Tales of the Djinn: The Double (38 page)

“Go back to sleep,” she said, patting Cade’s leg gently. “I’ve got a couple landlady chores.”

“Mmph,” he said, and rolled over.

When she washed up, dressed, and made it to the kitchen, she spied Arcadius conked out the couch. His presence reassured her, though she wondered at neither man rousing. Last night’s magical fight must have taken it out of them. Well, excepting the energy they’d spent on her.

She smiled—perhaps a bit smugly—and opened her laptop. With a couple clicks, she ordered what she needed from an online store that delivered. Despite the issues that remained unsettled, she hummed as she made coffee. Still, neither djinni woke. She found some bacon in her freezer and took it out to thaw in the microwave. No man from any dimension would sleep through her frying that.

She stiffened as a key turned without warning in her front door.

“It’s just me,” her dad whispered, sticking his head around. “I need the sheep figurine from the miniature farm I sent you from Mexico. Please tell me you didn’t throw it out when I died.”

Getting used to this sort of conversation would take time.

“I think it’s on the bookcase in front of the
Poor Richard’s Almanac
. Be quiet when you get it. Arcadius is sleeping.”

Her dad tiptoed hurriedly into the living room. “Bless you,” he said, coming back with it.

“What do you need it for?” she asked curiously.

“It’s an artifact, from the djinn space associated with Chichen Itza. If you recite a spell while you hold it, it makes people suggestible.”

“O-kay,” she said, still not getting why he needed it.

“Mario’s men came back. They’re asking where he is.”

“They’re asking where he is?” She pressed her hand to her heart, alarmed by this development.

“They buzzed.” Her dad gave her arm a pat. “Don’t worry. While you were gone, I switched the manager’s calls to go to my intercom.”

Who got the manager calls hardly worried her. “Dad—”

“It’s fine,” he said, pausing at her door. “I’m going to convince them he and Cara took a long vacation in Canada.”

Elyse’s pulse palpitated in her throat. Should she wake Cade and Arcadius? Her dad seemed confident he could handle it.
Hell
, she thought and grabbed a frying pan. He shouldn’t face this without backup.

He’d been quicker than she expected. Mario’s men were leaving by the time she clattered all the way down the stairs. Her father shut the door.

“There,” he said. “All sorted out. It was like I figured. Mario didn’t prep his goons to resist magic because
he
wanted to spell them. You can have this back if you want.”

He held out the innocent looking wooden sheep. Elyse accepted it dazedly. Her knees were shaking. She sat on the nicked old bench in the small lobby space, which was currently empty of tenants.

Companionable as ever, her father dropped to the cushion beside her. “What’s the frying pan for?”

“In case you got into trouble,” she said weakly.

“Huh. You’re pluckier than I realized. Maybe I shouldn’t have kept you in the dark about the djinn.”

“Oh, that’s okay.” She rubbed her nose and laughed. “I may be plucky, but I think I have more of a fear gene than you.”

“That just makes you braver,” he said.

She set down the pan and rubbed her jeans’ faded knees. “You’re really back,” she said, the truth hitting her. “God, my life is crazy.”

“Too crazy?” he asked seriously.

His tone took her by surprise. “What do you mean?”

“Well, your fellas.” He turned to face her. “I realized last night that they’re both in love with you. Not that I’m judging. Maybe that’s the way you want it. You just, um, seem more serious about Cade.”

“I care about each of them. They’re—” How did she explain it? That they were two sides of the same person? She wasn’t sure the truth was that simple. “They’re both important to me.”

“You know the chance is high that someone will get hurt.”

“I know,” she said. “We’re trying to be careful.”

“And they’re djinn. I’m not one to throw stones, but interdimensional love affairs aren’t for everyone.”

Him trying to act all mainstream paternal made her smile. “That doesn’t bother me anymore. I’m not sure how Cade and I will arrange our lives, but I know we’re committed to each other. Maybe that will mean I move to his world, or maybe we’ll split our time here and there. I’ll be happy—and home—as long as I’m with him.”

She’d said the words easily, but she knew they were big—maybe bigger than acknowledging that she was in love. Bright spangles of excitement burst through her veins. She was glad about how she felt. It didn’t make her afraid at all.

