The Hollows Series Books 1-4

How embarrassing, I thought. Having someone no bigger than a dragonfly apologizing for not protecting me. “Yeah, well, we both screwed up,” I said sourly, wishing Ivy wasn’t witnessing this. Ignoring her puff of noise, I rinsed off his mushroom and sliced it. Jenks seemed satisfied and went to make annoying circles around Ivy’s head until she swatted at him.

Abandoning her, he came back to me. “I’m going to find out what Kalamack smells like if it kills me,” Jenks said as I placed his contribution on the pizza. “It’s personal now.”

Well, I thought, why not? I took a deep breath. “I’m going back tomorrow night,” I said, thinking about my death threat. Eventually I was going to make a mistake. And unlike Ivy, I couldn’t come back from the dead. “Want to go with me, Jenks? Not as a backup, but as a partner.”

Jenks rose up, his wings shifting to purple. “You can bet your mother’s panties I will.”

“Rachel!” Ivy exclaimed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I tore open the bag of mozzarella and dumped it over the pizza. “I’m making Jenks a full partner. Got a problem with that? He’s been working too much overtime for anything less.”

“No,” she said, staring at me across the kitchen. “I mean going back to Kalamack’s!”

Jenks hovered next to me to make a united front. “Shut your mouth, Tamwood. She needs a disc to prove Kalamack is a biodrug runner.”

“I don’t have a choice,” I said, pushing the cheese so hard it spilled over the edge.

Ivy leaned back in her chair with an exaggerated slowness. “I know you want him, but think it through, Rachel. Trent can accuse you of everything from trespassing to impersonating I.S. personnel to looking at his horses cross-eyed. If you get caught, you’re toast.”

“If I accuse Trent without solid proof, he will slide through the courts on a technicality.” I couldn’t look at her. “It has to be fast and idiot proof. Something the media can get their teeth into and run with.” My motions were jerky as I picked up the cheese I had spilled and put it back on the pizza. “I have to get one of those discs, and tomorrow I will.”

A small noise of disbelief came from Ivy. “I can’t believe you’re rushing back, no plans, no preparations. Nothing. You already tried the no-thinking approach and you got caught.”

My face burned. “Just because I don’t plan out my trips to the bathroom, it doesn’t mean I’m not a good runner,” I said tightly.

Her jaw clenched. “I never said you weren’t a good runner. I only meant a little planning might save you some embarrassing mistakes, like what happened today.”

“Mistakes!” I exclaimed. “Look here, Ivy. I’m a damn fine runner.”

She arched her thin eyebrows. “You haven’t had a clean tag in the last six months.”

“That wasn’t me, that was Denon! He admitted it. And if you are so unimpressed with my abilities, why did you beg that I let you come with me?”

“I didn’t,” Ivy said. Her eyes narrowed and spots of anger appeared on her cheeks.

Not wanting to argue with her, I turned to put the pizza in the oven. The dry whoosh of air made my cheeks tighten and sent wisps of my hair floating into my eyes. “Yes, you did,” I muttered, knowing she could hear me, then said louder, “I know exactly what I’m going to do.”

“Really?” she said from right behind me. I stifled a gasp and whipped around. Jenks was standing on the windowsill next to Mr. Fish, white-faced. “So tell me,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “What’s your perfect plan?”

Not wanting her to know she had scared me, I brushed past her, deliberately showing her my back as I scraped the flour off the counter with that big knife. The hair on the back of my neck rose, and I turned to find her just where I had left her, even if her arms were crossed and a dark shadow was flitting behind her eyes. My pulse quickened. I knew I shouldn’t have been arguing with her.

Jenks darted between Ivy and me. “How are we going to get in, Rachel?” he asked, alighting beside me on the counter.

I felt safer with him watching her, and I purposely turned my back on Ivy. “I’m going in as a mink.” Ivy made a noise of disbelief and I stiffened. Brushing the loosened flour into my hand, I dumped it into the trash. “Even if I’m spotted, they won’t know it’s me. It will be a simple snatch and dash.” Trent’s words about my activities flitted through me, and I wondered.

“Burglarizing the office of a councilman is not a simple snatch and dash,” Ivy said, the tension seeming to ooze from her. “It’s grand theft.”

