I grabbed a decorative scarf off the wardrobe and held it out. “Here. You’ve got stuff on you.”
She took the scarf and dabbed at her blood-streaked face.
“Carter, look . . .” Her voice softened. “I was wrong. We both know what you did two weeks ago.” She didn’t need to go into details. The confusion and chaos of that election eve had been captured by television crews and broadcast across the nation. Most people watching would have assumed any unnatural events were the result of the two sorcerers dueling on a rooftop. Guyer had guessed the truth. So I clenched my jaw and doubled down.
“I didn’t do anything. Then or now.” Lies are best served with a twist of truth.
She scowled, her grip on the scarf tightening. “This is bullshit, and you know it.”
A different voice answered on my behalf. “It’s not.”
Guyer and I both turned. Jax had returned, slipping silently through the unlatched door. He shut it now, with a click that commented on my failed attempt to close it earlier. Back to the door, he stood with hands on hips, glowering at Guyer.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
Guyer raised her hands. “Ajax—”
“You weren’t there,” he said. “But I was, fighting for my life while you were sitting across town, trying to make out the details on a television.”
She barely started to shake her head before he continued.
“I saw it happen. The water creature and the clay transformation. All of it. It was . . .” He gathered himself. “It was a nightmare. Like this,” he nodded toward the body, “and you don’t expect all of us to blame you for this, do you?”
“Well,” I said, “maybe some of us do blame her for it.”
“Is this how you want to play it?” A muscle along her jaw twitched as she stared me down. “Do you really want to piss off the one person willing to help you out?”
I shrugged. I’d spent most of my life doing exactly that.
The indifference seemed to be the final straw. Guyer drew to her full height and walked out, slamming the door behind her. I rolled onto my heels and swallowed, looking sidelong at Jax, not quite having the courage to face him directly. Every reason I’d given myself for not confiding in him the last few weeks came rushing back, but now, instead of seeming like reasonable, rational ideas, they dripped with self-pity and deceit. My partner had gone to the mat for me, and I’d left him hanging without the information he needed to make an honest decision.
I cleared my throat and glanced around quickly, verifying that we were alone.
“So,” I managed.
“So.”
I had to tell him. No matter how stupidly dangerous it was, I had to tell him.
“Guyer’s wrong about this,” I indicated the mangled body in the corner, “but not about everything.” I stood as straight as I could. “I’ve got something going on, and I don’t fully understand it.”
“I know.”
“You need to understand—” I cut off, as my brain caught up with my mouth, processing what he’d said. “Wait. You what?”
Jax let out a series of exasperated clicks. “I’m not clueless. I knew something was going on, even if I didn’t know what. Besides,” he shoved his hands into his pockets, “you kept trying to tell me you felt something, and every time you did, I told you it was in your head. I don’t entirely blame you for holding your cards tight.”
“Thanks.”
“I don’t entirely not blame you either. We all need friends, Carter. I don’t know why you always make it difficult for people to help you out.”
I looked at Bobby Kearn, at the coagulated gore and monstrous, skeletal wings. Had I done that? Would I do it again? And what would happen when the people in the halls of power realized that I represented an unknown force? I held in a shudder, and faked a smile. The walls were closing in on me, and I had to readjust my thoughts about who’d realized I had a secret. I needed a moment on my own.
“I’ll be right back.” I headed for the door. “I’m gonna go find the communications station.”
“What are you doing, Carter?”
I didn’t answer. I’d almost made it to the door when he spoke again, his voice louder, commanding.
“You need to make peace with Guyer.”
I paused, but shrugged off the suggestion. “We need to radio this in, and get the techs back out here.”
“Okay, fine. But you’ll have to tell them why.” He pointed a thumb at Bobby Kearn’s body. “And we can’t talk about this over open air.”
I grunted. There were no phone lines this far from the city, so any message sent from the rig would be overheard by both the communications staff and anyone who happened to be tuned in. “I’ll take the snow-runner back south far enough to get a signal on police band.”
“Right. But there’s something else.” Jax wove a whistle in between his words, in an attempt to calm me. “One of the DOs will have to call this in to ARC division.”
That also made sense. Arcane Regulation and Containment teams had been instituted after the manna strike to deal with events that indicated manna usage. They’d definitely need to be brought up to speed on this situation. “So?”
“So, Harris is going to want to stay with the body. And we need a DO to make that call.”
I ground my teeth and wished that I couldn’t see where he was headed. He still felt the need to say it out loud.
“You need to make peace with Guyer, because you and she are about to take a long drive together.”
5
AS MUCH AS I’D DISLIKED Ajax’s insistence on a disco soundtrack for the ride out, the grating silence with Guyer was worse. We drove south on the ice plains, the rumble of the snow-runner’s tracks generating not quite enough rhythm
