“It’s an eyeball.”

  “A sentient, intelligent eyeball,” I corrected. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to change the bonding.

  “I will find you, Miss Dover,” Aidan warned in a low voice. “I have your address, your boss’s address, and your phone number. Are you ready to run for the rest of your life?” Then, in a voice meant to put the fear of God in me, “What about your mother?”

  I rolled my eyes. As if the guy who had stopped me from using the Eye and protected me with his Fae weapon instead of feeding me to the hound to buy himself some time would do anything to my mom. “You’re the Institute, not the CIA.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked smoothly. “Haven’t you heard about our dungeon? Perhaps your friend at the Well might end up a guest while he answers some questions about your visit.”

  “I’m sure he might, if I had visited,” I told him, a trickle of unease running down my back. Unlike my mom, I wasn’t so sure Kane wasn’t a free-for-all. After all, the Institute must be fully aware half of what the Well peddled was, if not exactly illegal, definitely not registered with the Institute, as all Fae artifacts were supposed to be.

  “We both know I missed you by seconds,” Aidan said through his teeth. “Stop this game right now, Maddie. This is your future we’re talking about. Do you want to be blacklisted by the Institute, not to mention incurring fines for failing to register a found Fae artifact? It will follow you for the rest of your life.”

  When he put it that way, it did sound kinda bleak. Good thing I’m a glass-half-full kind of girl. “You’re so right. I must think of my future. See you soon.”

  “You’ll meet me?” he asked, suddenly hopeful. It made me think of an eager puppy, and I choked a laugh.

  “I’m sure I will in the future, but not today.” With that, I ended the call and turned my phone to silent. I wouldn’t put it past him to go through every nook and cranny of the building spamming my phone to see if he caught the ring tone.

  I needed a good hiding spot in the building. By now, Victor and whoever else Aidan might’ve called for reinforcements would be here, likely covering the exits. They had my current photo, thanks to my seven applications. Damn my eagerness to please and keep the profile updated.

  My good mood soured a bit at the memory of my mom helping take the photos with my phone. No, don’t use the selfie camera, she had told me, your face looks weird with it. Here, let me help you. She had been as excited about my applications as I. In fact, she had been right there with me the first time I’d sent it, all eagerness and hope, helping me format my resume and write the cover letter.

  The resume had gotten longer, but the cover letter had changed little. I blinked away the sudden moisture in my eyes blurring the corridor. Mom had been there for the heartbreak of the first rejection. Had turned the Congratulations Cupcakes into Never Give Up Cupcakes. We no longer had cupcakes, but she had gotten cute flower magnets—from the arts and crafts store where I was working at the time—for the fridge, and built a pretty garden that grew with each rejection. It took the sting away, somewhat, made me feel resilient. Like a healthy weed, my mom had agreed with that easy grin of hers.

  I lifted my phone in salute. Here’s to another flower in the garden, Mom. May it be the last.

  By the time Kane got back to me, I was sitting on an exercise ball in one of the supply closets of the gym on the fifth floor, eating one outrageously priced sandwich and chasing it down with an orange-tasting sports drink from the vending machine. The Eye remained safely tucked between my t-shirt and the waist of my jeans. I had considered offering it some of my food, but the thought of watching it turn into a hungry mouth held me back. “Eat a finger, grant a wish” wasn’t that far-fetched for an artifact’s power.

  “Can you talk?” Kane asked, all excitement.

  “Yup. Got something for me?”

  “Yeah. By the way, that guy you were talking about, Greaves, he dropped by.”

  “Figured he would.”

  “I told him nothing.”

  “What are friends for?”

  “Exactly. So, I asked around and got a name for you. I took the liberty of setting up a meeting between you both today.”

  I gripped the sandwich wrapper very tightly. “So fast?” I eyed the yoga mat I had expected to use for a mattress later that night.

  Kane took an offended air. “It wasn’t that easy, you know.”

  “Sure, sorry.”

  “I had the impression you were in a hurry, but if not, I can change the details.”

