Page 102 of A Winding Wave of Magic
“Come sit for a moment.”
I sat next to him on the mattress, and he handed me a manila envelope.
“A few last gifts.”
I opened it, pulling out a familiar-looking report and a few other things. “Penny’s autopsy? But you emailed me this months ago. There was nothing there but a natural death, right?”
“It’s just the original. But also some other things I was able to procure. There’s a new passport in there for you. Your birth certificate, which you should know is no longer on record inTillamook County. Nor are your records at Boston College or Reed any longer.”
I looked up in surprise. “Did you steal them?”
He shrugged. “I made them go away. The registrar at BC is a shifter—she knew I was up to something. I had to go in before they opened.”
“Was that really necessary?”
Jonathan flattened his palms over his knees. “There may come a time when you’ll need to…disappear for a bit. Should you need them, they can be reinstated. But I wanted to be ready. Penny would have wanted it too.”
A shiver traveled down my spine as I considered how many times Penny had done this throughout her life. I was starting to think it was a lot more than once.
I slid the documents back into the envelope but tucked the passport into my purse.
“Jonathan, I—” I bit my lip, unsure of how to ask the question forming. “What time did you get up this morning?”
He twisted his mouth to the side. “You’ll find your visa to stay in Ireland there as well. A bit of money to get you by until you can get to London. And the key to Penny’s house. It’s been cleaned too.”
I stared at the packet. Either he was an early riser who didn’t like boredom, or there was some other explanation for why he continued to demonstrate this kind of generosity. If that was even what you could call all of this. “You didn’t need to do all of this.”
“Yes, I did,” he said firmly. “It’s what Penny hired me to do. All the more reason for it now, wouldn’t you say?”
I sighed. Well, that cleared up that line of thinking. “I suppose so. Thank you.”
He waved away my thanks. “Now, we’ve got a plane to catch in a few hours. Do you have anything else that needs to be put in storage or shipped to Ireland before we leave?”
I shook my head. How about everything I’d lost? How about all of the photographs, the closet full of Gran’s vintage clothes? My surfboards, and the few remaining things that had belonged to my father?
I sniffed back a tear. I wasnotgoing to start crying again. Not now.
“Right, then. I’ll go bring round the car.” He stood and started toward the door.
“Wait, Jonathan.” I stood too, clutching the envelope. “I can’t accept all of this without reimbursing you. The plane tickets at least.”
He paused, hand on the knob, then turned. “My father killed your grandmother and tried to kill you. I provoked him into burning your house down, along with all of your belongings and clothes, in a blaze that forced us to flee without even a pair of shoes on your feet.”
I shook my head. “We figured it out. You helped me get back here, and?—”
“Cass,please.” His voice cracked slightly. “Let me help you. If only to settle my conscience just a bit.” He picked up my two suitcases like they weighed little more than shopping bags and turned back toward the door. “I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready. Bid farewell to your roommate and your old life, Cass. It’s about to change forever.”
Fifteen minutes later,I had said goodbye to Aja and was on my way to the airport with Jonathan.
“We should have just gone with Reina,” I said as he drove down Chestnut. “She only left an hour before we did.”
“That would have been wise if we were going to Logan,” Jonathan said as he turned onto Commonwealth Avenue.
I frowned. “Where are we going, then?”
His full mouth twisted into a smirk. “You’re nervous.” It was an observation, not a question.
“What makes you think that?”
