White Witch, Black Curse

Ivy leaned back into her chair, her expression worried. "I met Mia Harbor once. Right before I was assigned to work with you in the I.S. She's an…interesting lady."

"Nice lady?" I asked as I dumped in the milk. If she had been around since Cincy was a pig town, then she was probably a really old nice lady.

Ivy's brow was furrowed when I glanced at her, and she put her eyes on her screen. Her behavior was off. "What is it?" I asked as neutrally as I could.

The pen she was tapping stilled. "Nothing."

I made a scoffing sound. "Something's bothering you. What is it?"

"Nothing!" she said loudly and Jenks buzzed in.

Grinning, the pixy landed on the island counter between us in his best Peter Pan pose. "I think Ivy's pissed 'cause you found the banshee tear and she didn't," he said, and Ivy's pen started tapping again. It was so fast, it almost hummed.

"Nice going, Jenks," I muttered as I stirred the milk into the soup. The ticking of the burner was loud until the gas lit with a whoosh and I turned it to low. "Where's that buddy gargoyle of yours? He's supposed to keep watch at night."

"I don't know," he said, not worried at all. "But he's as hard as a rock. I wouldn't worry about him. Maybe he's visiting his folks. He does have a life, unlike some of us here."

"I think Rachel finding that tear was great," Ivy said tightly.

I glanced over my shoulder at Jenks, and at my encouragement, he went to make irritating circles around her. He could get away with a lot I couldn't, and if we didn't find out soon what was bothering her, it might be too late to head it off when we did.

"Then you're mad because you've been working on Kisten's murder for six months, and Rachel got farther in six minutes by sniffing the floor," he guessed.

Ivy leaned her chair back on two legs, balancing as she measured his flight, probably calculating where she'd have to be to catch him. "Both are valid ways of investigation," she said, her pupils widening. "And it's only been three months. I didn't look the first three."

I continued to stir the soup with a clockwise motion as Jenks rose up in a column of sparkles and darted out of the kitchen. The pixy noise in the sanctuary had reached dangerous levels, and I knew he wanted to handle it to give Matalina a break. She was doing great this winter, but we were all still worried about her. Nineteen was old for a pixy.

That Ivy hadn't done anything to find Kisten's killer for the first three months wasn't a surprise. The hurt had been that bad, and she thought she might have been the one who had done it. "I don't mind going out with you tonight," I offered again. "Ford left the ladder."

"I'm doing this myself."

I bowed my head over the soup, breathing in the acidic scent and feeling Ivy's pain now that Jenks wasn't here cluttering everything up. I'd been Kisten's girlfriend, but Ivy had loved him, too—deeper, on a gut level, with the strength of the past, not like my new love, based on the idea of a future. And here I was, making her deal with the pain. "Are you okay?" I asked softly.

"No," she said again, her voice flat.

My shoulders slumped. "I miss him, too," I whispered. I turned to see her perfect face frozen in grief. I couldn't help it, and risking a misunderstanding, I crossed the room. "It's going to be okay," I said, touching her shoulder for an instant before I withdrew and went into the pantry for the crackers.

Ivy had her head bowed when I came out, and I said nothing as I found two bowls and set them on the table with the crackers between them, shoving my bag and the mail out of the way. Uncomfortable with the silence, I hesitantly stood before her. "I'm, uh, starting to remember a little," I said, and her dark eyes flicked to mine. "I didn't want to tell you in front of Edden because Ford thinks he'll reopen the case when he finds out."

Fear flickered behind her eyes, and my breath caught. Ivy is scared?

"What did you remember?" she said, and my mouth went dry. Ivy was never scared. Ticked, seductive, chill, occasionally out of control, but never scared.

I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant when I pulled back, a sliver of my own fear sliding under my skin. "I know for sure it's a man. I got that today. He caught a splat ball without breaking it when I tried to shoot him. And he dragged me down the hall on my stomach after I tried to get out." I looked at my fingertips, then put a hand to my middle. Eyes on the hallway behind her, I whispered, "I tried to claw my way out through a wall."

Ivy's voice was a thin whisper. "A man. You're sure?"

She doesn't still think it was her, does she? I nodded, and her entire posture slumped.

"Ivy, I told you it wasn't you," I blurted. "God, I know what you smell like, and you weren't there! How many times do I have to say it!" I didn't care that it was really weird I knew what Ivy smelled like. Hell, we'd been living together for a year. She knew what I smelled like.