  I grinned into the phone. “You’re the best, Kane. The stars write your name at night and angels sing of your deeds.”

  “As well they should. It took some favors, but the man’s ready to meet you in forty-five. Think you can make it?”

  “I think so.” I had to, if I wanted this whole plan to work. “Where?” Perhaps if I used one of the windows on the second floor, I could drop onto a dumpster or something and avoid the main doors.

  “Basement level, room 6A.”

  “Which basement?”

  “Our basement.”

  Groaning, I closed my eyes. “I don’t think the basement is a good place. What about one of the empty offices on four?”

  “I could ask, but…this guy is important, Maddie. You want to be on his good side.”

  Couldn’t hurt, I agreed to myself with some resignation. “Okay. Do you know where 6A is?”

  “Between 5C and 6B””

  “Funny.”

  “South side.”

  I drew a map in my head. That would be close to the freight elevator. Perfect. “Thank you, Kane.” A last-second nagging stopped me from ending the call. “Who is this guy? Are you sure he can tell the Institute what to do?”

  “No names, Maddie. But yes, I’m sure.”

  “I owe you one.”

  “You sure do.”

  The call ended, and I pocketed the phone. I drummed my fingers against my thighs as I went over the conversation and formed a plan. Sure, the basement was bad news, and hopefully the hound wouldn’t be coming back, but I doubted Aidan would stand around patrolling it. He might be watching some of the stairs, but there was no way he had people watching the stairs and the entrances and the freight elevator. Not to mention it was keycard locked.

  If he recognized his boss, though, he might get curious and follow.

  But by then it would be too late. His boss already knew about the artifact and wanted a good look himself. All I had to do was get to the meeting place in time.

  It proved exceedingly easy, now that I knew the freight elevator went down to the basement. Full of nail-biting tension, but easy. Nobody waited for the elevator on my floor, and the cab didn’t stop until it touched the basement. I peeked around the doors and sagged with relief when I found the corridor empty. It was bright and a welcoming gray.

  It took me a few minutes to follow the correct passage—not all doors were marked—but I eventually got to 6A. I was ten minutes early and sweating like I had just raced the stairs down instead of walking sedately the whole way. Concentrate, Maddie, I admonished myself. Gotta play it like a pro. You have the artifact. You are bound to the artifact. They can’t take it from you.

  My heart moved from hammering my chest to blocking my throat.

  Before it decided to abandon ship altogether, I raised my hand and knocked firmly on the door.

  “I’m hErE—” I cleared my throat and tried again. “I’m here about the artifact.”

  The door opened, and I stepped inside a room bigger and cleaner than the office Aidan and I had raided earlier in the day. It was brightly lit, empty of furniture and anything else except for the man who had opened the door. He closed it with a soft snick, and I got my first good look at him.

  Well, crap.

  I was in big trouble.

  12

  This man couldn’t be Aidan’s boss, because he was my temporary boss.

  Kane, now in the running for biggest Jerk in the world, had set me up.

  “Mr. Sullivan,” I said in a weak voice. Everything about me felt weak—my knees, my heart, my friendships.

  He was taller than I was, taller than Aidan, and had the shape of a wall dressed in an expensive suit. Used the gym on five every day for sure. He looked me up and down, cataloging my pros and cons. He had done the same when we had briefly met yesterday, and he must be remembering too, because a glint of recognition came into his eyes.

  “I know you,” Sullivan said, then snapped his fingers. “You’re the new intern.”

  “Temp worker,” I answered, putting a couple of steps between us.

  “Lovely. Show me the Eye.”

  “I have some conditions before we trade,” I warned him warily. The play of emotions on his face was starting to creep me out. It wavered between that of a kid on Christmas day and a stoic businessman. The effect was unnerving.

  “First, I need to see the item, then we can negotiate.”

  A shiver racked me as I retrieved the eyeball and my fingers came in contact with my torso. My hands were frozen again. This damn place was bad for my health. After rubbing the eye on my sweatshirt, I held it up for Sullivan to see.

