A Book of Spirits and Thieves (Spirits and Thieves #1)(89)

She’s not my sister, she reminded herself. She’s the daughter of an immortal murderer.

Crys tried to see her differently, tried to feel less of a bond with her. Maybe that would make everything easier.

But it didn’t work. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t see Becca as anything except her kid sister.

And she knew in her heart she never would.

She’d been up most of the night, racked with all kinds of thoughts after her dinner with Farrell the previous evening. She hadn’t actually meant to admit she knew his secret so soon.

He’d confirmed her worst suspicions. The guy she’d originally met, the guy she’d actually liked, hadn’t been real. The one from last night, that was the real Farrell Grayson. A smug, overconfident, overprivileged creep who was a part of a horrible organization responsible for evil acts.

Did he know the whole truth about Markus? Or was he just another clueless minion?

Crys didn’t care either way. She never wanted to see him again.

When she got back to the shop, she considered confiding in her mother about what had happened last night with Farrell, but before she could say a word, her mother immediately grabbed her purse and jacket.

“Can you close up the shop tonight?” she asked.

“Where are you going? Out to visit Becca?”

“No.” Julia hesitated at the doorway.

“Mom,” Crys said pointedly. “No more secrets between us, remember?”

She sighed and turned to face her daughter. “No more secrets,” she agreed.

“So? Spill.”

“I need go to the airport and pick up your aunt.”

Crys gasped. “Jackie’s here?”

“Almost here. She managed to get a flight out of London this morning. Her plane lands in an hour. She wants to see Dr. Vega immediately, but I haven’t been able to get him on the phone to set up a meeting. We’ll stop by his office on our way back, and hopefully he’ll still be there.” She reached for the doorknob. “I’ll call when I have Jackie in the car, and we’ll let you know when to expect us.”

“What if someone follows you?” Julia didn’t know that Markus had put Farrell on her trail, and it was entirely possible she was being watched as well.

“Trust me, in the last fifteen years I’ve learned how to get around without being detected.”

“You’ll have to teach me that.”

“Maybe someday.” She squeezed Crys’s hand. “I’ll see you soon.”

Crys locked the door after she left, turned the sign to CLOSED, and searched the bookshop until she found Charlie. She took him up to the apartment, where she gave him half a can of tuna, then made a sandwich with the other half.

He gobbled the fish up in record time, then squeaked out a happy mew.

“You’re welcome.” She leaned over to scratch his head. “So, what do we do now?”

He brushed against her leg, his tail twitching.

“You’re right. If I stay here with all this time to think, I’m going to go completely crazy. I need to do something. But what?”

Charlie padded out of the kitchen and jumped up on the carpet-covered climber she’d recently bought for him.

“You’re no help at all,” Crys said.

A half hour went by before she got so impatient that she decided to head to the university campus. She decided she’d wait in Dr. Vega’s office for her mother and Jackie to arrive.

She grabbed her keys and her bag, then eyed the Canon she’d left on her bedside table.

“What can I say?” she mumbled. “It’s a great camera.”

She tucked it in her bag.

On the way to the campus, she tried it out for the first time, confirming that digital had one very important and helpful advantage over film: She could instantly review the photos she took on the view screen.

However, this convenience would also take some of the fun out of photography for her, robbing her of the surprise that came with seeing what showed up on film when she finally developed it days or weeks later.

When Crys arrived at the campus and began navigating her way along the sidewalks toward her destination, she kept an eye open for anyone who might be spying on her, but came up with nothing. But that didn’t mean Markus wasn’t around. He could be here today, attending one of his classes.

Unless that, too, had been a lie.

She entered the Anthropology Building and headed up to Dr. Vega’s office, only to find an unlocked door and an empty room.

“Can I help you?” another frazzled-looking professor came up from behind and asked, frowning so deeply it looked painful.

“I’m looking for Dr. Vega. Is he here today?”

“No, he’s not here. I’m afraid he was taken to the emergency room earlier this afternoon.”

She stared at him. “What? What happened?”

“He was mugged and beaten very badly.”

Her grip tightened on the strap of her bag. “Where is he?”

“Mount Sinai Hospital. It’s not far from here.”

She’d already started for the exit. “I know exactly where it is.”

Dr. Vega was in the same hospital as Becca.



It took Crys a while to find Dr. Vega’s room, and then she had to lie and say he was her father in order to see him.