“With Jenks, I’ll be in and out of his office in two minutes. Out of the building in ten.”

“And buried in the basement of the I.S. tower in an hour,” Ivy said. “You’re nuts. Both of you are bloody nuts. It’s a fortress in the middle of the freaking woods! And that’s not a plan—it’s an idea. Plans are on paper.”

Her voice had become scornful, pulling my shoulders tight. “If I used plans, I’d be dead three times over,” I said. “I don’t need a plan. You learn all you can, then you just do it. Plans can’t take into account surprises!”

“If you used a plan, you wouldn’t have any surprises.”

Ivy stared at me, and I swallowed. More than a hint of black swirled in her eyes, and my stomach clenched.

“I have a more enjoyable path if you’re looking for suicide,” she breathed.

Jenks landed on my earring, jolting my eyes from Ivy. “It’s the first smart thing she’s done all week,” he said. “So back off, Tamwood.”

Ivy’s eyes narrowed, and I took a quick step back as she was distracted. “You’re as bad as her, pixy,” she said, showing her teeth. Vamp teeth were like guns. You didn’t pull them unless you were going to use them.

“Let her do her job!” Jenks shouted back.

Ivy went wire tight. A cold draft hit my neck as Jenks shifted his wings as if to fly. “Enough!” I cried, before he could leave me. I wanted him right were he was. “Ivy. If you have a better idea, tell me. If not—shut up.”

Together Jenks and I looked at Ivy, stupidly thinking we were stronger together than alone. Her eyes flashed to black. My mouth went dry. They were unblinking, alive with a promise as yet only hinted at. A tickle in my belly swirled up to close my throat. I couldn’t tell if it was fear or anticipation. She fixed upon my eyes, not breathing. Don’t look at my neck, I thought, panicking. Oh. God. Don’t look at my neck. “Rot and hell,” Jenks whispered.

But she shuddered, turning away to lean over the sink. I was shaking, and could swear I heard a sigh of relief from Jenks. This, I realized, could have been really, really bad.

Ivy’s voice sounded dead when she next spoke. “Fine,” she said to the sink. “Go get yourself killed. Both of you.” She jerked herself into motion and I jumped. Hunched and pained-looking, she stalked out of the kitchen. Too soon to be believed came the sound of the church’s front door slamming, then nothing.

Someone, I thought, was going to get hurt tonight.

Jenks left my earring, alighting on the windowsill. “What’s with her?” he asked belligerently into the sudden quiet. “You would almost think she cared.”

Sixteen (#ulink_c617dcd3-32bd-5ca4-a376-9baff4baa5fb)

I woke from a sound sleep, jolted by the distant sound of glass breaking. I could smell wood incense. My eyes flashed open.

Ivy was bending over me, her face inches from mine.

“No!” I shouted, punching out in a blind panic. My fist caught her in the gut. Ivy clutched her middle and fell to the floor, struggling to breathe. I scrambled to crouch on my bed. My eyes darted from the gray window to the door. My heart pounded, and I went cold in a painful rush of adrenaline. She was between me and my only way out.

“Wait,” she gasped, her robe sleeve falling to her elbow as she reached to catch me.

“You backstabbing, bloodsucking vamp,” I hissed.

My breath caught in surprise as Jenks—no, it was Jax—flitted from the windowsill to hover before me. “Ms. Rachel,” he said, distracted and tense. “We’re under attack. Fairies.” He nearly spat the last word.

Fairies, I thought in a wash of cold fear as I glanced at my bag. I couldn’t fight fairies with my charms. They were too fast. The best I could do would be to try and squish one. Oh God. I’d never killed anyone in my entire life. Not even by accident. I was a runner, damn it. The idea was to bring them in alive, not dead. But fairies …

My gaze shot to Ivy, and I flushed as I realized what she was doing in my room. With as much grace as I could find, I got off my bed. “Sorry,” I whispered, offering her a hand up.

Her head tilted so she could see me past the curtain of her hair. Pain barely hid her anger. A white hand darted out and yanked me down. I hit the floor with a yelp, panicking again as she covered my mouth with a firm hand. “Shut up,” she wheezed, her breath on my cheek. “You want to get us killed? They’re already inside.”

Eyes wide, I whispered around her fingers, “They won’t come inside. It’s a church.”