Hunter's Trail

I might have lain there sulking until Jesse arrived the next morning, except that it was still pretty early when he left, and by nine o’clock I was starving. I tried to ignore the hunger cramps in my stomach, but after a while my head began to ache too, and I realized that, unless I got some food, it was only going to get worse. So I took a deep, slow breath, and did what anyone would do in my dire situation: I called for pizza.

While I waited for the food, I ran through my options. I needed to do something. Will and Kirsten were both trying to find out more about the Luparii scout. Jesse was making phone calls. Everyone was busy, hard at work fixing my mess while I laid around waiting for pizza delivery. I felt a rush of shame. This had all started with my mistake, after all.

What I really wanted was someone I could talk to about all this, who could help me work out a plan—but my options were limited. I couldn’t exactly hash it out with humans. I considered calling Corry, but even if I had been certain that bringing her all the way into the Old World was the right play, she was fifteen and probably couldn’t help much. I knew that if I called Molly right then, she wouldn’t answer. She would have already begun to distance herself from me. And everyone else I knew in the Old World were people who were dumb enough to need help cleaning up a crime scene.

I tried Molly anyway, just in case, but her phone went straight to voicemail. I sighed, tapping the phone against my forehead. There was one other person I could try, but I really, really didn’t want to. “Suck it up, Scarlett,” I said, my voice suddenly seeming loud in the empty house. “Nobody cares about your stupid weird feelings.”

I dialed the phone.

A few minutes later, the pizza guy rang the doorbell. I limped to the door to sign the receipt and collect my delicious cheesy goodies. I had barely gotten the door closed when the doorbell rang again, and I opened it, expecting the pizza guy had forgotten to give me a receipt or something—but even before I saw her, I recognized the familiar sensation of a witch in my radius.

“Um . . . hi,” Runa Vore said hesitantly.

“You have a really nice place,” Runa said politely, looking around Molly’s kitchen. I set the pizza box in the middle of the table, pulling out a chair for myself.

“It’s not mine,” I said, a little shortly. I pointed to another chair, and as Runa was sitting down I said, “Do you want some pizza?”

“No, I ate. And I’m a vegan,” she added.

Of course she was. I looked down at my greasy, cheesy, sausage pizza. What with the dead animal on it and everything. “Will it bother you to have it here?” I asked reluctantly. I really, really didn’t want her to say yes.

But she waved a hand. “Oh, no. I don’t expect people around me to live the same way I do, that’s just silly.” I relaxed an inch and swooped up a slice, taking a huge first bite. I was so hungry. “But . . . I guess I don’t really know why I’m here,” she continued, looking almost apologetic.

“Then why’d you come?” I asked, my mouth still full.

Runa gestured helplessly, not sure what to say. I swallowed and said with effort, “I’m sorry, that was rude. What I meant to say was, ‘Thanks for coming.’”

She nodded, her short blonde pigtails bobbing along with her head. I was really having to work hard not to hate her on sight. It wasn’t just that she’d dated Jesse—she was also annoyingly put-together, artistic, and graceful. She gave off a sense of inner peace that I envied much more than her beauty. Lots of people are beautiful, and you don’t live in Los Angeles very long before you notice that, hey, a whole bunch of them congregate here. But Runa also seemed so comfortable in her skin. I, on the other hand, couldn’t even feel comfortable in my sweatpants and ratty T-shirt. I felt a pang of grief for my dad’s Chicago Bears jersey, which Eli had taken away, presumably to destroy.

Focus, Scarlett. “I asked you here,” I began, “because I need to talk to someone about a really big Old World mess, and frankly my options are limited. Very limited.” She smiled a little ruefully, and I liked her for it. “Sorry again,” I added.

“What about Jesse?” she said carefully, keeping her face still. “Can’t he help?”

“Jesse and I are not okay right now,” I answered. No sense tiptoeing around it. “But I’d rather not talk about him.”

Runa nodded again. “I can respect that.”

“Thank you. Please hang on a second while I inhale a little more pizza.” This time she grinned at me, and I finished off the slice and reached for another. “I think my body’s still hungry from being unconscious for a couple of days,” I mumbled.

Runa blinked. “When was this?”

I stilled. “You don’t . . . Kirsten didn’t tell you?”

Her eyes flinched away. “Kirsten and I are not okay right now,” she said softly.

Kirsten was the one who’d sent Runa to get close to Jesse, in hopes of finding out if he was telling Old World secrets to anyone, especially other cops. He’d dumped Runa when he’d found out. I was guessing that this had been what created the rift between Runa and Kirsten, which was interesting, but not really my business. “Fair enough,” I said, shrugging.

“But I don’t mind being a sounding board, if that’s what you need.” She fidgeted for a moment, pushing loose strands of blonde hair behind her ears.

“I guess I’ll start at the beginning then. Stop me if you’ve heard this one.”