“No turning back, witch,”he said. And though every otherword he’d uttered sounded pejorative, witch ticked off his tongue with a quaint, rhythmic quality. “Andno lying,” he suddenly added as he shifted towards me and whisperedin my ear.
His harsh whisper sent a shiver twistingand jerking down my spine, and only half of it was at the implicitthreat. The other half was at his kind of distractingpresence.
As soon as I caught my mind thinking that,I wrestled it into a headlock. Get a grip on yourself, girl,I thought sneeringly,this Scottish fairyis a total prick.
Feeling a little better at that rebelliousthought, I let him pull me all the way into the policestation.
He didn't keep an arm hooked through minefor long. As soon as we made it through the doors, he took arespectful step back. That did not, however, mean he didn't takethe opportunity to shoot me another one of those truly fearsomelooks.
I wondered if he'd always been this way, or if it was just me.Heck, maybe it was years of working for my acerbic grandmother thathad caused his perpetual foul mood.
Then again, I had no idea how old he was.He was a fairy, not a man – even though you couldn’t convince mybody of that.
Those thoughts completely distracted meuntil he brought me to a stop right in front of the counter. Hecleared his throat. “We’re here to see DetectiveCoulson.”
There was a woman behind the counter, andthough she was discreet, I could tell she was checking Max out. Anynormal person wouldn’t be able to help checking out the fine Scottish specimen. Well, until he opened hismouth and revealed his fatal personality, that was.
I suddenly got the urge to turn to thislady, lean over thecounter, and tell her he absolutely wasn't worth it. Oh, and he wasalso a fairy. Rather than point that out, the woman mutteredsomething to Max that I didn't pick up.
Before I knew what was happening, heflattened a hand on my back, pushed me away from the counter, andled me towards the stairway to our left.
Several detectives walked past us. As soonas they were out of earshot, I twisted and faced Max. “I’m notdoing this,” I said through a sharp breath. “There is absolutely noway I can do this. I'm not a freaking clairvoyant,” I snapped,suddenly lowering my tone so no one could pick it up.
He snorted. “You managed to get away fromme, didn't you?”
“That was different,” I snapped right back. I trailed off as amemory of that moment slammed into my mind.
For half a second, I swear his expressionsoftened. Maybe a pang of guilt for almost killing me slicedthrough his heart. But Max did not soften for long. He leaned inand sneered once more. “I don't really care if you think you can dothis or not. You will find a way to accessyour power. I can’t tell you how to do it, because I don’t know. But you will figure it out on yourown,” his voice bottomedout, hit the kind of pitching note that didn't just shake throughmy stomach but threatened to completely destroy the building, letalone my precious little remaining nerve. And again, just for aflash, I saw his shadow elongate.
I turned from himsharply, wanting to hidethe effect he had on me.
Before I knew it, we’d already mounted thestairs. Funnily enough, I’d never been to a police station, thoughI'd received plenty of parking fines. Still, I expected somethingmore modern, something slightly more up-to-date. What I got, was abuilding fresh out of the 60s that was allconcrete, drab brown brick and seriously hideous carpet. I almostblanched as I focused on the truly awful pattern. It was somehideous mix of orange brown and green faux-paisley. Maybe it wasmeant to distract criminals or have some psychedelic effect ontheir minds to trick them into telling the truth.
“Here we go,” Max muttered beside me, pointing towards anondescript door to our left.
“How do you know this is the right place?”I said witha sneer. “Been to the policestation a lot?” I snarled.
He twisted his head down and offered me astiff smile that was about as far away from a smile as you couldget. Though his lips were curled, there was zero mirth in the move,just a deep warning look flickering in his gaze. “Yeah, I've beento the police station a lot, but it's not what you think. Usfairies know the difference between right and wrong,” headmonished.
“Then why have you been here sooften?” Ipushed.
“I came here with your grandmother,following her work as a seer,” he said. As he spoke, he looked right at me. He madezero attemptto hide the fact he was tryingto gauge my reaction. And though I had a pretty darn good pokerface, considering my job, his direct gaze undid me.
I felt a slight flush take to mycheeks. I jerked my headaway again, and he just chuckled. Goddamn him. At the first chanceI got, I was going to ditch this fairy and… and what? He’d promisedme that there were things out there – dark things – looking for me.Monsters, creatures no ordinary human could face on their own.Though I really didn't want to believe him, I couldn't forget thedisplay of magic he'd demonstrated in my living room.
By the time he reached forward and knockedon the door, I think I was as pale as a snow drift.
“Come on,” he growled.
The door suddenly opened and standing there was Detective Coulson. He got a confusedlook as he faced Max, but that confusion shifted into outright joyas he saw me. “God, you're here. Thank god,”he said, and he sounded completely genuine. “I thought you’d need achance to settle in. But I gotta say, I can't thank you enough forcoming quickly. This case….” He broke eye contact and shook hishead. There was something unmistakably
