Ever After (The Hollows #11)(44)
Author: Kim Harrison

"Maybe you’re right," Jenks said, as if it pained him to say it. "I still say we’d be better off without demons."

I wasn’t so sure. Demons were mean, cruel, untrustworthy, and just plain nasty. But the memory of Al sitting in front of his fireplace trying to remember what he originally looked like only made me pity them. The elves had cursed them for trying to kill their entire species, and the demons had returned fire. I wondered if either side remembered what the original insult had been. Hadn’t five thousand years of war been enough?

There was a lesson here, too. I didn’t have time to think about this one, either.

Impatient, I ate another gingersnap, rubbing the crumbs between my fingers before I leaned back and closed my eyes. Jenks’s wings buzzed as he flitted from flower to flower like a hummingbird. "If it stays warm, we’re moving back in the garden this week," he said out of the blue. "All of us."

"Great! That’s great," I said, not opening my eyes. "Are you still in the garden wall?"

"Belle is . . ." he started, and I opened my eyes when he hesitated. Finding him at a nearby orchid, I saw him shrug. "Belle is going to move into the wall, too," he said quickly, his wings turning red and his dust evaporating before it could hit the plant. "She can have the spare room. We’d just be sharing a front door is all, like you and Ivy."

Ahh, I thought as I sat up. "That’s good, Jenks."

"She gets cold fast," he said as if I had protested her moving in with him, but maybe he was really talking to her sisters in the foliage. "It would be easier to just have one fire."

Chair scraping, I moved the plate of cookies farther away from me so I’d stop eating them. "I’m proud of you, Jenks," I said, and he flushed, his wings going full tilt.

"Yeah, well, she’s not cooking for me."

My smile was faint but sincere. "I’m still proud of you."

Jenks flew to the table, looking tall next to the tiny cups Trent was using. "She’s okay, I guess. By the way, that gargoyle that showed up last night is still there."

Frowning, I put my elbows on the table and rested my chin on the back of my hands. I would’ve thought that it was the same one from the ever-after, but there hadn’t been enough scars. "The one that looks older than the basilica?"

Nodding, Jenks speared one of the gingersnaps, holding it over his head like an umbrella as he twirled it. "I don’t like it, Rache. Bis wouldn’t tell me what they were talking about."

"And you didn’t just spy on them?"

"You don’t think I tried?" Jenks angled his sword until the cookie was at his face. His expression thoughtful, he nibbled a corner off the cookie, looking like Willy Wonka eating an umbrella. "The little turd kept spitting on me. All the way across the Tink-blasted garden. They have better hearing than even Jrixibell."

I squinted up at the glass ceiling, bored. "I’ll ask him tonight when he wakes up." I hadn’t wanted to interfere, but if he was still there . . .

"I think they’re spying on us." Wiping his mouth, Jenks put the nibbled cookie back over his head, resting his sword on his shoulder.

"They have a right to be concerned." Where in hell are Trent and Ellasbeth? My foot began to bob. "Bis went ape when Al cut off his contact with the ley lines. Can you imagine what might happen if they collapse?" Foot slowing, I thought about that. Maybe I could ask for their help. They might know something the demons didn’t, something that wasn’t written down.

Spinning on a heel, Jenks took a breath to say something, then hesitated when the cookie sailed off the tip of his sword and smack-pattered into the surrounding greenery. There was a rustle and hiss of delight, and I wondered if he’d done it intentionally, tasting it first so they wouldn’t think it was treachery.

"Piss on my daisies, we have to save the demons!" he said, his eyebrows high when my attention came back to him. "I’m not going to let Bis go crazy."

Ignoring his foul mouth, I set three cookies on the retaining wall. Seriously, how did my life get so screwed up that I was giving cookies to fairies and busting my ass to save the demons?

The faint tap-tap of shoes coming down the path caught my attention, and I sat up. "It’s about bloody time," I whispered, moving back to my chair before they could round the corner. But it was only Trent, and I watched as his somber silhouette moved slowly through the greenery, his fingers reaching out but not touching the plants in passing like they were old friends. I don’t think he even knew he was doing it. His stance was upright, and he managed a faint, worried smile. Something was different.

"Where’s Ellasbeth?"

"Waiting for coffee," he said, his green eyes meeting mine for a bare instant. "She doesn’t like Earl Grey." His fixed smile grew even more stiff. "I’d have rather looked at the book out here, but do you mind coming in?" He looked at Jenks. "Both of you?"

Immediately I stood. "Sure. No problem."

His smile was a shade forced, and he shook his head when I reached for the tray. "You can leave it." His focus came to me, and he took a cookie before he turned back up the path. "Is that a new outfit? It looks nice on you."

Startled, I looked down at my black slacks and linen top. I’d spent almost an hour in my closet, trying to find something professional and casual that Ellasbeth couldn’t label "hooker."

"Ah, no, but thank you."

Still smiling, he gestured for me to go with him. "Ellasbeth woke up Ray when she came in, and now she won’t go down. She’s usually such a docile, biddable little girl, but she’s been fussy since . . . her sister is away." He took a bite of cookie, mood introspective. "I never realized how she depended on Lucy to make her wishes known. She’s had to speak up more. I suppose that’s good."

The cookie I’d just eaten went tasteless. "Trent-"

His head dropped, and my words cut off at his sudden stillness. "Ellasbeth has been very cooperative. Dropped her petition for Lucy. I think she wants to try to make this work again."

I froze, almost choking. Why is he telling me this? "Ah, that’s great!" I said, not looking at him as I spun to find my shoulder bag. "If you two get back together, then there won’t be any issues with Lucy at all, right?"

Jenks took to the air, a sickening green dust sparkling from him. "What a little cat scrotum!" he said, and both Trent and I stared. From the bushes, three hissing laughs sounded and were shushed.

"Jenks!" I admonished him, and he hovered, his hands on his hips and a disgusted expression on his face. "What is your problem?"