“Where are we going?” Jesse asked again.
Avryl just smiled. “Wait and see.”
He shrugged, and decided to go along with it. So far, the only person in Haven who had meant him any harm was Rebecca, and during the considerable amount of time he'd spent in Avryl's company over the past few days, she'd done nothing to suggest she was another exception. She'd asked nothing of him save the same attention she gave.
She led him through the forest unerringly, under the bright round moon, along a rough path through the snow, and that took them to...
A small house or cottage, limestone-walled, cedar-shingled.
“Come on,” she urged, opening the door.
Witches couldn't do spontaneous foxfire like mages, but it was possible to spell an object to glow on command; Avryl activated three chunks of the quartz he'd been told worked best.
The interior of the building was all one room, the walls panelled with unfinished wood, the three windows with glass intact, the floor rough cement. On that floor, though, were two large pillows on a spread sleeping bag, and between them a bottle and two glasses. The temperature was quite reasonable inside; more witchcraft, most likely. Wasn't that within the range of a witch's abilities? He was so used to both Cynthia and Kevin being around and working as a team that sometimes it was hard to recall exactly where the line was between their gifts.
“We've been friends for a week,” she explained. “I thought we could celebrate.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” He settled across from her and opened the bottle—red wine. Avryl laid a hand against it briefly, and the temperature of the wine dropped swiftly. Jesse filled the plain clear glasses she held for him.
“To friends,” she said simply, touching her glass to his.
“To friends,” he echoed.
The wine had a stronger taste than any he'd encountered. He ignored that, more intent on joking with Avryl.
He realized after the second glass that he was feeling a little light-headed, which should have been impossible. Wolf resistance to poison, including alcohol, was mind-bogglingly high, only wolfsbane reducing it; he knew the taste and scent, Evaline had made sure of it, and he detected none in this.
“What exactly is that?” There was no label on the green glass bottle.
“It's home-made. One of my coven-mates made it. Don't you like it?”
“No, it's wonderful, I was just wondering what could be strong enough to affect me.”
“Oh, that. It is pretty powerful stuff. Be glad you're wolf, I can't make the room stay still.”
It occurred to him that he should stop, not drink any more, he'd had too much experience with mind-altering substances. But Avryl was already refilling his glass, and it would be extremely rude... After all, it couldn't really hurt him, and he deserved a chance to relax after all the stress lately, and, well, just this once...
* * *
The phone rang.
Kevin heaved a sigh, and abandoned last-minute cramming to answer it.
“Hello.”
“Kevin? It's Samantha. Is Jesse there?”
“Huh? No. It's past noon, he's supposed to be working, isn't he?”
“Yes, he is! He's not here, and it's actually quarter after. He's never been late before.”
“Tomas mentioned that he was late at the Brewery the other night. Wanted to know if something was bugging him.”
“Is something?”
“Sam, I haven't had time to keep an eye on the wolf-cub lately, not with all these exams.”
“Neither has anyone else.”
“Oh, gods. And something could be really wrong, that no one's seen...”
“We might be over-reacting, but being late isn't like him.”
“I'll see what I can find, and let you know.”
“Thanks, Kev. Talk to you later.”
“Later,” he echoed, and hung up.
Kevin closed his eyes, gathering his gifts. If Jess were outside his own range, he could always ask Flynn to find him, but Jesse couldn't be all that far away. The connection left long ago wasn't as strong and clear as a coven-bond, and he couldn't reach along it to make direct contact, but he should be able to at least track where Jesse was.
He found him, deep in the forests surrounding Haven. Mental senses told him Jesse wasn't conscious, but there was someone with him who was. Not a mental pattern he'd ever touched before, he could tell only that it was a witch. He stretched farther, checking Jesse, trying to ascertain if he was just over-sleeping after a particularly exhausting night, perhaps with this witch, or whether there was something else going on.
Something was definitely out of place, and this needed investigation in person. Immediately.
*Bane!*
*Yo.*
*Meet me on Morgan's Road, by the lane. Fast. And don't ask.*
Bane acknowledged that.
Kevin left the house, long swift strides covering ground quickly.
Bane must have been some distance away: Kevin beat him. The wolf ran to him furform and stopped in front of him, panting.
*Why can't I ask?*
“Just try and find Jesse's trail.”
Bane obligingly began to search. Some distance down the road, he found it; from there his path was visible.
It didn't take them long to come to one of the old cottages scattered around Janicot Township.
“In there,” Kevin said tersely. He had to be wrong, didn't he? His senses couldn't have picked up what he thought they had.
