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Chapter Fifteen

It was the changing sound of the engine that woke led deeper under lance at the clock told me we’d been on 80 only for about an hour, and therefore were probably co a hundred plus in the dark had been reat ti off 95 He could keep the job for all I cared-even if he bitched incessantly until we cut our bathroo The road between Las Vegas and 80 had been nerve-racking, even though we hadn’t seen anyone There’d been lights In the air Lots of them And they’d kept pace with us no h it all

Three eighteen, I ainst the door, still achy fro the floor, wall, table, and whatever else Ku’Sox had thrown ht of a truck stop flashed overto seduce sleep back to me If this was almost Reno, then San Francisco was only about 240 miles away A spike of adrenaline lit and died Toet you there in time," Jenks said, his soft voice paced a shade slower than usual, and carrying a hint of both irritation and the altitude sickness he was dealing with I’d offered hi the car was crowded enough

"You keep saying that," Trent said just as softly I’d never have heard them if I hadn’t been in the front seat

"Well, you keep pushing the pedal to the floor," he shot back, his voice putting him in the ashtray, not the rearview ht to du Ku’Sox, and she didn’t That must have been some conversation you had in the john, because if it had been ht now"

Sleep vanished, but I didn’t htening" or some such crap, but Trent wouldn’t, and I worked toVivian, too, ht up the deood, elf boy"

It had been a soft mutter, but I knew Trent heard, as there was a creak of plastic and the vent started blowing cold air "I have my reasons," Trent said

"You have trust issues is what you have," Jenks said "And turn the air off What are you, a friggin’ penguin?"

"You don’t know half of what’s going on"

You got that right, I thought as the air turned war fro Trent would saya lot of tiether while the rest of us slept, and Jenks liked to talk Especially when he was cranky Anything over 2,500 feet above sea level and he had a hard ti Hit 3,000 feet and he was down

"Well?" Jenks said sarcastically, al him

A small sound of mistrust slipped from Trent "You’d tell her"

"So?"

"So I don’t want her syh to see a faint haze of pixy dust in the ashtray, glowing in the predawn gloohnut napkin off himself and sat up "What is so daain canant, Jenks flashed his wings Making a wobbling flight to the dash, he stood with his hands on his knees, bent over and wheezing "I helped Quen lift your paperwork fro I can help It’s allowed I checked If you’re really on an elf quest, you’re allowed a pixy Pixies helped elves on quests all the tinified, like an overdone renaissance fair show, and I stifled a sh his woods to rescue the i to co into a high-security location, not riding across the countryside on sohts clearly akin to my own

"So you’re in a borrowed Buick instead of on a hty steed, and your pixy sidekick can short out security systems instead of spot orcs It’s the ti at hiine his tight rumped, "It’s not like that"

"It looks like it tomisfits"

In the seat behind

"What are you doing?" Jenks whispered "Scra the Withons’ tax returns?"

I let outTrent’s soft, "I’ Ellasbeth has it It’s mine"

He wasn’t after Ellasbeth then Thank God And why did Trent have to prove hi into the ever-after for that elf DNA saacy Was this so elves that he could lead theh?

"I can help," Jenks said "Tell ht, avoiding traffic by the sound of it Reno must be close "Why do you want to help me?" Trent asked as he settled into a new lane "You don’t owebut trouble"

"True," Jenks adot me a church and security foron the dash in front of the wheel, his wings almost blue with cold and altitude "But ht, Rachel won’t have you to speak for her at the coven h to risk your life for s huray buildings passed in the gloo?" Jenks asked, his tone one oflanes, the buildings seeht, stiffto San Francisco!"

Trent jumped, clearly shocked But the car was in an exit-only lane "H-how long," he stammered, but I was n that flashed past

"We are going to San Francisco!" I hissed, not caring if I woke everyone up "Get the car back on the interstate!"

Trent stared "How long have you been listening to us?"

