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Chapter Twenty-six

Silvers, grays, blacks, and browns had taken over Glenn’s apart the open floor plan from a rather sterile place of unco pleasantly relaxed It wasand powerful, I ent, black leather couch withas I took with my left hand the plate of pizza Wayde handed me It had just coer, to

In the fewwith Glenn, she had completely redecorated his space If I had to choose, I’d say it was softin plush and lavish textures The couch I was drowning in was about the only thing left fros I’d be worried that the une over his life, but in all honesty, the place looked so great that I’d let the warrior dryad redecorate any ti that I had a can of pop beside me, Wayde went back into the kitchen Ivy was already in there, Daryl was on the far end of the couch with etarian pizza to coave hi with the TV, ju news and the official explanation of what had happened at the library So far it had been sports scores, pig prices, and the latest Cincy scandal I’d been sitting here with my foot up for almost two hours while Glenn and Ivy et up, but I didn’t think I could, the couch was so plush and I’d had enough time to stiffen up Besides,

The soft huht my attention up from the TV, and I took the napkin he held "Here, Rache," he said, landing on the ar FIB detective had a royal hissy fit last time he found pizza sauce on his leather"

"Hey, that wasn’tto Glenn

"You were the one in the chair," Glenn said as he stood and aie pizza out, setting the hot pizza stone on a thick pad stuffed with thyme, and it smelled wonderful

Plate on ood hand and shift my back to the arm of the couch so I didn’t have to twist so much to see the kitchen It was harder than it should have been, but Imy pizza before it slid off the plate "It could have been anyone"

Glenn didn’t say anything, and I watched the play of eetarian pizza and left the kitchen, her napkin dra on the edge of the couch, before going to her own chair and waiting pizza We’d been coht for a feeeks now as Ivy and Glenn tried to get Daryl more socialized The woa could set off her asthhts went to her, Ivy, and Glenn, and then I wished they hadn’t I wanted them to be okay, but stillthere was a new space that hadn’t been there before

Most of Daryl’s species had been wiped out in the industrial revolution, though there were so back in thedown hundred-year-old trees anymore Frail, pale, and sensitive to pollution, the woh, and for all her delicate beauty and flowing clothes, I’d seen her pin Glenn with a cheese knife to his throat when she thought he was cheating

My eyes went to the ozonator Glenn had put in lastit with the smell of a thunderstorm It sees were eco oriented, with no petroleu tomadness, perhaps?

Jenks spilled a silver dust and rose an inch before dropping back down "Daryl, turn it up!" he exclaimed as BRIMSTONE BUST AT LIBRARY flashed up on the screen and the lady announcer in her lavender suit began talking The pretty, petite warrior wo hoork it as if she’d been born with one in her hand Magic, technology - sometimes I failed to see the difference

The announcer’s voice beca over the hus "If you tried to use the don branch of the library this afternoon, chances are good that you were turned away as the FIB and the IS took part in a rare combined effort to catch one of the country’s slipperiest Brimstone distributors"

"Brimstone?" Jenks shouted, and I shushed him

"In a late hour of action, officials stormed the lower levels of the don branch of the Cincinnati library The chase ultih so the Turn, until Eloy Orin was apprehended trying to ee from Central Ave’s access doors" The wo beside her and s to the phrase ’hooked on reading’ Right, Bob?"

The TV changed to a shot of Central Ave, bright under a low sun The picture was blurry, clearly taken fro to block the TV "Rache! That’s you!"

I leaned forward to see a figure in a red shirt being carried out by a man in a suit, Trent, obviously "Good God, I look Bri this wouldn’t be syndicated out to the West Coast My

"Which is why you’re sitting," Ivy said "Eat your pizza You’ve hardly touched it"

"Quiet," Wayde et a chance to see this"

"You didn’t e of pizza while the announcer gave a brief history lesson on the tunnels and how there was no record that they connected with the library

Again Wayde shushedabout you!"

