There was no point in fretting over what the Society might or might not do to me for cavorting with fae. I was in fae up to my hairline. There was nothing to be done about it but hope the Society never ordered a census. Still, old habits die hard, and the instinctive chill that came from willfully defying Society law prickled down my arms.
“Her blood smells clean.” Midas rubbed his nose as if it itched. “Earthy and floral, like her magic.”
“Remy’s upstairs.” I brought out my phone. “She might have an educated guess as to her species.”
Failing that, she might be able to find out for us. Few things piqued her insatiable curiosity like a juicy mystery. It was part of what made her an excellent spy.
Normally, it was the height of rudeness to ask a person to identify themselves, but in a city brimming with practitioners able to change their faces and species to blend, we couldn’t give manners precedent.
“I’ll ask Bishop to come too.” I shot them each a text. “A second opinion won’t hurt.”
Old as he was, he had encountered most everything during his lifetime. How old, you ask? No idea. Whatsoever. He refused to tell me. Or even hint. Older fae tended to keep their ages to themselves.
I wasn’t sure if the secrecy was meant to avoid breaking the brains of those around them with the sheer weight of life experience they carried, or if it was for their own sake. The longer a creature lived, the more horrors, grief, and sorrow they accumulated. I could understand willing the past into the background of their minds in favor of living in the present.
Twelve minutes passed, during which I fell asleep on my feet, before the elevator’s bright ding woke me.
Remy stepped through the exam room door as I picked grit from my eyes. She noticed the girl, shrieked like the first rube to die in a horror movie, the one who heard a noise and went to investigate it alone, and then launched herself across the room in a flying leap at the unconscious figure.
Three
“Lillian.” Remy landed on top of the girl, clutched her shoulders, and shook. “What are you doing here?”
The girl, Lillian, answered with a soft grunt as she began to rouse. “Huh?”
“What happened to her?” Remy stroked the girl’s hair. “She’s bleeding. I can smell it.”
“She tried to slip past Hank without announcing herself.”
Eyes flashing murder, Remy touched the bruises darkening Lillian’s throat. “And he did this to her?”
“Currently, only residents are allowed entrance to the Faraday.” I willed her to understand what I meant without spelling out our predicament in front of a stranger. “Who is she?”
“My roommate.”
“Your…roommate?”
“What?” She glared up at me. “I read the lease. There’s no rule against it.”
“Have you seen the size of the apartment? I’m just wondering where she’s going to sleep.” I rubbed my eyes, certain I must be bruising them by now, but it did the trick. “Unless…will you be sharing a bed?” That was how Midas and I made it work. “Oh.” Another thought sparked. “Is she your girlfriend?”
That would explain the flower in her hair. Maybe it had been a gift from Lillian.
Laughter spilled out of Remy as she stared down at the girl. “Did you hear that, Lil?”
“Don’t laugh,” Lillian wheezed. “I would make an amazing girlfriend.”
Another burst of amusement shook Remy as she tried, and apparently failed, to picture them as an item.
The girl shoved Remy’s arm with a weak hand. “Uh, Rem?”
Amusement bright in her eyes, she sat back. “Yeah?”
“I can’t breathe.”
“Oh.” She scurried off the end of the bed. “Better?”
“Much.”
Trouble she might be, but Remy was loyal and fiercely protective of her friends.
I just hadn’t realized she had more than one.
Me.
“Remy found me on the street,” Lillian explained in a wavering voice. “She let me stay in her car with her sometimes, when it got too cold.” Her expression darkened. “Then she up and disappeared. I figured she moved on to bigger things. I thought I was alone again. Forgotten again. But Rem, she came back for me.”
When I first met Remy, she was posing as a Swyft driver, and not a very good one. She had been living out of her car until I gave her access to one of HQ’s bunkhouses while she got her feet under her. I hadn’t once considered she might be leaving anyone behind. As far as I knew, she was new in town and only here to murder Midas for killing Eight.
Not for the first time, I was wrong, and I was humbled by my assumptions.
“Will there be enough room?” I hated to nag, but I didn’t let that stop me. “There are two-bedroom floorplans, you know.”
“Show them.” Remy cackled with delight. “Show them what you can do.”
Lillian sat upright, and the scent of what I realized was her magic blossomed to fill the room. Her outline shimmered, leaving a lily behind in her place. Flowers, leaves, stem, bulb, roots, and all.
It matched the flower in Remy’s hair down to the bright red-orange pollen on its anthers.
The new fashion staple must be the fae equivalent of a friendship bracelet.
“Whoa.” I took an automatic step closer. “How cool is that?”
“You have no idea.” Remy’s chuckles tapered into a proud sigh. “She would plant herself at Home Depot, right? Just steal a pot, dump in some dirt, then make with the transformation. She would wait for a sucker to buy her, go home with them, then rob them blind and sneak out while they were at work.” Remy wiped tears from her eyes. “The store never caught on. Her marks didn’t either. She’s too slick.”
The hairlike roots, bare and stringy, rustled against the crisp sheet as if Lillian was enjoying a laugh too.
An unexpected shiver twitched in my neck as I downgraded her trick from cool to ever-so-slightly creepy.
“Remy.” I hated to be such a downer, but it was in my job description. “Can we trust her?”
A sentient plant could gather all kinds of intel while safe in her pot that could prove invaluable to an operation like the OPA, or the coven.
The stubborn set to Remy’s jaw warned me I was in for an ear-chewing of epic proportions. She wanted me to let it go, to laugh and accept her friend, but I couldn’t do it. As much as I would love to relax my vigilance, I couldn’t afford to with the witchborn fae circling us. Perched on the tops of buildings, I pictured them as vultures waiting their turn to pick our bones clean and wished them indigestion if they tried it.
The delicate flower shivered, its leaves rustling, and the girl reappeared with a greenish tint to her skin that looked natural on her rather than unhealthy.
“I did what it took to survive,” she said with a jut of her chin I had seen more than once in the mirror, “and I’m not sorry.”
“Goddess.” I rubbed my forehead. “How do I get myself into these situations?”
“I won’t be any trouble,” Lillian promised me with liquid eyes. “I don’t want to be a criminal. I never did. I want to help out, like Remy does. She says you gave her a shot. Why not me?”