A tap on my front door had me pausing, my heart twisting in my chest. Maybe?
“Jade!” Sunshine’s voice was muffled through the thick door. “We’re going to be late for work, let’s go—and I brought breakfast-egg muffins!”
“Coming!” I glanced one last time around my apartment, then flicked off the lights and slipped through my front door.
Sunshine stood in the hallway wearing her work uniform of a white lab coat, slacks, and a bright pink collared shirt, and holding two egg muffins that were basically quiche in a muffin form.
I smiled at her and juggled my thermos to my left hand so I could lock my door. “Are you really sure you want to work the night shift?” I asked. “I feel really bad that you put in the change request because of me.”
“Use that feeling of guilt to inspire yourself to stay alive during your patrols,” Sunshine dourly said. “And this is a temporary measure—until I’m certain you aren’t going to get yourself killed while on the clock. Besides, don’t you want help with your paper?”
“Yeah,” I sighed.
Sarge had assigned me another five pages of writing for my dreaded paper and had extended the deadline. I had no idea what I was going to write about for so many pages when I still didn’t get what dynamic he was talking about.
“Then take your muffin and let’s go,” Sunshine ordered. “I’m not going to be late for my first night on this shift!”
I took the muffin Sunshine offered and bit into it, humming in appreciation.
The muffin was still warm, so the cheese was melty and the herbs mixed into the egg and bacon base were strong and fragrant. “I love it. Thank you.”
Sunshine waved a hand at me. “My mom made it, not me, but I’ll pass the praise along. Come on!” She scurried across the hallway and started down the stairs.
I followed her, but I paused at the top stair and peered back over my shoulder at Considine’s quiet empty apartment.
I hadn’t seen Considine since he left me in the hospital roughly a week ago. He hadn’t appeared at night on the streets of Magiford when I’d returned to work the night before or popped up around the apartment building during the day.
In fact, I hadn’t heard any noise in his apartment at all and I’d been at home 24/7 the first few days after I’d been discharged.
Did he move out? But why didn’t he tell me?
The realization that Considine was Connor had put me on uneven ground.
Connor had been my friend, while Considine was a threat. Plus, he’d known who I was—it was a game to him. Logically, the less I interacted with him the better.
But he’d followed me to my apartment and taken me to the hospital. He was dangerous and deadly, but I didn’t think his Connor persona was a complete lie or he would have left me to bleed out and potentially die in my apartment.
Which was why I’d spent several hours throughout the week debating if I should text him or not.
As more time passed and I didn’t hear anything in the next-door apartment and I didn’t hear about Ruin up to his typical micromanaging ways downtown, it made me suspect he’d left Magiford.
Why was he here anyway—living in a human apartment building?
“Jade! Let’s go!” Sunshine shouted from a floor down.
“Coming!” I hurried down the stairs, pausing on a landing to take a slug of my smoothie and trying to shrug off the sting of disappointment that I knew wasn’t a good sign.
Sunshine and I rushed to the Curia Cloisters—stopping to say a quick hi to Emi as we passed through.
Sunshine had watched me change into my new uniform with a scowl and insisted on walking me all the way to the meeting room.
Sunshine rolled her newspaper into a cylinder shape and tapped it on her leg. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m fine. I don’t need a babysitter—and you need to go report in, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” Sunshine looked back up the hallway. “Okay, just remember, don’t head home without me! We’re walking buddies. Understood?”
“Understood,” I said.
Sunshine nodded in satisfaction, then marched off down the hallway—her steps so fast it made her brown hair bob.
I took a big breath, then entered the meeting room.
April, Juggernaut, Tetiana, Clarence, and Binx were seated together playing a round of go fish with the obligatory emotional support old maid card while Grove and Medium-Sized Robert watched with raised eyebrows.