At her door, Jenna stopped. "Soph, I real y am-"
"Jenna, if you say sorry one more time, I'm going to punch you in your tiny pink head."
She gave a little smile. "Okay, okay. Stil , the next time I suggest going to Prodigium nightclub, please smack me."
"Wil do,"I said.
I practical y had to drag myself to my room. I put on a nightshirt and brushed my teeth in a daze, my mind replaying those minutes in the al ey with Archer on a continuous loop. Six months ago, he'd pul ed a knife on me in the cel ar at Hecate. Tonight, he'd protected me from the other members of L'Occhio di Dio. Why?
My jeans were crumpled up on the floor, and before I got into bed, I reached into the front pocket. The gold coin he'd given me was stil warm. It was old, the likeness stamped in the metal so faded that I couldn't tel if it was supposed to be a man or a woman.
Keep it on you, he'd said. I'll find you.
I should've thrown it out. I should've found whichever one of the hundreds of bedrooms in this place was my dad's and told him what happened. I should've done anything but what I did, which was to close my fist over it and slide it under my pil ow.
Thankful y, there were no weird dreams that night, and I slept nearly until noon. I would've slept even later if my door hadn't opened.
"Go'way, Jenna,"I mumbled into my pil ow.
"I would if I were Jenna,"a deep voice-a voice that was most definitely not Jenna's-replied.
Al of last night's events came rushing back to me, and in my sleep-fogged brain I remembered Archer saying to keep the coin on me, that he would find me, and how I'd put the coin under my pil ow.
I sat up so fast I practical y broke the sound barrier, but it was Cal standing in my doorway, not Archer. I heaved a huge sigh, one of relief, and not even a little bit of disappointment.
Of course, once I'd wrapped my mind around the fact that it was Cal and not Archer standing in my bedroom, it dawned on me that Cal was standing in my bedroom.
"Hey,"I breathed, hoping my hair wasn't a huge tangled mess, even though I was ninety-nine percent sure that it was. I mean, I could see it out of my peripheral vision.
"Hey."
"You're, um, in my room."
"I am."
"Is that al owed?"
"Wel , we are engaged,"Cal deadpanned.
I squinted at him, shoving big handfuls of my hair away from my face. I had no idea if that was supposed to be a joke or not. You could never tel with Cal.
"Did you want to watch me sleep or something? Because if that's the case, this engagement is so broken."
Cal's lips quirked in what might have been a smile. "Do you have a smart-ass reply for everything?"
"If at al possible, yeah. So why'd you come in here, then?"
"To see how last night went."
My heart slammed painful y into my ribs, and suddenly al I could think about was that stupid gold coin currently burning a hole underneath my pil ow.
"It was good,"I said, scooting against the headboard. "You know. Vil agey. Hate that you had to miss it."
"Yeah."He ran a hand over his jaw. "It was weird. Your dad said there were only a couple of plants that I needed to look at, but it was like as soon as I finished healing one plant, another one started drooping and looking sick. I must've worked on every bush in that whole garden. Took me until nearly ten o'clock last night."
"That is weird,"I said, even as a suspicion began to form in the back of my mind. I couldn't have been the only one to realize that Cal wouldn't have been cool with going to Shel ey's.
"Did you learn anything about Nick and Daisy?"
Oh, right. That whole part of my mission had been a total bust. "No, not real y. It was a pretty boring night, actual y."
Despite al the practice I'd had over the past few months, I was a terrible liar, and Cal wasn't an idiot. He watched me intently for a second before saying, "Your dad got home early this morning. Apparently L'Occhio di Dio raided some Prodigium club in London last night."
"Wow,"I said faintly. "That must've sucked."
"Yeah,"Cal said, never dropping his eyes from mine. "It seems they heard that the head of the Council's daughter was there with two other demons and a vampire."
I felt the blood drain out of my face. "Crap. Is he mad?"
Cal shrugged. "That's one word for it. I'm not al that thril ed with it either."
I pushed the covers off and got out of bed, making sure my nightshirt didn't ride up. "Cal, I already have to deal with an angry dad today. Please don't pul some macho 'betrothed'thing on top of it, okay?"
He caught my wrist. "I'm not. And it's not you I'm pissed at. It's them. They shouldn't have taken you there."
His hand was warm on my skin. "I think they were trying to be nice,"I told him. "And they said that The Eye had never been there before."
His fingers tightened, almost to the point of pain. "So they were looking for you."
"Yeah. Seems like it."
There was a light knock at the door. Cal let go of my arm and we jumped about six feet apart as Lara eased the door open. If Mrs. Casnoff had caught Cal in my bedroom back at Hecate-with the door closed, and me stil in my pajamas-I had a feeling there would have been steely glares, pursed lips, and words like "wildly inappropriate."
But if anything, Lara looked...wel , pleased. Her expression was slightly smug as she said, "Sophie, your father is waiting for you in the library."
Ugh. I nodded and said, "Right. Let me grab a shower, and I'l be right there."
