Moonshine (2010) by Johnson Alaya

Author:Johnson, Alaya [Alaya, Johnson,]
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781429923354
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Published: 2011-01-14T19:13:38.406000+00:00

But there were implications that I hadn’t thought through. If Nicholas was Rinaldo’s son, then he almost certainly knew the location of his father’s secret lair. On the other hand, getting it out of him would be that much harder. For all he seemed to hate his father, I didn’t want to be the one to detonate that complex welter of emotions I’d seen lurking so close to the surface. Bloody stakes, and I thought I’d had it tough. His own daddy turned him at thirteen. I’d had plenty of reasons to want to take out Rinaldo before. This was just more fuel for the fire.

I was so tired by the time I turned onto Ludlow Street that I almost fell off my bicycle. My God, I needed to sleep. I calculated that I had three hours before Iris’s ad hoc Temperance Union meeting. Any little bit would help. But I’d only stored my bicycle under the staircase when a sudden scent overpowered me. Oranges, frankincense and myrrh.

“You smell like the three goddamn kings,” I said.

“I think they were ifrits, actually.”

His voice was warm with banked humor. For the first time since Daddy so rudely interrupted us, he actually sounded okay. I turned around. “How are you doing?” I asked. I wanted to touch him, but kept my hands firmly by my sides.

His lips twisted. “Making do,” he said. “If you hadn’t come back soon, I was going to check the Tombs.”

“Haven’t we already been through this? Give me some credit.”

“It sounded like there was a war on this morning. I thought it more than likely you’d be in it.”

I shook my head. “Stuck in my room, actually. This Faust stuff is a mess . . . I saw some things that first night at the club, but I didn’t realize just how bad it was going to be. We have to find Rinaldo. We have to stop him.”

Amir gave me a curious look, almost chagrined. “Stop? I’m afraid stopping him wasn’t really part of my plan.”

“Oh, that. After you get back what ever it is he took from you, then.”

“Well . . . ah, I suppose I’d have no objections. But silly me, imagining you didn’t approve of extrajudicial assassination.”

That stopped me short. He was right—the plan smacked a little too much of my Defender past for me to do more than squirm uncomfortably. “What other options are there? If we have the chance . . . you know the police won’t stop this.”

He regarded me silently for a few moments. “I think, somehow, you are oversimplifying things, Zephyr.”

I didn’t respond and he shrugged. “And who am I to lecture you on morality? I prefer a more simple calculus. For example, is your inestimable father anywhere in the vicinity, and if not, would you like to come back with me?” He cupped one hand around the back of my head. Who needed central heating when you had a djinn nearby?

I laughed. “Tell me again, why exactly are you taking Basic Literacy and Elocution?”

“I heard a rumor about a teacher.

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