I remembered some of the early conversations I’d had with Matthew when we’d been dating. Despite his confidence and his strength, he’d still had doubts. He’d doubted his ability to provide me with the sort of life I wanted. He wondered if we were too different to make a relationship work. And while I’d convinced him none of that was true, I hadn’t put my money where my mouth was. Not exactly. Because I’d pushed him away in the end.
“Whatever you do,” Grey said, “you can’t go after her. It’s suicide for you to walk into the Dead Lands alone and unprotected.”
“Will you go with me?”
The werewolf’s shoulders slumped forward. “It wouldn’t change the fact that you can’t physically go inside. Besides, the whole thing is a death wish. And for what? If the letter is real, and it resonated with Sienna, who are we to stop her? She is an adult and is fully capable of making her own choices. If she’s returning to Nathaniel’s side as commander, then I don’t think we’ll be able to change her mind.”
“But what if the letter has nothing to do with Sienna’s disappearance?” I asked. “What if it was me, telling her about the files, that prompted her to leave?”
“Then we have even less chance of finding her because we have no clue where she’s gone.”
We sat in silence.
“I’m going to get some sleep,” I said finally. “I was up early, and I need an hour of shut eye before getting back to work. I appreciate you coming over here.”
Grey stood, stretching his long limbs. I walked him to the door, and once there, he pressed a gentle kiss to my cheek. “Good night.”
Once he’d made his way down the hallway, I closed my door and waited for my furniture to say something. They didn’t. Apparently even my inanimate objects had been able to sense that I wasn’t in a joking state of mind.
I made it to my room and collapsed on the bed. But the sun was shining, and even when I drew my shades, I couldn’t sleep. It was hard to remember to eat. I knew I was shrinking, knew my eyes had deep bags under them from the inability to close my eyes and get rest. Because whenever I succeeded in falling asleep, I saw Matthew’s face in my dreams.
After an hour of restless tossing and turning, I pulled myself out of bed. I jumped into the shower for a second time that day because the jolt of hot water and caffeine were the only two things keeping me going on what little sleep I could muster.
“You’re going to have a heart attack,” Marla informed me as I poured coffee into a to-go mug. “Who’s going to take care of us if you go and die?”
“I’m not worried about y’all,” I said. “I’m worried about whoever inherits you. You’ll drive them nuts.”
“Looks like we drove you nuts,” Marla said pointedly. “Your family is right, Dani. We are all worried about you. There’s more string dangling from your kitchen than there is food in your fridge. You’ve all but fixed an IV of coffee to yourself.”
“I’ve got things to do,” I said. “No rest for the wicked.”
“Just be careful, Dani,” Marla said. “Maybe you need a vacation. A getaway.”
“I need to get away alright,” I mumbled, letting myself out of the apartment. Once I locked the door, I continued. “Get away to the Dead Lands.”
And I was on my way to find out how to do just that.
Chapter 4
“Is this related to a case?” Felix looked up at me through bug-eyed goggles that extended three inches from the tip of his nose. “If not, then I don’t have time to talk to you.”
I followed Felix around the lab. I’d never seen the tech wizard so engrossed in what he was doing, and that was saying something. He was always engrossed in a project, but this one had consumed him on a new level.
The normally disheveled, good-natured tech wizard for the Sixth Precinct had let his five o’clock shadow grow out to a full, shaggy beard. His hair was floppy. Normally, Felix had ketchup or powdered sugar on his shirt on any given day, the remnants from his two favorite foods, but lately, he’d been skipping as many meals as me. His shirt was straight-up clean, and for him that was alarming.
I hoped to fix that. Sliding over a box of powdered doughnuts, I watched as Felix did a double take. Probably more out of habit than desire for food.
He reached up, pressed a button on the side of his goggles, and they retracted before he pulled them off and stared at me. “You think you can buy my attention?”
“Hasn’t it worked in the past?”
“I’m busy, detective.”
“I know,” I said. “And I hate to bother you, but I really need your help.”
Felix stared at the glowing vials on his lab table. Then he huffed a breath, looked over at the doughnuts, and gestured for me to follow him.
We moved into Felix’s tiny space that was more closet than office. It was just the way he liked it. Documents were posted on the walls and stacks of paper were strewn on every free surface. Textbooks, magic books, biology books and the like were scattered on dusty shelves. Somehow, Felix’s tiny space seemed to have grown even smaller in the weeks since Matthew’s death. I wasn’t the only one obsessed.
“I’ll have one if you do,” Felix said, reaching for a napkin and a doughnut. “You’re shrinking.”
“Your shirt is clean,” I said. “It’s weird.”
Felix made a face, then bit into his doughnut. “What’s going on, detective?”
“I need to get into the Dead Lands.”
I didn’t bother with a preface, or a doughnut, or much of anything else. I dove straight in, watching as a lump of powdered sugar fell from Felix’s lip and onto his shirt where it belonged. His mouth hung open in shock.
When Felix recovered, he wiped his lips with his sleeve and popped most of the doughnut into his mouth. He chomped, considering. Finally, he spoke.
“Does this have something to do with Sienna?”
“It does.”
“Is she in trouble?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” I admitted. “But if she is, I need to help her.”
“And if she isn’t, you’ll have wasted my time, not to mention put your life at risk chasing after her.”
“I’m willing to do that for my friend.”
“Noble,” Felix said. “But I’m not. Sienna left of her own accord. Now, I’m not mad at her by any means. I love that girl and wish her well. I hope she finds what she’s looking for. But detective, I’ve got a mess on my hands right here in the borough, and I can’t devote any time to helping you get into the Dead Lands on a hunch.”
“But—”
Felix stood. “Not to mention, you don’t belong there.”
“Neither does Sienna.”
“Yes, she does.” Felix leaned forward on his desk, the good-naturedness gone from his eyes as he stared at me with an intensity I wasn’t used to getting from the tech wizard. “She’s a necromancer, DeMarco. She can walk the Dead Lands. You can’t.”
“That’s why I’m here. Surely there’s some sort of spell—”