"He also requests that you wear something other than jeans and sneakers."
That was irritating, but I didn't want to take it out on Lara. "I have a dress I can wear."
"Excel ent,"Lara replied, but she made no move to leave.
"I, uh, guess that's my cue to get out of your hair,"Cal said, his neck turning slightly red. "See you later, Sophie."
I watched him and Lara leave before leaning my head against the window and sighing. Outside, the fountain sparkled in the sunlight, and I caught a faint whiff of the lavender Dad was so in love with. In the light of day, it was easy to imagine last night hadn't happened.
I felt a little bit better after I showered. Sure, Dad was going to be mad at me. There might even be some yel ing. I could handle that. The only dress I'd brought was a white sundress with blue flowers on it. It was pretty, but I thought something a little more sophisticated might be cal ed for. Using my magic, I changed it into a simple black, sleeveless sheath. I added a little black shrug jacket and pearls for good measure before it occurred to me that I was using my powers again.
Yeah, but just little powers, I told myself. The chances of your magic going all scary and dark while changing clothes are probably pretty slim.
Stil , it bothered me how easy it was to slip back into the habit of using magic. So I wrestled my hair into a demure braid the old-fashioned way, even though it ended up looking pretty sloppy. I decided not to wear makeup, figuring the more innocent I looked, the harder it might be for him to ground me, or shoot hel fire from his eyes, or whatever it was that angry demon dads did.
Before I left, I grabbed the gold coin from underneath my pil ow, then looked around the room. No hiding places immediately jumped out at me, so in the end I added a pocket to my dress and slipped it in.
Dad was standing in front of the big windows when I got to the library, his hands clasped behind his back in the classic "I am so disappointed in my offspring"pose.
"Dad? Um, Lara said you wanted to see me."
He turned around, his mouth a hard line. "Yes. Did you have a nice time with Daisy and Nick last night?"
I fought the urge to reach into my pocket and touch the coin. "Not particularly."
He didn't say anything, so we just stared at each other until I started feeling fidgety. "Look, if you're going to punish me, I'd real y rather just get it over with."
Dad kept staring. "Would you like to know how I spent my evening? Wel , not evening, real y, so much as very early morning hours."
Inwardly, I groaned. Mrs. Casnoff sometimes pul ed this maneuver: she'd say she wasn't mad, and then proceed to list al the ways my screwup had inconvenienced her. Maybe they taught it at those fancy schools non-reject Prodigium got to go to. "Sure."
"I spent those hours on the phone. Do you know with whom?"
"One of those psychic hotlines?"
Dad gritted his teeth. "If only. No, I was busy assuring no less than thirty influential witches, warlocks, shifters, and faeries that surely, my daughter-the future head of the Council, I should add-had not injured over a dozen innocent Prodigium while attempting to escape a nightclub during a raid by L'Occhio di Dio."
"I didn't hurt them!"I exclaimed. Then I remembered just how hard they had hit the wal , and winced. "Wel , not on purpose,"I amended.
Dad dropped his head and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "Damn it al , Sophia."
"I'm sorry,"I said miserably. "Real y. And I tried to help them. I dropped al of the Eyes that were coming after them."
"No,"he said, raiding his head. "No, this is my fault. I should've dealt with this as soon as you arrived."
"With what?"
"Come with me. We have an errand to run."He swept his arm out like I was supposed to leave the library first, but I stayed right where I was. I felt total y confused and off-center. When Mom was mad at me, she just yel ed and got it over with.
I swal owed. "Wherever we're going, I want Jenna to come too."Whatever Dad had planned, I didn't think it was something I wanted to deal with alone.
But Dad gave this mysterious little smile and said, "I believe Miss Talbot has company."
"What are you talking about?"
"It was my understanding that she and Victoria Stanford had grown close while Jenna was in Savannah last year. Fortunately, Miss Stanford was granted a few weeks vacation from her duties for the Council. I thought she might want to spend some of that time here with Jenna."
"You flew Vix out here?"
He turned back to the window and nodded at something outside. "Her flight got in late last night."
I went to stand beside him. There on the front lawn, Jenna was walking arm in arm with a very pale, very beautiful girl, their heads close together. Vix looked sixteen, but since she worked for the Council, she was probably older. One of the perks of being a vampire, I guess. Jenna was laughing.
My throat felt tight with a feeling that was part happiness for Jenna, part jealousy that I'd have to share her, and part anger.
I remembered the look on Dad's face on that first day, when Jenna had leaped to my defense, and he'd said Mrs.
Casnoff had cal ed us what?
A formidable team.
"Wel played, Dad,"I muttered.
I expected him to deny it, but instead he said, "Yes, I rather thought so myself. Now come along."
I cast one more glance at Jenna and Vix, hoping to catch Jenna's eye and wave, but she never looked up.
I'd thought I was getting a pretty good handle on the layout of Thorne Abbey, but as I fol owed Dad down one massive corridor, then another narrower hal way, and final y up a flight of stairs, I got disoriented al over again.