"Okay. I'll take you."
I shook my head. "No. We've got to split up. You need to go get Eva and drive her over to the safe house just like we planned. I'm going after Finn and Bria-alone."
"Gin-"
"I'm not going to make you choose between me and your sister, Owen," I snapped. "I would never, ever ask you to do that-not when I know how much your sister means to you. Eva's in danger right now, and you need to get to her. Just like I need to get to Bria and Finn. But we can't be in two places at once, at least not together. Splitting up is our only option. We both know it's true."
Owen turned his head to stare at me in the darkness. After a moment, he let out a loud, vicious curse, and his hands gripped the steering wheel like he wanted to rip it to pieces. He knew I was right, and he didn't like it one bit. I understood his anger, his frustration, because I was feeling it too. So I put my burned, blistered fingers on top of his, trying to soothe him-and myself-in some small way.
"I-I appreciate your concern and the fact that you want to come with me. But we both know that it has to be this way. I would never forgive myself if something happened to Eva because of me. Because of the fact that I missed Mab tonight. I know what it's like to think that your sister is dead, and I don't ever want you to have to go through that pain. I care about you too much for that, Owen."
"I know you do," he said in a soft voice. "And I care about you too, Gin."
"Good. Then pull over into that parking lot."
Owen did as I asked, steering into a lot that fronted one of the many upscale shopping centers that populated this part of Northtown. A few folks had decided not to try to drive home in the snow, because a couple of cars remained in the lot, despite the late hour. Owen parked his BMW next to a late-model sedan.
"What are you going to do?" he asked. "First of all, I'm going to boost that sedan right there," I said. "Then I'm going to drive over to Fletcher's house, hide the car at the bottom of the hill, and hike my way up to the top of the ridge. If everything looks kosher, I'll go in and get Finn and Bria and see why they weren't answering the phone."
"And if it's not kosher?" Owen asked.
I shrugged. "Then I guess I'll be killing people until it is."
He just nodded, and we fell silent. Both of us bruised and bloody, and me with burns covering my hands and arms. Mab hadn't completely melted my leather jacket with her elemental Fire, but she'd singed the sleeves in places, letting me see the raw, blistered skin that lay underneath. Something else that made me sick. Unfortunately, the night was far from over-for me or Owen.
"I'm sorry, Owen," I said in a low voice, staring at my burned flesh instead of at him. "So, so sorry. All of this is my fault. If only I hadn't missed Mab tonight. If only I hadn't missed her again-"
Tears scalded my eyes, and frustration burned my throat, even harsher than Mab's elemental Fire. Fucking emotion. Something that I didn't need. Not now, not if I wanted to survive-and save the others.
Owen understood what I was feeling because he put his arms around me and pulled me over into his lap. For a moment, I buried my head in his chest, and he rocked me back and forth like a child.
"It's okay, Gin," he whispered against my hair. "Everything is going to be okay. You're going to make it okay. I know that you will. You always do."
His words gave me the strength to blink away my tears, lift up my head, and look at him. Moonlight painted his chiseled face in soft lines and dappled shadows, and I trailed my fingers down his bruised jaw. Owen winced, since he'd taken a couple of the giants' punches there, but he didn't pull away.
I leaned forward and kissed him as hard as I dared, given our mutual injuries. I poured all of my pent-up emotions into the kiss, trying to tell him everything that I felt just by touching his lips to mine, just by pressing my body against his. Trying to tell him how much I cared, even if the words always seemed to get stuck in my throat.
I don't know if it worked, but Owen kissed me back, his arms tightening around me. The familiar heat filled my stomach just by being near him, but there was no time for that. No time at all.
I drew back and stared into his violet eyes, wondering, as I always did, at the concern that shone there for me and what the hell I'd ever done to deserve it.
"I'll see you at the safe house," I whispered.
"You'd better," he murmured back. "Or I'll come get you myself-no matter what."
Owen called his younger sister, Eva, and told her what was going on. She was at home with her best friend, Violet Fox, and Owen told the two college girls that he'd be there to pick them up as soon as possible. While he did that, I rummaged around in the trunk, pulling out the tins of healing salve I'd gotten from Jo-Jo.
In addition to healing with their hands, Air elementals could also infuse their magic into certain products, like creams and ointments, and give them an extra kick. When Jo-Jo had come over to Fletcher's house earlier to do my makeup, she'd given me several containers of just such an ointment, in case Mab got a few licks in on me before I killed her. I was grateful for the gift.
The lids of the tins all featured Jo-Jo's puffy cloud rune, painted on the tops in a vivid blue. I cracked one of them open, dipped my fingers into the ointment, and slathered it all over my hands and arms. The soothing smell of vanilla wafted up to me, and warm tingles spread throughout the blistered areas, just like they did when Jo-Jo was around in person to work her Air magic on me. I sighed with relief as the pulsing pain of the burns lessened. The ointment wasn't as good as Jo-Jo healing me herself, but it would keep me together long enough for me to get to Fletcher's house and see what trouble waited for me there.
Owen hung up with Eva, and I popped open another tin and passed it to him. He smeared the ointment onto his face. The salve soaked into his skin, and Jo-Jo's magic made short work of the cuts and bruises that marred his features.
I moved over to the sedan that Owen had parked beside. I didn't bother trying to finesse the lock with a couple of elemental Ice picks. Instead, I used Owen's hammer to smash in one of the back windows, then unlocked the front door, slid inside, and stripped the wires under the dash like Finn had shown me how to do. A few seconds later, the engine purred to life. I climbed out of the car and laid the hammer on the front passenger's seat of Owen's BMW.
By this point, Owen had finished with the salve, and the two of us were ready to get on with things-and split up. We stared at each other across the roof of his car.
"I'll see you soon," Owen said, a hard promise in his voice.