  He stepped up to me, and I stopped myself from walking farther back. It took a severe effort on my part.

  “May I?” he asked, his attention never deviating from the Eye.

  “Okay.” I watched him lift the eyeball from my hand, never touching me.

  He rolled it in his hands, inspecting it in clear awe.

  “This is wonderful craftsmanship,” he said in a reverent tone. “Beautiful. Just beautiful.”

  I did not want to tell him it was probably someone’s actual eye, but he got me curious. “You know about Eyes?”

  “Mhmm-mhmm,” he answered. “Quite rare. I’ve been trying to get one for my collection for ages.”

  Which, I supposed, explained how Kane the Jerk II had managed to arrange this transaction so fast. Still, perhaps I was being too fast to judge here.

  “Are you involved with the Council or the Institute?” I asked.

  He made a sound of derision. “God, no.”

  Dammit, Kane. “And Greaves? Do you know him?”

  Sullivan inhaled harshly. Apparently, simply hearing the name was enough to sour his day. I should know. “A pain in the ass. Like his Institute.”

  I stared at him at a loss for words. But I’d better come up with some, and fast. Soon he’d be asking for my price, and I didn’t think he’d take “get me a job at the Institute” in stride.

  “So, er, you collect things?” I asked to buy myself some time.

  “My Fae artifact collection is one of the best in the country. In the world, actually, once I add this little one to the ranks.”

  His artifact collection… “You’re the Collector?”

  I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth. I shouldn’t have let it slip I had guessed his secret identity.

  But instead of turning antagonistic, he smiled, full of pride. “My reputation precedes me, I see. Yes, lady, I am known among some circles as the Collector. I hope this won’t be a problem?”

  Ah, there it was, the steel-edged warning in his words. Like Aidan, Sullivan had access to all my private information thanks to my temp work for him. Unlike Aidan, he would have no trouble messing with those close to me to make sure I kept my mouth shut.

  “Not a problem, Mr. Sullivan,” I agreed. “Now, about my fee…”

  “Ah, yes, the finder’s fee. You can take it up with the Wishing Well. It’s on hold pending the sale.”

  What was he talking about? I thrust my hand out, palm up. “I’m sorry, Mr. Sullivan, I mean my sales fee.”

  He glared at my hand like it was holding trash. “You have my gratitude for keeping my artifact safe, lady, and that’s it. After all, you took it from me.”

  “Took it from—” Oh, of course. He had been the client Floor Guy had meant to sell the Eye to. It had been P&S’s basement room, after all. “The ward and the binding…?”

  Sullivan nodded, somewhat aggravated now. “Not enough security, I see now. It was good enough to catch Mason trying to sabotage the deal, but not enough to keep you around.”

  I sent a covert glance to my surroundings. How many wards had Sullivan prepared in anticipation for this meeting? I couldn’t sense anything, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there, if they were well hidden. “Still,” I said, “the artifact could’ve landed in anyone’s hands—like the Institute—if I hadn’t come along, so I think I deserve an extra fee.”

  “You have my thanks. It’s more than enough.” He turned to leave the room. “Let’s forget this meeting ever happened.”

  He made it three steps away before the Eye was yanked from his hand and fell to the floor. It rolled across the tiles until it bumped into my sneakers. I didn’t know how much of it had been the bond and how much it had been the Eye itself, but then, who cared? I picked it up, trying to keep my face a mask of serenity instead of triumph.

  Sullivan arched a brow. “I see.”

  “Let’s talk about my guarding fee. You are an important man, and if you help me with a small favor, I’ll be glad to transfer the bind to you.”

  “I don’t negotiate with blackmailers, lady.”

  Jeez, from one to one hundred in a second. “I’m not a blackmailer. I only need this one favor, and I think I’ve earned it, considering how much effort I’ve put in keeping the Eye safe.”

  Sullivan simply stared at me, boredom creeping into his darkening features. With a start, I realized the lights had begun to dim. Unease hit me like a brick. I looked behind me, searching for the tell-tale signs of oily darkness and black tendrils.

