Alex Barclay stood just inside our doorway. He leaned against the wall, legs crossed at the ankles, his arm and tentacle folded over his chest. I was certain he’d worked to find just the right pose to project an air of cool control.
Sunglasses hid his eyes. His chest was bare, revealing the old scars on the left side of his torso. The tentacle grew from the stump of his arm. The skin there was red and scabby.
Seeing him was like getting punched in the stomach by a troll hopped up on diamond dust. The changes were difficult to look at, but seeing the echoes of the boy I remembered was worse. We’d fought and laughed and raged together. On one memorable occasion, we’d gotten miserably drunk together. More than anything, I wanted to reach into this thing he’d become and pull out my friend.
Instead, I squared my shoulders and pursed my lips at the raw, red skin near his tentacle. “I’ve got an ointment that will help with that.”
He chuckled, and the sound was so familiar, my heart hurt. “I’ve missed the way you joke to cover your fear.”
“I’ve missedyou, Alex.” I’d missed all of them, more than I’d let myself admit. “Any fear I’m feeling is for you. Look at yourself.”
He curled the tip of his tentacle. Tiny barbs emerged from the endmost suckers. He studied them like he was checking a manicure. “I thought you didn’t judge people by their appearance, Jenny. Wasn’t that part of your big enlightenment before you ran off?”
“Fuck this.” Annette brushed past me, her knife raised, only to bounce off an invisible barrier in the doorway. She scowled and tried again, with the same result.
Alex pointed to the doormat. “‘An it harm none, do what you will.’ It’s an elegant little contract.”
I tried to enter. It was like stepping into a sheet of plastic wrap. The spell clung to my skin. I continued to push, and the air hardened like steel. I focused on my right fist, trying to drill through. All I got for my attempt were bruised knuckles.
Alex removed his sunglasses and tossed them past us and into the yard. He wasn’t wearing his eyepatch anymore. R’gngyk had grown him a new eye, yellow and rheumy and slightly larger than his human one.
“I canseemagic,” he said. “All these spells Temple and his family built up over the years, I can read them like billboards on the highway. Every connection, every nodule of stored power, every trigger. Not only that, but once I got inside, I could adjust your shop’s defenses. That magic doormat serves me now.”
His smile grew. “I rewrote your contract. If you want to enter, you have to accept the terms. Harm none. Not me, not my followers, not even R’gngyk. And before you decide, I should tell you I cut out those pesky self-defense caveats, too. Once you enter, I could skin you alive without you being able to throw a single punch.”
His cockiness hadn’t changed. I could use that.
“Deal.” I unclenched my fists and stepped through the doorway.
“Dammit, Jenny!” Annette tried to follow. She rebounded so hard, she bumped into Ronnie.
“Take care of Temple.” I caught her eyes and tried to make her understand the words I wasn’t saying.I have a plan. Try to wake Temple up and get him to undo what Alex did. I’ll keep him busy as long as I can. Also, if this doesn’t work, I love you both.
Annette scowled but gave a small, tight nod. I imagined her thinking,You’d better know what you’re doing. If you get yourself killed, I’ll kick your ass.
I faced Alex and gave him my best fake customer-service smile. “As long as you’re here, would you care to check out our wide variety of used books?”
• • •
“Jenny Winter.” Alex shut and locked the door behind me. “How long has it been?”
“Twenty-eight years.” I slipped past him and retreated out of arm’s length. Unfortunately, the hall wasn’t long enough to get out of stretchy tentacle’s length. “Our ten-year reunion.”
He chuckled. “That was so awkward. Everyone else was talking about their careers and their families, and then there was Jenny Winter, alone and purposeless. You’d walked away from everything and everyone that gave your life meaning. I’m glad you finally found your true calling, selling used books and cheap junk to tourists.”
IREMEMBER THIS ONE,said Artemis.IDON’T RECALL HIM BEING SUCH AN ASSHOLE.
My senses were turned up to eleven, and my limbs twitched with the instinctive drive to fight this twisted thing that used to be my friend. I wanted to punch Alex’s face in and I wanted to hug him and I wanted to shake him until all the bitterness and corruption fell out. Instead, I simply asked, “What have you done with Morgan and Sage?”
He waved his hand dismissively. “I assume they’re upstairs in those locked rooms? The house didn’t want to let me through those doors. I could have forced my way in, but why bother? I don’t need them anymore.”
Thank you for protecting them.I hoped the house could feel my gratitude. Knowing the kids were safe freed me to focus entirely on Alex. “How long have you been planning this? I saw the photocopies you made.”
“The benefits of being a teacher’s aide. Unlimited access to the Xerox machine.” He shook his head in mock-sadness. “I didn’t have everything figured out back then, but I saw the signs. By the time we graduated, I knew you didn’t have what it took.”
The punching urge was quickly overpowering the hugging urge. “You saw what being a Hunter cost me, Alex. You saw what it turned me into.”
“Exactly. You weren’t strong enough.” He waved his tentacle at me. “Felipe and the Guardians Council were a bunch of overcontrolling assholes, but they were right about the world needing protection.”