“You do hear how you’re talking,” her father said. “You said ‘Cade and I,’ not ‘the three of us.’”

He startled her out of her sparkly glow. “Arcadius and I are newer.”

“Maybe,” he said, “but it’s something to think about.”

Elyse shifted uneasily on the bench. She didn’t want to think about it. She liked the idea of keeping Arcadius, especially now that she knew Cade wasn’t against it. Cade didn’t want his double hurt any more than she did.

We’ll find a way
, she thought.
Somehow
.

That her brain was operating more on stubbornness than belief she didn’t want to dwell on.

“Well,” she said, getting to her feet. “Is your fridge better stocked than mine? I was going to make breakfast.”

“It’s not stocked well enough for six teenagers.”

“Shoot,” she said, momentarily having forgotten them.

“I
could
take them out to shop,” he suggested unsurely. “They won’t agree to stay indoors forever, and it
might
be good if they familiarize themselves with how life works here.”

The sound of approaching male footsteps drew Elyse’s gaze away. Cade appeared on the foyer’s open stretch of stairs. Even as he trotted down them, he thrust his arms into a T-shirt and pulled it down his muscular chest. He must have been dressing on the fly.

He also must have heard what her father proposed. “You want chaperoning help?”

“Absolutely,” Leo said.

Cade hugged her shoulders and kissed her cheek. “Everything okay? Sorry I didn’t get here right away. I couldn’t decide if I should smoke down or dress.”

“Everything’s fine.” Elyse hugged him back, feeling pleasantly fussed over. “Dad can fill you in on what happened.”

“All right,” Cade said. “Let’s grab coats and round up those teenagers.”

~

Arcadius had been half awake ever since Elyse started puttering in the kitchen. He’d enjoyed her unknowing company, soothed by the simple idea that she was there. Leo’s arrival had woken him all the way, though he hadn’t known how to say so politely. Elyse’s frantic departure with the frying pan had pushed aside his concern for niceties. He’d snapped into his smoke form and streaked down the stairs after her father. He’d been prepared to intervene, but Leo tricked Mario’s associates with a minimum of effort. When Elyse caught up, Arcadius was still there, hovering invisibly. For the second time that morning, he was undecided how to announce himself.

Because he couldn’t make up his mind, he heard everything she and her father said. None of their conversation was surprising, but somehow all of it hurt.

She said she’d be happy as long as she was with Cade.

His envy made him angry—and the awareness that he was being cowardly by hiding. He rematerialized on the upper landing in front of the cozy group.

They all jolted to a halt. Arcadius forced his face to stay impassive.

“Oh,” Elyse said, her palm pressed against her breasts. “How long have you been awake?”

“I accompanied your father on his errand to befuddle Mario’s men. In case they turned violent and he needed assistance.”

“Oh.” She blinked rapidly, no doubt calculating what this meant. The faintest blush rose into her cheeks. “That was considerate.”

“You must be good at taking vapor form,” Leo said admiringly. “I never felt you there.”

Arcadius returned his compliment with a bow. “You handled the criminals well.”

“We’re taking the kids food shopping,” Cade broke in. “Maybe you’d like to come.”

“Someone should guard the residence,” he said.

He sounded stiff even to himself.

“Sure,” Cade said. “Playing it safe isn’t a bad idea.”

“I’ll stay too,” Elyse volunteered. “If we’re all eating together, I need to steal some chairs and dishes from dad’s place.”

Cade seemed to intuit this wasn’t the whole story—and that Elyse didn’t wish to elaborate right then. He kissed her lightly before he and her father left. Arcadius noticed Cade acted as much like a member of Elyse’s family as Leo Solomon.

The apartment was very quiet once they were gone.

Arcadius didn’t flinch when Elyse faced him. She put her hands on the hips of her snug blue jeans. The pants were distractingly formfitting, but he held onto his wits. “You heard what my father said. About me seeming more serious about Cade.”

“The truth shouldn’t be avoided. Especially in a situation such as the three of us are in.”

“Other things I said are true too. You’re important to me.”

He nodded, accepting that. “I apologize for not announcing my presence. I shouldn’t have eavesdropped.”

She rubbed her brow and laughed softly. “I don’t expect the people I love to be perfect.”

