“I hate to admit it, but I’m really too ignorant to say.”
“And your father?” he asked, not letting a second lag between questions.
“Can’t say. I didn’t know him.” Finally, I could give him a truth.
There was more humming. I could see the broker building up ahead. Just a little bit closer and I’d be away from him.
“I find you so very peculiar. There’s”—he put his hand out, twisting it back and forth like a seesaw—“something.”
“I’m a weird girl, is all. Nothing overly interesting about me.” Few more steps. Almost home free.
“Well, here we are. Don’t forget, I’ll be waiting for your call.”
“Definitely won’t forget.” I gripped the front door.
Lou smiled again, and then he was gone.
The door to the broker office swung open and Hawk was standing there.
“Where the hell have—”
I clapped a hand over Hawk’s mouth and put a finger to my lips. I looked about the office, making sure they were all getting the message, and then made sure the door was shut completely.
“I think he can hear things through the fifth wind, so no talking about any matters if the doors are open,” I said, making sure everyone was listening.
“Where did he take you? I’ve been looking everywhere,” Hawk said.
“We were walking around Xest, but I don’t think anyone could see us.” As angry as I was at Hawk for varying reasons, knowing he had tried to find me gave me a warm feeling. Besides, this mess superseded any fight.
I shrugged off my jacket as I came to terms with this new issue. I walked until I was in the back room, pouring tea and settling on the couch, trying to unfreeze my brain from a stalled position.
Hawk followed me in, with Zab, Bibbi, Musso, and Bertha trailing behind him. How exactly did I tell them that, in a nutshell, I’d become the knot in a tug of war between heaven and hell and was beginning to suspect this fight was over more than gaining control of Xest.
Hawk stepped closer. “Tippi, what happened with—”
“Don’t say the name.” I nearly choked on my tea. I’d just gotten rid of the guy. I didn’t want him back now, and even inside, I was afraid his name might trigger an appearance.
“What happened?” Hawk repeated.
Bibbi came over and topped off my tea, even though I’d only had a couple of sips. “It’s all right. Just take your time.”
“No, it’s not all right. I need to know what happened,” Hawk said, coming closer.
Bibbi gave me a smile, silently telling me to ignore Hawk. Had to give it to the girl. She was really coming into her own these days. She’d been hiding a pair the size of watermelons under her new outfits.
Zab, Bertha, and Musso stared and waited as Oscar rushed through the back door.
“You found her,” he said, stopping short.
“She came back on her own,” Hawk said.
“What happened with—”
“Don’t say the name,” Musso said, throwing up a hand.
“Okay, well, what did he want?” Oscar asked, becoming part of the circle of people staring at me.
“He said that he’s heard about my prior meetings with the one from down below.” I wasn’t taking a chance naming any names.
“That’s not really where it—”
“No one cares, Zab. Do the geography lesson another day,” Bibbi said.
“Keep going,” Hawk said.
“So, the one from above wants to be informed of what’s happening with the one from below. That he wouldn’t consider us friends if I didn’t cooperate.” I leaned forward, putting my tea down, because if I didn’t, I was going to spill it on myself. The more reality hit, the more my hands were starting to shake, and that wouldn’t do.
“Was anything else said?” Hawk asked. “Don’t leave a single detail out.”
“He asked about me a bit. My parents, where I came from.”
Hawk moved closer. “What did you say?”
“That I didn’t know much but I was basically a girl from Salem.”
“Did he buy it?” Hawk asked.
I was so past the realm of normal, even in Xest, that no one skipped a beat at that question. All they were focused on was if I’d sold him a bill of goods about being common. Well, they were all going to be disappointed.
“I doubt it.” I sat on my hands in a show of warming them, which had the added benefit of hiding the tremble.
“This is not good. First we’ve got one involved, and now the other? What happened to Xest having autonomy?” Musso said, shaking his head. Bertha moved in closer, patting his back.
“Are you okay?” Bibbi asked, sitting beside me.
“I’m fine. I’m just going to drink some tea and unwind for a few minutes, and then I’ll be good.”
Her eyes suddenly seemed to glaze over. “Okay. Well, I’m going to get back to work.” She got up as if nothing strange had happened.
“Yeah, I’ve got some stuff to finish up as well,” Zab said.
“Oh, I’ve got dough I need to get in the oven,” Bertha said, and then Musso followed her out.
“Shit. I forgot to run over to Zark’s and give him something. I’ll be back,” Oscar said, then hurried out the door.
One by one, they all remembered something else they had to do. The only one left standing in the room was Hawk.
“What did you do to them?” I asked.
“Gave them gentle reminders they needed to be somewhere else. They’ll probably realize it by tomorrow and be angry.” He sat across from me then leaned back, his stare fixed on me. “Now that we’re alone, what aren’t you saying? How bad is it?”
I weighed my options as I stared back.
Even if I didn’t want him to be the person I confided in, I wasn’t sure anyone else could handle what I was about to say. The weight of it might crush a weaker soul. Hawk had a lot of flaws, but no one would dare call him weak. I had to face it: whether I liked it or not, he was still my strongest ally right now in this war, even if he did play dirty. Or maybe because of that. Jury was still out.
“They’re both trying to get me to agree to be indebted to them, like they know something about me, or at least suspect something. There’s something beyond Xest at play here. They want something from me, and I don’t know why.”
I leaned forward, feeling a smidge better for getting it off my chest. I wrapped my hands around my teacup, steady enough to not splash myself as I waited for him to say something. When he didn’t, I looked up.
Hawk’s eyes had hardened, the lines of his body tense and coiled.
“It doesn’t matter. They’re not getting you,” he said, with an eerie calmness.
If he wasn’t an ally, I might’ve run from the room right then, new resolutions of not running be damned.
24
I lifted my head back, sniffing the air. It wasn’t that it was easy to smell grouslies, but once in a while, when I took a deep breath, it was as if I could feel their presence nearby. The only smell on the air tonight was the stink of Mertie’s weird tobacco blend. Sure enough, a cigarette glowed in a nearby alley.