“Pick another number.”
Shay nodded at Lily. Her hands were behind her back, her fist clenched around the pen and pad.
We both knew your powers can be annoying. Don’t worry, just pull it off. We’ve almost got him.
Randy nodded quickly. “Okay, one minute.”
Lily half-closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then scribbled down another number.
Don’t make me kill you, Randy. I don’t want to have to kill you, if only because it’ll bring more attention to Peyton. But you’re going out of your way to force me.
Randy held up three fingers.
Lily turned the pad. Three.
The man frowned and stared at the pad for a long moment. Grim determination ate at the disbelief covering his face. “But the authorities don’t believe he’s dead.”
Shay shrugged. “They’ll give up soon enough. Now, the question is, will you?” She lifted the 9mm but didn’t point it at the man.
Randy nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“Good. Glad you can be reasonable. You going to stop poking around in the past?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”
Shay smiled. “Then you’ll have a happy summer.”
They’d driven for about ten minutes before Lily spoke.
“I’m sorry.” She brushed a few strands of gray hair out of her eyes. “It’s not going to work, is it? He doesn’t believe anything because of the screwed-up divination.”
Shay shrugged. “Not sure, but I think two out of three isn’t bad. The combination of the implied threat with the possibility of ending up on the street will be enough to keep him quiet.”
“But what if it isn’t?”
“We’ll worry about that if it happens.”
I’ll show him a different future. One that ends a lot more abruptly and painfully.
Shay shot the worried-looking teen a smile. Ending this the old way might be her only choice, but Lily didn’t need to be involved in it. Maybe it was silly to worry about the girl’s innocence, but Shay knew all too well what a few teenage murders could do to a person.
“Well, we’re on the East Coast,” Shay commented. “Anything you want to see before we head back to LA? I need to get the rings back to the gnome by tomorrow night, but otherwise no time pressure.”
“It’s only a couple of hours to New York, right?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“I want to see Central Park.” An eager gleam appeared in the elf’s gray eyes.
Shay sighed. “It’s not that cool. It’s just a big park.”
“Have you seen satellite photos of New York? It’s damned cool. Central Park is just this nice little rectangle of green in the middle of a massive maze of gray.”
“Fine. Central Park it is. But we’re gonna do it my way.”
Lila glanced at Shay. “Your way?”
Shay grinned. “Yeah, you’ll see.”
Chapter Two
Dangerous. That was what wandering New York was for a woman like Shay.
I shouldn’t be hanging out in New York. I took out the Nuevo Gulf Cartel, but that doesn’t mean I’m safe. It’s not like I haven’t pissed off other people around here, even after I died.
Shay and Lily jogged their way across the stone Gapstow Bridge. The moonlight and the light from the surrounding buildings reflected off the water below. The relative quiet of the night along with the reflected light gave the whole walk a tranquil quality despite the tension lingering in Shay’s stomach.
“Your way is making me exercise?” Lily asked.
“Yep. That way I can justify this as training rather than just some pointless tourist crap.”
“I haven’t seen as much of the world as you.”
Shay grinned. “Train as a tomb raider and you will. First, though, you need to toughen up.”
A simple walk around Central Park might have been a waste of time, but a run would at least provide some exercise for the day. The junior tomb raider had come a long way, but she still lacked Shay’s sheer physicality. Her ridiculous reflexes wouldn’t help her if she collapsed from exhaustion. Sometimes the best way to win was simply to outlast your enemy.
“But since we’re here, it might be nice to see some of the tourist stuff.” Shay smiled at Lily. “It’s too bad it’s so late. We can’t visit the zoo.”
“They have a zoo in this park? That’s what I’m talking about. That’s how big it is.”
Shay shrugged. “I guess.”
They ran by a sleeping homeless man curled up on a bench. It was the sixth homeless person they’d passed in as many minutes.
Lily frowned when Shay glanced her way.
“Problem?” Shay asked.
The teen shook her head. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine. What? Does seeing homeless here bother you because you’re homeless? Not everywhere has abandoned nuclear escape tunnels to live in.”
“I’m not homeless.”
Lily sped up.
Shay matched her speed. “You’re not?”
Lily shook her head. “Even when I’m not staying with you, I have a place to stay. I have a home and friends. That’s the difference.”
“Whatever works. It’s your life. I’m gonna teach you how to be a tomb raider, but you have to figure the rest of it out yourself.”
Conversation faded, and only the sound of their running shoes striking the rock, dirt, and asphalt cut through the night.
Lily hissed a few minutes later and shook her head. “We need to hurry. Now.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I had a vision. There’s some assholes. Big guys, maybe Mafia. They are going to kill a homeless man. They’re going to laugh about it and talk about how they think they’re doing good stuff.” Lily’s jaw clenched. “We don’t have much time.” Her pace quickened again.
The pair continued running along the asphalt path, sweat beading their foreheads. Lily’s gift might not always be reliable, but such a specific vision wasn’t in question.
Even with the influence of Alison and James, Shay was not interested in being a do-gooder, but that didn’t mean she was okay with random fuckers murdering some poor man for kicks. Not to mention, there was no way in hell Lily would ever trust her again if she tried to walk away.
There was no strong reason not to get involved. It wasn’t like Yulia was at the other end of the park
