Page 60 of Incubus
On a good day, the Gatehouse served as a neutral zone for everyone inside. The wards and protection spells inherent to the building prevented so much as a fist fight breaking out, and most fae powers were completely useless. Anyone who tried to fight was blasted across the room by the building's wards and asked very politely to leave.
Politely the first time anyway.
"So," Alex went on briskly. "Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable. There isn't anyone in the library if you need it. Food will be ready around six."
"Thanks, Alex," Sasha said, turning immediately for the stairs, which Jim gratefully took as his cue to follow.
Nathan made to do the same, but Alex gestured for him to lean across the bar.
"Are you okay?" she asked seriously. "After I told Sasha over the phone that I knew you, he said he was helping you with a bounty problem. I can't believe you let the Messenger mark you."
Nathan was going to have to have a talk with Sasha about what constituted too much information. "I'm fine, Alex," he said. "We practically have the whole thing solved already. Don't worry. I got Jim back, didn't I?"
"True. Though it still would have been nice if you had told me sooner." She narrowed her eyes at him, but quickly softened again. "You must have done something right, 'cause he still seems like the Jimmy I remember. Any signs of dark fae powers cropping up?"
"A...couple."
"Well, be careful. I worry about you guys, you know."
Nathan had to smile. They almost never visited Alex—the Gatehouse was too dangerous—but she was one of the few people who would never judge Jim for what he was. She knew as well as Nathan did that Jim was closer now to True Awakening, but that didn’t change her tune at all.
"You're still in love with him, aren't you?" Nathan said, not really asking.
Alex's answering smile was somber. "I never tried to hide it. You better go catch up to them. And be careful, Nathan. Really. I'm still going to worry, even if you do have anincubushelping you."
It took Nathan a moment to realize what Alex had just said. "Wait. What?"
"Hurry up. I don't have all day to wait on you," she said with a wave of her hand.
"But how do you...?" Nathan trailed. Alex's unassuming smile and swift dismissal of him soon had him turning to head upstairs to follow after Jim and Sasha.
Nathan would have worried that Alex was psychic—and the last thing he needed was another one of those—but he doubted her knowledge came from anything so grand. Running the Gatehouse came with some advantages.
Nathanenteredthefirstroom up the stairs to find Jim unpacking, focused entirely on the task at hand as if it actually mattered whether or not they removed all of their things from their bags.
“I see you’ve decided to go for gold in the dateless wonder competition,” Nathan said, dropping his bag unceremoniously in the corner of the room.
Jim looked up long enough to glare. “I’m looking for the book,” he said.
“What book?”
“The one you got fromAlex, apparently.”
“Oh, come on, Jim, I had good reason not to tell you about that. I knew you wouldn’t want to get her involved, but she was the only person I thought I could trust.”
Jim resisted further comment as he continued rifling through his bag that was propped up on one of the beds.
The room was simple but somewhat of a hybrid between a normal bedroom and a hotel room. There were two double beds,two dressers, a closet, and a private bathroom. Not all of the rooms were as accommodating, but most of them had a similar design, enough that the place could almost feel like home if it wasn’t built for transients.
Nathan stood before Jim’s bed. “You ever notice how Alex runs this placealone?” he said. “No hunky handyman moving in. Nothing.”
“It’s a lot of responsibility to run the Gatehouse,” Jim said without looking up. He found the book and started filling his bag again with the things he had tossed out. “Alex’s mother did all of this alone for years.”
“Yeah, because her husband died, not because she wanted to.”
“Are you trying to make a point here, Nathan?”
It was an old argument, one in which Nathan didn't know who was actually winning.
