Ever After (Rachel Morgan)

my tangled hair and let it drop, wanting nothing more than a hot shower and a carton of ice cream. “So we can go to the collective and make him fix it, right?” I said, feeling good for the first time in . . . hours? Had it only been that long?
    Newt had drifted from the bed, tidying little things here and there, snooping, and my hackles began to rise. “If he caused it, he can fix it,” she said. “But he’ll wait until after you’re dead, then ‘save’ us so we are more indebted to him.”
    Al snorted. “A brat after my own heart. Minus the killing Rachel part, of course.”
    “But you know he did it!” I said. “We found the proof!”
    Al said nothing, and my smile faded. “Al?” I questioned, and he sighed. Even Newt was avoiding me, and a spark of anger grew. “We can make him fix it, right? Al, you saw his signature in the leak.”
    “Unfortunately—” Al started, and I got in his face, waving my hand under his nose.
    “No, no, no!” I exclaimed. “There is no unfortunately in your next sentence. We make him fix it! I’m not going down as the one who broke the ever-after!”
    Al heaved a sigh, then shivered when a black-smeared coating of ever-after slithered over him. It fell away to leave him clean, the soft shape of an old-fashioned nightdress showing between his skin and the coverlet. Newt, obviously. “Rachel,” he said as he studied his bare hands. “My aura is burned down to my soul. Will you wait a few days? Then we can go in, accusations and hidden barbs flying, okay?”
    I scrunched my nose up, hating Newt when she laughed at me. “Ah, the vigor of the young,” she said, making things worse. “If it were me, I wouldn’t go even then.”
    “Why not?” I said, feeling another unfortunately coming on.
    Newt touched a hand mirror that looked identical to the one I’d seen Ceri use. “Al’s testimony will be suspect, even if he did nearly kill himself. No one will risk verifying the truth of it after seeing what it did to him. Al would be dead now if not for . . . you pulling him out.”
    She had been going to say “those rings,” but I kept silent. Her word choice was telling. Frustrated, I loomed over Al, and he closed his eyes, ignoring me. “Al,” I said forcefully, and he opened them. I hesitated at his black orbs, then rushed ahead. “I am not going to take the curse off Ku’Sox. It’s the only reason I can sleep at night. Besides, I don’t think he simply wants me dead, he wants all of you dead, too, or why bother with the Rosewood babies?”
    Newt looked at Al, an unusual trace of fear in the back of her eyes. “I believe you,” she said, her fingers tracing over the few things on the dresser. “But no one is going to help you.”
    “Why not?” I said in frustration.
    “Because we know we can’t control him, and we are cowards,” she said. “It was your familiar who freed him, and thus it is your responsibility to control him. If you can’t, we will give him you to placate him and save ourselves.”
    This sucked. “I got him back in the ever-after,” I said, and she took up the hand mirror.
    “Where we didn’t want him,” she said, and I slumped. “Best him, or we will kill you so he will save us. I’m surprised the collective gave you any time at all. They must like you.”
    I couldn’t get the frown off my face if I tried. Like me, huh? Funny way to show it.
    Al reached out to take the mirror Newt had brought to the bed. “Send her home,” he said, sounding tired, and then he started at his reflection. “What the devil happened to my eyes?”
    Newt took the mirror back despite Al’s protests, oddly sexy as she sashayed across the bedroom to put it back on the dresser. “Will they return to normal?” he asked, and she shrugged.
    “No!” I said loudly, and Al looked at me. “This is bull crap!” I added so he’d know I wasn’t talking about his stupid eyes. “Ku’Sox is going to own up to this!”
    “He’ll say you went in on it together and are now backing out, love,” Newt said.
    My zeal evaporated at the moniker, and cold, I slowed my anger. I didn’t like being “love” to a demon. It meant I was being stupid and foolish.
    “Newt, send her home, please,” Al said, his voice low in fatigue.
    The demon inclined her head, and I waved my hands in protest. “Hey! Wait! Who’s going to watch you?”
    “I don’t need watching,” Al mumbled, burrowing deeper into the folds of goose down and silk. “Go home.