Shadow Hunt

“I know.” Molly sounded glum. “Ten more minutes, okay?”

“Fine.” There was a pause, and then Kirsten added, “You should take a picture first. They’re absolutely adorable in there.”

Jesse smiled faintly as footsteps moved away down the hall. He gingerly reached over and turned on the bedside lamp, careful not to tangle the IV tubing. The flare of light hurt his eyes, but Scarlett didn’t even stir. He looked down at her arm on his chest and saw that her fingers were curled into the sheet on the other side of him, like she had been afraid he would be taken away while she slept. Despite this, she looked so peaceful.

“Scarlett,” he whispered. Her arm tightened around him, but she didn’t stir. Jesse kissed her forehead.

Her eyes fluttered open, her face only inches from his, and he felt her whole body tense. He’d sort of expected her to pull back, but for a long moment she just regarded him with her unnaturally green eyes. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse.

“Are you brain damaged?”

Jesse smiled. What a perfectly Scarlett question. “No more than usual.”

He could feel her body slacken with relief. “Thank God.”

“Did you change my clothes while I was unconscious?” he asked, mock-angry.

A small smile lightened her face. “Matthias did it, but I saw the whole show.”

“And?”

She shifted so she could push the hair out of her face, but she still didn’t move away. “Hey, man, you can read my Yelp review like everybody else.”

Jesse grinned, but it faded quickly. “You’re pregnant,” he said.

She did pull away from him then, a series of complex expressions flickering across her face. Fear. Guilt. Shame. Hope. But all she said was, “How did you know?”

“Shadow led me to the pregnancy test. In the garbage can.”

“Oh. That.”

“Where did you go?”

“Boulder. To ask Lex’s boss about the baby.”

Jesse nodded. It made sense. She could have told him, but it didn’t really matter anymore. Although he knew it wasn’t his business, he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “The father?”

“Jameson.”

That . . . explained a lot, actually. “Another null.”

She searched his face. “Aren’t you going to tell me how stupid and slutty I was?” she challenged. “That I was reckless, that I should have known better?”

His heart wrenched. “Scarlett . . . do you really think I’m going to judge you for a . . . romantic miscalculation?”

He could tell she was fighting a smile at that, but she said, “The old Jesse would have.”

He thought that over. He and Scarlett hadn’t spoken for a long time after she’d gotten together with Eli for real. During their time apart, he’d had a brief, ill-advised marriage and a bout of self-loathing and depression. “Maybe you’re right,” he admitted. “But I would have been wrong. Right now, more than anything else, I’m just relieved you’re not going to run back to Las Vegas to be with someone.” He stopped himself before using the word else. He had no right.

She turned onto her back so they were side by side, not looking at him. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I can’t keep the baby. After we find Shadow, I need to make an appointment.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. They lay there quietly for a few minutes, and then she glanced at him. “Don’t mention the pregnancy to anyone, okay? Even Molly.”

He wanted to ask about that, but Scarlett abruptly sat up, looking down at herself. Her jeans and tee shirt were wrinkled, and her hair was hanging in big limp tangles. Her face was blotchy, and she looked thinner than ever. “I’m a mess, I probably smell . . .” She started to rake her fingers through her hair, avoiding his eyes.

“Scarlett.” He reached out with his free hand and caught her hand gently.

She looked up at him then. “I thought you were gonna die,” she said, her voice cracking. “Because of me.” There was guilt on her face, and he knew she was thinking of Jameson. And probably her parents and her friend Caroline. All three had been killed by Scarlett’s former mentor. Scarlett had come a long way, but he knew she still blamed herself some for that.

“I didn’t die,” Jesse contended. “And I’m not going to.”

Her jaw clenched, and she gave him her stubborn glare. “You can’t promise that.”

“Watch me.”

Her lower lip trembled, and for a second he was sure she was going to either cry or hit him, or both. Instead, she stood up, wobbled a little, and went over to open the bedroom door. “He’s awake,” she called into the hallway.

It was a pretty effective way to shut down the conversation.

Twenty minutes later, Jesse was sitting at Scarlett’s small kitchen table, dressed in the spare outfit from the trunk of his car, which was thankfully still parked at the cottage. The Luparii witches hadn’t bothered to hide it, and since they’d taken his personal cell phone away from him, they hadn’t bothered to search him for a second phone. Jesse didn’t want to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t pocketed the Batphone. He’d been lucky.

Hayne was sitting on Scarlett’s counter, with Kirsten standing next to his dangling legs. Matthias had checked Jesse’s blood pressure and temperature, given a brief lecture on hydration, and departed. Molly was uncharacteristically quiet, puttering around the kitchen making chicken noodle soup. Scarlett sat at the table, fidgeting with Shadow’s purple leather collar. Jesse, who had been unconscious for nearly twenty-four hours, was too hungry to wait for the soup. He munched on handfuls of cereal while he told them all the story about Shadow and the Luparii witches.

“You’re sure it’s the Luparii?” Kirsten asked him, for the third time.

“Yeah. Killian and Sabine are their names. They didn’t know I could speak some French.”

“They used you against Shadow, didn’t they?” Scarlett said.

Jesse nodded. “She allowed them to take her, to save my life.”

“Why not just kill you, once they had the bargest?” Hayne asked. Kirsten gave him a look, and he shrugged. “No offense.”

“None taken; I asked the same thing. I think they were hoping they could search my memory to find out where Scarlett had gone.”

He told them about being put in the twisted slumber, about Sabine’s taunts.

“I’ve gotta call Will,” Kirsten said softly. She pulled out her phone and stepped into the hall.

“Why did they come back?” Molly asked. “Just to take Shadow away?”

“Shit.” Hayne stood up and began dialing his phone. “Shadow wasn’t the only one they left behind.” He paced toward the back door, already speaking into the phone in a low, urgent voice.

“Who is he calling?” Molly asked Scarlett and Jesse.

Then Jesse got it. He closed his eyes, feeling like a fool.

“He’s calling the women’s prison in Chino,” Scarlett said. She’d put it together too. “That’s where they’re holding the Luparii scout, Petra Corbett.”

Hayne hung up the phone and turned back to them, looking grim. “Not anymore,” he said heavily. “She broke out three hours ago.”

PART II

Chapter 17

A little over an hour after Jesse woke up, I sat watching as Dashiell stalked back and forth next to the enormous oval table in his atrium, his lips compressed with anger. I opened my mouth to say . . . something . . . but Will gave me a quick little headshake, and I snapped it closed again.

Earlier that evening, while I was still rushing home from the airport to break the hex on Jesse, Petra Corbett had walked out of the minimum-security area at the California Institution for Women . . . despite the fact that she had been lodged in a higher-security level. According to sources from both Jesse and Dashiell, the prison was currently scrambling to figure out how Petra Corbett had ended up on the completely wrong side of the prison. But it didn’t really matter to us at this point. She was gone.

Hayne had been the one to call Dashiell, who had immediately summoned us to the mansion. Now Will, Beatrice, and Kirsten were all sitting at one end of the oval table, while Jesse and I had taken the first two seats on the long side. Dashiell was pacing on the opposite long side, and I, for one, was really glad for the minor safety of the table between us. I was expanding my radius just a bit to keep everyone human, but I wasn’t sure if that was helping or fueling Dashiell’s rage.