Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Ruby pulled herself up onto the narrow ledge that separated the pair of them from the busy New York City street several hundred feet below them. The wind caught her red hair and sent it flying out behind her, like a cape on a superhero, which in a lot of ways she was. All of them were.

Ember preferred to stand. “I’m going to need to know exactly what happened, Rube.” She folded her arms and tried to look unagitated, though that would be nearly impossible considering how irritated she felt at the moment about the entire situation.

“Like I said,” Ruby began, swinging her legs back and forth as if she were a small child, “Lane and I were in pursuit, the other girls already in position to cut this bastard off as soon as he crossed through Washington Square. We’d seen him sneaking out of an apartment over on Greenwich and figured he was moving in on a second victim, but he didn’t make it that far. I mean, maybe he did later, but he picked Zach out instead, I guess. We came up on them, and Zach was literally screaming and trying to get away--like he saw the jackass.” She shrugged, her legs stilling, and Ember cocked her head to the side, trying to decide which question to ask next.

She shook her head. “Rube, I’m gonna need a little more than that. Were you visible?”

“Yeah.”

“Both of you?”

“Yeah, Lane hadn’t needed to go transparent yet, so I didn’t either. He was flying, though, pretty fast, and I was struggling to keep up with him.”

“And Tinsley and Jessie weren’t there?”

“No. Tins was down the street a few hundred yards, Jess a half mile behind her. Lane thought if he got past Tins, Jess could cut him off.”

Ember nodded, keeping up with Lane’s thinking. She would’ve probably done the same if she came across a Scale unexpectedly like that. “Who were you pursuing when you stumbled upon this guy? Did you ID him?”

“We weren’t in pursuit yet, just moving from a faulty location to one we hoped would be more suitable. I’d never seen this guy before, and I don’t know if Lane or the girls got any more info after I left. I don’t think he’s one of Lil’s.”

“And you’re sure….”

She didn’t get to finish asking the question. “Jesus, Em. I know this is hard to believe, but do you honestly think I can’t tell the difference between a human and a Scale? For crying out loud, if I can’t you gotta think Lane can, right?”

“Sorry.” Ember ran her hand down her face. It was all a lot to take in, but of course there was no question what they’d seen was a Scale. Both Lane and Ruby had been around enough times to know a demon when they saw one. Her hand raked through her blonde hair and she bit back a sigh that threatened to radiate out of her mouth. “Did Zach say he saw him? That is, it wasn’t just the pair of you flying up on him that scared the shit out of him?”

“No, because we didn’t approach from the same direction as the Scale. We were coming around the block to cut him off. He didn’t know we were on him. Not until we all ended up at the same place at the same time, and Zach about pissed his pants. He saw him. I know you can’t understand it. I couldn’t either. I still can’t! Look, Em, you’re gonna have to trust me on this one. I know it’s impossible--but that human man-child in your chair saw a Scale tonight. While he was fully awake. And not on any mind-altering drugs.”

“You sure about that last one?” Ember meant it as a joke, but Ruby just rolled her eyes. “Okay--but....Ruby, that’s not possible.”

“And yet is has transpired.”

Ember shifted her stance. “Can you just tell me exactly what you came up on? What did Zach say? What did the Scale do when he realized you were there--or that he was spotted?”

“The Scale didn’t seem to give two shits that Zach could see him. I don’t know why. Like I said, I don’t know the guy. He had his claws out, his teeth bared, and was ready to pounce, despite being visible to passing traffic. They might not have seen him per se, but people in those cars would’ve seen something crazy going on with Zach if the Scale would’ve reached his target. It was like the bastard thought he could just claim him or jump him right there on the street corner with no worries. He probably could have, too, if Zach hadn’t seen him or we hadn’t come up on the scene. But Zach heard him approach, turned around, saw him, screamed like a little girl, his hands flailing. The Scale kept coming, and then we closed in. As soon as he saw us, he took off. Lane followed him but told me to stay with Zach.”

“But you don’t think Lane caught him?”

“I know he didn’t. He messaged me that the jackass got away.”

Ember shook her head. “Maybe it was something different about the Scale… not Zach.”

“I have no idea. Maybe. But I don’t think so.” Ruby dropped down onto the balcony floor, clearly done with the conversation. “Lane thought maybe you could take him to your professor friend tomorrow, see what he thinks.”

Her eyebrows shooting up in shock at the statement, Ember didn’t back away from her friend as Ruby stepped forward, headed for the door to go back inside. “Dr. Ford? Why would he know? Hell, why would anyone know?”

“I don’t know. Lane hoped you or genius boy in there would figure it out. But the fact that your battery needs charged must have him thinking with the wrong head.” Ruby skirted around her, leaving Ember’s eyes wide and her mouth ajar. It wasn’t like Ruby to be so brazen unless she was also running low on energy, not that anyone could recharge her the same way that Ryan would recharge Ember in a few minutes--if she could get through this enigma at least thoroughly enough that the rest of the puzzle could wait until tomorrow.

Ruby’s hand was on the door handle. “Maybe you should go take care of that, clear his mind a little, and see what he can come up with. Or maybe you can solve it yourself. Maybe that’s your problem, too--not thinking with your noggin.” Ruby winked at her, a smirk on her face, and Ember tried to decide whether to snicker or slug her.

Instead, she followed her friend back inside, hoping maybe Ruby was right. None of this was making any sense, but the wide-eyed “man-child” in her recliner was going to need someplace to sleep tonight, away from the boogeymen, and a lot of sorting out tomorrow. Otherwise, he probably didn’t have long to live.