Brave. It looks sticky down there.
We turn expectant gazes on Steel, waiting for an update on Silver.
Grabbing a chair from the desk, he flips it around before lowering his tall frame into it, and then his words flow. I don’t ask many questions because he lays out the facts very simply, with an almost military precision.
He’s tracked Silver for weeks. He finally caught up to her in this town and has been running a one-man surveillance team ever since. She’s been here for a week and a day, which is the longest she’s been in one place since our battle in Colorado. Three other Forsaken, all male, have been her travel buddies.
“And she knows I’ve been following her,” he finishes.
“What makes you say that?” Ash asks.
Without standing, he rotates his chair and grabs his computer off the desk behind him. He punches some keys and then turns the screen toward us.
I lean forward and watch as Silver exits a hotel and waits near a valet stand. At first, I’m not sure why Steel is showing us this footage. But then, right before she lowers herself into the driver’s seat, she looks right at the screen, smiles, and blows a kiss.
Sterling releases a low whistle as Steel puts his computer away.
“Sweet ride,” Nova says. “Although I would have gone for black. The chrome is a little showy.”
Greyson cranes his head to shoot her a flat look. “Too showy for you?”
“That’s what I said.” She almost pulls off answering with a straight face, but then the corner of her lips curl.
“I’d say that’s a pretty good indication she’s on to you.” Ash tugs us back on topic.
Steel nods. “Right. Silver’s left the hotel right before dawn five days this week. I tracked her to a night club in an old church on the outskirts of the city, not far from where you guys found me tonight. She holes up there all day, then returns to the hotel after dark. I was going to case the place this evening, but then the circus pulled into town.”
“You were going to go to a club looking like that?” The horror in Nova’s voice is so strong I can’t hold back a sharp bark of laughter. I slap a hand over my mouth and duck my head.
Steel scans himself from his feet on up and shrugs. “So?”
He’s wearing black boots, dark jeans that look like they’re about due for a washing, and a long-sleeved thermal that gently hugs his muscles despite his slightly leaner physique.
I do a little internal shrug as well. Looks good to me.
“It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.” Shoving off the bed, Nova catches Greyson’s sleeve as she brushes by him.
“Let’s go,” she commands.
“What? Where?” But even as he’s complaining, Greyson pushes to his feet.
“To get your brother something decent to wear to the club tomorrow night.”
“Why do I have to come?”
“Because I’m assuming between you and your matching DNA strand, you’re the one toting the cash.”
“That’s not a bad assumption.”
“What?” Sterling looks to his brother. “How much cash you got, Grey?”
Ignoring him, Greyson shrugs his coat on and grabs the car keys.
“Let’s make this quick,” he says as he follows Nova out of the room.
The heavy hotel door slams shut after the pair.
“Well,” Sterling claps his hands together and stands. Stretching his arms into the air, he does a few standing yoga moves. Weirdo. “Now that our plan of action is settled, let’s order some pizza.”
Tinkle pops into the mortal realm.
“Did I just hear pizza?” Tinkle—standing on the nightstand as a flying squirrel—rubs his white-fur belly. “Because I’m sure I could eat a whole pie myself. Let’s have an eating contest.”
Steel shoves out of the rolling chair. In the time it takes me to blink, he has a knife pulled and ready to throw at the Celestial.
“Dude, that would not be fair,” Sterling says without missing a beat. Does he not realize his brother just pulled a weapon? “You’ll just transform into some crazy large beast and eat all our food. I’m not falling for that . . . again.”
“Steel, why don’t you lower the knife?” I suggest. “There’s no need for anyone to get stabby. We’re all friends here.”
“What is that?” He gestures to Tinkle with the pointy end of his weapon.
“This is Tinkle. A Celestial.”
His jaw falls open, and the tip of the knife descends.
“Take a seat, we have a bit of catching up to do.”
Chapter Eight
“Huh,” Steel reclines in his seat. “So that’s Tinker Bell?”
“Yep.”
“And you’re saying he can transform into any animal?”
“As far as I can tell.” I lean forward, my arms resting against the table. A sly smile creeps across my lips. “You jealous?”
“Honestly? A little.”
We glance over at Tinkle, who’s snoring in Nova’s lap. The pizzas arrived around the same time Nova and Greyson returned. Nova and Ash are watching a re-run of Project Runway. Every once in a while, Nova chucks a piece of food at the TV and boos.
After eating only a quarter slice of pizza—Sterling had a fit when Tinkle said he wanted to shift forms to fit more in—Tinkle crawled into Nova’s lap, curled into a ball, and promptly fell asleep.
The little guy is becoming predictable.
“Taken a shine to Nova, has he?”
“You don’t know the half of it. He practically worships at her feet.”
Nova uses a finger to absently pet Tinkle’s head. She’s the only one he lets touch him that way. If I ever tried, I’m pretty sure I’d be left with only nine digits.
“I think it’s good for her.”
Steel cocks his head. Nova has been in a bit of a funk since before he left Seraph Academy. She may not have been in love with Steel like I once thought, but his actions still had a profound effect on her. I open my mouth to give a very high-level explanation of what I mean when Sterling shouts, “Skinny dipping!”
“In your dreams, dude,” Ash yells back.
“You mean you don’t want to take advantage of the pool here?”
“There’s an Olympic-sized pool back at the academy. Why would we want to go into the dingy one here?”
“Yeah, it probably has bed bugs,” Nova adds.
“That’s not how bed bugs work,” Sterling says.
She shrugs.
Steel shakes his head at his brother’s antics and shifts his attention back to me. The smile slips off his mouth when he sees my face, which is most likely a lovely shade of ghostly white.
I can’t help it. Whenever I consider getting into any body of water larger than a bathtub, my body goes into panic mode. I start to sweat in really uncomfortable places and my fingers and toes go tingly. If I didn’t have a better hand on my phases, I’d probably be in the spectrum world right now.
I tell myself to chill the heck out.
“Are you all right?” Steel asks. His hand reaches forward like he’s going to touch me, but he pulls back before making contact.