"Make time."

The petulant, demanding expression on his face was all too familiar. Maybe the herbal tea made people act like possessive a.s.sholes, maybe it just fanned embers that had been banked and hidden. Gwen didn't know, but at the moment more pressing matters were demanding her attention.

"You were affected by the tea. I wasn't."

"That's impossible, you were a wild woman."

"That was all me that night. I usually dial it down with you."

"Oh."

He released her arm, and the stricken look on his face confirmed beyond question his ex-f.u.c.k-buddy status.

"Sorry about the hangover," she said. "I guess I'll see you around."

He mumbled something and left the office. Gwen dialed Marcy's home number on the way to her car.

"How is she?"

"Sleeping like the dead," Marcy said. "How long is that likely to last?"

"Until midmorning, at least. Call me as soon as she wakes up."

"Why? So the three of us can get our stories straight?"

Gwen let the sting fade a bit before responding. "I guess I had that coming."

The phone rang again almost as soon as she ended the call.

"Gwen, this is Shawna O'Riley. I'm at Providence Hospital. It's Damian."

"What happened?"

"They're not sure. He was. .h.i.t in the chest with enough force to break two ribs. Fortunately he was wearing Kevlar."

"Smart man. How's he doing?""He's alive, and we're all grateful for that. Whatever hit him stopped his heart, but a good Samaritan gave him CPR and called an ambulance. He's in a lot of pain, but he's asking for you. Can you come down?"

"I'm on the way."

She made the drive to the hospital in a record eighteen minutes. A nurse directed her to the waiting room where the O'Riley clan gathered. There were at least a dozen of them, and they all looked up when she entered the room. The collective force of all those brown eyes set her back a step.

For the first time she understood what Ian meant when he said the Elder Folk gained strength in numbers.

She wondered, briefly, what it would have meant to grow up with this kind of support.

Shawna rose and came over to her. "You won't be able to stay long. The doctor's only letting you in because he figures it's the only way Damian will behave."

Gwen smiled faintly and followed her down the corridor. Damian was propped up in bed, looking strangely pale for a Black man.

"Thanks, sis," he said. He winced, as if even that much talking was painful.

"Don't be long," Shawna warned. She backed out and shut the door softly.

Gwen leaned against the door and folded her arms. "Do you have any idea what hit you?"

"Could be wrong about this, but I think it was a motherf.u.c.king arrow. What's next? Twin motherf.u.c.king scimitars?"

"Take it easy. Did you see who shot you?"

"No. Judging from the angle, the dude was in the trees. I hear this whoosh and something long was coming down at me. Next thing I knew, that Forest guy from the sports bar was pouring something nasty down my throat."

So Ian was shadowing her friends now?

"Next time I see him, I'll kick him in the b.a.l.l.s for you."

"Appreciate that. Though you should probably also thank him for saving my life."

"I'll be sure to pa.s.s along your regards. After I kick him."

"He left pretty fast. Probably took off after whoever shot me."

"That'd be my guess. Where was Erin Westland in all this?"

"d.a.m.ned if I know. One minute I was watching the b.i.t.c.h, the next I was flat on my a.s.s."

The door behind Gwen started to open. She moved away, and a middle-aged nurse came into the room.

Her hair was seriously red-a color that was too bright to be anything but a home dye job, but she had the pale, freckled skin to lend credence to the basic color scheme.

"That's long enough," she told Gwen as she bustled over to the bed. "Officer O'Riley needs to rest."

"Don't you be coming over here with that needle," he warned the nurse.

"It'll help you sleep," she said soothingly."I sleep just fine. Back off, Freckles."

The nurse's face firmed in disapproval. "You promised to rest after you talked to your partner."

"You lose. She's not my partner."

"True story," Gwen confirmed. "You want Quaid down here?"

"h.e.l.l, no. What I want is for everyone to go home and get some sleep. Pa.s.s that along to the family, will you?"

"For what good it will do."

He glanced at the nurse. "Tell you what, Red. Go check on the family. Anyone who looks too wide awake, you feel free to go ahead and stick 'em."

