Page 81 of Aberrant Monsters
“You ran back into danger, August. Knowingly. Willingly.”
Nandi went silent and still beside me.
I couldn’t help the frown that tugged at my eyebrows. “If I hadn’t done that, Nandi would be dead.”
Uncle Fred flinched and sucked in a sharp breath. “I know, I just…It was a risk that could have killed you both.”
“But it was worth it.” I met his gaze levelly. “And I would do it again because there is no scenario in which I’d let someone I love die if there’s even a small chance that I can save them.”
Archie added more bacon to my plate. “Hear, hear.” He leaned in. “Wait, that list of loved ones does include me, right?”
I patted his cheek affectionately. “Oh, totally.” I bit into a slice of toast. “When hell freezes over.” I grinned to let him know I was joking.
Nandi still hadn’t commenced eating, though, and when I looked her way it was to find her wiping at her eyes.
I put my arm around her and hugged her to my side.
“I’m such an idiot,” my uncle said. “Nandi, sweetheart, I’m so relieved you’re alive. I just…I want you both to be safe. To makewisechoices. I can’t lose either of you.”
She nodded and sniffed. “Bloody viper venom has left me all emotional.”
I kissed her cheek. “Let’s go out tonight. Like we used to. It’s been too long.”
“Yes.” Uncle Fred made shooing motions with his hands. “Go out and do something normal, the three of you.” He pulled off his apron. “That’s an order. I’m going to speak to Quentin about the other rift locations. We need to make sure there aren’t other viper territories in the vicinity or anything else we should know about.”
“Thank you.”
He patted my head and then leaned in to drop a kiss on my forehead. “Be safe, Auggie.” He did the same for Nandi. “You too, sweetheart.”
He left the room and Archie leaned in across the table. “So, where are we going tonight.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
There were several cool clubs in the city, but for people like us, non-humans and New Bloods, the best places were on Moonset Walk, the home of Mystic Pleasures. I was about to suggest just that, but Archie beat me to it, although his suggestion wasn’t what I was expecting.
“We could check out the Underdog,” he said. “It’s this club in the Underbelly. They were doing it up when I got evicted. I hear they play some awesome music. The DJ used to be famous before his mutation activated.” He caught his bottom lip between his teeth, eyes twinkling. “Wealthy humans have been paying off the guards so they can get into the club. It’s becoming a big deal.”
Nandi looked to me and shrugged. “You game?”
I shrugged back. “Why not?”
Archie clapped his hands together. “Let’s do this.”
Telling them about the gravestone and the rose could wait. It was about time we had some downtime.
twenty-one
There were calls to pick up at the office, potential cases we’d need to investigate. Nandi made notes and scheduled callbacks for after the weekend. It was Saturday tomorrow, and we’d be staying at the Huntingdon house. We’d wrap up that case and be ready to move onto our next by Monday.
Archie and I were going over the recordings of his interviews with the previous renters of the Huntingdon house when the bell above the door jingled, admitting a beautiful woman dressed in a long winter coat, skinny jeans, and gold bangles that jangled long after the bell stopped tinkling.
She pushed back her hood to reveal short, silver, tightly curled hair. Her generous mouth curved in a smile when her gaze settled on Nandi.
“Nandi, my sweet, it is so good to see you.”
Nandi met the woman in a hug. “Celine, you didn’t have to come all this way.”
“Of course, when my favorite student calls, I will come.”
Celine was the reason Nandi had survived coming into her necromystic abilities. The ability to see and hear the dead had almost crippled her. Uncle Fred had found Celine in time to save my best friend from insanity.
