He let go of me, searched my face. I wiped the tear off my cheek, waited for his approval. He nodded.
“You did notice I didn’t grope your ass,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “You always have to take a good moment out at the knees, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He started toward the car. “I just want it on the record when Jones wakes back up. I did not grope your sweet bits. And I had ample opportunity, what with how you were pawing at me.”
“Keep digging, Flynn. Six feet makes a grave.”
We got in the car, and Stone turned his head. He was moving even more slowly.
“Hey, boy. Have a nice nap?”
He opened his mouth and clacked. It sounded like his gears were missing a few cogs.
“That’s okay.” I turned around and rubbed his head. “You rest.”
He put his chin back on his arm. Shame started the car, but I stayed twisted in my seat, petting Stone’s head.
Shame’s phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket. “Flynn.”
I had good ears. But I couldn’t quite make out the words. I knew who the speaker was, though: Terric.
I recognized his voice, and also I knew it had to be him from the way Shame tensed up.
“Where?” A pause. “Unbelievable. Fine. We’re stopping by Mum’s place first.”
He snapped his phone shut and stuffed it back in his pocket.
“I hope you didn’t have plans for today.”
“Other than hunting down Greyson and Chase?” I shifted so I was sitting facing forward again and buckled my seat belt.
“Sedra has ordered everyone to go out to St. Johns.”
“Why?”
“They’re setting up some kind of storm rod, to try to divert as much of the storm as they can and to channel it into one place when it hits. St. Johns, probably because there is no magic there. It’s the one place that could handle a huge blast without blowing out the networks. I have to admit, it makes sense.”
“You’re surprised Sedra is making sense?”
He licked his lips. Stared at traffic for a second or two. “She’s been. . different. I don’t know if it’s the storm, or your dad dying-which, by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you-what the hell happened back there with Violet?”
I rubbed at one eye. “I’ve told people he’s in my head. I’ve told you. Jingo Jingo doesn’t believe me, so no one else in the Authority does-”
“Jingo is a one-man freak show. And he’s been lying this entire time about not knowing your dad is in your head. I believe you. After seeing your dad glaring out from behind your eyes? Oh yeah. I’m convinced.”
“Good. Now help me get rid of him.”
Shame shook his head. “Magic. And not even your pretty pink crystal can hold enough for the kind of magic it takes to draw a soul out of a body. Even if the soul doesn’t belong there in the first place. Plus, it will hurt. A lot.”
“I don’t care about the pain. Greyson did it, and I held up pretty well.”
Shame glanced over at me. “Greyson did what?”
“He sucked Dad out of my head.”
“So he’s really in Greyson?”
“No. He’s in me. And maybe some of him is in Greyson.”
My dad shifted in my head, as if uncomfortable. That was how I knew it was true. Part of him was still in the Necromorph, in the man who had tried to kill him. Who had tried to kill Zay.
Shame was quiet a moment. “You know how you said you were really fucked a few minutes ago?”
“Yeah?”
“I’d like to change my response to ‘and how.’”
“Wonderful. Thanks for that, Mr. Good News.”
“If your dad is in Greyson, or a part of his soul is in Greyson, then you are tied to Greyson through him. He’s spanning two minds, two lives. It makes for an interesting state of being for him. I can appreciate the advantages, though.”
My dad in my head went very still. He listened to Shame like he had just found an expert in the one subject he could not figure out.
Yes, that scared the hell out of me.
“Uh, I’m not sure that you should tell me right now. Dad’s listening.”
Shame laughed. “You are such a creepy girl. Not that I mind. But I just never expected Jones would go for the whole goth-chick-possessed-by-the-dead-guy thing. Talk about Daddy issues. And I’m not at all sure what that says about Zayvion, psychologically speaking. Tell me, does your dad know when you and Jones are, you know, doing it?”
“Do you want me to puke in your car? ’Cause if you keep it up, I will destroy your upholstery.”
Stone, in the backseat, growled.
“And then my gargoyle will eat you.”
“Aw, c’mon. A hint?”
“Zay’s been helping me find ways to block him.”
“Ooh. Nice. Can you block your dad without him?”
“Yes. Most of the time.”
“But back with Violet?”
“It’s always worse when I get around her. Dad. .” I couldn’t believe I was about to say this out loud. “He loved her. And even though I do not know why, Violet loved him too. So when he sees her, hears her voice, we get into sort of a wrestling match over who gets to run my body.”
“Do you always lose?”
“Not for long. We’re not going to St. Johns, are we?”
“I don’t think skipping out on this party is an option.”
“Then you go. I have a Necromorph to hunt.”
He wiped his hand over his face, then rubbed his palm over his jeans. The pressure of the building storm was growing strong enough now, I was starting to feel it like a migraine behind my eyes.
“I want Greyson dead,” he finally said. “No questions. But if we don’t deal with the magic, with the storm, we’ll lose the chance to get Zayvion back. Until the wild magic passes, all bets with magic-how it’s going to work, when it’s going to work-are off.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I can handle myself. With or without magic.”
“I know. And if you’re set on it, on the hunt, then I’ll go with you.”
“That’s not how this works. I’m making this decision for myself. Alone.”
“That is exactly how this works. You don’t go anywhere without me. You don’t go anywhere alone. I won’t let that happen. Like it or not.”
“Get off my back, Flynn.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “You’d rather I get on your front? What would Zayvion say?”
“He’d tell you to shut up and hunt.”
“Planning on it. But even he wouldn’t be stupid enough to go into a hunt without weapons. And until we have magic-until both of us have magic at our disposal-hunting Greyson is a waste of time.”
He had a point. And it finally soaked through my stubborn head. Magic first. Because once I had magic, was filled with it again, it wasn’t going to take me any time to find Greyson and kick his ass.
“Fine,” I said.
“Fine,” he agreed.
“Why are we going to Maeve’s and not straight to St. Johns?”
“I need to pick up a couple things.”
I was glad. After having my dad run roughshod over my body and emotions, I wanted to look in on Zay. Tell him I was okay. Tell him he was going to be okay too, and to not give up on us. Tell him I hadn’t given up on finding