I chewed quietly, not excited Most times my name made the news, I had to hide in the church for teeks

"Though sources haven’t verified it, witnesses claian was on the scene Phone calls to the firone unanswered - "

"Because I’," I muttered, shushed by both Daryl and Wayde

"But Vampiric Charms is known to have worked with the FIB in the past"

"Oh, crap!" I exclai but an FIB coat flashed up on the screen I didn’t care if the i blocked out I looked awful,up to show my fuzzed ass

"Whoa! I didn’t know the station had that," Glenn said, and I flushed

"Trent’s in the background," Jenks said, and horrified, I looked to see the elf, his eyes averted

"Oh God Can we please turn this off?" I pleaded, and Daryl worked the remote to turn the voluhed atat last "Thank you, Rachel, Ivy, and Jenks," he said, raising the bottle in salute "You were the difference between success and failure Good tag"

Ivy shifted in her chair and raised her glass above her head, clinking with him "I wish I’d been there at the end I would’ve enjoyed s of justice"

I would have enjoyed s Eloy a little more, too, and as the announcer flirted with her ht not once but tithon otten him My s surfaced If their radio had been working, things ed up, for instance They had left, and that was justwrong

Focus blurring, I re, hiswith me before the ambulance personnel had their look and confir me beat up and broken Instead, he quietly sat besideA part of ht I should be mad that he let me sit there in pain, but I wasn’t He’d knoas wrong withhad been life threatening, but finding the- had been then or never Besides, I had told hier, squinting as I noticed that one of the three bands had turned black It was a three-charht in surprise It still had some power

Wayde wandered out of the kitchen with a plate of pizza in one hand, pop in the other, and looked over the seating arranges so he could sit between me and Daryl "Thanks," he said as he sank and a puff of vampire- and dryad-scented air rose "I still don’t believe that you eat pizza," he said to Glenn as he inched himself forward and out of the cushion trap to set his plate on the coffee table "You’re okay, FIB ave hi mistrust "Thanks"

Ivy picked a pepperoni off her pizza and gave it to Glenn He was still standing over her, watching his bust through the newscaster’s eyes "You should tell everyone at the FIB you eat pizza," Ivy said "It will do wonders for your street cred"

"My street cred is fine," he said "And they already think I’ itches and vaestured that he could have it "But it’s a good kind of insane," the pixy said as he sat on the crust and used his chopsticks to nibble the tomato sauce

Glenn made a noise deep in his throat, then headed back into the kitchen, clearly not convinced Ivy stood with her e a little sultry, and I’d be surprised if she ca Wayde was here to get me home It’d be hard to drive with my ankle and wrist messed up

Wayde choked, and I looked up from my bruised hand when he shouted, "Turn it up!"

Daryl was already reaching for the re on the button until the announcer’s voice blared, "tonight when Orin escaped, while being moved to a more secure FIB facility"

"What?" Ivy exclaimed from the kitchen, and suddenly her scent poured over ape

"Son of Tink!" Jenks said, and Glenn bellowed for everyone to shut up He had escaped? How?

"Authorities are asking for your help if you see this man," the woman in lavender said as her face was replaced by a shot of Eloy, recent by the apparent bruise from where Trent had hit him and the swollen bump on his head from where he’d further slammed his head on the floor Eloy’s head was cocked and he looked deterer stirred in me He hadn’t escaped Someone had broken him out Eloy had said they were everywhere The-hly dangerous and should not be approached," she was saying as another picture of him popped up, this time a full-body shot "Please call one of the numbers below if you see him"

Two numbers: one for the FIB, the other for the IS "Call the IS," Jenks said, hovering before the TV with his hands on his hips "The FIB can’t even hold their farts"

"You’re in the way!" Wayde leaned to see around hile of the studio showing the newscasters sitting side by side

"Sounds like a dangerousboth the IS and the FIB Let’s hope they get this one soon"

The wohtly "If it were me, I’d be halfway to Brazil You kno I likeof sun, is there any sun in our forecast for tomorrow, Susan?"

I stared at thedown froue

"Glenn?" Ivy said, and I twisted in the couch and saw her staring at an empty kitchen

Jenks rose on a column of silver sparkles "He’s in the bedroorabbed the ar Daryl was already halfway across the roo on it when a polite knock got no result Her jaw clenched "Glenn?" she shouted, and Jenks hu her to be quiet so he could hear