“No. I was getting us out of there. You ran back in.”
“Bathin was…” My throat closed up a little, my heart threatening tears again.
“Yeah,” Jean said gently. “He was. Do you know what happened to him?”
I shook my head. “He had the scissors.”
“We looked for them. They weren’t on the beach.”
“Are you sure?” Sand had a way of swallowing up all sorts of things that never surfaced again.
“Yeah, those scissors are gone.”
“Okay.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
Not excited, since they were a very rare and specific weapon. I was sorry to lose them from a purely historical perspective.
But on the other hand, I was glad I didn’t have them anymore, that I didn’t have to make the decision of whether or not I should use them anymore.
“What about the parade?” I asked.
“Hatter and Shoe have it covered. Bertie pulled together some citizens who are trained for security and peace-keeping. So, they’re available.”
“Who did she get on such short notice?”
Jean gave me a funny look. “She started it weeks ago.”
“Okay.” So maybe I’d been a little distracted with my own problems. Maybe I’d been a little single-minded. “Who did she train?”
“The knitters and crocheters.”
I snorted a laugh and rubbed my eyes. The members of the K.I.N.Ks and C.O.C.K.s had been rivals for years. We got called out to break up their insult matches and arguments weekly. If anyone could make them work together, it would be Bertie.
“And it just so happened that you got out of helping Bertie. Again,” I said.
“I don’t know what you’re getting at.” She batted her eyes at me, wide and innocent.
Liar.
“I could have driven myself to see Delaney.”
She chewed on the corner of her lip. “I know. But you just single-handedly took down a vortex and you were going to use those scissors on Bathin, and might have actually used them—”
“—I didn’t use them. He didn’t let me.”
“Still. That was intense, Myra. I want to check on Delaney. I want to keep an eye on you. And let’s be honest. Bertie could handle the parade by herself with both wings tied behind her back. She just likes bossing us around. I’ll volunteer for the next thing to make it up to her.”
“I’ll remind you of that.”
“I know.”
Chapter 25
Delaney was laughing.I paused, just outside her hospital room, stunned. I hadn’t heard her laugh, really laugh like that for…well, since her soul had been taken by a demon.
Ryder’s voice carried through the wood of the door, but I couldn’t make out the words. I could make out the tone, though. He sounded happy.
“You don’t have to knock.” Jean straight-armed the door, shoving it open, and sauntered past me into the room. “Hey!” she said. “You look better.”
