Magic Bleeds

CHAPTER 25

I AWOKE BECAUSE CURRAN SLIPPED OUT OF BED. HE did it in complete silence, like a ghost, which was impressive considering the bed was four feet tall.

He strode out of the bedroom. A door swung open with a soft whisper. A barely audible voice murmured something. I couldn’t make out the words but I recognized the rasp—Derek.

A moment later the door swung shut. Curran entered the bedroom and stopped when he saw me looking at him.

He looked . . . at home. His hair stuck out at a weird angle, probably dried odd, since we went from the tub straight to bed. His face was peaceful. I’ve never seen him so relaxed. It was as if someone had lifted a huge weight off those muscled shoulders.

And dumped all of it on me.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“A little past five.” He paused in midstride and leaped on the bed.

I rubbed my face. I dimly recalled getting out of the bathtub, wrapped in a criminally soft towel, and letting him convince me that we needed to lie down and rest for half an hour. We slept for a solid ten hours at least. “I meant to go and talk with the old woman and to call Andrea. Instead I passed out here with you.”

“It was worth it.”

It was totally worth it.

“No more tubs for me.” I jumped off the bed and pulled on a pair of Pack sweats. “They make me lose all sense.”

Curran sprawled on the bed with a big self-satisfied smile. “Want to know a secret?”

“Sure.”

“It’s not the bathtub, baby.”

Well, aren’t we smug. I picked up the corner of the lowest mattress and made a show of looking under it.

“What are you looking for?”

“A pea, Your Majesty.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

I jumped back as he lunged and his fingers missed me by an inch.

“Getting slow in your old age.”

“I thought you liked slow.”

A flashback to last night mugged me and my mind executed a full stop.

He laughed. “Ran out of snappy comebacks?”

“Hush. I’m trying to think of one.”

As long as we kept sparring, I could pretend that surviving today would be a breeze.

Curran slid off the bed, presenting me with a view of the world’s best chest up close. “While you’re thinking, Raphael and Andrea are waiting for us downstairs. Nash doesn’t matter, but if I keep the scion of Clan Bouda waiting for too long, I’ll have to smooth his feathers, and I don’t feel like it.”

“Feathers?”

“Yes.” Curran snagged a white T-shirt from the drawer. “B’s precious peacock. Strutting around and making sure all the ladies faint in his wake.”

I arched my eyebrow at him.

“He’s not a bad guy.” Curran shrugged. “Spoiled, arrogant. Good in a fight, but thinks with his dick. When things don’t go his way, he throws a tantrum. Andrea is perfect for him—unlike his mother, she doesn’t buy any of his bullshit.”

“So if I invite him over for tea and cookies . . . ?”

“As long as it’s in public, it wouldn’t be an issue. Just don’t expect me to show up. I’ll be indisposed. If you invite him into our rooms, I’ll rip his head off.”

“Is it because you’re jealous or because it would be a breach of Pack protocol?”

“Both.” The muscles along Curran’s jaw tightened. “He handed you a fan so you could fan yourself while watching him. If he steps a hair out of line, he won’t live to regret it and he knows it.”

I slid Slayer’s leather sheath on my back. “Now is probably a good time to mention that I made a deal with his mother.”

Curran stopped. “What sort of deal and when?”

I sketched it out for him while putting on my boots.

Curran grimaced. “Typical. She picked a moment when you were at your weakest.”

I shrugged. “It’s a good deal for me.”

“It is. But then she tried to feed you. That’s my privilege.” Curran held the door open. “B will always push you to see how far she can make you bend. I won’t interfere with the way you handle her, but if it was me, I’d call her to a meeting once this is over. Somewhere public where the two of you would be on display. Make her wait. Half an hour ought to do it.”

“Are you actually holding the door for me?”

“Get used to it,” he growled.

I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh, stepped through the door, and Mr. Romance and I went down the stairs to the conference room.

RAPHAEL PACED ALONG THE WALL, FLIPPING A knife. Andrea leaned against the table. Her face was grim.

Raphael nodded as Curran and I walked through the door. “M’lord. M’lady.”

Andrea blinked, her eyes opened wide. “Kate? What are you doing here?”

“She’s his mate. Where else would she be?” Raphael’s voice dripped bitterness. Something had happened between them and it wasn’t good.

