While half a dozen guards looked on, waiting with bated breath, the paper football flew through the air, toward the uprights. The paper hit her right index finger, bounced, and hit the table, three inches short of the goal.
“It’s no good! It’s no good!” yelled Brody, a recent guard inductee, waving his long arms back and forth like an NFL ref. Lindsey stood up and high-fived Kelley and Juliet.
Luc raised his fists to the sky. “No!” he yelled dramatically. “I could have been a contender!”
On the Waterfront, I guessed silently. Luc was one for movie quotes.
Lindsey strutted up to him, chin jutted out with pride. “I believe you just got schooled,” she said, poking a finger into his chest.
“Best two out of three?” he asked, wincing.
“Not on your life.” She took his shoulders, turned him toward me. “You have other things to deal with.”
Luc glanced at me, and what would have been a smile faded when he took in the dress and the shoes. And then he looked downright pissed . . . and maybe a little bit sympathetic.
“Damn,” Kelley said, interrupting whatever tirade he’d been about to make.
“You look amazing,” she said, fingering a bit of the skirt. “Is this Valentino?”
I hadn’t even thought to look. “I don’t know. But I’m sure it was expensive.”
She snorted. “Uh, yeah. Very.”
When she walked back to her station, Luc dropped his voice. “What the hell is this?”
“Complicated. Can I speak to you outside?”
Luc didn’t look thrilled about the request. But he rose, followed me to the door, and closed it when we were outside again. And then he crossed his arms.
“You’re getting pretty good at that Master-to-Peon expression,” I said.
“I’ve been on the receiving end plenty of times. What the hell’s he doing?”
No need to explain who “he” was.
“Long story short, Reed wrote a note to me to inflame Ethan, and it worked perfectly. Ethan wants to confront Reed at a charity thing tonight at the Botanic Garden.”
He eyes flashed, and anger flooded the hallway on a wave of magic. “Excuse me?”
“You know what I know. I can’t stop him, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let him go alone. And that’s not all.”
I told him about Ethan’s call to my father, watched his face for a sign he knew about it. I didn’t see it. Instead he looked surprised and a little appalled. “Not a good idea.”
“No, it wasn’t. But it’s done now. Is there something we can do? Protection we can offer?”
“Do you think your father would take it?”
“I don’t know. What about the human guards? Could we post a couple near his house?”
Luc put a hand on my arm. “Sentinel, considering how angry you are at Ethan for talking to your father without checking with you first, do you really think it’s a good idea to put guards on your father without talking to him first?”
I curled my lip. “Don’t try to use logic against me.”
“Perish the thought. Look, why don’t I talk to your grandfather, broach the issue with him? He might have a better sense of, let’s say, the proprieties.”
Some of the pressure in my chest loosened. “I’d appreciate it.”
Luc nodded. “This screws my plan for you to help Paige with the alchemy tonight. We need to focus on translating it.”