Gift of Shadows by Amir Lane

Author:Amir Lane [Lane, Amir]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-14T22:00:00+00:00

By the time I settled back in the office to do paperwork, after making two more pointless arrests — the man whose cinnamon bird was stealing cinnamon again and a group of teenage nixie screwing with tourists — I felt I had made it up to Sabine. Her hard eyes softened as much as they ever did when I came back, my hair a mess of a bun on top of my hair and my makeup an unsalvageable mess. Kieron was gone, having left to pick his daughter up for her ballet lesson, and Rowan was packing up, leaving me and Indira. We didn’t spend much time together, but he was good company, even if it made me nervous when he began to hum or sing along with the radio.

“Night,” Rowan said, waving to both of us.

“Good night,” Indira chirped, and I waved.

I tapped my pen against my desk, bouncing my foot on the floor. A message from Ariadne popped up on my phone. I slid the screen open to read it.

Coming home for dinner? Mom sent me her recipe for stuffed grape leaves

My heart clenched, as it always did, when Ariadne called my parents ‘mom’ or ‘dad’ instead of ‘your mom’ or ‘your dad.’ It made us seem so much more real, even more than moving in together could. I knew part of her still expected her own parents to come around eventually, but I also knew they wouldn’t. Knowing she felt like my family was hers too, made my eyes water.

I’ll be home. You should start now. They take forever to roll. Lol

“Are you all right?” Indira asked.

I looked up at him and nodded. Out of habit, I pressed the back arrow to show all my messages, including the unanswered ones from Rowan that morning. A thought occurred to me. In the chaos of running around town, I’d almost forgotten about my call to him and my thoughts about a second dryad.

Rowan would be gone by now, and even if he wasn’t, it was dangerous to talk here. Even in the garage, there was the risk of someone overhearing. Beyond my team, I didn’t know who I could trust. I looked back over my shoulder at Sabine working at her computer through the blinds. Truth be told, I couldn’t even be sure I could trust her. Her loyalties were to the department, not to me.

“Are you sure you’re all right? You look stressed,” Indira said.

“I’m fine,” I assured.

I wasn’t fine, and I was stressed. My stomach was in knots at the millions of things I couldn’t even begin to sort out.

Maybe Mama was right. Maybe I should have become a doctor.

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