A brief look of sadness passed over Alison’s face. “I’m not saying it’s wrong to have secrets. I’ve got a few myself.”
Shay shrugged. “Not even gonna ask. I know if you need help you’ll ask for it.”
The girl nodded. “I…do kind of want to meet her, though. Lily. I mean, we’re similar. Orphans. Half-elves. The same kickass woman has taken an interest in training us.”
Shay chuckled. “She’s pretty secretive. Meeting her isn’t all that easy. Even with me, most of it is on her schedule, and she only shows up when she wants to. I can try to call her, but I can’t always reach her.”
“I get that. Just saying.”
“We also had a nasty experience on our last raid. She might not want to show up for a while, and I can’t blame her.”
Alison nodded. “You think she’ll avoid you the rest of the summer?”
Shay shook her head. “I honestly don’t know, but if the chance comes up for you to meet her, I’ll see what I can do.”
“That’s all I ask.” The teen kicked her legs, a wistful look on her face.
Why did Peyton suddenly tell her about Lily? And why does she care that much? I hope she’s not jealous. Wait…
Shay furrowed her brow. “Do you miss your friends at school?”
Alison blinked and looked up. “What?”
“We’ve got you hanging out with bounty hunters, cops, and tomb raiders, but not anybody your age. I was just wondering if you missed your friends.”
“Yeah, I do.” Alison shrugged. “But I love being home with you and Dad. I want to spend more time with you, and as for Lily, some of it’s about her and some it’s just about…” She sighed. “It’s going to seem silly.”
“I’m dating your dad. He’s Captain Silly sometimes between his KISS and the barbeque obsession. I still can’t get over that ridiculous pit he and Sergeant Mack had built.”
Alison laughed and shrugged. “I just want to know more about you, Aunt Shay. Even the parts you aren’t proud of, but I’m willing to wait until you’re ready.” She pointed to her face. “You forget, I can see your soul. I know how beautiful it is, even if you doubt it.”
Shay blinked and stared at the girl.
If you say so, Alison.
Chapter Eleven
Shay slipped on her gloves and began stretching along with Aaron, Lana, and the other members of Free-to-Move. They’d already taken a helpful elevator to the top of an eight-story office building downtown. The streetlights had flicked on with the setting sun, and the bright lights of the city pushed away much of the darkness but left more than a few pockets in shadow.
She smiled. Alison wanted to do parkour. If they could improve her little pulse technique, or if Tubal-Cain could come up with something practical, it might be less of a dream and more of a reality.
Hell, if she really gets good with her pulse technique, she might be better at night than I am.
Lana grinned at Shay. “You’re in a good mood.”
“I’m always in a good mood.”
The other woman laughed. “If you say so.”
“Just thinking about friends and family, is all.”
Lana’s face scrunched. “I always think of them more around holidays.” She shrugged. “When they aren’t bothering me online.”
Shay moved to the edge of the roof to stare down at the flow of traffic up and down the road. “Family’s kind of a new thing for me, to be honest.”
She chuckled about feeling so talkative, let alone on this particular subject and with a parkour-club acquaintance. The lack of any substantial link to any other part of her life was part of the motivation. The walls that had allowed compartmentalization had begun to fall one by one, but at least the parkour group was still far more interested in her skills than her background.
She’d managed to avoid ending up on any news footage outside of the media circus that was Alison’s adoption hearing, but the more time she spent in public around James, the more chance that eventually everyone would start recognizing her, if only as James Brownstone’s girlfriend.
Do I even have to worry about anyone else anymore? The cartel’s gone. Yulia might have fucked with my raids, but she keeps a pretty low profile, and I doubt she’s gonna come here just to try to kill me.
Lana laughed, snapping Shay out of her thoughts. “How can family be new to you?”
Shay shrugged. “I left home pretty young. Spent a long time depending only on myself. Caring about other people—that’s what’s new.”
“I can understand that. You had to make your own way, but now you’ve changed, and it’s weird to look back at even who you were.’
“Yeah, changed a lot.” Shay let out a wistful sigh. “Still trying to wrap my head around a lot of it.” She shook out her head. Brooding was for James. “A fun night tour of the city, huh?”
Lana nodded. “Yep. We might even run into the Night Spiders.”
Shay looked away to hide her smile. She’d seen Lily and the magical teens in action and could testify to the impressiveness of their enhanced parkour moves, but being a little open about her background didn’t mean she was ready to start telling every random person all her secrets.
“Oh? You interested in them?” the tomb raider asked.
Lana chuckled. “Just, ever since you asked about next-level parkour a while back, I’ve been thinking about them a lot more.” She shrugged. “Maybe at this point, I want just to know the truth of whether they exist. The only person I’ve seen who could pull off the kind of stuff they do is Marcus, and the idea of a bunch of people like him blows my mind.”
“We could get lucky and see them.”
Shay was half-tempted to text Lily to ask for a little display. Her smile faded, and the thought drifted away. Lily probably wouldn’t want to be around her for a while.
That’s what it means to be a tomb
