“We were sort of excited to see our son,” Jacque said.
As if that were a good enough reason.Okay, so it was, Jen thought, but she was still ticked. “I was worried out of my ever-loving mind, Jac,” she admitted as she threw herself at her best friend and wrapped her in a chokehold-like hug. She wanted to hold on and never let go. They’d come too close to losing someone in their group so many times, but this time had been way too close.
“I know, and I’m sorry for not having Peri come tell you right away. If it makes you feel better, I haven’t spent any time with my mom either.”
Jen shrugged. “I feel a tad better, but not much. I mean, she may be your mother, but I am me. Your. Best. Friend. There’s a code, bitches before witches. You can’t go messing with the code.”
“Bitches before witches?” Jacque cocked an eyebrow at her.
“Yes, bitches” —she motioned between herself and Jacque— “and witches, as in your mom. I mean, she’s sort of like a witch with all that seeing the future crap she can do.”
“Um, but she isn’t evil,” Jacque pointed out.
“We don’tknowthat,” Jen said, her voice rising just a bit. “I mean, what do we really know about her? She got frisky with a werewolf, gave birth to you, and then lied to you your entire life. I love Lilly as much as the next chick, but you can never be too careful about these things.”
Jacque stared at her for several minutes while Jen stared back.
“Are you done accusing my mom just because your feelings are hurt?” Jacque finally asked.
Jen folded her arms in front of her. “Fine, yes. I’m done accusing your mom, for now, until I feel the need to rub it in your face again that you totally forgot your best friend.”
“Speaking of best friends…” Jacque frowned as she tried to look past her. Jen knew all she’d see was Titus and his goofy grin. “Where’s Sally?”
Jen blew out a breath causing her cheeks to puff out. “Yeah, about that.”
Jacque could barely breathe. Jen had finished speaking at least ten minutes ago, but Jacque hadn’t been able to muster a reply. From the minute Jen said,Sally’s gone, she’s missing, Jacque’s brain had shut down. When her brain started re-firing on at least some cylinders, her mouth opened and she said the first thing that popped into her head. “Costin?”
Jen’s hand shook as she wrung them in her lap. Jen’s hands never shook. “He’s not doing too well.”
“Well, duh?” Jacque blurted out before she could stop herself. She glanced over to where Titus was sitting, playing with some toys that were much too old for Slate. The toddler had asked to meet her son. But the newborn was sleeping, so Jacque told Titus he’d be the first to know when Slate woke up. Titus had told her that he’d wait right there so that she’d know where to find him. He was one of those kids that just made you feel like you’d swallowed sunshine. He warmed your insides with simply a smile and small eager eyes. He was still quietly playing, not seeming to be paying attention to them at all. But Jacque knew better.
“I sort of screwed up,” Jen groaned. “I was so excited that you and Fane weren’t, you know, dead. I shot off at the mouth, screaming at the top of my lungs for Costin. He naturally thought I had news about Sally. When he realized I didn’t, he…well…he sort of fell apart. That’s where Dec is now. He’s helping Costin not lose control.”
“It must be killing him,” Jacque said quietly, “to know she’s alive, but not know where she is, or if she’s okay?”
“Yeah, Dec would have burned down the globe by now,” Jen admitted. “And Fane, well we all know how cray-cray Fane gets over you, so Costin is doing remarkably well.”
“What’s being done to look for Sally? Do we have any leads? Anything left behind that could explain who took her and why? Do we know—”
“Whoa, slow your roll, Red,” Jen said as she held up a hand. “We aren’t just sitting on our thumbs, spinning around like idiots looking for cheap kicks. We are totally on this.”
“I didn’t think you were looking for cheap tricks.”
“Kicks.”
“Whatever,” Jacque snapped. “The point is, I know you’ve been working on it. If anyone is the epitome of tenacity, it’s you. I just want in. I want to help. What can I do?”
“Um, well, you can be a mom first. Sally wouldn’t want you to miss any of this time with Slate. You know that. She’d want you to be cooing like an idiot and elbow deep in poopy diapers. So, do that. And then during naps, you can nap.”
Jacque wanted to pull every last strand of Jen’s hair out of her pretty little head, one by one. “That won’t be helping find Sally,” she ground out through her clenched teeth.
“You don’t need to worry about it right now. You are just back from the dead. Wadim is doing his thing, searching through ancient crap. Peri is doing her thing, annoying and threatening other supes to get information from them. Vasile is, well, doing whatever the hell it is Vasile does, and Dec and I are bugging all of them to keep going. It’s all under control. We. Got. This.”
“But, it’s Sally,” Jacque said lamely. “It’s our Sally, Jen.”
Jen reached over and took Jacque’s hand in her own. “I know. And we’ve taught her well. She’s tough and smart and levelheaded. She can take care of herself.” Jacque could tell that those were words Jen had been saying to herself over and over in an attempt to get herself to believe them. She wondered if it was working.
There was a knock on the door to their suite and Decebel walked in, a very depressed looking Costin following close behind him.
