“Oh, please.” I scowled, rubbing my eyes. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“It’s just a car, Harley. You’re alive, that’s what matters.”
“It’s not just a car. It’s my car! This was the first thing I bought when I became independent. Daisy meant the world to me. She was my symbol of freedom. Not just a car!”
Wade stared at me for a few moments, while I tried to regain my composure. My body was reacting to adrenaline withdrawal, my muscles and joints shaking like crazy. He moved closer and put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently.
“It’ll be okay,” he said. “You’re good. You made it. And you held your own against three gargoyles. Not something that a Mediocre can easily pull off, believe me.”
Was that a compliment?
I nodded, sniffing as I looked around again. “What do we do now?” I asked, worried about the people outside the protective bubble.
“They didn’t see or have any direct contact with the gargoyles. I bet they just saw a crazy girl falling out the window,” he replied, reaching for his phone. He dialed a number, then waited for someone to pick up. “Yeah, it’s Crowley. There was an incident at Harley Smith’s apartment. Park West. Yes. Requesting permission to flash witnesses, until we do a thorough cleanup tomorrow. Yes, thank you.”
He hung up, then gave me a brief smirk.
“What?” I frowned, too bummed out to enjoy the sliver of satisfaction coming out of him.
“Let me show you something cool,” he replied, then gave me the jar again. “Actually, you can hold on to this.”
He put his hands out, the rings on his fingers lighting up blue.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“The upside to using a time lapse in the form of a sphere is that we can add another spell to its surface,” Wade explained. “What happens is that the sphere usually explodes outward in a puff of energy once the time lapse expires, so we can use the force of that explosion to push out another spell—in this case, a memory wiper.”
He muttered another spell, and the sphere turned from blue to white, then burst outward in a blinding flash. I had to close my eyes for a second. Once I opened them, I saw the people around us blink several times, then walk away, absentmindedly. Time resumed its normal flow, and nobody seemed too bothered about the mangled car or the broken windows on the fifth floor.
“You made them forget,” I murmured.
“Not exactly. It’s short-term hypnosis. I’m not capable of performing mass hypnosis, yet. But this will keep them in a haze for about twenty-four hours, which gives us enough time to come back tomorrow and wipe their memories, one by one.”
“How will we find them tomorrow?” I asked, watching as the crowd dissipated on the left side of the street, as well.
“The spell leaves traces of my energy behind,” he replied. “I’ll be able to detect it tomorrow.”
“Like a tracking device,” I concluded, and he nodded. The biggest question finally made its way past my lips. “What the hell were three gargoyles doing in my apartment? Why’d they come after me? Where did they come from?”
Okay, three questions. Compared to how many I had for follow-up, I figured I’d ease him into it.
“I honestly have no idea,” Wade replied, and I could feel his befuddlement. “The one you’re holding came from the Bestiary, that I’m sure of. I recognized its tracking number.”
“Huh?”
“Remember, we track our monsters. They’re all tagged, right behind the ear.” He instinctively pointed at his ear. “You won’t like this, though… It’s the same gargoyle you and I captured the other night at the casino.”
“Wait, what?” My jaw dropped, and I stared at the smoky jar for a couple of seconds. “What about the other two? Also from the Bestiary?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “They’re wildlings, and judging by how they behaved, they were freshly made, too. Which means there are more undiscovered magicals in San Diego, and they’ve recently Purged.”
“I don’t get it, Wade. Why did they come after me? Why me, of all people?” I asked, unable to wrap my head around the concept that I had been the deliberate target of a gargoyle attack.
“I wish I had an answer, Harley, but I don’t. My first thought was that this bad boy here came looking for revenge, but I can’t explain how he got hold of the other two, or how they found you here. I’ll go over this with Alton later, though. He might have some insights.”
Another question slipped to the front of the line in my head. “What were you doing here, anyway?” I asked him.
Wade stilled, then scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“There’s a good Chinese place just up the road from here,” he replied. “I heard the growls.”
He wasn’t very convincing, but he was definitely hungry. I could feel the knot in his stomach echoing in mine, the psychological pressure to eat something, soon. Or was that me? Chances were that, after what had just happened, my Empathy was a little glitchy or inaccurate. I was still shaking in my boots, after all.
