Chapter Thirty-Two #2
I’d have gladly cheered him on, but all I could realistically do was nod and smile. Then, I went about plating Soyer’s pie and getting him his coffee.
“You want me to look after your tables while you take a break?” Rae asked me. They’d been writing out the gingerbread latte recipe after getting Kasey to put together a spice mix specially for it.
“I’m not on break.”
“Uh-huh. I’ll keep an eye on your tables, just in case.”
“But—”
They held up their hand. “Energy. I can feel it. You take care of that cherry pie.”
I didn't want to argue with Rae. I plated the pie, taking everything over to Soyer and setting it out in front of him.
He examined his slice. “This looks delicious.”
“Best cherry pie in the city. At least, that’s what everyone says about it these days.”
“Then they must be right. Will you join me?”
“Soyer—”
“I wouldn’t normally ask. Not when you’re working. I know you’re serious about work, but I’m asking anyway because I’ll not be here tomorrow. Take pity, Amory. Join me.”
I frowned at him before sliding into the booth opposite him. “You’re laying it on pretty thick there, don’t you think?”
“Not at all.” He picked up his fork and sliced off the tip of the pie, putting the piece into his mouth. He started chewing, then stopped and frowned. After a moment, he spat out a cherry pit onto his plate, where it made a clicking noise, like glass breaking. “Cherries and their hearts of stone.”
“Oh, sorry. Dwayne’s usually extra careful. I guess this one slipped through. Do you want to finish the slice, or do you want another?”
“This is mine.” He smiled. “But if you ask very nicely, we can share it.”
I leaned on the table. “Will you share your pie with me, Soyer, please?”
He took another bite, watching me intently while he chewed and swallowed it. He then put the fork on the plate neatly and slid it over to me.
“It’s yours, my heart. All of it is yours.”
He watched me eat the pie too. We didn’t really talk much about anything, but I ended up taking a prolonged break and spending it with him at that table he’d claimed when he’d decided to court me. Even though, on some level, I’d already been his.
The thing with the Moonlight now being open around the clock was that there was no longer any quiet. Sure, at the end of my shift it started looking that way, but if we were empty by half past two, we’d close early to the mixed clientele and turn on the elevator.
That Monday, Soyer made us do that at two anyway, but I was pretty sure it was mostly so he could take me home earlier.
I didn’t argue since he was leaving. Before noon, he’d said.
I’d made him promise to wake me before he left, and he did, but it was just for a long kiss and the exchange of too few whispered words.
I went back to sleep after, hoping that it was a dream, that I’d wake next to him, that his absence had passed in my sleep, but of course that didn’t happen. I woke to an empty bed and coffee downstairs waiting for me, along with a short note from Soyer.
Tuesday felt long. I checked the watch he’d given me over and over, watching the hands move too slowly. We texted. I would’ve worked long too, but that would’ve meant making Ben work long as well, and I wasn’t going to do that.
Ben took me home, dropping me right at the door of Sundial Tower. When I walked through the building entrance and up to the front desk, there was Chinese food from Ming’s there waiting for me, along with a note from Soyer.
Even when he wasn’t there, he made me smile. Even when he wasn’t there physically, he was so present in the way he made sure I was cared for.
On Wednesday, we were supposed to get even more snow, and while that wouldn’t really impact the subway, I still planned on being early in case anyone else was late because of the weather. I set the alarm on my phone, but that wasn’t what woke me. The doorbell did.
It took me a while to even fully place the sound, given that we didn’t get a lot of visitors who came up to this floor.
As soon as I was on my feet, I looked at the foot of the bed, where Soyer would normally lay out my bathrobe for me when he got up early, but there was nothing there.
That drove home the realization that Soyer was still gone, but the knocking on our door that had started up after the first few rings made me hopeful.
“Coming, coming,” I mumbled.
I pulled on my sweats and hurried down the staircase, still not fully awake, still rubbing my eyes.
When I got to the hallway, I was sure this was either Soyer, who might’ve lost his keys, Ben with a flower delivery, or possibly Jules for some other reason.
I didn’t think twice about not being properly dressed.
I flipped the lock and pulled the door open, low-key excited and curious to find out what this was about.
But it wasn’t anyone I’d expected or hoped for outside my door. An icy shiver of surprise tickled the base of my neck.
“Uh, hi? Thaeros?”
Thaeros had brought another man, who triggered a memory I couldn’t quite place. He was well dressed in a nice suit, and looked almost out of place next to Thaeros, who wore a baggy cropped shirt and oversized coat.
“Bonjour, Amory. So good to see you again,” the businessman said, and I realized where I’d seen him. He was the guy with the British accent who’d come into the Moonlight and told me how beautiful France was, that I should go to Nice rather than Paris.
“I don’t—sorry. Thaeros, what’s going on here?” I hadn’t noticed because of having been woken from sleep, but Thaeros had changed his hair style. He’d dyed it a light brown and cut it shorter. It barely reached to his shoulders now. “You got a haircut.”
Thaeros looked at the Brit. “What do we—”
The Brit heaved a sigh, and with his well-fitting gloves, he pushed the door open and then just walked right into our home.
