Page 16 of Forget Me Not

“So they find powerful fucking magic has nearly incapacitated awerewolfand they tell him to take anap?” Callalily swung around to Benny. “Well, we’re obviously going to do better than that. Not that it’s hard.”

“She’s expecting us,” Benny said confidently. “They really should think about integrating some magic-users into the hospital treatment programs. Even a support group for the cursed would be amazing. The sciences should support each other.”

Ray glanced at Penn, who shushed him though he hadn’t spoken, and then urged him to start walking.

“They mean Cassandra.” Penn at least explained that. Cassandra was the owner of Bubble Bubble, a longstanding supply shop for magic-users. She was also one of, if notthemost powerful human magic-user in Los Cerros. Ray and Penn consulted her often, especially in their earlier cases, when they had always been assigned the stuff involving magic or beings.

That felt like a long time ago. But then, Ray was very tired. He rubbed his nose and looked up in time to see Callalily catch him doing it. Callalily smiled a little, then frowned, then turned around again to keep walking.

Ray wanted to go home. But they were right; if there was a chance he could lose more memories, they ought to investigate while they could. He glanced around at the parked police cars while Penn, and the other two, led him to Penn’s car.

Or escorted him.

He looked to Penn again. She tapped her lips with one finger. Ray nodded. They could discuss that later too.

Still, despite all the shocks of the day, Ray didn’t know what to make of how easily Benny slid into the passenger seat of Penn’s car once she unlocked it. He opened his mouth.

“Oh, I’ll get my car later,” Benny assured him, as if that was Ray’s concern.

Penn waved Ray toward the back, as though Ray would have any room to move in the backseat. Nonetheless, irritable, weary, he climbed in, intentionally knocking his knees into the seat in front of him.

Ray was a giant once again in a car built for humans, and only moreso when Callalily opened the door on the other side of the car and slipped into the seat by the window. They had the empty middle seat between them, although Ray encroached on that space without trying.

With the doors closed, the outside world was muffled. The car interior smelled of Penn and past drive-thru orders and two other people Ray was supposed to know. They smelled like exhaustion and Ray’s soap. Callalily glittered under the streetlight as he buckled his seat belt. He glanced at Ray, sighed, then stared out the window.

Penn started the car. She left the radio off.

“Rain should come soon, if we’re lucky,” Benny commented as they left the hospital grounds.

“I do love the city after a rain,” Penn responded. “Go to the pier, get some chowder, breathe in all the fresh air. Makes up for a lot.”

“I feel that,” Benny agreed. “Though I’d argue more for a big sandwich on crusty sourdough roll. Divinity makes a vegetable hoagie that I would kill for right now.”

They were both talking softly, probably deliberately. Ray stared at them with a vague sense of wonder, not so much for Penn trying to give him some peace, but for Benny, a stranger, doing the same. A sort of stranger. A stranger who knew enough to talk quietly and to leave Ray to process too much information and the breathtaking sight of Callalily’s bare shoulders gleaming with all the different lights of the city that they passed.

In between stoplights and storefronts, the car interior was dim, although that was not a problem for Ray. Callalily toyed with the strap of his seat belt, tapped the panel beneath his window, clasped his hands in his lap. Ray couldn’t tell if Callalily was nervous or inclined to fidget. His scent was the same mix of sadness and worry and sweetness as before. Fairies were supposed to be restless. They were also supposed to eat like birds, although Ray had not seen Callalily consume anything.

Ray would have glanced away, but Callalily didn’t seem to notice his staring, and Penn and Benny’s voices were like a distant gentle mist. Ray closed his eyes for his first moment of real quiet in hours.

Callalily’s heart was quick; it must always be. A tremor went through his wings but they didn’t stir into movement. His breathing was steady. Ray opened his eyes. Callalily shined and glittered and fell into shadow. He touched the window glass again and trembled.

“What do you do in the winter?” Ray wondered, startled by the rumble of his own voice. The conversation up front faltered but only for a second.

Callalily turned. “What?”

The confusion in his tone made Ray wish he hadn’t spoken.

“Do you think I migrate south or something?” Callalily stared at him with those wide, swirling eyes that Ray didn’t know how to read. “Did you forget everything about all fairies too?”

“I meant,” the rumble in Ray’s voice intensified at the bullshit he was saying and how he couldn’t stop saying it because Callalily shivered again, “other fairies wear knitted sweaters and scarves. Do you? Are you cold now? You’re shaking.” He hoped that might explain his seemingly random questions.

Callalily’s lips parted. “I… You can smell me. You know it’s not cold making me shake.” He twisted his mouth into a strange sort of grimace, then gave Ray a frustrated look. “Yes. I wear shirts when it gets cold enough. I hate it. It’s like being in court all the time.”

Court. Ray glanced to Penn, the back of her head. She told him nothing. Probably because that didn’t matter right now. Callalily was worried, possibly scared.

“Have you met Cassandra?” Ray asked with a hesitation that would have amused his sister. “She’s… not nice, precisely.” Nice wasn’t the right word. “But she’s all right, despite the magic. We’ve never had a problem with her.”

“I know Cassandra!” Callalily whispered it as though he’d rather have shouted it. “I’m worried aboutyou, you idiot.Youmight make a lifestyle out of ignoring your needs for the sake of others, but I, personally, worry aboutyou.”

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