*In there what? Is this dangerous? I'd better go first.*
“If you want.”
Bane pawed the door open, and stopped cold in the doorway, Kevin right behind him.
Avryl looked up, fast, from where she was sprawled half-naked beside Jesse on a sleeping-bag spread on the floor. Jesse's midnight magesilks were in a pile nearby; both were semi-covered by a striped blanket.
Bane growled, the fur on the back of his neck rising.
Avryl blanched, stumbled to her feet, backing away, but there was only the one door. Nowhere to go except right past the threatening wolf.
“I don't suppose,” Kevin said coldly, “you'd care to explain.”
“No,” she retorted. “I wouldn't.” A gate formed, right beside her, with Moira on the other side; she stepped through, and the gate closed.
Kevin crossed the room to kneel beside Jesse, and rolled him over onto his back. No reaction, from someone who usually woke the instant anyone even came close.
No indication of injury. It would've taken wolfsbane to reduce his resistance enough for anything to take effect, and since he knew Jesse'd been taught how to identify it, it could only have been voluntary. Followed by... what? Probably not wine alone. His mind was so unnaturally deep in unconsciousness Kevin couldn't even reach him.
Bane scouted, found a small plastic bottle with Avryl's and Jesse's scents both on it. Found an empty green glass bottle with a somewhat peculiar wine-scent on it, and two glasses. He reported as well the heavy scent of strong arousal, but not of outright sex.
“Let's go home,” Kevin said, getting to his feet, just the thought of all this making him feel more than a little ill. That they'd trusted Jesse so much to have changed...
*He'll know we were here.*
“So? Maybe he won't come home and we won't have to deal with this.”
*You don't mean that.*
“I don't know what the hell I mean, wolf.” He gestured a gate into being, back to his anchor-point in the living-room. Bane hesitated briefly, then crossed ahead of him; Kevin stepped through, and the gate collapsed.
* * *
Jesse was mainly aware of how badly he ached, when he woke. That, he discovered, was probably because of what he'd been sleeping on, at least in part. But he had a headache, too, one intense enough to interfere with his vision. This felt remarkably like a hangover.
What the hell had happened?
His magesilks were nearby, he found when he sat up carefully. Avryl's skirt was still there, too, discarded on the floor in a corner, but no Avryl. He tried checking for scents. Avryl's. An unfamiliar elvenmage's, faintly.
Kevin's and Bane's, both liberally laced with the acid smell of disappointment and anger.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, he willed himself wolf. It didn't hurt so bad then, something to remember. Slowly, he tried to piece together what had happened. With Avryl, that too-strong wine, that much memory gave him before it failed. They'd started flirting, had gotten at least as far as cuddling and casual messing around, but his nose confirmed that it hadn't gotten past that. His nose also found the plastic pill bottle, and his own scent on it with hers. The angle of the light suggested mid to late afternoon, he'd been out a long time. Maybe someone had finally missed him...
Sam! I was supposed to work!
And Kevin and Bane had come looking, and found him here stoned unconscious.
And that was why the anger scents.
He changed back to human, and sat in the middle of the sleeping bag, hugging his knees to his chest and trying to think as calmly as he could.
While something inside was crying, now I've lost this, too, just when I was happy...
No one's going to believe me that I didn't mean to do anything. Did Avryl set me up? Even if she did, no one would believe that either. Everything is totally fucked up. They won't listen. They won't understand not being able to stop...
So there's no point in going back.
Back to the house. But I can go back to the city.
That voice inside wept at the thought. But what else could he do?
Still, there were things he needed, and he wasn't going to take anything given to him by anyone in Haven. Maybe the house would be empty? Kevin would sense him passing the walls anyway, but Jesse could be in and out in no time.
By some chance, the entire house was dark. His housemates—ex-housemates—could be anywhere. Still, he stayed wary while he darted to his room. He shed the magesilks, and reclaimed one of his own old black T-shirts and his jeans and leather jacket. Everything else he'd actually brought with him he stuffed into his old black canvas backpack, pushing Hob aside when the cat tried determinedly to drag things back out. Nothing from Haven. None of his birthday presents, not even the Walkman. He removed the silver crescent earring Flynn had bought him to replace the one he'd lost in the woods, laid it on the shelf beside the stereo, and the necklace with it, and the silver promise-ring. Hob twined around his ankles, miauwing at him urgently, but Jesse pushed him away and stepped over him.
In less than ten minutes, he was outside the gates again.
Trying to ignore the tears that insisted on streaking his cheeks.
On two feet, but still at home in the dark, he got oriented, and started for the road that would take him south, back to the city.