Page 51 of Real

My back pocket vibrates. That’s when I remember I have a phone. I probably should have given that to Einar. I slip out of my pocket and see that Manny is calling.

“Hey,” I say.

“How did it go?”

I slide down the door until I’m sitting on the cold concrete. How do I answer that?

“He needed someone who could bond to him to become human.”

Manny will know what that means.

“Oh, H. I’m sorry.”

I break down crying again. I’m sitting on a sidewalk in the middle of New York City with a huge, gaping hole in my heart. I can’t get home because I forgot to get my wallet from Einar, and I don’t even care. None of it matters anymore.

Buddy is gone.

“He w-w-wanted me, Manny. A-a-all of me.” The way he claimed my stomach will always haunt me. How will I ever get over that?

“I’m on my way,” he says.

“There’s traffic. I don’t have any money.”

“Walk across the street. There’s a dragon landing pad. I’ll meet you there.”

A dragon landing pad? Does Manny have a dragon who’s willing to be his taxi? My phone beeps. I lower my phone to look at the screen. Felicity is calling.

“Hold on, I need to get this.” I accidentally hang up on Manny in the process of answering Felicity’s call. “Hello?”

I briefly remember that she called me soft, but I’m too upset to care about a silly slight from a coworker. None of that matters now.

“I just got the weirdest call,” she says.

“From who?”

“From Candlewick. Dorian dropped all charges.”

“What?” Maybe I should be happy Candlewick is free, but this is Dorian we’re talking about. He wouldn’t just drop the charges against Candlewick for no reason.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I hoped you would.”

That’s when it hits me. If I were Dorian, I would want to keep Buddy away from the Den of Dreams at all costs. I’d certainly have the place watched just in case Buddy ended up going inside. After all, the second Buddy bonds to an Illusor, it’s over. He will become human and be deemed as such by the courts. That isn’t what Dorian wants.

Dorian knows Buddy is going to bond to an Illusor. That might mess up his spell. Which can only mean one thing. Dorian isn’t leaving this to the courts anymore.

“Do we know which warlock Dorian hired to reverse the spell?” I ask.

“No.”

Damn it. There are way too many warlocks, and they’re tricky to get a hold of anyway. Without any more information, there’s just one thing to do. I hang up on Felicity and call Manny again. He answers on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“I think Dorian is doing the spell tonight. We have to stop him. Do you still have a dragon who can fly you places?” Having a dragon taxi would be very useful tonight.

“Um, maybe. She’s being very ornery right now.”

In the background I hear a female voice say, “Grow some wings and fly yourself to New York City.”

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