“Yeah, the golden light was coming from them. Crazy squiggles, surrounded by glitter.”
“Did you see anyone come through the light?” I ask. If the gateway is active again, we could be dealing with assassins. They could be hunting Celine right now or stalking her friends at the Fang. I need to tell her, bloody hell, why isn’t she with me? I hate this.
“No one came through. I watched for two hours, even after the lights faded.”
My heart rate slows to a reasonable thump, and I swallow heavily. “Thank you for letting me know.”
“You’re welcome. I’m happy to do it, man.”
“Talk soon.” I prepare to hang up. Andy’s gratitude makes me uncomfortable. He’s too genuine, and it’s a recipe for getting taken advantage of, especially in the Fringes.
“Wait,” he says. “Don’t you want to know whatdidcome through the lights?”
“I thought you said no one came through!” My fingers clench around the phone. Ciprian turns the TV off and eases away from Luca slowly to keep from waking him.
“Not somebody, but something, man. Papers or a book, I think, but I didn’t get them yet. I wanted to talk to you before touching anything. Didn’t you say something was wrong with this thing?”
I look at Ciprian with wide eyes. “Grab the papers, Andy. Actually, wait—don’t. I’ll come to you. Can you wait there for a few hours? Don’t let them out of your sight.”
“Sure thing, that’s no problem, but I thought you were out of town with your girl?”
“Wait for me,” I tell him. “I’ll be there soon.”
By the time I hang up, Ciprian is already striding from the room. I hear him shouting for Sheena and Idris, then the rumble of voices as they answer. Three minutes later, I’m stepping through a fae portal into a shadowed corner of the Fringes with Ciprian.
It takes us another hour to reach the gateway. It looks the same as always, but more threatening somehow. Now that I know celestial tech can be tampered with, I’m not in a hurry to put my trust in it.
Andy was right about the papers. There’s a small stack tied toa gilded book... a journal maybe? I grab them and back up quickly, relieved when I’m not yanked into another realm.
I can’t read a word. Nothing is written in English, but my nerves are buzzing. This is important; every instinct I have is screaming at me to handle it with care.
We cut Andy loose, and I pay him extra before meeting Ciprian’s hard stare.
“Call Celine,” I say, shielding my face from the blinding sun. “This may not be what she’s searching for, but something tells me it’s exactly what she needs to find.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
Unspoken Rule of the Fringes #61:
Change is inevitable.
CELINE
I wake to my phone buzzing on the nightstand.
Sunlight presses in, curling around the edges of the curtains and creating a halo effect. It doesn’t feel early. Did we sleep past checkout? I can’t bring myself to care.
Curled on his side, Riven is already awake, his gaze fixed on the vibrating phone.
“Has it been going off for long?”
“Yes.”
I sit up abruptly, my brain coming fully online. “Why didn’t you say something? It could be an emergency.” My fingers graze the phone and knock it off the table. It skids across the carpeted floor before disappearing under the other bed. Riven retrieves it for me and treats me to a distracting view of his bare ass while he’s at it.
“Thanks.” I take it from him and curse when I see multiple missed calls from Ciprian and Alistair. They’re going to be pissed.
I call Alistair. He picks up before the second ring. “Angel?”
