Page 46 of Spring L.A.W.
Katie helped him sit up. “Hey, I get it. Puberty hit me like a freight train too. Only, instead of breaking reality, I just wore a lot of eyeliner and threatened to join a coven. Which I guess I have now. So…”
Rayna knelt, eye level. “What’s your name?”
He hesitated. “Eli.”
“Well, Eli, you’ve got a serious power surge problem, and we need to get you somewhere safe before you light up another electrical grid. Is that okay?”
He looked between them, wariness bleeding through the exhaustion. “You’re not gonna hurt me?”
“Maybe verbally,” Rayna said. “But that’s just my charming personality.”
Katie stood. “You’re coming with us. And because Rayna drives a Barbie-sized missile disguised as a car, that means we’re getting cozy.”
Eli blinked. “Wait, what?”
Katie didn’t love the logistics of the next ten minutes. Mainly because they involved blindfolding a kid and seat-belting him onto her lap like a very confused teddy bear.
Rayna tossed Katie the blindfold. “Put that on him.”
Katie raised an eyebrow. “You do realize this looks sketchy as hell, right?”
“Trust me, it’s for his own safety, and ours. The mansion’s wards don’t take kindly to unvetted guests.”
Eli didn’t protest. He just muttered, “This is so weird.”
There was no legroom. Eli’s knees were up to his chin. His hoodie smelled like subway dust and teen panic. Rayna revved the engine like she was drag racing.
“Everyone secure?” she asked.
“No,” Katie grunted. “My spine just filed a complaint.”
“Too late,” Rayna chirped. “We’re off.” The car launched forward.
Eli yelped.
Katie hung on. “Rayna, if we die, I’m haunting you.”
Rayna just grinned. “You’re welcome to try.”
The L.A.W. mansionloomed into view, looking like it had been designed by a committee of Gothic and Victorian architects. The wrought-iron gates opened before them with a shiver of blue wards, crackling faintly like static as they passed through.
Rayna didn’t bother slowing down. She just zipped through the gate like a woman whose security deposit meant nothing to her.
Inside the mansion, Joell was waiting in the foyer, arms crossed. Rayna tossed her keys into a floating bowl and gestured at Katie, who was unfolding herself and Eli awkwardly from the car.
“Package acquired,” Rayna said. “Came with bonus graffiti, cryptic dream trauma, and a minimal reality check after saying he’d been in the Between.”
Joell’s eyes narrowed. “Did you blindfold him?”
Rayna rolled her eyes. “Yes, we’re following protocol. Even if itfeelslike we’re violating ethics guidelines and maybe child labor laws.”
Katie and Eli entered the mansion, and the doors automatically closed behind them.
Joell approached Eli slowly, crouching a little so she didn’t loom like an evil headmistress. “You can take it off now.”
Eli peeled off the blindfold and blinked at the chandelier overhead as if he’d just woken up in Versailles. “Whoa.”
Joell gave him a quick, neutral once-over. “Name?”
