He turned on the bed, looking away from Gretchen and focusing entirely on me. “You have to understand we are a very tight community. When Max went looking to see if anyone could help you, I got wind of it. After a little digging, and from what Max said, I recognized your talent. I wanted you to come here so I could see for myself.”
Good and all, but… “Why?”
He smiled gently, so unlike Caley. “Because you’re one of us.”
While I wanted to remind him that no I was not, I pressed on to get the answers I needed. “That’s the only reason?”
“It’s one of them.” He sighed, clasping his hands in his lap so properly, and so absurd coming from Caley. “The other was to warn you.”
Yes, wasn’t that the other something holding damn strong on my mind. I glimpsed at Gretchen and she leaned forward with interest. I was there, too. “Warn me of what, exactly?”
“Your talents are impressive.” He glanced down at his hands and smiled slightly, probably because he felt so strange being in a woman’s body. “With that comes many things that, if you haven’t learned, could leave you in very dangerous situations.”
I snorted. “Been there. Done that. And am still knee-deep in it.”
“Yes and you see, I worried for you.” His head lifted and his expression looked torn. “I was concerned you didn’t have the protection you needed to keep yourself safe.”
Running a hand over my face, I grumbled, “You know, things were never dangerous before. Until I met Kipp, I just saw ghosts and helped…sometimes.”
At the silence greeting me, I lowered my hand and Alexander gave me a measured look. “And that’s exactly why it wasn’t dangerous.”
I searched his eyes, but failed to understand. “Meaning?”
Gretchen knelt down on the hardwood floor in front of us by the bed. “Because you never opened yourself up to it before.” She smiled sweetly at Alexander, which he returned, then her gaze caught mine. “The more you allowed yourself to become mystically bound, the more dangerous it became.”
Alexander inclined his head in agreement. “I feared you’d suffer if I didn’t intervene. I wanted to make sure you knew how to protect yourself and the dangers that await you if you didn’t.”
Dane had said something very similar to me. That I had been too open with ghosts and that left me vulnerable. Even the right to tell a ghost to leave me alone wasn’t something I realized before Dane had suggested it. In truth, those were lessons I needed when I faced off with the demon. What would have happened if I had to deal with a demon and don’t know how to do that?
I didn’t even want to consider it.
Locked in Alexander’s tender gaze, I couldn’t help where my thoughts took me. “Why do you care so much?” At his raised brows, I didn’t need his answer. “Right, because I’m one of you.”
His chin dipped. “It was only and always to help you. To ensure you had the right tools to protect yourself.”
“Well, thanks. That’s incredibly nice of you,” I had to admit, considering the other members of the Animus I’d met were complete jackasses, except Amelia.
Now I understood why Gretchen held such focus to help Alexander; he was a good man who didn’t deserve this. Massaging my neck, I felt more than exhausted. I wanted to help Alexander, but I needed to save Kipp, too. With my personal agenda back on my mind, I gave up with massaging the knots out of my muscles. “Okay, can you tell me what you know of Nettie?”
“I know of her,” he answered, now gazing over Caley’s legs in her skinny jeans as if he couldn’t quite understand them. “That she has similar gifts to you. I know that she’s travelled into the Netherworld.” He finally lifted his gaze to me. “But that is all I know.”
Dammit! Why couldn’t he know all about her? Every little detail that would answer every question I had. Why couldn’t life be that easy? “Wayde won’t let me see her diary more than to show me a single passage. Did you read it?”
“I read the diary,” he stated. “However, it was a long time ago and I’m afraid my memory isn’t the same as it used to be. I cannot give you every little detail of what she wrote, but from what I read, I do know she eventually died.”
“Yes, we already know that.” But how was knowing she lived a long life and died going to help me any? “I need to get my hands on her diary again and see if I’m missing anything. There was something in there he didn’t want me to see.”
“I agree,” Gretchen said. “He’s hiding it for a reason.”
&nb
sp; Seeing that was getting me nowhere either, I pushed thoughts of Nettie aside and got right to the rest of it. “Do you know if there is a spell in the Lux that will put a ghost back into his comatose body?”
Alexander stared at me hard. “There are thousands of spells in that book. I imagine there would be.”
Finally, some good news. Now to hope it continued. “Do you know where the Lux is?”
He sighed, rubbing his hand over his jaw in such a masculine move that looked ridiculous on Caley. “Sorry to say, I don’t. When a Grand Master dies, the Lux is always moved. I’m unsure of where Wayde would have put it.” His head tilted, eyes became curious. “He won’t offer it to you?”