The nurse huffed and sailed out of the room. Gwen grinned. "She likes you. I can always tell these things."

"Uh-huh. Why don't you use your powers for good, and go get me a couple bags of fries?"

Gwen glared at him. "Now that was just plain mean."

"Hey, when you're the one with your a.s.s hanging out the back of a hospital gown, you get to take a few free shots."

His voice slurred a bit toward the end. Gwen crossed the room and dropped a kiss on the top of his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Go tell the rest of the family to go home," he mumbled.

Something opened in Gwen's heart, something that felt like a tight, empty fist relaxing its grip.

The rest of the family.

He might not remember it, but he'd said it. Better yet, Gwen was pretty certain that he meant it.

She quietly left the room and went to relay Damian's message to the O'Rileys. But the best part of it, she fully intended to keep for herself.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.

By eleven o'clock the next morning, Gwen was back at Marcy's condo.

Trudy was awake, mostly sober, and very, very worried.

"So tell me what happened," Gwen said.

Trudy glanced at Marcy. She nodded.

"I don't remember going to Kyle's house," she began. "To be honest, I don't know exactly where it is."

"You've been stalking his wife for several months, and you never went to the house?""It's true," she insisted. "I know it's in East Greenwich, but I've never been there."

"How do you explain the hairs on Kyle's sweater?"

Trudy shook her head helplessly. "I wish I could."

"So tell me what you do remember."

"After my last cla.s.s, I went shopping. I always go to the wholefood store, the one on Waterman?"

"I don't care. What then?"

"I ran into one of my students. We started talking. He offered to buy me a cup of tea."

Again with the tea, Gwen thought. "What's his name?"

"You know, I really should know that. But the new term just started, and I'm still putting names with faces."

"Okay, so what does this guy look like?"

"He'd be easy to pick out of a crowd. Very blond, very pretty."

Gwen began to get a very bad feeling. "And after the tea party?"

"I can't remember. I wasn't feeling well. I think he drove me home."

"Eventually," Gwen muttered. "Tell me this: Did you two talk about Marcy?"

Trudy nodded, looking thoroughly miserable. "He mentioned he'd seen her the other day with a man who matched Kyle's description."

"And how would this student recognize me, much less Kyle?" Marcy demanded.

"He saw the two of us together the night we went to the string quartet concert at Brown, and he remembered you," Trudy said miserably. "All he said about it was, 'I ran into a friend of yours the other day.'"

"I see," Marcy said coolly. "He made a casual remark, only you couldn't let it go. You kept at him until he coughed up a description you recognized as Kyle. For the record, I haven't seen him since the night I brought him over to talk to Gwen."

"I believe you," Trudy whispered.

"How very gratifying. Late, but gratifying nonetheless."

"Hold that thought," Gwen interjected. "Preferably until after I'm gone. Now, back to last night. What time did you and this guy meet up?"

Trudy thought about it. "The cla.s.s was over at four, and I finished my shopping in about an hour. We went down to Angell Street afterward-"

"Who drove?"

"I did. My groceries were in the car. We got a cup of tea and chatted for a while.""And in all this time, you never asked his name?"

Trudy ma.s.saged her temples with both hands. "I must have. It must have come up. I have no idea why I can't remember."

Gwen had a pretty good idea. Probably Adrian had some sort of hypnotic ability. What had he said in the apple orchard the other night? The Elder Folk had the ability to influence minds and behavior.

Come to think of it, maybe that wasn't one of Adrian's Qualities. Maybe it was something all the Elder Folk could learn to do. The idea was intriguing, and far too appealing for Gwen's peace of mind.

f.u.c.k that. She didn't want that sort of power over people.

Why, then, did she immediately think about what had started when she'd been lip-locked with Ian Forest in Sylvia's garden? There was a darkness inside her, a disturbing energy that rippled just under the surface. When that third Quality came out, what would she become?

It occurred to her the questioning had gone on without her. With difficulty she tuned in on what Marcy was saying.

"... and you said your groceries were in the car when you had tea with this student, who afterward drove you home."

"Yes," Trudy said hesitantly.