“It’s not the same for her,” Andrea said without turning around.

“No, it’s not. She actually came through when our people were dying.”

“She had a choice. I didn’t.”

Raphael’s eyes shone with red. “She had the exact same options you did.”

“Enough,” Curran said.

Raphael turned around, spinning his knife, and resumed his pacing.

Curran glanced at me. “You quit the Order.”

“Ted made it a choice between Brenna’s SOS phone call and keeping my ID on my neck.”

“So you picked the shapeshifters over the knights,” Raphael put in.

Andrea shot him a look of pure fury.

“No,” I said. “I picked people in danger over a direct order to ignore them.”

Now things were clear. I went to help the shapeshifters and Andrea stayed, and now Raphael wanted to bite her head off for it.

“I have your dog,” Andrea said.

Thank you, Universe. “Has he barfed anywhere?”

“He ate my bathroom rug, but other than that he’s okay.”

“I owe you a rug, then.”

She nodded.

I perched on the table. “What’s the Order’s plan for dealing with Erra?”

Andrea grimaced. “Ted’s brought in some female knights from Raleigh and they’re setting a trap for her at the Mole Hole. Tamara Wilson is here. Master-at-arms, blade. She’s supposed to be out of this world good and immune to fire. Ted’s going along with your plan to directly challenge Erra. They’ve put her name on a flag and are flying it over the Mole Hole.”

The Mole Hole used to be Molen Enterprises until it exploded. The slender glass tower once belonged to the Molen Corporation, owned by one of the richest families in Atlanta. Rumor said the Molens had gotten a hold of a phoenix egg. The plan was to hatch the egg, so the young phoenix would imprint on them, giving them a superweapon. The phoenix did hatch, but instead of going “Mommy!” it went boom. Took out the Molen tower and the three city blocks around it. Phoenix didn’t squat once they hatched. They rose, like ancient rockets, straight into the sky.

Eventually the dust cleared, revealing a perfectly round crater. About a hundred and forty yards across, it gaped almost fifty feet deep and full of molten glass and steel. When the crater cooled two weeks later, a foot-thick layer of glass sheathed its bottom. Enterprising citizens cut steps in the crater’s earthen wall, turning it into a makeshift amphitheater. All sorts of legal and illegal events took place in the Mole Hole, from skateboarding competitions and street hockey to dog fights.

“The Mole Hole is in the middle of the city.” I frowned.

“Fifteen minutes from the People’s Casino, twenty from the Witch Oracle in Centennial Park, twenty-five from the Water and Sewer Authority,” Andrea said.

“How badly was the Order trashed?” Curran asked.

“It was still smoking when I left at the end of the day,” Andrea told him.

“Then Moynohan needs to administer severe and very public punishment,” Curran said. “The Order must save face.”

“He’ll get plenty of spectators at the Mole Hole,” Raphael said. “The last time I was there, the buildings on the edge of it were packed full. At least three thousand people, maybe more.”

I felt an urge to hit my head against a wall. “You were there when I told him that Erra loves to panic crowds, right?”

“I was there,” Andrea confirmed. “I refreshed his memory. He told me to shove it.”

“And that’s the person for whom you will put yourself in harm’s way.” Raphael shook his head. “But you won’t do the same for our people.”

“He’s one of many knights,” Andrea said. “He’s not the Order. His views are outdated and don’t reflect the attitudes of the majority of the Order’s members. I didn’t swear allegiance to him. I gave my loyalty to the mission.”

“And that mission is to clean you and me off the face of this planet!” Raphael growled.

“The mission is to ensure the survival of humankind.”

“Yes, and Moynohan doesn’t think we fit the description.”

“I don’t care what he thinks,” Andrea snarled. “I’m there because I dedicated my life to it. It gives me a purpose. Something to believe in. Unlike you, I actually did something with my life instead of wasting my time rutting with anything I could hold still for thirty seconds.”

“A lot of good it did you—you sit on your ass in the Order all day long, polishing your weapons, and the one time you could have made a difference, you chose to do nothing.”

Andrea slammed her hands on the table. “I chose to obey an order from my commanding officer. Discipline, look it up.”

“They were dying! They called you for help and you did nothing!”

“Yes, because Kate went there.”

Derision twisted Raphael’s face. “So you let her take the fall for you?”

