By the time we got to my door and I checked and listened before opening, Zayvion was moving a little better than he had at the bottom of the stairs. But as we walked into my apartment, he stumbled, and I leaned back hard to correct his balance.
“How much do you weigh, Jones?” I groaned.
“Sorry.” He swayed a little and put his hand on the wall.
“Do I need to call someone?” I asked.
“No. I’m sleep.” He let go of me and walked a straight line into my living room. “Gonna couch. Okay.”
“Couch is fine.” I threw my wet hat on the half wall between the foyer and kitchen and glanced into the kitchen. No one there, and no note, which meant Nola hadn’t been back yet. Just in case, I checked the bedroom and bathroom too. No Nola.
The phone rang.
Zayvion was off the couch in one smooth motion. He stood slightly crouched, hands spread in front of him, ready to cast, eyes startlingly alert. If I had ever doubted it before, it was very clear just how deadly this man was.
“Hang on, hero,” I said. “Don’t kill the phone.”
Zayvion straightened, rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. He blinked and looked around, trying to get his bearings, then sat on the couch.
I picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“It’s Davy,” Davy said. He sounded out of breath. Strained, like he was running. “I’m at Cathedral Park. Can you get here?”
Cathedral Park was in St. Johns. “What are you doing there?”
“Following a Hound. I need your help.”
“Who, Davy? Which Hound are you following?” He hadn’t volunteered to follow anyone at the meeting today. “If you’re in trouble, call the police.”
“Forget it,” he said. “I’ll handle it.”
And then he hung up.
Great. Just what I needed. A lovesick idiot kid out getting himself killed.
I swore softly. Davy wasn’t thinking straight. I’d put money on it being Tomi he was following. And I’d bet money he was about to get his ass kicked again.
Or worse. Tomi had said they would kill him if he didn’t stop bothering her.
Hells.
“Okay?” Zayvion mumbled. He was lying down again, on his side, since my couch wasn’t wide enough for his shoulders if he lay on his back. He had a pillow bunched up under his head. His eyes were closed.
“It’s fine,” I growled. I pulled a blanket out of the linen closet and brought it over to him.
“Should take you to class,” he said.
I pulled the blanket over him. “I can get to class on my own. I’ll call Maeve and let her know I’m going to be a little late.” And buy myself some time so I could take a trip to St. Johns and drag Davy home, in chains, if I had to.
“Mmm.” He was snoring before I made it back to the phone.
I had Maeve’s number in my book. I dialed.
“ ’Lo, you’ve reached the Feile San Fhomher,” a familiar male voice answered. “How may I help you?”
“Shamus?” I asked.
There was a short pause. “Allie?”
“Yes. I need to talk to Maeve.”
“Right, right. Well, you can’t. She’s. . busy.”
“Can you take a message for me?”
“Sure.” There was a little shuffle sound like he was digging out a pen and paper. “Shoot.”
“Tell her I’m going to be late for class. Two hours, maybe.”
He let out a hoot. “Oh, no, no, no, darling. Don’t do that. She hates it when students stand her up.”
“I don’t have a choice, okay? I can get there in about two hours.”
“Hmm. And what will you be doing in those two hours?”
At my pause he said, “Allie?” dragging the sound of my name out, like he knew I was hiding a naughty secret. “Are you up to something?”
“No.” It didn’t even sound convincing to me.
He chuckled. “What have you gotten yourself into? Come on, now. You can tell me.”
Annoying. And Zayvion’s best friend. Fine, if he wanted to know what I was dealing with, he could deal with it too.
“Zayvion was supposed to drive me out there, but he”-I paused, not knowing what Shamus knew and how much I should say-“he’s passed out on my couch.”
“Is he breathing normally?” Gone was the laughter. Gone was the teasing. Shamus was deadly serious.
The turn of conversation made my stomach flip with panic. I looked over at Zay. He was still snoring.
“Does snoring count?”
“Good enough.” Shamus sounded relieved. “How did his eyes look?”
“Gold. Really gold. And bloodshot.”
“Was he talking clearly?”
“Not really. He did climb three flights of stairs.”
“Idiot,” he muttered. “Okay, here’s what you’re going to do.”
“Whoa, back up,” I said. “I already know what I’m going to do. I have a friend who’s in some kind of trouble. Zay said he just needed an hour to sleep it off.”
Shamus grunted and exhaled with a click that told me he was sucking on a cigarette. “And you believed him? Fine. You go take care of your friend. I’ll see that Z is on the mend.”
“You’re coming over to my apartment? I have company. . ”
“Your friend Nola? I know. Just tell her to let me in when I come by.”
“She’s not here.”
“So leave her a note.”
Truth was, I didn’t like the idea of Shamus coming over to my apartment. Didn’t like my privacy invaded. I had lived alone for a long time. I didn’t like it when other people thought they could move through my space.
Who was I kidding? I might have been that private, closed-off person before, but in just the last couple days I’d had my friend, a magical detective, my boyfriend, and a gargoyle in my living room. Not exactly the life of a hermit.
“I’ll let her know,” I said. “Knock loud. If she’s not back by the time you get here, you’ll have to get Zay to open the door.”
“Don’t worry, love,” he said. “I know how to wake Jones.”
“Tell your mom I’m going to be late,” I reminded.
“Right. Later, then.”
“Bye.” I hung up and then wrote a note for Nola, letting her know Zayvion’s friend Shamus was going to be over to sit with him until he woke up. I also mentioned that Zayvion was okay, just exhausted and needed a place to crash.
I left the note-which I hoped was innocent-sounding enough that Detective Stotts wouldn’t get suspicious if he was with Nola-on the coffeepot, grabbed my spare knit hat off the hook behind the door, and left, locking the apartment behind me. I paused out in the hallway and considered setting a Ward on the door. I never used them, but good Wards could at least warn the person inside that an intruder was coming.
No. A good Ward took more time and concentration than I had right now. And all it was likely to do was set off when Nola came home, freak Zayvion out, and cause a ruckus.
No Wards for the door.
Interesting, though, that I had wanted to set one. That I had wanted to do something to make sure Zayvion was safe. Even though he’d told me he had just taken away Cody’s memories. What did that say about how I felt about him?
And what would Zayvion feel about me when he found out I was stealing his car?
Chapter Twelve
Tracking someone in a city the size of Portland isn’t easy. But I had a few things on my side for a change. One, I knew Davy, knew his scents. I also knew Tomi and her scents. It was a pretty good guess that she was the trouble he had gotten himself into. Where I found one, I’d find the other.
But unless they were using magic, I couldn’t track them by magical means. Or at least I couldn’t if I didn’t have something personal of Davy’s.
And I had the notebook he’d been writing in during the Hound meeting. Lucky for me, he’d also been in a state of higher emotion. That always left a better impression on the item, especially since it had so recently been in his hand.