Chapter 14

The door shut softly, leaving Cassie alone with Drew who had yet to acknowledge her presence. She was beginning to wonder if he was in some form of shock or if his silence was intentional.

She pulled the chair across from him out from the table, unable to stop the grinding noise that screeched through the small space. He flinched but did not look up.

"Drew?" She tried his name softly. "Drew, I know you can hear me. I got your message." She caught the slight tip of his head at the sound of her voice. He was intentionally ignoring her. Her lips tightened. "I know you hear me so you can quit pretending right now."

His eyes flicked up at that, alarming her with the little life reflected in them, and even less in his monotone response. "I heard your boss. I'm not telling anybody anything."

"I know you didn't hurt anybody Drew." As she said it Cassie felt the honesty behind her words. This man was not a killer. His hands being under the table hid the status of his amulet but she was willing to bet he had it on. He'd never taken it off and he hadn't hurt anybody. "Did Pritchard come back after we left?" She guessed at the real killer's identity based on what she knew of the players involved. Brandon. This was Pritchard's and his brother's handiwork. Drew wasn't talking to protect his brother.

Drew showed a glimmer of life and Cassie knew she had guessed right about Pritchard. Relief ran through her that he wasn't their killer. "We can handle Pritchard if you tell us where he is."

There was no response.

"If you help us find your brother we can use his statement and yours to bring Pritchard to justice. I'm thinking Brandon knows some things that could really hurt Terry Pritchard's chances of staying a free man." Inwardly she cringed at the crucial omission. What she'd told him had been truthful. The only part she'd left out was that most likely his brother was also facing the death penalty from Veritas for what he'd done.

"What are you going to do with him when you find him?" Of course he meant his brother, Drew didn't care a bit about what happened to Pritchard.

"We want to speak with him about his magick and get him the help he needs to get a handle on life with powers. His fate depends entirely on him." Cassie told Drew the same thing she'd told parents and spouses for the past six months. "What we would do is arrange for a trainer posted in the area to work with you both. If he is especially talented he might be invited to the Academy where all agents go for training. Or you could too." She remembered to look him in the eye and smile. Julia said that was the best thing to do when telling families or clients something difficult.

"Is that where you went?" Gray eyes bored into her, his intensity arresting. Drew was eager for something else to talk about than his brother or the gore in the alley. It pleased Cassie that he was disturbed by it. That was a good sign.

"Yes, I did."

"So when did they find you?"

Shame finally allowed her to blink and look away. "They knew about me from the beginning."

Drew's brows pulled together. "What do you mean?"

"I'm mixed, remember?" She reminded him pointlessly, forgetting he wouldn't understand.

"Are they racist?"

"Not exactly." She swept a hand across her forehead and sighed thinking of how much had changed in the past twelve hours. "It's not the blood, well, not how it affects my skin anyway. It's my magick. Mixed magick is never a for sure thing and they watch the people who have it very carefully."

"Does that make you a special case or something?" That he didn't so much as bristle at her casual mention of magick spoke volumes of his anxiety level. Cassie had to get him out of here. Even if he hadn't hurt anyone yet he still could.

She humored his question, liking the idea that someone didn't look at her like she was a freak. "Special is a kind word for it." Cassie was amazed again at what so easily rolled out of her mouth around him. As a rule she hadn't talked to anyone about her feelings on the subject, not since her father had put all his faith in her to stand in as their provider. Those and other potential worrisome feelings about life and magick were kept locked tightly away with her other shames.

Like the fact that she could never please her grandmother and she feared her mother had died thinking her daughter was a failure. Swallowing, she forced a smile and told him something that would encourage him to trust her, thinking they were swapping secrets. "Mixed bloods like me usually wash out in their first year. That's why they put me with Julia and Quan, they're the best and they're supposed to keep me from doing anything stupid. Last night was kind of a first for me, I hadn't worked magick in the field before."

Drew leaned back with his hands nearly in his lap, considering her. "Do you know why I called you last night?"

Blinking, she hid her surprise at the abrupt subject change. "You were being polite and checking up on me after I fell in your club."

Averting his eyes Drew picked at something on his pants under the table. "I was checking up on you because there was something that bothered me about you." He noticed the way she touched her hair when she was nervous. "I thought your partners were being unfair, using you like they did."

"Why, because they sent me in to talk to you? Would you have preferred Quan?" Cassie laughed at the picture of how that would have gone.

"I thought they wanted you to do more than talk to me." He looked up at her through his long brown lashes.

Humiliation raced through her. Cassie felt her face and neck color. "Oh, uh, hmm."

He shifted in his seat and she caught a flash of silver peeking out from under the edge of the table. He was wearing his ring and a fresh white bandage on his right hand. Drew flushed at what he'd just intimated to the woman here to help him. "So, I guess we need to get out of here, huh?"

Relieved to hear him talking sense, Cassie stood up. "I'll have Julia get someone to take your witness statement and we'll go."

Drew was pale but gritted his teeth and nodded. "I saw nothing, got it."

When she reached the door his voice brought her around. "Was it sprained?"

"What?" She saw his eyes on her ankle. He'd noticed her lack of a limp. "Oh that. We had a healer come this morning for a little help. You can barely tell anything happened." She lifted her black trouser leg to show him her green bruise above a normal sized foot tucked neatly into a black ballet slipper.

"Maybe it wouldn't be so bad being one of you." He touched the bandage on his hand moving under the table. Cassie offered him a smile before going to find Julia.