“Why?”
“You said there’s a lot going on in that house, including Samantha Poe. Don’t be mistaken in thinking this is an ordinary woman you’re dealing with. She’s not.”
“She’s not? How do you know?”
“Call it intuition. Nonetheless, it’s hard to bring people out of the Veil without other entities hitching a ride. I know you know this firsthand. If you bring out Max, who is to say that he’ll come alone?”
“You think Samantha will come with him?”
“Perhaps.” I watch as the smoke falls from his mouth.
“And that’s a problem because?”
“Because I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with. Perhaps you need to figure that out first. At any rate, if you were to bring Max out, you would need someone to make sure he comes alone. Someone that can push her back in and close the portal.”
“Ada.”
“Not Ada,” he says quickly. “She can’t handle it.”
“Then you.”
“I need to stay with Ada,” he says. “Now that Jay is gone, I’m all she has. But I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
Figure it out? What other option is there?
“What should I tell Max?” I say. “I want to go back there. I can’t just leave him there.”
“What if I told you it’s not a good idea?”
“I’d ask why.”
“And what if I told you to just trust me on it.”
“Then I’ll do the opposite of what you say.”
Because I don’t trust you.
He glares at me in annoyance. “You and Ada really are sisters, aren’t you?”
“Last I checked,” I tell him.
The ride back to the house seems to go quickly, and by the time we pull up, both Ada and Dex are on the street, looking extremely annoyed.
“Fuck,” I swear to Jacob. “I told them not to freak out.”
Jacob chuckles. “Oh, Perry. You’d think you’d learn by now.” He turns to me. “Before you go, let me just say this. I’ve never been married but I’ve seen a lot of marriages” —he nods at Dawn and Sage Knightly’s house— “and I know this much. It’s healthy to have a few secrets. Don’t doubt yourself when you need to hold something close to your chest.”
Then he gets out of the car and strides toward the house, not even giving Ada or Dex a second glance.
Okay. That was weird. As much as what he said enables me, I don’t think I’ll be taking marriage advice from Jacob Edwards.
In fact, I don’t know if I’ll take much of what he said to heart.
I get out of the car, clutching the bottle close to me, while Dex comes striding over. “What the hell were you doing?” he asks angrily.
“I went for a drive,” I tell him.
“I told you she was fine,” Ada says, though she sounds annoyed as well. The poor girl. I really need to talk to her.
“With Jacob?” he asks.
I shrug. “The birds flying into the window freaked me out, and I wanted to talk to him about it. Not to mention the monster I saw earlier today.”
“Hold on, wait, what?” Ada says, coming forward, her blue eyes like saucers. “You saw a monster? Where?”
“In our parking garage.”
She visibly shudders.
“You said it could have been a racoon,” Dex says.
“No, you said that. And maybe it was. So I wanted to talk to someone who might know.”
“And what did he say?” Ada asks, looking a tad suspicious.
“That it was nothing.”
“Nothing?” she repeats.
“Yes. Nothing.” I’m lying, I know. I don’t want to get into what Jacob told me about Ada and Jay in front of Dex, just because I know she’ll clam up more. “Anyway, look.” I wave the bottle at them. “This is a sign that we need to get drinking. It’s still my birthday, you know.”
“Oh, and I have to give you your present,” Ada says, perking up.
We head back toward the house. Ada goes in first, but Dex pulls me back, putting his arm around my waist and leaning in. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I never said I wasn’t.”
“The birds freaked you out.”
“Well, yeah. I assume burying them wasn’t a lot of fun either.”
He looks grim as he shakes his head. “No.”
“Is my dad okay?”
Hesitation flashes across his eyes. Then he says, “He’s fine.”
Something twitches in my brain and I try to get a read on his thoughts because that didn’t sound remotely true. But there’s nothing there. Dex is either blocking me or it’s happening instinctively.
“Although I do think it sobered him up a little,” Dex adds, his breath creating a cloud in the cold air. He studies me closely. “So that’s all you guys talked about? You and the Ginger Hellmaster?”
“Actually,” I say, glancing briefly at the house, “he told me some bad news about Ada.”
“What bad news?”
“That she and Jay broke up.”
He frowns. “They broke up?”
“Not by choice either. Jacob put the kibosh on their relationship and sent him packing to help someone else.”
“Holy shit,” he says. “That fucking sucks. God, no wonder she seems so emo today. I can’t believe she hasn’t said anything to you about it.”
“I know.” I sigh. “Dad must be happy though.”
“Why?”
I frown. “Isn’t that why my dad wanted to talk to you in private last time? He was worried about their relationship? He didn’t trust Jay.”
Dex blinks at me, then nods. “Right. Of course. Slipped my mind.” He grabs my hand. “Let’s go inside, it’s freezing.”
Once inside, we get the champagne flowing. Though my dad does seem more with it and relaxed, now that I know the cause of Ada’s mood, I can’t help but feel heartbroken for her.
We settle down in the living room to watch a movie on Netflix, though it takes fucking ages to try and decide what to watch (that’s no surprise, my father and Ada have very different cinematic tastes from Dex and I).
Then Ada heads upstairs and I take the opportunity to follow her.
I find her in her bedroom, shrugging off a sweater until she’s just in a thermal top. Jesus, she’s gotten skinny.
“What are you doing?” I ask her.
“I’m getting too hot,” she says, going to her dresser and pulling open a drawer, rifling through an excessive number of cardigans.
I close the door behind me, and she looks up at me, alert and on edge.
“I know about you and Jay,” I say quietly.
She flinches, then slams the drawer shut before opening another. “Figures he would tell you. No fucking secrets in this place.”
“Ada I am so, so sorry.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I know how hard this must be,” I say, going over to her.
I put my arms out in an attempt to hug her, but she steps back, her hand blocking me, her eyes looking wild. “Just stop, okay?”