The nurse answered for her. “Your friend has a sprained wrist, two broken ribs, and whiplash. She needs pain relief.”
I put my hands on my hips. “She’s also a recovering potion addict, which should be in her file.”
The nurse’s brows rose. “So? This is a clean potion.”
I crossed my arms and pinned her with a glare. “Clean or not, it’s still common for people to become addicted to pain potions, correct?”
Her eyes shifted. “Occasionally, but—”
“But nothing. If she needs pain relief, surely there are Mundane remedies.”
“Kate—” Pen’s voice was small.
I turned. “Do you want to throw away ten years of sobriety because you’re in a little pain.”
Her eyes went all squinty. It took me a second to realize her expression wasn’t from pain, but from irony.
I pressed my lips together. “Do what you want, then.”
Pen’s gaze flicked from me to the pills in the nurse’s hand and back to me.
“It’s up to you, Miss Griffin. I can give you some high-dose acetaminophen and ice for the swelling, but it’s not going to do as good a job as a potion would.”
Indecision was sketched clearly into her features. Part of me wanted to relent and tell her to just take the damned potion already. But what kind of friend would I be to enable her like that?
A small voice in the back of my head reminded me that she’d encouraged me to accept Volos’s help with the Danny situation. But I’d like to think if she’d known that decision would have ended up with me cooking, she would have helped me find another solution.
Anyway, I hated the idea of dooming her now to live with the same guilt that had been eating me alive for weeks.
“It’s not worth it, Pen.” She paused, looking me directly in the eyes. I shook my head to underline my plea. Finally, she sighed.
“I’ll just take the aspirin and an ice pack.” She certainly didn’t look or sound happy about it. In fact, she looked pretty pale and her movements were too careful, like any sudden gesture would jack up her pain level.
And then I really felt like an asshole. Because deep down I had to admit that I hadn’t talked her out of using potions to keep her from feeling guilty. I’d done it to save myself guilt.
But by the time I realized this, the nurse had shrugged, muttered “Suit yourself,” and walked away shaking her head.
Chapter Eleven
October 20
Waxing Crescent
To get to Crowley Penitentiary for Arcane Criminals, we had to take a ferry to the center of Lake Erie, where a small island called Crook’s Point squatted near the border between the United States and Canada.
As the main correctional facility for magical criminals on the eastern seaboard, the prison’s location was no coincidence. The beaches on the island were laced with iron sand and salt to dampen magical attack. Plus the magnetic properties of the magnetite crystals acted like a sort of organic metal detector. But the island’s location also was effective for one far more mundane reason: No sane person would swim across the frigid five-mile expanse separating the island from the mainland. In fact, in the penitentiary’s hundred-plus-year history, only a few less-than-sane men had tried and met tragic ends.
There weren’t many boats in this part of Lake Erie. The penitentiary forbade any unapproved watercraft from coming within a mile of the island. But I could see a couple of sailboats and barges crawling along the water’s surface closer to the mainland. Overhead the sky was heavenly blue and the few billowy clouds conspired to make one think of sheep frolicking. And the sun glinted off the skyscrapers of downtown Babylon like it was a golden city where dreams came true and paupers could become kings. But I knew the effects were just tricks of light—illusion. I knew Lake Erie bore monsters in her belly, and I was more than familiar with the nightmares that plagued Babylon.
I didn’t mind the slow boat trip because it gave me time to practice my approach. Abraxas Prospero had already served five years of a fifteen-year sentence for distribution of illegal Arcane substances, as well as conspiracy to commit murder via Arcane means. So why contact us now? I didn’t believe for a second the iron bars of his cell prevented him from knowing everything that went on in the Cauldron, but I couldn’t imagine what he’d know that could help with the Johnson case.
“You glare at that water much longer the whole lake’s going to boil.” Morales nudged me with his shoulder.
I clenched my jaw and turned that glare on my partner. “I’m so glad you’re enjoying this.”
He chuckled. “Aw, c’mon, Prospero. It won’t be that bad.”
I bit my tongue. Not only was the meeting with Uncle Abe going to be bad, it might very well end up being disastrous. Uncle Abe hadn’t maneuvered me into this situation to do me any favors.
Instead of retorting to Morales’s claim, I used a fingernail to chip away at some flaking paint on the boat’s railing. “You ever been to Crowley?”
He shook his head. He’d only been in Babylon for a few months. “You?”
I shrugged. “Not in an official capacity, but I went some when I was little. Mom had some cousins get collared for cooking charges.”
He just nodded.
I glanced up at him. “What, no cracks about my fucked-up family?”
He raised a brow. “Aren’t all families fucked up?”
My lips quirked. “I guess so.” Morales and I hadn’t been partners long, but what little he’d told me about his own past supported his point. “Still, I’d feel a lot better if I knew what Abe’s angle was.”
He nodded and turned his gaze out toward the water. Then we both fell silent as we nurtured our own theories about the reason for the meeting. It wouldn’t be any good to compare notes because we both knew whatever Abe had planned was something we’d never see coming anyway.
“You ever seen the Lake Erie Lizard?” Morales asked out of the blue.
“How do you know about that?”
He shrugged. “Been reading a book on the city’s history. They mentioned it a couple of times.”
I chuckled at the unexpected turn of conversation. “I haven’t thought about that old wives’ tale in years.” He raised his brow as if he was waiting for a real answer. I shook my head. “Nah. Lots of kids in the Cauldron claimed they saw it growing up, but I never did.”
“What do you know about him?”