“Yes. He was plenty good for the gargoyles, but he’s not even remotely good enough for the more powerful mages. He doesn’t hold a candle to Momar’s setup.”
I blew out a breath as we walked through the flowers. Edgar was there tending them. When he saw us, he sank into a crouch, lowering his head, as though that would render him invisible when the flowers only reached his shins.
I pretended not to see him. I’d make sure to meet with him sometime today. Other than that…I just wasn’t able to cope with his oddity.
The fire in the woods continued to spread.
You do have a handle on that, yes?I asked Ivy House.
Mind your business, and I will mind mine. That mage needs to help you with magic. Keep your focus where it will do the most good.
Gracious, she was surly today.
You’re barely staying alive through all your skirmishes,she went on, probably having heard my thought. Sometimes, I broadcast them.You can read spells out of a book, but Sebastian could make them better. He could find the best ones to focus on. He’s a genius with magic. You need him. Find him, kidnap him, and chain him in the crystal room. If he won’t help you of his own free will, he will need other motivations, like starvation.
“Good Lord,” I muttered.
“What?” Tristan asked.
“Ivy House. She’s…cutthroat.”
One of us has to be,she told me.
I changed the subject, knowing I wasn’t going to win that argument. She’d just call me a watery Jane with no spine, and it would be a whole thing.
“That other hacker guy,” I said to Tristan. “The one who was in Mimi’s pile?”
“Yes?”
“Did you look at his résumé and rap sheet?”
“Yes…”
“Someone put that sheet together, but no one has approached me about it. You seemed interested in it, so it isn’t you recommending that person, and it wasn’t Austin. That leaves Niamh or one of the mages.”
“One of the mages?” He frowned at me, genuinely shocked that I should make that connection.
That meant it was Niamh, then.
“I didn’t know if they might have…sent the recommendation to help us out,” I said.
I’d hoped they had, and that they were still on our team, however distantly. I didn’t like hearing that Sebastian and Nessa were trying to set us up or frame us, pushing us toward danger without an explanation. We needed a conversation. I needed to be in on this leg of the journey…or I needed to pull away. I couldn’t live in the dark, not knowing if they planned to betray us—if they thought that betrayal was necessary, like at that mage dinner in L.A.
Like with those deaths.
I hated even thinking about it.
“Anyway…” I brushed the thought aside, my heart hurting. “That guy is obviously good, but not so good that he didn’t get caught.”
“It looked like he got caught when he was younger. Went to juvenile hall. He’s thirty-six now and hasn’t stopped stealing, but he hasn’t gotten caught since.”
I paused to face him. “There’s a warrant out for his arrest.”
He grabbed my arm and tugged to keep me moving. “Exactly. Which proves he’s evaded the law.”
“But, like…he’s wanted by the cops. Hesteals.We can’t hire a person like that!”
Tristan didn’t reply for a moment. “How’d you know it was me who disappeared people for Nelson? Did Alpha Steele figure it out, or do you believe the rumors Nelson is spreading about me?”