“I’m not her!” Andrea pointed at me. “I can’t just dramatically rip my ID off and walk away.”

I glanced at Curran in case he decided to wade in. He sat next to me, his jaw resting on his fist, watching them the way one would watch a fascinating play.

Andrea kept going. “The Order was there for me when nothing else was. Where was your precious Pack and these fabled shapeshifters when I was sixteen with a sick mother on my hands and no way to feed myself? Where were you? I won’t be a flaky slut bouda. When I give my loyalty, I mean it.”

“You’re giving it to the wrong people, can’t you see that?”

Andrea’s eyes blazed. “If I leave, Ted wins. I won’t let that fucker force me out, do you hear me?”

“Do what you want.” Raphael shook his head. “I’m done.”

Oh, boy.

“There are only two streets leading from the Mole Hole, so if Erra panics the crowd, she’ll run them either toward the Casino or toward the Water and Sewer Authority,” I said. “Erra gets off on watching people run. The street leading to Water and Sewer is dark, but the street to the Casino is well lit.”

“The Casino is more likely,” Andrea said. “Not only can she pick off the stragglers, but scared people naturally tend to run toward the light. It gives them an illusion of safety.”

And the light will be full of vampires. “Erra might be reluctant to destroy vampires, which could limit casualties.”

“The People won’t enter the fight,” Curran said. “They have nothing to gain.”

“Nataraja may or may not know the connection between Roland and Erra, but Ghastek doesn’t know,” I said. “He realizes that something odd is going on and he wants a piece of it. He went through a giant guilt rant when I wouldn’t let him have Deluge’s head. He won’t jump into the fight if you or I ask them, but if a knight of the Order calls them . . .”

“Ted would never approve vampire deployment. He wants this to be solely the Order’s affair.” Andrea crossed her arms.

“You’re wasting your time,” Raphael said. “She won’t do anything to help you. It would endanger her career too much.”

“You’re an ass,” Andrea snarled.

Raphael executed a perfect bow. “Does the Beast Lord require my presence any longer?”

“No,” Curran said.

Raphael walked out.

Curran gave me a beautiful version of an “I told you so” look.

I turned to Andrea. “If you call Ghastek and tell him that Ted’s planning a showdown with the navigator of undead mages less than two miles from the Casino and doesn’t want the People involved, Ghastek will foam at the mouth.”

“Thanks for the tip.” Andrea grimaced. “Would’ve never thought of it on my own, being as I sit on my ass all day polishing my weapons.”

Curran rose. “The Pack thanks the Order for its continued cooperation and goodwill. We look forward to successful relationships in the future.”

That’s it, you’re done, go away now.

Andrea drew herself upright.

“I’m not done,” I said quietly.

Curran ignored me. “You and I have an understanding, Andrea. Don’t abuse it by insulting your friend and my mate.”

Andrea walked out.

I sighed. “You don’t get to decide when I’m finished talking to my friend.”

Curran perched on the edge of the table. “The conversation was going nowhere. They’re both hurt and neither of them was in the mood to listen.”

That didn’t change anything. “I thought this was a joint venture. Am I wrong?”

Curran fell silent for a long moment, obviously picking the right words. “Yes, it is. I know it goes against the grain, but please don’t contradict me again in public. You can scream and kick me in private, but in public we must present a united front. Always. Anything we do outside of those rooms upstairs will be scrutinized and people like B will exploit every rift to their advantage. When a decision is made, I need to know that you will support it.”

I tapped my fingernails on the table. “Even if the decision was made without my input?”

He exhaled slowly. “I’m not used to sharing. I’ve never had to do it before. If you cut me some slack, I promise I’ll do the same for you. I will attempt to always include you, but it won’t always be possible. You have to trust me.”

“Trust goes both ways.”

Curran leaned closer. “If she were one of mine, I would’ve had my claws on her throat. I permit her to insult you, because she is your friend and you don’t play by the same rules. I want some credit for that.”

This was going to be an uphill battle. I could see it in his eyes. “You permitted her to insult me because she is a knight of the Order and even you can’t murder them with impunity.”

“That, too.”

“As long as you’re aware that I will make my own decisions and I will fight you if you attempt to interfere. I will make an effort to always include you, Your Majesty, but it won’t be always possible.”

Gold sparked in his eyes and vanished.

