“Where are you going now?”
She only spins back to me once she’s at her car with her hand on the door handle. At least the fire is still there in her eyes instead of just pain. “Where do you think? I’m going to find this man-eater. Ammit.”
“How the hell are you going to do that? Are we going to spend the night in a library researching?”
She glares at me like she doesn’t actually want to tell me her plan. Then she finally huffs out a breath in resignation. “Fine. I’ll tell you. But only because you’re going to be useful as bait.”
That surprises a genuine laugh out of me despite our fight. “Bait?”
“It’s Friday night, and there’s one place most of the college students here hit up on a Friday night. It would be an excellent hunting ground for Ammit if she’s looking for young men.” She pauses, then smirks at me with some of her usual fire. “You’ll feel right at home there.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Her smirk widens slightly. “It’s called the Fallen Angels Club.”
I stare at her for a long moment. Then, despite everything, I feel my own mouth twitch. “Of course it is.”
“So are you coming or not?” She’s already opening the car door.
I walk around to the passenger side. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
NINETEEN
LAYDEN
The Fallen AngelsClub is right between the university and the edge of downtown, which is probably why it’s so popular with students. It’s huge, right off a main subway stop, and at the center of everything that matters in the city.
We stop off at Phoenix’s city apartment so she can change. For a second, I think she’ll make me wait downstairs like I’m some kind of stranger. But she finally rolls her eyes and says I can come up.
Before we start climbing the stairs to her apartment, she stops me with a hand on my arm. “Can we actually not say anything about this to Sabra?”
“Why?” I ask, genuinely surprised by the request. “She’s always such a help with these kinds of things.”
Phoenix breathes out in a way that sounds frustrated. “Things have just been difficult between us.” Her eyes glance up the stairs toward her apartment. “She hasn’t been totally happy with me since everything went down with the Devourers.”
“It wasn’t your fault that situation went off the rails. It was Vlad’s doing.”
Phoenix shakes her head firmly. “Look, it doesn’t matter right now. I’m just trying not to put any of my bullshit on her for a while.” She waves her hands in a flurry of movement. “You and me can handle Ammit without dragging her into it. Okay?”
I don’t like keeping things from Sabra, but I still say, “Fine. If that’s what you want.”
She nods and starts up the stairs. After using her key to get into the apartment, she heads straight for her bedroom without saying anything to Sabra, who’s working some spell in the center of the living room.
“Hey,” I say while sitting on the small loveseat that’s been pulled back out of the way so Sabra can work her chalk circle in the center of the wood floor. I look around at the space. It’s a nice place, but small. Certainly not the kind of luxurious apartment Vlad would be putting them up in. Are they paying for it themselves?
Sabra barely looks up to acknowledge me. “Oh. Hey.”
“What are you working on?” I lean forward to get a better look at her chalk markings.
She uses the side of her hand to swipe off some chalk and then starts rewriting arcane glyphs over the smudged marks. The flyaway hairs from her braid are worse than normal, which usually means she’s been working at the circle for long hours already.
“Sab?” I question again, knowing she might well not have heard me the first time when she’s this deep in concentration.
She finally looks up at me with genuine focus and blinks like she’s seeing me for the first time. “What are you doing here?”
I jab a thumb toward where Phoenix is changing in her bedroom. “We’re going out clubbing.”
She frowns at me with confusion. “Why on earth would you two do that?”
