Page 60 of Forget Me Not

There was nothing to say to that. Nothing he wanted to say. Ray looked at the map again, the dots for stops all over town, thought of fairies and elves and poorer humans taking the bus from the village to City Hall so they could pay fines or apply for permits or go to the courthouse and then hopping on the bus again to get groceries or to go to work and then go home. The trip was a pain in the ass, and an expense, and was not quick. No one who took the bus was in any sort of position of authority anywhere around City Hall, except possibly a store manager or two. Travel by any way but car kept the parts of the city separate.

An odd thought, but relevant in a way Ray couldn’t explain.

Something to do with Cal, no doubt. Callalily was what Ray’s mind would rather dwell on. Cal would know who to report it to, or know someone to ask. But keeping Cal out of harm’s way was the point of all of this. Ray was certain of that, too, or he would have done something sooner.

He swallowed.

“We never did get you coffee,” he said after a minute had gone by. Penn blinked and seemed to realize she was frowning into the distance. “We need to find you something better to eat while you worry.”

“Me?” She snorted again, but distracted, faint. “You’re the one who needs to go home and rest, and fill up on… well, I was going to say comforting carbs, but Cal would do.”

Ray half-growled before he suppressed it, then looked away. “I don’t know where he is.”

“So find him,” Penn replied easily, bringing Ray’s gaze back to her. “You’ve never not been able to, even when you didn’t want to.” She must have noticed Ray had no idea what she was talking about. “Or call him?” she suggested weakly.

Ray reached for his phone, then recalled that he’d left it at the house.

He should check it. There might be information on it, aside from all the texts from Cal he wanted to read through. Pictures, he thought abruptly. There would be pictures too.

Thankfully, he was too old to blush.

Penn got to her feet and waved at Ray’s face as if it told her something. “Come on. I’ll get coffee and then I’ll give you a ride.”

Ray stood with her. “To where?”

Penn looked as though she wanted to roll her eyes. “You’ll let me know.”

Ray frowned, tired of references he didn’t understand but also not in the mood to demand an explanation. But when Penn moved, he reached out to stop her. “Wait. What’s the number for Bluebell?” It was the most likely answer. A village law firm that took all the being cases, often pro bono or very cheap.

“Bluebell?” Penn frowned back at him, but took out her phone, scrolled down, and handed it to him. “They aren’t really who I was thinking of talking to about this. At least, not without more proof and a lot of security.”

“Not for us.” Ray hit the button to dial, then glanced back toward the station. “They have a client in custody and I’m supposed to call and tell them. Better do that now… before I forget that, too,” he added, dry.

Penn quirked an eyebrow at him, but stayed and listened while Ray tried to explain to a confused receptionist why he’d called, and that no, he had no idea of the client’s name.

***

THEY GOT COFFEE. Penn also got an overpriced pastry and tore it into pieces to eat it before they returned to the car to drive around. As she’d said, she didn’t have a destination in mind, and let Ray face the window and slump down in the passenger seat. She circled at first, then rolled down the windows without consulting Ray, and then seemed to turn left or right based solely on whether Ray raised his head and sat up or wrinkled his nose.

He was about to demand to be let out so he could find someplace peaceful to rest without all the motions of the car and the city noise when he spotted glitter ahead and realized they were in the village. A moment after that, he realized it was familiar glitter.

Penn made a gleeful sound Ray barely noticed. There were fairies up and down the street, but that wasn’t where he was looking, and it wasn’t where Penn was headed.

She pulled over and stopped in front of a trash can and a bench—on which there were no metal dividers because someone very strong had evidently torn them off. Probably a troll.

“You used to do this even before you were together. ‘Didn’t mean to,’ you said, but no matter what, where you were going, whatever you were trying to do, you’d find Cal.” Penn explained quietly. “’Wolf senses and instincts,’ you said.”

Unless Ray had had a reasonable starting point, there was no way he had found one person in a city’s worth of smells in a short amount of time just by driving around. If what Penn said was true, it had to be the influence of fairy magic.

Cal sat at one end of the bench, without Benny, sharing a snack with the bench’s other occupant, a worn down, tired-looking older human woman who was nodding attentively at whatever Cal was telling her. She didn’t appear to believe him, but was compelled to listen anyway. Ray understood the feeling.

Cal’s expression was animated, although his posture was a bit despondent. Ray wondered how long he had been waiting there. Cal also looked chilled. It was fall. He should have a shirt at least.

The idea of Cal wandering around the city, shivering, should have made Ray’s headache worse, but he momentarily forgot everything but the sweep of Cal’s hands as he talked, and the way Cal stilled before slowly turning, as if sensing Ray before he saw him.

The woman on the bench jumped at the sudden burst of glitter around the half-fairy next to her, but accepted the rest of their shared snack when Cal handed it to her.

He smiled, as bubbly and bright as champagne, and even though Ray couldn’t get drunk and didn’t understand sparkling wine, he couldn’t look away.

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