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Chapter Ninety-Nine

LUNA

The raven sits with the top of his head at my throat for longer than any normal bird would. It’s a lingering, half-hour hug from a not-so-cuddly animal. I lean back, looking at the sky turning deeper shades of blue, while I let the simplest, most core version of Carmine love me.

Serafina peeks out to make sure I’m all right. Sam wordlessly checks. The lights in the penthouse flip on. Nunzio arrives and checks on me, but Carmine keeps his soft feathers to my scar and I don’t do more than wave to tell my friends I’m all right.

When the sun is just a sliver over the park, I speak. “You can do what you want, but I’m going for the knife.”

The raven doesn’t move.

“I promise I’ll be careful.” I sit up straight. The bird hops onto my lap, giving me the side-eye. “I’ll be smart. I’ll bail if it looks bad. You just do whatever with Charles.”

Serafina slides open the door and drags a chair to it so the front two legs are outside and the back two are inside. She grabs a magazine and sits.

“Hello, strigoi .” He doesn’t answer, so she addresses me. “Sam says when he’s a raven he can get in, but he can’t change.”

I say to him, “Alex will be mad if you shit on the furniture.”

Nunzio stands behind her. He looks at the raven, who caws at him. “So that’s Carmine?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool. Okay. I got us a flight?—”

“Yeah. Not going anywhere right now.”

“But I’m supposed to take you.”

Serafina raises her arm and snaps a finger in his face. “Told you she’s unleashed.”

He’s going to get into trouble if I don’t go with him, but that’s not changing anything.

“Change the flight to the morning. I’m tired. That’s when I’ll go.”

Nunzio looks at the bird, but the bird isn’t telling him anything one way or the other. He runs his finger through his hair.

“Fine.” He goes into the other room to book a flight I’m not taking.

“Where’s my mother?” I ask Serafina.

“Sleeping. Whatever she did with you knocked her out.”

“And you’re half-in and half-out because?”

“Because you half-cured me.”

“You half-cured yourself.”

She turns pages with purpose, but barely looks at them. “When are you leaving? And don’t pretend we’re talking about a plane.”

“When do clubs get busy?”

“In New York?” She shrugs. “One in the morning. How are you going to find it?”

“I’ll mix in the crowd and nose around until I figure it out?”

Carmine squawks.

“I agree, strigoi -bird.” Serafina launches the magazine onto an empty patio chair. “That is the worst plan I’ve ever heard.”

I sigh and stretch, rubbing my face, because she’s right. Orlando Lugano was going to show Carmine the plans. But I’m not Carmine, so I have nothing.

I go to the railing and look over.

“Are they still watching you?” I ask.

“Yeah. That one.” She waves in some general direction.

Carmine perches on the rail.

“I kind of like you as a bird,” I say to him. “You’re with me, but you can’t boss me.”

He grabs a bit of my sleeve in his beak and yanks it in displeasure.

Serafina lurches to the rail and grips it. Carmine is between us.

“That one.” She points at a gray-haired man sitting at the bus stop. “Oh, he wasn’t here before.” She shows me a younger man crossing the street. “Orlando.”

“The hot one.”

“Shut up,” she says.

He disappears under us. Serafina backs up toward the house, touching furniture as she goes.

I lean over the railing. Orlando has either flipped into some werewolf-specific liminal nowhere, or he’s entered the lobby. I’m not sure if he’s prevented from coming into the building itself or just the penthouse, because Carmine never had to come through the front door.

“Where’s he going?” I ask. “How is he coming in here?”

“Are these fucking monsters going to chase me wherever I go?” Serafina puts her back against the wall, hands behind her to touch it.

I stride to her. Carmine lands on my shoulder.

“If they did, would you want our protection?”

“You and Carmine?” She seems incredulous.

“If we live.”

“If you die, I’m not staying with Carmine. So don’t die.” She’s just inside the sliding door.

The elevator ding echoes over the whole house.

The hot one has arrived.

“That’s him,” Serafina whispers, eyes wide, anticipation heightening every emotion.

“Listen.” I come close to her and speak softly. “You don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want. Okay? I can bring you to Carmine’s if they won’t let you stay here, and if I die, or whatever, Carmine’s not going to try to hold you again. He promises.” I turn to the bird on my shoulder. “Right?”

Carmine grabs my earlobe in his beak and tugs.

“That doesn’t look like a yes,” she says.

Sam leans into the doorframe, craning his neck to see us. “Serafina, Orlando Lugano is here to see you.”