remembered it,' I said, finding the strength to sit up at his show of guilt. 'The vampire tried to bind me, and I think you knew it. Start talking, pixy.' I can't do this anymore. I'm playing with fire, and I have to stop.
In a burst of sparkles, Jenks darted away. Keasley's sneakers on his bare feet moved uneasily, and I stood up, angry and almost out of my mind with frustration. Seeing Ivy on the floor, I gritted my teeth and refused to cry. I was so messed up. My hand gripped my right shoulder until it hurt, the memory of Kisten's death heavy on me. This isn't fair. This is bloody-hell not fair!
'You were there, Jenks,' I said as I wiped my face to get the hair out of my eyes. 'You said you were with me all night. Who bit me? Who gave me the forget potion!' I looked at Keasley, betrayal an angry lump in my gut. 'Was it you?' I barked, and the old man shook his head, so sadly that I believed him.
'Rache,' Jenks stammered, pulling my attention to him as he backed up on the counter. 'Don't. You were crazy. You were going to hurt yourself. If I hadn't, you'd be dead.'
My lips parted, and I tried to breathe. Jenks had given me the potion?
I felt like I was going to pass out again. Reaching behind me, I tipped my dissolution vat of salt water over Ivy. Keasley shifted his faded sneakers as it poured over the counter and onto the floor, drenching her. I didn't take my eyes from Jenks as she came to, sputtering.
'You were there,' I repeated to bring Ivy up to speed as she scrambled up behind me. 'You said you were with me all night. You were there when Kisten's murderer bit me. Tell me who did it!' I screamed, my throat hurting.
My pulse was fast as I stood over Jenks. I was mad. Scared. Terrified he would tell me it had been Ivy. Maybe I was bound, and she couldn't smell it because it had been her. Was that why I had said yes to her today?
Oh, God. Please, no.
Jenks's wings were a blur, but he didn't move, his attention going from me to Ivy as we took three steps to loom over him. My socks were soaked with salt water, and I could hear Ivy's frustration and anger that my magic had dropped her. But Jenks had taken her out, not me.
'I don't know!' he yelped when Ivy smacked a hand on the stainless-steel counter and a splash of salt water hit his wing. 'Kisten was dead, really dead, when I caught up with you,' he said, shamefaced. 'I never saw his murderer. Rachel, I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do. You were crying. Acting crazy. You said Kisten had bitten his murderer, mixed their undead blood to kill them both for good.'
Ivy groaned and turned away, and I touched her shoulder, not looking from Jenks.
'But it didn't work,' Jenks said, gaze darting between us, ''cause Kisten hadn't been dead long enough, so only Kisten died right away. You were going to go after the bastard to make sure he was dead. Rache, you wouldn't have survived, even if the vampire was almost dead. You'd been bitten. You can't stand up to a dead vampire. You can't.'
My jaw clenched, and I closed my eyes, trying to remember as Ivy shook silently beside me. Nothing. Only stark fear and a throbbing in my foot and my arm where someone had gripped me too tightly. It was a pain born almost three months ago, as sharp and real as if I had just been slapped.
'You gave me the forget potion,' I whispered to Jenks. 'Why?' I gestured helplessly. 'Was it worth all this? I want to know who did it!'
'Talk, pixy!' Ivy barked as she spun. Her pupils were dilated, and red spotted her cheeks.
Jenks stood miserably before us, black dust sifting from him. 'I had to.' He backed up, his wings fanning into motion when his heel hit a napkin. Ivy snatched for him, and he darted away. 'I made the spell myself. I put it together and got your blood into it. You were going to go after Kisten's killer!' he exclaimed. 'You would have died! I'm only four freaking inches tall. I don't have many options! And I can't lose you now!'
Ivy slumped with her elbow on the counter and her forehead in her cupped hand. Her hair hid her face, and I wondered what she was feeling. Damn it, it wasn't fair. We had done it, managed a balance, and then my memory had to return and screw it all up.
