“Tell … him.” I had to struggle against Jax’s hold to answer, and the words came out mushy and slow. “About … the … Box.”
As she recounted our interview with Reilly Argaud, I watched Titus and the way he cared for Mimi. It blew my mind to see the most fearsome Huskarl in Valhalla cradle his fiancee like a baby and soothe her with little kisses.
The last time I saw you,you were up to your knees in the guts of human cultists, swinging a ginormous battleax like you were going for MVP on the All-Berserker squad.
Josef asked to hear more about the connection between the Alchemists and the necromancer named Khaydari, and the others filled him in.
By the time Rome retold the visit to Pepper Crane’s, Titus was back in his seat and Mimi curled up in his lap like an overgrown kitten. I saw her eyes were red, but she had a determined set to her jaw that reminded me so much of Gemma, my chest squeezed again.
I sighed.
“Jax … lemme … go.”
“Got the tiger back in its cage?”
“Rawr.”
The pressure vanished and I took a deep breath, then shook out my arms and rolled my neck.
“Kerry Harker.” Mimi looked right at me. “You will find Astrid Kasparian’s murderer and you will kill him. Tell Hank that the Council will need a dedicated clean-up crew for a big job, with lots of assets to freeze and seize as well as a fair amount of criminal activity to sort out.”
“Are you clairvoyant as well as a medium?” Jax asked.
“The future is ever in flux.” She shook her head. “Our smallest choices rearrange it. My mother was an oracle, however, and I have some precognition. It helps me draw more accurate conclusions, but I wouldn’t call them predictions.”
“Are you usually right?” Gigi smiled.
“She hasn’t been wrong yet.” Josef smiled back at her.
“And remember, she can see anything in the past she wants to.” Titus shrugged. “Right up until the present moment.”
“Can you see Gemma?” I jumped to my feet. “Where is she?!”
Jax hit me again, hard enough to slam me back into my chair, but I managed to growl at him.
“Dude, your eyes are glowing and your hair’s standing on end.”
I ain’t gonna survive this, am I? I’m gonna have a heart attack before I can even find her.
“In the crystal ball,” Mimi took pity on me, “I could only see her up until that djinni teleported her away. I can sense her living soul, but she’s shielded from my sight.”
She’s alive. At least she’s alive.
Relief nearly knocked me out and I only half heard Jax talking to Mimi.
“Oh, hey, see if you can call up one of Argaud’s thralls. Her name was Aspen Abernathy.”
Lurching forward, I tried to warn her, but Jax musta thought I was about to go full tiger this time. His hold locked down on me so tight, I couldn’t even move my eyes. All I could do was sit there with my mouth half open as Hell opened up under our feet.
20. Hidden Among Us
Tara
“Well, Kyo? What did you see?” Travis demanded.
“I’ll show you.”
He held out a hand and a shimmering bubble appeared. Images began to flash on it like a movie screen, and I watched as Samuel Castle carved the summoning circle into the rock.