  “The hound is yours?” I asked in too high a pitch, holding the Eye close to my chest. I chanced a glance down. Its pupil stared back. Did I dare…?

  Sullivan took a step toward me. “Don’t even think about it. You don’t want to use that Eye. The tradeoff will be much worse than you imagine. Be a good girl and hand it over with the bind.”

  Prickling along my arms turned my skin into goosebumps. I could almost feel the Fae beast lurking somewhere outside the room, waiting for its master’s signal to rush in and munch on human.

  “Call it away,” I said.

  “Transfer the bind.”

  “Not until we’re upstairs.”

  “Here.”

  I shook my head. I was impulsive, not stupid. “No.”

  “Then you’ll die, and the binding will snap to me.”

  I let the dormant Fae magic in my blood awaken and travel all the way to my fingers, to the Eye. I was about to find out what this horrible tradeoff was all about. As I’d told Aidan earlier in the day, it couldn’t be worse than death, right?

  The room’s door blew inward, and Aidan stepped on the threshold.

  Thank God.

  “Greaves,” snarled Sullivan.

  “Call your hound off, Sullivan. We’ve got a meeting at the Institute.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Sullivan said, composing himself. “I have done nothing wrong. The lady was simply returning my property. You can’t take me to the Institute for retrieving things I bought legally.”

  “I can take you for not registering your items.”

  “I have two weeks since the day of acquisition, which happens to be,” he made a show of looking at his luxury wristwatch, “today.”

  “Then what about I take you for imprisonment of people?” Aidan said just as placidly, tipping his head toward me.

  Sullivan tut-tutted. “Not the Institute’s purview.”

  Aidan leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms, looking mighty good. “I don’t mind waiting while the guardians get here.”

  “This is a private meeting, and you’re intruding in my business’s property. If you want to wait, you can do it outside while me and the lady finish our business.”

  I shook my head like some kind of demented doll. Aidan looked at the ceiling and took a deep breath.

  “Miss Dover here is acting under the Institute’s orders,” he said in a neutral tone. I gave him a small thumbs up. His eye twitched. “As her supervisor, I must make sure she’s following instructions, you understand.”

  “Oh, bullshit.” Sullivan brought a hand to the neck of his shirt. “This is not how I wanted things to end, but you’ve become an annoyance anyway.”

  “Maddie,” Aidan warned, moving inside the room. “Go.”

  Sullivan’s smile stretched wide. “I don’t think so.” He finished unbuttoning the shirt and grabbed some kind of pendant. Magic raised the hairs on my nape. I backed up until I hit the wall. The hound’s stalking magic and this new power mingled in the air, making my own magic squirm and bury itself into the depths of my soul. It wanted no part of this, and neither did I, but I was too frozen to do anything but gape.

  The light dimmed until both Sullivan and Aidan were simple shapes. Something howled in my ears, inside my head. It made me want to curl up and burrow into the floor.

  “Yes, come closer, Greaves,” Sullivan taunted. The floor beneath his feet became an enlarging pool of oily darkness, and I flattened myself against the wall. Perhaps I could slowly pick my way around the room until I got to the door, I thought in my panic. Aidan and Sullivan were busy with each other. They might not notice me.

  But one glance at Aidan and my plan crumbled into little pieces. He hadn’t taken his attention away from Sullivan, not even to look at the pool of darkness slowly eating its way across the floor. Dream Devourer’s hilt rested in his hand.

  Something shifted inside me. I was no longer one, but part of a team. Aidan might have come mostly to save the Eye and not me, but I couldn’t leave him.

  A mass of glistening dark muscle rose out of the pool.

  I gasped, horrified.

  It wasn’t the hound. It was way worse.

  13

  Aidan didn’t react at the new arrival.

  The same, sadly, could not be said of me.

  Biting my lip to stop myself from shouting some curses, I squirmed along the wall until I hit the farthest corner. I kept telling my body to stop, that it would call attention to me, but my body was like hahaha, nope.

 

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