Penn stood at Ray’s desk, going over their current cases, trying to figure out what might have sparked Ray’s attention in the first place. Despite her task, she was participating in the debate the other two were having across the room at Cal’s desk.
“Is this confidence or arrogance?” Cal wondered aloud. “You’d have to hire agoodwitch or wizard and be certain of their questionable morality and probably know a way to dispose of them if you felt you needed to. You’d have to risk contact with a wounded werewolf. You’d have to hope like hell it all worked.”
“I still want to know what the trigger is supposed to be.” Benny seemed to be stuck on this point. “Calvin said he didn’t hear the two men in suits say anything especially out of the ordinary. Which makes sense, incidentally, since if it failed, you wouldn’t want Ray getting suspicious. But Calvin also didn’t see them do anything with their hands. Ray didn’t eat or drink anything they gave him, or step into any sort of circle or…”
“Benny, focus,” Penn interrupted absently. She was now in a pair of Cal’s sweatpants, which looked like they had never been worn.
“They knew my name.” Ray admitted this reluctantly and didn’t look up from the book he hadn’t been reading. Calvin had probably told them all that already. “They asked how I was. They asked how you were doing. Byname.“ It was almost enough to make Ray think of fairy tales and how telling someone else your real, full name gave them power over you. “And then…”
“Shit got real,” Penn filled in.
“Oh, wait!” It sounded like Cal slapped something in his excitement. Benny’s arm, likely, since there was a following sound as if Benny had slapped him back. Cal didn’t seem concerned. “Then when we tried to jumpstart your memories, my mother also asked you about me. And something definitely happened.”
“I knew it!” Benny exclaimed, startling Calvin and sending the rest of his papers to the floor. “So itdidn’twork how they thought it would. They’re trying it again, using similar but slightly different phrases, guessing, trying to figure out exactly where it went wrong. I bet someone wasn’t listening when they were told what to say. It’s very Ash and the Medieval Dead.“ Ray looked at Calvin and then at Lis as she plopped down on the couch, closer to Calvin than before, but neither of them appeared to know what Benny meant any more than Ray did. “Klaatu barada nikto!” Benny and Cal said in unison. Ray frowned for their volume and for the strangely familiar sound of the nonsense words, although the two of them probably had said the phrase before, back when Ray had his memories. Benny was still trying to reason it all out. “And like in the movie, it didsomething, just not what it was meant to do.”
“But it wasn’t a dud, Ben-bun.” Lis had been paying attention. Ray blinked at the nickname but left it alone. “All that means is that they will try again, and we have to figure it out before they do.”
“Oh.”
Benny was like a balloon deflating.
Calvin sleepily adjusted his glasses, then removed them since he wasn’t reading. Before he could tuck them away, Lis took them. Calvin watched her peer through the lenses and pop them on the tip of her nose, his face twisting as though he was in pain.
Ray thought Lis looked cute in the large human glasses. Maybe that was why Calvin turned away from her with obvious effort. “You all need to be careful while you do that. All of you. Behave, and do notthinkabout breaking a law, not even jaywalking. Not even littering.”
“I would never litter.” Penn was quietly offended.
Cal whispered to Benny, “We’re going to have to show my dad how to lock his phone.”
Calvin must have heard it. He coughed. “And just in case, Benny, tell your family and the girlfriend to be a little more cautious about who they talk to about you. Your coworkers too, Cal.”
Benny went silent, then bolted into the kitchen, already on his phone.
Lis handed Calvin his glasses. Their hands touched.
“Time for bed for you,” Lis said softly.
Ray sent his gaze elsewhere. The lights being on in the living room meant he couldn’t really see outside anymore. He got up to close the blinds, then intended to go to the bedroom to make sure it would do for Cal’s parents.
Cal was staring at Ray and pointing dramatically to his parents, in outrage, in shock, in happiness, Ray couldn’t say until he got closer.
He went out of his way to snag Cal’s arm and take Cal with him. “You can help.”
Cal went with no struggle. “Help what?” he asked, unexpectedly gentle. “Set up the den for your pack sleepover?”
“Yeah,” Ray answered, equally quiet. “Should I have asked? I’m sorry.”
Cal rolled his eyes. “You sillywolf.”
“Sillywolf?” That was as weird as the last one.
Cal opened the hall closet and reached for the bin marked ‘Blankets.’ “They’re my pack, too.” He shoved the bin into Ray’s arms, then grabbed another one. He glanced back just the once when Ray didn’t answer and then smiled to himself.
Ray’s colors must have been a pleasing sight.
Chapter Fifteen
THE GARDEN of Cassandra’s shop did not have much to look at during autumn. Ray had been out there many times over the years, his nose irritated by all the different smells, magic and otherwise, inside the store. Today was the first time he’d ever been tired enough to sit on the bench beneath the wisteria vines that seemed ancient, but were probably only a few decades old.