“I deserved that,” he said. “We’re even now. Peace?”

He watched me carefully. It was important to him. What I said would matter.

Curran was used to unquestioned obedience and I rejected all authority. He’d never shared his power before and I never had any. Both of us had to give and neither wanted to.

“Peace,” I said. “This is going to be really difficult for us.”

“Yes. But we’ll work it out, with enough time.”

If it got to be too much, there was always the gym.

We sat in silence for a long minute.

“What are you thinking?” I asked finally.

“Erra’s down to three undead: wind, animal, and the third one.”

“Gale, Beast, and Darkness. And nobody knows what Darkness does.”

Curran nodded. “Assuming that whatever trap the Order sets for her fails—”

“Which it will,” I added.

“—she’ll chase the crowd toward the Casino.”

“We have to keep her away from the crowd.” I pulled Slayer from the back sheath and put it on my lap. “There is no telling how many she will kill, if they panic.”

“Not that many,” Curran said. “Most of the deaths will be from people trampling each other.”

Thanks, Your Fuzziness, that makes me feel loads better. “Ted doesn’t care about the loss of life. He deals in large numbers: the welfare of many outweighs the lives of the few. I can’t do that.”

“I know.” Curran leaned back. “We’ll take a squad from each clan, female fighters only.”

I raised my eyebrows. “How many per squad?”

“Between five and ten. We position them along the roofs. You’ll wait on the street by the Casino. She’ll chase you. If you back away far enough, my . . . our people will swarm her undead helpers. You and I will key on her.”

As plans went, it was painfully simple, but anything else depended too much on Erra’s actions and she was unpredictable.

“It makes sense.” I played with my sword, running my hands along the blade. “You shouldn’t go to this fight. You’re male and a shapeshifter; that makes you twice as vulnerable to Erra.”

“I have to go. It’s in the job description.”

“It’s not a fight that you can win, Curran.”

“I don’t get to cherry-pick the battles I know I’ll win.”

A narrow smile curved his lips. He looked wicked and almost boyish at the same time. Something jabbed me right under the heart, where I stored my fears, and they surged through me all at once.

He was mine. He cared for me, he made me lose all sense, he didn’t give a damn about my father. He was what I wanted, because he made me happy. I wanted him like I’d never wanted anyone in my life.

I knew how this dance went—I’d gone through its paces before. As soon as I started to care about someone, death would snatch him from me.

Curran was going to die.

There was nothing I could do to prevent it. He would die, because that was what always happened.

My throat constricted. “Let me take care of it.”

“No. You aren’t strong enough on your own. You’ve fought her twice to a draw.”

“I almost had her.”

Curran nodded. “I heard. And you could’ve taken her, too.”

My voice came out flat. “Rub it in, why don’t you.”

He grinned. “No time for that now. Maybe later.”

I closed my eyes. There wouldn’t be any later.

“Are you imagining me rubbing it in?” he asked.

“I’m counting to ten in my head.”

“Is it helping?”

“No.”

“It doesn’t help me with you either. I used to lift weights to alleviate frustration, but someone blowtorched my weight bench. How did you do it, by the way?”

“I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you.”

I felt like I was trying to hold back a giant rock as it rolled down the mountain. No matter what I did, it just kept rolling, grinding at me with its weight.

He was going to die.

“There is another reason,” Curran said. “You’re my mate. I installed you in my rooms. You aren’t yet alpha. To get you confirmed as alpha, I’d have to bring you in front of the Council and they will bitch, and moan, and drag it out, and our time is short. Besides, the true alpha authority comes once you’ve proven yourself. That takes weeks, months sometimes, and several kills. Because you’re my mate, the shapeshifters will treat you with courtesy, but in the field, when they’re between life and death, they won’t listen to you. Seven squads means seven female alphas. You’ve seen how well they get along on their own.”

It was hard to argue with him, because he stubbornly insisted on making sense. “Put one of the alphas in charge, then.”

Curran’s blond eyebrows crept together. “And raise one clan above all others, while undermining your future authority? They’d never let you forget it.”

I held his gaze. “I know Erra. I know what she is capable of. You don’t. Do you at least respect me enough to let me take the lead on this?”

He didn’t pause. “Yes. But I’m still coming with you. I need to be there.”

