Dead Letter Day (24 page)

“Yes. I do mean the witch. Her name is Meredith and he cares about her. He would not go without telling her.” I ruminated for a moment or two. “Plus, it seems like there might be somebody trying to scare me off.”

Kevin snorted. “Well, whoever would be trying that certainly doesn’t know you well.”

I started to laugh and then froze. He was right. Anyone who knew even a little bit about me would know that trying to scare me off would be like waving a flag in front of a bull. So it would have to be someone who didn’t know me, not even by reputation. Which mean that it couldn’t be someone in the Pack. I’d been following the wrong person entirely.

Who else’s attention would I have come to, though? I thought about it for a minute. Then I dug the silver lace out of my backpack. It had no tingle to it at all. I tossed it toward Kevin. His hand went up to catch it instinctively. The second it hit his skin, he nearly howled and dropped it.

“What the hell?” he demanded. “What are you trying to do?”

“Eliminate you as a suspect,” I said.

“IT’S NOT KEVIN,” I SAID AS I COLLAPSED ONTO THE futon couch.

“What’s not Kevin?” Ted asked.

I was so happy to be home in my own apartment. I might sing the praises of the comfort of Grandma’s Buick, but it was really only comfortable compared to other cars. Sleeping in the Buick had left me with a crick in my neck and a pain in my back. “Kevin didn’t kidnap Paul to try to take over the Pack.”

“And you know that how?”

“I followed him and the silver stuff didn’t tingle at all,
which is weird because it did tingle the other day when I was standing next to him on the sidewalk.” I rolled my head and listened to my neck make popping sounds.

“There are so many parts of that sentence that I have questions about that I’m not sure where to start.” He frowned at me.

I yawned. “Pick one.”

“You followed a werewolf that you suspected of kidnapping Paul?” He held up one finger.

I nodded. “I wanted to see what he was up to. Turns out he’s taking calculus.”

“Well, sure. That makes perfect sense. Higher mathematics would seem to be a natural thing for a werewolf to study.” He was still frowning and holding up the one finger.

“Don’t be a smart-ass. He wants an engineering degree. He wants to start his own business and then start his own pack.” I stretched my arms.

“The silver tingled around him.” He held up a second finger.

“Yeah. The other day on the street. It was in my pocket and we were standing on the sidewalk near the hardware store and then it practically burns a hole in my jeans.” I stretched. “I’ve told you objects of power react when they’re near their maker.”

“So if Kevin isn’t the one who made that silver lace, who else was nearby who could have?” The frown was gone. Now he looked thoughtful.

I didn’t have an answer for that one. “I don’t know.” No way was it Sam. It would have vibrated like crazy when we found it.

He pressed. “Who else was there?”

I closed my eyes and tried to re-create the moment. “I don’t know. People.”

“Okay. Try not to think about what you saw. What about what you sensed with, you know, your other senses?” He leaned toward me.

“Nothing. I had those locked down pretty hard.” I shook my head.

“Why? Is Kevin that overwhelming?” He sat up straighter now.

Was he a little jealous? “No, but that chick at the yarn store is.”

“She’s Arcane?”

“I can’t really say. Her grief is too overpowering. I had to slam everything shut just to stay on my feet.” I shivered thinking about what it felt like to get even a whiff of Inge’s grief.

His eyes widened. “Have you always sensed emotional states like that?”

I shook my head. “No. It’s a recent thing.”

“Kind of like the zapping.” He didn’t ask that as a question. It was a statement of fact.

I looked over at his handsome face, at the way his jaw ran so true and square. I had to tell him. It was time. “There’s something else new.”

He turned to face me, head cocked to one side. “Yeah? What?”

I ducked my head. This was so hard.

He lifted my head, fingers gentle under my chin. “Hey, it’s okay. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.”

I so hoped that was right. “Ted, I’m pregnant.”

I had imagined this scenario and how it might go. I had imagined the possibility of Ted immediately dropping to one knee and proposing to me. I had imagined him pulling me into his arms and telling me he loved me. I had imagined tears filling his eyes as he contemplated me carrying his
child. I’d imagined my protests. I’d imagined how I’d tell him he didn’t have to marry me. I’d imagined doing my usual standing-brave-and-tall thing.

I had not imagined him pushing himself back into a corner of the couch and going a whiter shade of pale than any Procol Harum song could ever conjure.

I had also not imagined Norah and Alex walking in the door two seconds later.

“Hi, guys,” Norah sang out as she flounced into the living room and then froze, staring at Ted. “What’s wrong?”

“How do you know something’s wrong?” I asked.

“How could you look at him and not know?” she countered, pointing at Ted. “Are you sick?”

He shook his head. I saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down a few times, but he still hadn’t said anything.

“Is someone else sick?” Norah pressed.

More head shaking. More not speaking.

Then Norah turned to me. Or on me. “What did you do to him?”

I took a deep breath and said, “I told him I was pregnant.”

I hadn’t realized how spiteful I was feeling until the surge of satisfaction ran through me as I watched the wind taken neatly out of Norah’s indignant sails. “You’re what?”

“Pregnant. With child. Knocked up. Preggers. I have a bun in the oven. I’m gravid.” I ran out of ways to say it. It’s not like I had a lot of practice.

