“What?” Rex spit out. He hadn’t seen what Grey had seen.
Grey stood where he was for a moment, looking at his empty right hand. Nothing was there.
Slowly, he re-did exactly what he had just done, miming the killing blow again, watching his hand as he did it. On the front swing, just exactly at the point that his hand had been in when he’d first came in contact with the angel—when his hand was in that exact position, the pendant he’d usedappearedin his hand, hard and cold andreal.
Grey jumped, propelling himself backwards until he hit the wall. The pendant in his hand disappeared with the movement. He stood there breathing hard for a few moments, his empty hands behind him, holding on to the wall.
Rex and Soren stared at him like he was crazy.
Was he crazy?
Azer?he whispered in privateruhi.
No answer. Grey dropped his hands to his sides. He stuffed them in his pockets. He needed to be alone. He needed to figure this out.
“I think it exploded,” he finally managed to say to Rex.
Rex nodded like he’d expected it. He looked around. “This place sucks.”
Grey ignored him, trying to wrestle his breathing and his heart rate back under control.. “Are we going after Blake again? “ he asked.
“Nah,” Soren said from the corner, “The wolves are thinking of moving him out to VF. He’s got a constant guard. He’s out for now.”
“VF?” Grey knew he’d heard the phrase before, but in his state he couldn’t remember what it meant.
“It’s what they call where they all live.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Grey didn’t think that would make him any easier to get to. “Why does he want Blake anyway?” he asked, his mind on what he’d seen in his hand.
“Because there’s a vahiy sign about him. When all the vahiy signs are triggered, Rhen dies.”
That thought made Grey feel like he’d been stabbed, but he knew something they didn’t. He somehow knew that was not how it worked at all. Something had happened when he’d been in that cell… something Azer had told him, or… somehow conveyed to him. He opened his mouth to tell what he knew, but then he closed it again.
“If they move him out to Trevor’s farm we are going to have no chance of getting to him,” he said, thinking hard. Maybe he had something else Khain would want. “Does he want another pendant? I have two more.”
“You mean the ones that were under the post office in Chicago?” Rex said, looking to Soren for confirmation. “The wolves already got their hands on them.”
“You’re kidding me,” Grey whispered.
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”
Grey didn’t speak for a few moments. Had he known that already? Maybe. His mind really was slipping. He’d felt good when he’d first left the Pravus, but no longer.
Rex picked up the can of Cheez Whiz and pitched it at the wall.
“How did you get your hands on them in the first place?” Soren asked.
Grey only looked at him.
“You might as well tell,” Soren said.
“I might as well,” Grey repeated. “Different ways,” he said grumpily. “I might have stolen a couple. Another I saw the mom sell in a pawn shop so I bought it.”
Rex gave him a look like he was starting to like him. Grey showed Rex his teeth.
“Do you have any more pendants anywhere?” Soren asked.
Grey couldn’t remember if he did or not. “No,” he said grumpily.