The frustration burst from me. “Argh.” I pushed to my feet. “I fucking hate her for putting me through this. When I get my hands on her, I’ll rip her legs out and feed them to her, boots first.”

THE SHAPESHIFTERS DIDN’T BELIEVE IN JAILS. TYPICAL punishments were death or labor. In the rare cases when they did sentence someone to isolation, they exiled them to a remote area.

The Keep did have several holding cells, large, empty rooms equipped with loup cages. One of them held my “bodyguard.” Curran insisted on walking with me to the door. Somehow, despite the early hour, the hallways of the Keep were full of shapeshifters, who made valiant efforts not to stare at me.

“For nocturnal people, you’re terribly active in daylight,” I murmured.

“The curiosity is killing them. They’d mob you if they could get away with it.”

“That would go very badly for everyone involved. I don’t like crowds.”

Curran pondered that for a moment. “I have some final arrangements to make and then I’m free. Would you have a nice dinner with me?”

“I’ll cook,” I told him.

“You sure? I can have it made.”

“I’d prefer to cook.” It might be our last dinner.

“I’ll help you, then.”

He stopped by a door. “She is in there. Can you find your way back by yourself?”

“I have an uncanny sense of direction.”

He presented me with his Beast Lord face. “Right. I’ll have a compass, chalk, a ball of string, and rations for five days brought to you.”

Ha-ha. “If I get in trouble, I’ll ask that nice blond girl you designated as my babysitter.”

Curran glanced at the young blond shapeshifter who’d discreetly followed us from his quarters. “You’ve been made. You can come wait by the door.”

She walked over and stood by the door.

Curran took my hand and squeezed my fingers.

The shapeshifters froze.

“Later,” he said.

“Later.” I may have had a hell of a lot of baggage, but he was no prize either. Living with him meant living in a glass box.

Curran released my fingers, glanced at the hallway, and raised his voice. “Carry on.”

Suddenly everybody had someplace to be and they really needed to get there.

I opened the door and walked into the cell.

A large rectangular room stretched before me, completely empty except for a loup cage, eight feet tall, with the bars the size of my wrist. The magic was down, or the bars would fluoresce with enchanted silver. Eight support beams extended from the cage’s ceiling and floor, anchoring it to the Keep itself.

The woman sat within the cage, in the same cross-legged pose as the last time I’d seen her. Her spear leaned against the wall, well out of her reach.

I approached the cage and sat cross-legged on the floor. I could’ve covered the floor of the room with all the questions I wanted to ask her. The sixty-four-thousand-dollar question was, would she answer?

The woman opened her eyes. Completely black and impenetrable, like two chunks of coal.

We looked each other over. She had the face of a woman who spent a lot of time outside and laughed often—her pale brown skin was weather-beaten, crow’s feet fanned from her eyes, and her mouth seemed perpetually hiding a sardonic laugh, as if she was convinced she was the only able mind in a world of fools.

“He’s very strong.” An odd accent tinted her voice. “Stubborn and proud, but very strong. He’s a good choice.”

She meant Curran. “What’s your name?”

“Naeemah.”

“Do you really shift into a crocodile?”

She inclined her head—a nod in slow motion.

“Crocodiles are cold-blooded.”

“That is a truth.”

“Most shapeshifters are mammals.”

“That is a truth also.”

“So how does it work?”

Naeemah gave me a wide smile without showing any teeth. “I’m not most shapeshifters.”

Touché.

“Why do you protect me?”

“I’ve told you already: it’s my job. Pay attention.”

“Who hired you?”

Red sparked in Naeemah’s eyes and melted into her anthracite irises. “Let me out of the cage and I will tell you.”

I raised my eyebrows. “How do I know you won’t stab someone in the back?”

Naeemah gave me a patronizing look. “Bring the spear.”

I rose and got the spear. It was about five feet long, with a plain metal head, about nine inches long and close to three inches wide at the base. A tightly wrapped leather cord reinforced the socket, binding it to the shaft so well, the spear head seemed to sprout from the wood.

I raised the spear on the palms of my hands, bringing it to eye level. Bent. Almost as if it had been a branch at some point instead of a wooden pole cut perfectly straight from a larger piece of wood. Heavier than expected and very hard. The texture was odd, too, smooth, polished, and pale, like driftwood. Small black marks peppered the wood, etched into it with heated wire. Birds, lions, wavy lines, geometric figures . . . Hieroglyphs, written sideways on the shaft. Each set of characters was segregated by a horizontal line. Small vertical strokes ran in a ring just before the line, in some places only a few, in others so many they circled the shaft.