My teeth clenched seeing the broken white line turn solid "So help et back on the interstate, I’s huet your ass back on the interstate, cookie maker You wouldn’t like it if Rachel hated you forever"

"I don’t have time to stop in San Francisco," he said stiffly "Two hundredit, I stared at hiet you there"

"I don’t see how!"

"I’ll get you there!" I exclaiger "Trent, trust me Just trust me You asked me to trust you!"

I could see the frustration in the set of his jaw On the dash, Jenks waited, tense and not a slip of dust escaping from him Trust me If he didn’t, then why should I trust him?

In a moment, there would be a er one between Trent and rowled curse, he yanked the wheel to the left

"Hey!" Ivy exclaimed from the backseat as the car swerved violently

My heart was beating fast, and I pulled my hand from the dash Jenks had

"Are we there yet?" calanced back to see her with a really bad case of pillow hair

"No, go back to sleep," I said, noticing that Pierce had never even woken up, pressed into the corner behind Trent and huddled under his long coat

I settled back, pulling my own coat up in the chill Trent kept the car in His face was set in a deterry expression We were back on 80 and headed to the coven , but he wasn’t happy He’d said he trustedto make it," he said, and I sn flashed over us He was going to make it And even better, I was, too

"Thank you, Trent," I said,to ry

It wasn’t like I could pretend to be asleep anyotten in another state and rued around until I found a squished brownie Who in the Turn is buying the Milk Duds?

"You’ll make it," I said as I tore the cellophane open and the scent of enriched flour and chocolate hit me I took a bite: the chocolate had too ar Leaning forward, I handed Jenks a chunk as big as his head "Soon as I check in with the coven, I’ll have Al pop you up there," I said around my full mouth "QED"

The noise that caht in a steel trap of fury I turned froat her in explanation

"You could have jumped me there at any time?" Trent said hotly

"Yeah," Jenks said, voice muffled from the brownie "You just click your heels and think there’s no place like being pwned"

Trent clenched his jaw and corrected for the truck ere barreling toward "Rachel," he said, that one word holding an entire arguht on the wheel Our speed, too, had gone up by about fifteen miles per hour

"No, I can’t do it at any tirin, lips closed so I didn’t look like a goober with brownie in ic doesn’t work until you learn a life lesson," I teased "Wasn’t it fun, though? Only two hundred miles left We can do that on our heads! Unless it violates your elf quest? I mean, if I’m your sword, your shield, and your ets you there, right?"

There was a snuffle from the back Clearly Ivy was still awake, but I think that had slipped Trent’s notice "Two thousand uessed that no, it didn’t violate the rules of whatever he was doing out here, because he sure wasn’t out here keeping the coven fro but slop for two days and used facilities I wouldn’t let s urinate in And what about that couple in the RV outside Texas? I’ll never get thatthe brownie out of my teeth "I could’ve done without that visual myself"

"I could have done without the entire trip," Trent gru to be in Seattle in a matter of hours

I tucked my foot under ht?" I said as I cru "Consider the trip your interview"

Jenks choked on his brownie, looking at me as if I’d lost my mind, red faced as he alternated his attention between me and sori to do here, realistically? Either I cozied up really close to Trent to get hi in two days, or I wound up first in Alcatraz, then the ever-after when I admitted I’d lost my bet with Al and fled to his protection Some choice, but really, Trent was the better of the two Even if he had let Ku’Sox out of his box Stupid elf

Trentat the back ofup, Trent s one of confidence and satisfaction Not surprised, I collapsed in onto ht ithto hear it The tone of the engine dropped, and for the first tias, the speedoits "How did I do?" Trent asked, a shing at ht ith hi to sign his paper-beco to need so while I earned the trust of Cincinnati back and the work trickled in "You’re not much of a team player," I said as I scraped the last of the sticky cake off ertips with a napkin so stiff it was nearly useless "Inclined to take on too , which causes problems that could easily have been avoided"

Trent’s entire deed Relaxed, he let one hand fall to his lap and drove with the other It just about pegged my attraction meter, but I frohen he said, "Sounds like you"