Page 87 of Demon's Bluff
“After we get the stasis charm,” Elyse said as I decided against bringing my bag and shoved it behind some books.
“And rekindle it,” I agreed softly as Elyse started for the hallway, not a flicker of worry or regret at the idea of stealing what we needed, not caring about the people we would inconvenience or the laws we would break in order to get what we wanted. And that, I think, was what worried me most.
She might be helping me, but it was obvious she didn’t trust me, and I, sure as pixy dust glowed, didn’t trust her. Worse, I was giving her a front-row seat to the laws I had to break to do my job—and there was nothing I could do about it.
Chapter
21
“Rachel, we’re here.”
I started awake, surprised to find myself on the bus until I remembered. People in scrubs and jeans were making their way to the rear to get off, and new passengers dressed about the same were getting on at the front. I stood, stifling a yawn as I joined the line to the back and shuffled to the steps. Four hours of sleep hadn’t been nearly enough. The coffee I’d had for breakfast wasn’t helping. I was tired, my gut hurt…and a part of me was foolishly worried that Kisten might wake up and that I wouldn’t be there.
But he was not waking up, not ever, and my throat closed against my heartache. He was starving to death, his aura slipping away as he tried to fight off Art’s virus. This, too, I could not stop.
Elyse hit the sidewalk ahead of me, obnoxiously awake and alert. I planned on picking up our glamours on the way in, seeing as she was still a person of interest and I…Well, too many hospital workers knew who I was. Not to mention sequins and rhinestones didn’t do it for me anymore. Much.
Head down, I didn’t notice when Elyse veered off, and I scuffed to a halt when she shouted an annoyed “Hey!”
“This way,” I said, seeing her standing halfway to the main entrance, hand on her hip as if I was a dunderhead. She stared at me for a heartbeat, then jogged forward as if four hours was enough sleep for anyone.
“Not the front?” she said as she slowed to meet my ambling stroll, and I shrugged. I’d left my bag at the library and felt naked without it. It was almost as recognizable as me.
“The undead’s ambulance entrance,” I said. “We’ll find someone to lift a glamour from and work around not having the right ID.”
Elyse’s gaze fixed on the steady stream of employees leaving, the woman nodding at the predominance of red scrubs. I’d timed it perfectly. “The undead have their own entrance?” she asked.
“For convenience. Cincy has had a second emergency room since before the Turn,” I explained. “They keep the languishing undead in a separate facility, which we can access more easily from there. The entire floor is slow this time of day.”
She made a little huff. “It’s your town.”
“Yep, and you just keep remembering that,” I said, not liking her doubt. “Slow up, I want to lift her image. We won’t have her ID, but she’s about the same build as you.”
“An intern?” Elyse complained as I tapped a line and peered through the stone’s hole at the woman in red scrubs, clearly eager to get to her car and the rest of her day.
“A priori,”I said to capture her image in my mind, and I felt a twinge of connection.
I turned to Elyse…choking back the next phrase. She was gone. “Elyse?” Crap on toast, she was jogging after the woman in question. Worse, Elyse rammed right into the woman’s shoulder, both of them crying out in surprise as Elyse caught her arm and kept her from going down.
“Oh, my gosh!” Elyse gushed, her brow furrowed in worry. “I am such a klutz. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” the woman said in annoyance. “Just don’t drive like that, okay?”
“I’m so sorry.” Elyse began to back away, the woman’s ID going into her pocket.
Clever,I mused when Elyse sauntered to me, as smug as a snake.
“Now you can spell me,” she said, and I gave her a nod of approval.
“A posteriori,”I said as I peered at her through the stone, then blew through it at her, thinking,Omnia mutantur.
Elyse shivered, and I looked through the stone again to see not Elyse but the athletic blonde, right down to her red scrubs. “You’re good.”
Elyse frowned as she peered at the woman’s ID. “Mandy Manning. Tell me who you want and I’ll get their ID.”
“Her,” I said as I targeted a short brunette. She was somewhat stockier than me, but I liked her black slacks and white blouse. She was probably an office manager, but with the right attitude, she could be from the I.S. “Leave her,” I added when Elyse rocked into motion. “An I.S. employee wouldn’t have a hospital ID. We’ll get in on yours.”
“You sure?”