Conceivably he expected this of himself. “I will keep that in mind,” he said.

She surprised him by giving him a hug. His arms felt awkward as they circled her, unused to casual embraces. He did like holding her. Her smallness and her affection were pleasant. After a bit, she tipped her head up to smile at him. His heart wouldn’t go along with his resolve to remain stoic. It beat unevenly.

She rubbed his back as if she thought he needed warming up.

Maybe he did. He didn’t want to let go of her.

“Come on,” she said, her hand sliding down his arm to clasp his fingers. “Let’s go raid my dad’s apartment.”

~

By the time her dad and Cade returned with the excited teenagers and a cab load of groceries, the hour was more appropriate for lunch than breakfast. Elyse wished she’d accomplished as much in the time she’d spent with Arcadius. Though they’d done everything they needed, even setting up the kids’ new beds, she couldn’t shake the impression that she was dropping the ball with him. Arcadius was pleasant and polite—too polite, really. She ought to be able to figure out what to do or say to make things right for him. Somewhere the perfect words or gesture existed.

Unless they didn’t, in which case they were screwed.

During the meal, Arcadius was the quietest person at the table. Even the twins, who’d so recently been released from their ordeal, spoke up more than him.

The glances Cade sent his double’s way said he noticed how subdued he was. Her dad did too—though Leo was in his element, playing host to the exotic young people. They all exclaimed with disappointment when he announced he needed to excuse himself.

“You won’t even miss me,” he said, “because you’re going to clear up and figure out how to use my daughter’s dishwasher.”

“You show us, Mr. Solomon,” Celia pleaded. “We’re not as good at plucking information from the ethers as old folks.”

“All the more reason to practice. I know you want to be allowed to stay. You’ll need to convince more than one ‘old folk’ that you can handle it.”

This statement was moderately alarming. Elyse had assumed the kids would go home as soon as the cellar portal could be recharged and reprogrammed. Naturally, they’d need to return to better circumstances than they left, but she was certain the two commanders would arrange that.

Her dad spotted her look of doubt. “I didn’t promise anything,” he said, his hands up in denial. “Anyway, while the kids are busy, maybe the three of you would take a trip with me.”

“The three of us,” Arcadius repeated.

“The three of you,” he confirmed. “I can’t swear to it, but I might have a solution to your problem.”

He wouldn’t say where he was taking them, but her dad liked to be mysterious—more than she’d realized, actually. Evidently, their destination was close enough to walk. He led them north on her street and then a short ways east on 25th.

He stopped at a narrow storefront, in front of which a section of Manhattan’s ubiquitous construction scaffolding stood. The business it overhung was a bookstore, its old-fashioned door a short ramp down from street level. Dusty yellowed volumes leaned in hodgepodge stacks behind the plate glass window, blocking much of the view to the interior. Peeling gold letters announced the establishment to be G. J. Wright’s Antiquarian Book Trader. It was the sort of place elderly men and lost tourists went into. Elyse must have walked by it a thousand times without giving it a glance.

“Why are we here?”

“I wondered if you’d remember,” her father said. “The last time I brought you here you were two. We realized around then it might be best to let my brother forget this place existed.”

“This was your father Saul’s bookstore,” Cade said in a tone of discovery. “Elyse’s grandfather.”

“You researched our family.”

“And the history of your brownstone. Joseph and I wanted to know how the nexus had gotten there.”

“Who is G. J. Wright?” Arcadius asked.

“The man Saul Solomon pretended to sell the store to,” her dad answered. “I pay his salary now.”

A
Closed
sign hung in the door. Elyse supposed they wouldn’t meet Mr. Wright today.

Her dad didn’t need a key. He cupped his hand above the knob and murmured a little spell. The knob and bolt turned without him touching them. He pulled the door outward and gestured for the others to enter.

They picked their way in as best they could. Many tall overloaded shelves cramped the space. More volumes piled at their bases narrowed the paths between. Mr. Wright seemed not to have been hired for his housekeeping or his work ethic. The overwhelming smell of mildew and aging books caused Elyse to cover her nose and sneeze.

“Bless you,” Cade said, rubbing her back as he looked around.

A bell jingled as her dad shut and locked the street door again.