But I was thankful to see Wade. Had it not been for him, I probably would’ve gotten killed, and who knew how many innocent people would’ve died in the process.
“Can I buy you some Chinese dinner, then?” I asked, putting on a faint smile. “It’s the least I can do for the fact that you just saved my life.”
He looked at me for what felt like a minute, then offered a brief nod.
“I never say no to free food,” he replied. “And you’re welcome.”
Chapter Sixteen
“You’re obviously not going back to your apartment tonight,” Wade said.
He’d already notified the coven of what had happened at my place, and we were waiting for our food order at Wong’s, a local Chinese restaurant with red-and-gold wallpaper and one too many paper lanterns hanging overhead. It wasn’t too busy at this hour, but there was always a bit of time to burn while waiting for the freshly made spring rolls and fried rice. This place was a hidden gem.
“Yeah, I figured that much.” I sighed, fiddling with a pair of chopsticks. “But my rent’s paid up. I will go back at some point. I guess I’ll be staying at the coven for a few days, after all.”
“You should put in your notice, still,” Wade offered. “You’re much safer in the coven. You might even end up liking it better than that apartment. Plus, it’s rent-free.”
“I’m not letting a bunch of gargoyles drive me out of my first real home,” I replied, then chuckled softly. “Wow, I never thought I’d say something like that.”
Wade smirked. “Welcome to the real world.”
I was seeing a slightly different side of him. Brave, noble, and protective Wade Crowley. He’d swooped in and saved me—but only because I had felt overwhelmed. I’d barely known how to handle one gargoyle, not to mention three. It seemed those preceptors were going to help me fill in a lot of gaps, with knowledge that made the difference between a living Harley and a dead-as-a-doornail Harley.
Wade’s phone beeped, a text message showing up on the screen. I couldn’t see who it was from at that angle, so I raised my eyebrows at him.
“It’s Santana,” he said, quickly glancing over the text. “She wants to know if you’re okay.”
“That’s… sweet,” I replied. Santana was one of the few magicals who didn’t look at me with wariness, just curiosity.
“She wants you to know there’s a room ready for you at the coven,” Wade added, re-reading the text with a slight frown. “She made sure it’s right next to hers.”
“She strong-armed Alton?” I chuckled.
“No.” He sighed. “Knowing Santana, she probably messed with the architecture, and forcibly relocated one of her neighboring magicals. She’s very determined by nature. The laws of physics don’t have much of an impact on her decisions.”
“I’ve noticed there’s a competitive spirit in the San Diego Coven,” I said slowly. “Especially where you and Garrett are concerned. What’s up with that?”
Wade was caught off guard by the question. I felt his anxiousness and disdain coming through, all of it aimed at Garrett.
“It’s nothing personal.” He shrugged. “Garrett’s not a Mediocre, but he sure likes to act like one, unless it involves making me look bad. He’s lazy, and rarely have I seen him perform at full capacity—which can border on jaw-dropping, once he lets loose. He’s truly spectacular. But he’s got a bad mouth on him, and he’s not particularly adept at the thinking part. You know, prior to speaking. And that just enables brats like Finch and Poe to think it’s okay to be absolute jerks. The difference is that Garrett gets away with a lot of crap because of his parents. His mom runs the San Francisco Coven, and his dad is on the Texas Mage Council. They’re divorced and spoil Garrett as a result.”
“Why is he in San Diego, then? Why isn’t he with his mom, or his dad?” I replied, a clearer picture of Garrett forming in my head.
“I know for a fact that Garrett got on the wrong side of the San Francisco Coven, and his mom had to transfer him here, but nobody knows the details. Except for Alton, and he won’t tell,” Wade said. “Alton hates gossip. Which is funny, because it’s been a defining trait of this coven for years. He’s hoping to fix that. Well, he’s hoping to fix a lot of things, but I’m not sure how much he’ll get done in this lifetime.”
“What about you? What brought you to the San Diego Coven?” I asked, realizing I wasn’t all that interested in Garrett’s backstory. He came across as the rich, arrogant bully who never got in too much trouble, despite his blatant misdemeanors. He was also an enabler of Finch’s toxic behavior, and that had almost gotten me in hot water. It was better if I just kept my distance from that group. Wade, on the other hand, had captured my interest, in more than one way, and reading his emotions didn’t feel like enough.