Órlaith headed in the direction Brigid had gone, and the rest of them put the hawthorn path behind them. It took less than a minute to return to Central Park proper, with Tiarnán leading the way. Even though they hadn’t gone past the veil entirely, they’d lost some amount of time. Jono’s mobile put it a little past midnight, which definitely meant Patrick and Sage wouldn’t get enough sleep before needing to get up to catch their flight out.
“If Patrick’s twin is in New York and sick, wouldn’t she be in some hospital?” Wade asked from up ahead.
“Private home care would be my best guess, which means she could be anywhere,” Gerard mused.
Ashanti had yet to leave their group, though Jono could smell other vampires in the park around them, waiting for her return. “If you’re going to DC, you would do well to retrieve something for me. It will aid us in tracking Hannah through your blood and soul if it comes down to it.”
Patrick’s expression twisted, color having returned to his face. “Jono agreed to finding Cernunnos. I didn’t agree to what you’re suggesting.”
“Weapon,” Ashanti reminded him with all the gentleness of acid.
Jono noticed Patrick’s flinch because he was looking, and he scowled at Ashanti. “Leave off.”
The flash of iron teeth was easy enough to make out in the glow of witchlights Patrick had cast to help them see in the dark.
“There is a spell book I left in the Library of Congress sometime during this country’s Industrial Revolution. Bring it to me,” Ashanti told Patrick.
“Do you know how many books are in that place? How the hell do you expect me to find it?” Patrick protested.
Ashanti slipped her hand into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a carved wooden figure half the size of her palm. It took a moment for Jono to see the shape of the elephant head in the design, and how the tusks weren’t made of lighter wood, but of crystal filled with dark fluid held inside a tiny space.
The artifact smelled of magic and blood, none of it good.
“This will locate the spell book.”
Patrick took it from her after a moment, rubbing his thumb against one wide ear on the elephant’s head. “Like a dowsing rod?”
“If you must compare it to such useless magic, then I suppose that works.”
“Dowsing rods work.”
Ashanti curled her fingers around Patrick’s wrist. “Retrieve the spell book.”
Patrick sighed heavily, giving in. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m going to DC.”
“Thought you gods were supposed to be all-powerful and all-knowing? Didn’t think you’d need a book for that,” Jono said, not bothering to keep the mockery out of his voice.
Ashanti laughed, low and rough, the sound some bit of the nightmare she was to people. “I have forgotten more than you will ever remember in ten lifetimes, wolf.”
Ashanti disappeared before Jono finished blinking, gone in a streak of darkness that blended into the night around them. The scent of the undead went with her.
“Don’t antagonize her,” Patrick said, his shoulder brushing against Jono’s arm. His pockets weren’t big enough to hold the small, carved elephant head, so he held it in his left hand with loose fingers.
“I’ll stop when you stop defending the shit positions she puts you in. I don’t bloody care if she taught you how to play word games with gods. She was a terrible teacher, because you’re shit at looking out for yourself,” Jono said.
“That’s why Jono is good for you, Razzle Dazzle,” Gerard said from up ahead.
Patrick made a face. “Fuck off.”
But he didn’t move away, only stepped closer to stay by Jono’s side, hand reaching for his. Jono held on to Patrick and refused to let go.
19
Thursday afternoon foundPatrick running on coffee and spite by the time he finished with the closed-door congressional hearing before the Committee for Magical Enforcement. He should’ve felt better that it was over, but all he felt wastired.
“That didn’t go as terribly as I thought it would,” Setsuna said as he approached where she sat in the rows of chairs behind the low wall separating the audience from the front of the room.
Most of the seats were empty; only those with the appropriate security clearance had been allowed to be present. Gerard was one of them, though he’d opted to sit with members of the military rather than with other politicians. Sage had been relegated to the hallway outside and hadn’t minded the separation in order to guard the only way out.
