“I deal with magic for the living, not the dead,” Felix said. “There’s a big difference there. Once someone steps into the Dead Lands, everything gets twisted. Magic, time, people. I won’t have anything to do with it, and I won’t be responsible for prompting you to risk your life to follow Sienna there. She’s built for it; you’re not. Simple as that.”
“I thought I could count on you.”
“You can,” Felix said. “And that’s what I’m doing—I’m helping you. Also, the borough is counting on me. You do know what it is I’m working on in there, don’t you?”
I looked down at my hands.
“It’s a direct order from Chief Newton. You asked me to look into it, too,” he said. “I’m trying to break down the spell that killed Matthew. Frankly, after two months, I’m no closer to cracking the code than I was the day you brought the vial in here.”
“Then it might be time for a break.”
“There’s no time for a break,” Felix said. “My answer is no. And if I may say so, it’d serve you well to focus on the borough, too. There are things happening here that need your attention, detective.”
“We’ll all be better off once Sienna’s back,” I said vehemently. “We can’t lose another one.”
“Another one?” Felix froze, straightened. “What are you talking about?”
I zipped my lips. “Never mind. I should be going.”
“Detective—”
“Sorry to waste your time, Felix,” I mumbled. “You are doing good work. Important work. The borough needs you.”
“We need you, too,” he called after me. “Now more than ever. Let her go, Dani. If she’s meant to come back, she’ll find her way.”
I left Felix’s office and made my way out of the precinct. Evening had begun to fall, and I welcomed the coolness as I shrugged back into my leather jacket. I turned, studying the building as I considered my options.
Felix had said the borough needed my help. But what could I do? There were no cases with my name on them. People were avoiding me. I felt as if I was only making people upset by asking them favors. It was better for me to focus on my own things, personal things, and leave everyone else out of it.
But with that said, there was one more person who might be able to help me get into the Dead Lands, and he lived in New York.
BY THE TIME I GOT INTO the bustling ambiance of New York City, the sun had set and stars were popping out into the night sky, twinkling above me. For once, I enjoyed being lost in a sea of people who didn’t know me. I reveled in being anonymous.
Nobody looked at me differently here, nobody stared at me with pity in their eyes or fell silent when they recognized me. Nobody expected anything of me here. And for a moment, I wondered if that was why Sienna had left. For solitude and silence, for a place to go to start over.
Then I pressed on, finding the apartment complex I’d been looking for and taking the elevator to the thirty-fifth floor. I knocked on the first door to the right, wondering why the news of The Hex Files had been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Sienna was tough. She was independent. She’d seen difficult things and heard devastating news before. So, what was it that I’d said to push her away? Or, as Grey had wondered in my living room earlier, had it not been me at all... but this person named Nathaniel who had called Sienna home?
When the door opened, my brother stood behind it looking surprised to see me. Rob reached out, gave me a one-armed hug, and drew me inside.
“Good to see you, little sister,” he said. “What brings you to New York?”
I looked around my brother’s place, finding it hard not to compare it to Matthew’s former penthouse. The two had similar, gorgeous views, but Matthew’s had been wildly more modern and sleeker. From what I’d understood, Matthew had footed the bill for his own digs. My brother was living on the money the department had forked over to put him up in New York as acting chief of the NYPD in Matthew’s absence.
“Sorry to barge in on you like this,” I said, looking with interest at a familiar pink suitcase in one corner. “Do you have company?”
“Poppy just arrived from The Isle,” Rob said. “She’s taking a quick rinse in the shower. I invited her to dinner to discuss... things. Her hotel room wasn’t ready.”
“Ah.”
“What brings you around?”
Rob walked me to a kitchen table in a miniscule room that overlooked a bustling city street below. He rummaged around making coffee. I didn’t bother to tell him that I’d had enough caffeine for the year in the last two months.
I sighed, warming my hands around the cup once it was ready and filled with liquid. I took my time in deciding how to broach the subject.
“Spit it out,” Rob said. “I’ve always been able to tell when you’re lying.”
“You’ve been around,” I said. “You know a lot of people.”
“I don’t like where this is going, but sure,” Rob said reluctantly. “I’ll play along.”
“Did you ever meet anyone who could get into the Dead Lands?”
“Nope.”
“Nope you haven’t? Or nope you’re not telling me?”
“Either. Both. The latter,” Rob said. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not helping you get anywhere near the Dead Lands.”
“I’m not asking you as the chief of the NYPD. I’m asking you as my brother.”
“And I’m answering as your brother,” Rob said firmly. “No way, no how. Not happening. That’d be signing your death warrant, and there’s no way I’m living with that. I couldn’t stand to see anything happen to you.”
“What about Sienna?”
“What about her?” Rob’s face hardened. “She left. That’s not a crime.”
I blew out a huge breath. “It’s bigger than that.”
“Then tell me why,” Rob said, “and I’ll reconsider.”
“I can’t. Not just yet.”
“Then you have my answer,” Rob said. “I know that you went to visit Felix. He’s working on something for me and Chief Newton. And for you. For all of us. He’s been instructed not to help you with this side project.”
“What a tattle tale.”
“It’s for your own safety,” Rob said. “Felix is doing important work. Danielle, I know you’re upset about what happened to Matthew. Your world has been flipped upside down, and for that, I’m sorry. But we have a huge threat facing our world, and we need all hands on deck to battle it. Can we count on you?”
“I’m trying to help.”
“You won’t help anyone by getting yourself killed in the Dead Lands,” Rob said. “We have an army of manufactured vampires running amok in the city. Crime in New York against mortals has skyrocketed. They’re coming for the borough, Dani. You must be able to sense it.”
“What do you want me to do about it?”
Rob sat back in his seat and folded his arms before him. “I suppose this is as good of a time to tell you as any.”