Perigee [bxb] | Bad Moon Book II

38; {Jaylin}: Marcy

By morning, they were in Maine.

It was a sudden decision, and Jaylin could admit, not well thought out.

Sadie had hurried upstairs for her luggage—still packed from her flight to Colorado. Jaylin took only a change of clothes and a tent that belonged to the witches. They met outside the gate of the Watch and trekked to the main road by foot. The only person who was inept enough to have caught on to their departure was dying on a hospital bed with a machine for lungs.

The cab took them to the airport and Sadie paid for their tickets on a credit card she'd set aside for emergencies. Jaylin promised to pay her back after all of this was over. He'd make everything right after he killed Ziya.

Tisper would hate him for this. Even Matt would have something to say about running off in the night without them. Jaylin knew that. But he also knew that time was a limited resource and Quentin's was just about up.

They'd be in danger if they came along anyway. The only reason Jaylin had even allowed Sadie to come was because she promised only to interfere with remote protections spells and to stay away from Ziya's keep. That's what they'd been calling it—the Queen's stronghold. Sadie had mused over the idea that maybe it was something of a castle, like Qamar's place in Colorado. But Jaylin could only imagine Ziya's keep as that sterile, impregnable white prison she'd kept him locked away in. Whatever the hell Ziya was holed up in, Jaylin could find her—he was sure of it. If he opened up his senses and felt for her, he could find her.

The moment they stepped off of the plane, Sadie dragged him to the airport bathroom. She didn't consider the men at the urinals, who cursed at the sight of a woman and huddled into their protective urinal stalls. She yanked Jaylin's shirt off over his head and dug into her bag for a bottle of sunscreen.

"Not even going to let me in on what you're doing right now?" Jaylin asked as she slapped a handful onto his bare chest. "You just drag me into a public bathroom and undress me."

"Hush and rub that in. Turn around, I'll get your back."

Confused, Jaylin did as he was told. He watched his own reflection in the mirror as Sadie worked the lotion into his skin. He hardly recognized himself anymore. Jaylin couldn't stand the sight of his own scraggly facial hair—too fair, too blond, too patchy. He'd never let it grow like this before and it didn't wear well on him. But what did his appearance matter if Quentin wasn't around to see it? Still, he shouldn't hate his own face this much.

"Didn't happen to bring a razer, did you?"

"Nope," Sadie said, leaving dots of cool sunscreen into his shoulders. "You'll have to wait."

"What are you doing anyway? You know it's like seventy-five here, tops. I'm not even sure I can get sunburned anymore."

"Do you not remember what it was like when Ziya was coming for you?" Sadie asked, stepping aside as the last man exited the restroom. She wrinkled her nose. "Men are disgusting. Not a single one of those guys washed their hands."

"What are you talking about? Of course I remember when Ziya was coming for me."

"So you remember how all those sentinels had been stationed around SeaTac?"

Jaylin raised his head and the look on his own face was confirmation enough that he hadn't thought at all about Ziya's wolves. How they'd pluck him right off of the street if he'd stepped foot out of the airport, stinking of this lichund scent.

"So you think sunscreen will help?"

"It'll have to," Sadie said. "I didn't have anything else on me." Her hands moved up the tense muscles of his shoulders and he nearly went weak when they pressed into his neck. "Yikes, you're tense."