It hurt to say that, to take another step away from the human, mundane, joyful, hedonistic life he’d shared with Elle. The life that had held its own magic would never return. He would never hear her laugh again, never follow her on red-eye flights halfway around the world, never throw another dinner party, never dance with her until they were giddy with exhaustion. This was his reality now, his purpose, and his home.
Lindsay seemed surprised at that, and he searched Noah’s expression for a long moment. Slowly, he nodded and leaned forward to rub his cheek against Noah’s. “Thank you,” he whispered. “I don’t want you to leave.”
“I want Dane back too. We’ll make it happen.” If Dane was gone, dead, they couldn’t fix that, but knowing that would be better than the empty space where Dane belonged.
Lindsay’s answer came in the form of a slim, chilly body tucked up against Noah, and Lindsay’s face pressing into the curve of Noah’s neck. He sighed softly, with a tiny hitch in his breath, and stayed there.
“I like that,” Noah murmured in Lindsay’s ear, in case Lindsay wouldn’t take it for granted. Noah loved that feeling of being someone’s safe place, a wall against the world.
“Me too.” Lindsay raised his head and Noah felt soft, cool lips brush his jaw before he settled down again.
Tonight felt like the eye of the storm. Any time now, Zoey and the others would uncover something or Patches would bring some news, and they would be on the move again.
Noah shifted enough to be able to see Lindsay cuddled up to him, head on his shoulder. He ducked his head and pressed a kiss to Lindsay’s lips, and Lindsay made a pleased sound. It was good to be reassured that there was more than chemistry under pressure between them, but Noah could feel Lindsay falling asleep and he stifled a quiet laugh. They were both exhausted, and the uneasy city nights were full of sounds that woke Lindsay far too often. The candles were burbling quietly in the back of Noah’s mind, and he turned out their flames one at a time, then gave Lindsay one last kiss goodnight.
Feeling Lindsay’s cool form limp and heavy with sleep sent a spike of fear through Noah at the realization that he was on a path leading to the kind of devotion that would destroy him again if things went terribly wrong. But Noah wouldn’t try to stop it. He knew Lindsay in a way he couldn’t explain, like he’d felt Lindsay’s inner self meet his when Lindsay was trying to keep him alive. He remembered feeling the echo of his own loneliness and uncertainty there.
That was something he’d had with Elle—she had known him in a way that meant he never had to be ashamed of who and what he was, even if she hadn’t known the details. He’d never expected to find that level of intimacy again. Lindsay’s dedication reminded him of her, the way she’d loved him until he loved himself. She’d always had faith in his ability to do the right thing. The right thing now was to give up the cowardice of isolation.
Noah listened to Lindsay breathing until the rhythm of it pulled him down into sleep as well.
Peace came to a sharp and sudden end as Lindsay jerked out of his arms to sit up, facing the door.
Lindsay didn’t speak and, when he listened carefully, Noah could hear the others banging around on the way down from the room over the porch, arguing about whether or not to wake him and Lindsay.
Too late.
“I’ll go see what they have to say.” Noah got up, lighting a couple candles as he did so he could find his jeans. “It might be nothing.” The last thing he wanted was to get Lindsay’s hopes up over something that didn’t hold water.
Lindsay nodded, scrubbing his hands over his face. “I’ll get my clothes and be down in a minute.”
Noah grabbed his shirt as well, but went back to give Lindsay a kiss. Lindsay cupped his cheek and leaned up, making it last. They’d been having such a nice night too. This had better be something, but he
guessed Kristan wouldn’t interrupt over nothing—not right now. Any other time, all bets were off. Tugging his shirt on, he left the room and headed downstairs.
“Hey, kids. What’s going on?”
Zoey looked guilty. “I think we found something. I mean, I know we found something.”
“But we didn’t mean to wake you,” Ylli added hastily.
“Well, next time you want to not wake us up, how about you remember that Lindsay sleeps like a guard dog, and actually not wake us up?” Noah grabbed the kettle he’d picked up at the thrift store and started filling it with bottled water. “He’ll be down and you can tell us both. No trouble tonight?”
Zoey glanced at Ylli and Kristan, then shook her head. Noah wondered how much happened that actually got back to him and Lindsay. Kids.
“No, nothing that matters,” Zoey said, after the hasty, silent consultation. “I figured out where they are. I mean, I figured out which computer is tracking and purchasing those artifacts you said were magic.
Vivian’s message was a little weird but when I trusted it, it ended up making total sense. The, um—” She looked at Ylli again. “MAC address? Yeah. It’s the same when I trace back all those deals. Ylli said that means it’s the same computer every time. I just know that it looks the same every time. I think it belongs to Dr. Moore.”
She seemed to realize she was babbling and pinched her lips together, looking embarrassed.
Noah nodded as he set the kettle on the stove. He’d provide the heat, but it was good to be careful. He didn’t trust himself. The ball of fire he slipped in before putting the lid on was quiet, at least, humming and bubbling obediently.
“It’s in Ohio,” Kristan said. “Not the place where we found these two, though. Vivian made it sound like she and Cyrus had been keeping an eye on the area.” She came over to pull the lid off the kettle. “You can do that?”
“That makes sense.” Noah put the lid back on and scowled at her. There was all kinds of magical activity around there. “What city?”
“Miamisburg.” Ylli’s wings stirred as though he was uncomfortable. “They have one of those mound things. Like the one Cyrus sent us to. Those things give me the creeps.”
“It’s got a lot of other stuff going on too.” Kristan hopped up to sit on the counter next to where Noah was making tea. “Tell him.”
“This is going to sound weird,” Ylli said tentatively. “But some of the websites I read, for finding out strange stuff that doesn’t make it in the news, they say that there are a lot of busses that go there. The coach kind. There’s nothing to go to, though.”
“Patches said that a couple of the guys that went missing around here, the homeless ones, were last seen getting on a coach bus. No one remembers the company,” Kristan said. “Ylli’s freaky internet friends say those busses had no company markings. Maybe that’s why no one here remembers.”
Zoey piped up again. “That mound thing, the one in Miamisburg, they built a big lab on it back in the forties. Like, Manhattan Project kind of lab. It’s huge, and it’s all closed up now, but it’s still there. The computer that’s tracking the artifacts, that mound-lab thing is where it usually lives. I’ve tried to talk to it before, but it’s really—” Zoey blushed. “It’s shy and kind of nervous. I think if I had more time, I could get it to come around, but the computers near it were pretty talkative, once I matched Vivian’s numbers up to the gateways I had to take to get there.
“Anyway,” she continued, “that computer isn’t at the mound right now. The other computers can’t talk to it anymore. I don’t think it’s online at all. She must have left, and she took it with her. The other computers said that it leaves a lot, but never for very long. A couple days. It left this morning.”
“We have two days to get down there and get him back,” Lindsay said from behind Noah. “Are you ready?”
“I am.” Noah turned around to face Lindsay. He just needed his shoes. But the others... He looked over at Kristan.