Pale Demon (The Hollows #9)(75)
Author: Kim Harrison

"Al!" I shouted, disoriented, and the dream vanished. Al’s panic coursed through me, confusing me even more. I felt him bolt upright, then gasped when a black magic swirled through me, burning my brain. There was a huge drop in the line I was connected to as he pulled on it through me. Al, wait! I shouted, but it was too late, and I winced as I felt him throw a ball of unfocused energy at a shadow.

"It’s just me!" I shouted as Al cowered, swearing when he realized his mistake.

"Rachel?" Pierce said, leaning over the table to put a hand on my shoulder. Feeling the line burning through me, he pulled away with a disturbed slant to his eyebrows.

"He was sleeping," I said in explanation, dizzy as I tried to see both Pierce and decipher what was going on in the ever-after simultaneously. "I had to wake him up. We’re good now."

The hell we are! Al swore, and I felt his surface emotions swirl around and the feel of a soft robe he was draping over himself. I blew a blasted hole in my wall! Damn it, Rachel, what do you want? I was sleeping.

"So I noticed," I said, thinking it curious that he was dreaming of butterflies. They looked exactly like the butterflies he’d once made out of snowflakes, brushing them from his sleeve to die in the snow. Except for the chrysalis still on my kitchen windowsill at home. "I’m sorry to wake you, but I have a favor to ask."

Trent cleared his throat. "We drove all the way out here, and you haven’t asked about this?" he said, sounding alarmed but not surprised.

"It’s not a big deal," I grumped. "If he doesn’t, I’ll ask Newt. I need to talk to her anyway."

What? Al said, suddenly a whole lot more awake. Ask Newt what?

I resettled myself on the sofa, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear as I noticed my reflection bouncing back up at me, coated in red and silver. "I need a trip through the lines for two. Trent and Jenks." Jenks buzzed his wings, proud to be counted as a person, but I’d never seen him any other way.

Al huffed in his thoughts, sending me the feeling of warm slippers being scooted onto his feet. I’m not your taxi service.

"No, you’re my teacher," I said. "And I saved your life. I’m not going to bargain for favors in return for saving your life." I’m asking for some consideration, from one lost witch to a lost demon, I said silently, glancing at Jenks when he hummed in disapproval, knowing I’d said something, just not out loud.

I’m exhausted, Al thought, and I caught a glimpse in my mind of him looking into a mirror, tweaking the skin around his eyes. Can it wait? I’ve been in meetings all day. Yammer, yammer, yammer. And no Pierce to fix my lunch. He makes a marvelous fish sandwich. Ask him, dove.

He was using pet names-not good. "You made me take him," I said, and Pierce stiffened, knowing we were talking about him. "Al. I need this. It’s not a matter of convenience." He made a noise, and I pressed my fingers more firmly until it felt like the ice of the glass was touching my bone. Look, let me dream a little longer, okay? I thought silently, not wanting to share with Jenks my low expectations of what was going to happen in the next couple of days. I know how slim a chance I have to get out of this, but it’s a chance.

Al was thinking-a good sign. I’d saved his ass, and he was going to give this to me. "I need to see this through if only to be able to walk away knowing who my enemies are," I said aloud. I couldn’t help it, and my eyes rose to find Pierce’s. Not missing a beat, Pierce pointed to Trent.

Trent cleared his throat, affronted, but Al was talking and I had to concentrate. Growing up is hard, love. Otherwise everyone would do it.

"Spare me," I muttered. "I need a jump for Trent and Jenks to Seattle and back. I know you’re going to do it or you wouldn’t have gotten out of bed."

A devious spark lit through Al, making me smile. One way. It costs too much, he said.

"There’s no inflation in the ever-after, Al."

Call it a recession then. One way.

I looked at Trent and smiled. He relaxed, exhaling as his shoulders dropped. "Okay, one way," I said. "But I want to see them off, so it’s one way for them, two way for me."

Deal, Al thought sharply, and Jenks made a burst of gold dust, yelping.

"Holy crap!" the pixy swore, and the fractured disjointedness of San Francisco’s ley lines sliced into me, jangling my nerves. I snapped a bubble of protection around my thoughts, large enough to include Jenks and Trent. I could feel Trent’s flash of fear dissolve into acceptance, and Jenks readying himself, his steady courage flowing into me like a memory that wasn’t mine. Surrounding us like an oily smoke was Al’s presence, but I pulled most of his reeking burnt amber and selfishness to me, not wanting Trent and Jenks to have to deal with it. Embarrassed, maybe?

The train station, Al! I shouted in my thoughts, not wanting to show up in traffic. On the platform, I added. My nonexistent heart pounded, and I felt the lines grow pure around me again, the taint of salt and rust fading away to be replaced by the taste of ozone, clean, pure, and fast.

A glimpse of an immense, dirty room, not yet formed, sifted through my eyes. The presences of Trent and Jenks were with me, and I dissolved the bubble holding them as I felt their souls slip from my grasp and return to the memory of their bodies. I ached to take a breath, but as soon as I thought I might have lungs, I was yanked back into nothing, my forming body dissolving so fast I swear it hurt.

Al! I shouted, disoriented. And then it was Al sheltering my thoughts. I threw up another barrier between us as he laughed. The platform dissolved, and reality swung around. I waited for the trendy furnishings of the hotel in San Francisco to appear and gritted my nonexistent teeth to endure the fractured ley lines the witches were forced to use here, but the tinfoil-on-teeth feeling never came. Instead, the line grew warmer, comfortable. Familiar.

Crap on toast, I thought as I reached for the top of the leather wingback chair, my fingers ghosting through until I yanked them back and tried again to find them solid. I was in Al’s library.

"Trent? Jenks?" I called out as soon as I had lungs. Damn it, had it all been a trap? I should have let Pierce kill him.

"Not here, itchy witch. Safe at the train station as promised," Al said, and I spun to see him in the robe I’d felt him put on, standing by the huge hearth with a bowl of marshmallows on the hearth beside him. "Come sit by the fire," he said, patting the leather seat. "We need to talk."

Chapter Seventeen

The intention was for me to say good-bye," I said, almost setting my scrying mirror down, then changing my mind at the last moment. I wasn’t staying-if I had any say in the matter.