Page 130 of Rot In Knotty Pieces

Pix disappears. Bonnie watches me, and I find myself inclining my head to her in gratitude.

“We’re family now,” she says.

Well, knock me down with a feather.

“We are?” I say carefully, not letting even a tiny bit of that surprise show on my face.

“We should be friends,” Bonnie says, and her eyes bore into mine.

“Okay.”

“Pix is happy.” It’s said so matter-of-factly that I don’t trust it for a second.

“I hope so; it is my intention that he is always happy.”

“You saw his nest?” The shrew question is designed to trap someone who is claiming him but hasn’t, in fact, survived Pix’s nest because we know no one has.

No one but us.

“His web? Yes, it’s beautiful”

The tightness around her eyes relaxes.

“Welcome to our family, officially, Aaron Roseland.”

She leans into me and squeezes my forearm before she walks off and picks a fight with the remaining police.

Sage and Vale stand side by side, red hair and silver. They have very similar builds, but other than that, they really don’t look anything else alike.

“Sage, we need to go,” I say urgently. “We can’t leave her alone.”

The cops in the cage try to stop us. Shouting and threatening.

We all turn, staring at them.

“What are they doing?” Bonnie murmurs.

Rory glances at Rolly. “Is there something they don’t want you to see?”

“No,” Rolly says violently, his eyes getting cold. “There’s someone who’s completely alone. If she is gone when we get back, I’m going to come and fix this problem.”

The room gets silent.

“Did you threaten me?” The boss roars, with all his years of command, he expects that he will cow Rolly.

What an idiot.

Rolly grins but doesn’t respond. Only the whomp, whomp, whomp of the ancient ceiling fan makes a sound. The cops withdraw deeper into the cells, unwilling to challenge him.

Bonnie gasps. “Go, you have to go.”

We don’t wait a second longer; we run.

“Call us. If you need, we’ll come.”

When we walk in, my heart is pounding. I don’t know what I’m expecting to see, but the last thing is Kestrel and Pix sitting on the couch cuddling.

She sits up and frowns at me. “You drugged me!”