Alex flopped down in the armchair. “So you finally told him, did you?”

Now Ted found his voice. “You told him before you told me?”

“You are absolutely the first person I told,” I said and turned toward Alex. “How did you know?”

He tapped his ears. “I have really acute hearing. I heard the heartbeat.”

“When?”

“Last week some time.” He shrugged.

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“I knew you’d figure it out eventually. You’re not that un-self-aware,” he said, smiling.

“Thanks tons.”

Alex turned toward Ted. “Are you okay?”

Ted stared at me, blank-faced. This was so not what I’d thought would happen. “We never talked about having children. I didn’t think we were at that stage yet.”

“Yeah, well, apparently your sperm and my eggs thought differently,” I said, feeling more and more disgruntled and, frankly, butt hurt. Where was the grand proposal gesture that I could turn down? Where was the overflow of emotion that I could stem?

“You look like you could use a drink,” Alex said to Ted.

“Yeah, well, I can’t have one so he can’t either,” I snapped.

“You realize that makes no sense, right?” Alex said, leaning back in his chair, a bemused smile on his face.

“I’m not supposed to make sense. I’m hormonal, remember?” I looked over at Norah, who hadn’t said a word in a few minutes. She looked just as poleaxed as Ted. Norah loved babies. I’d have thought she’d already be planning my baby shower and trying to dress me in smock tops. “Don’t you have anything to say?”

“Have you been to a doctor?” she asked.

That was the last straw. I stood up. “Good night. Thanks for all your support.” I walked down the hall and went into my bedroom. For the first time possibly ever, I locked the door.

10

APPARENTLY BUILDING A PLACENTA IS SUFFICIENTLY exhausting that I fell asleep despite the rage and hurt that was roiling inside me. That was something to be grateful for.

“Thanks, baby,” I said, putting my hand on my stomach. “It’s good to help each other out because it looks like each other is all we’re going to have.”

I rolled out of bed and considered my schedule. It was pretty clear today. T.J. and Sophie could cover the classes at the dojo and I wasn’t due back at the hospital for a few days. I decided to call Meredith and see if she wanted to help me look for Paul. Surprise surprise, she totally did.

She arrived at the apartment an hour and a half later, dressed for action. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a thick braid and she was wearing a cotton jersey shirt, leggings and soft black boots with no heel. In fact, she looked suspiciously as if she had dressed up as me for a costume
party. She took one look at me and said, “What’s up with you? You look different.”

I sighed. I’d hoped to keep this quiet for a little while longer, but apparently my friends were a little too observant for that. “I’m pregnant.”

Meredith’s eyes went wide, her hands flew to her mouth and then she threw her arms around me. “Congratulations! How wonderful! How are you feeling?”

Well, finally, someone gave me a decent reaction. “I’m okay. I think it’s why I’ve been so tired.”

Meredith sat down on one of the stools by the breakfast bar in the kitchen and looked me up and down. “That would explain that.” Then she stopped and stared right through me. “It might explain some other stuff, too.”

“Like what? Why my boobs hurt?”

“Well, yeah that, but also the, uh, zapping thing.”

Yeah, right. “Look, Meredith, I’ve been doing a lot of reading up on pregnancy and nowhere does it mention that expectant mothers suddenly develop the ability to channel electricity.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not just you anymore, now are you? You’re kind of two people at the moment. Maybe the zapping thing isn’t your ability.” She smiled as if just the thought of it amused her.

I saw where she was going. If I was eating and drinking for two, maybe I was also being magical for two. “I don’t think I’m that far along. Right now it’s probably barely a collection of cells.” A collection of cells that responded to me when I put my hand near it or thought about it a lot, but still a collection of cells.

Meredith waved her hand in the air. “What are any of us but a collection of cells? Do you think having Arcane abilities
is something that comes along later in life? We’re all born into it one way or the other.”

“Not me.” I hadn’t been. I’d been a normal three-year-old. It had all come down to that one afternoon when I was supposed to be napping and had opted to go for a swim instead.

“Are you so sure about that?” She leaned forward on the counter. “You were really young. Do you remember what you were like before that day?”

“Of course not. I was three. I barely remember that day.” Actually, I didn’t remember that day. Everything I knew about it came from other people’s accounts: my mother, my father, my grandmother, Mae. They’d all been the ones to tell me what happened and what the consequences of those occurrences had been. My father can’t talk about it without shaking, so he’s pretty useless as a source of information.

Meredith straightened up and lifted her hands, palm up. “See my point? You might have had something magical about you already that you don’t remember.”

“What about Sophie, then? Wouldn’t she have had something about her, too?” If there was a reason that I was a Messenger, then it would stand to reason that it would apply to Sophie as well.

Meredith shrugged. “That would make sense. Have you ever asked her?”

I sat down next to her. “No.”

Meredith shrugged and said, “Maybe you could inquire.”

I shook my head again. “No. I’m pretty sure if I started zapping people in the womb, someone would have mentioned it by now.”

“Still. It wouldn’t hurt to ask Sophie.”

Although, come to think of it, Sophie had sort of asked me. Maybe the conversation we’d had about why we had
become Messenger when others hadn’t had been a way to open the topic.

I supposed it wouldn’t hurt to ask her. I finished drinking my tea and we headed out the door.