“I wasn’t keeping it from you because there was something going on with Mina,” I said. “I mean, there was something going on, but not anything pervy between the two of us.”

Jane gave me a give-me-a-break kind of look. If the roles were reversed, would I have believed her right away if a hot male friend of Jane’s showed up in town and she started acting funny? Probably not.

“Look,” I said, taking my time and trying to be clear. “Mina’s from a part of my past, a part I’m not terribly proud of. When she showed up out of nowhere, I didn’t know what to do. It looked like all she wanted was my help with something and then she’d be back out of my life for good. I didn’t want her to know anything about my life now, because Mina’s the type of person who’d taint it, who’d use it to her advantage if she could. So I tried to hide all the great things in my life from her . . . namely you, Jane. I figured if I just did what she asked before she caused any real trouble, I’d be done with her.”

Jane softened and then gave a wry smile. “Well, that really seems to have worked out for you.”

I nodded, smiling back. “I forgot that no matter what, Mina has a way of corrupting things,” I said. “I’m sorry it took near death and zombies to bring it out. I’m sorry I didn’t come clean sooner.”

“Maybe I have been spending a little too much time with Wesker,” Jane offered, “and the Stacks. Probably not the best idea to be working there right now until I learn to control my deep-frying.”

“Why don’t you talk to the Enchancellors about reassigning you,” I said, “for now? At least until you get more control over your technomancy.”

Jane nodded in acceptance and I felt a tremendous weight lift off my shoulders.

“So what about us?” she asked.

I thought about it a minute before I said anything. It was too important to just rush into an answer. “Honestly, I think we make shitty single people, and I think when you suggested some time apart, it was the worst idea you’ve ever had,” I said.

Jane looked surprised. “Really?”

“Really,” I said, nodding. “I think we should be closer, more open and honest. I know I don’t have a lot of experience with that or with relationships that last more than a few weeks, but I know I want to work on it with you. Look how we both get when we’re apart. I make stupid mistakes that get me captured by Cyrus and Mina, and you get all Black Magic Woman.”

“We balance each other out,” Jane said. “I like the sound of that.”

“It’s very Zen of us,” I said. “We’re cool like that.”

“Look,” Jane said. “I don’t know if we’re really good together at this point.”

“We are—” I started to say, but she stopped me.

“But I do know that with all these outside influences tugging at us, if we keep ourselves together as a core, we’ll be okay.”

I pulled her close to me again, and this time I kissed her. A shock of electricity jumped between us as we touched, and she jumped, laughing nervously through the kiss.

“So, what now?” she said when we pulled apart. “Back to the Department?”

I nodded.

Jane got up to hail a cab, but my ear caught a distant but familiar sound and I stopped her.

“Easy,” I said, making a pained effort to stand. My body ached with the events of the last hour. “I’m in no condition to rush, and I doubt Cyrus will come out of hiding to pack that freak show up before we get back here with the cavalry.”

“True enough,” she said. “What do you suggest?”

“Well,” I said, “I’d love nothing more than to go home and catch a Buffy marathon, but let’s face it: the paperwork for both of us on this incident is already filling me with dread. I think we should treat ourselves to a little us time while heading back downtown.”

The familiar sound was closer now and Jane heard it, too. She turned toward the clip-clop of a horse as one of the carriages from Central Park approached.

Her eyes lit up.

“I do believe there’s hope for quelling the dark bits in you yet,” I said, and fished out my wallet. “Seems like not everything got destroyed in our encounter.”

The carriage pulled up beside us. The driver didn’t even bat an eye when he saw me, beaten, bruised, and half-charred. All he seemed to see was my wallet.

I helped Jane into the carriage before hoisting myself up, my bones popping and creaking.

“This carriage smells like burnt food,” I whispered in Jane’s ear.

She laughed quietly.

“That would be you, actually.”

“Right,” I said. “Just for that, I’m going to expense this to your department.”

The sun was setting over the trees somewhere far over on the west side, I had my girl by my side, and a slow ride down to the Village to look forward to. It would have been a perfectly romantic night, if it hadn’t been for Mina, the vampire, the toasted zombies, the electrocution, and the return of the old cultist leader spoiling it all.

36

I awoke to the incessant poking of the carriage driver jabbing at my shoulder. Jane was asleep also, curled up under my arm. I woke her and lowered her to the street, tipped the driver handsomely, and struggled off the carriage. As the sound of hooves faded off into the distance, Jane and I headed into the Lovecraft Café, drawing stares.

“Do I really look that bad?” I asked her.

“Your jacket is still smoking,” she said, “and yeah, you do kinda look like hell.”

We arrived at the door at the back of the theater that led to the offices, and I stopped. “Maybe you should go in first.”

“Why?” she asked.

“If I go in ahead of you and they see me first, they might think there’s a zombie infestation.”

Jane reached over and ruffled her fingers through my hair, which I only then realized was standing on end, full of static. “Smart boy,” she said.

She swiped her plastic keycard at the door and we entered the main bull pen of the Department. A few of my fellow agents eyed me with suspicion, but none of them got up to cave my skull in.

I turned to Jane and hugged her.

“You should go talk to Wesker. Tell him what’s going on, find out if he knows anything about this. Cyrus did collaborate with the Sectarians, so maybe Wesker’s heard something, even though he’s high on their artistic-torture list. I have to go deal with Connor.”

“Don’t let him punish you too bad,” she said. “That’s my job.” She winked.

Jane started off toward one of the doors that led off to Greater & Lesser Arcana Division.

“I’m holding you to that,” I called out after her, feeling the first bit of real hope I had felt in several days. After taking a moment to let it sink in, I headed back toward the set of desks I shared with Connor.

I expected him to still be pissed at me but when he looked up at my approach, his eyes widened like those of an anime character.

“Jesus, kid, what happened to you?” he said.

I explained what had gone on from the moment I had discovered Mina searching through the museum crates to Jane and me finally escaping. I did, however, leave out taking Godfrey with me. When I was done telling him almost everything, Connor seemed less concerned and shrugged.

“I guess that’s what you get,” he said, and turned to his phone. “I’ll call the Inspectre and get a containment team to secure the scene.”

I stared at him. “I’m sorry?”

“Did I stutter, kid?” he said, not looking back. “I said I guess that’s what you get.”

“I heard you, but what are you getting at?”

Connor turned back to me, slamming the phone down. “Answer me this,” he said. “A simple question: How did you know how to look beneath the Guggenheim?”

“What?”

“Well, you couldn’t have been just meandering the streets of Manhattan and gotten lucky. I’d like to know what clued you in so you knew to go straight to the Guggenheim?”