Free hidden talents by Emma Holly Page A

could pass for another Talent from Outside, the Eunuch might not be able to resist scooping them up as a pair.”
    “That could work,” Rick said, “except gargoyles don"t usually do spells for members of other races.”
    “They might this time. I"m not sure how the Eunuch twisted their tails, but they hate the bastard as much as we do. Plus, the one outside Adam"s window seemed to take a shine to Ari. Maybe he"d do it as a favor to her.”
    “We"d have to get the undercover work approved,” Nate put in.
    “The Mayor could green-light it,” Tony said. “Outside normal channels so it won"t get back to Blackwater. Hell, considering Ari"s a Level Five, he"ll probably want to meet her regardless.”
    “Hold on,” Adam said before everyone got too excited. “If the gargoyles agree to concoct a disguise for me, we don"t have to involve Ari.”
    Ari made a sound of protest, then shut her mouth when he looked at her.
    “You could stay safe ,” he said emphatically.
    Nate must not have learned his lesson as well as Adam thought, because he began to laugh. “Boss, have you forgotten what this girl was doing when we found her? She"s going mano a mano with the Eunuch whether you tag along or not.”
    “Is that true?” Adam asked her.
    “Uh,” she said, squinching up her face. “Yes?”
    “Well, fuck,” he said, pretty much astounded. “How exactly are you hoping to get him to lay off your friends? No matter what you concede to a man like that, he"ll just ask for more. He"ll own you, Ari. And that still won"t guarantee your friends" safety.”
    Ari looked extremely uncomfortable.
    “Boss,” Nate said almost gently. “Ari might not want to tell you this, on account of us being cops, but I"m pretty sure she intends to fry Henry Blackwater from the inside out. She is a freaking Level Five, after all.”
    “That kind of was the plan,” she confessed. “At least once I saw what I could do with my power here.”
    “Well, fuck,” Adam said again. Ari was either extremely crazy or extremely brave. If she wasn"t killed by Blackwater"s cohorts, she"d spend the next forty years in jail.
    “You can"t,” he said shakily. “We have to respect the law.”
    “ You have to respect it. If your way doesn"t work, I have to take him out any way I can. My friends are only in danger because of me. They saved my life when I first landed on the street.”
    Her big blue eyes shone with earnest tears, pleading with him to understand or maybe not to stand in her way. Compared to him, she was a kid, and she was ready to do this thing. It was his job to lay his life down for other people - his nature, if it came to that. He knew then he"d have laid it down for her twenty times over.
    “I guess we"ll have to make sure my way doesn"t fail,” he said grimly.
    ∞
    Apparently, Adam knew Resurrection"s mayor. He didn"t have any trouble
    getting an appointment for that evening, after official office hours.

    “We"re set for seven,” he said, shutting the phone that looked pretty much like hers, the only difference being that its logo said Elfnet .
    They stood on the shady pavement outside Nate"s loft. The others had gone their separate ways. Ari"s body felt very aware of Adam"s, too aware really. She wondered if Ethan and his grandparents were still at Adam"s house.
    Adam rubbed the back of his neck. “You want to walk a bit?”
    She nodded and he set off without a word, seeming as tongue-tied as she was.
    Ari took in the neighborhood: the convenience stores and cafes, the dry cleaner with the blue-skinned man in the turban behind its high counter. The subway entrance resembled the ones at home, down to the chewed gum squashed in the cement steps. Ari made a mental note to return on her own if she got a chance, so she could study the subway map. That made her feel untrusting and ungrateful, which maybe was what pried her mouth open.
    They"d reached a little Greek restaurant with an old striped awning and a collection of chairs and