16 Jasper #2
I bite the inside of my lip, knowing I can’t tell her why she’s wrong.
When that wraith comes back, he’ll only be after me.
Birdie can’t be here when that happens. Stepping behind the counter, I wake the register and open the cash drawer, pulling out all the hundreds and fifties.
“Stay here tonight. You’ll be safe upstairs.
” Away from me, I want to add. “You can take the first ferry in the morning—”
“Wait.” Birdie stands across from me, eyes wide with hurt and confusion. “Jasper, I’m not leaving.”
“You promised to heed my orders,” I challenge.
“Yeah, during work. But we’re off hours. Look, I’m in my freaking pajamas.” She waves her hand at her ruined top and sleep shorts. She’s not even wearing shoes.
I stack the money on the counter and push it over to her. “I’ll send you more. I’ll pay you for the whole summer, but you are leaving.”
“No! This is crazy—”
“Birdie, I can’t protect you!”
She still holds to that scrap of silk, her tattooed arm banded over the tits I just had in my mouth. Indignation burns in her eyes. “I’m not asking you to protect me.”
I groan and she charges ahead.
“Hey, I’m no stranger to this kind of danger, okay? As a teen, I lived in my car for almost two years. We’ll just put up cameras in the alley. And a floodlight. Honestly, it’s stupid you don’t have one already. I’ll be fine, just—please don’t send me away. I need this job—”
“There are other jobs! Off this island—”
“But not other fellowships,” she shouts over me. “Jasper, if I don’t complete my hours, I won’t graduate on time. Besides, you’re the one who was spread-eagle out in that alley. Or have you already forgotten? I saved you! Clearly, I can take care of myself!”
Her words leave me reeling. She’s right, she did save me.
A human saved a witch from a wraith. She told him to stop and he stopped.
I think it pained him to do it too. I couldn’t see his face from deep within the cowl, but I felt his panic.
He was confused, afraid even. And he did stop.
It’s an anomaly. A miracle. A magical puzzle.
Palms flat on the counter I lean over. “How did you do it?”
“What?”
“How did you get him to stop?”
She shrugs, clearly confused. “I don’t know. Element of surprise, I guess. I slammed the door, which must have startled him.”
She has no idea how wrong she is. I’ve never heard of a wraith failing to claim a soul.
Granted, they’re rare creatures, so the stories are few.
But they all end the same way . . . except for tonight.
I think back, trying to muddle my way through my own fear and panic. I think I begged him to stop too.
I cannot stop.
A shiver escapes me as his rasping voice echoes in my mind. He wouldn’t stop for me, but he stopped for Birdie. “What exactly did you do? What did you say to him?”
She shrugs again. “I just told him to stop.”
“And he stopped?”
“Yeah, obviously. Once he knew he had an audience, he quickly lost interest in strangling you. Jasper, what is this about?”
“Did he say anything to you? Did he approach you?”
“No, nothing. Well—except he looked at me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean he looked at me,” she repeats. “His face was hidden in his hoodie, but I felt the moment our eyes met and he, you know . . . saw me.”
“What did you feel when you locked eyes?”
She considers for a moment. “Cold . . . but that was probably just the rain. And for a moment I felt—” She goes silent, dropping her gaze.
“What?”
“It’s nothing,” she murmurs. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”
I lean over the counter. It’s all I can do not to grab her by the arms and say a truth-revealing spell. So long as she’s free with her answers, I’ll keep my magic to myself. “Tell me, Birdie.”
Sighing, she glances up again. Her pale green eyes dart slowly, taking in every line and freckle on my face. “I felt the same way I do when you look at me.”
“And what way is that?”
“Like I can’t breathe . . . like I’m frozen, snared to the ground. Like if I make one wrong move, your restraint will break . . . and you’ll devour me.”
I take her in again, standing on the other side of my counter in her ruined top, her braided hair a mess, that look of want in her eyes only matched by her worry.
At least she appreciates the limits of her own fragile human mortality.
She knows fear. And yet she doesn’t run from it.
She runs towards it. She knows not to trust me, but she can’t leave my arms, eagerly seeking more.
She knew the wraith could kill her tonight, yet she charged down the stairs. A tender lamb among the wolves.
“Who are you?” The question leaves my lips without conscious thought. I lean over the counter, holding her gaze, willing her to answer.
She’s nervous now, her breathing shallow. Good. She should be nervous. She should be fucking terrified. She stands in the presence of a powerful witch. I could kill her with a swipe of my hand. Yet, with one word tonight she did what I could never do. She interrupted a wraith’s deadly claiming.
“I’m Birdie Rhodes.”
An answer that tells me nothing. Who the hell is Birdie Rhodes?
More than that, what is she? A human? Something more?
In this moment, I know only one thing for certain: She can stop a wraith.
And since I currently have one haunting me, she’s not going anywhere.
If I’m going to unravel the mystery of Homewood, I have to stay alive.
And that wraith will come back. I need Birdie here when he does.
For the second time in as many days, I make a decision that will likely get us both killed. Swiping the cash off the counter, I slip it back in the register and shut the drawer. “Go upstairs and pack.”
Tears well in her eyes. “Jasper, please don’t kick me out.”
“I’m not.”
“Well . . . then why do I need to pack?”
“Because you’re coming home with me.”