Trent looked at Jenks. “He’s not a sidekick,” he said, and I blinked. A compliment?

“Awww, I think I’m going to fart fairy dust,” Jenks said, clearly pleased as he managed to make the flight to the rearview mirror now that he was warm again.

From the back, Ivy piped up, “Take him. It will save me from pounding you when you don’t show up by midnight tomorrow.”

Trent jerked his head to glance at her. “You’re awake, too?”

Vivian stretched, yawning. “I think you should take him,” the coven member said. “You can’t be expected to work alone. No one but a fool works alone.”

Trent cleared his throat dryly, and I exchanged a worried look with him, hoping she hadn’t pieced together that the “thing” we’d been talking about was Ku’Sox. “How about you, Pierce?” I said, trying to distract her. “You want to weigh in on this decision?”

“Aye,” he said, the lump he made not moving. “I’m of a mind you should do it alone.”

Surprised, I turned to look at Pierce as he sat up, his mood surly.

“But only so that devil of a demon doesn’t eat Jenks,” he added. “I wouldn’t give a horse apple for the son of a Kalamack, but Jenks is a fine warrior, and I’d be sad to see him make a die of it for whatever foolish quest you’re on.”

Oooooh, strike one.

Not a twitch, not a single movement gave away Trent’s thoughts. He wasn’t going to go for it, and whatever idiotic thing he was about to do in Seattle was going to bitch-slap me with no advance warning, probably at the least opportune time. I glanced at Jenks.

Jenks shrugged, the slight rise of his shoulders almost unnoticed with the thin glow of pixy dust sifting from him. “Face it, you little cookie maker,” Jenks said, almost sounding fond, “in the last couple of days, you’ve seen what it’s like to be in a family, with all the touchy tempers and irritation that goes on. Now you get to see the other side, where we do stupid stuff for each other just because we like you. Rache is the little sister. Ivy’s the big sister. I’m the uncle from out of state, and you’re the rich nephew no one likes but we put up with you anyway because we feel sorry for you. Just let me help, huh? It won’t kill you.”

I’m the little sister? I thought, looking back at Ivy for her opinion, finding her smiling a soft, closed-lips smile.

Silent—thinking, I hope—Trent drove, not really seeing the road as we barreled into the mountains. “Fine,” he eventually said, to make Jenks explode with a burst of pixy dust. “But I’m not telling you what I’m doing until we get there.”

“Okay. Okay,” Jenks said, making a swooping flight to his shoulder. Both Trent and I stiffened, but Jenks was oblivious. “Tell me when we get there. I can adapt. Damn! Rache, this is going to be fun!”