“Amory, I do apologize, but we have to talk, and it would be best if we could be done sooner rather than later. Peiras, if you would?”
Thaeros took hold of my arm before I could even get a word in to complain. I looked at him, and he offered me a bright smile.
“Hello, sugar bee. You’re actually not too ugly. I think this’ll work out just fine.”
“Excuse me? Look, you can’t be here. Thaeros, let go of me.”
The Brit had walked into the hallway. He turned. “What’s taking so bloody long? Get him infatuated.”
“I…am trying. I don’t know. He should be drooling all over me by now.”
“Let go!” I wasn’t sure what this was, but I didn’t like it, didn’t like the way the Brit’s gloves fit him like a second skin, the way he seemed happy to just keep them on.
“Oh, bollocks.” One of those gloved hands reached for an inside pocket, and when he withdrew it, I saw that he had a taser.
“Whoa! You can’t—” As if it were a long way off, I heard a ding. The elevator?
Thaeros’s grip tightened suddenly, and then he let go abruptly before collapsing on the floor.
“What—”
I turned toward the Brit, but he collapsed a second later. I saw his eyes rolling back in his head, saw the taser drop.
“Oh, my, that worked like a charm!” I looked into the hallway, where none other than the Sandman came into view.
He wore his cape, which was still at odds with him being so short.
He’d changed his flip-flops for high-heeled boots though, which made up for some of that.
“Hello, Amory. You look as if you’ve had a nightmare. ”
I stood there, frozen. Someone else dashed after the Sandman, someone I didn’t recognize. He had blond hair, long and fluffy. It would’ve hidden his eyes if it had been any less well styled. He looked at the two men on the ground first, then at me.
“Hi. I’m Echo. You don’t know me, but Thaeros told you about me. We don’t have a lot of time to get out of here. Say something so I know how to get you to move fast.”
I started. “But Thaeros—”
This Echo person pointed. “That wasn’t him.
Thaeros is a narcissan, and they come in pairs.
Mirror images of each other. Thaeros is waiting downstairs.
These two are Cecil’s men. If we stay here, Soyer and the Lords Hawthorne could get hurt.
Get dressed, grab your phone and your watch, and let’s go. ”
The Sandman clapped his hands. “Oh, I love a nice action sequence! Echo, dearest, what about these two?”
“We’ll leave them here.”
Cecil’s men. Caecilius’s men. Dread settled in my belly. “How did they get up here? Where’s—”
“Jules is fine,” Echo said. “Peiras, the twin, got him under his spell. He’s downstairs. Amory, you need to get dressed now, please.”
“Okay, but—”
Echo turned to the Sandman. “Keep watch. Drop anyone who comes out of the elevator.”
“Done.”
He walked into the apartment, took my forearm, and pulled me with him. I went around the Brit though Echo stepped over him.
“I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“I know that, but I don’t have time for lengthy explanations. Maybe in the car, if you hurry. Please hurry, Amory.” He looked around, but his eyes seemed like they weren’t really seeing anything. “I need to go get the keys.”
“The keys?”
He pointed at the stairs. “Get dressed. Now. If it helps, Cecil has one more witch blade. Let’s not give him an opening to use it.”
That did it. I rushed up the stairs to get changed. I made it all the way to putting on my socks before the doubt crept in, the realization that I was making a huge, stupid mistake here. My phone was just in the bedroom though.
“Don’t text him,” Echo hollered up from downstairs. “He’d come right back here, and that would be bad for the Lords Hawthorne.”
I went to the balcony, where I could look down at Echo, whoever he was. “How do you know that?”
He shrugged. “I’m a Cassandrian. Like Roland. Just more powerful and focused on predicting things. Now, chop-chop. I’m trying to help you here, but you have to help me out with that.”
I pressed my lips together. “Roland can read minds.”
“It’s not that simple, but yes. I can’t, not really, but I’m rather good when it’s about a situation I’ve got myself involved in, such as this one.” He held up a key and wiggled it. “Let’s go to the other apartment.”
“You mean 19B? I’ve never seen who lives there.”
Echo sighed. “No one lives there anymore. Get your stuff, and I’ll explain.
” His brow furrowed. “Look, in another reality… Nothing is ever a straight line if you’re like me.
In another reality, we’re already friends.
We are in pretty much all the realities, even the one where Elias is your brother. ”
“What?!”
“My point is, get moving.” He pointed. “The Sandman owed me a favor, and that runs out after I get you out of here safe and sound.”
“What did the Brit want with me?”
Echo shrugged. “He’s Cecil’s lawyer. He’s a shark and sometimes a henchman. They were trying to do this the nice way, get you to move and play house with Peiras for a while so that Cecil could sweep in and cure the Black Shuck of his broken heart.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Soyer wouldn’t just let me go, not like that.”
Echo nodded. “And you have his resistance to all supernatural thrall. Which is why this would have escalated and ended badly.” He cocked his head as if he were listening for something I couldn’t hear. “Phone, watch, now.”
I made a decision, but whether it was wise or even just good, I didn't know. I decided to trust Echo, and I hoped it wouldn’t hurt Soyer in the end.