"You said there's a girl--"
"--in your office. Completely panicked and refusing to speak to anyone except you or someone named Gwynn."
I took the phone and started for the gate. "It's me. We're on our way, but we're in Cainsville and the car is a half mile away. Can you put her on the phone? Tell her it's Olivia, and Gabriel is right here."
"I would, but she's out cold."
"What?"
"I think it's drugs. She was talking about someone named Gwynn and seemed to get him confused with Gabriel. She mentioned you, but she said she really needed Gabriel. Then she was speaking in another language. Then back to English, about hounds and pepper, and it made absolutely no sense, Liv. I couldn't even get her to calm down enough to let me phone Gabriel until she passed out."
"We'll be there as soon as we can."
--
We found the lamia on the chaise lounge in Gabriel's office. Lydia apologized for that, but it was the only horizontal surface.
"You should go," I said to Lydia. "We've got this."
She shook her head. "I can--"
"You've done enough," Gabriel said. "We appreciate you staying with her."
"You know what this is about, then," she said.
When Gabriel didn't answer, I said, "Yes, we do."
"And it would be better if I left?"
"Yes, it would."
I walked her to her desk, where she got her jacket and laptop bag. "Thank you. For handling this."
She busied herself putting on her jacket. "I know things have changed, Liv. Not just because you're here, and Gabriel no longer practically lives in this office. Which is wonderful to see, but..." She looked at me. "I'm not demanding to know more, but I think it would help if I did."
"Gabriel doesn't want--"
"He's always been very careful to keep me out of anything that could land me in a jail cell." She smiled. "He'd hate the bother of replacing me. I understand he thinks it's unsafe for me to know more, but I'm asking."
At a noise from Gabriel's office, I turned.
"Go on," she said. "Just consider it. Please."
I said goodbye and hurried back to the office, where Gabriel had taken off his jacket and pulled a chair over to the chaise lounge. He sat there, watching the lamia, making no move to wake her.
The girl looked about sixteen with curly black hair, a thin face, and a thin body. No makeup. Dressed in a battered leather jacket, jeans, and combat boots. Not hunting, then. Just being a regular girl--regular fae.
I shook her gently, but she didn't move. When I pressed my fingers to her neck, I could feel a pulse. Barely feel a pulse.
"She's hurt," I said. "I don't see an injury, but help me get her out of this jacket."
He did, and at first I still saw nothing. Then, when I started turning away, I caught a splash of red on her white T-shirt. I looked back and it vanished.
"Olivia?" Gabriel said.
His expression told me he hadn't seen what I did. "I'm going to pull up her shirt."
He turned away. I tugged up her tee, but saw only unblemished skin and a beige bra. Then I caught it again: the blood. I stayed at that angle, looking out of the corner of my eye. The girl's torso flickered, and stab wounds appeared on her chest, blood everywhere. When I looked back, her glamour rippled, as if she was growing too weak to sustain it, blood and scales glistening on her skin.