The burned marks ended a couple of feet from the spearhead. Interesting.

“Look there.” Naeemah pointed to the last set of hieroglyphs. Her face took on a regal air. She seemed ancient and unapproachable, like a mysterious statue from a long-forgotten age. “That is my name. Next to it is the name of my father. Following it is the name of his mother and then her older brother, and then their father, and their father’s father before him.”

“And these?” I drew my fingers across the short marks.

“Those are the assassins we have taken.” Naeemah sneered. “We don’t kill for profit. Any jackal can do that. We are the hunters of killers. That is what we do.”

I checked the last name. At least three dozen marks, maybe more.

“How old are you?”

“My sons had children before you were born. No more answers. Decide.”

I went to the door and stuck my head out. The blond shapeshifter waited for me in the precise spot Curran told her to stand.

“Do you have a key to the loup cage?”

“Yes, mate.” She pulled the key out and handed it to me.

“Thank you. And don’t call me ‘mate,’ please.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Right.

Naeemah chuckled from her cage. I sighed and went inside.

I unlocked the door and handed her the spear. “It’s not as funny when you’re on the receiving end of it.”

Naeemah took two steps out of the cage and sat back down. I joined her.

“I let you out, and I’m due some answers. Who hired you?”

“Hugh d’Ambray.”

Knock me over with a feather.

It made sense in a twisted way. Hugh had seen me shatter the sword. He was either actively gathering information about me or planning to gather it, and he put a bodyguard in place to make sure nothing happened to me meanwhile. With my history, he ran the risk of standing on Roland’s carpet explaining that he had found his long-lost daughter, but she got herself killed before he could gather enough evidence to prove her identity. That would fly.

She’d pronounced Hugh’s name with distaste. I wondered why. “What’s your relationship to Hugh?”

“Some years ago, when my children were young, he killed a man one of my sons protected and captured my son. We bargained for my son’s life and I traded one favor of Hugh’s choosing.”

No love lost. Good for me, bad for Hugh. “Where is Hugh now?”

Naeemah’s smile turned predatory. “I don’t know. I’m not his keeper.”

I tried a different plan of attack. “What are the precise terms of your arrangement with Hugh?”

Naeemah chuckled again. “He ordered me to watch you and keep you safe from those who are a danger to you. I wasn’t to interfere or reveal myself unless your life was in grave peril.”

Curiouser and curiouser. “For how long?”

“He didn’t specify.”

I had a hunch I’d just found a loophole big enough to drive a cart through. “Is Hugh excluded from those who are a danger to me?”

Naeemah’s smile grew wider. “He didn’t specify.”

“Hugh isn’t as clever as he thinks he is.”

“That is a truth.”

“What if I told you that Hugh is the second biggest threat to me, second only to Erra?”

“I would say I already know this.”

“How?”

Naeemah leaned forward. The gaze of her black eyes fastened on me. “You shouldn’t have conversations by the window, when the wall of your house is easy to climb.”

She’d heard me and Andrea talking about Hugh. Probably every word.

“What will you do if Hugh attacks me?”

“I will protect you. My debt must be repaid.”

Score. “And how long will you continue to guard me?”

“That would depend on you.”

She had me there.

Naeemah drew herself straight. “I’ve protected people of power and people of wealth. Many, many people. I’ve judged you worthy. Don’t disappoint me.”

That was all I needed. Apparently, the Universe had decided that my life would be that much richer with a judgmental crocodile bodyguard in it. “I’ll keep it in mind. I’m going to fight Erra tonight. If you attempt to ‘rescue’ me again, I will kill you.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

I rose and Naeemah stood up with me. I had to do something with her and I had a feeling that getting her to work with the rest of the guards wouldn’t go over so well. She’d need her own space. “Come with me, please. We need to get you a room.”

She followed me out. The blond shapeshifter gaped at her, as if Naeemah were a cobra with her hood spread. Naeemah ignored her.

I headed back to Curran’s quarters, my two babysitters in tow.

Jim would just love this. If I wasn’t careful, I’d give him an aneurysm before my first month here was up.