“And yet I live in Texoma. And I have no plans to move here.”
“You could be provided for for life, like your sister.”
“I already have a job,” I told Felix. “If you try to tell the tsar’s caregivers that I’m available, I’ll kill you.”
Felix heaved a deep sigh. “I am not threatening you,” he said. “Though that would be really satisfying.”
He meant that.
“I know you’ve inherited some ability from your father. That’s why Eli had enough juice to start my heart again.”
“Eli’s pretty powerful,” I said. “All by his lonesome.”
“But he’s not a reanimator, like me,” Felix said flatly. “He could not have revived me without a boost from someone. It’s a mark of how strongly you two are bonded that you would let him use you to do that.”
“You got the knowledge of my father on me. I saved your life. Even.”
“I value my life highly,” Felix said, in a voice as dry as toast. “So I think you still have the advantage.”
I heard running footsteps behind me and wheeled, reaching for the gun I didn’t have. This damn city and its rules! But my knife slipped back into my hand.
The young man dashing up to me came to a halt and took a few deep gulps of air, staring at my knife.
“Peter,” I said.
“Lizbeth, it’s you.” Eli’s younger brother was red-faced from his sprint to catch up with us. “My mother told me you had been at the house.” Peter suddenly realized someone was with me. He was mighty put out about it. “Felix! What are you doing here?”
“I am talking to Lizbeth about how we can get Eli out of prison,” Felix said. He was not disturbed at all by Peter’s sourness.
“I didn’t know you knew Lizbeth,” Peter said, scowling.
This was a day of too many words, but I had to say something. “Peter,” I said. “I haven’t seen you since last year in Segundo Mexia.”
“What were you doing in Segundo Mexia?” It was Felix’s turn to be unhappy.
“We don’t need to talk about that,” I said. Peter had opened his mouth. We’d never get back on track if the two kept this up. “Peter, your mom said you’d been to see your brother in jail.”
“I have.” Peter looked proud.
“Describe his cell.”
That wasn’t what Peter had expected. I had no idea (and cared less) what he’d thought we’d talk about. All our precious moments together?
“For you,” Peter said, with a painful sincerity.
Eli and Felicia had both hinted that Peter had a crush on me, but I hadn’t taken it seriously. I bit back a sigh.
A car slowed down as it passed us, and the driver, an older man in a fancy jacket, gave us a good long look. We stood out in this neighborhood like warts on a movie star.
“Let’s go to my place,” Felix said, and we began walking.
I didn’t know how Peter had pictured our meeting, but I could tell this wasn’t whatever he’d had in mind. I didn’t know what to say to the boy. He hadn’t meant to get me shot, and I didn’t hold it against him … much. But I’d learned Peter was impulsive and didn’t notice what was going on around him. Maybe that was what young men were like here. At home, those traits would make you dead.
At least we didn’t talk much on the walk to Felix’s.
I was wondering how I was going to effect Eli’s release.
Felix looked so serious I was sure he was plotting.
Peter looked forlorn. Maybe he was wondering how to win my heart.
It was lucky for all three of us that we only had to walk thirty more minutes southwest.
Felix’s neighborhood consisted of small houses, every now and then a block of shops: a news agent’s, a grocery, a laundry, a hardware store. I felt more comfortable than I had at the Savarovs’ place on Hickory Street, for sure.
Felix’s little house was shoehorned between two others the same size. There were only a few people out and about in this neighborhood; Felix said they were all at work at jobs on the waterfront or at the big park or at the zoo … or in the military. I tried to imagine working at a zoo. I couldn’t.
I’d supposed the inside of the little house would be dark and messy, like Felix, but the living room was orderly. The sun poured through the windows. The old furniture looked comfortable.
Felix checked his mailbox and brought in his newspaper, started a teakettle, and generally bustled around doing little things. Peter threw himself onto the couch. I wandered around a little.
The tiny kitchen looked onto the backyard, where a car was parked. It took up almost all the space behind the house. It wasn’t that the car was that big, it was that the yard was so small.
Felix owned a car. That would make him a rich man in Segundo Mexia.
The teakettle whistled, and Felix said, “Want tea, Lizbeth? Peter?” Peter accepted, but I’d had enough of tea at the Savarov home. The rich man asked me if I wanted a Coca-Cola instead. Felix also owned a Penguin refrigerator, a Canadian import, and the drink would be cold, so I said yes.
Though the day was moderate, the cold sweet liquid felt good in my throat.
When we were all beveraged up, we sat in the living room, Peter and I on the couch and Felix in the armchair.
“So, Eli’s jail cell,” I said to Peter. I wanted to get the conversation moving so it would be over with sooner.
“The grigori cells are below the regular jail. The cells are spelled to keep magic suppressed. There are special jailers, people who have no magic at all and aren’t affected by it. They call them nulls. There are harsh punishments for prisoners observed trying to use magic.”
“How many cells?”
Peter counted mentally. “Just six, three on each side. One person to a cell.”
“Which one is Eli’s?”
“He’s in the third cell on the left when you enter the cellblock.”
“Can he see anyone who asks to see him?” Felix said. “Or is there a list of approved visitors?”
“They wouldn’t let Mother in, but I don’t know if she was on a list or not. She didn’t say. They didn’t explain. When I went, I didn’t see the jailer consult any list. I just said I was his brother. They searched me and handcuffed me and let me sit on a bench outside his cell so we could talk.”
“Handcuffed?” I said.
“So he couldn’t use his hands to cast spells,” Felix told me, in a way that said I’d missed something remarkable. “Peter was wearing his grigori vest, I’m sure.” Felix looked right into my eyes and tilted his head toward Peter.
I looked at the boy and saw what I should have commented on right away.
Peter had earned his vest. That was a big landmark in a grigori’s education, a coming-of-age marker. Peter was looking down at it, doing everything but patting it. The fabric still looked stiff and new.
I complimented Peter on his achievement, and I even managed an apology for not saying anything earlier. Peter had clearly been waiting for me to remark on it.
When I’d said as much as I could summon to satisfy his pride, I returned to the important thing: the facts about Eli’s jail.
“Was there a time limit for your visit?” I wanted to know everything I could before I tried to see Eli.