Light blazed like fireworks exploding in the alleyway.
“How dare you?” she shouted again, and her thunderous voice knocked him back against the wall a second time. Sonny threw an arm over his face to shield his eyes. The ground beneath him spun dizzyingly, and for a moment he thought he was going to be sick. Squinting against the glare, he glanced up at where, only a moment before, a girl had stood drenched and defiant. His jaw dropped open.
A nimbus of light flared all around her like diamond-bright wings.
He wanted to beg forgiveness. Offer up his life for his grievous offense. Grovel. The creature that stood before him, glorious as the stars, was to be worshipped and feared. His chest ached as though he’d been kicked with stone boots, and tears of remorse welled in his eyes. It was as though he were a small boy again, running through the halls of Auberon’s palace, knowing that he would never be one of the Fair Folk-a toy, a pet, but never truly loved by them. By creatures like the goddess who stood before him. Her light poured down on him, and he knew that he was massively unworthy…
And then, just as suddenly as the starburst had shone, everything went dim again.
“Jackass.”
Sonny shook his head, confused and disoriented, his field of vision still light dazzled and spotted with afterimages. He blinked at the girl, who glared angrily at him as she did the clasp back up on her necklace.
“You almost broke it!”
For an instant, Sonny thought he still saw a sparkling aura surrounding her. But it was faint, ghostly. Then nothing. She could not possibly have been hiding behind a glamour. Sonny’s Janus sensibilities could rip through a Faerie disguise as though it were gauze, even this far from the Gate.
“Are you deficient?” The girl stuffed the silver pendant back down the front of her shirt. “What the hell are you staring at?”
Sonny climbed unsteadily to his feet. The girl had her mace out now and was aiming the sprayer squarely at the bridge of his nose.
“What is it-drugs or something? What’s wrong with you?”
“Who are you?” he asked, rubbing his arm where it still tingled.
“Shouldn’t you already know that?” she scoffed. “I mean, seeing as how you’re stalking me.”
“I’m not stalking you.” He shook his head. It did, he had to admit, probably seem that way. “Not exactly. I just thought you might be able to help me.”
“Gosh, you know?” She tilted her head, eyes still bright with anger. “I’m really not feeling particularly helpful at the moment. Maybe some other time. Oh, wait. Maybe not.”
Sonny moved off, frustrated and utterly out of his depth. “All right. I understand. I’m sorry if I frightened you.”
“Yeah, well. Try not lurking. And not attacking. I’m outta here,” she said, backing away. The mace never wavered. “And don’t you dare follow me.”
“I won’t. I won’t bother you again.” Sonny held up his hands, palms out in a placating gesture. “I promise.”
“You’d better not,” Kelley said.
She turned and ran.
She ran away from him. She was afraid of him.
Sonny didn’t like the feeling at all.
“I see that went well,” Maddox said dryly as he dispersed the veil that had kept him hidden from sight and stepped out from behind a Dumpster. Sonny turned to glare at him. “No, really. I think she likes you.”
“Maddox…”
“I’m already shutting up.”
“You were supposed to be keeping watch,” Sonny muttered.
“I was. She’s quick.” He shrugged. “And anyway, you should’ve stayed veiled.”
Sonny stared in the direction the girl had gone. “I’m not sure it would have made any difference.”
“Why not?”
“She saw me. Standing onstage-she saw me. Through the veil. Did you…see her?” Sonny turned and grabbed his friend’s shoulder, hard. “I mean-just now-did you see what happened to her?”
Maddox’s expression was closed, inscrutable. The rain was lessening, but water still ran down both their faces. Neither of them noticed.
“I saw…something,” Maddox said. His voice was flat, carefully stripped of audible emotion. But his next words made his feelings perfectly clear. “I’m pretty sure it scared the hell out of me.”
“We should follow her.”
Maddox was already vigorously shaking his head. “Oh, no. No no no. You just promised you wouldn’t follow her. I’d think twice before breaking a promise to a sweet, pretty, incredibly scary kid like that. Especially when she can effortlessly toss you around in an alley.”
“Look, I got nothing but vague, somewhat dire warnings about the kelpie from the boucca. But that ‘sweet, pretty kid’ knows more about what happened at the Lake than she’s telling, and I think we should find out what that is.” Sonny didn’t bother to mention that Bob had also told him to “take care of her.”
“Let it go, Sonn,” Maddox said, and turned to walk in the opposite direction from where the girl had run. “I know trouble when I see it, and so do you. Put her out of your mind.”
Sonny did know trouble. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Maddox was right. He followed reluctantly in the other Janus’s wake, looking back over his shoulder as he went. In that moment, putting her out of his mind seemed like the hardest thing he’d ever had to do.