The Hour of Dust and Ashes

the drug during our fight to destroy the ash farm. Otherwise every ash victim, even Casey and Mike, had been users before.

“Hey, Madigan.” A twenty-something former meth user named Kyle, if I remembered correctly, stood as I passed. “How long are we supposed to stay in here?” I really wanted to tell him that if he hadn’t been a drug user looking for his next fix, he wouldn’t even be here, but instead I said, “Until we know it’s safe.”

“Fucking cops,” he mumbled, going back to flop down on the small cot pushed against the wall.

Bryn was in the last cell on the left, sitting on the cot, back against the plastic wall, one knee drawn up and her fingers toying with the ends of her long purple skirt. Her hair was down, hanging over one shoulder in a mass of auburn brown waves. Seeing my sister sitting in a holding cell was beyond strange.

I drew in a deep preparatory breath as the guard unlocked the door. Inside, I pulled the small stool from beneath the table along the opposite wall, and sat down in front of my sister. My posture slumped a bit. I rubbed my face and then gathered my hair back into a very tiny ponytail, using the band around my wrists to tie it.

“Sorry about all this.”

“It is what it is,” she said, eyeing me in an enigmatic way. “How’s Amanda doing?”

“Got a text a little while ago. She’s the same. Have you taken your ash dose today?”

She nodded. “A little while ago.”

“Good. Has Aaron been by?”

Her gaze darted back to her skirt. “No.”

I managed to keep the frustration from showing. Their relationship was none of my business, but damn, I wanted to give Aaron an earful. “I don’t know why he’s being like this,” I finally said. Well, I did know why, but he didn’t have to avoid her, or make her feel even worse about what had happened. By withdrawing right when she needed him most … it would make it that much harder to reconcile.

“I do have some good news,” I told her. Since she was here in the cell and there was no way for her to do anything with the information, I wanted to cheer her up, to give her some hope. “There is a way to see inside of you, inside of everyone here, and hopefully fix things.”

Her fidgeting fingers stilled. Her coppery eyes lifted, round and hesitant as though she was afraid to believe. “You found an exorcist?”

“No. The oracle told me that there’s another way. Ever hear of a sylph?”

“A sylph? Alessandra must be inhaling more than just laurel leaves these days. Sylphs don’t exist.”

“Oh, trust me, they do.” I leaned back, bracing myself with my elbows on the table behind me and linking my hands over my stomach. “Not very pleasant, either.” I went on to explain my encounters with the vicious little females.

“So, one more,” she finally said. “Fire.”

“And then we’ll know. We could know by tonight or tomorrow. Then at least we’ll know how to protect everyone, who to keep here, who to let go …”

She was silent, digesting the information. The hope I’d wanted to give her seemed to have failed, but maybe it was too early yet to hope. Maybe better to be guarded.

“So how’s Hank? Is he awake yet?”

“Yeah. He’s over in the morgue talking to Liz.”

“And?”

“And what?”

A rueful smile lifted the corners of her full mouth. “I am your sister. Sisters know things. For instance, I know every time his name has been mentioned in conversation, you get this weird look on your face. At Christmas when Em was talking about him, you even turned red. It’s kind of obvious you’re developing a thing for him.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, well, I don’t exactly know what this ‘thing’ is, so …” I sat forward and draped my arms over my knees. “Temporary case of insanity, maybe? I don’t know 8230; something changed. We went from being friends to something more.” I shook my head, baffled by it all.

“You think it’s the whole siren thing? Why you’re into him?”

“No.” I stared down at the square block of tile at my feet. “If that were the case, I would’ve been into him the moment I met him. Before, I just would say, ‘Yeah, really hot guy who’s my partner, let’s get back to work.’ But now I get butterflies, actual physical responses.”

She chuckled. “I never thought I’d hear the day my tough, kick-ass sister admitted to ‘butterflies.’”

“Oh God. Did I really say that?” My head dropped into my hands. Laughter shook my shoulders. I straightened, trying to control the stupid grin that wanted to take over my entire face. “I swear, if you say a word of this …”

“I know, I know. You’ll inflict some kind of horrible pain.”

“Yeah. Bare knuckles and butterflies, that’s me.” Christ. When did this happen?

Bryn’s laughter rang clear as a bell. It had been such a long time since I’d heard that. Open and free. Nothing shadowing it. Her smile widened to a blinding grin. “Well, good thing is, he’s totally into you. Always has been.”

“Please. What are you, the new oracle?”

“Say what you want. I bet you he fell for you the moment you didn’t go all googly eyes for him and shot him in the belly. Remember that?”

How could I forget? I’d been so pissed about the new partner reassignments that no amount of male beauty could’ve affected me. And to make matters worse, prior to meeting him, I’d had two days’ worth of teasing by most of the station telling me I was going to be humping my partner by sundown. They could be such assholes. And I’d let them get to me. Hank had no idea what he was walking into.

When I questioned his ability to do his job and made a not-so-nice comment about his looks, he’d challenged me with an arrogant smirk that had me steaming. We’d stomped down to the gym, removed our weapons, set them by the mat, and went at it. The thing that had surprised me about Hank was that he didn’t take it easy on me, and my impression of him immediately rose.

But when he got me on my belly in a chokehold and threatened to take off his voice-mod and make me get on the police radio and tell everyone on duty how I wouldn’t be able to concentrate because he was so “awesome,” I flipped him over, kicked him off, grabbed my gun, and tagged him in the belly. I knew I’d get an earful for it, but I also knew it wouldn’t kill him.

Hell, we humans had to stand there and go through Hefty and Nitro-gun training, where we had to take low- level shots to our bodies, just like we used to do in the past with Tasers. Off-world officers did the same with bullets and their opposing world’s weapons. All part of the training.

The thing I hadn’t really considered at the time was how the whole thing had affected Hank. He’d acted like it was all a joke and that it didn’t bother him, but when I look back now, I know the other #8217; teasing bothered him just as much as it did me. He was there to do a job just like I was.

When the sound of the shot drew the chief and much of the station, Hank had stood up for me and said it was a training mishap. I still got a three-day suspension without pay. He apologized for the threat he made, and I apologized for shooting him. And I learned very quickly that Hank’s threats and teasing were all in good fun and no small amount of male bluster.

I suppose when one gets off on such a foot, the whole enchanted-by-siren thing kind of takes a backseat.

“Charlie?” Bryn said, bringing me out of my thoughts. She bit her lip and toyed with the hem of her skirt again. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Ask Aaron if he would … you know … drop by. Well, I mean don’t ask. Maybe just suggest.”

Her vulnerability made my eyes burn, but I smiled. “I’m sure he’s planning to already.”

Her look said she didn’t believe that at all, but she leaned forward and hugged me. I squeezed her tightly, breathing in the faint scent of fresh herbs and citrus. “I’ll be back to visit you later.”

We broke apart. I stood and pushed the stool back beneath the table and nodded to the guard to come open the door. Bryn resumed her former position on the cot along with her solemn expression. “Where are you going