tell you what she said? Because you need to calm down.”
His forehead drew in tight and I resisted the urge to push his hair behind his ear to get it out of his face. “She’s my sister. You have to understand. The only family I have left. If there is some proof she still exists out there, then I want to hear it. And quickly.”
I threw myself into an armchair and curled my legs up underneath me. “She said there was DNA, female on the ribbon. Also trace amounts of metal and chemical composition which suggest magic was used near the ribbon at som
e point.”
He sat across from me. “Was that it?”
I dug the phone out and tossed it to him. “You can call her back if you want to hear about it, but be prepared to offer up your phone number. She’ll bribe it out of you for the information.”
Before I could take the phone back, he climbed out of the chair and headed toward the door. “Where are you going?”
He’d already started buttoning the cuffs of his shirt. “I’m going back to the station to get more information. Surely, if she sees how important it is, she’ll help me without the running tableau.”
I surged to my feet and crossed the room. “First of all, I take offense to that. I may be a smart ass, but that wasn’t news to you when you brought me into this job. Second, she won’t. She’s my friend and worse than I am. And if you mind control her, I will walk out that door and never come back.”
He held his hands wide. “What do you want me to do, Zoey? If my sister is alive, I need to know and I need to find her.”
“What we need to know is if Esteban has stolen her skin and used her likeness to get to us, or if it’s really her in the dreams. A sending is what she has been doing to me. How is that different from me seeing your dreams when you sleep?”
He turned away toward the bookshelves and ran his hand through his hair, mussing it with his fingers. “It’s different because you can’t invade my mind through the dream. You’ll never be able to get in, only watch from the outside. It was used between fae to show psychic dreams to each other when necessary. And with humans breathing down our necks and killing us off one by one, it was very necessary.”
He sounded frustrated, tired, and more than a little bit over everything.
I nudged the chair in his direction. “Sit down, and we can talk it out.”
“This, coming from the queen of throwing things first, asking questions maybe later?” His frustrated tone held a hint of amusement.
But he came back over and sat in the chair. I took the one across from him again.
Was this bond messing with me mentally?
“I’m not trying to keep anything from you.” I scrolled through my phone to find my email and opened up the report Jack sent. Once it loaded, I handed him the phone and let him sit back and read.
He returned my phone. “It’s as you say. Then what do you think we should do now?”
I put my hand on my chest and acted shocked. “Are you asking me for a plan?”
“I deserved that.”