Ivy’s voice sounded dead when she next spoke. “Fine,” she said to the sink. “Go get yourself killed. Both of you.” She jerked herself into motion and I jumped. Hunched and pained-looking, she stalked out of the kitchen. Too soon to be believed came the sound of the church’s front door slamming, then nothing.

Someone, I thought, was going to get hurt tonight.

Jenks left my earring, alighting on the windowsill. “What’s with her?” he asked belligerently into the sudden quiet. “You would almost think she cared.”

Sixteen

I woke from a sound sleep, jolted by the distant sound of glass breaking. I could smell wood incense. My eyes flashed open.

Ivy was bending over me, her face inches from mine.

“No!” I shouted, punching out in a blind panic. My fist caught her in the gut. Ivy clutched her middle and fell to the floor, struggling to breathe. I scrambled to crouch on my bed. My eyes darted from the gray window to the door. My heart pounded, and I went cold in a painful rush of adrenaline. She was between me and my only way out.

“Wait,” she gasped, her robe sleeve falling to her elbow as she reached to catch me.

“You backstabbing, bloodsucking vamp,” I hissed.

My breath caught in surprise as Jenks—no, it was Jax—flitted from the windowsill to hover before me. “Ms. Rachel,” he said, distracted and tense. “We’re under attack. Fairies.” He nearly spat the last word.

Fairies, I thought in a wash of cold fear as I glanced at my bag. I couldn’t fight fairies with my charms. They were too fast. The best I could do would be to try and squish one. Oh God. I’d never killed anyone in my entire life. Not even by accident. I was a runner, damn it. The idea was to bring them in alive, not dead. But fairies …

My gaze shot to Ivy, and I flushed as I realized what she was doing in my room. With as much grace as I could find, I got off my bed. “Sorry,” I whispered, offering her a hand up.

Her head tilted so she could see me past the curtain of her hair. Pain barely hid her anger. A white hand darted out and yanked me down. I hit the floor with a yelp, panicking again as she covered my mouth with a firm hand. “Shut up,” she wheezed, her breath on my cheek. “You want to get us killed? They’re already inside.”

Eyes wide, I whispered around her fingers, “They won’t come inside. It’s a church.”

“Fairies don’t recognize holy ground,” she said. “They couldn’t care less.”

They were already inside. Seeing my alarm, Ivy took her hand from my mouth. My eyes went to the heating vent. Reaching out a slow hand, I closed it, wincing at the squeak.

Jax lit upon on my pajama-covered knee. “They invaded our garden,” he said, the murderous cast on his childlike face looking terribly wrong. “They’re going to pay. And here I am, stuck babysitting you two lunkers.” He flitted to the window in disgust.