'That vampire would have killed you,' Jenks begged. 'I thought if you just forgot, time would take care of everything. You're not bound, so everything's okay! It's okay, Rache!'
I prayed Jenks was right, but a shiver ran through me as I put a hand to my neck and covered my bites. God help me, I've never felt this vulnerable. I had been playing with vampires. I'd believed I had been bound. I couldn't…I couldn't do this anymore.
Ivy took a ragged breath. Her brow furrowed, and as she stood upright, I saw an inner pain deep behind her eyes, cemented to her soul. 'Excuse me,' she said softly, and I jerked when she darted out. She fled with that eerie vampire speed, her feet squeaking on the wet linoleum. I reached out after her, and her bathroom door shut with a loud thump.
I looked at Jenks. My life sucks.
Tired, I leaned back against the sink and tried to figure it out. I didn't feel good. I was running on a lack of sleep, lack of food, and lack of understanding. I didn't want to think anymore. I just wanted to hide or cry on someone's shoulder. My eyes pricked with the warmth of tears, and I turned away. I wasn't going to cry in front of Keasley. Ceri and I were arguing. Ivy was hiding. I didn't have any friends to turn to. Depressed, I glanced at the two men, both staring at me with an awkward concern. I had to get out of here.
'Jenks,' I said breathily, looking at the salt-strewn kitchen. 'I'm going to my mom's. Keasley, I'm sorry. I have to go.'
Feeling airy and unreal, light-headed, I pushed past the solemn witch and followed the creeping path of the water into the hallway. I was headed for the door, and I grabbed my bag in passing. I couldn't stay here. My mom might just be nuts enough to understand and sane enough to help. Besides, she might know a charm to reverse a forget potion. And then Ivy and I were going to nail Kisten's killer to a broomstick.
Fourteen
My mom's kitchen had changed since the last time I'd sat at the table eating cereal. A strong herb scent was heavy in the air, though I didn't see any. There weren't any spell pots or ceramic spoons in the sink either, but the redwood smell rolling off of her when she'd answered the door in her fuzzy leopard-print robe told me that she'd been spelling heavily recently.
Now she smelled like lilac, with only the faintest aroma of redwood to mar it. I thought it funny she was trying to hide from me that she was making and selling charms under the table. Like I would turn my mom in? The I.S. wasn't necessarily generous in their pensions to widows—even those whose spouses worked in the Arcane Division—and it probably wasn't enough to meet the soaring property taxes of what had once been a middle-class neighborhood.
The afternoon light coming in the kitchen window was bright as I sat glum and weary, eating cereal out of a cracked bowl in my usual spot. Lucky Charms. I didn't know which was more disturbing, the possibility that the box was the same one from the last time I'd had breakfast here, or the possibility that it wasn't.
My gaze shifted to the pile of supermarket tabloids that my mother loved, and I tugged one out of the pile when MOURNING SISTER FINDS KITTY LITTER IN TWIN'S URN caught my eye. Below it was a short article on Cincy's colorful history of grave robbing and how bodies were again turning up missing on both sides of the river. A frown came over me. There was only one reason why cremated bodies were replaced with kitty litter—an offering of mortal ashes kept a summoned demon from appearing out of place, like outside the circle. I usually didn't bother with it, but the demons generally crashed my life, not the other way around.
The reminder of Al prompted me to tug my bag across the table. I hadn't given my mother a reason for showing up and falling into an exhausted sleep on top of my old coverlet on my bed. Depression had replaced my fear at the thought that I'd been bound, and the beginnings of forgiveness to Jenks for wiping my memory had taken hold. He had done the right thing. I could easily imagine the state I had been in, and making me forget had probably saved my life. A witch with a vamp scar couldn't stand up to the undead. Ivy would find Kisten's killer. I'd take care of the demons.
Rummaging in my bag, I pulled out my phone and looked at the screen. I had called Jenks the moment I'd woken up to check on Ivy. She was depressed, he said, which was workable. I wasn't looking forward to going back
