I had just been propositioned for something even a redheaded nympho would say no to. Crossing my arms in front of me, I glared at Ivy.
'He'd do it himself,' Ivy said softly. 'God knows he has enough courage. But he needs his life insurance check to set himself up, and if he kills himself, he loses it. He's been waiting a long time.'
'No.'
Ivy's lips pressed together. Then her brow smoothed. 'I'll call him,' she said softly. 'You talk to him, and if you still feel the same way, we'll call it off. It will be up to you.'
My head hurt. If I didn't say yes now, I would look meaner than Satan's baby-sitter. 'Alexia,' I said loud enough for the bar to hear. 'You are one sick bitch.'
Her smile widened. 'That's my girl.' Clearly pleased, she picked up her fork and ate another bite of pie. 'Can you make a charm to make someone look like little professor here?'
Nick stiffened, and Jenks chuckled, 'Little professor…' as he dumped a fourth packet of sugar into his coffee. I felt like I was in my high school lunchroom, plotting a prank.
'Yeah, I can do that,' I said. Sullen, I pushed the melting ice cream around on my plate. Doppelganger charms were illegal, but not black. Why not? I was going to freaking kill someone.
'Good.' Ivy speared the last of her pie, going still in thought before she ate the point, and I knew she was making a wish. And people thought I was superstitious? 'Now all we have to do is find a way to destroy that thing,' she finished.
At that, Nick stirred. 'You're not going to destroy it. It's over five thousand years old.'
I sent my flip-flops popping. 'I agree,' I said, and Nick shot me a grateful glance. 'If we can substitute a fake Nick, then we can substitute a fake statue.'
Ivy leaned back in her chair with her coffee. 'I don't care,' she said. 'But you…' She pointed a finger at Nick. '…aren't going to get it. Rachel is going to put it into hiding, and you—get—nothing.'
Nick looked sullen, and I exchanged that same knowing look with Jenks. This was going to be a problem. Jenks stirred his coffee. 'So…' he said, 'how are we going to knack Nick?'
I thought his verbiage left something to be desired, but I let it pass, ignoring my melting bribe. 'I don't know. I'm usually on the saving-your-butt end of things.'
Blowing across his mug, Jenks shrugged. 'I'm partial to crushing their chest until their ribs crack and their blood splatters like Jell-O in a blender without a top.' He took a sip, wincing. 'That's what I do to fairies.'
I frowned, appalled when he added two more packets of sugar.
'We could push him off a roof,' Ivy suggested. 'Drown him, maybe? We've got lots of water around here.'
Jenks leaned conspiratorially toward Ivy, his green eyes darting merrily between mine and hers. 'I'd suggest jamming a stick of dynamite up his ass and running away, but that might really hurt whoever is taking his place.'
Ivy laughed, and I frowned at both of them. The karaoke machine had started up again, and I felt ill when 'Love Shack' began bouncing out. Oh my God. The skinny trucker was up on the stage with the three bimbos as backup.
I looked, then looked again. Finally I tore my eyes away. 'Hey,' I said, feeling the weight of the last twenty- four hours fall on me. 'I've been up since yesterday noon. Can we just find somewhere to crash for the day?'
Immediately Ivy grabbed her purse from under her chair. 'Yeah, let's go. I have to call Peter. It will take him, his scion, and his mentor a day to get up here. You sleep, Jenks and I will come up with a few plans, and you can pick the one that your magic will work the best with.' She glanced at Jenks, and he nodded. Both of them turned to me. 'Sound okay?'
'Sure,' I said, taking a slow breath to steady myself. Inside I was shaking. I wasn't too keen on picking any plan that involved killing someone. But the Weres wouldn't give up on Nick unless he was dead; and unless there was a body, they would know it was a scam.
And I wanted to go home. I wanted to go home to my church and my life. They would hound me to the ends of the earth if they knew the focus was found and in my possession.
I stood, feeling as if I was slipping into places that I had once vowed I would never go. If we were caught, we would be tried for murder.
But what choice did I have?
Twenty-one
The scent of cinnamon and cloves was thick in the motel room, making it smell like the solstice. Nick was making ginger drops, and the warmth of the tiny efficiency oven was pleasant at my back. It wasn't unusual for him to bake, but I thought it more likely he was trying to bribe me into talking to him than a desire for homemade cookies. And since Jenks had the TV on a kids' show for Jax, and Ivy wouldn't let Nick plan his own demise, the human had little to do.
The Weres knew Jenks, so Ivy had gone shopping while I slept, laden down with a grocery list and my shoe size. All of us going out for food three times a day—or in Jenks's case, six—didn't seem prudent. We had found a suite five minutes from the bar, and after giving the low-ceilinged rooms done in brown and gold the once-over, I stated clearly that I had the van. Ivy took the bed in the tiny room off the main room, Nick got the bed in the main room, and Jenks wanted the sofa sleeper, happily opening it up and putting it away twice before Ivy and I finished unloading the van; she didn't want Nick touching anything. The van was tight and cold, but it was quiet, and with the circle I'd put up while I slept, safer than the motel.
I had woken cranky and stiff that morning at an ungodly nine o'clock, unable to go back to sleep after my twelve-hour nap. And since Jenks and Jax were both up, and Nick, of course, was awake, I thought I'd take the opportunity to get a jump on the magic prep. Yeah. Right.
'Want to lick the spoon, Ray-ray?' Nick said, his gaunt face looking more relaxed than I'd seen it since…last fall.
I smiled, trying to keep it noncommittal. 'No thanks.' I bent my attention back to the laptop screen. With Kisten's help, Ceri had e-mailed me the earth charm I needed to make the disguise amulets, with her additions to turn it into an illegal doppelganger spell. It was still white, but I wasn't familiar enough with the additional ingredients to sensitize it to mimic a particular person.
Stretching, I pulled my scratch pad closer and added pumpkin seeds to my list. The bulb over the oven glinted on my no-spell charm bracelet, and I jiggled the black gold, making an audible show of my break with Nick. Ignoring it, he continued to wedge blobs of cookie dough onto a nasty-looking pan. Then he hesitated, clearly wanting to say something but deciding against it. The first batch of cookies had come out of the oven not long ago, and the smell was heaven.
I was avoiding the cookies on some vague principle, but Jenks had a plateful as he leaned over Jax's work on the table by the curtained window. Though the TV was on, neither was paying attention to it, absorbed in their practice. Rex sat in the warmth of Jenks's lap, her pretty white paws tucked sweetly under her as she stared at me from across the room. That Jax was strutting atop the table didn't seem to be important to her right now.
Ever the vigilant father, Jenks had a gentling hand about her fur in case she remembered Jax and took a swipe at him. But the kitten was fixed on me, giving me a mild case of the creeps. I think she knew I had been that wolf, and was waiting for me to turn back.
Her ears swiveled to the back room, and a sudden thump sent her skittering. Jenks yelped when her claws dug into him, but she was already under the bed. Jax was after her in a sprinkling of gold pixy dust, coaxing in a high-pitched voice that grated on my eyeballs. From Ivy's room came a torrent of muffled curses. Great. Now what?
The door to Ivy's room was flung open. She wore her usual silk nightie, and her short black hair was tousled from her pillow. Lean and sleek, she stomped across the nasty carpet, looking intent on mayhem.
The Electric Company theme song bounced as she strode into the kitchen. Eyes wide, I turned to keep her in view. Nick stood in the corner, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes, the bowl of dough in his long hands. Lips pressed tight, Ivy grabbed an oven mitt, pulled open the oven, and yanked out the tin of baking cookies. It made a muffled
