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silence and his reason for remaining behind. She didn’t want to know anything about what was involved in getting rid of a body, so the faster she got out, the better. Her back itched the whole way from the kitchen to the living room: little icy-crawly fingers skittering up and down her spine. Other than that, she was numb.
    In her bedroom, the lights were still off, but gadget lights were back. Light from the street filtered down the hall through the front windows. One quick check showed the clock by her bed glowing 3:13. She dropped the towel and went to her dresser for a bra and a fresh shirt. Her shirt was ruined, in complete tatters. Oh, my God. She’d flashed Xia. More than a flash. She’d stood there like a dork, handing him the towel and giving him all day to look. To be fair, he hadn’t taken advantage or been an enormous jackass about it, but he’d definitely looked. No pretending he hadn’t.
    New shirt on and safely buttoned, she sat on the edge of her bed and bent over, holding her head in her hands. Xia the Jerk had gotten an eyeful of her, and he hadn’t been a jerk about it. Go figure. And then there was the attack and nearly getting killed. She was shaking, but she wasn’t feeling any emotion. That couldn’t last. The crash was coming; the only question was when.
    “Hey.”
    She jumped because she hadn’t heard Xia walking toward her room. Damn, that was creepy the way he could move without making any noise. The man—or whatever he was, and Alexandrine was now very sure he wasn’t a human male—made a very large darkened shape in her doorway. “Yes?”
    “I’m done.” She watched him put a hand up high on the doorjamb. And, yeah, still naked, and he still didn’t care. She couldn’t see much in the darkness, but she could see enough. After a bit of silence, he said, “I could use some help with the rest, if you don’t mind.”
    It was probably killing him to sound so nice. She shook her head. “All I want is a nice calm life where my biggest challenge is practicing magic that almost never works. That’s all. Really.”
    “Yeah, well, good luck with that.”
    He wasn’t looking at her like he was remembering her flashing him, which she appreciated a lot. “They’re going to come back, aren’t they?”
    “Sometime between now and dawn, I’d guess.”
    She pushed herself off her bed. “Rasmus Kessler doesn’t know who I am. He doesn’t know anything about me. I doubt he even remembers he gave me away.”
    “Number one, yes, he does. Number two, so what? He wants that talisman, and he’s coming after you for it, whether you’re Alexandrine Marit or Mother Theresa.”
    “Mother Theresa is dead.” She was cracking up. Totally losing it. Inside she was nothing but one huge hollow. Nothing left. Inside, she needed something to keep her from falling apart, but she couldn’t find a crutch to get her around this. She had a permanent sense of impending disaster that just wouldn’t go away. No matter what happened or what she did, apparently her life was in the toilet. Right now, though, she was stuck walking a high-wire without a net. “Okay. My dad the infamous mage Rasmus Kessler, who you hate worse than poison, who you hate probably more than even me, doesn’t care if I die as long as he gets my amulet.”
    “Talisman.”
    “Fine. Talisman.” She plopped back onto the bed and grabbed a handful of her comforter. “Heading for the hills sounds like a good idea about now. There’s a way to the garage from the garbage area. We can go out the back, and no one will know we even left.” Xia remained in the shadows, but she was seeing better now. He clenched and unclenched his fists. “I don’t have a car, but we can walk out the side door and get a cab or jump onto the bus.”
    “It’s not safe out there.”
    “And it’s safe here?”
    “Safer than if we’re outside,” he said. “I can control what happens in here. Outside…” From the doorway, he shook his head.