Page 24 of Breaking the Dark

“Nothing,” says Jessica, drawing her ire back. “Seriously.”

Danny sighs and holds back a smile. Then he looks up at her again and says, “So, tell me, this case in the UK…?”

She runs the basic bullet points past him: the perfect skin, the talking to the sky, the crackling skin, even the house with the damn moat, which makes him smirk.

“Well,” he says, pushing away his empty ramen bowl and balling up his napkin. “I know London very well. The countryside, not so much. Will your client fund the trip?”

“Yeah. She’s very wealthy.”

“Well then. Five star all the way.” Danny smiles. “Sounds like a gas. And you think there might be something, you know, unorthodox at play?”

Jessica’s food arrives, heady with the scent of coconut and lime. She waits for the nausea to hit, but it doesn’t, so she unwraps her chopsticks from the paper. “It’s possible. I’m pretty sure that’s why my client booked me.”

“Is there like a place where you can do some research into British superfolk, like, a secret intranet that only certain very special people know about?”

Jessica laughs wryly. “Well, if there is one, I don’t know anything about it.” She digs her chopsticks into the noodle soup and twirls them around.

“Whereabouts in England did you say these weird twins had been?”

“Village called—I kid you not—Barton Wallop in Essex.”

“Whoa!” He laughs. “I must say I’m kinda jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Yeah! I’d love to be jetting off to an old-world English village to uncover secret plots.”

“Ha, yeah, when you put it like that…!”

“But listen, Jessica, if you need anything, any advice. I’m a seasoned traveler. I know people—my connections might come in handy. And Luke told me to look out for you, so, y’know.”

“Thank you.”

“What’s the real deal with you and Luke?” He raises a pale eyebrow. “Are you, like, seeing each other?”

Jessica throws him a dry smile. “I’m not seeing Luke. Me and Luke are not a thing. Never were…”

He raises a brow. “Never will be?”

“Never will be.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Why is it a shame?”

“I don’t know. I think you’d make a cute couple, that’s all. Anyway, I’m going to get another beer. How about you?”

“No,” she says. “No thank you. I’ll just have a…” She picks up the drinks list and scans it quickly. “A mango-kale smoothie.”

“Ew. Sounds gross. Don’t you want a real drink?”

“A smoothie is a real fricking drink.”

“Fine.” He smiles. “Sorry. That was out of line.”

He throws her a full-hearted smile and Jessica can’t resist returning it.

NINE

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