I gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’d think with a brain as large as yours there’d be room for more compassion.”
Climbing the stairs with Pietr due to his aversion to elevators, a mix of emotions stirred my stomach.
“We need to talk.”
“We had nothing to do with the suicides,” Pietr assured me. In the crook of his arm the calico kitten, Victoria (now a regular with Tag, the pug), mewed. “Did you have to ask?” He rubbed his nose and blinked at me, his eyes going red for an instant as we paused on the steps.
“Sometimes hearing stuff helps. Are you angry?”
He blinked until the red was gone. “Nyet,” he muttered, motioning up the stairs with a jerk of his chin.
I changed the way I held Tag and, on the move again, I asked my next question. “So why do they al appear to be related to werewolves? Like they’ve seen something?” I paused, my teeth grinding together.
appear to be related to werewolves? Like they’ve seen something?” I paused, my teeth grinding together.
“Is Max being careful?”
“Max? Careful? Those words should never be put in the same sentence. You should know that,” he said, a note of warning in his voice.
“Okay. Let’s say someone spotted him. Who would want them dead because of what they saw?”
We looked at each other and said in unison, “The CIA?”
“I mean, Wanda and Kent have been trouble,” I admitted, “and in the church it seemed like that guy real y might…”
“Kil you?” He gave me a leveling look. “Da. ”
“Okay. Yeah. It real y seemed he was going to shoot me.”
“Exactly.” He rubbed his nose again.
“Al ergies?”
Shaking his head, he blinked red at me.
“But I’m starting to wonder if it’s normal for a government agency to act so…” I shrugged.
Looking back, I caught him with his nose buried in Victoria’s fur. I raised an eyebrow. “Does she smel good enough to eat?”
He chuckled. Uncomfortably. Al traces of red bled from his eyes. Watching me, they went clear and blue as Arctic ice. His mouth pul ed into a taut line. “What if there’s a new player?”
“Who else? Holy crap, Pietr—we’re already dealing with the Russian Mafia and the CIA. Who else might want a piece of you?”
“Who doesn’t? It’s a dog’s life, right?” He opened the door for me. “Or perhaps people aren’t who they say they are. Things are seldom what they seem.”
Says a werewolf.
Hazel Feldman watched Pietr with far greater interest than she’d shown the first time she’d met him
—when she’d agreed that Romeo and Juliet wasn’t much of a romance. “I’m glad you’re doing your duty again,” she said.
He quirked an eyebrow at her. “I didn’t stop. I’ve been doing my service learning assignment steadily.”
“There’s a difference between doing an assignment and doing your duty, boy.”
He shrugged one shoulder and passed Victoria her way.
“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” Feldman marveled. “But such sharp little fangs. That’s the way the world is, isn’t it? The prettiest things often have the worst bite.”
“You speak in riddles, Mrs. Feldman,” I said with a smile. “I always leave here with lots to think about.”
“Good, good,” she said, petting Victoria with such a heavy hand the kitten’s head bobbed down and her eyes widened with each long stroke from her head to her tail. “Are you ready to give in, Jessie?”
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Pietr tilt his head, observing our exchange. “I don’t know,” I confessed. “I’m not sure I want to know my future.”
She glanced at me, wizened eyes narrowing further so her wrinkles deepened into crevices. “ ‘ Que sera, sera,’ ” she muttered. “ ‘Whatever wil be, wil be.’ ”
“Da,” Pietr agreed. “But doesn’t that song continue with the idea we don’t get to know our future?”
“I hate that song,” she sniped. “Perhaps if I start with your cards, Pietr.” She pushed Victoria back into his grasp and dug into the folds of her voluminous skirt, withdrawing her beautiful deck of cards. “Shuffle.”
Reluctantly Pietr crossed to her door, shut it, and set Victoria down. After checking the window was closed, of course. He had learned that much from his first trip to service learning. He took the cards and paused.
“Don’t be scared. Shuffle. The future is an amazing gift.”
“Some of us don’t get time to unwrap it,” he muttered.
“What?” She cupped a hand to her ear.
“He said he’s sorry he’s being so taciturn.”
He looked my way, but only briefly. He shuffled the cards like a pro, his hands quick and sure. “I draw.”
She grinned. “You’ve done this before.”
“Da, I have a sister with a fascination for such extraneous activities.”
“If you think what she does is extraneous, she’s not very good at it yet.” She took the cards and fanned them in her hand, holding them facedown. “Perhaps I’l make you a believer. Pul one for your recent past.”
He did.
“The Tower. You have recently faced great change.”
“I’m a teenager. Things are always changing.”
“Shal I be more specific?”
Undaunted, he replied, “You may try.”
Holding the card, she closed her eyes a moment. “Your most recent birthday was fil ed with surprises.”
My teeth pinned my lower lip.
Pietr didn’t show any sign she’d struck a nerve. “Go on.”
She ran a thumb across the card, contemplating. “You expected to be hurt that day, not betrayed. But someone close to you surprised you. No. Two surprised you. One with near betrayal, one with acceptance,” she corrected.
Pietr’s eyebrows lowered.
“Another card? For the near future.”
“Da.” He yanked another free of the fan.
She turned it over. “Oh.” Her lips slid across her face as she considered the meaning, or perhaps the words, to explain it. “There is death ahead.”